If Kamala Harris really wants to show she is ready to turn a new page in the campaign against Donald Trump, it’s obvious who her choice as running mate should be: Bernie Sanders.
As mentioned in yesterday’s blog, Bernie Sanders has put forth a bill (doomed to fail, alas) that would impose a 10% budgeting penalty on the Pentagon for each year it fails to pass an annual audit, something that big throbbing heart of capitalist exploitation and thievery so frequently fails to do.
Big-money special interests “want to divide us up,” said the indepedent senator at a living wage rally in South Carolina, “and we are determined to bring working people together.”
Sanders’ new manifesto is an important reminder of what we should be fighting for, and a reminder that the Democratic party establishment is a main enemy of progress and justice.
Sanders, who is Jewish, has several beefs with the current government in Israel, not least that he is “embarrassed” by it. Israel should not reflect on Jewish Americans, who are only responsible for their own individual actions and speech. The world is unfair that way, though, and for some people the fascist takeover in Israel will raise questions about what sort of person would not only support it but also try to silence anyone who speaks out against it. Sanders clearly feels that it is an albatross about his neck.
Rallying for Pennsylvania congressional candidates Summer Lee and John Fetterman in Philadelphia on Sunday, Sen. Bernie Sanders ripped U.S. billionaires for pumping record-breaking sums of cash into the midterm elections in an effort to sway the results in their favor.
Addressing a trade union rally in London, the U.S. senator called for bringing “working people together in the fight for justice and a world that belongs to all of us not just the people on top.”
He gave Biden credit for confronting “realities” from climate change to healthcare, “concerns progressives have had for decades”. He also dismissed criticism from the left for his relative closeness to the Biden White House. “You know politics,” Sanders said, “with a shrug”. “You can’t please all of the people all of the time.”
Eight Democrats joined with Republicans yesterday to prevent Bernie Sanders from moving to add a $15 minimum wage to the COVID relief bill. History will not absolve them.
“Walmart, the largest employer in America, is owned by the richest family in America. Their wealth has gone up $50 billion during the pandemic, and they spend millions on themselves. But the company they own starts workers off at $11 an hour. That is outrageous.”
For decades, presidents have used their power to declare emergencies to sideline badly needed regulations and entrench the national security state. Now a group of Congress members led by AOC is proposing that those powers be used for good: to force action to avoid a climate catastrophe.
Joe Biden and the Democratic establishment refuse to push Medicare for All even as COVID-19 continues to ravage the country. That’s all the more reason for us to demand, alongside Bernie Sanders, that everyone get the health care they need free of charge until the pandemic is over.
“When Republicans controlled the Senate they used the reconciliation process to provide huge tax breaks for the rich and large corporations,” said Sanders on Saturday. “We’re going to use reconciliation to protect working families, the sick and the poor.”
Bernie Sanders is reportedly making a bid to be the secretary of labor in a potential Biden administration. That’s good news. The labor secretary has broad latitude to raise worker standards — and Bernie could use the bully pulpit to declare that all workers will have the full backing of the federal government if they organize on the job.
“Senator Bernie Sanders is planning to mount an aggressive campaign to counter potential attempts by President Donald Trump to delegitimise the results of the November election, warning that Democrats and Republicans alike must do “everything that we can to prevent that from happening.”
. Bernie Sanders used a virtual town hall on Saturday to call out his fellow members of Congress who—in the midst of record-shattering heat waves, massively destructive storms, and unprecedented wildfires—continue to insist that a Green New Deal aimed at combating the climate emergency and creating millions of good-paying jobs in the process would be too costly.
Biden told Sanders his endorsement “means a great deal” to him, saying, “I want to thank you for being a powerful voice. And you’ve been the most powerful voice for a fair and more just America.”
“It’s a voice like yours that refuses to allow us just to accept what is. You’ve refused to accept that we can’t change what’s wrong in our nation,” he added. “And you don’t get enough credit, Bernie.”
As Chomsky said, Sanders has fundamentally changed the conversation. Ideas that were unthinkable even two years ago are now part of the conversation. The media largely dismisses them, but the very fact that they have to respond at all speaks volumes. Politicians, too, are forced to respond to the ideas of M4A, tuition-free public college and eliminating student-loan debt. The conversation is changing. Sanders’ focus on the issues, sometimes unfortunately to the exclusion of smart politics, has brought that style of campaign back to the forefront of politics. Long may this continue.
Addressing the employment crisis by ensuring workers remain employed and paid as well as providing social services for everyone in the country, regardless of citizenship or immigration status Guaranteeing a free at point of service Medicare for All single payer healthcaer system for everyone in the country Immediately using the Defense Production Act to manufacture personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, and other needed healthcare equipment for frontline workers dealing with the pandemic Providing food for everyone in the country for the duration of the crisis $600 billion in aid to states and cities An immediate suspension of collections of rent, mortgage payments, medical debt, and consumer debt for four months and a suspension of student loan payments through the duration of the pandemic
The Vermont senator was alone in saying he would back whoever won a plurality of delegates – with others open to superdelegates tipping the balance for another candidate at the convention
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that the neoliberal establishment residing within the U.S. Democratic Party would not want Bernie Sanders to get the presidential nomination.
It’s a simple matter of logistics. Capitalism is tanking, profiteering is harder to achieve, ergo a candidate gunning for health care for all and financial reform, higher taxes and a nationalised electricity grid creates problems for the establishment.
It’s not so hard to imagine the Democrats doing whatever they can from behind the scenes so the right person (for them) gets the nomination. It’s not hard to imagine any powerful political groups anywhere doing this — such is the corruption bar of the present time.
The old man the young with heart love and they along with Women and Black Americans have the capacity to change America’s Direction (ODT)
“Sanders is a movement candidate — who will be accountable to our generation,” Carney replied. “He has proven that he is aligned with the version of the world that we want to create. And since before our generation was born, he was fighting the injustices that we are fighting today.”
New Hampshire Youth Movement is a natural ally of the Bernie 2020 campaign, as the organization’s website makes clear:
The Vermont senator is now the first choice of 25% of voters, the New York Times/Siena College survey found, an increase of six points from a similar poll taken in October.
A drop in popularity of Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator, from 22% to 15% accounts for Sanders’ boosted standing, with Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and former vice-president Joe Biden stagnant in second and third place respectively with 18 and 17%.
Sanders, 78, has been “consolidating support from liberals and benefiting from divisions among more moderate presidential candidates who are clustered behind him”, the New York Times article accompanying the poll data claimed.
“We need a serious debate in this country on issues,” Sanders said. “We don’t need to demonize people who may disagree with us. … I appeal to my supporters: Please, engage in civil discourse.” He pointed out (rightly) that “we’re not the only campaign that does it. Other people act that way as well.” But he added, “I would appeal to everybody: Have a debate on the issues. We can disagree with each other without being disagreeable, without being hateful.”
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