TPW News Roundup: Sanders vs Cruz Debate Reaction, How Climate Change and Wars Are Increasing World Hunger & More – The Progressive Wing

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‘Don’t interrupt me while I’m interrupting you!’: Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders ribbed each other nonstop at CNN’s debate

Sen. Bernie Sanders went head-to-head with Sen. Ted Cruz in a CNN town hall debate on the Republican Party’s tax plan on Wednesday night.

The polarizing topic has been at the center of Capitol Hill, as lawmakers have attempted to reform the tax code. Republicans, in an effort to pass the tax code, have explored trying to pass tax reform without Democratic support; while Democrats have complained that they have been left out of a crucial, bipartisan process in governing.

Included in the GOP tax plan is a 20% corporate tax rate, the elimination of the estate tax, and the implementation of three tax brackets.

Cruz defended the plan, saying on CNN, “Republicans want to lower the taxes for each and every person watching this debate,” and said that lowering the corporate tax rate would allow businesses to create more jobs.

Sanders, however, said the GOP’s tax plan is about giving “tax breaks to people who don’t need it.” The senator said he supports “a tax cut for the middle class and working families.”

Throughout the evening, the two senators threw several verbal jabs at each other’s expense.

As you can read In the liveblog below, the Bernie vs Cruz buget debate went as one might expect. (Bernie knows what he’s talking about and articulates it, Cruz does very little of either) There’s plenty of quotes, and tweets and all that stuff you might enjoy, so you may want to go check it out. I’ll be posting reactions articles in the comments but just incase you missed it and have time to spare, here it is:

https://youtu.be/tAZGxRmxMH0

(If this copy gets taken down I’ll find another version… because yet again for some reason these kind of things never make it to the MSM of your choices Youtube page)

More progressive news/video/etc. in the comments including:

*Mnuchin Gives Away the Game: “It’s Very Hard Not to Give Tax Cuts to the Wealthy”
*Cash In: Sanders Leads Pack in Fundraising
*Bernie Sanders leads Joe Biden in 2020 New Hampshire poll
*Pruitt Threatens to ‘Purge’ Scientists Who Refuse to Be Fossil Fuel Puppets
*Why Are Incarcerated Women Battling California Wildfires for as Little as $1 a Day?
*Pipeline updates, Water Protector, Indigenous News & More

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Tips, Comments, Complaints, Etc!

Thanks to last nights livebloggers!

‘Robin Hood’ and other key takeaways from the Ted Cruz-Bernie Sanders tax debate

Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders agree that America’s tax code needs an overhaul. And that’s about it.

The political polar opposites, participating Wednesday in a CNN debate, highlighted the yawning policy divide that confronts conservative and liberal lawmakers of all stripes as they prepare to take on a monumental task that’s stymied Congress for decades.

With these two loquacious senators, however, the split was crystal clear.

Cruz, the Texas Republican, pitches the GOP revamp as a way to streamline the code and “lower taxes for each and every person.” Sanders, the Vermont Independent, sees instead a “massive tax break for the wealthy” that comes at the expense of low- and middle-income earners.

Cruz got Sanders to admit that the GOP’s idea to double the standard deduction was a “good idea.” But just as Cruz cheered the common ground — a “miraculous night,” he joked — Sanders quickly objected to the elimination of the personal exemption and other related tax provisions.

“You have to look at it in a comprehensive way,” Sanders said.

Cruz, Sanders debate tax reform in CNN town hall

As the Senate gets ready to make a major move on tax reform, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont faced off in a CNN town hall debate Wednesday night to discuss efforts to overhaul the tax code.

CNN’s Jake Tapper, anchor and chief Washington correspondent, and CNN’s Dana Bash, chief political correspondent, moderated the debate, which was in Washington.

Cruz began by defending the Republican’s tax plan, and called on Congress to lower taxes overall.

“Bernie and the Democrats want every one of you watching today to pay more taxes, and Republicans want to lower the taxes for each and every person watching this debate,” Cruz said.

He later said the objective of tax reform should be cutting everybody’s taxes.

Sanders said that although he supports “a tax cut for the middle class and working families,” he does not support tax breaks for the most wealthy individuals.

“What this entire proposal is about is to give tax breaks to people who don’t need it,” Sanders said during the debate, adding it would be at the expense of other programs that working families depend on.

Yeah, especially the estate tax. Arseholes like the Kochs, tRumps, Mellons, Bushes, Clintons (they wish), you-get-the-drift are obsessed with eliminating it. That way their worthless heirs pay nothing to inherit. Beyond absurd! T and R to the usual suspects!! 🙂

Beyond! Like they need the money!

