9/4 News Roundup – Bernie Speaks In Brooklyn, Sanders Leads Presidential Campaigns Staffing Up In California & More

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We say thank you to our grassroots donors who make this movement possible. No billionaires, super PACs or corporate lobbyists are supporting us, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We are the strongest campaign to defeat Trump because we have millions of working people powering our campaign.

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9/3 News Roundup & Open Thread – Bernie’s Labor Day Town Halls, Sanders Slams Saudi Arabia’s Bombing of Yemen & More

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Mobilizing Thousands for Labor Day Actions Across US, Sanders Touts ‘Organizer-in-Chief’ Model to Combat Corporate Assault on Workers

Using Labor Day as an opportunity to organize against the decades-long corporate assault on the working class, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign on Monday launched more than 60 “solidarity actions” that are expected to bring thousands to the streets nationwide in support of organized labor.

“This Labor Day, workers across America will declare that the 40-year war against workers waged by corporate America and the billionaire class must come to an end,” Sanders said in a statement. “That is what this Labor Day is about.”

“When we are in the White House,” said Sanders, “I will lead as Organizer-in-Chief to rebuild, strengthen, and expand the trade union movement in America.”

Touting Sanders’ innovative efforts to turn his bid for the White House into a movement using his email list and other tools, the senator’s campaign said in a press release that, ahead of Labor Day, it “had already sent hundreds of thousands of emails and over half a million texts encouraging supporters to attend over 50 union strikes, protests, and actions.”

“Bernie’s support for the trade union movement is unmatched,” said Joe Calvello, western press secretary for the Sanders campaign. “Our video team has amplified the struggle of workers across the country… We do this to lift up the struggles that workers across the country are facing. You are not alone.”

According to the grassroots group People for Bernie, Labor Day solidarity actions are expected to take place in California, Utah, Michigan, Maine, and other states across the country.

“Don’t just thank a union, join Bernie Sanders supporters across the country to help us double union membership in America,” said the group, referring to one of the goals of Sanders’ workplace democracy plan.

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Essay: The Two Tales of Biden

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The two stories that are described and quoted below stand as models for all the stories about Joe Biden that appear in the news cycles. The vast majority of stories that we see are based on one or the other of these examples. News organizations have a duty to talk about candidates and when the candidate selected by the establishment has no clear policies and disappears from public view for a week at a time, the media have to resort to using him (or her) as a foil for another candidate who is also acceptable to the establishment or to … Continue reading →

Bernie Sanders at ISNA

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Bernie Sanders talks tough in well-received address to US Muslims

On subjects such as Uighurs and the Saudi war in Yemen, presidential candidate makes an impression at the Islamic Society of North America convention

Senator Bernie Sanders, one of the leading candidates seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, received a rousing welcome at a special event at the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) convention, where he was given a standing ovation and made his presidential pitch to Muslims of America.

Organisers said some 6,000 people attended the event on Saturday evening, which also saw fellow Democrat candidate Julian Castro address the close-to-capacity crowd at the George R Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.

 

US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders with Debbie Almontaser, founding principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, at the Islamic Society of North America’s Convention in Houston, Texas, on Saturday (Reuters)

 

Sanders and Castro were the only two Democratic candidates to accept ISNA’s invitation to attend the event for a community that has felt increasingly marginalised under the presidency of Donald Trump. Attendees made no bones as to who they had come to see.

“I feel strongly that the divisiveness and bigotry that Trump has introduced in the country can only be counteracted by a person like Bernie Sanders,” said Moosa Khan, who stood up to applaud the Vermont senator a number of times during his address.

 

“He made an effort to come here and talk and listen. He is showing his support for our community and he definitely has my vote.”

 

In contrast to Castro, Sanders’ address and policy talking points seemed to have been tailored to appeal to some of the pressing concerns of the American Muslim community.

 

Sanders also said that, as US president, he would hold China to account for its persecution of the Uighurs in Xinjiang province. He also described India’s unilateral decision in August to revoke the semi-autonomous status of Kashmir and impose a communication blockade and military siege on the valley as “unacceptable”.
He then chastised “political elites in both the Republican and Democratic parties” for pursuing “endless wars and interventions”.

Sanders said that, unlike Trump, who has “an affection for authoritarian regimes around the world,” he “would make democracy and human rights a priority for the United States of America”.

9/1 Odds and Ends Open Thread

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I have a fascination with tiny homes. The reality is I could never actually live in one, but I love looking at the designs, the possibilities and how people adapt to them. During one of my wanderings, I ran into the companies ICON and New Story. I have not followed up on them for some time, so I do not know if they have succumbed to the corporate mind set at this point in time, but I do know that at least their original focus was purely fantastic. I hope they have remained true that first vision.   Note: After … Continue reading →

8/31 News and Open Thread

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I am not actually a morning person, so good doesn’t come into my vocabulary until after about 2 PM. Therefore, “Morning, All!” How Warren surged past Sanders – and how he fought back Among the what ifs and what might have beens of politics in America there is Ready for Warren, a group that urged Elizabeth Warren to run for president in 2016. “If I’m being quite frank, I’m upset that she didn’t and haven’t really forgiven her,” said Dave Handy, a political organiser who was part of that effort. “We could have avoided a lot of trouble if she … Continue reading →

8/29 News Roundup & Open Thread

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The chatter heats up for the next Democratic debate.

The next debate will bring a new challenger on stage with Joe Biden

Media loves the drama and CNN is no exception. So, for them at least, it’s all about the expected clash between Warren and Biden who have not yet been on the same debate stage.

And with Bernie refusing to attack Warren:

Sanders has tense encounter with journalist while refusing to criticize Warren

that’s where the media appears to intend to focus their attention… in between finding new ways to demonize Bernie of course.