Mitch McConnell, Democrats Team up to Stop Vote on Sanders' $2,000 Survival Payment

Tammy Baldwin Votes to Kill $2,000 Payment for Working Families

 

Madison, Wisconsin — Working families' fear that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and Senate Democrats would join forces to defeat Sen Bernie Sanders' (I-Vermont) popular $2,000 direct payment effort were realized yesterday.

 

Sen. Sanders wanted an up-or-down vote on a bill, a demand that proved too much for Democrats and McConnell who stopped the proposed measure.

 

McConnell effectively killed Sanders' work that had delayed consideration of the Senate's effort to override the Trump veto of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2021.

 

The Senate Roll Call vote that killed consideration of Sanders' $2,000 proposal is 80 YEAs, 12 NEAs and eight senators Not Voting.

McConnell pronounced that Sanders now had "no realistic path" for the $2,000 checks after the Democrat-supported vote.

The two Georgia Republican senators, Sens Kelly Loeffler (R) and David Perdue (R), facing elections on Jan 5, are two of eight senators not voting. 

 

Both Loeffler and Purdue gave lip service in favor to the $2,000 proposal, walking a political tightrope between McConnell and Donald Trump who pushed for the $2,000 measure on social media.

Only five Democratic senators defied the Party's hostility to the $2,000 payment, joining Sanders and six Republicans voting No on the procedural vote.

Wisconsin's two senators, Tammy Baldwin (D) and Ron Johnson (R), voted against the $2,000 payments.

Democratic senators outnumbered Republican senators voting to stop the $2,000 direct payments, after the New York Times and the Washington Post launched a campaign against the measure.

McConnell's vote is a win for the Democratic Senate caucus that opposes the $2,000 payments, for most Republican elected officeholders, McConnell and the incoming Biden administration that also opposes survival aid for working families.

Senate Democrats’ Motion To Concede On $2,000 Checks - The Daily Poster

My God!! If the suffering of millions of people in this damn country does not give elected leaders a damn back bone, I don’t know what will.

This is 🤬unconscionable! https://t.co/0AQF6AM00f

— Nina Turner (@ninaturner) December 31, 2020

Meanwhile, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D), after voting with the Republicans, posted misleading communications on social media, falsely saying the Republicans killed the $2,000 measure, though Democrats supplied the most votes.

Senate Republicans are standing in the way of an up-or-down vote on the House-passed bipartisan legislation to deliver...

Posted by Senator Tammy Baldwin on Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Sen. Bernie Sanders: "There is a level of economic desperation in this country right now that we have not seen in our lifetimes." pic.twitter.com/sZ7MGugHS0

— The Hill (@thehill) December 31, 2020

Keep Your Bernie Sanders Signs

Madison, Wisconsin — Bernie Sanders' announcement this week that he is suspending his campaign raised more questions than answers.

For over a year the electorate has been treated to the parade of lies, smears and tantrums from CNN-MSNBC-NYT-Washington Post who deplore Sanders more than Trump.

But even the character-assassination class knows anything can happen this year, and they know about Joe Biden.

Sanders runs hard, is brilliant, disciplined and is not in this to change the Party platform at the Convention.

Joe Biden is a candidate under attack for his alleged harassment of numerous women.

Joe Biden is under attack for his perceived abdication of the public for special interests that dominate the Democratic Party.

Donald Trump, Trump!, can credibly portray Biden as narcissistic, cognitively challenged and ethically bankrupt in a general election.

Yet, we need not be subject to another term of Trump, a predictable consequence of installing Biden at the likely brokered Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee this Summer.

The overwhelming number of young and casual voters needed to pull off a victory in November support Sen. Bernie Sanders. And they hate Joe Biden and the Democrats. I don't think the national political press gets this.

So, Party elites and the national media outlets are promoting Biden despise the gentle man, Sanders, originally from Brooklyn.

What Sanders understands is some 100-million people who did not vote in 2016 will not support what they view as an establishment favorite in Biden who does not care about their lives, and our future.

Sanders also understands the election is about us, not him, as his campaign slogan sums up.

But consider him — Bernie Sanders.

In 1989, I was invited to, and attended a private fundraising event for Bernie Sanders after his first election to Congress.

By then, Sanders has already worked some 30 years as a civil rights activist.

"Thought you would like to meet him," said the host of the gathering in the village of Shorewood HIlls, next to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

No congressional member ever had a friendlier room.

But Bernie Sanders was not there to meet folks, drink beer, make friends, or to glad-hand.

He was there to say, 'this is where I stand, this is what is achievable, and let's get to work.'

Sanders gave a roughly one-hour talk devoid of humor, just raw, gravelly commitment to the principle that public office should serve the public, not special interests.

A friend asked me later what I thought of Sanders. The G-rated response is, 'Geez, the guy was not there to screw around. But I love him.'

Bernie Sanders loves people. His commitment is to act, and to persuade with reason and caring.

I don't believe establishment politics today is capable of appreciating this type of commitment.

But the American people do understand, and will reward this faith with a resounding Bernie Sanders victory in November, if he is the Party nominee.

The Democratic Party presidential primary campaign to this point has seen most major candidates emulating Sanders on stated policy goals, and in rhetoric.

But this parroting is not the same as the real thing. The Party establishment knows this and so will the American electorate.

But Bernie Sanders did not work 60 years to change the Party platform at the Convention.

Bernie Sanders' candidacy is alive and well and he will appear on the ballots for the remaining 30 primaries and caucuses.