Bernie Sanders vs. Ted Cruz: Who Won the Tax Debate? [POLL]

Currently sitting at 79% Sanders.

In tax debate, Ted Cruz aims to make Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren the face of Democrats

Ted Cruz spent Wednesday night’s nationally televised tax debate portraying his counterpart Bernie Sanders, along with the Senate’s other top liberal, Elizabeth Warren, as the face of the Democratic Party.

The CNN debate was supposed to be about the Republican tax plan. But, starting with his opening comments, Cruz tried to reframe the conversation to focus on the Vermont senator’s vision of transforming the U.S. into a high-tax country with Nordic-style social democracy.

“Bernie and the Democrats want every one of you watching today to pay more in taxes,” Cruz told the audience in his first comments.

After an early skirmish with Sanders over the estate tax, Cruz informed him that “you and Elizabeth Warren represent the heart of the Democratic Party.”

Later, he mused that “the lesson the Democratic Party took from [the 2016] election was Hillary Clinton was too moderate, and I think the Democratic Party is the party of you and Elizabeth Warren.”

Thanks Ted!

Ted SS-is-a-Ponzi-scheme Cruz. He thinks Warren is liberal? Is there a better phrase than ‘genetically stupid’ to describe this cretin?

Haha, Cruz sounds like a fake preacher half the time, and spouts lies and puts words in people’s mouths the other half of the time.

Cash In: Sanders Leads Pack in Fundraising

Thinking about running against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in 2018?

If so, consider this. According to his latest campaign finance report, submitted to the Federal Election Commission last weekend, his senatorial campaign fund has an astounding $5.86 million in cash on hand.

It would be virtually impossible to spend that much money in Vermont, even if Sanders were to face a real challenge. Last time around, Sanders managed to spend $2.6 million in defeating Republican John MacGovern by a massive 45 percentage points. He couldn’t possibly do much better, even if he spent twice as much this time.

So what’s he doing with all that money? A lot of it goes to fueling the machine: fundraising, strategy and consulting. But a goodly chunk has been spent on his large, enthusiastic campaign-style rallies across the country.

Bernie Sanders leads Joe Biden in 2020 New Hampshire poll

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is leading former Vice President Joe Biden in a hypothetical matchup of the 2020 New Hampshire Democratic primary, according to a new survey.

Sanders, who won New Hampshire in his unsuccessful bid to upset Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign, maintains stronger support in the state than any other presidential hopeful of his party. That includes party luminaries such as Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, according to the University of New Hampshire’s survey.

Most Democratic primary voters (58 percent) are undecided or could not provide a name when asked in an open-ended question whom they would support,” the Granite State Poll found. “Democratic primary voters most recently mentioned Bernie Sanders (14 percent), Joe Biden (five percent), Hillary Clinton (five percent), Elizabeth Warren (four percent), and Joseph Kennedy III (four percent).”

Sanders’ support rose when the respondents were provided a list of potential candidates. That question revealed 31 percent support for the self-described socialist, compared to 24 percent for Biden and 13 percent for Warren.

Bernie Sanders Is Coming to Somerville

Bernie Sanders is coming to Somerville on Monday, where he will stump for progressive candidates in local elections.

The Vermont Senator says he’ll be at Once Somerville, the music venue, at 9:30 a.m. to rally behind a pack of candidates in Cambridge in Somerville who are running for school board, city council, and board of aldermen. The election for those seats is on November 7.

He will also “be discussing how we can make local government work for ordinary citizens,” Our Revolution says on its website, adding, “Join Bernie and our candidates for local office as we fight for livable wages, affordable housing, and quality public education.”

Candidates backed by Our Revolution include Somerville’s Matt McLaughlin, Will Mbah, Jesse Clingan, JT Scott and Ben Ewen-Campen, and Cambridge’s Vatsady Sivongxay, Sumbul Siddiqui, Quinton Zondervan, Dennis Carlone, Jan Devereux, and Jeff Santos, along with Foxborough state Sen. Paul Feeney.

DNC resolution pressures Sanders to join Democrats

The measure is clearly aimed at Sanders, who is on the shortlist of potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. And it exemplifies the continual unease among some Democrats about turning their party over to a candidate who won’t fully embrace them, as well as the frustration of Sanders supporters who see the repeated attacks as only meant to needlessly cut the senator down.

The resolution, sponsored by California DNC member Bob Mulholland, lauds both senators’ contributions “to key Democratic causes” but argues that “a strong and unified Democratic party … puts us in the best position to win elections.” It goes on to call on the party to “urge” Sanders and King to “register or affiliate with the Democratic Party in 2017, 2018 and beyond.”

