video – Powers For the People

Labor Unions Protest Amazon on May Day (video)

Posted on May 6, 2023May 5, 2023 by Pamela J. Powers

Protesting outside of an Amazon warehouse on May 1, International Workers Day, has become an tradition for Tucson labor unions. Organized by the Pima Area Labor Federation (PALF), the 2023 event drew about 50 protesters on a blustery day. AFL-CIO Organizing Specialist Ryan Kelly highlighted many union organizing accomplishments in the past year.

This video includes the speeches from several Tucson union leaders. It was heartening to see so many young people rising in the ranks of a revived union movement in the US. (My apologies for the wind and the street noise.)

I’m Back (video)

Posted on April 27, 2023May 5, 2023 by Pamela J. Powers

I retired from the Arizona Legislature in January 2023 after serving for six years. In many ways, I was an embedded journalist in the Arizona House, not just a Legislature. During those six years, I created hundreds of update videos and two seasons of my podcast A View from the Left Side.

After a few months of shifting gears, transitioning out of the Legislature, and making changes in my personal life, I’m back in action.

Look for more video updates and podcast episodes about the Legislature and many other topics. I’m free to say what I want now that I am no longer a politician. Also, I’m working on a Powers for the People Substack and will let you know when that is operational.

Stay tuned for more news and commentary.

Unintended Consequences Will Follow Loss of Abortion Care in Arizona (video)

Posted on July 25, 2022September 13, 2022 by Pamela J. Powers

“Parental choice!” is the rallying cry for Arizona Republicans who promote spending state tax dollars to pay for private and religious schools.

Republicans shout “My body! My choice!” on the Floor of the Arizona House when they rail against wearing facemasks to prevent the spread of COVID.

They cry for the freedom to be unvaccinated — against COVID, measles or anything else.

They exercise their power to protect their right to carry assault weapons to the grocery store and to keep guns cheap and plentiful in Arizona.

BUT when it comes to reproductive rights and body autonomy for women, Republicans insist on government control over family planning choices that are NONE of their business. This is the height of hypocrisy. Government has no right to insert itself into private medical decisions.

Continue reading Unintended Consequences Will Follow Loss of Abortion Care in Arizona (video)

Podcast: JUNE 24, 2022 … SCOTUS Ends Abortion Rights in Arizona

Posted on July 24, 2022September 13, 2022 by Pamela J. Powers

Season 2, Episode 11 of a View from the Left Side is a compilation of footage that I recorded on June 24, 2022, the day the Supreme Court of the United States struck down Roe v Wade, the landmark abortions rights decision from 1973. The Roe decision made abortion care up to the age of viability of the fetus legal in the US for nearly 50 years.

Now, SCOTUS has decided that access to legal and safe abortion care is a states rights issue. Why should a person’s rights change when they cross state lines in the US? Whether or not to become pregnant is a parental choice issue — NOT a government concern.

Continue reading Podcast: JUNE 24, 2022 … SCOTUS Ends Abortion Rights in Arizona

Podcast: As Gun Violence Rocks US, March for Our Lives Calls for Action

Posted on July 12, 2022July 21, 2022 by Pamela J. Powers

Season 2, Episode 9 of a View from the Left Side focuses on our country’s epidemic of gun violence.

My opening commentary, recorded on June 1, 2022, refers to the mass shootings at a Buffalo, New York grocery store and at the Uvalde, Texas elementary school. Unfortunately, there have been more since then, most notably the Highland Park, Illinois Fourth of July Parade mass shooting. There have been more than 300 mass shootings in the US in 2022, according to the Washington Post. (Mass shootings are defined as events in which four or more people — besides the shooter — are killed or injured.) Mass shootings are averaging one per day in 2022, and there have been no weeks in 2022 without a mass shooting, according to the Post. This is not a well-regulated militia. This is a country with more privately owned weapons than people.

Continue reading Podcast: As Gun Violence Rocks US, March for Our Lives Calls for Action

Arizona Reacts to End of Abortion Rights (video)

Posted on July 7, 2022September 13, 2022 by Pamela J. Powers

Planned Parenthood & Dems Press Conference

Planned Parenthood of Arizona (PP) and the Arizona Democratic Party (ADP) held a joint press conference at the Arizona Capitol on June 24, 2022, the day the US Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade, the landmark abortion rights case from 1973.

At the press conference, PP President and CEO Brittany Fonteno said that Planned Parenthood stopped all abortion care services and canceled appointments in Arizona that day, due to multiple conflicting state laws on the books.

Continue reading Arizona Reacts to End of Abortion Rights (video)