May 10, 2016

List of Bernie's Union endorsements:

National[edit]
APWU – American Postal Workers Union, representing 250,000[552]
ATU – Amalgamated Transit Union, representing 190,000[553]
CWA – Communication Workers of America, representing 700,000[554]
ILWU – International Longshore and Warehouse Union, representing 50,000[555]
NNU – National Nurses United, representing 185,000[556]
NUHW – National Union of Healthcare Workers, representing 11,000[220]
UE – United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, representing 35,900[557]
State, regional, and local divisions[edit]
AFL-CIO – American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations: VT, SC[558][559]
AFGE – American Federation of Government Employees: National Union for Social Security Workers (Council 220)[560]
AFSCME – American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees: WA, WI and Locals 2724, 2057, and 25 (MI)[561][562][563]
AFT – American Federation of Teachers: Locals 1474, 1931, 1966, 1990, 2023, 2034, 2141, 2199, 2226, and 6366 (CA)[564][565]
CTU – Chicago Teachers Union: Caucus Of Rank-and-file Educators (CORE)[566]
IAIW – International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers: Local 7 (MA)[567]
IBEW – International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers: Locals 2222, 2304, 2313, 2320, 2321, 2322, 2323, 2324, 2325, 2326, 2327, 159, 357, 440, 490, 776, 1837, 1228, and 113 (MA, RI, CA, ME, VT, NH, NV, SC, WI, CO)[73][562][568][569][570][571][572][573][574][575][576]
IBT – International Brotherhood of Teamsters: Local One-L, Pennsylvania Federation Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division[562][577]
IFPTE – International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers: Local 70 (DC)[578]
NEA – National Education Association: VT[579]
PASNAP – Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals[562]
SEIU – Service Employees International Union: Locals 560 and 1984 (NH)[580][581]
TWU – Transport Workers Union of America: Local 100[582]
UBC – United Brotherhood of Carpenters: Locals 1503 (OR)[562]
UFCW – United Food and Commercial Workers International Union: Local 5 (CA)[583]
UH – UNITE HERE: NY, CT, RI, MA, VT, NH, ME, and Locals 2, 30, 49, 54, and 2850 (CA, NJ)[584][585][586]
USW – United Steelworkers: Local 310, 1999, 2003 (IA, IN)[587][588][589]
UURWAW – United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers: Local 36 (CA)[562]

Sources: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bernie_Sanders_presidential_campaign_endorsements,_2016#Labor_organizations

FeelTheBern.org: http://feelthebern.org/endorsements-for-bernie-sanders/

Politico: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/bernie-sanders-endorsement-list-219803

May 10, 2016

This hardcore Union Labor man doesn't find Clinton liberal at all. Discuss. nt

May 10, 2016

The “militant complacency” of the Democratic establishment: Why Bernie & his supporters must...

The “militant complacency” of the Democratic establishment: Why Bernie & his supporters must continue to pressure Hillary Clinton

While the Clinton campaign boasts that America is "already great," unaddressed inequality continues to wreak havoc

CONOR LYNCH

Now that Donald Trump has more or less locked up the Republican nomination, Hillary Clinton has begun to focus more attention on the New York billionaire, who doesn’t appear at all ready to tone down his inflammatory rhetoric, as his chief strategist had indicated he would a few weeks earlier. As many on the left have anticipated, Clinton now seems to be shifting back rightwards after many months of promoting herself as a bona fide progressive. (Excuse me, a “progressive who like’s to get things done.”)

As the New York Times reports:

“Hillary Clinton’s campaign is trying to seize on the turmoil Donald J. Trump’s ascent has caused within the Republican Party, hoping to gain the support of Republican voters and party leaders including former elected officials and retired generals disillusioned by their party’s standard-bearer…Mrs. Clinton’s campaign is repositioning itself, after a year of emphasizing liberal positions and focusing largely on minority voters, to also appeal to independent and Republican-leaning white voters turned off by Mr. Trump.”

Clinton is anything but unpredictable. Rather than trying to court those disillusioned Sanders supporters and left-wing malcontents, Hillary seems to believe that she has a better shot with the “fiscally conservative, socially liberal” country club Republicans (who like their foreign policy hawks).

