Segami

Segami's Journal

November 21, 2015

BET to Livestream CRIMINAL JUSTICE FORUM Featuring Ben Carson, Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley

On Saturday, Nov. 21, BET.com will be livestreaming the 20/20 Leaders of America's forum on issues related to criminal justice. The forum will feature a panel of 2016 presidential candidates, including Dr. Ben Carson, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley.

“..BET Networks continues to make a concerted effort to mobilize the significant voting bloc of unregistered African-Americans and encourage them to sign up and get to the polls," said Debra L. Lee, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BET Networks. "Joining forces with the 20/20 Leaders of America, a dominant voice in the conversation around issues of justice, provides our audience with a platform for comprehensive dialogue on the topics that matter most in the community..."

BET correspondent Jeff Johnson will host the forum, and it all kicks off at 1P/12C at Allen University, an HBCU in Columbia, South Carolina.

“..This has never happened before. Gathering leading candidates during a presidential election cycle to discuss issues of justice that disproportionately affect communities of color," said Ashley D. Bell, former Hall County Georgia Commissioner and 20/20 Club Co-Chair. "This unique event has to be shared with communities around the nation.

The 20/20 Club is a collective of politicians, prosecutors, attorneys and law enforcement officials who have been hosting listening sessions throughout the year to give both Democratic and Republican candidates a platform to speak on issues currently being faced by the African-American community. These issues include criminal justice reform and community policing tactics.

cont'

http://www.bet.com/news/national/2015/11/13/bet-livestreaming-20-20-leaders-of-america-forum-featuring-ben-carson-bernie-sanders.html

November 21, 2015

Democrats Are Taking An Unnecessarily BIG RISK With Hillary-- And For What?

Hillary has two positive things working in her favor: 1- she's a woman and America is long past do to elect a woman president; and 2- the Republicans are worse than she is. There are no other reasons for a progressive to vote for her and for people who think the lesser-of-two-evils is still evil, the Democrats' strategy will flop badly. I'm old and in my lifetime, we've never had a candidate like Bernie before, an opportunity for the change some Democrats naively thought Obama stood for. Tulchin Research, presumably hired by Bernie's campaign to survey the lay of the land came up with some findings I want to share. Recent polls for major news organizations contained "very encouraging news" for Sen. Bernie Sanders and warning signs on Hillary Clinton's general election prospects should she win the nomination, according to a memorandum by polling and strategic consulting expert Ben Tulchin. Significantly, Sanders fares better than Clinton in many head-to-head matchups with leading Republicans.

The independent surveys show the senator from Vermont continues to close the gap with the former secretary of state while voters' familiarity with Sanders and his favorability ratings are steadily rising, Sanders' pollster said. Moreover, Sanders' agenda has dominated the debate. His message about a rigged economy propped up by a corrupt campaign finance system "is driving the issue agenda within the Democratic primary," Tulchin wrote. Looking ahead to next year's general election, Sanders is much more popular than Clinton with independents and he is much better positioned with Republicans, factors Tulchin said raise "real questions as to which of these leading Democratic candidates is in fact the best positioned for the general election."

~snip~

Hillary is the candidate of the corrupt and hated establishment. This is the wrong cycle to be running an establishment candidate. People are sick of it and she's the wrong standard bearer-- on every conceivable level-- for progressives. She has nothing to offer whatsoever except more of the same... and, when it comes down to it, no one wants more of the same. And while the Republicans who are rejecting their establishment are going for implausible sociopaths like Ben Carson and Trump or an actual fascist (Ted Cruz), the best Hillary can hope for from disaffected Republicans is that they'll stay home. Bernie, on the other hand, has won among Republican voters before and polling shows that Republicans horrified by Trump or Cruz or Dr. Ben on the one hand-- or by Jeb Bush on the other hand-- will see Bernie as a viable, non-corrupt, alternative. As Tulchin puts it, "In an intriguing development, Bernie Sanders is much better received among Republicans than Hillary Clinton. The Vermont Senator’s favorables have increased twofold among Republicans since this summer, rising from 13% in July to 26% in the most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll. His net favorability rating (-30, 26% favorable to 56% unfavorable) is 40 points better than Hillary Clinton’s net favorability ratings as her negatives with GOP voters are extremely high (15% favorable to 85% unfavorable) and have been for a long time. The fact that Sanders is seen in such a different light by Republicans indicates he has more potential to win a larger share of Republican voters in a general election than does Clinton."