The Democratic Party garbage with eyes on the White House should be warned.
--
Michael Leon is a writer and public relations consultant based in Madison, Wisconsin. His writing has appeared in The Progressive Magazine, In These Times, CounterPunch and other journals. He produces and writes the news website, Mal Contends.

Bernie Sanders on Covid 19 Crisis — A Time for Us

Bernie Sanders has convened round-tables and launched majer addresses offering a comprehensive, unprecedented response to this unprecedented crisis.

Small business, families and single Americans should count as the foundation that must be secured as we build up to protect our nation from this economic and health catastrophe,

Massive unemployment, unprecedented business failure, markets plummeting come with a wide expectation that this crisis will become much worse before it gets better.

This is an unprecedented moment and we have got to think in an unprecedented way. Join our livestream on the coronavirus response with @aoc, @IlhanMN, and @RashidaTlaib, featuring musical guests including @grandson. https://t.co/8Dec4SEd20

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 22, 2020

Some of my Republican colleagues are calling for a $1,000, one-time check to Americans.

Really?

That'll last you two or three weeks. What happens after that?

We need to give every person in this country $2,000 a month for the duration of this crisis.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 23, 2020

Schumer, Pelosi and Trump — they're basically the same and Schumer and Pelosi are as hostile to Bernie's New Deal as they are of anything coming from the administration.

Never have we had a a people's activist front-and-center, ideally prepared for this moment in history.

Suspend the rules of capitalism. 30% unemployment isn't a situation you can bootstrap or free market your way out of. #rising Full here: https://t.co/QU27IRxuhy pic.twitter.com/Jhlr5jN1hJ

— Krystal Ball (@krystalball) March 23, 2020

Roubini: Work for a U-shaped Recovery, Embrace Universal Stimulus

Economic and Political Disaster in Offing

Update: Congressional Dems Are to the Right of the GOP. The party’s leadership is failing the test posed by the coronavirus.
---Madison, Wisconsin — Professional-service office buildings, malls, and many streets made this area look like a ghost town this morning as policy governing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is implemented.

Folks are working from home, shopping malls are temporarily closed, in accordance with Gov. Evers' order prohibiting mass gatherings of 10 or more people, effective March 17​, 2020. [Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, Executive Orders]

Much business is coming to a halt, and small business owners across the nation are looking to an uncertain future as the speed and scope of the economic crisis creates fear and uncertainty.

Proposed emergency paid sick leave, emergency Family and Medical Leave and payroll tax credits don't appear to approach even half-measures as the staggering unemployment claims nationwide signal economic catastrophe.

Famed economist Nouriel Roubini joins Bernie Sanders and the Trump administration in advocating that Congress give $1,000 to "every single U.S. resident" fast to stave off a depression, for a start, (Yahoo Finance).

The world will have a severe recession. What Congress does will determine how long this recession will last.

Why Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are playing games is mystifying, but it does reveal how out-of-touch the Democratic Party is. What are these two waiting for?

Nothing, not even a global economic crisis, can induce neo-liberals to act in the national interest.

2 conditions 4 economy & markets 2 stop free falling & start a U-shape recovery (forget V delusions):1. Control radically pandemics contagion. 2. Massive fiscal stimulus that is monetized. EU & US woefully behind the curve on 1. & 2 is only talk 4 now! So expect more crash today!

— Nouriel Roubini (@Nouriel) March 18, 2020

Consider this: An U-shaped recession is an optimistic scenario.

See also Michael Brooks on Rising, below.

Sanders, Trump Are Pushing $1,000-plus Cash Payments to People; Biden, Pelosi, Schumer Are Opposed or Silent

Democratic Leadership Mired in Total Failure

Update: Congressional Dems Are to the Right of the GOP. The party’s leadership is failing the test posed by the coronavirus.
---
Want more evidence Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer do not give care about you?

Democratic leader Schumer criticizes Trump's call for $1,000 checks https://t.co/mVQvz85f69

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 19, 2020

I truly don't know how to describe how maddening it is that Republicans and Trump officials are to the left of Congressional Dem leadership on this issue. Absolutely fucking maddening. pic.twitter.com/qz55vvyzih

— jordan (@JordanUhl) March 18, 2020

Joe Biden is asleep at the switch, finding a Joe Biden quote, any position, on the Trump and Sanders-proposed $1,000-plus payments to Americans is impossible.

Nothing.

From Saagar Enjeti and Krystal Ball at Rising:



Reports the Los Angeles Times: "On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said the federal government was looking into 'sending checks to Americans immediately' as part of a $1-trillion stimulus proposal from the Trump administration to combat the negative impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the economy."

And it's the Democratic Party establishment that are holding up relief during this crisis.

From CommonDreams:

'Nancy Pelosi is officially to the right of Tom Cotton on economic support for American families,' HuffPost reporter Zach Carter tweeted on Sunday. 'This is a total failure of Democratic Party leadership.'

Pelosi's deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill on Twitter Tuesday emphasized that any aid 'MUST be targeted' for the Speaker to approve it, drawing further anger from the left. 'Why?' asked New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie. 'If we agree that the crisis is stark and immediate, and we know that precise targeting takes time and administrative effort, why make that a requirement when you can simply disburse the funds *now* and collect from high-income recipients *later*?'

New Consensus president Saikat Chakrabarti was flabbergasted at Pelosi's resistance to payments for all Americans.

'This crazy obsession in Dem leadership with looking 'reasonable' by not 'doing too much' is about as impractical and insane as you can get in the face of a pandemic,' Chakrabarti tweeted.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, has proposed a $2 trillion package including direct payments to Americans.

Journalist Walker Bragman on Wednesday noted the absurdity of Trump being closer to Sanders on relief than Democratic leadership. 

