Good Morning All!
Just thought I’d get a fresh thread going and that maybe it wouldn’t hurt your eyes to see this tweet from Elizabeth Warren’s Twitter account.
“I hate what the rain does to my hair.” pic.twitter.com/gGIWKBqAt1
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) May 18, 2019
Please share anything down below!
I hope you all have a fine and happy Sunday!!
Abdul El-Sayed said something yesterday that brings into focus the essential dysfunction which is the US health-care system: Cost of a SINGLE vial of insulin: Canada: $32United States: $300 That's TEN TIMES more for the same exact drug. Our healthcare system is broken — and it's putting lives at risk. We're long overdue for #MedicareForAll— Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) April 2, 2019 Millions of Americans need insulin to survive. The researchers (Frederick Banting, Charles Best and James Collip) who developed insulin in the 1920s knew this and wanted to ensure the medication would remain affordable and safe. They assigned the patent to the … Continue reading →
One of the positive aspects of a competitive primary is seeing candidates campaign in a lot of states, not just the traditional “battle-grounds”. Candidates for president don’t always go to MS, TN, or AL because they aren’t battleground states. But I’m running to be president of the entire United States. I’m planning to travel to every corner of this country—and I’ve got the best staff who will make it happen! pic.twitter.com/8J1finLQZO — Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) March 28, 2019 It is significant that Senator Warren conducted a three-state tour visiting Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. It is rare for Democratic primary candidates to … Continue reading →
Birdies–
Tonight we find out how much of a check the American people want to have on our Executive Branch. Or put it another way, how many of the 1000 legislative seats will the Dems gain from the last 10 years of losses? Will voters feel comfortable with the economy and overlook Trump? Will Trump’s divisiveness prevail and turn out his base?
Will we see our first women Native American Congressional Reps? First AA governor of FL and first female gov of GA? How well will the OR candidates perform in this cycle?
Of course, we hope there are no machine irregularities, but it’s anticipated that some will occur. And election lawyers will be on hand just in case.
In the Senate, Democrats are defending 26 seats while Republicans are only defending nine.
(those are predictions if they are filled in with red or blue, gold signifies toss-up)
In the gubernatorial races, there are 33 races, in which Dems could possibly pick up 9 of them.
(those are predictions if they are filled in with red or blue, gold signifies toss-up)
First polls close at 6ET in Indiana, VT and KY. Most in the MSM are saying to watch the 6th district in KY, but the bellwethers will be in VA 4 GOP races and FL 4 GOP races when the polls close at 7 ET.
Larry Sabato of Crystal Ball expects Dem pick-ups in the gubernatorial races, including Kansas.
Big races:
TX Sen – Beto vs Cruz
NV Sen – Rosen vs Heller
FL Sen – Sick Rott vs Nelson
AZ Sen – McSally vs Sinema
CA Sen – DeLeon vs Feinstein
MO Sen – Hawley vs McCaskill
TN Sen – Breesan vs Blackburn
VT Sen – Sanders vs a pack of Indies (well, not a big race, but it is Bernie’s re-up)
FL Gov – DeSantis vs Gillum
GA Gov – Kemp vs Abrams
MD Gov – Jealous vs Hogan
WI Gov – Evers vs Walker
IL Gov – Pritzker vs Rauner
AZ Gov – Garcia vs Ducey
ID Gov – Jordan vs Little
MI Gov – Whitmer vs Schulette
IA Gov – Hubbell vs Reynolds
MN AG – Ellison vs Wardlow
Add the races you are keen about in the comments!
Hello friends!
I gather that JD & LD are still road-tripping and are now in Colorado! Nice.
Democrats gear up for 2020 — and Bernie Sanders still leads the pack
(Sanders) has managed to marshal a loyal army of progressive activists who stand for principles of social and economic justice that had seemingly been abandoned by the Democratic Party since the Bill Clinton years. Many of Sanders’ followers will support no one else — unless and until he tells them too. That alone will make Sanders a formidable opponent for any and all Democrats who are considering taking him on.
