2/8 News Roundup & Open Thread – Bernie Sanders Is Ready to Rumble & More
Bernie Sanders Is Ready to Rumble
Bernie Sanders has seen himself on a mission since he started running for office in the 1970s, and he sees no reason to stop now. He’s thinks he’s dramatically changed the conversation over the past three years, and he feels he’s close to achieving his ultimate goal.
Plus, there’s Donald Trump.
When the president used his State of the Union speech on Tuesday to preview his own re-election campaign and warned against creeping socialism—Sanders was only encouraged. He’d love to take on Trump directly, and people around him think he’ll be able to use Trump’s threat to coalesce support in the primaries.
“Nothing unifies Democrats like being made a villain by Trump,” said one Sanders ally.
The Vermont senator has been huddling with staff in meetings and phone calls over the last few weeks, chewing over plans. Barring a surprise last minute change of heart, he will jump in for the 2020 race, convinced he can win, according to people familiar with his plans. His spokeswoman, Arianna Jones, did not return a request for comment on Sanders’s plans.
Last time, he didn’t get in until the end of April 2015. This time, the launch will be in February. He sees advantage in a much more crowded 2020 field. The left-leaning politics he campaigned on in 2016 have been broadly embraced in a progressive surge among Democrats, and Sanders has succeeded in diminishing the nominating power of so-called super delegates, the elected officials and party elders who help consolidate establishment power within the Democratic National Committee.
Sanders will likely announce an exploratory committee in the coming weeks, followed by a rally. One major early focus will be finding a campaign manager and other top-level staffers who are not white, and preferably not male, in light of his problems appealing to minority voters in 2016, and recent revelations of sexual harassment by lower level staffers in the 2016 campaign. Staff interviews have been quietly underway.
But a core team of advisers will return from 2016, spearheaded by his wife and closest adviser, Jane O’Meara Sanders.
..
Sanders has heard the argument that his stature would be diminished by running again if it doesn’t end with his winning the nomination. He’s heard the argument that he might split the progressive vote and allow a more moderate candidate to win, but that hasn’t moved him either. That’s not how Sanders thinks, people who know him point out.
“He understands what happens in the streets is what prompts actions in Washington,” said Vincent Fort, a former Georgia state senator who supported the last campaign and has been in touch with Sanders’ team about this campaign.
Tips, Comments, Complaints, Etc!
Happy Friday friends! Headed out the door for work but I have a few more links saved on my phone that I’ll post shortly.
PS: Im easily confused and thought the Nina lunch was this Sunday, when it is next Sunday, the 17th. Thankfully JD follows up on these kind of things.
PSS: If you work for Bernie and you are reading this.. hire me :D. But seriously.. if anyone knows who to contact, etc, etc.. please pass that info on.
If you work for Bernie, all of us here (lurkers, too) will tell that LD is smart, funny, works hard and long hours, and know his politics!!! You would truly be lucky to nab him.
And he is a true Berner!
Ditto. 🔥🔥🔥
I’d just take the bull by the horns and send him my resume. You have a good one.
Go ahead and do that LD you have nothing to lose by doing that.
A Green New Deal can give us the freedoms to allow humanity to flourish
Climate change in Tasmania, an island state of Australia
Does this sound like a war zone?
Tasmania is burning. The climate disaster future has arrived while those in power laugh at us
I mentioned “war zone” above for a reason.
The legal and political scholar, Carl Schmidt, defines a war to be an existential threat. Since WWII our military efforts have been police actions, not threats to our land. They were not wars.
Gaia is a threat.
Bruno Latour imagines a war between the earthbound and the people of Nature, those people who held that Nature was a stage for human actions.
Facing Gaia involves facing war. Gaia is an existential threat.
How soon, months, years, decades, how soon will it be clear that even the Green New Deal is just a very small step?
Have we been living in a utopia that like all utopia did not take into account all the other beings necessary for subsistence?
***
My sister has lived in Tasmania for 35 years. Her son, with a first name Forest, took my wife and I into a primitive rain forest. They live in Hobart and in that part of the island there is so much water that it is available to homes at no cost. The fires are in a different part of the island.
With the Green New Deal, Democrats Present a Radical Proposition for Combatting Climate Change
I would have liked to see judicial filibusters. If the public could see what some of those judges’ backgrounds are, they wouldn’t be there
Somewhere in this video (it was on in the background so I dont have a timestamp) its suggested that Bezos thinks a gov agency was used to obtain his texts:
On the other hand Theres a lot of reaching and likely wishful thinking coming from these pundits. All said and done though.. Bezos will own the NE before its all over.