Democrats do not care about you, and never have. How can we doubt it now?

"We must provide direct, emergency $2,000 cash payments to every person in America every month for the duration of the crisis. We are likely already in a recession. Workers are losing income while their bills pile up. We must begin issuing cash payments of $2,000 a month for every person in America to provide households with the assistance they need to pay their bills and take care of their families," writes Bernie Sanders today in an email.

Emergency $2,000 cash payments to every person?

No, says the Democratic Party.

Sanders and Trump Admin Call for Cash Payments Amid Biden Silence and Primary Wins

VIX fear-volatility remains near record-high.

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — Following Joe Biden's sweep of last night's primary elections, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Sen. Bernie Sanders are issuing urgent calls for direct cash payments for Americans.

"We need to provide a direct emergency $2,000 cash payment to every household in America every month for the duration of the crisis to provide them with the assistance they need to pay their bills and take care of their families," Sanders said, (Newsweek).

Mnuchin and Bernie Sanders are singing the same song on a massive federal governmental response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the unofficial U.S. recession, both of which are unpredictable in their severity and duration.

Joe Biden's views on the stimulus are unclear to this point.

We are likely already in a recession.

Workers are losing income while their bills pile up.

We need to provide direct, emergency $2,000 cash payments to every person in America every month for the duration of the crisis.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 18, 2020

Yet, Biden is racking up win after win on the campaign trail.

Personally, I would not trust anything Joe Biden has to say on the global economic crisis anymore than I trusted Biden on the secret weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the moral imperative for mass incarceration and marijuana criminalization, cutting Social Security and the moral primacy of banks over people.

On the campaign front, the presidential race is shaping up as Bernie Sanders and the Trump administration v. Joe Biden and the neo-libs whose 40-year project brought us this outcome.

And on policy, the Trump administration and Bernie Sanders are leading the fight for working families.

Meanwhile, the markets are in for another volatile session today.

So, Biden has been running on parables and lies, not-on-point.

VIX

The VIX index measures fear and expected volatility of investors, offering an educated guess on the next 30-day period of the CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) and S and P 500 Index.

The VIX functions as a red flag revealing market psychology and pathology.

The higher the VIX, the more the volatility and fear.

The VIX is at trading at $75.91 on March 18, 2020, 10:10 Eastern Time.
 ---
On October 24, 2008, the nightmare of 2008, the VIX reached a day-high record of 89.53.

Time to Ditch DNC-MSNBC Corruption — Boycott Propaganda System Now

Bernie Sanders continues to lead Trump.

Madison, Wisconsin — The 2019 campaign for the Democratic Party presidential nomination appears at a tipping point as major candidates call out the corrupt DNC-media system for its marginalization of progressive candidates and character assassinations spewed at a rate that makes Fox News blush.

"I don't know who the Democratic Party is. I just don't know who they are anymore," Terrance Warthen, co-chair of Our Wisconsin Revolution, (MSNBC), lamented in 2017.

It's worse now.

Progressive candidates — Tulsi Gabbard, Andrew Yang and Bernie Sanders — are alternately maligned and minimized in the corporate coverage though the three lead the field in championing the concerns of a solid majority of Americans.

Combat veteran Tulsi Gabbard v Chickhawk Hillary Clinton

It's almost funny to watch corporate democrats — led by Hillary Clinton, CNN and MSNBC's prime-time line-up — emit hysterics and abuse against Gabbard, Yang and Sanders

For example, Rep. Gabbard (D-Hawia), an Army combat veteran and sitting congresswoman, is continually defamed as a Russian agent or foreign dictator's supporter by Hillary Clinton and the corporate media because of Gabbard's opposition to catastrophic wars.

Gabbard has perhaps the most compelling personal story. She enlisted in the Army after 911 and was deployed downrange, (Iraq 2004-05; Kuwait, 2008-09), "serving in a base in the Sunni Triangle at the height of the war[.] Tulsi had the heart-wrenching daily responsibility of going through the list of every injury and casualty in the entire theatre of operations, looking to see if any soldiers in her unit were on the list, so she could ensure they received the care they needed and their families were notified."

The Democratic National Committee and corporate media has become so brazen in their enmity towards progressive candidates that Tusli Gabbard preemptively boycotted the next DNC debate to be held on Dec 19.

For a number of reasons, I have decided not to attend the December 19th "debate" — regardless of whether or not there are qualifying polls. I instead choose to spend that precious time directly meeting with and hearing from the people of New Hampshire and South Carolina.

— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) December 10, 2019

Several major candidates have already hit the DNC and its allied news network for their machinations in secretly choosing which polls decide who gets the free national air-time in the debates, and who gets blacked-out in continuing news coverage.

The DNC-media campaign against Andrew Yang is equally vicious and petty. See YouTube.

Drop MSNBC

As Andrew Yang has pointed out, the progressive candidates don't need the corporate news networks, if disaffected voters are sufficiently mobilized.

The #YangGang has taken the lead in dropping MSNBC, allied in effect with Tulsi and Bernie supporters.

There are brilliant political news, analyses and commentary available for continuing campaign coverage to replace the evening and prime-time line-up.

A partial list of news shows available on YouTube follows, (pls add more in comments):

• Rising, The Hill with Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti
• Jimmy Dore Show
• Secular Talk with Kyle Kulinski
• Rational National with David Doel
• The Young Turks
• The Grey Zone with Max Blumenthal
• The Humanist Report
• Joe Rogan Experience
• Useful Idiots with Matt Taibbi and Katie Halper
• Moderate Rebels
• Graham Elwood
• The Intercept
• Democracy Now
• Rebel HQ

Bernie Sanders for President 2020

Since the early 1960s, Bennie Sanders has worked for
social justice, human rights and civil rights, a commitment
for which Sanders was ridiculed and defamed by Hillary
Clinton hacks who proceeded to give us Donald Trump.