Strange to see such a glaring spelling error, but I’ll give the writer a break because I like the title of the piece. I hadn’t heard this next bit in the Salon article – had you?
Warren, a potential rival who could have split the progressive vote, has apparently taken herself out of consideration for 2020
As usual, Bernie’s age comes up, but not in an entirely bad way.
The governor spent 2017 poking fun at the mayor. Now he’s under fire
I’m pretty sure that Cuomo might as well just give up on any presidential plans:
According to a recent Marist poll, 70% of New York Democrats do not want Gov. Andrew Cuomo to run for president.
Denied the Working Families Party nomination, Cuomo should have petitioned his way into a September WFP primary, challenging designated nominee Cynthia Nixon. It would have signaled his commitment to liberal principles and been taken as a sign of respect to grassroots activists.
Instead, Cuomo snubbed the party and threw down a gauntlet to its financiers, saying, “You’re either with me or against me.” Most of them sided with the governor. Widely credited with killing New York’s Liberal Party in 2002 when he accepted its ballot line for governor and then dropped out of the race, Cuomo appears on track to do the same to the WFP.
Cheers and I hope that LD gets to rest his “driving foot”!
More below..
Speaking from the Senate floor Tuesday, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren warned against the power of dark money in politics. In her remarks Sen. Warren details how big dark money donors use “think thanks” to push policies that benefit the rich at the expense of everyday Americans:
Continue reading for Video & Transcript .
Continue reading →Acknowledging that Medicare for All must be the end goal for an ultra-wealthy nation in which tens of thousands die each year due to lack of health insurance, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced legislation on Wednesday aimed at making immediate fixes to the current system to protect consumers from the “nasty tricks” of the private insurance industry, lower prescription drug costs, and shield low-income families from premium hikes.
“So long as private health insurance exists, there is no reason to allow our health care to be held hostage by insurance companies that refuse to do better,” Warren said in a statement unveiled alongside her legislation, which is co-sponsored by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.). “Our bill will hold them accountable while significantly improving access to healthcare for millions of Americans.”
Warren is attempting to address problems in the short-term that are contributing to soaring healthcare costs and kicking Americans off their insurance entirely—from the Trump administration’s relentless sabotage efforts to the outlandish costs of prescription drugs.
Under Warren’s plan, for instance, insurance companies would “be barred from changing the kinds of drugs that they cover in the middle of the year, as well as how much of those drugs’ costs are born by consumers,” Marans notes. “Consumers would also be shielded from the effects of an insurer dropping a plan during their course of treatment.”
“Too many Americans have to battle with their insurance companies just to see their doctor or get a prescription filled,” Warren wrote on Twitter Wednesday. “We need a healthcare system that puts patients first—not insurance companies.”
Today I’m introducing the Consumer Health Insurance Protection Act with @SenSanders & our colleagues. We need #MedicareForAll – and until we get it, there's no reason private insurers can't provide coverage that lives up to the high standards of our public health care programs. pic.twitter.com/Ke7laLd164
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 21, 2018
More news/video/tweets/etc.
Bernie Sanders: Russia and Stormy Daniels distract us from real problem of inequality
Enough about Russia and Stormy Daniels, the leaders of the progressive movement want to talk about growing income inequality in the US.
At a live-streamed town hall event on Monday night, Senator Bernie Sanders once again circumvented cable news to host a 90-minute panel discussion on poverty, the decline of the middle class and the consolidation of corporate power.
He was joined in Washington by Senator Elizabeth Warren, director Michael Moore and economist Darrick Hamilton while roughly 1.7 million viewers tuned in to watch online, according to Sanders’ office.
Speaking to the Guardian before the event, Sanders said: “We have to fight Trump every day. But we have to not lose our vision as to where we want to go as a country. We can talk about the disastrous role Russia has played in trying to undermine American democracy. That is enormously important. But we also have to talk about the fact that we have the highest rate of child poverty in any major economy of the world.”
