March 31, 2016

Bernie Sanders blasts GOP: ‘The Republican Party today is a joke maintained by the media’

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/bernie-sanders-blasts-gop-the-republican-party-today-is-a-joke-maintained-by-the-media/

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Wednesday about Donald Trump’s comments on abortion, indicating the GOP front-runner’s comments were “beyond comprehension.” He also discussed the state of the presidential race and criticized the media’s fascination with Trump.

The interview will air on a special edition of The Rachel Maddow Show on Wednesday at 10 p.m., after Maddow’s separate interview with Sanders’s opponent, Hillary Clinton.
(snip)
What you really need in this country is a progressive party standing with the working class and the middle class of this country. And yes, a conservative party that, you know, has, you know, is more fiscally conservative. That is where we should be as a country.

But the Republican Party today now is a joke, maintained by a media which really does not force them to discuss their issues

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

Sorry Rachel - You are part of the Sick, destructive, anti-democracy joke





and M$NBC, Maddow, Tweety and the rest are part of the cabal

March 31, 2016

As Sanders Surges, Cable News Runs Prison Reality Show, Jesus Documentary

http://fair.org/home/as-sanders-surges-cable-news-runs-prison-reality-show-jesus-documentary/

Over the past week, Bernie Sanders racked up six wins out of seven primary contests, winning 92 delegates more than his rival Hillary Clinton to chip into her pledged delegate lead. While not an existential shift in the race, the momentum has changed in Sanders’ favor, especially since he won the last three primaries—Hawaii, Washington state and Alaska—with between 70 and 82 percent of the vote.

You, however, would hardly have noticed had you been watching cable news the night of the Saturday primaries. Both MSNBC and CNN forwent live election coverage on arguably Sanders’ biggest night of the year, instead deciding to air a normally scheduled prison reality show and a “documentary” on Jesus.

(SNIP)

The race is far from over, yet most of the major cable networks have all but moved on. Clinton’s lead, while considerable, is far from insurmountable. Indeed, the netting of 66 delegates Saturday night pulls Sanders to within 268 pledged delegates of the former secretary of State—with 2,073 delegates yet to be awarded.

March 29, 2016

Bernie Sanders as Commander-in-Chief

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/03/29/bernie-sanders-commander-chief

Tulsi Gabbard, a Hawaii congresswoman and Iraq War veteran, stars in a stunning ad endorsing Sanders as “Commander-in-Chief,” a potential turning point in the race.

Sen. Bernie Sanders’s landslide victories in Washington State, Alaska and Hawaii on Saturday coincided with a long-awaited signal that he may finally be ready to challenge former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the “Commander-in-Chief” question, which has been regarded as one of her key strengths.

In what may be the most striking campaign commercial of the presidential race, the Sanders campaign released an ad, entitled “The Cost of War” and featuring Hawaii’s Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran who endorsed Sanders not just as her preference for President but as Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. military.

(snip)

Many neoconservatives and “liberal interventionists” now see Clinton as the vessel carrying their hopes for more “regime change” wars.

(snip)

March 29, 2016

Beware the Blue State Model: How the Democrats Created a "Liberalism of the Rich"

Let’s go to Boston, the spiritual homeland of the professional class and a place where the ideology of modern liberalism has been permitted to flourish without challenge or restraint.

Thomas Frank
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When you press Democrats on their uninspiring deeds -- their lousy free trade deals, for example, or their flaccid response to Wall Street misbehavior -- when you press them on any of these things, they automatically reply that this is the best anyone could have done. After all, they had to deal with those awful Republicans, and those awful Republicans wouldn’t let the really good stuff get through. They filibustered in the Senate. They gerrymandered the congressional districts. And besides, change takes a long time. Surely you don’t think the tepid-to-lukewarm things Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have done in Washington really represent the fiery Democratic soul.

So let’s go to a place that does. Let’s choose a locale where Democratic rule is virtually unopposed, a place where Republican obstruction and sabotage can’t taint the experiment.