"Not me. Us," says Sanders campaign

Madison, Wisconsin — Bernie Sanders announced this morning he is running for president.

Twenty-five months into the Trump administration gifted to America by the  Democratic Party establishment, Bernie Sanders begins with a huge institutional advantage over other candidates.

That institution is the American people, of whom, by whom and for whom we have a country that has chosen liberal democracy — in painful steps, leaving people behind, on the ground and in chains.

But progress comes from the people. Today, the people agree with Bernie Sanders on the issues and demand change.

The people through Bernie Sanders have set the agenda on the issues for other candidates as they try to out-do each other by adopting the people's stands on policy. Good.

I'm running for president. I am asking you to join me today as part of an unprecedented and historic grassroots campaign that will begin with at least 1 million people from across the country. Say you're in: https://t.co/KOTx0WZqRf pic.twitter.com/T1TLH0rm26

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 19, 2019

People are who Bernie Sanders understands and fights for: A truly Democratic movement has as its foundation —  the people.

A March for Bernie Sanders in Waupaca, Wisconsin on
the weekend before the April 5, 2016 presidential primary
election in Wisconsin, (Facebook)

The people are not objects, over which one candidate cackled in recalling how she schemed to imprison parents.

Liberty, freedom and not the state incarcerating our fellows is the way forward.

Bernie Sanders would never laugh at struggling parents and muse about putting them in jail.

To the contrary.

Social progress has overcome the death, torture and enslavement of millions, and since Bernie Sanders' college days, Bernie has been on the right side of history, fighting for civil rights, jobs and social justice.

Everything is at risk as the white supremacist Republican Party and Donald Trump threaten the American people as no Party or domestic movement has ever before threatened us.

I am supporting Bernie Sanders for president in 2020 because Bernie does not want to be a leader. He wants a democracy.

Because Bernie believes as I do that private prisons, mass incarceration and imprisoning poor parents are outrages to the democratic project.

Bernie Sanders wants to be on my team and help transform America as the unique promise for which we must forever fight.

“I am running for President because we need to invest in jobs and education for our kids, not more jails and incarceration. We need to end the destructive war on drugs private prisons, and cash bail, and bring about major police department reform.” @BernieSanders #Bernie2020 pic.twitter.com/9Gk96hS3dt

— People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) February 19, 2019

You raised your voice, you rallied, you collected signatures, you and this grassroots movement showed @BernieSanders that you’ve got his back.

We’re going to take the political revolution all the way to the White House. Sign up now to get to work: https://t.co/9EHQmZDBKc pic.twitter.com/pTk7fiWR7i

— Our Revolution (@OurRevolution) February 19, 2019

Bernie Sanders is us.

In April 2016, in my state, Wisconsin, the people voted overwhelmingly for Bernie. The Democratic Party super-delegates vetoed the people and chose Hillary Clinton, to catastrophic consequence.

Bernie Sanders is back. So are we.

Ocasio-Cortez Points Way to Progressive Victory in Midwest, as Clintonites Balk

Fox News has joined the Hillary Clinton faction of the
Democratic Party in warning about Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez'
policy positions, (shown above). Isn't there a place where
Clinton and other deadenders can go to fuck off and die?

Corpratist Dems Trying to Throw Cold Water on Ocasio-Cortez

Madison, Wisconsin — U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) is a Clintonite acting in the tradition of other corporatist Dems who gave us the lunatic in the White House.

Thank you again for that, Hillary Clinton supporters.

Ever-desperate to halt progressive politics, in the week following Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez' wipe-out of a corrupt Democratic House incumbent, Duckworth offers a less-than-rigorous analysis concluding the entire Midwest will reject people-based politics because Ocasio-Cortez is "too far to the left," (The Hill).

Another Clintonite, Nancy Pelosi, preceded Duckworth's perils of political wisdom

Writes Emily Birnbaum:

Duckworth’s comments echoed those of Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who said people should not get 'carried away' over Ocasio-Cortez’s nomination.

What are Ocasio-Cortez' objectionable policy positions, all of which are available on Ocasio-Cortez' website, about which Pelosi and Duckworth warn us? Pelosi and Duckworth don't say.

But Ocasio-Cortez offers 15 detailed issue positions, so witness the horror and gasp: Medicare For All, Housing As a Human Right, A Peace Economy,  A Federal Jobs Guarantee, Gun Control / Assault Weapons Ban, Criminal Justice Reform, End Private Prisons, Immigration Justice / Abolish ICE, Solidarity with Puerto Rico, Mobilizing Against Climate Change, Clean Campaign Finance, Higher Education for All, Women's Rights, Support LGBTQIA+Support Seniors, Curb Wall Street Gambling: Restore Glass Steagall.

Duckworth did not specifically mention Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania which Pelosi and Duckworth's candidate, Hillary Clinton, lost in 2016 in the epic failure that gave the White House to Donald Trump; worth mentioning again because corporatists are not so big on recent history.

I think corporatist Democrats like losing. It's the only explanation for their action trying to take down a rare shining of light on the political horizon.
---
If I were a Republican strategist running against Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), I would saturate the airwaves with ads pointing out Baldwin is a longtime Clinton supporter along with each and every member of Wisconsin Democratic congressional delegation, (538.com).

Speaking of Wisconsin, Randy Bryce, the progressive who looks to replace outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan (R), offers a realtime test of the Duckworth-Pelosi hypothesis.

