Last night, Republicans blocked my amendment to the #FY19NDAA that would stop the U.S. from refueling Saudi-led coalition jets bombing civilians in Yemen. They argued that our alliance with the Saudi monarchy meant we needed to overlook their war crimes in Yemen. I disagree. pic.twitter.com/jfTNfct1PF
Go here to see the vote. Unfortunately, it looks like nine Democrats also “blocked” Ro’s amendment, but I’m glad that my Rep. Joe Courtney voted with Ro. Tulsi Gabbard and Beto O’Rourke also voted with Ro.
Beto O’Rourke Wants To Debate Ted Cruz Six Times, Twice In Spanish U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, has invited U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to participate in six debates with O’Rourke across Texas, two of them in Spanish, during their U.S. Senate race. O’Rourke campaign manager Jody Casey made the proposal in a letter last week to Cruz’s senior staff, adding that the debates should have “media reach to all twenty markets in the state.” “I would like to begin direct coordination of the debates with your campaign team between now and May 10th,” Casey wrote to Cruz advisers …Continue reading →
This showed up on my twitter feed just now as a ‘Promoted’ tweet. Now, I don’t tend to squander any love on Bloomberg, Steyer, or Soros, but I was curious enough to look up this group, Power The Future, and look at what I found on the group’s timeline: Hmmm, I thought, something seems off. Here is the linked story: Beto O’Rourke to major Democratic super PAC donor: “Thanks, but no thanks” Tom Steyer, one of the biggest Democratic donors in the country, openly mulled spending on O’Rourke’s behalf via his environmental super PAC, NextGen America. Wait, is it..possible that O’Rourke said, “Thanks, but no thanks” for …Continue reading →
Sanders, Warren, O’Rourke inspire patriotic small donor waves During the 2016 presidential campaign, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) fired the small-donor fundraising shot that was heard around the political world and now stands on the brink of transforming American politics for a long time to come. The Sanders fundraising triumph in 2016, raising huge amounts of money by refusing dirty special interest money and appealing to intensely patriotic and idealistic small donors, is a living legacy that is demonstrating enormous political power as the midterm elections and the 2020 presidential campaign come closer. .. Now Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), who is …Continue reading →
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2016 election but lost out to Hillary Clinton, on Monday criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his policies.
“As someone who believes absolutely and unequivocally in Israel’s right to exist… we must say loudly and clearly, that to oppose the reactionary policies of Prime Minister Netanyahu does not make us anti-Israel,” Sanders told the annual conference of the J Street organization.
He took issue with Israel’s response to the recent riots along the border with Gaza, claiming Israel “massively overreacted” to the protests.
“The presence of Hamas members among a crowd of tens of thousands does not justify the level of violence we saw, and frankly it’s amazing to me that anyone would find that point controversial,” Sanders said.
“I have condemned Hamas’s use of terrorist violence and will continue to do so. But that violence cannot excuse shooting at unarmed protesters, and it cannot excuse trapping almost two million people inside Gaza,” he charged.
Sanders also said that the United States “must play a much more aggressive and even-handed role in ending the Gaza blockade and helping Palestinians and Israelis build a future that works for all.” He added that, If the White House does not do that, Congress must take the lead.
“Too often, our foreign policy debate here in Washington is dominated by those whose answer to complicated international situations seems always to involve dropping more bombs, rather than engage in the hard work of diplomacy and negotiation,” said Sanders, who opined that the best way to achieve peace between Israelis and Arabs is the “two-state solution”.
More news/video/tweets/etc. in the comments, including:
*Sanders Speaks To The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)
*The Working Families Party endorsement of Nixon over Cuomo helps fuel deepening split among New York Democrats.
*Why Democrats everywhere are watching Beto O’Rourke’s Senate campaign in Texas
*Protect indigenous people’s land rights and the whole world will benefit, UN forum declares
*New AUMF? Critics Warn Against Giving Trump—or Any President—Power to Wage War ‘Virtually Anywhere on the Planet’
*Pipeline news, Water Protector updates & More
Speaking to a room packed with progressives running for state and local office, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., advised the first-time candidates to ignore the political establishment and trust their guts.
Crediting the movement catalyzed by his 2016 Democratic presidential campaign, Sanders said the policies of Medicare for all, free college tuition, a $15 dollar minimum wage, criminal justice reform, and legalizing marijuana are now “mainstream” among Democrats.
“What was once considered radical is now mainstream,” Sanders said Thursday to cheers at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington.
Sanders bashed the political establishment and the press repeatedly throughout his speech. The media, Sanders said, plays a “destructive” game by telling the “American people that politics is too complicated, you can’t get involved, you don’t know how to run for office.”
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The former presidential contender encouraged the candidates, who are in Washington for four days of training, to embrace a progressive agenda even if they’re running in red or purple states.
“Let me give you a warning here: Watch out for consultants,” he said to laughs. “Often their advice is conservative and wrong. Trust your own guts, trust your own instincts.”
The training, put on by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Sanders’ Our Revolution, includes four days of helping candidates craft their public persona, how to pitch reporters, building field operations, do-it-yourself opposition research, and budgeting.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Monday that he will oppose Mike Pompeo to lead the State Department days before his nomination hearing.
