May 31, 2015

How To Talk To Your Kids About Bernie Sanders

How To Talk To Your Kids About Bernie Sanders
May 30, 2015 * by Kimberly Harrington * Reverb Press

Sometimes it can be scary and confusing for kids when they’re faced with an unknown, like a politician who actually represents the regular people who voted for him. As you tuck them into bed, don’t be surprised if you hear questions like, “But what about the billionaires? Who’s going to speak for them?” or “Why is he so angry all the time?” or “Mom, why did you hit him?” We’ll get to that last one in a minute.

I find that the best way to address kids’ valid concerns about politicians is to ease them into it.

The last time we tried to explain a government shutdown to my 10-year-old he said, “Wow, sounds like they don’t know how to do their jobs. They should all be fired.”

There’s no telling what sort of blood lust this whole Bernie situation could unleash in our household and I’m betting your family is struggling with the same sense of unease. I’ve put together some answers to use when fielding common questions from your kids. You’ve probably been asking yourself some of these questions too, so don’t feel shy about talking to yourself about Bernie Sanders. We all do. It’s completely natural.

Well, this means that he or she is telling “the truth.” This is the type of behavior that one might expect from, say, your teacher or a librarian. I understand it can be confusing, trust me, it’s definitely confusing to most adults. What we’re used to is a sort of non-truth-jargon-bite and we nod and think, “Thank you, politician, for the nonsense that just came out of your face hole” and we get right back to eating our burrito(s) because that’s life, man.

http://reverbpress.com/politics/how-to-talk-to-your-kids-about-bernie-sanders/

May 28, 2015

Here’s how much corporations paid US senators to fast-track the TPP bill

Here’s how much corporations paid US senators to fast-track the TPP bill
Critics of the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership are unlikely to be silenced by an analysis of the flood of money it took to push the pact over its latest hurdle
by C Robert Gibson and Taylor Channing * The Guardian * 5/27/15

~snip~

* Out of the total $1,148,971 given, an average of $17,676.48 was donated to each of the 65 “yea” votes.
* The average Republican member received $19,673.28 from corporate TPP supporters.
* The average Democrat received $9,689.23 from those same donors.

The amounts given rise dramatically when looking at how much each senator running for re-election received.

Two days before the fast-track vote, Obama was a few votes shy of having the filibuster-proof majority he needed. Ron Wyden and seven other Senate Democrats announced they were on the fence on 12 May, distinguishing themselves from the Senate’s 54 Republicans and handful of Democrats as the votes to sway.

In just 24 hours, Wyden and five of those Democratic holdouts – Michael Bennet of Colorado, Dianne Feinstein of California, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Patty Murray of Washington, and Bill Nelson of Florida – caved and voted for fast-track.

Bennet, Murray, and Wyden – all running for re-election in 2016 – received $105,900 between the three of them. Bennet, who comes from the more purple state of Colorado, got $53,700 in corporate campaign donations between January and March 2015, according to Channing’s research.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/27/corporations-paid-us-senators-fast-track-tpp

May 23, 2015

Is ActBlue the official Bernie Sanders Campaign, or a 3rd party?

It presented itself as THE way to donate to Bernie Sanders, sporting the official Sanders campaign logo.

Does anyone know about ActBlue? if it's legit ..

May 23, 2015

7 Charts: The Socialist Hellscape America Would Be Under Bernie Sanders

7 Charts Show the Socialist Hellscape America Would Be Under Bernie Sanders
By Zeeshan Aleem * 5/12/15 * Policy dot mic

Earlier this month on ABC's This Week, host George Stephanopoulos asked Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) whether he actually believed a self-described socialist could be elected president of the United States. Sanders suggested that if more Americans were acquainted with the quality of life in countries in Scandinavia, they wouldn't be frightened by the label.

Knowing that Scandinavia is nothing short of hell on earth, Stephanopoulos zeroed in on the absurdity of Sanders' point: "I can hear the Republican attack ad right now: 'He wants America to look more like Scandinavia.'"

"What's wrong with that?" Sanders replied.

Stephanopoulos was right to be skeptical that Sanders could get away with such a comparison. Scandinavian countries' social democratic policies of exceptionally high tax rates and heavy government involvement in the provision of services has been nothing short of catastrophic.

America should do whatever it takes to ensure it doesn't suffer the same fate. Take a look at the facts on what their policies would do to the U.S.

http://mic.com/articles/117944/7-charts-show-the-socialist-hellscape-america-would-be-under-bernie-sanders?fb_action_ids=10153354871749679&fb_action_types=og.shares

May 19, 2015

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka rips Oregon Democrats for support of Pacific Rim trade deal

I JUST CALLED ALL THESE JUST NOW, AND BOY DID THAT FEEL GOOD.
Most of the staffers who answered were hard-pressed to explain all the
secrecy and gag-orders and such surrounding TPP.