Asked about Ocasio-Cortez on UpFront with Mike Gousha, Bryce was unequivocal in his praise of Ocasio-Cortez. Reports The Capital Times:

That was a successful example of an 'everyday, working people' running for political office, said Randy Bryce. ... It’s an example he hopes to repeat.

'That’s what everyday candidates are trying to do, we’re trying to get that enthusiasm, get people to the polls,' he said. 'We’re one of them, we understand the struggles of everyday people.'

Bryce is going to win the Democratic Party nomination and the general election in November.

Ocasio-Cortez was quick to knock down the Clintonite nonsense as well:

With respect to the Senator, strong, clear advocacy for working class Americans isn’t just for the Bronx.

Sen. Sanders won:
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Kansas
- Nebraska
- Wisconsin
- Indiana

We then lost several of those states in the general. What’s the plan to prevent a repeat? https://t.co/99K08qr7SH

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) July 1, 2018

Back to present-day Wisconsin.

In the Democratic Party Primary race for governor, the same mopes who have demonstrated feckless disregard are now trying to torpedo the most fervent reformer of police-state Wisconsin.

I'll say it again: I think some Democrats like losing.

Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez likes winning.

I won a nearly impossible race with:

- Not taking💰from corporate lobbyists
- Spending time with people that “experts” say don’t vote
- Sticking to a bold, ambitious working-class agenda
- A majority-volunteer team

Sometimes, the right thing to do *is* the winning thing to do. pic.twitter.com/1fq9nbMJAS

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) July 2, 2018

National Democratic Party Looks to Sabotage Blue Wave — Targets Progressives, Sanders and New Voters

Democratic Party opposition to Bernie Sanders is
bizarre, and like Hillary Clinton is a disease from
which there is no cure.

Madison, Wisconsin — Lessons learned for the Democratic Party's 2016 elections for 2018 appear to include 'engineer Hillary Clinton clones, and attack Bernie Sanders and progressives.'

This is not a winning strategy.

In Texas, national Democrats are backing an anti-worker Republican, Joseph Kopser, against a popular ex-math teacher and grassroots activist, Mary Wilson, in the May 22 primary election, (Jilani, The Intercept).

If it seems crazy for national Democrats to be backing Republicans in a Democratic primaries, we should consider it's not much crazier than rigging the 2016 Democratic Primary for Hillary Clinton who promptly lost to the lunatic now in the White House.

Hillary Clinton trumpeted her amassed superdelegates in August 2015, telling Democratic Primary voters the race is over, (Halperin, Epstein, Aug. 28, 2015; (BloombergPolitics)), months before the Iowa Caucuses and 11 months before the July 2016 Democratic Party Presidential Convention.

In New York, Hillary Clinton this weekend has endorsed the odious Andrew Cuomo against Cynthia Nixon, endorsed by Our Revolution, in the Sept 13 primary election.

National Democrats are pushing a message progressives must be stopped at the party primary level.

Yesterday, NBC's Meet the Press featured a long interview with Bernie Sanders, reported on by Cameron Cawthorne in the Washington Free Beacon.

Sanders was interviewed by Chuck Dodd who ask about the progressive-Democratic Party divide:

'What do you say to national Democrats who say be careful of this nominating folks who are too progressive.'

'I think that they are wrong, and I think they are misreading where the American people are at,' Sanders said. 'You know, Chuck, many of the issues that I campaigned on two years ago—issues like Medicare for All, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, taking on the pharmaceutical industry, making public colleges and universities tuition free, legalizing marijuana—a few years ago those were seen as radical, fringy ideas.'

Sanders, who caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate, claimed that a majority of the American people now support those ideas, including an 'overwhelming percentage of Democrats.'

'I think what candidates all over the country are now beginning to understand is that it is more important to reach out to the people in your community, working people, the middle class, lower-income people, rather than just worry about what wealthy campaign contributors want you to say,' Sanders said.

'I think that's not only good public policy; I think that's good politics, and I think many of those candidates will win, because you are going to see voter turnout go up and a level of excitement that conservative Democrats don't raise,' Sanders added.

The DCCC has come under scrutiny from progressives and even more centrist Democrats during the 2018 election cycle for meddling in Democratic primaries across the country and choosing establishment Democrats for their 'Red to Blue' program. The organization has also come under fire for pressuring progressive candidates to drop out of highly contested races.

In particular, the DCCC targeted Texas Democratic congressional candidate Laura Moser by publishing opposition research against her on its website. While the DCCC received backlash from members of the media and Democratic activists, including former Obama administration staffers, the group stood by its strategy. That strategy backfired in March when Moser qualified for a May 22 primary runoff.

No messages from national Democrats saying, 'you know what? Bernie Sanders is right and we should listen.'

From Meet the Press:

ICYMI: @SenSanders joins #MTP to discuss "electability" for progressive candidates in 2018 and why he thinks they encourage voter turnout. https://t.co/GNj8blk9Bg

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 21, 2018

See the video of Bernie Sanders at Meet the Press here.

Transcript of Bernie Sanders May 20, 208 appearance on Meet the Press here.

Bernie Sanders Calls for Progressives' Election as Means to Defeat Trump

Will the Democratic Party establishment wake up and work for progressives in this Blue Wave year?

Democratic primaries in the coming weeks will tell, including in key states Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Ohio

In Ohio, Dennis Kucinich (with Tara Samples) is running for the Democratic Party's nomination for governor. The election is May 8.