Politico reported on Thursday that the Clinton camp has even started reaching out to top Bush family donors, “to convince them that she represents their values better than Donald Trump.” Considering that both former president’s George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush have already announced that they won’t be endorsing Trump or attending the Republican convention, it seems likely that Bush family donors are also wary of the billionaire. Jeb Bush’s failed campaign was funded by extremely wealthy individuals — by July of last year, his super-PAC had received 23 individual donations of $1 million or more.

http://www.salon.com/2016/05/09/the_militant_complacency_of_the_democratic_establishment_why_bernie_his_supporters_must_continue_to_pressure_hillary_clinton/

May 10, 2016

Lawsuit Accuses Flint Mayor of Diverting Water Crisis Donations Into Campaign Account

Lawsuit Accuses Flint Mayor of Diverting Water Crisis Donations Into Campaign Account

By Elliot Hannon

There’s a lot of blame to go around for the Flint water crisis, but a federal lawsuit filed Monday against the city’s mayor claims even attempts to make things right have been fraught with mismanagement and corruption. The suit was filed by former city administrator Natasha Henderson, who alleges she was wrongfully fired from her post in February after she tried to initiate an investigation into Flint Mayor Karen Weaver after she learned Weaver was allegedly diverting funds earmarked for water crisis charities into a campaign account.

From the Detroit Free Press:

… [T]he suit alleges that Weaver directed a city employee and volunteer to steer donors away from a charity called Safe Water/Safe Homes, and instead give money to the so-called "Karenabout Flint" fund, which was a political action committee or campaign fund created at Weaver's direction. According to the lawsuit, a city employee told Henderson in confidence that she and a volunteer had previously been directing donors to the City of Flint's website, where they could give money to the Safe Water/Safe Homes charity, which helped families affected by the water crisis. But Weaver directed them to steer donors to the "Karenabout Flint" website, which the city council had not approved, the suit claims.
Henderson was hired in 2014 as the city’s administrator, the highest ranking unelected post in the city. Three days after Henderson reported the alleged violation to the city’s chief legal counsel, she was fired. The suit claims that Mayor Weaver told Henderson that the state no longer had the budget to fund her position; Henderson informed her the city administrator job is funded by the city, not the state. "The mayor and city staff do not comment on pending litigation," a city spokeswoman said.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/05/09/lawsuit_accuses_flint_mayor_of_diverting_water_crisis_donations_into_campaign.html

---------------

I wish I could say I am shocked. I am not.

May 10, 2016

Fusion picks up The Young Turks show

Fusion picks up The Young Turks show
By HADAS GOLD 05/09/16 11:04 AM EDT

The Young Turks is coming to cable TV, with a one-hour weekly show on Fusion.

The show will start in September and run for 12 weeks until the election. It will be hosted by "TYT" hosts Ana Kasparian and Jon Iadarola and will be taped in front of a live audience at college campuses around the country. TYT founder Cenk Uygur, as well as celebrity guest hosts and participants will join in throughout the series.

“Fusion’s goal is to continue elevating the issues that matter to this diverse, emerging generation of young people. The Young Turks and their distinct, passionate voices will be a valuable addition to our coverage of this unconventional and consequential election cycle,” Daniel Eilemberg, Co-President and Chief Content Officer for Fusion said in a statement. “We are excited to hit the road this fall to engage college students from across the country, providing them with a platform to make their voices heard.”

The Young Turks network is one of the largest online video news channels, with a liberal and progressive bent and more than 200 million views a month on YouTube, often beating traditional cable news outlets on the platform.


http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/05/fusion-picks-up-the-young-turks-show-222961

May 10, 2016

Fusion picks up The Young Turks show

Fusion picks up The Young Turks show
By HADAS GOLD 05/09/16 11:04 AM EDT
The Young Turks is coming to cable TV, with a one-hour weekly show on Fusion.

The show will start in September and run for 12 weeks until the election. It will be hosted by "TYT" hosts Ana Kasparian and Jon Iadarola and will be taped in front of a live audience at college campuses around the country. TYT founder Cenk Uygur, as well as celebrity guest hosts and participants will join in throughout the series.

“Fusion’s goal is to continue elevating the issues that matter to this diverse, emerging generation of young people. The Young Turks and their distinct, passionate voices will be a valuable addition to our coverage of this unconventional and consequential election cycle,” Daniel Eilemberg, Co-President and Chief Content Officer for Fusion said in a statement. “We are excited to hit the road this fall to engage college students from across the country, providing them with a platform to make their voices heard.”