EARL BLUMENAUER 202-225-4811
GREG WALDEN 202-225-6730
KURT SCHRADER 202-225-5711
SUZANNE BONAMICI 202-225-0855

National AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka minced no words Monday criticizing Sen. Ron Wyden and other Oregon Democrats for supporting the Pacific Rim trade deal making its way through Congress.

During a rare Portland visit, Trumka called out Oregon's senior senator and three Congressional representatives – Suzanne Bonamici, Earl Blumenauer and Kurt Schrader – for siding with President Barack Obama as he seeks "fast track" authority to negotiate a Trans-Pacific Partnership between 12 nations.

Trumka and most other leaders in the organized labor movement contend the trade pact would drive down wages and lead to more outsourcing of U.S. jobs while offering no labor and environmental protections.

"I'm blowing the whistle, quite frankly" on the three Portland-area Democrats and Wyden "for being on the wrong side of this issue," said Trumka.

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2015/05/afl-cio_president_richard_trum.html

May 19, 2015

Senator Sessions (R-AL) rips the lid off TPP

This is rather odd, especially the Breitbart part, but hey ... actually it's rather cool that there is growing bipartisan opposition to the TPP. Is Obama going to arrest & jail Senator Sessions now? Maybe this will embolden more and more Congress peeps to speak out loud about the travesty called TPP.

```` * ```` * ```` * ```` * ```` * ```` * ```` * ```` * ```` * ```` * ```` * ```` *

Sen. Sessions Takes a Bold Step: Tells the Truth About TPP
May 18, 2015 * by Kevin Zeese * Popular Resistance

Sessions Reads the TPP and Exposes Its Contents, Other Elected Officials Should Do the Same

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is one of the few members of Congress who has taken the time to jump through the hoops and read the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But, he has gone a step farther than other members – he told members of Congress what he read. He told the truth about what the TPP says and why Congress should oppose it in a five page letter to his colleagues.

Sessions’ action flies in the face of the threats made by the US Trade Representative to prosecute elected officials who tell people what is in the trade agreement. Others should follow his example and get out the truth about the TPP.

The debate in the Senate begins on Tuesday, May 19. This is an opportunity for Senators to tell their colleagues the truth about what is in the TPP. Sessions’ “Dear Colleague” letter was leaked and reported in Breitbart. Senators from both parties may want to take a similar approach. Even better, during the debate on the Senate floor there will be an opportunity for amendments that expose problems with the TPP. Senators can tell their colleagues and, through C-SPAN, their constituents the truth about what is in the TPP.

How Senator Sessions Exposed the Truth about TPP

Breitbart has written two articles on Sessions’ revelations. In “Critical Alert: Jeff Sessions Warns America Against Potentially Disastrous Obama Trade Deal,” they report:

“’Congress has the responsibility to ensure that any international trade agreement entered into by the United States must serve the national interest, not merely the interests of those crafting the proposal in secret,’ Sessions’ team writes in a document that lays out the top five concerns with the Obama trade deal. ‘It must improve the quality of life, the earnings, and the per-capita wealth of everyday working Americans. The sustained long-term loss of middle class jobs and incomes should compel all lawmakers to apply added scrutiny to a ‘fast-track’ procedure wherein Congress would yield its legislative powers and allow the White House to implement one of largest global financial agreements in our history—comprising at least 12 nations and nearly 40 percent of the world’s GDP.’ . . .

“The Sessions document then goes point-by-point for five full pages through the TPA trade deal, laying out why it wouldn’t help Americans—rather, it would likely hurt American workers—and why the deal doesn’t in fact provide Congress with more power over trade despite talking points from the Obama trade deal’s proponents . . .”

https://www.popularresistance.org/sen-sessions-takes-a-bold-step-tells-the-truth-about-tpp/

May 18, 2015

UK Set To Follow USA's Lead: Threatens To Ramp-up Paramilitary Violence

Police warn big budget cuts will lead to 'paramilitary' force
Steve White, chair of the Police Federation, says service is ‘on its knees’, and predicts end of policing by consent and move towards more violent style.
by Vikram Dodd * May 17, 2015 * The Guardian

Police will be forced to adopt a “paramilitary” style of enforcement if the government inflicts big budget cuts on them, the head of the police officers’ organisation has warned.

Steve White, chair of the Police Federation, said his 123,000 members, from police constables to inspectors, fear a move towards a more violent style of policing as they try to keep law and order with even fewer officers than now.

White told the Guardian that more cuts would be devastating: “You get a style of policing where the first options are teargas, rubber bullets and water cannon, which are the last options in the UK.”