Kucinich is backed by Our Revolution, a non-profit progeny of Bernie Sanders' 2016 run for the presidency. In a rational political culture, Our Revolution's endorsement would give the primary election to Kucinich.

The failed War on Drugs has destroyed communities, filled prisons and cost taxpayers millions.

More and more states are doing their part to restore sense, compassion and fairness to their criminal justice systems. It's time Ohio did the same. #OHGov https://t.co/ggMQ0dnEjr

— Dennis Kucinich (@Dennis_Kucinich) May 1, 2018

Tune in next Tuesday night at MSNBC to watch the results come in.

Pennsylvania

In Pennsylvania, Bernie Sanders has made three endorsements—John Fetterman for Lieutenant Governor, Greg Edwards for Congress, and Jess King for Congress. (The race for governor is widely seen as a likely win for Democratic incumbent Tom Wolfe).

The Pennsylvania election is May 15.

From a fundraising email from Bernie Sanders:

If we are going to defeat right-wing Republicans in 2018 and 2020, we need to win in states that Trump won, like Pennsylvania. And, in my view, the only way we win in those states is by supporting progressive candidates who have the guts to defend working-class families - white, black, Latino, Asian American, Native American - and take on the power and greed of the billionaire class.

Here's some very good news. In Pennsylvania there are three strong progressive candidates who can win their primary fights and win the general election.

As you know, Donald Trump represents something we have never seen before in the history of the United States. It is not just that he represents the interests of the wealthy and powerful. It's that we have never had a president with more authoritarian tendencies than him.

The 2018 midterm elections will be long remembered as a pivotal moment in American history because, if we are successful, we can put an end to the disastrous Trump agenda. If we are not, we will have at least two more years of a rapid shift toward authoritarianism, the further normalization of corruption and the continued rise of oligarchy.

But we cannot defeat Trump and the Republican Party with the same playbook, or by supporting the same kind of candidates long favored by the political establishment and financial elite. That is how we got to where we are today.

That is why I am traveling to Pennsylvania later this week to support three strong progressive candidates: John Fetterman for Lieutenant Governor, Greg Edwards for Congress, and Jess King for Congress. Their primaries are on May 15, and they need your help now. So here is the part where I ask:

This is our chance to elect three great progressives who will help lead the fight against Donald Trump and the dangerous Republican agenda. They need our help to win in Pennsylvania.

Our job in 2018 is to take on and defeat Trump's authoritarianism, xenophobia, racism, sexism, homophobia and religious bigotry. But we can only do that if we run candidates who can rally the American people around an agenda that works for them, not the billionaire class.

For more than a decade now, John Fetterman has been an outstanding progressive leader in Pennsylvania. From early in his career he has stood with the working families of the state as he advocated for a $15 per hour minimum wage, Medicare for all, marriage equality and ending the failed war on drugs. He has been an outspoken defender of women’s health, immigrant rights, racial justice and LGBTQ equality.

For the past 25 years, Greg Edwards has worked tirelessly to organize for justice in health care, education and economic dignity. The powerful grassroots movement behind Greg Edwards is championing Medicare for all, universal pre-k, debt-free college and raising the minimum wage, and he is living his values of unwavering inclusion by building the diverse coalition Democrats need to win in his district.

Jess King has seen firsthand how the biggest corporations have hurt workers and squashed competition. In Congress, she will work to pass Medicare for all, rein in Wall Street, break up corporate monopolies, and support the real job creators: small businesses in our local economies.

These are three great candidates you can be proud to support. Candidates like John, Greg and Jess will help us stop Trump while ushering in an era of strong progressive change in this country. Thank you for supporting them. They need our help.

In Solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

Trump Shutdown Continues as White Supremacist-in-Chief Goes MIA

Hundreds of thousands marched against fascism across
America over the weekend, (Twitter).

White supremacist messaging accompanies the Trump shutdown

Updated - President* Trump looks like someone who hates football and got stuck at a Super Bowl party where he fails at hiding his contempt for the game beyond railing against non-whites he sees on TV.

America's leading white supremacist achieved his shutdown and his desired state of crisis.

Now, Trump and white supremacists charge those opposing government by racist spasm are complicit in murder for opposing Trump and the White Party, and our great military.

The stench of fascism is overwhelming. Every journalist should be rereading Norman Cohn and Milton Mayer.

The White House and its collaborators dished out racist messages over the weekend charging that more non-whites are pouring into our country to kill us as the abschaum, (anti-NAZIs), forces accumulate support among disloyal Americans.

But Trump would prefer not to engage beyond Tweeting; so he lets the openly racist and uber-nationalist Stephen Miller take point.

Reports NBC News this morning:

In the 56 hours and counting since the federal government has been shut down, President Trump hasn’t held a public event and isn’t scheduled to have one today. He hasn’t spoken with reporters or even left the White House. And he hasn’t been a real player in the negotiations to reopen the government.

Bottom line: Trump, who campaigned for the presidency on his deal-making skills, has been missing in action. 

All Trump can do is emit words.

This lunatic cannot think on his feet and cannot hold coherent positions over time beyond racist hate.

So we have the White Party demonizing non-whites as most of the country looks on in disgust at Republicans' gutting anything serving the 99 percent.

Fascists, incompetents, and lunatics are running our country after creating the budgetary crisis.

Bernie Sanders, the leading voice in Congress against the Trump regime, offers words of wisdom that the White House staff likely cannot comprehend.

Republicans:
✅ Control the House
✅ Control the Senate
✅ Control the presidency

Do your job. Run the damn government. Pass a budget that protects working families.