“If Sanders plans on being part of the Democratic Party family in 2020, let’s ask him to be part of our family in 2018,” Mulholland told The Hill. “I can’t believe our team, the DNC, is not in favor of people running as Democrats.”

Mulholland went on to suggest that he believes that, since Sanders has sought to have a large say in the direction of the Democratic Party, he should fully commit to the party.

“Sanders runs around the country screaming at people to adopt his policies. The least the DNC can do is urge him to run as a Democrat in 2018 in the era of Donald Trump,” he added.

Yes “runs around” and “screaming” tells me all I need to know about this Mulholland joker.

Mulholland saying that Bernie is “screaming at people” is pure unadulterated bullshit meant to trigger HC supporters who can’t handle Bernie’s message so resort to shallow attacks about Bernie ‘wagging’ his finger and whatnot.

Also, Mulholland sure didn’t gain too many fans on the left side of the spectrum by saying this:

“There’s only two real teams in the presidential election in 2020, and that’s Trump versus a Democrat,” Mulholland said Tuesday night. “And with Trump running the White House, we need more people to call themselves Democrats and stop standing on the sidelines.”

Not to mention that the fact that TPTB do everything they can to KEEP the number of “teams” to two, which is part of why so little progress happens! They get to keep up with the ‘us vs. them’ false scenario. Both major parties LOVE that! Good for fundraising and keeping people in line.

Another thing. Hey! Mulholland! I thought you ‘resist’ people were all about impeaching Trump! Shouldn’t you have said that 2020 will be a battle against Pence?!

Standing on the Sidelines, unlike Sec Clinton who is helping elect a Mayor in Birmingham, elect a mayor in Atlanta, holding televised debates for MCA, Taxes, etc. Putting on press conferences on gun bump bans, ripping into GOP corruption on the house floor, speaking at womens conferences as well as travelling promoting local candidates, etc, etc. Sideline Sanders…yeah, that so fits….

At this point I almost wish the Bernie would take a break and rest up!

But I’m glad to hear that he’s now focusing more on local races.

Bernie Sanders Shouldn’t Become a Democrat

The truth is that the Democratic Party needs the Vermont Senator more than he needs them.

But Sanders is hardly standing on the sidelines—by some measures he’s the most popular politician in America, and his Medicare-for-all legislation has served as a rallying cry for people across the left, including many Democrats. And it might do the party more harm than good to count Sanders as a member. His status as an independent has been integral to his recent political success, and can actually serve as an asset to the Democrats.

uh huh

Some Democrats who object to Sanders clearly don’t dislike him because he’s an independent; they dislike him because of what he represents. On Wednesday, the New York Times published an op-ed by a former Bill Clinton pollster that blames “Hillary Clinton’s lurch to the left” for her election loss and implicitly criticized Sanders for “demonizing banks and Wall Street.”

But if you look at Sanders’s popularity, it’s hard to believe that left-wing politics are what doomed Clinton. He’s earned his status as a progressive standard-bearer because he’s been willing to stick to progressive policy views and force Democrats to come to him. Declaring himself a Democrat would make him look weak-willed, and alienate some of his fans who might otherwise vote for progressive Democrats.

bernin

Bernie has more money right now than the whole DNC. Almost twice as many people like Bernie (57%) than identify as Democrats (30%).

Seems like we’re more of a party than the DNC is.

Across the aisle, the Democratic National Committee had raised $46.3 million by the end of August with $6.8 million cash on hand.

May I ask? How can DNC raise $46 million (in first nine months of 2017) and only have $6.8 million in ‘cash on hand’?

Here’s hoping Turd Wayer Mulholland bites the dust. He can also take the DNC and stick it where the sun don’t shine!!

Rewarding Brazile for her giving the questions to Hillary in advance shows that the DNC has learned absolutely nothing. Tom Perez magnifies his incompetence with this maneuver! This surely will help the anemic fundraising!

How Climate Change and Wars Are Increasing World Hunger

Around the globe, about 815 million people—11 percent of the world’s population—went hungry in 2016, according to the latest data from the United Nations. This was the first increase in more than 15 years.

Between 1990 and 2015, due largely to a set of sweeping initiatives by the global community, the proportion of undernourished people in the world was cut in half. In 2015, UN member countries adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, which doubled down on this success by setting out to end hunger entirely by 2030. But a recent UN report shows that, after years of decline, hunger is on the rise again.