Let’s go to Boston, Massachusetts, the spiritual homeland of the professional class and a place where the ideology of modern liberalism has been permitted to grow and flourish without challenge or restraint. As the seat of American higher learning, it seems unsurprising that Boston should anchor one of the most Democratic of states, a place where elected Republicans (like the new governor) are highly unusual. This is the city that virtually invented the blue-state economic model, in which prosperity arises from higher education and the knowledge-based industries that surround it.

(snip)

This is a curious phenomenon, is it not? A blue state where the Democrats maintain transparent connections to high finance and big pharma; where they have deliberately chosen distant software barons over working-class members of their own society; and where their chief economic proposals have to do with promoting “innovation,” a grand and promising idea that remains suspiciously vague. Nor can these innovation Democrats claim that their hands were forced by Republicans. They came up with this program all on their own.

March 24, 2016

Tim Canova - Yes, they are rigging our elections

https://medium.com/@Tim_Canova/yes-they-are-rigging-our-elections-d20a2079633c#.xrt0nrdtn

https://medium.com/@Tim_Canova/yes-they-are-rigging-our-elections-d20a2079633c#.xrt0nrdtn


There is no question that the Democratic establishment is throwing the kitchen sink at insurgent progressives like Bernie Sanders and Tim Canova.

But our opponent, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, claims that is just untrue. Yesterday, she told Fox News “there’s just no shred of evidence to suggest”that she favors establishment candidates as Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.

What an insult to our intelligence.

It was no accident that the presidential debates were scheduled during professional and college football games, as well as long holiday weekends. It was no coincidence that Bernie Sanders and our campaign were denied access to the Democratic Party’s voter file. It is not just dumb luck that establishment candidates keep winning elections — they are literally rigging the system to favor them.

We are the grassroots and we are a threat to their power. Help us overcome a broken and corrupt political system by making a donation of $10 or whatever you can afford.

March 24, 2016

This Race Far From Over: New Poll Shows Sanders and Clinton Tied Nationally

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/03/24/race-far-over-new-poll-shows-sanders-and-clinton-tied-nationally


'In the end, Hillary Clinton has a trust problem,' says pollster

Signaling that the primary race is far from over, a new national poll shows Bernie Sanders tied with Hillary Clinton among those who have voted or plan to vote in a Democratic contest this year.

The Bloomberg Politics survey found 49 percent of respondents preferred Sanders, while 48 percent backed Clinton.

March 23, 2016

How the Democratic Party Establishment Suffocates Progressive Change

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/03/22/how-democratic-party-establishment-suffocates-progressive-change


The Democratic Party establishment persistently strives to downsize economic and political expectations. Sanders aims to upsize them, which is why he is viewed as such a threat


The Democratic Party establishment has recently found itself discomforted by Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign to return the party to its modern roots of New Deal social democracy. The establishment’s response has included a complex coupling of elite media and elite economics opinion aimed at promoting an image of Sanders as an unelectable extremist with unrealistic economic policies.

The response provides a case study showing how the party suffocates progressive change. Every progressive knows about the opposition and tactics of the Republican Party. Less understood are the opposition and tactics of the Democratic Party establishment. Speaking metaphorically, that establishment is a far lesser evil, but it may also be a far greater obstacle to progressive change.

(snip)

Rather than an excess of pipe dreams, our current dismal condition is the product of fear of dreaming. The Democratic Party establishment persistently strives to downsize economic and political expectations. Sanders aims to upsize them, which is why he has been viewed as such a threat."

(snip)

There is legitimate room for intellectual difference. What is so stunning is the tone of the critique and the fact it sought to diminish an important policy (fiscal stimulus) just because Sanders was using it to his political advantage.

(snip)

Progressives must surface the obstruction posed by the Democratic Party establishment. Primaries are prime time to do that, which means there is good reason for Sanders’ campaign to continue.

