Category Archives: Todd Allen

2/26 News Roundup – Bernie Sanders’ Weekend Rallies, A Federal Judge Halts The Bayou Bridge Pipeline & More

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Bernie Sanders in Lansing: ‘The status quo is not good enough. We demand change’

Sen. Bernie Sanders returned to Lansing on Sunday as part of a tour aimed at energizing his base from the 2016 Democratic primary, urging progressives to get involved.

“If I said it once, I’ve said it a million times, and that is real change never, ever takes place from the top on down,” Sanders told a crowd of more than 1,600 at the Lansing Center. “It is always from the bottom up.”

Change can happen only when “millions of people look around them and say loudly and clearly, ‘the status quo is not good enough, we demand change,'” Sanders said.

The rally was part of a 100-day “Repeal the Trump Tax” tour organized by Not One Penny, a coalition opposing President Donald Trump’s tax plan.

In a wide-ranging speech that mirrored his messaging in 2016, Sanders pointedly criticized Trump and the Republican president’s agenda, calling Trump “a pathological liar” and “the least-qualified president” in the nation’s history.

The independent senator from Vermont touched on health care reform, gun control, race and gender inequality, income inequality, immigration, climate change, tuition-free college, paid family and medical leave and other topics during his 45-minute speech.

Trump promised tax reform that benefited the middle class, he said. “Well, it turns out that the bill he supported and passed will provide 83 percent of the benefits at the end of 10 years to the top 1 percent. And at the end of 10 years, 93 million middle-class Americans will be paying more in taxes, not less.”

(Nina Turner speaks around the 37 minute mark and Bernie @ 45 minutes)

More news/videos/tweets/etc. in the comments.

2/6 News Roundup – #PoorPeoplesCampaign Kicks Off 40 Days of ‘Moral Action’, Sanders: ‘Treat Big Pharma Like Big Tobacco’ & More

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Decrying ‘Dog-Eat-Dog System,’ #PoorPeoplesCampaign Kicks Off 40 Days of ‘Moral Action’

In Washington, D.C. and more than two dozen states across the country on Monday, supporters of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival gathered to kick off 40 days of “moral action” to highlight “the human impact of policies which promote systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, and environmental devastation.”

Led by co-chairs Rev. Dr. William J. Barber and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis—and inspired by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s original Poor People’s Campaign in the late 1960s—the campaign, which was announced last year, livestreamed a press conference from D.C. and delivered to lawmakers a letter outlining their demands for policy changes.

Barber, in a series of tweets, denounced rampant voter supression, systemic poverty, a lack of living wages, ecological devastation, and “Christian nationalism,” emphasizing an urgent need for sweeping changes in public policy on a national scale.

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“This is about fighting injustice anywhere so that we don’t let ourselves lose the vision of what America can be,” noted Diana Martinez of the pro-immigrant Kansas/Missouri Dream Alliance. “Because when racism and nativism become the rule of law it hurts all of us.”

Participants from events across the U.S. shared on social media messages, photos, and videos depicting the goals of the #PoorPeoplesCampaign

More news/video/tweets/etc. in the comments.

“Bear Rising”- Todd Allen for Congress (TX-24)

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Just as a reminder for those who have not read my previous posts about Allen, here are a few stances on issues

*A single-payer system is now a part of the national conversation and one many Americans are interested in exploring. As your representative, I will advocate for this approach and work to improve healthcare accessibility and cost for all Americans.

*The American middle class deserves a tax break. Let’s put money back in working American’s pockets. When working Americans have more money, they spend it in their communities, creating jobs. A prosperous and robust middle class means a healthy American economy.

*To ensure Social Security is around for the next generation, we must address funding now. One simple fix would be raising the salary cap on contributions. That way, we correct the problem on the front end by bringing in more revenue and avoid reliance on complicated formulas to determine how benefits are paid out.

