Tips, Comments, Complaints, Etc!

Bernie Sanders Is the Most Popular Politician in America, Poll Says

A new poll found that among all other notable American senators, representatives, and even the president, Bernie Sanders reigns supreme as the most popular politician in the nation—the only one a majority of voters on both sides of the aisle view favorably, the Hill reports.

The Harvard-Harris Poll—an online survey conducted from August 17 to 22—culled responses from 2,263 voters who lean both left and right, along with those who identify as nonpartisan. It asked about their feelings on the Democratic and Republican parties, the biggest political moments of the past few weeks, and what issues matter most to them. It also quizzed them on America’s politicians, asking how favorably or unfavorably they viewed certain lawmakers.

Unsurprisingly, Sanders—who’s long held the distinction of the country’s most popular politician—earned the honor once again. The poll found 54 percent of voters view him favorably, while just 36 percent feel the opposite. No other politician netted support from a majority of US voters from both parties. The closest contender—Vice President Mike Pence—earned a favorability rate of 44 percent.

The Vermont senator’s success could be based, in part, on how active he’s remained since the primaries. He’s kept up his unrelenting drive to reach voters where they live, meeting with folks at events in 15 states since the election, the New Yorker reports. He’s continued to push for universal healthcare, bash the GOP over its inability to pass legislation, and pounce on Trump every time he says something controversial.

The Bernie voters who defected to Trump, explained by a political scientist

About 12 percent of Bernie Sanders supporters from the Democratic primary crossed party lines and voted for Donald Trump in the general election, a new analysis says.

In several key states — Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan — the number of Sanders to Trump defectors were greater than Trump’s margin of victory, according to new numbers released Wednesday by UMass professor Brian Schaffner.

In an interview, Schaffner noted that in an election this close, any number of voting blocs could have proved decisive. And the analysis certainly doesn’t necessarily prove Sanders would have won — Schaffner also found that 34 percent of John Kasich’s GOP primary supporters backed Clinton in the general; perhaps more would have stayed in the Republican camp had Sanders been the Democrats’ nominee, or perhaps fewer of Hillary Clinton’s voters would have voted for Sanders. Then again, it also suggests some voters were in Sanders’s reach that were out of Clinton’s.

Moreover, defections from a primary to general election are common. More voters went from Hillary Clinton to John McCain in 2008 than went from Sanders to Trump in 2016; about 13 percent of Trump’s 2016 voters also voted for Barack Obama in 2012.

Have Hillary Clinton Supporters Tormented Progressives Enough To Satisfy Themselves?

Paul Waldman, a senior writer for the American Prospect and a contributor to the Washington Post’s Plum Line column, is out with a melodramatic performance piece tied to excerpts from Hillary Clinton’s forthcoming book. It was headlined: “Has Hillary Clinton abased herself sufficiently to satisfy her critics?”

The column instantly received praise from Democratic strategists and commentators for its unsubtle attack on people, whom Neera Tanden, Joan Walsh, or Mark Moulitsas might have labeled “alt-left” (except now that President Donald Trump used it to draw a false equivalency with white supremacists in Charlottesville, they’re a bit more careful when it comes to deploying it).

The central argument is that Clinton is repeatedly asked to “apologize” for failing to defeat Trump because she is a woman. Presidential candidates Mitt Romney, John McCain, John Kerry, or Al Gore never had to “get down on their knees and beg forgiveness for their failures every time they appeared in public after losing their presidential elections.”

He also argues Clinton has taken responsibility for her failure, and yet, it is not good enough for reporters. Much of the piece is spent on the “mainstream media” and how cable news spent time on a book by Peter Schweitzer called “Clinton Cash,” which made Clinton look corrupt. And of course, there were the damn emails—an “orgy of coverage of Clinton’s emails.”

Waldman’s performance piece is undermined by the fact that he is not specific at all when claiming that there are people demanding a ritual begging of forgiveness from Hillary Clinton.

One can gather that people who share Waldman’s perspective are upset about the media and how they covered Clinton, and they believe this played a significant role in the outcome of the 2016 Election. But then the column should be headlined: “Has Hillary Clinton abased herself sufficiently to satisfy the media?” Instead, it is abstractly aimed at “critics.”

