Tips, Comments, Complaints, Etc!

Bernie Sanders Is Working With Democrats to Ensure Possible 2020 Presidential Bid Ends in Victory

After falling short with his insurgent 2016 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders is making moves in an apparent attempt to ensure that any 2020 White House bid would have a very different outcome.

Sanders has already begun working with members of the Democratic Party establishment, particularly in the area of foreign policy, according to a report from Politico on Monday. The independent from Vermont based his 2016 campaign on progressive domestic issues, giving far less attention to global affairs.

…

What will perhaps raise most eyebrows, though, is his closer collaboration with the sort of establishment Democrats that he has long rallied against. Sanders has repeatedly criticized the party for being too beholden to Wall Street and big business, and for losing touch with working Americans. And he has steadfastly refused to give up his status as an independent.

At the same time, he and his ideas have been increasingly welcomed into the inner sanctums of the party since his defeat to Clinton last year and her subsequent loss to Donald Trump. Following the election, he was appointed as “outreach chairman” for Senate Democrats. It is in that capacity that Sanders’s recent moves have been made, according to a senior adviser.

“He is now in a very different position than he’s ever been in before. He’s just stepping into the role,” Ari Rabin-Havt told Politico. “Let’s be clear: He’s in charge of outreach for the caucus. So when people say he’s doing a better job of reaching out? Well, yeah, he’s doing his job. This is a new phase of his career.”

Still, many of his allies also told Politico that Sanders’s latest steps mark a determination to ensure that, if he does run in 2020, his campaign will have a far more solid foundation and wider backing than in 2016.

Bernie Sanders, Ben Jealous to hold Medicare-for-all rally in Baltimore

Democrat Ben Jealous will pitch his plan for a state-based universal health care program next Wednesday during a Baltimore rally with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has pushed a similar “Medicare for all” plan in Congress.

Jealous, the former head of the NAACP who is running for governor, has promised a Maryland plan that would provide health insurance to every state resident.

His campaign did not provide details Monday on how the plan would work or how to pay for it, saying that would be released shortly before the 7:30 p.m. rally Dec. 6 at the Notre Dame of Maryland University’s campus.

..

Jealous has embraced several of the progressive policies championed by Sanders, including a $15-an-hour minimum wage and a call to reduce mass incarceration.

The Jealous campaign said the plan for universal health care will build on Maryland’s all-payer system, which sets universal rates for hospital services statewide. Maryland is the only state in the country with such an all-payer system of uniform, regulated hospital services.

New Study Shows How Taxing Rich Saves Lives, While Trump’s Tax Plan… Kills

A new study looking at potential health impacts of tax proposals suggests the current Republican proposal in Congress being backed by President Donald Trump is exactly the opposite of what is needed if lawmakers want a policy that can reduce the total number of Americans that die each year.

Given GOP tax proposals making their way through Congress, professor Daniel Kim, who studies public health at both Northeastern University and Paris Descartes University in France, says that “it is critical that policymakers consider the potential public health implications of these tax reforms.”

For the study, published Monday in the journal Preventive Medicine, Kim compared current law with tax proposals put forth by then-candidates for the 2016 presidential election Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. He also looked at a modified Sanders plan that includes a higher marginal tax rate of 75 percent for those with incomes above $500,000—a rate that is “not without precedent,” Kim writes, noting the time periods 1964 to 1981 and 1944 to 1963. He also looked at a modified Sanders plan that combined the higher tax rate with redistribution of revenue from the highest three tax brackets to households with after-tax incomes of less than $40,000.

“The take-home message from this study,” said Kim, “is that policies that both substantially raise federal income tax rates and redistribute tax revenue appear needed if we want to see big reductions in the total numbers of Americans that die each year. Current tax proposals through the House and Senate fall well short of these top rates and do not include redistribution.”

Ted Cruz vs Bernie Sanders: Round 3

The runners-up for the White House in 2016 are going to battle once again on national television this week.