Sanders and Moore both complained about the media’s poor coverage of inequality and working people’s struggles. Moore said: “You turn on the TV and it’s ‘Russia, Russia, Russia!’” Sanders interjected: “And don’t forget Stormy Daniels!”
Moore continued: “These are all shiny keys to distract us … We should know about the West Virginia strike. What an inspiration that would be. But they don’t show this, Bernie, because, what would happen if they did?”
Panelists were not shy to point out who they felt were the culprits fuelling inequality in the United States. Its three wealthiest men – Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet – who collectively earn more than the poorest half of Americans, were singled out as contributing to the widening wealth gap. So too were lobbyists like the American Legislative Exchange Council and major political donors such as the Koch brothers. And, of course, representatives in Congress who are beholden to corporate donors.
The event is available for viewing here.
I say to those in the mainstream media: start turning your attention to the millions of people who are in poverty and struggling every day. #InequalityTownHall
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 19, 2018
More news/video/tweets/etc. in the comments.
Warren Calls Out Fellow Democrats for Helping GOP Ram Through ‘Wish Lists of Big Bank Lobbyists’
Cooperation between Republicans and Democrats has become something of a rarity in today’s polarized political environment—except when it comes to a select handful of objectives, like enriching Wall Street banks.
In a Twitter thread Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is calling attention to a massive bank deregulation bill (S.2155) that could reach the Senate floor for a final vote this week, and highlighted the fact that a dozen Democrats are providing crucial support for the measure.
If passed, the legislation—derisively labeled “The Bank Lobbyist Act” by Warren and other critics—would make it more difficult to combat racial discrimination by big banks, provide regulatory relief for more than two dozen of the nation’s large financial institutions, and eliminate many consumer protections put into place after the 2008 financial crisis.
In addition to Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), the 12 Democratic senators currently co-sponsoring the deregulation measure are: Doug Jones (Ala.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Mark Warner (Va.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Tim Kaine (Va.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Michael Bennet (Colo.), Chris Coons (Del.), and Tom Carper of Delaware.
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As Talmon Joseph Smith observed in an article for The New Republic on Thursday, “Nine of the 12 Democrats supporting the deregulatory measure count the financial industry as either their biggest or second-biggest donor.”
Earlier this week, a coalition of advocacy groups—including Rootstrikers, Public Citizen, and CREDO—delivered 450,000 petition signatures to members of Congress demanding that they reject Crapo’s measure.
“Do not collaborate with Donald Trump and Trump Republicans to deregulate big banks,” CREDO’s petition reads. “We need to finish the job of Wall Street reform and end a dangerous and rigged system that puts our economy at risk, not roll back the reforms already in place.”
The Senate should be working to #EndGunViolence. Instead, Mitch McConnell is teeing up legislation on what he thinks is a much more pressing issue: fulfilling the wish lists of big bank lobbyists. pic.twitter.com/Lwu0SOnFSc
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 2, 2018
More news/video/tweets/etc. in the comments.
With a speech delivered at the National Congress of American Indians on Wednesday morning, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told the gathering of Native Americans that she will not allow President Donald Trump’s racist attack on her heritage to be a smear against her, but will instead do her best to use such attacks to uplift the proud traditions—as well as the historic struggles—of North America’s indigenous tribes and communities.
Addressing directly how the president referred to her as ‘Pocahontas’ during a White House ceremony last year, Warren said that she is proud of her Native American roots.
“I’ve noticed that every time my name comes up, President Trump likes to talk about Pocahontas,” she said. “So I figured, let’s talk about Pocahontas. Not Pocahontas, the fictional character most Americans know from the movies, but Pocahontas, the Native woman who really lived, and whose real story has been passed down to so many of you through the generations.”
The mythology around Pocahontas, said Warren, is one that “has been taken away by powerful people who twisted it to serve their own purposes. The fable is used to bleach away the stain of genocide. As you know, Pocahontas’s real journey was far more remarkable — and far darker — than the myth admits.”
Why denouncing the president’s clear intent to use the name as a racist slur and a smear against her and Native Americans more broadly—with many in the right-wing media echo chamber happy to play along—Warren said she does not intend to submit to those designs.