Our Revolution president: “Democrats have lost their souls”

Thursday’s dispatch: One year in, Our Revolution is just beginning its push to take over the Democratic party
“We changed the conversation regarding the possibilities of our country,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told supporters of his presidential campaign one year ago today. And he vowed a new group, Our Revolution, would continue to change the conversation.

Today, the extension of Sanders’ campaign says it has kept his promises by pressuring the Democratic establishment, continuing grassroots fundraising, organizing events, electing candidates and advancing progressives causes.

In an interview with Mic on the eve of Our Revolution’s first “birthday,” organization president Nina Turner said her group’s focus on empowering 401 local chapters has paid dividends in a bid to transform the Democratic party.

Our Revolution endorsed 175 candidates in the past year, about 43% of whom won their races. The group facilitated more than 11,000 volunteer-led events. It supported the elections of seven state party chairs who are “progressive,” Turner said.

“The message I want to hit home is it’s driven by the grassroots,” Turner said. “Every election should be driven by the grassroots, by the will of the people.”

US public lands: Trump official recommends shrinking national monuments

Conservation safeguards on a “handful” of national monuments across the US could be rolled back following the delivery on Thursday of the White House’s long-awaited review of such public lands, interior secretary Ryan Zinke said.

Speaking to the Associated Press in Billings, Montana, Zinke said unspecified boundary adjustments for some of the 27 national monuments were among his recommendations. None of the sites would be eliminated and revert to state or private ownership, he said, while public access for uses such as hunting, fishing or grazing would be maintained or expanded.

“I’ve heard this narrative that somehow the land is going to be sold or transferred,” Zinke said. “That narrative is patently false and shameful. The land was public before and it will be public after.”

While the details of Zinke’s recommendation to the president were not released to the public, the Washington Post, citing multiple individuals briefed on the decision, said the secretary had called for the downsizing of three monuments: the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments in Utah, and the Cascade-Siskiyou monument in Oregon. No further details were given.

Hurricane Harvey: evacuations under way as storm heads for Texas

Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated, oil refineries are expected to shut down and 700 members of the National Guard are being called up as Hurricane Harvey, the most powerful weather system to hit the US in almost 12 years, barrels towards Texas.

From heatwaves to hurricanes, floods to famine: seven climate change hotspots

Read more

Several counties along the Gulf coast, including Nueces county, Calhoun county and Brazoria county, have ordered mandatory evacuations in low-lying areas.

The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, has activated about 700 members of the state National Guard and put military helicopters on standby in Austin and San Antonio in preparation for search and rescues and emergency evacuations.

Harvey, which is due to make landfall late on Friday, would be the first hurricane to hit the Texas coast since Hurricane Ike in 2008.

The head of the National Weather Service said the storm posed “a grave risk to the folks in Texas”.

Trump Energy Dept’s Pro-Coal, Pro-Nuclear Report ‘Not Worth Paper It’s Written On’

President Donald Trump’s Department of Energy (DOE), headed by climate-denier Rick Perry, released a report on Wednesday that green groups and environmentalists are denouncing as an attempt to “justify bailing out dirty” coal and nuclear plants.

Perry commissioned the study in April, and just three months later a draft of the findings, which contradicted Perry’s claim that wind and solar energy are harming the U.S. energy grid, was leaked. At the time, many expressed concern that Trump administration officials would suppress or alter any results that contradicted their adamantly pro-coal, pro-nuclear stance.

The release of the official report shows that the DOE chose not to fully suppress unwelcome findings. Rather, as Vox’s David Roberts notes, “Perry and his staff took a perfectly solid report on the grid and added a (surprisingly light, to my eye) coating of political propaganda.”

The final outcome is a report “just muddy enough for the coal lobby and the energy storage lobby to see what they want in it,” Roberts writes. “But the bones of the analysis remain the same and still indicate the same conclusion: There’s no reason in the world to keep coal plants open and only one reason to keep nuclear plants open—climate change, which the report never mentions.”