The Young Turks network is one of the largest online video news channels, with a liberal and progressive bent and more than 200 million views a month on YouTube, often beating traditional cable news outlets on the platform.


http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/05/fusion-picks-up-the-young-turks-show-222961

May 8, 2016

We can’t vote for either one: On world stage, Clinton and Trump present different, but serious,

SUNDAY, MAY 8, 2016 05:59 AM EDT

We can’t vote for either one: On world stage, Clinton and Trump present different, but serious, dangers

It is pathetically impossible to determine which one would be worse, the only metric we have left. It's OK to pass

PATRICK L. SMITH

As of this past week Americans voters have their choices in November—all three of them. I do not see them as nearly as clear or simple as a lot of people might have imagined even a little while ago. The exception is the third of these alternatives, the right to remain silent—a phrase ordinarily used in another context but perfectly correct in this one. This position seems to have just gotten a great deal clearer, if not simpler.

In my read, the race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as it now shapes up does not present voters with anything like an obvious choice. Neither does it seem certain at this moment which of two candidates unworthy of election—let us speak honestly—will triumph. Nor can one say which of the two would be worse, and this, pathetically, is the metric now establishing itself in many voters’ minds.

As a quick aside, it truly tells us a lot, doesn’t it, that Clinton can bring a record of service decades in length and still face a serious challenge from Donald Trump. Every time she tells her mobs of supporters, “This is going to be a tough fight,” I think how shameful a fact this is. Madame Secretary, I reflect, looks a lot better in the television series, risible as it is. Téa Leone, with her whiskey voice, her greeting-card compassion and her ritualized moral ambivalence as she executes our dishonorable foreign policies, somehow manages to come over more persuasively.

What a moment.

more: http://www.salon.com/2016/05/08/we_cant_vote_for_either_one_on_world_stage_clinton_and_trump_present_different_but_serious_dangers/

May 8, 2016

The Small Town Judge Who Sees a Quarter of the Nation’s Patent Cases

The Small Town Judge Who Sees a Quarter of the Nation’s Patent Cases

WRITTEN BY KALEIGH ROGERS
May 5, 2016 // 08:00 AM EST

The first thing people tell you about Judge Rodney Gilstrap is that he’s not from Marshall. In the small Texas city (population 24,000) east of Dallas where he presides as a US district court judge, where you’re from matters, and the 59-year-old Gilstrap was actually born in Pensacola, Florida. But because he earned both his BA and his law degree at Baylor University (three hours away in Waco, Texas), has practiced law in Marshall since the 80s, and married a local girl whose family owns the town funeral home, most folks forgive Gilstrap this blight.

They also probably cut him some slack because of how he’s run his court for the last five years.

Since taking the bench in 2011—moving literally across the street from his law office into the district courthouse—Gilstrap has become one of the most influential patent litigation judges in the country. In 2015, there were 5,819 new patent cases filed in the US; 1,686 of those ended up in front of Judge Gilstrap. That’s more than a quarter of all cases in the country; twice as many as the next most active patent judge.

These include some of the most contentious and headline-grabbing patent disputes in the US. There’s the 2013 case where a jury awarded a patent troll $2.3 million, a decision Gilstrap later overturned. There was also the $533 million patent troll win in a case against Apple, a decision Gilstrap has now stayed to allow for appeal.

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-small-town-judge-who-sees-a-quarter-of-the-nations-patent-cases?utm_source=mbfb

May 8, 2016

The Bernie Sanders question

The Bernie Sanders question

FINDING PATTERNS If things play out according to form, most Bernie Sanders voters will end up backing Hillary Clinton. But very little in this election has played out to form.

By Harry Bruinius, Staff writer
MAY 6, 2016

The script should feel familiar to Hillary Clinton. In 2008, after all, she was Bernie Sanders, pushing the presumptive nominee, Barack Obama, well after the delegate chase seemed lost.

But as Mrs. Clinton moves inexorably toward the Democratic nomination this summer, there is some question about whether this election will continue to follow that 2008 script.

In 2008, Clinton threw her considerable clout behind Mr. Obama, unifying the party for the general election.

Will Senator Sanders do the same? And perhaps more important, will Sanders’s supporters be inclined to listen?

much more: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2016/0506/The-Bernie-Sanders-question