~snip~

This morning I was surprised to find a rather assertive headline for the Washington Post: Bernie Sanders is right: The top 0.1 percent have as much as the bottom 90 percent. The accompanying article by Max Ehrenfreund was an analysis of Bernie's spectacular Georgetown address which is getting so much attention today. Trump called him a communist but Ehrenfreund reorted that Bernie explained that "being a democratic socialist means believing that government must guarantee its citizens' material well being in order to truly protect their freedom, citing President Franklin Delano Roosevelt."

cont'

http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com

November 20, 2015

Hillary The HAWK

Hillary Clinton has abandoned the Democratic Party’s foreign policy for her own. She’s left behind the notion that the Middle Eastern conflict could be contained to that region and joined Republicans in their calls to expand our warfare. “It cannot be contained; it must be defeated,” she recently said. On November 19, she told The American Council on Foreign Relations, “(t)he United States has been conducting this fight for more than a year; it’s time to begin a new phase and intensify and broaden our efforts … if we press forward on both sides of the border, in the air, on the ground, and as well as diplomatically, I do believe we can crush ISIS’s enclave of terror.” According to that story in The Guardian, she called for American troops to be embedded with Iraqi troops on front lines of the battles she envisions, and a notoriously difficult no-fly zone to be imposed over Syria. She said, “We have lots of work to do to really decimate ISIL in Iraq,” using ISIS’s alternative name.

This escalation of her rhetoric defies recent commentary from foreign policy professionals pointing out that the defeat several days ago of ISIS fighters who’d taken the northern Iraq city of Sinjar and similar battlefield victories in Syria has been partly responsible for a major shift in ISIS thinking; they have adapted to the loss of territory to a policy of world-wide terrorism, something that led to the downfall of Al Qaeda. So, while President Obama and his Secretary of State John Kerry are predicting a cease-fire agreement with forces on the ground in Syria (NYT, November 17, among many others, like PBS) Hillary Clinton is joining the Republican candidates and calling for the insertion of American ground troops.

As with all things Clintonian, she left herself an exit, reportedly insisting during post-speech questioning at the Council on Foreign Relations that her hawkish flight away from Obama’s policy was simply an “intensification and acceleration” of it (The Guardian, Nov. 19). But, as The Guardian points out, “the president deliberately sought to pre-empt some of Clinton’s suggestions—such as a no-fly zone in Syria—during (earlier) remarks at the G20 this week, in which he said US experts had examined such options and decided they would be counterproductive.”

So Clinton’s address comes at a very delicate time for the Democrats. Both the President and his present Secretary of State, have not only predicted a cease-fire for the area, they also have signaled a willingness to join forces with Russia to aid local tribes and other anti-ISIS forces in Syria. Instead, Hillary Clinton is pushing for a go-it-alone American expansion of the war. This is not a subtle difference. It’s the difference between unilateral warfare and multi-lateral cooperation against terrorism. This is not a well-thought-out policy. It seems more like a political campaign move, a bit of macho in hopes of attracting some presidential votes away from the Republicans.

cont'

http://sandiegofreepress.org/2015/11/hillary-the-hawk/

November 20, 2015

Bernie Sanders Reaches NEW HIGH in Support

Bernie Sanders has reached his highest level of support this year in the latest NBC News/SurveyMonkey online poll. Sanders is now the preferred candidate of 33% of Democratic and independent voters who lean Democratic. However, he still trails Hillary Clinton by 16 points, and his slight gain of 3 points since last month's poll is barely perceptible and within the poll's error estimate of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Martin O'Malley has struggled to make any kind of impact on Democratic voters, despite now having been on a national debate stage twice with his rivals.

The latest NBC News/SurveyMonkey online poll was conducted Sunday through Tuesday among 5,755 adults nationwide, including 1,983 Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democratic. Sanders maintains a strong lead among young voters, and he trails Clinton by a mere 3 points among whites, 6 points among men, and by 9 points among college graduates. But among all other groups, Clinton continues to hold double-digit leads.

cont'

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/poll-hillary-clinton-holds-steady-support-among-democrats-n466641

November 20, 2015

Hillary Clinton As The GREAT UNITER--of Republicans

"....While her supporters will be working to energize and mobilize voters to turn out to the polls, her opponents will actively be campaigning not so much for the Republican nominee, but instead invoking a Hillary presidency to energize voters to turn out and prevent that from happening. In the end, the best way to unite Republicans won't happen because of reconciliation over policy or ideology, but will arise from a desire to "Stop Hillary...."