Looks like the source could be Sanchez’s brother who has ties to Roger Stone.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/02/08/hes-studied-thousands-threatening-letters-now-hes-center-bezoss-blackmail-claims-against-tabloid/?utm_term=.f547d3ba7e8f
Well, the Trump organization has wide roots. NE is one of his bastions of support, and we all know Trump hates Bezos. Out of jealousy, I expect. Not that I have any love for Bezos, but he IS a better businessman than Dumpie.
Yeah I’m going to trust an article that uses Dean as the prime source for what progressives will do especially the so very hard hardcore ones. That being said, the article does have some interesting insights into where certain progressives and groups will fall. My take is that once Liz or Bernie are out, progressives will gravitate around the other.
https://news.yahoo.com/sanders-risks-getting-crowded-2020-090000577.html?bcmt=1
Warren has been running for ages (if youtube ads are a basis for such things) and even with her launch, etc… I dont know a single person in real life that is supporting her. Maybe things will change with time but Im far from certain.
Yeah I think she’s more popular up here in the NE. In any case, I don’t think progressive politicians like Jayapal or AOC are going to endorse Bernie until Warren is out of the race.
Oh Howie, stay complacent about how few of us there are, please. Trying to push the popularity. We see you.
Key West Bans Some Sunscreens to Protect Coral Reefs
Seems to me we need better labeling, and there’s an opportunity to make sunscreen lotions/sprays with more organic ingredients. The labeling, however, won’t happen under this Administration.
what is a person?
the trillions of microbes without which we would be dead in an instant?
and now this
Our Plastics, Our Selves
the article focuses on plastics in the seas but it has other stuff
looks like it is harder to ignore that we are earthbound, not humans on a stage of nature
at the same time to look back to ways of living of the past we also have to push forward with science to understand what is going on and then to politics to face reality
Following up on Subir’s DK article yesterday. It does show why AOC’s nomination to Oversight was so important. I’m sure she’ll have more interesting things to say on Financial Services too
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/02/c-span-aoc-ocasio-cortez-hearings
Illegitimate Supreme Court comes after New York City gun control law. Will only make the Court even more illegitimate in the eyes of the fervently gun control majority up here.
https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/01/22/politics/supreme-court-second-amendment/index.html
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/08/ocasio-cortez-not-phased-can-democratic-socialism-and-capitalism-coexist-question
Trump hiring undocumented people
“My whole town practically lived there’: From Costa Rica to New Jersey, a pipeline of illegal workers for Trump goes back years
Great campaign argument?
Woooo hoooo! Game on! Now that I’m working so much (started full time Wednesday—8 yr. old and 9 mo.) I won’t have much time, but I’ll have more small donations. :0)
I’ll take over for ya. I just quit my fulltime job. It was killing me. :o)
Congrats! 🎈🎉🎊
Bernie’s calling your name. 🌝🔥❤️
well,
Glenn’s article just up
Jeff Bezos Protests the Invasion of his Privacy as Amazon Builds a Sprawling Surveillance State For Everyone Else
One recalls when Dianne Feinstein got pissed after CIA hacked her Senate documents, but does not give a crap about the rest of us
Yeah, TOP has a few diaries up heralding Bezo’s defiance against the AMI group. I had similar feelings to the headline from the Intercept.
I give zero Fs about Bezos, but if Trump is using the National Enquiror to intimidate and blackmail reporters et al, that is a very bad thing.
Bezos goes to show what happens to guys – even billionaires, or maybe ESPECIALLY billionaires – who listen to the little head instead of the big one. He’s in Trump’s crosshairs, and put himself in a position to be blackmailed. Dumb.
Not only is Trump jealous of B’s success, and money, he’s enraged at WaPo most of the time. IMHO, WaPo is way too kind to him, but there you are. I really don’t think Bezos controls the editorial content, anyhow.
“ Alexa, not me!”
Split the progressive vote? He’d be the ONLY progressive running, as far as I can see. I don’t know enough about Castro, but he is never mentioned, and I don’t think he will last as long as O’Malley, who actually was progressive.
“… little bit …”??? LOL. I’m not at all certain Bernie can win the primaries. For sure the DNC will do all in its power to ensure Kamala or maybe Biden. But I think Bernie would beat Trump in a landslide (as he would have last time) if he is able to overcome the DNC and the army of Hilbots. Harris will go down in flames. I’m not sure she would even win the popular vote outside of California.
OTOH, the tribal warfare between the parties is so intense, and the devotion to Capitalism so great, I think the DNC would far prefer more Trump to a Sanders win. Railing against Trump seems to be a big fundraising gambit.
I wish that weren’t the case, but I believe there is some truth in what you are stating.
At least none of the Dem presidential candidates voted for this. Even Klobuchar and Beto. Who knows what Biden thinks
https://theintercept.com/2019/02/08/elizabeth-warren-was-right-new-law-is-already-making-banks-bigger/
Things will be totally different when Bernie announces this time.
How things have changed!
Some of you might remember this. If not it is certainly worth a view.
For some reason the video doesn’t seem to work but there is this one.
Not as good but you get the idea.
Check the date on the article. They have been scare mongering for a long time.
The date was 2002
— Alphonse Karr
(“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”)
Wow.
If true, so, so wrong.
In a somewhat related matter. ( the connection to DeVos)
Wimp.
Twitter is influencing me—briefer and meaner. 😜
LOL
Maybe Cindy McCain will get on this trafficking case:
It’s true. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2018/07/devos-linked-to-christian-adoption-agency-implicated-in-state-sponsored-kidnapping/
A newer story… https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2019/02/report-missing-migrant-children-being-funneled-through-christian-adoption-agency/
To be fair, DeVos isn’t making any money from this. Then again, she doesn’t need to. But the child trafficking, and that’s what it is, is real.
Oh, yikes! Check this out… https://bestcompany.com/adoption/company/bethany-christian-services (Read the reviews.)
All Bethany is, is a money-grubbing baby trafficker. Appalling.
Do they really think Jesus would do this?
Thanks for finding info.
We should do a poll today. Is the Bernster going to run? Yes. No. It will be cool to see the results. T and R, LD!! It is hitting the low ’80s. Not ready for summer and it’s not Valentines Day, yet!
Im around 85% percent leaning towards yes
I’m about the same because win or lose, I think he will see it as the best way to get his ideas out there and to keep the other candidates from slip sliding away.
His VP pick will be important, very important though.
Nina
I hope so. But we will have to wait and see.
Yes.
Jimmy squeezes in quite a few zingers in this short 3 min. video including a few at TOP.
Great one.
This is simply what she does to keep her big $$$$ donors happy.
Meanwhile people who could not pay for their own healthcare were paying for his with their tax money.
Facing opposition, Amazon reconsiders NY headquarters site, two officials say
Writing this from Grand Central Station on my Metro North train waiting to start the trip up the Hudson to Poughkeepsie.
https://www.vox.com/2019/2/8/18215774/green-new-deal-high-speed-train-air-travel
Of course we can.
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/21735/flight-attendant-union-labor-trump-shutdown-sara-nelson-strike
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/08/galvanize-local-organizing-medicare-all-nurses-union-kick-nationwide-barnstorms
No bill yet though. Kinda weird asking profs to call and text on trust alone. I know, Debbie Downer here.
Good stuff, here: https://www.thenation.com/article/matt-duss-bernie-sanders-foreign-policy-blob/
I subscribe to The Nation, so not sure if non-subscribers will find a paywall or not. But the article is about Matt Duss, Bernie’s foreign policy advisor. This guy is amazing, and he is just what Bernie needs to combat the “he has no foreign policy cred” argument.
(Sorry if it’s already been posted and I missed it.)
Duss could advise better on Venezuela.
I doubt that this crap will never end. They just can’t get over Hillary’s loss.
A reason to be kind to them, prolly unlike their awful bosses.
Disgusting!
https://prospect.org/article/hedge-funds-win-puerto-ricans-lose-first-debt-restructuring-deal
Let’s at least get Bernie and Corbyn in, and see if we can’t start doing something.
Auto spell does not know Corbin yet
Amy. Say it ain’t so!
Pramilla Jayapal rips on Acting AG Whitaker About Zero Tolerance Policy by DOG
HBO must have interests to guard. Dam. That’s all we need.
Why people don’t see this is beyond me. Way beyond.
Corey Booker sure can pull in large crowds.😏
I wonder if he can stick around long enough to syphon some votes from Harris?
LOL!
No way. He must’ve been trying to be clever, right?
Other than Obama (who probably won’t endorse), AOC’s endorsement will probably be the most crucial of the campaign. The only time I heard her talk about that was that she said she probably won’t endorse until the NY primary ( which is pretty late). Hopefully, that will change because in truth whose positions would be closer to her positions than Bernie’s
Maybe it is because they want to see him crash and burn for his past actions.😉😁
Everything will change when the candidates actually start to campaign and the debates start. These early polls are beyond meaningless
Well Susan and Bernie are not really on the same exact page. Bernie supported Hillary against Trump in 2016 and Susan did not. That being said there are a lot of people who love AOC and hate Bernie. Idiots
OMG. Is something wrong with me that I am laughing so hard I have tears?
No I bet there are many that would like to see that happen.😍😂
Another really funny one! Thanks
He is just biding his time until the right moment to enter the fray.

As soon as I figure out how.
I was glancing through my Bernie images and came across a similar one like was posted above. OOPS. It must be getting late.

Thanks. Nabbed it.