https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/bernie-sanders-pennsylvania-2020-election-interview-20200910.html

In normal times, this American period of racial reckoning, illness, and unemployment would be a prime moment for Bernie Sanders to gather his supporters for a series of rallies — the kind that energized his base during the Democratic presidential primary.

Instead, given the coronavirus pandemic, Sanders is doing a series of state-based virtual town hall meetings with union leaders and the progressive down-ballot candidates whose campaigns he has supported.

On Thursday evening, he will hold a Pennsylvania town hall, streamed on his website. The events are unaffiliated with Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s campaign but are meant to motivate progressives to vote against President Donald Trump by talking about issues and local candidates they support.

Sanders will be joined Thursday by Lt. Gov. John Fetterman; Nikil Saval, who beat Philadelphia State Sen. Larry Farnese in the June primary; and several union leaders and heads of grassroots groups.

Sanders talked to The Inquirer about the presidential campaign in Pennsylvania and motivating his supporters.

What’s the goal of these virtual town halls?

“To bring ordinary people together as panelists to talk about what is going on for working-class people in their states — about the job loss that exists, about the people who are having trouble feeding their families — about families that have lost their health insurance, people who are being evicted. And in Pennsylvania, like so many other states, these are enormously important issues. In Pennsylvania alone, over two million people since the pandemic have seen incomes go down. We’ve got about 350,000 households struggling to pay rent and their mortgages.

“So we’ve got a real economic crisis for working class of this country.”

On progressive candidates winning primaries this year

“I’m very proud in the last several months, many of the strongest progressives in the House of Representatives, who were challenged by well-funded establishment opponents, won reelection by landslides. What we are seeing from coast to coast, in Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois, people representing the working class of this country standing up and winning important election victories.”

What would you say to supporters of yours in Pennsylvania who just aren’t excited enough about Biden?

“Look, it is no great secret that Joe Biden’s positions on a number of issues are very different than mine. On the other hand, what I would say is that Donald Trump is the most dangerous president in the history of the United States of America, and he must be defeated with big numbers, and Pennsylvania is obviously a key

“What I would say to progressives out there is that the day after Biden wins, we are going to rally the American people — working-class people — all across this country; Black and white and Latino and Native American, and we are going to demand that a Biden administration, a Democratic House, and a Democratic Senate stand with the working class of this country.”

How do you create a winning coalition in Pennsylvania that brings in both moderate Democrats in the Southwest and Northeast, and then more progressive voters in Philadelphia?

“Look, obviously in Pennsylvania and every state in this country, you have folks of all different political views. But I think there is a widespread agreement, whether in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, that the working class of this country right now is in very serious economic condition. They’re hurting terribly, and that what we need in terms of health care, in terms of decent paying jobs, in terms of education — we need policies that represent the struggling working class of this country, and not more tax breaks.”

For some Trump supporters, Biden is seen as a Trojan horse for socialism. A lot of voters even say they think progressives like you are “calling the shots.” Are you worried about how that affects the race?

“Well, look, I think our job is to make it clear that when you have a president like Trump, who is right now in court trying to throw 32 million people off of health care, when you have a president who has given a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the top 1% and large corporations, a president undermining Social Security and Medicare by eliminating the payroll tax, this is not a president who stands with working families. He is a president who lies to working families, and I would hope that working-class people who support Trump take a hard look at that.”

https://truthout.org/articles/we-need-a-peoples-bailout-as-inequality-worsens-amid-covid-19/

These times call for a people’s bailout: continued eviction moratoriums, forgiveness of back and future rent, increased unemployment benefits and $2,000 monthly stimulus checks for those impacted by COVID-19. While many workers have been affected, communities of color are being hit disproportionately hard, which needs to be acknowledged when pressuring Congress on the next round of emergency funding. Furthermore, the corporations and institutions that exploited loopholes to unfairly claim aid money must refund tax-payers and face additional penalties.

Despite this economic disaster, a small fraction of the population experienced new levels of success in recent times. A transfer of wealth unlike anything in modern history has taken place since the lockdowns began as billionaire wealth increased during the pandemic. Profits are up by 80 percent for both Walmart and Target, while Amazon’s have doubled. Overall, billionaires have seen their wealth rise by over $600 billion since the pandemic began.

The number of people facing extreme poverty was on the rise before the lockdowns, yet in a mirrored trend — but on the reverse end of the wealth spectrum — big corporations and other bloated institutions have seen record earnings.

