Bill Carini

Originally published in the Tompkins Weekly on January 15, 2025

November’s election led to the welcome political demise of Republican Marc Molinaro, a representative not of the people of his district, but of the military-industrial complex, of the billionaire class, of the foreign governments of Israel and Ukraine. I am glad to see the back of this vile politician who also stoked the fires of xenophobia for attempted political gain. In his place, Democrat Josh Riley has taken office. Josh ran as a working-class Democrat promising to always fight for the left-behind and counted-out, saying, “Neighborhoods like the one I grew up in have been sold out by corrupt politicians and greedy corporations. I’m fighting back.”

On November 15, 2024, members of the Downtown Berrigan Collective, based in Ithaca, NY, and other upstate peace activists went to the Syracuse Federal Building to demand access to the offices of our US Senators Schumer and Gillibrand in order to exercise our right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. We wished to impress upon them the urgency of cutting off offensive weapons for Israel’s genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples. When we were denied access we staged a sit-in in the security checkpoint area of the building. We were eventually dragged out of the building by Federal Marshals, and we continued our action outside the doors. One of us, Ellen Grady, was arrested by the Federal Department of Homeland Security Police.

Originally published in The Tompkins Weekly, October 16, 2024

Shamefully, in New York it is the case that we are the only State, Commonwealth, or Territory of the United States to have only two candidates for President on the ballot. This is a result of changes to our electoral laws spearheaded by the so-called “Democratic” Party, in which ballot access for independent candidates was made nearly impossible by tripling the number of voters’ signatures that are required, and by establishing an unreasonably compressed time frame in which to collect these signatures.

originally published in the Tompkins Weekly, May 15, 2024

The timeworn tactic of voting for the lesser of two evils has led us to unutterable evil, as exemplified by the arming of, and diplomatic cover for, Israel’s atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank. This war crime is only the latest in a very long series of moral outrages committed by successive Democrat and Republican regimes. The military-industrial complex requires enemies to thrive, and our bought-and-paid-for presidents are happy to oblige. Even if that means risking all in a confrontation with Russia or China.

• Record high US oil production https://www.vox.com/climate/24098983/biden-oil-production-climate-fossil-fuel-renewables

• Record number of people living in poverty (12.4%!) https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/09/12/us-poverty-rate-2022-increase/70775443007/

• 31% of Americans report a net worth of $0 or less https://www.creditkarma.com/about/commentary/americans-have-a-net-worth-problem-and-its-not-positive

• There are 653,100 homeless people (2023 figure) https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2023-AHAR-Part-1.pdf

• More than 25% of homeowners are ‘house poor’ https://www.chamberofcommerce.org/cities-with-the-most-house-poor-homeowners/

• Housing costs are at record level of unaffordability https://www.habitat.org/costofhome/2023-state-nations-housing-report-lack-affordable-housing

• Utility costs have skyrocketed https://www.utilitydive.com/news/electricity-prices-inflation-consumer-price-index/640656/

• Food costs have skyrocketed https://thehill.com/homenews/nexstar_media_wire/3887742-how-expensive-are-groceries-in-2023-these-5-graphs-show-prices-skyrocket/

• Credit card debt in the US is at a record $1.13 trillion https://www.newyorkfed.org/microeconomics/hhdc.html

• 41% of Americans have medical or dental debt https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/americans-challenges-with-health-care-costs/

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In Joe Biden’s America: -There are 582,500 homeless people (2022 figure)
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2022-AHAR-Part-1.pdf

-More than 25% of homeowners are ‘house poor’
https://www.chamberofcommerce.org/cities-with-the-most-house-poor-homeowners/

-Housing costs are at record level of unaffordability

This year’s State of the Nation’s Housing 2023 report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies paints a stark picture of record unaffordability, near-record housing shortages and major barriers to first-time homeownership.

The number of cost-burdened renters reached an all-time high: 21.6 million households (49%)

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As the 2024 presidential campaign is shaping up now in the summer of 2023, we are already hearing whining from Democrats about the “spoiler effect” of a potential Green Party candidate such as Cornel West. Yet in New York (and many other states) the Democrats have had ample time to eliminate the possibility of a spoiler effect by enacting Ranked Choice (Instant Runoff) Voting. In fact, the Democrats have had complete “Trifecta” control of the state government for 7 years out of the last 15 years!.

I believe it is time to rebuild an active Green Party in Tompkins County. A Green agenda is vital to protecting our planet and addressing the grotesque inequities in our society. The corporate duopoly must be challenged before it is too late! Please contact me if you want to join in promoting Green values in our county and beyond. We should organize now to be ready for the 2024 election season.