More info @ Todd Allen For Congress

11/7 News Roundup – Bernie: Trump Doing Exact Opposite of What He Promised, Progressive Leaders Respond To Paradise Papers & More

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Happy Tuesday TPW readers! Welcome to the new folks (if you have any issues, you can send them to the tpwhelpdesk@gmail.com) and a big thanks for continuing to come back for those who have been here before. Starting the day off with Bernie and I tend to do:

As President, Trump Doing Exact Opposite of What He Promised on the Campaign Trail by Bernie Sanders

When Donald Trump campaigned for president, he told the American people that he would stand up for the working class and take on the political and economic establishment. One year since his election, he has repeatedly reneged on his promises by supporting the interests of the wealthy and powerful at the expense of working families.

During his campaign, candidate Trump said that he was going to “drain the swamp.” Now that he is president, Trump has brought more billionaires into his administration than any president.

While campaigning, Trump told the American people he was going to provide health “insurance for everybody.” As president, he supported a disastrous bill that would have thrown millions off of health insurance, substantially raised premiums for older workers and defunded Planned Parenthood.

As a candidate, Trump said he understood the pain of working families. His budget would slash funding for affordable housing, college financial aid and Head Start.

And while Trump wants to make devastating cuts to programs that working families desperately need, he is working overtime to provide a massive tax break to billionaires like himself.

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In other words, Trump as a candidate promised the American people one thing, as president he is doing the exact opposite.

But simply stopping Trump’s agenda is not enough. We can join every other major country and guarantee healthcare to all as a right. We can demand that the wealthiest people in this country and the largest corporations start paying their fair share of taxes. We can create millions of decent paying jobs by rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure. We can reform our broken criminal justice system and pass comprehensive immigration reform. We can raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and make public colleges and universities tuition-free.

Together we need to build a government and an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1%.

More news/videos/tweets/etc. in the comments, including:

*Bernie Sanders’ stepdaughter considers running for office
*How it became a crime to be poor in America
*The indefensible Republican response to the Texas mass shooting
*Children Sue Trump Admin for ‘Reckless and Deliberate Indifference’ to Climate Threat
*2018 Candidate Updates/Media
*Pipeline news, Water Protector Updates & More

Todd Allen’s Campaign For Congress (TX-24)

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

I intend to be a representative for everyone in the 24th Congressional District, not just those who happen to agree with me or identify with my party. That means I am willing to listen and engage in conversations, especially when we don’t agree. The issues below are my conversation starters, not the final word. That word can only come from the people of the 24th. If you’d like to know more about a specific issue or would like to keep the conversation going, please contact me here.

Allen’s Issues:

Kitchen Table Economics – Middle Class Tax Cuts and Deductions

•The American middle class deserves a tax break. Let’s put money back in working American’s pockets. When working Americans have more money, they spend it in their communities, creating jobs. A prosperous and robust middle class means a healthy American economy.

•For many Americans, child care costs are like having a second mortgage, and student loan debt feels like quick sand. We have an obligation to help working American families. By increasing the tax deductions for child-care and student loans, we recognize the burden faced by American families and offer a deserved helping hand.

Education – They’re Children, Not Products

•For too long we’ve been sold standardized testing and vouchers as “solutions” for public education, but these solutions are really just band-aids for bullet-holes. Education isn’t about test scores or treating students as a defective cog in a testing machine, it’s about opportunity. It’s time we acknowledge that there is as much value in a student who has a genius for machinery as there is for one who can write an academic essay.

•With that in mind, we have an obligation to provide an opportunity for our children who have a skill or an interest beyond academia. We must invest in entrepreneurship, skilled labor, and innovation. By investing in a variety of educational programs designed to match the needs of our changing labor force, we offer our children the opportunity to provide for themselves and their families in the future.

Healthcare – Increasing Access for All Americans & Lowering Costs

•60,000. In just the 24th District, that is the number of Americans who would lose healthcare coverage under the Republican House plan energetically supported by our current representative. Most of us would agree that healthcare insurance premiums are too high and that the cost of coverage is hurting more American families than it heals.

•A single-payer system is now a part of the national conversation and one many Americans are interested in exploring. As your representative, I will advocate for this approach and work to improve healthcare accessibility and cost for all Americans.

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