Increasing taxes and penalties on the wealthiest corporations (and individuals) should be the topic at the forefront of political debates. If creating a ceiling on — and redistributing a percentage of — the military’s budget could stem the tidal wave of evictions, foreclosures, unemployment and homelessness, what reason is there to ignore this option? Both Democrats and Republicans have failed to tangibly acknowledge the needs of their constituents. Austerity for regular people combined with the continuation of tax loopholes for the largest corporations is a formula leading to disaster for the majority.

Not only should vulnerable communities be the central focus as Congress negotiates a new COVID-19 stimulus package, but an independent committee must also be created with the explicit authority to redirect misappropriated CARES Act aid money back to its intended destination: communities in need. The time for an emergency refund is now — all money acquired through price-gouging and loopholes needs to be returned. The choice is between collapse and giving people what is rightfully theirs.

https://www.thenation.com/article/world/trump-usa-election/

And I have a suggestion. Once upon a time when I was much, much younger, we spoke of three worlds on planet Earth. There was the first world (also known as “the free world”), which included the developed countries of North America, Europe, and Japan (and you could throw in South Korea and Australia, if you wanted); there was the second world, also known as the communist bloc, the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China; and, of course, there was the third world, which included all the other poor and underdeveloped countries, many former European colonies, scattered around the globe’s south and often in terrible shape.

So many years later, with the first billionaire in the Oval Office presiding over an era of American carnage at home rather than in distant lands like Vietnam, I suspect we need a new “world” to capture the nature and state of this country at this moment. So how about fourth world? After all, the United States remains the richest, most powerful nation on the planet (first world!), but is also afloat in a sea of autocratic, climate-changing, economic, military, and police carnage that should qualify it as distinctly third world as well.

So, it’s really just a simple math problem: What’s 1 plus 3? Four, of course, making this country once again a leader on this ever less equal planet of ours; the United States, that is, is the first official fourth-world country in history. USA! USA! USA!

Or if you prefer, you could simply think of us as potentially the most powerful, wealthiest failed state on the planet.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/useful-idiots-nancy-pelosi-challenger-shahid-buttar-taibbi-1055443/

Shahid Buttar joins our guests to discuss allegations of campaign staff mistreatment and sexual harassment. He spoke on the accusation of sexual harassment, which he and others had previously said were not true.

“As to the claims made by Liz Croydon in Washington, they’re not true, and I’ve relied on others to expose the facts. My first commitment when these accusations came forward was to be an ally to survivors, and that means I’m not going tp punch down, I’m not going to impune the credibility of anybody accusing me. I accurately stated that the allegations towards me were false.”

He also spoke on the accusation of gendered staff mistreatment within his campaign, which he believes was rooted in politically strategic differences.

“I’ve never meant to treat anyone on my team differently according to any characteristic, whether it was gender, age or race. We did have a lot of very challenging conversations with my staff during the primary, frankly because we had a lot of strategic differences,” says Buttar. “I have apologized before and I’ll do it again for any experience that people had on my team that they might have interpreted in that way.”

Buttar goes on to characterize these interactions differently than what was reported in The Intercept article, and other press in San Francicso.

“As a person of color who has been accused by a white woman of a sexual impropriety, it attains dimensions worse than merely unethical journalism,” says Buttar. But, he also said there have been lessons from this, while he still denies the allegations. “I’ve learned things, including that my feedback can be sharp somethings. But nobody in my experience either before or since ever experienced that in a gendered way. But it’s useful to understand how it could be perceived that way, but it’s given me an opportunity to grow as a leader, and a manager, and I’m going to continue doing that.”

https://www.businessinsider.com/brexit-democrats-nancy-pelosi-boris-johnson-northern-ireland-trade-deal-2020-9?utm_source=reddit.com

Senior Democrats have warned UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson that there is “absolutely no chance” of a free trade agreement with the US if he goes ahead with plans to rewrite his Brexit deal with the EU.

Johnson’s government has this week caused consternation in the UK and in Brussels after revealing an explosive plan to unilaterally determine elements of Northern Ireland’s trade with Great Britain from next year.

Details of how the Northern Ireland protocol will work are currently being negotiated by UK and European Union officials and Brandon Lewis, the UK Secretary of State of Northern Ireland, admitted on Tuesday that the UK’s plan to unilaterally implement its own rules for trade across the Irish Sea would break international law.

Now key Democrats in the US are warning Prime Minister Johnson that Congress will not approve a post-Brexit free trade deal with the UK if it does not uphold the Northern Ireland protocol he agreed with the EU last year.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a statement on Thursday warned the UK prime minister: “If the U.K. violates that international treaty and Brexit undermines the Good Friday accord, there will be absolutely no chance of a U.S.-U.K. trade agreement passing the Congress.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/10/economy/unemployment-benefits-coronavirus/index.html

America’s jobs recovery might have hit a roadblock, as the number of workers filing for first-time unemployment benefits was unchanged between last week and the one prior.

