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5/6 News Roundup & Open Thread – Sanders Introduces ‘Rebuild Rural America’ Proposals, UN Report to Show ‘Transformational Change’ Urgently Needed to Save Humanity & More

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Bernie Sanders announces rural America plan that targets corporate farms

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders announced his plan to support rural America on Sunday, promising to hold factory farms and corporate agribusiness accountable by strengthening regulations to protect smaller family farms.

“I come from one of the most rural and the most beautiful states in the United States, I will not write off rural America,” the Vermont senator told a cheering crowd in Osage, Iowa. “Maybe I’m kind of radical here, but I think a farmer who produces the food that we eat is maybe almost as important as some crook on Wall Street who destroys the economy,” he added.

In his remarks, Sanders lamented how many small farmers are often at the financial mercy of a single buyer or supplier setting prices.

“Agribusiness conglomerates extract as much wealth out of small communities as they possibly can while family farmers are going bankrupt and in many ways are being treated like modern day indentured servants,” he said.

Sanders promised “an immediate moratorium on agribusiness mergers” should he be elected and an attorney general willing to “break up large agribusiness corporations.”

He committed to sweeping anti-trust protections for family farmers from “corporate middle men” and seed companies, as well as new laws that protect small farmers from “predatory patent lawsuits,” and allow them to sue companies that contaminate neighboring farms with genetically altered crops.

Sanders also vowed to restore the agency that enforced anti-trust laws in the meatpacking industry — which Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue slashed as a stand-alone agency in 2017.
On pollution emissions, Sanders said he would hold factory farms accountable for such pollution by strictly enforcing the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act.

He also slammed corporate agricultural lobbyists, promising to combat their efforts funneling Agriculture Department subsidies toward a handful of powerful farmers or landowners.

“We will cap those subsidies coming from Washington and make sure they are targeted to the farmers who need that help, not to these profitable agribusiness corporations,” he said.

Bernie Sanders Sunday Event Livestreams

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Bernie Announces Plan to Revitalize Rural America

Rural communities across the country are facing a major crisis. Join Bernie Sanders in Osage, Iowa, for a special policy address on our plan to take on big agribusiness and revitalize rural America.

Stream starts at 11 a.m

Bernie Hosts Town Meeting in Spencer, Iowa

Bernie is in Spencer, Iowa, to hear directly from the people. This is what democracy is about — communities coming together to build power. Tune in to the live town hall

May 5, 3:00 PM

Rally with Bernie in Sioux City, Iowa

Join our rally in Sioux City, Iowa, as we come together to create a democracy that is truly by and for the people, not the billionaire class.

May 5, 6:30 PM

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5/4 News Roundup & Open Thread – Sanders To Introduce Agriculture Policy To Combat The ‘Major, Major Crisis’ Facing Rural Communities & More

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Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders previews agricultural policy

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is ready to roll out a major agriculture policy Sunday in Iowa.

“I come from a small rural state, and what’s happening in Vermont is happening in Iowa,” Sanders said.

The Vermont senator said he has a plan to make life better here by investing in rural communities and supporting family farms. That includes a moratorium on mergers in the ag industry and breaking up large processors.

“We need a policy that says we need to grow enough food in the U.S. on a regular basis. That means strengthening family ag, making sure people from other countries don’t own too much land, make sure young people can do farming for generations,” Sanders said.

As for trade wars, Sanders recently accused opponent Joe Biden for downplaying China’s economic threat, but he said they’re friends.

“Joe and I have different opinions. That’s why we’ll talk about it,” Sanders said. “Joe voted for NAFTA, permanent trade relations with China. I lead the effort against trade agreements. I think it’s an area that needs discussion.”

Sanders supports Medicare for all, which he said addresses everyone’s health care needs.

“There are people who want to keep their private insurance. Is that possible under the plan? No. I think we need to consider right now how many people lost their health insurance because they leave their jobs. Medicare is a very strong program. It is a popular program,” Sanders said.

Sanders also told me he supports the House calling on Attorney General William Barr to release the full Mueller report to Congress or face contempt.

“If he does not testify, I think Barr should be held in contempt,” Sanders said. “I could add my voice to the other 80 voices. That’s not going to matter. I think holding him in contempt, that means Barr has got to testify and give Congress the information it requires.”