“I’m here today to make a promise,” Warren told the audience, according to a transcript first published in the Boston Globe on Wednesday. “Every time someone brings up my family’s story, I’m going to use it to lift up the story of your families and your communities.”
Yes. Let’s Talk About Pocahontas. – The following are the prepared remarks of Sen. Elizabeth Warren
More news/video/tweets/etc. in the comments.
Democrats Divided Over Forcing a DACA-Shutdown Even After Trump’s ‘Sh*thole’ Saga
With just three days left before the federal government runs out of money, congressional Democrats are divided over whether to risk a shutdown in order to force Republicans to sign on to a bipartisan immigration deal this week.
It’s the same quandary the party faced last month and twice before that. Only now, the stakes are higher and Republicans appear to be handing them some leverage.
At issue is whether to support a measure to keep the government running absent a deal to grant legal protections for the undocumented immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children. Last month, Democrats punted on the matter. And with a March deadline looming for the formal end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program—which protected an estimated 800,000 DREAMers from deportation—they are now facing impassioned demands from their base to take advantage of one of their few remaining pressure points.
“[President Donald Trump] said to the Republican Congress, fix it. Remember that? That’s what he said. Fix it. And it is their job to fix it. So, no, I will not be voting for any [short-term extension] that does not provide legal status to the DREAMers and a path toward citizenship,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told reporters at the Capitol.
But that sentiment is not shared universally across the party, with some lawmakers wary that Democrats would both cede the moral high ground and invite the blame.
“Historically, it’s Republicans that shut the government down and Democrats don’t want to play that,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), a progressive Democrat who is up for re-election in a state Trump won in 2016. “Every time the government shuts down or always shuts down, it’s the Tea-Party talking points and it’s threatening to shut the government down, it’s threatening to not pay our bills, threatening default—it’s what they do. Democrats absolutely don’t want to shut the government down.”
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The party’s slate of aspiring 2020 presidential candidates—notably Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)—has encouraged their colleagues to adopt a more united front. And they’ve been joined by more progressive members of the party.
“There’s no reason we can’t get this done. There is one compromise that can get the votes, and it’s just up to [Republican leaders] whether they want to schedule it or not,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) said, referring to the bipartisan compromise brokered last week. “And the reason they don’t want to schedule it is not because it can’t get the votes, but because it can. And they would have to do a bipartisan deal, which they are still allergic to.”
More news/video/tweets/etc. in the comments.
Tax Scam Not Passed Yet, But GOP Already Salivating to Destroy Anti-Poverty Programs
While tax experts continue to exclaim with horror as they sift through the “legislative monstrosity” Republicans rammed through the Senate last week, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday hosted a Facebook live event aimed at detailing the next steps in the fight against both the GOP’s tax plan and the party’s broader economic agenda.
One of the most significant battles ahead, Sanders and Warren note, will be over Republican efforts to pivot from “tax reform” to the pursuit of devastating cuts to safety net programs that low-income and middle class families rely upon to put food on the table and afford life-saving medical care.
“Literally minutes after they passed this disastrous [tax] bill in the Senate, the discussion escalates. Of course they’re going to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,” Sanders said. “And you know why? This is shocking: the deficit is too big.”
“That’s right,” Warren added, calling the Republican tax plan a “pay off” to right-wing billionaire donors. “They want to run up the deficit and then say a high debt is the reason they’ve gotta cut all the things for working people.”
https://youtu.be/8JhCO4uNpxM
More news/videos/tweets/etc. in the comments, including:
*Bernie & Ben Rally In Baltimore
*Hundreds Arrested in Peaceful Protest as Thousands March Demanding ‘Clean’ Dream Act
*Opposite of Peace as Trump Accused of ‘Kicking Hornet’s Nest’ in Middle East
*Two Months After Nation’s Deadliest Mass Shooting, GOP House Passes ‘Dangerous’ Bill to Undermine Local Gun Control Laws
*‘We’re fighting for our way of life’: Republican tax bill presents grave threat to Alaska’s tribal groups
*Pipeline updates, Water Protector news & More
Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren Propose $146 Billion “Marshall Plan” for Puerto Rico
Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday unveiled a massive $146 billion “Marshall plan” for Puerto Rico with several other senators. The plan includes immediate relief for the island’s cash-strapped government, billions more for economic development and renewable energy and Medicaid and Medicare parity, a key priority for the island.