Much has been made of a fractured Republican Party this election season. The debates have been described as cafeteria food fights or resembling spin offs of the Jerry Springer show. Most all of the energy this Fall has been focused on the Republican Party. A kerfuffle among Republican House members over the succession of John Boehner's speakership highlighted tensions within the party. The nearly month-long struggle to select a successor allowed the more ideologically driven members of the party to flex their collective muscle relative to moderates in the party. Differences regarding immigration, national security, and fiscal policy have pitted Republicans against one another in recent years. These same dynamics are present among the party's 2016 presidential hopefuls. Different factions of the party are represented in the field--from moderate, establishment Republicans, to social conservative Republicans, to libertarian Republicans, to Tea Party Republicans. And then, there is Donald Trump.

Trump defies categorization. His presence has brought a great deal of energy as well as insults to the Republican field. The continued success of Trump along with fellow "outsiders" Ben Carson and Ted Cruz has taken many observers by surprise. So much so that there is growing concern among Republican politicos that the bickering and insults will ultimately spell doom to the party in the 2016 general election. The Washington Post recently ran a piece questioning whether it is "time for the GOP to panic." The article cites mounting concern that no establishment Republican has been able to gain traction and the very real possibility that Trump, Carson or Cruz could win the nomination. Throughout the Fall, Trump and Carson have taken positions or have made statements that 1) pit them against the Republican establishment 2) would hurt them in a general election campaign if they were to secure the party's nomination and 3) would weaken the chances of any GOP candidate against their likely Democratic foe, Hillary Clinton.

Rhetoric has ranged from charges by Donald Trump that Ben Carson's life story is bogus to Carson questioning the authenticity of Trump's faith. At the same time, both Trump and Carson have profited from their insurgent status by attacking the rest of the field for being typical mainstream politicians who are beholden to big campaign donors. While a lot of insults are flying on the campaign trail, one thing Republicans can agree on is their antipathy toward Hillary Rodham Clinton. The mention of her name is akin to nails on a chalkboard to many in the party. Thus, she is the secret weapon of a seemingly splintered Republican Party. It certainly was no accident that the wifi password for reporters at the last Republican debate was "StopHillary." Thus far, those running against "politics as usual" have enjoyed success in the polls (e.g., Trump, Carson, Cruz, and Sanders). Hillary Clinton is establishment personified. A majority of Republicans are looking for an outsider candidate, which gives them further motivation to campaign against a Hillary run for the presidency.

~snip~

Unlike 2008 when a great deal of enthusiasm was generated in the Obama-Clinton contest, it appears at this point much of that enthusiasm is lacking--for Clinton. Nearly 80 percent of Sanders voters in NH are enthusiastically supporting him compared to just 39 percent of Hillary backers. Another survey suggests that 27 percent of Democratic primary voters would support her with some reservations, 11 percent would only support her because she would be the party's nominee and 14 percent claim they would not support her in a general election. The Obama coalition (minorities, millennials, and single women) is not nearly as engaged as prospective GOP voters are regarding the 2016 contest. Even if she is able to have the party coalesce around her candidacy, translating support into votes may prove to be a difficult task. That HRC isn't able to generate enthusiasm among the Democratic base is telling. Ironically, I suggest a Hillary candidacy will create a great deal of energy among the Republican base. I suspect she will be the biggest fundraiser for Republicans and the star of their nominee's advertisements next Fall. So for Republicans concerned about a divisive Primary season, they can take heart that a secret weapon awaits--Hillary Clinton: the great uniter. . . of Republicans.

cont'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-alexander/hillary-clinton-as-the-gr_b_8597248.html

November 20, 2015

VOTE For Bernie To Be On TIME's Person Of The Year Cover

TIME’s editors will choose the Person of the Year, but that doesn’t mean readers shouldn’t have their say. Cast your vote for the person you think most influenced the news this year for better or worse. You can also vote in our face-off poll. Read more about the voting methodology here.

Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 4, and the combined winner of our reader polls will be announced on Dec. 7. TIME’s Person of the Year will be announced Dec. 9.

http://time.com/4108617/person-of-the-year-poll-2015/

November 20, 2015

Bernie Sanders To APPEAR On BET’S Criminal Justice Forum Saturday Nov. 21

Democratic candidates Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley will join GOP candidate Dr. Ben Carson on BET’s “20/20/ Leaders of America” forum on Saturday, November 21. Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton has opted out and will not appear. The livestreamed event will focus on criminal justice, a hot topic among African-Americans and other minorities in the United States. BET Networks Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Debra L. Lee, explained the importance of such events in the Black community.

“BET Networks continues to make a concerted effort to mobilize the significant voting bloc of unregistered African-Americans and encourage them to sign up and get to the polls.”