“Mike Pompeo is absolutely the wrong choice to serve as the United States’ top diplomat, and I will vote against him,” Sanders said in a statement.
Pompeo, who is currently CIA director, is slated to testify before the Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday.
Sanders isn’t a member of the panel and previously opposed Pompeo’s nomination to lead the CIA.
He added on Monday that “we need a secretary of State who will represent the best principles of the United States to the rest of the world.”
Sanders pointed to Pompeo’s position on climate change, “longstanding relationship with anti-Muslim extremists” and “hawkish” foreign policy views.
Mike Pompeo is absolutely the wrong choice for secretary of state. He is a supporter of the Global Gag Rule. He opposes LGBTQ rights. And as the top recipient of money from the Koch brothers, he's stymied action on one of our most serious security threats: global climate change.
Linked arm in arm and shoulder to shoulder, hundreds marched the streets of Memphis honoring the late civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Junior. It was 50 years ago today that Dr. King was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Downtown Memphis.
The sight was reminiscent of the workers’ strike of 1968 that brought him to Memphis all those years ago. But today’s march was about more than just honoring the man. It was also about bringing light to issues that still need attention.
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Senator Bernie Sanders was also present for the march and said seeing where history was made all those years ago was an unique experience.
“It is very moving. In my view, Dr. King was one of the great leaders in the history of our country. He was a man of extraordinary courage and to be in the city where his life came to an end tragically, for me is a very moving experience,” said Senator Bernie Sanders.
“We can never forget what Dr. King stood for and it’s not enough to just look back and honor him,” said Sanders who spoke at the rally Wednesday morning. “We have got to continue the fight that he gave his life for, and that fight was to end racism in America, to end poverty in America, militarism in America and to create a government that worked for all people and not just a handful of wealthy individuals.”
The legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is not just remembering him. The legacy is for us to follow in his footsteps and transform our country. pic.twitter.com/3afLNZ0GYC
After days of ranting and raving on Twitter about the “caravans” of migrants making their way toward the United States—”caravans” that are made up largely of Honduran asylum-seekers looking to call attention to their plight—President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he has begun working with Defense Secretary James Mattis to deploy the military to “guard” the U.S.-Mexico border until his proposed wall is constructed.
“We have very bad laws for our border, and we are going to be doing some things—I’ve been speaking with General Mattis—we’re going to be doing things militarily,” Trump declared during a White House meeting with Baltic leaders on Tuesday. “Until we can have a wall and proper security, we’re going to be guarding our border with the military.”
Lawmakers and advocacy groups immediately called the new proposal—which is reportedly favored by White House senior advisor Stephen Miller—as a “beyond disturbing” addition to Trump’s already expansive anti-immigrant agenda.
These new reports are beyond disturbing. The President is now publicly discussing deploying US troops on American soil to push his white supremacist agenda. https://t.co/DtvVmxMNGn
In a statement responding to Trump’s “caravan” tweets on Monday, the refugee rights group Pueblo Sin Fronteras highlighted America’s role in fueling the violence migrants are now attempting to flee by supporting the 2009 Honduran military coup and denounced the president for refusing to honor international agreements that enshrine the rights of asylum seekers.
“The unprecedented number of Central Americans who have joined the current refugee caravan and the high percentage of people fleeing Honduras in the group are the result of multiple political crises in the region provoked in large part by the policies of the U.S. government,” the statement noted.
Sending U.S. service members to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border is wrong. It’s dangerous to service members, to U.S. citizens, and to the people of the border. https://t.co/dwtY0xiyan
Last night, Bill Maher had a one-on-one conversation with Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic challenger to Ted Cruz for the US senate seat to represent Texas. Beto says his nickname is common (for Roberto) in El Paso, but he is all Irish as he can be on St. Pat’s Day. He’s from a family of immigrants. He’s also been to 226 counties out of 254 in Texas. That’s a lot of ground for introductions! I watched it as I had wondered what all of the hootin’ and hollerin’ was about Beto. After watching this interview, I think you will see why …Continue reading →
Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are not impressed.
And they were not alone Tuesday as outrage and disgust erupted among consumer watchdogs and progressives after Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) and sixteen Democrats joined with 50 Republicans in the U.S. Senate to advance a bill that critics say is just another handout for Wall Street banks—one that also sets the stage for the next major financial meltdown.
With a vote of 67-32, including the 17 Democrats who voted yes, a “motion to proceed” received enough support to send the ‘Bank Lobbyist Act’—technically the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, or S. 2155—to the floor for debate, possible amendments, and then a final vote later this week or next.
Kurt Walters, campaign director at Demand Progress’s grassroots anti-corruption wing Rootstrikers, said those 17 members of the Democratic caucus who voted to advance the bill in the Senate have simply no defense.
“Voters have seen this movie before. It didn’t work out in 2008 and it’s no wiser today. There is simply no excuse for a Democrat to add their name to Wall Street deregulation,” Walters said following the vote. Identifying members who voted in favor as “the Bailout Caucus,” he said those lawmakers have now sent a very clear message: “I work for my bank donors, not my constituents.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who like Sen. King caucuses with the Democrats, also appeared to have a had a hard time understanding those who supported the bill:
At a time of massive concentration of ownership in the financial sector, now is not the time to deregulate banks that have more than $3.5 trillion in assets and lay the groundwork for another massive financial collapse.