“More than two months after Hurricanes Irma and Maria struck Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, half of the people there—American citizens all—still have no electricity,” Sanders said at a press conference Tuesday morning.
“Many are struggling to get clean drinking water, and more than 100,000 people have left Puerto Rico alone. This is not acceptable, and we are here today to tell the people of Puerto Rico and tell the people of the Virgin Islands that they are not forgotten, they are not alone, and that we intend to do everything possible to rebuild those beautiful islands.”
The far-reaching legislation would grant $62 billion to the governments of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, $27 billion to renovate infrastructure, and $13 billion in additional FEMA funding to rebuild the electric grid “with more modern, resilient technologies,” instead of the Stafford Act’s requirements that the grid be restored to its condition before the storms, according to a summary of the bill from Sanders’s office.
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“The bill that Senator Sanders has introduced in the United States Congress is a comprehensive plan that provides the blueprint for the transformation of Puerto Rico,” Carmen Yulín Cruz, mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, said in a statement. “Senator Sanders also shows a great deal of respect and faith in us when claiming that the recovery or Puerto Rico must be in Puerto Rican hands.”
More news/video/etc. in the comments, including:
*Jealous names Susan Turnbull, a former vice chair of the DNC, as his running mate
*FEMA forced to cancel $30 million contract to another newly formed two-man firm
*Nina Turner On 2020 and the Fight Within the Democratic Party
*In ‘Blow to American Consumers,’ Trump-Appointed Judge Sides With Trump on CFPB
*Study Shows Corporate Cable Networks Largely Ignoring FCC Plan to Kill Net Neutrality
*Pipeline updates, Water Protector News & More
(Still fighting a bug in the comments, so if they do not load try clicking the ‘sort by newest/oldest’ option and they should pop-up)
Republicans want you to believe that if we give away $1.5 trillion to big corporations in their so-called tax reform bill, CEOs will raise wages and bring jobs back from overseas. But that’s not how CEOs think. Al and Elizabeth will tell you what they’ll actually do with their tax giveaways.
Asked if DNC system was rigged in Clinton’s favor, Warren says ‘yes’
Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she believes that the Democratic National Committee was “rigged” in favor of former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during the 2016 primary.
Asked Thursday by CNN’s Jake Tapper whether she believes that the Democratic campaign organization was tipped in favor of Clinton over her primary opponent, independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Warren responded without hesitation: “Yes.”
“We learned today from the former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile that the Clinton campaign in her view did rig the presidential nominating process by entering into an agreement to control day-to-day operations at the DNC,” Tapper said, continuing on to describe specific arms of the DNC the Clinton camp had a say over, including strategy and staffing, noting that the agreement was “entered into in August of 2015,” months before Clinton won the nomination.
Warren called that “a real problem.”
“But what we’ve got to do as Democrats now, is we’ve got to hold this party accountable,” Warren said.
The Massachusetts Democrat is seen as a possible presidential contender in 2020 and beyond.
Tapper then asked, “Do you agree with the notion that it was rigged?” And Warren responded simply: “Yes.”
More News/Videos/Etc in the comments, including:
*Nina Turner Slams attempts at a ‘cover up’
*Texas Democrats Celebrate Lamar Smith’s Retirement: ‘It’s Great News For The Climate’
*Bernie Sanders: The health care crisis no one is talking about
*Rep. Gabbard Recognized as a Top National Food Policy Advocate
*Instead of $2 Trillion Corporate Tax Cut, GOP Could Give Average American Families $17,000 Each
*Pipeline News, Water Protector Updates & More
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