5/2 News Roundup & Open Thread – 10,000 Teachers Rise Up In Deep Red South Carolina, Sanders’ Campaign Machine Is Crushing It & More

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‘We Teach, We Vote!’: 10,000 Teachers Rise Up Against Republican Legislature in Deep Red South Carolina

Demanding an end to austerity measures that have kept classrooms overcrowded and educators underpaid, about 10,000 teachers, students, and supporters staged one of the largest protests in recent years at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia on Wednesday.

Led by the grassroots group SC for Ed, teachers from across the traditionally deep red state took personal days to stage the walkout. The protest is aimed at forcing the Republican-controlled legislature to fund higher wages and more hiring in order to reduce class sizes and staff schools with support staff.

“For too long we have allowed our schools to go underfunded while taking the blame for the host of issues that come with that,” SC for Ed said in a statement Wednesday. “We hope the state of South Carolina will commit to starting over the process of reform with current classroom teachers at the table.”

Many of the teachers chanted, “We teach, we vote” as they marched to the Statehouse Wednesday morning.

Former educator Sariah McCall, who cited a chronic lack of resources when she resigned from her job at Charleston County School District in November, was among the speakers at the rally.

McCall’s resignation letter was printed in the Washington Post last month.

“The public has to demand that they receive the time, funding, and resources they require,” McCall wrote. “We need to prioritize education, not just offer it lip-service. Until enough people decide that this is worth making a fuss over, those that are in power have no reason to listen to our hurt, pleas, and fears to make any changes.”

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Wednesday’s protest marked the second time this year that South Carolina teachers have walked out of their classrooms to decry their chronically low pay and overcrowded schools. In January many teachers took a day off work to lobby at the Statehouse for a 10 percent pay raise.

South Carolina teachers are paid an average of $50,000 per year, with entry-level teachers earning as little as $32,000. The state ranks 38th in the nation for teacher salaries.

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5/1 News Roundup & Open Thread – 70+ Groups Back Call for Prisoner Voting Rights, 90% of Democratic Voters Want 2020 Candidate to Make Climate Action and Medicare for All Top Priorities & More

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Bernie Sanders is doubling down on a divisive plan to give all prisoners the right to vote. Here’s why that could be a brilliant political move.

Sen. Bernie Sanders refuses to budge on the issue of voting rights for all current prisoners in the US despite the fact most Americans don’t agree with him. But this could be an extremely shrewd political move that benefits Sanders in the crowded 2020 Democratic primary.

Along the campaign trail, Sanders has repeatedly said he supports granting voting rights to all currently incarcerated people — including for “terrible people” like the Boston Marathon bomber.

In a Tuesday op-ed for USA Today, the senator said he makes “no apologies” for his position.

“We have been engaged in an ongoing 243-year project to expand participation in our democracy,” the Vermont senator said. “If we are serious about calling ourselves a democracy, we must firmly establish that the right to vote is an inalienable and universal principle that applies to all American citizens 18 years and older. Period.”

Sanders also used the plan to take a jab at the legal woes of people associated with President Donald Trump, stating that “even if Trump’s former campaign manager and personal lawyer end up in jail, they should still be able to vote — regardless of who they cast their vote for.”

A recent INSIDER poll showed 75% of Americans do not support voting rights for all prisoners, though roughly one out of five would support enfranchising non-violent inmates.

But Sanders is seemingly undeterred by a lack of popular support and the criticism he’s faced. And while it may be not the most popular idea, a deeper look into INSIDER’s poll data shows that this could be a fairly savvy political strategy.

Indeed while the general adult population may have some misgivings, those respondents who identified as Democratic primary voters are more interested in the idea.

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Even if that’s still shy of a majority, that doesn’t matter in a primary: maintaining his position cements Sanders’ status as the left flank of the party, a lane which could be advantageous to control as the primary continues.

As long as Sanders is able to remain the de facto candidate preferred by the left wing of the party, he’ll have a constituency that will keep him if not at the top of the polls, then very much in the game.