U.S. Sens Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders are once again taking to CNN to do a live national debate, but this time they will have reinforcements. On Tuesday, Sen. Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Washington state Democrat, will join Cruz and Sanders for another debate on tax reform, this time aimed more specifically at the Republican tax cut plans being debated now in Congress.

In October, Cruz and Sanders also debated tax cuts during a CNN debate, but that was when the Trump Administration had just outlined broad plans without many specifics that have emerged since then. In that debate, Cruz stressed that Republicans in Congress must pass tax reform to live up to the campaign promises for the last few years.

..

Cruz and Sanders also went at it in another debate on CNN over health care earlier this year that was a big ratings hit for CNN.

The string of debates have given Cruz and Sanders a national audience even after both lost their respective bids for president in 2016.

Tuesday’s debate starts at 8 p.m. CST on CNN with anchor Jake Tapper and chief political correspondent Dana Bash moderating.

Longtime advocate for immigration reform to retire from house

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., a longtime advocate for comprehensive immigration reform and strident critic of the Trump administration, is set to announce he is retiring from Congress on Tuesday, according to multiple Democrats familiar with the decision.

Calls to the congressman were not answered Monday night. His top spokesman, Doug Rivlin, declined to comment.

Gutierrez held an event in Chicago on Monday alongside Mayor Rahm Emanuel and is slated to hold a news conference in Chicago on Tuesday morning.

The 63-year-old congressman has served his Chicago district since 1993 and is a senior member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

A Puerto Rican, he has been a lead proponent in recent weeks of providing federal aid to storm-ravaged Puerto Rico.

He also has been arrested this year outside Trump Tower in New York protesting the president’s strict immigration enforcement policy.

But Gutierrez also was among the harshest critics of former President Barack Obama, whom he called the “deporter in chief” for ordering immigration agencies to deport hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants.

Keystone XL operator asks Nebraska to reconsider after state approves alternative pipeline route

TransCanada Corp, the Canadian-based company that owns the Keystone pipeline, is asking the Nebraska Public Service Commission to reconsider its approval of an alternate route for the Keystone XL pipeline instead of the route preferred by the energy company.

After last week’s decision, Russ Girling, TransCanada’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement that a careful review was underway to determine how the new route would “impact the cost and schedule of the project.”

On Monday, TransCanada said it is seeking further clarification from the commission about its approval of the alternative route, which adds an additional pumping station and five miles to the company’s preferred route. TransCanada has said the alternative route approved by the commission is more expensive, and that it believes the route it prefers is in the public interest of the state.

..

A Reuters report this week found the existing Keystone pipeline, which runs 2,147 miles from Alberta, Canada to Texas, has leaked more oil, more frequently than what the company predicted in its initial risk assessment.

Cleanup for that Nov. 16 spill is still underway, according to TransCanada, which wrote on Nov. 24 that “air quality monitoring continues regularly without concern and there have been no water issues or suspected risks to water wells.” The company, which shut down part of the pipeline after the spill, has recovered 44,730 gallons of oil so far.

Keystone pipeline to resume transporting oil Tuesday

Nearly two weeks after crews shut down a large pipeline in northeast South Dakota, oil shipments will resume Tuesday.

The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration reviewed and approved the repair that workers from pipeline owner TransCanada made, clearing the company to put the line back in service, according to a TransCanada news release.

The company will operate the pipeline at a reduced pressure starting Tuesday, “to ensure a safe and gradual increase in the volume of crude oil moving through the system,” officials said.

I’ll have to read some more but… I’ve heard about the spill, heard about the clean-up, and now am hearing about the reopening, somewhere along the way I seem to have missed the cause?

Ohio EPA: Rover Pipeline spill leaks 200 gallons of drilling fluid into Black Fork

Only a few months after the Rover Pipeline was given permission by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to continue drilling construction at certain Ohio locations, five more spills have taken place, three close to home for Ashland and Richland County residents.

In addition, on Wednesday, Rover Pipeline plans to host “check presentation events,” including one that will take place in Mansfield. Each county’s emergency management department will receive $10,000.