Another 884,000 Americans filed for first-time jobless aid on a seasonally adjusted basis last week, the Labor Department reported on Thursday. The number of claims filed was unchanged from the prior week.
Without the seasonal adjustment, weekly initial claims were slightly lower, but had still increased from the prior week.

That said, the headline number only counts claims for regular benefits that not everyone who lost their livelihood due to the pandemic has access to. That’s why claims for benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, that help workers like independent contractors, are so important. First-time claims under the PUA program totaled 838,916 last week, up from the prior week.
Sponsor content by CNN Underscored

Adding PUA claims and the initial claims figure that is not seasonally adjusted, nearly 1.7 million workers filed initial claims for benefits last week.

Meanwhile, 13.4 million American workers filed claims for unemployment insurance for at least two weeks in a row. That’s up slightly from the previous week and is not a great sign for the jobs recovery.
close dialog

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/515823-cnn-to-host-socially-distanced-town-hall-with-biden-in-scranton-pa

CNN will host “a socially-distanced live audience” town hall with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Sept. 17, the network announced Thursday.

The town hall will take place in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Penn., and will be moderated by primetime anchor Anderson Cooper.

It will mark the former vice president’s first prime time town hall since accepting his party’s nomination last month.

“The event, which will feature a socially-distanced live audience, will follow Pennsylvania’s guidance and regulations regarding the coronavirus pandemic,” CNN said.

David Sirota is one of the authors of this

https://jacobinmag.com/2020/09/health-care-lobby-liability-shield-covid-19

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday released new legislation that would make New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s corporate immunity statute the law of the land in every state in America — the second time in two months that Senate Republicans have spliced Cuomo’s controversial provision into their proposed coronavirus response legislation.

The GOP’s inclusion of a special liability shield for health care industry executives represents a victory for the powerful New York lobby group that has been paying Donald Trump’s former lawyer to directly lobby the White House on its behalf — and that has been been funneling millions of dollars to congressional Democrats during the COVID-19 outbreak, according to federal records reviewed by Too Much Information (TMI).

In April, the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) drafted the original provision shielding health care industry officials from COVID-related lawsuits, and pushed it through the New York legislature with the support of Cuomo, whose political machine received more than $1 million from the group. Opponents charged that the law repealed a critical deterrent to corporate misbehavior and effectively rewarded executives at nursing homes where thousands of elderly residents were killed by the coronavirus.

Under pressure, New York lawmakers subsequently limited the scope of the liability shield in their state. However, GNYHA’s president last month told state legislators that his organization was pushing a national version of the legislation in Washington, where it has spent $1.2 million on lobbying this year.

The corporate immunity provision’s passage may hinge on whether or not Democrats oppose it. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have joined progressive activists in denouncing the GOP effort to include liability shield language in the next relief bill.

However, as GNYHA has poured money into Democratic coffers, there are signs that the party’s opposition is far from guaranteed.

GNYHA has delivered more than $11 million to super PACs backing House and Senate Democrats since 2017, and $2.5 million since the coronavirus crisis began. Amid that flood of cash, some Democratic lawmakers are now suggesting they could support a federal version of New York’s liability shield legislation.

In May, the Hill reported that a number of Senate Democrats were open to the idea of liability protection for businesses to one degree or another. Names included Sen. Chris Coons, who said that he supported “a science-based, enforceable standard for the protection of employees and customers.”

Freshman Sen. Doug Jones and Sen. Tom Carper also said they were in favor of a middle ground while Sen. Joe Manchin said he supported shielding small businesses. Meanwhile, senators Maria Cantwell, Jeff Merkley, Dick Durbin, and Tim Kaine wouldn’t rule out the idea of corporate immunity.

“It’s critical that we combat this pandemic by taking immediate action to make our frontline workers safer,” Kaine declared in May.

But soon after, he suggested that that it isn’t a “completely unreasonable topic” to consider COVID liability protections limiting workers’ rights to sue employers whose workplaces are unsafe.

“On the other side, the Republicans are interested in liability protections, which is not a completely unreasonable topic,” Kaine said during a Zoom meeting held by the American Society of Association Executives in June. “I mean, we often have liability protection in health emergencies. Vaccine makers get liability protection from the federal level. So it’s not unprecedented that in a public health emergency, that you would do some kind of a reasonable liability protection.”

Kaine’s comments came only two weeks after GNYHA poured $2 million into Senate Democrats’ super PAC, the Senate Majority PAC.

In the past, lobbyists have found reliable allies in moderate Democrats in fighting for corporate immunity.