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4/30 News Roundup & Open Thread – Sanders Draws Sharp Contrasts Between Himself & Biden, #KeepItInTheGround Leaders Awarded This Year’s Goldman Prize & More

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Bernie Sanders draws sharp contrasts between himself and Joe Biden

Sen. Bernie Sanders compared his record with Joe Biden’s on trade and foreign policy on Monday, attempting to draw sharp contrasts between himself and the former vice president as the two lead the Democratic presidential pack.

When asked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper if Sanders was concerned about Biden’s endorsement from the International Association of Fire Fighters, the Vermont independent said, “I’m running against, I think, 19 other people, so I’m concerned about everybody,” with a laugh — before setting out a brief history of their political disagreements.

“But I think when people take a look at my record versus Vice President Biden’s record — I helped lead the fight against (North American Free Trade Agreement); he voted for NAFTA,” Sanders said on “Anderson Cooper 360.”

“I helped lead the fight against (permanent normal trade relations) with China; he voted for it. I strongly opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership; he supported it. I voted against the war in Iraq; he voted for it.”

Sanders’ comments offered a preview of the debates likely to dominate the Democratic primary, as the party’s recent progressive push comes up against its more corporate-friendly, moderate establishment. Biden and Sanders, despite their differences on policy, both see electoral bases of support in the industrial Midwest and among organized labor. By underlining his opposition to trade deals mostly reviled by leading unions, Sanders, who has also criticized President Donald Trump’s record on this front, could cut into Biden’s support.

Biden, during his time serving under President Barack Obama, was one of the leading backers of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive proposed trade deal that Trump snuffed out early in his term. Sanders greeted its demise with delight, saying in a January 2017 statement that he was “glad the Trans-Pacific Partnership is dead and gone.”

But Sanders has also clashed with the President repeatedly over trade policy, most recently when he came out in opposition to the administration’s renegotiation of NAFTA, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, calling on Trump during a recent rally to “go back to the drawing board on NAFTA” and “not send this treaty to Congress.”

The former vice president held his first rally as a 2020 presidential candidate on Monday, the same day the firefighters union publicly endorsed him.

“I like Joe Biden. Joe is a friend of mine,” Sanders said, adding, “I think what we need to do with all of the candidates, have a issue-oriented campaign, not personal attacks.”

Sanders said the candidates need to “talk about what we have done in our political lives, what we want to do as president and how we’re going to transform our economy so that it works for all of us and not just the 1%.”

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4/29 News Roundup – Sanders’ Army Gears Up For The Next Phase of His Campaign, El-Sayed: “The Green New Deal Is Also A Public Health New Deal” & More

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The Bernie Sanders Army Gears Up For The Next Phase of His Campaign

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) has led the crowded 2020 Democratic primary field in fundraising, cultivating a massive list of over one million volunteers along the way. Now, with the field largely set, following the entrance of former Vice President Joe Biden this week, Sanders’ team is putting that people-powered muscle to work.

On Saturday, the campaign launched a nationwide organizing program with nearly 5,000 house parties in every state throughout the country, demonstrating a show of force for his volunteer network and an opportunity to mobilize supporters in a primary contest that could remain close through the early voting states and beyond.

“If we’re going to defeat Donald Trump, we’re going to need a massive grassroots effort and that’s what today is about,” Sanders told The Daily Beast in an interview on Saturday. “Our job is to significantly increase our citizen participation and we think the agenda that we are fighting for, an agenda that works for all of us and not just the one percent is an agenda that can bring millions of people together to transform our economic and political life.”

In addition to the house parties, which Sanders spent part of the day calling into, the campaign also launched a new app called BERN which will be crucial to their strategy going forward. It allows for volunteers themselves to log conversations with voters, friends and family for the purpose of ensuring voter registration and getting Sanders’ supporters to participate in primaries and caucuses within their states.

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In the previous campaign, Sandberg said that volunteers in New York were desperately trying to get ahold of a voter list to engage independents and even third-party voters to get them to switch their registration to vote in the Democratic primary, which needs to be done six months in advance in the state. The new app helps fix that problem and simply put “volunteers everywhere can have conversations with voters now, rather than having to wait for the campaign to arrive in their state or community.”