White said cuts would see the bedrock principle of British law enforcement, policing by consent, ripped apart.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/17/police-warn-big-budget-cuts-will-lead-to-paramilitary-force

May 16, 2015

Elephant in Living Room: White Supremacists w/ Badges & Guns murdering black men

FBI’s warning of white supremacists infiltrating law enforcement nearly forgotten
by Samuel V. Jones * May 12, 2015 * The Grio

Because of intensifying civil strife over the recent killings of unarmed black men and boys, many Americans are wondering, “What’s wrong with our police?” Remarkably, one of the most compelling but unexplored explanations may rest with a FBI warning of October 2006, which reported that “White supremacist infiltration of law enforcement” represented a significant national threat.

Several key events preceded the report. A federal court found that members of a Los Angeles sheriffs department formed a Neo Nazi gang and habitually terrorized the black community. Later, the Chicago police department fired Jon Burge, a detective with reputed ties to the Ku Klux Klan, after discovering he tortured over 100 black male suspects. Thereafter, the Mayor of Cleveland discovered that many of the city police locker rooms were infested with “White Power” graffiti. Years later, a Texas sheriff department discovered that two of its deputies were recruiters for the Klan.

In near prophetic fashion, after the FBI’s warning, white supremacy extremism in the U.S. increased, exponentially. From 2008 to 2014, the number of white supremacist groups, reportedly, grew from 149 to nearly a thousand, with no apparent abatement in their infiltration of law enforcement.

This year, alone, at least seven San Francisco law enforcement officers were suspended after an investigation revealed they exchanged numerous “White Power” communications laden with remarks about “lynching African-Americans and burning crosses.” Three reputed Klan members that served as correction officers were arrested for conspiring to murder a black inmate. At least four Fort Lauderdale police officers were fired after an investigation found that the officers fantasized about killing black suspects.

MORE: http://thegrio.com/2015/05/12/fbi-white-supremacists-law-enforcement/

LINK TO FBI SOURCE DOCUMENT "White Supremacists Infiltrating Law Enforcement"
http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/402521/doc-26-white-supremacist-infiltration.pdf

May 11, 2015

Who gives a rats ass about NFL's 'deflate-gate'

Geesh, it's been "headliner news" on both CNN and MSNBC now for how
many days? .. and it goes on and on and on .. it's now 13 minus into 4pm
"news" on these two channels, and they are still parsing this complete non-story.



Sports is sports, not "news" IMHO. It would be like leading the sport channel
hour with 13 minutes of what's going on in the stock market, or ME wars.

Kind of makes me wonder what the hell's REALLY going on that they SHOULD be
talking about, like RW schemes to get the Balimore prosecutor to recuse herself,

May 8, 2015

The Nation: If You’re Wondering If Hillary Is Turning Populist, Just Ask Her Banker Friends

If You’re Wondering If Hillary Is Turning Populist, Just Ask Her Banker Friends

By Nomi Prins * May 7, 2015 * The Nation

The past, especially the political past, doesn’t just provide clues to the present. In the realm of the presidency and Wall Street, it provides an ongoing pathway for political-financial relationships and policies that remain a threat to the American economy going forward.

When Hillary Clinton video-announced her bid for the Oval Office, she claimed she wanted to be a “champion” for the American people. Since then, she has attempted to recast herself as a populist and distance herself from some of the policies of her husband. But Bill Clinton did not become president without sharing the friendships, associations, and ideologies of the elite banking sect, nor will Hillary Clinton. Such relationships run too deep and are too longstanding.

To grasp the dangers that the Big Six banks (JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley) presently pose to the financial stability of our nation and the world, you need to understand their history in Washington, starting with the Clinton years of the 1990s. Alliances established then (not exclusively with Democrats, since bankers are bipartisan by nature) enabled these firms to become as politically powerful as they are today and to exert that power over an unprecedented amount of capital. Rest assured of one thing: their past and present CEOs will prove as critical in backing a Hillary Clinton presidency as they were in enabling her husband’s years in office.

In return, today’s titans of finance and their hordes of lobbyists, more than half of whom held prior positions in the government, exact certain requirements from Washington. They need to know that a safety net or bailout will always be available in times of emergency and that the regulatory road will be open to whatever practices they deem most profitable.

http://www.thenation.com/article/206625/if-youre-wondering-if-hillary-turning-populist-just-ask-her-banker-friends

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com. This piece has been adapted and updated by Nomi Prins from chapters 18 and 19 of her book All the Presidents’ Bankers: The Hidden Alliances that Drive American Power, just out in paperback (Nation Books).