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Bernie Sanders to push for government-funded healthcare and abolition of private insurance

Senator Bernie Sanders is relaunching his push for a government-funded healthcare system, but the move could further divide Democrats on a key issue as the party seeks to regain its footing at the state and national levels.

While defending Obamacare – which Republicans unsuccessfully tried to dismantle in July – the Vermont independent declared that the way forward in the long-term was a “Medicare-for-all” single-payer system, a federally administered programme that would abolish the role of private insurers in basic healthcare coverage.

Single-payer healthcare is a system in which the government, generally through taxes, covers basic healthcare costs for all residents regardless of income, occupation or health status.

“Medicare-for-all …will be saving middle-class families substantial sums of money, and it will be guaranteeing health care to every man, woman, and child in this country,” Mr Sanders, who caucuses with the Democrats, told CNN.

People can make of this what they wish:

Overcoming the Democrats’ civil war: We need both Kamala and Bernie, and everything in between

https://youtu.be/Mm3AikRynW8

Democratic candidates for governor address Flint issues at UM-Flint forum

When asked their major priorities, each candidate listed their first goals as governor.

Whitmer said she would fix the water problems in Flint, invest more in education, defend the Medicaid expansion in Michigan, and bring more and better paying jobs to the state. She emphasized her political experience as a state lawmaker.

El-Sayed said he would limit outside money in politics, bring greater transparency to government, improve the health care system in Michigan, create a program to improve the state’s infrastructure and end gerrymandering in the state.

Thanedar said he would like to make higher education more affordable, create a single payer health care system and develop plans to improve Michigan’s roads, bridges and water systems.

Cobbs’ stated his goal is to improve education on all levels, rebuild Michigan’s infrastructure and reform Michigan’s tax policy to make sure that major corporations paid their fair share of taxes.

Radical millennials are a climate force to be reckoned with

To win the Senate in the 2018 midterms, Democrats need to defend 25 seats and pick up an additional three. “The Senate map is horrifically bad for the party,” Vox noted, while gerrymandering tilts the House “in favor of Republicans.” Democrats have also lost four special elections for Congress since Trump came to power.

But far-left politicians are winning local elections across the country. They include Chokwe Lumumba, the new 34-year-old mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, who vowed to build “the most radical city on the planet”; and a Black Lives Matter advocate as Philadelphia’s next District Attorney.

This trend “has major implications” for US progressive politics, according to the outlet McClatchy DC. Meanwhile, thousands of young people are joining activist groups such as Our Revolution, Indivisible and Democratic Socialists of America. “We’re still seeing a ton of action and organizing coming out of millennials,” Ahmed explained. “It’s going to have a ripple effect.”

If momentum persists, it’s plausible that millennials who expelled an oil and gas leader in Canada, turned a socialist into a serious challenger for US President and invigorated the UK’s far-left could block Trump’s climate agenda as early as 2018. With time quickly ticking down, it would mean a less screwed future for us all.

Joe Manchin Bashed At Liberal Netroots Nation Conference

Democrat Paula Jean Swearengin took aim at her primary opponent, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, during a Friday morning speech at the liberal Netroots Nation conference.

Swearengin gave a passionate speech criticizing Manchin during a Friday morning session that also featured a speech by Democratic National Committee deputy chairman Rep. Keith Ellison (D., Minn.).

“My name is Paula Jean, I am a coal miners daughter and granddaughter, I am running for the U.S. Senate, and I’m mad as hell,” Swearengin said.

“I will never sell my soul to the company store,” she added, after criticizing Manchin for his corporate donors.

Proud Mother Says Charlottesville Victim Heather Heyer ‘Was About Stopping Hatred’

Though there is much more to learn about the lone victim—identified by family and friends on Sunday as Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old paralegal from Virginia—who lost her life in the vicious attack in Charlottesville on a group of anti-racist demonstrators, the last public message she left behind offered at least a semblance of what inspired her to march against hate on Saturday: “If you not outraged, you’re not paying attention.”The well-worn but still evocative saying is the banner image on Heyer’s public Facebook page, receiving increased attention since her horrific death on Saturday afternoon when an individual—the police have arrested and charged 20-year-old James Fields Jr. with murder—intentionally slammed a car into people protesting a rally by neo-Nazi and white supremacists in the city.

On a GoFundMe page, established with the apparent blessing of Heyer’s family, a friend wrote, “Heather Heyer was murdered while protesting against hate. She is a Greene County native and Graduated from William Monroe High School. Her mother […] said ‘She died doing what was right. My heart is broken, but I am forever proud of her’.” The page—which had set a $50,000 goal—had already surpassed that amount as of this writing.

Charlottesville Was Not a “Protest Turned Violent,” It Was a Planned Race Riot

Isn’t it time for the media to be honest and call white supremacists the domestic terrorists that they are?

Critics Wary of Wisconsin Gov. Walker’s Plan to Push Through Foxconn Deal

Critics are raising doubts about Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s plan to bring the Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn to the state, by way of a $3 billion dollar investment to fund a huge new factory in the southeastern part of the state.

While the project has been heralded as an example of Walker’s commitment to bringing jobs to the state—and that of President Donald Trump, who has championed the planned deal and has called it “incredible”—economists and Wisconsin residents alike are questioning how much the state stands to gain from Foxconn’s arrival.

Residents of southeastern Wisconsin have expressed alarm at Walker’s attempt to push the deal through hastily, with little input from those who would be impacted by Foxconn’s presence. The proposal being considered by lawmakers includes provisions that would allow Foxconn to start building without a detailed analysis of its environmental impact, which is usually required of large projects. The company would also be exempt from state regulations that protect wetlands.

“Our government is willing to sacrifice things like the environment that are irreplaceable to the people, just for commerce,” said resident Bill Keyes in an interview with the New York Times. “These rules on the environment are hard-won victories, and they’re being ignored, like they don’t mean anything.”