It’s a crucial next phase for the campaign, though one that Sanders has acknowledged bears a few risks, and a tactic that he thinks will differentiate himself from a sprawling field with other heavyweights. The Independent from Vermont is hoping that this engagement even helps level the playing field when it comes to social media, where he noted that President Trump dominates the Democratic contenders with nearly 60 million followers on Twitter alone. It also comes after Biden outraised the first-day totals of other candidates in the field, though with fewer individual donors than Sanders and a high-dollar fundraiser as well.

“It’s a grassroots campaign funded by grassroots low donor contributions and that’s why I think we win,” Sanders told The Daily Beast. “That’s why I think we are going to win. I’m excited about what’s happening today and I think it’s a very good omen for the rest of the campaign.”

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4/27 News Roundup & Open Thread – Sanders Campaign Sets Thousands of House Parties for Supporters, Ady Barkan to Testify At First-Ever Medicare for All Hearing & More

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Bernie Sanders Campaign Sets Thousands of House Parties for Supporters

Just days after former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. became the 20th candidate to join the Democratic presidential race, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is readying what he hopes will be his latest show of force: thousands of house parties across the country.

On Saturday, Mr. Sanders’s campaign plans to kick off its national organizing program with what it says are roughly 5,000 events across every state. Mr. Sanders plans to address supporters via livestream.

The date for the organizing events was set weeks ago. But the timing is fortuitous. With Mr. Biden’s entry, the race has kicked into a new gear, and the organizing effort gives Mr. Sanders — who has been running second to Mr. Biden in most early polls — a fresh opportunity to lock up supporters and reassert his grass-roots strength.

The weekend also marks something of a turning point for Mr. Sanders’s campaign. For the first two months of his presidential run, he mostly held big rallies in early nominating states, including Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

The rallies were intended, in part, to showcase the enthusiastic crowds he is capable of mustering, but also doubled as opportunities to sign up supporters. Now, with the field largely set, the events this weekend reflect the campaign’s next stage — turning the names on those lists into active volunteers.

“I’m not going to tell you that money is not important — we’re going to raise a great deal of money,” Mr. Sanders said in a phone interview on Friday afternoon. “But at the end of the day, I believe now — and I’ve always believed — that grass-roots activism is more important and more effective than 30-second television ads.”

He added, “When you’re running against 15 or 20 other candidates, I think the candidate who comes out on top will be that candidate which has a very strong and effective grass-roots movement.”

Mr. Sanders, perhaps more than any other candidate, is betting his campaign’s success on his grass-roots appeal. He hopes to have an army of volunteers spreading his message on the ground — knocking on doors, handing out leaflets, engaging on social media — to say nothing of the money his campaign hopes to continue raising through individual donations. He is also aiming to get volunteers involved in a “massive voter-registration drive,” focusing in particular on working-class and young people, he said.

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4/26 News Roundup & Open Thread – Reaction To Bernie In Texas, Sanders Targets President With Front-Page Ad Ahead of Weekend Rally & More

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Bernie Sanders pushes political, economic revolution in Fort Worth on same day Joe Biden enters race

Bernie Sanders told supporters and onlookers Thursday that he was committed to policies that would boost the middle class and poor, not the very rich.

“Our campaign is not just about Donald Trump,” Sanders said at Burnett Park in downtown Fort Worth. “It’s about creating an economy and a government that works for all, not just one percent.”

Sanders rattled off a litany of goals, including combating climate change, turning around the economy for average Americans, giving all Americans access to health care and free college tuition. And he made pointed comments about racism and looking out for the younger generation.

“Justice means we’re going to end the institutional racism that exists all over this country,” he said. “We’re going to lead the effort to end racism and discrimination in the United States of America.”

Sanders, the Vermont senator and runner-up for the 2016 Democratic Party nomination for president, is on the second and final day of a swing through Texas. On Wednesday, he participated in a women of color forum in Houston and later held a rally in the state’s largest city.

His visit to North Texas underscores the growing importance of Texas in the presidential sweepstakes, a state with a bundle of delegates that will be awarded on a proportional basis.

Though former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of El Paso and former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro are favorite sons, other presidential contenders are hoping to come out of Texas with delegates in what’s a wide open contest.

“We can and we will beat Donald Trump here in Texas,” Sanders said, explaining why he chose to campaign in Fort Worth.

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