In the latest incident, the company’s construction activity caused 200 gallons of bentonite-based drilling fluid to be released into a tributary of the Mohican River near the Ashland-Richland County border in Milton Township, according to a press release from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

..

“In addition to the unacceptable number of new violations that Rover has caused in a matter of a few weeks, I am particularly concerned with the facts surrounding the IR (inadvertent return) that occurred on Nov. 16, 2017,” director Craig Butler, of the Ohio EPA, said in a letter to the Rover Pipeline.

“The IR involved drilling slurry that daylighted just under the water line within the Black Fork Mohican River and was located 1-foot from the river bank.”

The incident is Rover’s 19th notice of environmental violations in Ohio this year and the fifth since September when FERC allowed drilling to resume at certain locations, the EPA reported.

With Tax Hikes for Working Class, CBO Shows Senate GOP Plan ‘Steals From Poor, Gives to Rich’

In addition to raising the deficit by an estimated $1.4 trillion over the next ten years, Americans making less than $75,000 will see a tax hike under the Senate Republican tax plan, while those making over $100,000 would be rewarded with tax cuts, a new analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) finds.

The report further belies the GOP’s claim that the proposal will “strengthen the middle class.”

The analysis, released Sunday, shows that taxpayers making up to $30,000 will see their tax burden increase by 2019. By 2021, that extends to those making $40,000 and under. In 2027, those making up to $75,000 would see a tax hike. Taxpayers making over $100,000, in contrast, would receive cuts at all the time points listed.

According to Ben Wikler, Washington director for MoveOn.org, “This fact won’t flip a single GOP vote. But your activism could.”

Scores of actions aimed at targeting senators are slated for this week, with a vote expected Thursday or possibly earlier. UltraViolet, a group that advocates for gender equity and other progressive issues, is among those using the hashtag #TrumpTaxScam to highlight what they say is the essence of the GOP tax plan: “Steal from the poor. Give to the rich.”

Pipeline developers say delays in courtroom could result in big delay for construction

Lawyers for the Mountain Valley Pipeline say if there are delays in the federal court system, the entire project could be delayed by at least a year.

The pipeline developers wrote in a recent court filing that they need access to all the property no later than this coming Feb. 1 to comply with a window for tree clearing required by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“If MVP is unable to gain access to commence work on each respective deadline, construction of the entire MVP project may be delayed for as much as one year given that the window for tree clearing is limited to only a few months each year,” the lawyers wrote.

The Nov. 22 filing by Mountain Valley Pipeline is part of a federal lawsuit to gain eminent domain access to more than 100 properties in nine West Virginia counties.

..

“Scores of defendants have only recently been served and many apparently have still not been served,” wrote the lawyers for the property owners in a Nov. 15 filing.

“Plaintiff would have all defendants answer the complaint in this action, identify affirmative defenses, respond to a motion to expedite, respond to two motions for partial summary judgment and two motions for preliminary injunction, all without the benefit of discovery.”

How Can We Combat Wage Theft And Protect Immigrant Workers?

Wage theft, whichcosts America’s low-wage workers an estimated $50 billion each year, comes in different forms. An employer could keep customer tips instead of paying them out to workers, force employees to work off the clock without compensation, or illegally deduct the cost of uniforms or work tools from employees’ paycheck.

Chances are that you know someone who has experienced wage theft. Every year, millions of workers, many of them undocumented immigrants afraid to speak out, suffer from wage theft when employers or companies do not pay them what they are owed.

In fact, more than two-thirds of low-wage workers experienced wage theft in their previous workweeks in New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles, according to a 2009 study by the National Employment Law Project (NELP). In New York alone, the state’s Department of Labor in 2014 recovered $30 million in wages for 27,000 claimants – most likely a fraction of the actual wages stolen from hard-working New Yorkers that year.