?itok=NDzmC0Rt

March 23, 2016

How the Democratic Party Establishment Suffocates Progressive Change

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/03/22/how-democratic-party-establishment-suffocates-progressive-change

The Democratic Party establishment persistently strives to downsize economic and political expectations. Sanders aims to upsize them, which is why he is viewed as such a threat


The Democratic Party establishment has recently found itself discomforted by Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign to return the party to its modern roots of New Deal social democracy. The establishment’s response has included a complex coupling of elite media and elite economics opinion aimed at promoting an image of Sanders as an unelectable extremist with unrealistic economic policies.

The response provides a case study showing how the party suffocates progressive change. Every progressive knows about the opposition and tactics of the Republican Party. Less understood are the opposition and tactics of the Democratic Party establishment. Speaking metaphorically, that establishment is a far lesser evil, but it may also be a far greater obstacle to progressive change.

(snip)

Rather than an excess of pipe dreams, our current dismal condition is the product of fear of dreaming. The Democratic Party establishment persistently strives to downsize economic and political expectations. Sanders aims to upsize them, which is why he has been viewed as such a threat."

(snip)

There is legitimate room for intellectual difference. What is so stunning is the tone of the critique and the fact it sought to diminish an important policy (fiscal stimulus) just because Sanders was using it to his political advantage.

(snip)

Progressives must surface the obstruction posed by the Democratic Party establishment. Primaries are prime time to do that, which means there is good reason for Sanders’ campaign to continue.

?itok=NDzmC0Rt

March 23, 2016

Clinton Claims Victory but Arizona's Voting Fiasco Dubbed "National Disgrace"

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/03/23/clinton-claims-victory-arizonas-voting-fiasco-dubbed-national-disgrace


Shuttered polling places, endless lines, and widespread disenfranchisement—particularly for minority communities

Something was amiss in Arizona on Tuesday. As Hillary Clinton claimed victory in the state's Democratic primary, thousands of voters were left out to dry, with shuttered polling places, endless lines, and widespread reports of disenfranchisement.

In Maricopa County, which includes the capital Phoenix, voters waited up to five hours to cast a ballot after the County Elections Office slashed the number of polling sites from 200 in 2012 to just 60 this year. As the state's most populous county, this amounted to more than 20,000 voters for every available polling location.

Notably, many Latino areas were left with either just one or no polling places. Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell defended that decision, saying, "we looked at an area, and factored into that how many early ballots we usually get in that area and how many people normally vote at the polls. We didn’t look at it as legislative districts. We looked at the overall picture of our voters."

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March 23, 2016

Bernie Sanders Is Currently Winning the Democratic Primary Race, and I’ll Prove It to You

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/sanders-currently-winning-democratic-primary-race-ill-prove-to-you_b_9528076.html

Nobody cares how well a politician does at the ballot box when he or she is running for an office unopposed. What matters is how a politician performs in contested primaries and general elections, as when it really matters — like it will, for instance, this November — you can be certain of a contested election.

With that said, let’s make an important observation: Bernie Sanders has tied or beaten Hillary Clinton in a majority of the actively contested votes this election season.

You doubt it? Okay, let me explain.

Bernie Sanders has terrible name recognition in states where he hasn’t advertised or campaigned yet; meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has universal name recognition everywhere. Realizing this, the Clinton camp pushed hard to rack up the early vote in every state where early voting was an option. They did this not primarily for the reason we’ve been told — because Clinton performs well among older voters, and older voters are more likely to vote early than other age demographics — but rather because they knew that early votes are almost always cast before the election season actually begins in a given state.

That’s right — in each state, most of the early primary voting occurs before the candidates have aired any commercials or held any campaign events. For Bernie Sanders, this means that early voting happens, pretty much everywhere, before anyone knows who he is. Certainly, early voting occurs in each state before voters have developed a sufficient level of familiarity and comfort with Sanders to vote for him.