As evidenced by nonstop news coverage of floods, fires, refugees and violence, our planet has become a more unstable and less predictable place over the past few years. As these disasters compete for our attention, they make it harder for people in poor, marginalized and war-torn regions to access adequate food.

..

Around the world, social and political instability are on the rise. Since 2010, state-based conflict has increased by 60 percent and armed conflict within countries has increased by 125 percent. More than half of the food-insecure people identified in the UN report (489 million out of 815 million) live in countries with ongoing violence. More than three-quarters of the world’s chronically malnourished children (122 million of 155 million) live in conflict-affected regions.

At the same time, these regions are experiencing increasingly powerful storms, more frequent and persistent drought and more variable rainfall associated with global climate change. These trends are not unrelated. Conflict-torn communities are more vulnerable to climate-related disasters, and crop or livestock failure due to climate can contribute to social unrest.

War hits farmers especially hard. Conflict can evict them from their land, destroy crops and livestock, prevent them from acquiring seed and fertilizer or selling their produce, restrict their access to water and forage, and disrupt planting or harvest cycles. Many conflicts play out in rural areas characterized by smallholder agriculture or pastoralism. These small-scale farmers are some of the most vulnerable people on the planet. Supporting them is one of the UN’s key strategies for reaching its food security targets.

Natural Laws in action regarding human overpopulation. BTW, WWJD?

Sorry you’ll have to click the link for the charts:

Two Graphs Explain Why California’s Wildfires Will Only Get Worse

The deadly wildfires ripping through Northern California are just the latest in a season of record-defying natural disasters in the U.S. As the death toll passes 40, reports of Californians hiding in pools as their houses burn and scenes of devastated homes and vineyards add to 2017’s apocalyptic picture of how climate change is impacting America today.

As the Trump administration guts environmental protections and undermines science, California is one of the states leading the way on climate action. Ironically, experts agree the state can expect devastating fires like the ones in Napa to become the new normal. Drier and drier conditions and creeping temperatures in the American Southwest, definitively linked to climate change, serve to create tinderbox conditions for massive, catastrophic fires to explode.

A quick look at two sets of data shows exactly how climate change has impacted California’s susceptibility to wildfires—and what the state can expect as the planet continues to warm.

The past 10 years have been among the hottest years on record. It’s no coincidence that 13 of California’s largest 20 fires by acreage burned have occurred since 2000, and 10 of those in the past decade. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2014, 2015 and 2016 are the third, second and first hottest years on record to date, and each of these years hosted its own record-breaking fire in the state.

It’s worth noting that this graphic only covers fires through 2016. The fires in Napa have already burned more than 240,000 acres—surpassing all but three of the fires on this infographic. As of Tuesday, firefighters are still working on 12 blazes still burning in the state.

September 2017: Earth’s 4th Warmest September on Record

September 2017 was the planet’s fourth warmest September since record keeping began in 1880, said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and NASA this week. The only warmer Septembers came during 2015, 2016 and 2014. Minor differences can occur between the NASA and NOAA rankings because of their different techniques for analyzing data-sparse regions such as the Arctic.

By appointing Pruitt to lead the EPA Trump is attempting to MAHA (make America HOTTER again).

Boss brought up a golf course that burned up that just a week earlier had held a PGA event (if I got him right), said that he’d seen Fox news covering that fire and said they called it a “crime scene”. So he was under impression that the fire had been set intentionally.

Very misleading of Fox, they are contributing to climate change denial!

Of course Fox is very good at contributing to ignorance in general..

Mnuchin Gives Away the Game: “It’s Very Hard Not to Give Tax Cuts to the Wealthy”

For weeks President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have been peddling the demonstrable lie that their tax proposals are primarily geared toward helping the middle class, not the wealthiest Americans. But in an interview with Politico’s Ben White published Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin gave away the game, admitting: “It’s very hard not to give tax cuts to the wealthy.”

“The math, given how much you are collecting, is just hard to do,” the treasury secretary added.

But as The Huffington Post’s Arthur Delaney notes, the math is not hard at all. In fact, the White House’s own tax framework, released last month, had a useful suggestion: add in a higher top marginal rate.

“An additional top rate may apply to the highest-income taxpayers to ensure that the reformed tax code is at least as progressive as the existing tax code and does not shift the tax burden from high-income to lower- and middle-income taxpayers,” the framework says.

When asked about Mnuchin’s comments during Wednesday’s press briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders didn’t deny that the rich would benefit enormously from Trump’s tax plan. Instead, she claimed that cutting taxes for the middle class remains “the focus and the priority.”

Nothing like still another arrogant, stupid, rich biped! UGH!

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