Jeff Beals joins Rita Vanacore of ‘Planet Seniors’ on Radio Kingston earlier this week to discuss why he is advocating for Medicare for All, raising Social Security benefits, and forgiving student loan debt:
Tag Archives: New York
May 23 Open Thread
I just emailed Sean Patrick Maloney (my House Rep—that happy guy below) about joining the Republicans (and 32 of his Dem colleagues) to roll back banking regulations. I asked him why he supports banks over his constituents and whether his vote has anything to do with the fact that he was the #3 Dem recipient of banking industry donations. I’ll get back to you all with any response to my inquiry. Join me after the jump with any news etc. that you would like to share.
Continue reading →10/26 News Roundup – Bernie To Rally With Mayor de Blasio, Sanders Introduces Bill To Lower Drug Prices & More
Good morning friends! I have a super extensive audit at the cubicle job today so will most likely not be around too very much but wanted to get a post going for the day. Of course I’ll start it with Bernie:
Bernie Sanders To Rally With Mayor De Blasio Before Election
Mayor Bill de Blasio will get a boost from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday as he seeks to rally support from the left for his re-election campaign. The de facto leader of the Democratic Party’s left wing will headline a de Blasio campaign rally at the music venue Terminal 5 on Oct. 30.
Sanders, an independent from Vermont who ran for president as a Democrat last year, “highlight the Mayor’s strong record of progressive results, his vision for moving New York City forward, and the importance of voting for a Mayor who will stand up to Donald Trump,” de Blasio’s campaign said in an event announcement.
The rally will come a week before de Blasio, a Democrat finishing his first term, faces off with Republican state Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis in the Nov. 7 election.
De Blasio endorsed Hillary Clinton over Sanders in last year’s presidential primary, in which the senator ran as an anti-establishment outsider. But Sanders’ appearance could help increase de Blasio’s appeal to some of his progressive critics.
“Throughout his life, Sen. @BernieSanders has fought for change for working Americans,” de Blasio’s campaign tweeted Wednesday.
Throughout his life, Sen. @BernieSanders has fought for change for working Americans. Join us at a campaign rally: https://t.co/6vUCy8JLbj pic.twitter.com/0cLRqLFEGt
— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) October 25, 2017
More news/video/etc. in the comments including:
*As Tensions Simmer, Poll Shows Majority of Democrats Want Bold Leftward Shift
*Why “Centrists” Will Sink the Democrats, If They Haven’t Already
*Arizona’s Democratic Socialists Inspired by Bernie Sanders Seek Political Left Turn
*U.S. Hospitals Wrestle With Shortages of Drug Supplies Made in Puerto Rico
*While Trump Opens National Parks to Fossil Fuel Drilling, Fee Hikes Would Lock Out Vacationing Families
*Pipeline updates, Water Protector News & More
Liuba Grechen Shirley’s Campaign For Congress (NY-02)
Liuba has spent her career leading organizations to empower working families both at home and abroad. She has forged partnerships between nonprofits, government, and businesses to tackle issues including economic development, access to health care, paid family leave, and government transparency. She has worked with farmers, diplomats, healthcare workers, government leaders and entrepreneurs in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. Liuba has led delegations to Capitol Hill to lobby for strong American leadership at the UN, has fought to make the use of international aid funds more accountable and less corrupt, and has worked to help restore economically depressed communities around the world.
She has focused specifically on women’s economic empowerment working on projects for Women Deliver, PL+US: Paid Leave for the US, Vital Voices, Global Health Visions, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Liuba served as a UN Women’s Empower Women’s Global Champion for women’s economic empowerment. Together with UN Women, she launched the #IAmParent campaign for Parental Leave.
Liuba and her family have called Long Island home for 5 generations. Her mother, Katherine Grechen, is a public school teacher and single mother. Liuba’s grandparents were Russian immigrant who moved to Amityville in the 1940s to build a better life for their children. Her grandmother, whom she was named after, opened a small wool and yarn business, and her grandfather helped build the first lunar module to land on the moon. Liuba’s family taught her the value of hard work and the importance of community, and she and her husband are now raising their two young children in Amityville.
Liuba founded a grassroots group called New York’s 2nd District Democrats to engage Long Islanders in the political process. At first, she thought the group would mostly attract Democrats alarmed by Donald Trump’s policies — but the group has actually welcomed many independents and even some Republicans who want new leadership in NY02. Liuba holds an MBA with specializations in Management, Economics, and Social Innovation from New York’s University’s Stern School of Business, and a BA in Politics and Russian from NYU.
Just A Few Of Liuba’s Priorities:
Environment – I grew up swimming in and sailing on the Great South Bay. Over the years, however, we’ve seen more instances of brown tide affecting our beaches and our fishing industry. Sea levels have risen, storms have increased in strength, and downpours have become more frequent. Flooding has become more of a common occurrence. Long Islanders are facing drastically increasing flood insurance premiums. These are just some of the effects of climate change and outdated practices that have affected our coastal district, and will only get worse if we do not address them now. For those of us who lived through Superstorm Sandy, we know the dangers of more intense and frequent storms, and we know the effects they have had on our homes, our lives, and our economy. Protecting our island’s natural environment and coastal economy, and enacting policies to combat the effects of climate change are critical to our community.