Immigrant workers are particularly vulnerable to wage theft and unsafe working conditions because employers realize they will be reluctant to report violations out of fear of being reported to immigration authorities.
Their fear is justified. This past year, officers from Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) have shown up at labor dispute proceedings in California in what appear to be cases of employer retaliation against workers speaking out against labor violations. ICE has also contacted California state officials to ask for details about ongoing investigations into labor violations at several construction sites in Los Angeles. And although undocumented immigrants are often eligible for workers’ compensation, employers’ insurance companies are now reporting undocumented workers to ICE or arresting them for insurance fraud when they get hurt on the job.

As Trump Spikes Fear of Nuclear War, Hawaii to Bring Back Cold War Air Raid Sirens

With President Donald Trump showing little interest in sitting down at the negotiating table with North Korea—regarded by many in the U.S. and around the world as the best method for deterring nuclear development by Kim Jong-un’s government—Hawaiian officials are being forced to take precautions to make sure residents know what to do in the event of a nuclear attack.

At the beginning of next month, the state will begin testing the missile warning system it used during World War II and last tested during the Cold War.

“Hawaii is a likely target because we’re closer to North Korea than most of the continental United States,” said Vern Miyagi, administrator of the state’s Emergency Management Agency. “As we track the news and see tests, both missile launches and nuclear tests, it’s the elephant in the room. We can’t ignore it. People of Hawaii need to know what Hawaii is doing in preparation for this.”

The agency is reinstating the warning system amid Trump’s ongoing feud with Kim’s regime. North Korea ran nuclear tests and launched several test missiles into the Pacific Ocean earlier this year, and Trump responded to the tests with bellicose threats of “fire and fury” and a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in which he declared he would “totally destroy” the isolated country of 25 million people should Kim continue to develop its nuclear program.

Protesters Slam Trump Attempt to ‘Vaporize’ CFPB as Agency Power Struggle Begins

Already facing a lawsuit charging that his appointment to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is “unlawful,” White House budget director Mick Mulvaney was confronted with outraged protests on Monday as he arrived at CFPB headquarters for his first day as “acting director” of the agency—a title also claimed by Leandra English, the CFPB’s deputy director.

Mulvaney and English began jostling for position almost immediately after the workday began Monday morning, with both insisting that the law is on their side.

In an email to CFPB staffers, English wrote “[i]t is an honor to work with all of you,” signing the note “acting director.” Around two hours later, Mulvaney sent his own message to the agency’s 1,600 employees, imploring them to “disregard any instructions you receive from Ms. English in her presumed capacity as acting director.”

Weighing in on who has the proper authority to run the agency, former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.)—co-author of the 2010 legislation that brought the CFPB into existence—concluded that it is “clearly” English.

“When we wrote the law creating the CFPB, we deliberately tried to give it some protection from the normal political process,” Frank noted, arguing that such protections are necessary for an agency tasked with battling powerful Wall Street firms.

Voting at black colleges has tumbled. Can Dems fix the apathy in time for 2018?

Once prized fighters in the battle for voting rights, students at America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities dropped their guard in the 2016 elections.

Voter turnout among the estimated 300,000 students at HBCUs fell nearly 11 percent from 2012 to 2016, according to a national survey by the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education at Tufts University. The decline, while consistent with a fall off among black voters of all ages in 2016, was a sharp departure.

Certainly, the lower turnout reflected the absence of President Barack Obama from the Democratic ticket in 2016, a lack of enthusiasm for the new standard-bearer, Hillary Clinton, and a weakening of the longtime allegiance between the party and African-American youth. But the worst may be yet to come.

If historic trends hold, Democrats could see black voter turnout drop 30 percent in 2018, resulting in 5.2 million fewer African-American voters, according to a report by the non-partisan Voter Participation Center and Democratic pollster Celinda Lake.

..

“I don’t think there’s any fear of young Democrats leaving and joining the Republican Party. But what you do have to worry about is apathy when you’re taken for granted. Nobody wants to be taken for granted,” said Bakari Sellers, a resident fellow at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics.