The Progressive Wing

Tips, Comments, Complaints, etc!

After Daughter’s Tragic Death, Mother Begs for Single-Payer Health Care

More on Amy Vilela:

Amy Vilela believes her daughter was denied proper care due to her insurance status, and now wants a system not driven by profits

Current Health Care Fight Is The Latest Battle In A Lengthy War

Downtown Las Vegas Protest Part Of New Spirit Of Activism

Daughter’s death leads to lawsuit against Centennial Hills Hospital

“My 22-Year-Old Daughter Died Because She Told ER She Didn’t Have Health Insurance”: The Enduring Nightmare of America’s Health Care System

It looks good on him. He seems to have adapted to the comfort zone in DC rather quickly. I hope she takes him out.

Sanders talks Trump, Russia and healthcare on ‘The View’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Wednesday there is “very strong” evidence of the Trump campaign colluding with Russia, in an interview on “The View” Wednesday.
“I think what we have is some very strong evidence about the possibility of collusion,” Sanders said when asked if there is a smoking gun of collusion in the case of Donald Trump Jr. meeting with Russian lawyers during the 2016 campaign to procure opposition research on Hillary Clinton.
The Vermont Senator added that “what is important is that every American, that they believe this process is objective and it is fair.”
“Politics is ugly,” he said when asked if the allegations of collusion were politics as usual. “But,” he added, “presidential candidates do not have email chains with foreign governments who are talking about how they can elect you, and have dirt on your opponents. That is a clear violation of campaign finance law.”
The conversation also touched on healthcare and the GOP plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

Sen. Bernie Sanders: Donald Trump Jr.’s emails not ‘politics as usual’

Sanders meets puppy named after him on ‘The View’

jcitybone

I agree–a very smart pup.

Bernie Sanders Personally Thanks Every American Who Stood Up And Fought Back On Healthcare

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) used an appearance on ABC’s The View to thank every American who stood up, fought back, and refused to allow Republicans to take healthcare away from 22 million Americans.
Sanders said, “I want to personally thank millions of Americans who stood up and fought back and said that no, we’re not going to throw 22 million people in this country off of health insurance, cut Medicaid by $800 billion, defund Planned Parenthood, make it almost impossible for people with preexisting conditions to get affordable healthcare, and the American people say we’re not going to do that and give tax breaks to billionaires and large corporations. It appears that we have won that struggle right now.”

I’m going to write Bernie on his Senate page, and politely ask him to please stop stoking the cold war flames, to worry more about what the leaks say about our voting process and our primary process.

This is one area I’m disappointed in him. Still a Berner, though, still hoping for a 2020 Berner to vote for, Bernie or someone else. Just please not Biden.

orlbucfan

@pb4: how exactly is Bernie “stoking the cold war flames…”? He’s made linking world security to climate change a major issue. I don’t support everything he does. I also don’t think he’ll run again, but fingers and toes are x’ed that one of his younger supporters will.

By continually talking about Russia and “collusion”–this feeds into the whole neolibcon program of feeding ill will towards Russia, Syria, and Iran and feeds the MIC. I’m honestly surprised that he continues to do this. I suppose he almost has to when asked, as part of the Dem “leadership” team.

jcitybone

Well he believes there was collusion. There’s no reason that Bernie should stay silent on this issue. It’s not like it’s stopping him from pushing hard in other areas.

Sure, if he really believes that. I’m still disappointed. By pounding on Russia, we drive towards more misery. More people dead or starving. More jingoism when we need clear heads and addressing the real misery of the worlr.

And it’s not like we haven’t gone straight in for the head of a government that we don’t like and make sure that they are dead or in exile. We’ve rigged and allowed our elections to be rigged for a long time now, and continue to. And we’ll see just actually comes of this. Probably very little to nothing, b/c there’s not much there.

It’s beneath him, imho. We can continue to disagree on this, though. :O)

jcitybone

I don’t think one political party should collude with any foreign government to subvert the political process here. I would feel the same if the Republicans colluded with the French or British. Because our government does or has done similar things doesn’t make it ok when another country does it to us. It’s up to every country to put a stop to meddling of this kind and to punish its citizens who facilitate the meddling.

Sometimes “silence is golden” if you ask me.

Bernie Sanders on how to avoid war with North Korea

This article is part of a new series, A Chat with Bernie Sanders. The series will run abridged transcripts of episodes from The Bernie Sanders Show. The show seeks to be a place where people can learn about the progressive agenda.
In this first article in the series, Bernie Sanders talks to the former secretary of defense William J Perry, who served in the Clinton administration. The subject of their chat? North Korea.

Listen to the full show

The Circular Firing Squad Isn’t Amusing Anymore

I don’t agree with everything in this article but some of it’s true enough..

Democratic Party mainstreamers should stop claiming that they and they alone are pragmatic. (Or as a smug New York Times headline put it, “The Base Wants It All. The Party Wants to Win.”) That argument has long been highly debatable, but after 2016 it is delusional. They have controlled most of the candidate selection and most of the campaigns that have resulted in the weakest presence of Democrats in elective office since the age of silent movies.
At the same time, an intellectually honest left should stop insisting it has a monopoly on virtue or that both major parties are the same. This was not true in the 1960s, and—notwithstanding the frustrating limits of what the Clinton and Obama years accomplished in terms of progress on health care, the environment, the minimum wage, militarism, and civil liberties—millions of Americans had much better lives than would have been the case if Republicans has occupied the White House during the same time periods.
False choices are a luxury that must be jettisoned. It is neither rational nor helpful to ignore misogyny as a factor in the demonization of Hillary Clinton (and, for that matter, Nancy Pelosi). Sexism is still a thing. On the other hand, Obama and Clinton partisans need to acknowledge that the vast majority of Bernie Sanders voters were not motivated by his gender but by his articulation of positions that they felt were an inspiring departure from the constricted political playing field of recent years.

I did some research on the author of that article.

Danny Goldberg is an author and rock music industry veteran. He is president of Gold Village Entertainment, whose clients include Steve Earle and The Hives. Previously, he was president of Gold Mountain Entertainment (Nirvana, Bonnie Raitt), chairman of Warner Bros. Records, president of Atlantic Records, and vice president of Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song Records. He was also Zeppelin’s publicist in the early 70s and had his first break reporting on Woodstock for Billboard Magazine in 1969. He lives in New York City.
Born: July 4, 1950 (age 67)

I think that he is just trying to gin up interest in his new book. His background doesn’t exactly impress me for his incite.

He’s making an appearance at Netroots Nation next month. Just FYI.

Netroots Nation isn’t as influential as it used to be. Just sayin.

I’m making a point that he’s going to be there–I suspect he’s more centrist than progressive. But maybe better than PB & J or Ryan.

That nice! I want to win the lottery but it doesn’t mean that it will happen.

‘The People Deserve Better’: Watch Warren Rip Trump’s Union-Busting Labor Nominee

Raising alarm about the Trump administration’s ongoing war on organized labor at a time of stagnant wages and withering employee rights, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Wednesday drilled a top Trump labor pick for spending much of his career “making it harder for workers to join unions.”
Warren’s comments came during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing, as senators questioned Trump’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) nominees, Marvin Kaplan and William Emanuel.
Kaplan and Emanuel both ultimately advanced out of the committee, but not before Warren grilled Emanuel for his work on behalf of “one of the most ruthless union-busting law firms in the country”—Littler Mendelson—and concluded that “the American people deserve better.”
“I’m not at all convinced that working men and women can rely on him to stand up for their rights,” Warren said after reviewing Emanuel’s record. “I opposed his confirmation to the NLRB.”

https://youtu.be/6F_YBv0tca4

orlbucfan

Good one, Liz. Big reason why I support the Bernster! T and R to the usual subjects!!

Joining Single-Payer Chorus, Al Gore Says For-Profit System Had Its Chance

On the heels of what appeared to be Trumpcare’s final collapse on Monday and in the midst of growing grassroots demands for Democratic lawmakers to embrace a “bold” agenda, former Vice President Al Gore said at an event on Tuesday that he believes the United States should move toward a single-payer system that guarantees healthcare for every American.
“The private sector has not shown any ability to provide good, affordable healthcare for all,” Gore said at Borough of Manhattan Community College, where he was promoting his new climate change documentary. “I believe we ought to have single-payer healthcare.”

I was glad to see this from Gore.

Another FYI, he will be speaking at Netroots Nation, along with Keith Ellison and EW.

I saw he was having a town-hall of some kind on Climate Change on CNN in the near future but lost the article. Off to track it down!

THE CLIMATE CRISIS: A CNN GLOBAL TOWN HALL EVENT WITH FORMER VICE PRESIDENTAL GORE, MODERATED BY ANDERSON COOPER, AIRS AUGUST 1

CNN will host a one- hour global Town Hall with former Vice President and filmmaker Al Gore on Tuesday, August 1 at 9 p.m. ET, moderated by Anderson Cooper.
More than a decade after his documentary AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH was released, Al Gore will discuss his latest film – AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: TRUTH TO POWER, which dramatically presents Gore’s premise that we are close to a real energy revolution and his efforts to work with the current government on bringing change. Cooper and members of a live audience will discuss with Gore how efforts to solve the climate crisis in the US and around the world have been impacted by the Trump Administration’s actions on climate and identify the way forward in the climate movement.

Gore is promoting his new movie.

ya know, i’d vote for Gore, not that he’d ever run again.

and not Bernie? weird.

orlbucfan

The Bernster is promoting Gore’s movie. Just got done watching the FB discussion on the Sanders’ website.

Maybe Bernie will use August to complete his new forthcoming book. Moreover, perhaps he’d like to enjoy a little of his new summer place at Lake Champlain, now that he & Jane have room for almost all of their grandchildren and kids.

The Partisan Use Of Preemption Is Surging by Jim Hightower

We the People are being burgled. Again.
The latest hit is just the latest in a long string of political robberies, a nationwide crime wave being pulled off by moneyed elites and their political henchmen. With each heist, they haul off a little more of our democratic power: the ability of the working majority to have any real say in the corporate and governmental decisions that affect us.
The elites are master thieves, often plucking pieces of our power without us realizing it, until we try to use it and — phhttt — it’s gone. And yet another democracy-stealing tool has recently been fabricated and quietly distributed to profiteering corporations and right-wing ideologues throughout the country: PREEMPTION.
This concept has been around since Day One of our nation, contained in the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution and in similar clauses in state constitutions. It allows higher levels of government to intervene and overrule lower levels – the Feds can legally preempt state and local laws, and states can preempt city and county ordinances.
Obviously, this extreme power is fraught with danger, so it’s meant to be used sparingly and only to advance a very big public purpose like, for example, overriding state and local laws that officially sanction rank racial discrimination.

As Cities Raise Minimum Wages, Many States Are Rolling Them Back

State legislatures and city halls are battling over who gets to set the minimum wage, and increasingly, the states are winning.
After dozens of city and county governments voted to raise their local minimum wage ordinances in the last several years, states have been responding by passing laws requiring cities to abide by statewide minimums. So far, 27 states have passed such laws.
The latest example of this is in Missouri, where a state law will take effect next month, rolling back St. Louis’ $10-an-hour minimum wage ordinance passed earlier this year. That means thousands of minimum-wage earners in the city could go back to earning the state rate of $7.70 an hour.
Janitorial worker Cynthia Sanders now has a longer commute into St. Louis, having moved further out because the cost of living was too high and she needed more space to raise her three grandchildren. When the Missouri state law takes effect, she says her wages will decrease and she’ll have to cut back again.
“I’m just scared for everybody, because it’s a sad, sad situation, and I don’t understand how it’s legal,” Sanders says.

Republicans used to care about local rights. Hard to even remember those days. Or maybe they never really did.

Wisconsin Republican Party outraises Democrats

The Wisconsin Republican Party has nearly 50-times as much cash on hand as the state Democratic Party through the first six months of the year.
Reports filed this week with the state show Republicans ended June with more than $1.7 million in the bank. That compares with just $36,000 for Democrats.
The Republican Party reported raising nearly $2.2 million over the first six months of the year, compared with just over $600,000 for Democrats.

wi62

A lot of WI Dems are keeping their pockect books closed and for good reason.
1. The Dem party is out of touch with Wisconsinites overall. They have conceded the rural areas to the R’s and don’t bother.
2. A lot of Wisconsinites wont donate to a party that has left them behind and kept their good ole boy network in place. Putting some Berniecrats in places of power within the party can make a difference –that’s a no go.

Unfortunately the leadership of the party has just been re-elected despite their dismal performance.

Warnings as GOP Aims to Gut Protections for Endangered Species

Conservation groups are issuing warnings on Wednesday as Congressional committees in both chambers considered Republican-backed bills aimed at weakening the Endangered Species Act.
In the Senate on Wednesday, the Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing for the ironically named Hunting Heritage and Environmental Legacy Preservation (HELP) for Wildlife Act. And while its backers refer to it as the Sportsmen’s Bill, critics describe it as a Trojan horse specifically designed to undermine the species protection laws.