That is why I support smart investments in renewable energy to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, create good green jobs, and make energy more affordable for Long Island families.
We must work to improve our water quality and infrastructure, reduce nitrogen pollution in our waters, and mitigate brown tides. Protecting our drinking water from contamination, and cleaning up any groundwater contamination that already exists, such as the plume emanating from the Northrop Grumman plant in Bethpage, is critical.
Health Care – The Affordable Care Act is an important first step toward fixing our broken system. The law has enabled 20 million Americans to access health insurance, yet Rep. Peter King voted to repeal the ACA, which would have left 74,000 people in our district without health insurance, and denied three hospitals in our district – Good Samaritan, Southside, and St. Joseph – more than $14 million in funding. Rep. King voted to gut Medicare.
60% of Americans want to “expand Medicare to provide health insurance to every American,” and it’s time Congress fight for Americans, rather than the special interest groups that dominate health care in our country.
I would support Rep. John Conyers’ HR 676 Medicare for All. Health care is a human right.
I am running for Congress because we don’t get to choose when we get sick and healthcare shouldn’t just be reserved for the rich. We need to fight for affordable care for ALL.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Campaign For Congress (NY-14)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Official Website has more about her an her platform::
New York’s 14th congressional district urgently needs access to more reliable jobs, increased access to family support services like parental leave and free childcare. I will fight for universal access to quality education from pre-K until college regardless of income and enrollment status because your ZIP code should never determine your quality of life.
Specifics On Issues:
*PROVIDE A TUITION-FREE EDUCATION TO QUALIFIED STUDENTS AT ALL PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES, AND TRADE SCHOOLS
*RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE TO $15/HOUR — AND TIE IT TO INFLATION
*INVEST THE $4.6 TRILLION NEEDED TO REPAIR OUR COUNTRY’S CRUMBLING INFRASTRUCTURE
& to: FIX THE HEALTHCARE MESS:
Everyone knows health care in America is broken. It was broken before Obamacare, and it is still broken. Obamacare forces millions of people to pay for insurance they can’t afford to use because deductibles are so high. Millions are still left without coverage and costs are skyrocketing for everyone.
There has always been a simple solution to our health care mess: cover everyone with Medicare.
Private insurance companies have been allowed by generations of corrupt politicians to become monopolies with the power to extort many hundreds of billions of dollars from the American people each year. The health insurance industry spent $150 billion dollars last year in lobbying expenses alone, to protect their monopolies — money that could have been spent on providing care and saving lives. Our Medicare for All plan will provide all Americans with Medicare, increase the number of doctors and care facilities and stop Big Pharma from gouging American consumers.
PROVIDE ALL AMERICANS WITH HEALTHCARE THROUGH MEDICARE
This will include high-quality general, dental, vision, and mental health coverage. Medicare is more efficient than any private insurance provider and is accepted by 95% of doctors. Under our plan, private insurance companies will be allowed to compete with each other in a truly free market to offer supplemental insurance plans.
100th Anniversary of the Silent Parade.
That large banner has the famous line from the American Declaration of Independence, followed by “If of African descent tear off this corner”. TomP had a diary last month on the 100th anniversary of the East St. Louis massacre that described the events and their causes in detail. Today is the 100th anniversary of the Silent Parade in New York City, organized to protest that massacre which claimed the lives of 100-200, the vast majority of them black people. Google changed it’s doodle today to commemorate the protest. They are also highlighting a documentary project from the Equal Justice Initiative called Lynching in … Continue reading →
Warren says Democrats should campaign on Single-Payer healthcare.
Elizabeth Warren has been on a campaign footing to push back against Republican efforts to bestow enormous tax breaks on millionaires and billionaires by decimating health-care coverage for ordinary Americans. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is traveling to Trump-friendly areas of her state hoping to connect with his backers and provide a road map for her party to win back working-class voters. […] Democrats, she said, would do better if they campaigned on that progressive platform rather than blurring the lines between themselves and Republicans. — WSJ Warren highlighted the lengths to which President Obama and Democrats had gone in 2009-2010 to garner Republican support … Continue reading →
NY Senate is one senate vote away from passing Single Payer Health Care.
The New York Health Act passed the NY assembly this year, just as it has the past two years. The NYHA would establish a single-payer universal health-care system in New York, covering all New York residents. Every New York resident would be eligible to enroll, regardless of immigration status, age, income, wealth, employment, or other status. Coverage would include all services currently required by the state’s insurance laws and offered in the health-care plans offered to state public employees. The plan would be funded through a progressive payroll tax/deduction that would replace health-insurance premiums for most employees. The tax would be graduated with … Continue reading →