The forum is not technically a debate; however, it will offer Bernie Sanders valuable exposure time among a significant portion of the eligible voters that often feel left out of or disenfranchised from the political process. Bernie Sanders has long been a proponent of civil rights, whether they are for African-Americans, Native Americans, those who are LGBT or transgendered, and other historically oppressed groups. From his earliest days, he has understood the importance of the political process and how it can greatly affect the populace. Reforming the criminal justice system has consistently been one of Bernie Sanders’ hot button issues and he knows that the system is skewed greatly against young African-American men. He argues that income inequality and fewer career and educational opportunities directly correlates to higher crime rates, both among African-Americans and among Americans in general. His awareness of racial and ethnic discrimination stems back to his earliest days when he learned that some of his family were killed in the Holocaust during WWII. In the November 18 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Sanders discusses how he learned the political process can directly affect the lives of people, and why he supports equality for all.

"…one of the factors that influenced my life was the knowledge…that my dad’s family — and probably my mother’s family as well…were killed by Hitler. So what you learn, not intellectually when you’re seven years of age, but it goes into your emotional instinctual base, is that politics makes a difference. Hitler and the Nazis were elected to office in Germany. And 50 million people died in that war, including 6 million Jews.”

~snip~

The Vermont senator’s second place showing could be simply a case of poor name recognition among candidates, as Clinton has had more than two decades in the spotlight; first as First Lady, then as a New York senator, and most recently, as Secretary of State. Bernie Sanders, on the other hand, has remained within the small confines of Vermont and New England. All that is likely to change soon, however, and not only due to his appearance on BET Network’s forum. In recent weeks, Bernie Sanders has received endorsements from several high-profile Black activists and lawmakers. Endorsements have come from U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison’s (D-MN), the nation’s first Muslim legislator and Dr. Cornel West, a respected African-American philosopher and academic. Even President Barack Obama has positive things to say about Bernie Sanders, stopping just short of giving him a full endorsement. Bernie Sanders has also garnered two large labor union endorsements: The American Postal Workers Union and the National Nurses Union. The APWU union, with more than 200,000 members. The NNU has 185,000 members, giving Sanders much more visibility and legitimacy among labor workers. Just this week, a surprise endorsement came when top Ohio Democrat Nina Turner turned away from Hillary Clinton and instead threw her support behind Bernie Sanders.

Thanks for interview & for giving folks another lens to view the world
@ShaunKing @BernieSanders https://t.co/vBZSpA3DIH

— Nina Turner (@ninaturner) November 18, 2015

cont'

http://www.inquisitr.com/2575990/bernie-sanders-to-appear-on-bets-criminal-justice-forum/

November 20, 2015

Bernie Sanders Goes Off Script During Major Speech And ANNIHILATES Donald Trump

During his speech on democratic socialism, Sen. Bernie Sanders departed from his prepared remarks and leveled Donald Trump for his racist rhetoric and tactics.

Sen. Sanders said:

I despise appeals to nativism and prejudice, a lot of which we have been hearing in recent months. And I do proudly believe in immigration reform that gives Hispanics and others a pathway to citizenship and a better life.

And while I am on that subject let me just say a real word of concern to what I have been hearing from some of the Republican candidates in recent months. People can have honest disagreements about immigration or about anything else. That’s called democracy, but people should not be using the political process to inject racism into the debate. And if Donald Trump and others who refer to Latinos as criminals and rapists. If they want to open that door, our job is to shut that door, and shut it tight. This country has gone too far. Too many people have suffered, and too many people have died for us to continue hearing racist words coming from major political candidates.

Sanders didn’t just destroy Trump and the entire racist subtext that many of the Republican presidential candidates are running on. He called on the American people to shut the racists down. Sen. Sanders was correct. We have a moral obligation to shut people like Donald Trump, who are trying to exploit some of the deepest wounds in society for political gain completely down. The reason the media should report on Trump’s remarks with a more critical eye is because he is damaging the country.

The Democratic candidate’s remarks about Trump were not in his prepared text. Sanders took a detour to express how strongly he feels about the damage that the Republican frontrunner is doing to our country. Trump is so afraid of Sanders that he is trying to get voters to believe that he is a communist. The reality is that Sanders is speaking a truth that Trump doesn’t want voters to hear.

cont'

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/11/19/bernie-sanders-destroys-trump-it.html

November 20, 2015

Bernie Sanders Delivers REMARKS On Democratic Socialism At Georgetown University

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders visits Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. to share his vision for a United States governed through the philosophies of Democratic Socialism.

Part 1