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 21, 2018

To have a president of the United States who says such outrageous nonsense, it is really sad. pic.twitter.com/Y52Eemwoae

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 21, 2018

Madison Mayor Paul Soglin Says He's in Wisconsin Gov Race—The Bernie Sanders Delegate Bets on Broad Reach

Madison, Wisc Mayor Paul Soglin

A Paul Soglin-Scott Walker race would be epic clash not seen since Feingold-Neumann, 1998

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin—Madison Mayor Paul Soglin says he'll enter the race for Wisconsin governor, making a formal announcement the second week of January, AP writer Scott Bauer reports, (Twitter).

Soglin's comments to Wisconsin media this week follow public statements made in June 2017 in which Soglin cited the success of Bernie Sanders' candidacy in Wisconsin's 2016 presidential primary as evidence independent candidates can win statewide office against the Democratic Party establishment.

Soglin was a Bernie Sanders delegate in 2016.

Sanders' performance with young, independent voters combined with appeal in the northern two-thirds of the state is cited by political observers as a formula for defeating the incumbent Scott Walker.

The right to vote is key in elections, a truism that escapes notice in much of Wisconsin's political culture.

Under Soglin's administration, Madison has recognized the right to vote, as Walker has worked to obstruct the right to vote.

This sets Soglin apart from the field where support for the right to vote is not a defining feature in stated policy objectives or campaign commitments thus far.

Candidates for the Democratic Party nomination are lining up fast as Walker is seen as a vulnerable incumbent.

Soglin will become the ninth major candidate declaring against Gov. Scott Walker, (R), who formally announced on Nov. 5.

"The other highest profile Democratic candidates for governor are: state Superintendent Tony Evers; state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, of Alma; state Rep. Dana Wachs, of Eau Claire; former state Rep. Kelda Roys, of Madison; statewide firefighter union leader Mahlon Mitchell; former state party chairman Matt Flynn; Milwaukee businessman Andy Gronik; and political activist Mike McCabe," reports the Wisconsin State Journal.

In the 2014 Democratic Party primary campaign, the state Democratic Party successfully discouraged candidates from running for office, a strategy that failed.

Today's AP report by Scott Bauer was augmented by the State Journal with silly facts.

Soglin is counting on social media to reach Wisconsin voters who care about public policy more than the fact Soglin has a mustache.

Writes Soglin this week:

I need your help. In a few weeks I plan to formally announce my candidacy for governor of Wisconsin. Social... https://t.co/2PagvkqBhs

— Paul Soglin (@Paulsoglin) December 26, 2017

Reports Abigail Becker in The Capital Times: "Soglin said Wednesday he will make an official announcement in the second week of January."

As noted in Mal Contends, a Paul Soglin-Scott Walker race would be an epic clash of cultures pitting an intellectual pragmatist with genuine vision in municipal policy, and roots in the Civil Rights Movement against a religious fundamentalist who is vindictive against swaths of the state opposing authoritarian rule, and has worked to transfer public resources of the Badger state to billionaires and special interests.

Soglin brings a large base of support to the 2018 race, critical to winning in a large field in the Primary.

In June, Republicans ridiculed Soglin's work for citizen action in the Civil Rights Movement, the environmental movement and anti-war movement as "left-wing."

Voter turn-out in the 2014 general election was some 57 percent.

Madison Wisc Mayor, Paul Soglin, Eyes Challenge to Scott Walker for Gov

Paul Soglin, Madison, Wisconsin Mayor

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — The political world in Wisconsin was treated to news this weekend hitting early Summer like a bomb.

Madison, Wisconsin Mayor Paul Soglin said this weekend he is considering running for governor in 2018, citing specifically the success of Sen. Bernie Sanders, (I-Vermont), in winning Wisconsin in the 2016 presidential primary, (Sommerhauser, Wisconsin State Journal).

Soglin made his comments to the Wisconsin State Journal at the state Democratic Convention held in Madison.

Soglin would bring his spanning-decades administration of America's most livable city, an unemployment rate of some two percent, and a city remaining the Athens of the Midwest through Wisconsin's lost decade of 2011-precent.

A Soglin-Walker race would be an epic clash of cultures pitting an intellectual pragmatist with genuine vision in municipal policy and roots in the Civil Rights Movement against a religious fundamentalist who is vindictive against entire swaths of the state who oppose his authoritarian rule, and has made giving public resources of the Badger state to billionaires a center of adminstration.

Reports WISC-TV:

Soglin said that Madison's economic growth could be a focal point in his potential run for governor.  He said Walker takes credit for Wisconsin's job growth, despite much it occurring in Dane County.

'Almost two-thirds of all the jobs that have been created since Gov. Walker and I both took office in 2011 have been here in the Madison metropolitan area,' Soglin said.

The longtime mayor also pointed to accomplishments on homelessness, affordable housing and transportation.

'In the northern and western parts of the state, they've got the same challenges that we've dealt with here,' Soglin said. 

Economic growth, good schools, civil rights and Bernie Sanders. Sounds like the foundation for a place to call home.

Observers contacted this morning handicapping a Soglin-Walker race say the numbers are there for Soglin,

Paul Ryan, Republicans Are Against HealthCare, It's That Easy

Never has a domestic political issue beckoned so brightly for decent Americans as the Republican Party's attack on healthcare.

Here is an issue on which the good guys can finally win.

Healthcare as an political issue should make Republicans anathema to the electorate to a degree that California Republicans became the Hate Party after promoting the infamous, racist Proposition 187 in 1994, (CNN).

Paul Ryan and the Republicans face similar political waters should Democrats and progressives competently push a pro-healthcare message and legislative agenda.

Republicans love the idea of healthcare for themselves. As for Americans, well, healthcare is an earned privilege and not a right, Republicans believe unanimously.

The religious right follows along with some version of Jesus is against Medicare for all and the health insurance industry is going to heaven.

One hopes every opportunity to extol the virtues of healthcare is seized upon by the Dem Party pols and progressives, particularly Wisconsinites disgusted by Scott Walker, Paul Ryan and what in past decades would see Republicans devastated by their perverse anti-healthcare commitment.

Bernie Sanders has been touting MediCare for All of course, sounding a sentiment widely shared among the population.

Will the corporatist, neo-libs get on board?

Trump Cultivates Strongman Image to Handle Complicated Decision-making by Surprise

They Thought They Were Free,
by Milton Mayer
 “What happened here was the gradual
habituation of the people, little by
little, to being governed by surprise;
to receiving decisions deliberated in
secret; to believing that the situation
was so complicated that the
government had to act on information which
the people could not understand, or so
dangerous that, even if the people
could not understand it, it could not
be released because of national security.
And their sense of identification
with Hitler, their trust in him,
made it easier to widen this gap
and reassured those
who would otherwise have
worried about it.”
--from Chapter 13,
“But Then It Was Too Late”

Making America Scream Again, Genocide-capable and Eyeing Islam in Defense of Liberty

When Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Sec. Hillary Clinton debated in Milwaukee last February, Sanders was explicit in rejecting the Henry Kissinger school of societal destruction, in opposition to Clinton's stated admiration for, and friendship with Kissinger (Mal Contends), (Washington Post).

Said Sanders, "Henry Kissinger was one the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this county. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. ... So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger."

Kissinger and Nixon worked to "make the [Chilean] economy scream," engineering the 1970s coup establishing a fascist Pinochet as dictator, who presided over the torture and murder of 10,000s (Democracy Now), among other work resulting in several near-genocides of the 1970s.

Near genocides, that is torturing and killing 100,000s of human beings and destroying societies, and "atrocities management," which is always necessary.

The point is the Bannon-Trump ambitions to sow chaos in the political culture is typical of American presidential administrations though the large-scale targets have been foreign countries, and with exceptions not the American public, the prime target of the Trump adminstration.

Trump himself has for years made explicit he is working for chaos and destruction in the political culture (Schwartzman, Johnson, Washington Post), methodically working.

It's not logically necessary that a political campaign/psych warfare operation imposing chaos will implement policy and pursue action imposing chaos, but the malignant psychopaths who inflict are not often healed by assuming public office.

Write Paul Schwartzman and Jenna Johnson in the Washington Post in Dec. 2015:

He referred to Mexicans as 'rapists,' questioned Sen. John McCain’s status as a war hero, ridiculed the physical appearance of his opponents, falsely claimed that “thousands” in New Jersey cheered as the World Trade Center fell and, this week, called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.

Despite predictions that such searing, divisive rhetoric and the resulting outcry would cripple his campaign, Donald Trump’s insults and controversial proposals have propelled him to the forefront of the 2016 presidential race—and kept him there.

And while it may seem like a lurching, chaotic campaign, Trump is, for the most part, a disciplined and methodical candidate, according to a Washington Post review of the businessman’s speeches, interviews and thousands of tweets and retweets over the past six months.

When Donald Trump talks and acts these first two weeks of his administration, he's not explaining his position about a public issue.

Trump is sowing chaos, attacking the norms of our Constitutional republic such as freedom of religion, freedom of the press, due process and equality under the law.

If Trump actually were to read, the New York Times explains this morning the "escalating crisis," induced by Trump's Muslim ban and firing the acting attorney general, Sally Q. Yates, last night (Michael D. Shear, Mark Landler, Matt Apuzzo and Eric Lichtblau, New York Times).

Reports of escalating crises are music to Trump.

We first must realize the scope of the crisis Trump knows.

Most Republicans want an authoritarian state and love the idea of imprisoning, torturing and killing human beings, including Americans, after dislocating the Constitutional niceties and human rights concerns of the snowflake. So Trump will not be opposed in meaningful ways by Republicans.

The stakes are high and rising.

White supremacists, (which are the same as white nationalists), have found in a friend in Trump's administration, the Republican Party and the normally functioning institutions of modern American foreign policy. Just a little engineering and adept project management are necessary to achieve the desired outcomes of the lunatics.

From Josh Harkinson in Mother Jones:

The Trump administration has insisted since Sunday that the president's executive order banning travel to the United States from seven predominately Islamic countries 'is not a Muslim ban.' But as Mother Jones first reported in a series of investigations starting last summer, the two top Trump advisers who reportedly crafted the immigration crackdown—Stephen Bannon and Stephen Miller—have a long history of promoting Islamophobia, courting anti-Muslim extremists, and boosting white nationalists.

For nearly a year before stepping down as the CEO of Breitbart News to lead the Trump campaign, Bannon hosted a SiriusXM radio show, Breitbart News Daily, where he conducted dozens of interviews with leading anti-Muslim extremists. Steeped in unfounded claims and conspiracy theories, the interviews paint a dark and paranoid picture of America's 3.3 million Muslims and the world's second-largest faith. Bannon often bookended the exchanges with full-throated praise for his guests, describing them as 'top experts' and urging his listeners to click on their websites and support them.

One of Bannon's guests on the show, Trump surrogate Roger Stone, warned of a future America 'where hordes of Islamic madmen are raping, killing, pillaging, defecating in public fountains, harassing private citizens, elderly people—that's what's coming.' ...

It is an open question whether Trump's pivoting to genocide would invoke majority support among the American population, but Bannon and Miller cannot wait to find out.