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Donkees

Donkees's Journal
Donkees's Journal
February 10, 2019

💙 Bernie Sanders Stands By Me ❤️



Published on Dec 13, 2015
Bernie Sanders Stands By Me 💜
February 9, 2019

Bernie Sanders: Congressional Lobbying and Ethics 1/16/2007



Published on Jul 14, 2015
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) strongly advocates for reform of congressional lobbying regulations – urging the elimination of perks, gifts, and donations for access that purchase representation.

''It is our obligation to return control of the Congress back to the American people''
February 7, 2019

Feb 2013 - Sanders, Boxer Outline 'Gold Standard' Climate Bill


FEBRUARY 14, 2013

Senators Bernie Sanders and Barbara Boxer announced comprehensive climate change legislation Thursday morning at a news conference on Capitol Hill that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050. It’s an ambitious bill that doesn’t settle for half-measures, but rather lays out an actual solution to the climate crisis.

“This is a gold-standard bill,” Boxer said. “Every once in a while we have them.”

https://www.thenation.com/article/sanders-boxer-outline-gold-standard-climate-bill/
February 7, 2019

How One Advisor Bolstered Bernie Sanders' Foreign Policy Credentials Ahead of 2020

By Davis Richardson • 02/06/19 4:46pm

Excerpt:

Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was perceived by many critics as lacking a cohesive foreign policy vision during the 2016 election. But ahead of 2020, he boasts one of the Trump era’s biggest accomplishments in international relations: Persuading the Senate late last year to end U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen.

Although the measure was later stalled in the House, the initiative was the first time either chamber of Congress had supported a resolution to withdraw the United States from a military conflict. Behind this historic resolution is one of Sanders’ largely unknown foreign policy advisors—Matt Duss.

“I give Matt an extraordinary amount of credit on Yemen,” Representative Ro Khanna, who introduced the joint resolution in Congress, told the publication. “He’s the principal reason that Sanders took this huge risk in introducing the War Powers Resolution in the Senate and agreeing to [support] what we had introduced in the House.”

Despite shaping two of Sanders’ weightier speeches on foreign policy since joining the senator’s Washington team in February 2017, Duss prefers to keep the attention on his boss. He even compares Sanders to Jazz legend Miles Davis.

“One of Miles’s real geniuses was as a band leader, assembling the best players of the moment and getting them to play better than they ever had before—and in many cases than they ever would again,” Duss told the publication. “This is the best band I’ve ever played in.”


https://observer.com/2019/02/matt-duss-bernie-sanders-foreign-policy/



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February 7, 2019

Senator Sanders' Influence - Climate Mobilization

Bernie Sanders’ influence

Climate action leader Bill McKibben was one of five persons that Bernie Sanders appointed to the 15-man committee that was gathered to prepare the Democratic Party’s program platform. They fought hard, and over an extended process they succeeded to add more and more to the text. ... A line was drawn, however, at his call for a total ban on fracking. Much because of Bernie Sanders, there has been so much talking about climate change in the Democratic primary, and commentators now believe that climate action – unlike in 2008 and 2012 – will become a central part of the election campaign.

https://climateemergencydeclaration.org/democratic-party-platform/



Our organizers successfully intervened in the 2016 Democratic primary elections, bringing WWII-scale Climate Mobilization into the discussion by successfully lobbying presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to embrace the idea.

In July 2016, the need for WWII-scale mobilization was adopted into the Democratic Party Platform thanks to Climate Mobilization advisor and ally Russell Greene who was appointed to the platform committee by Bernie Sanders. This commitment was reaffirmed in August 2018 when Democratic National Committee passed a resolution calling for “a national social and economic mobilization” to “address the climate emergency” and “restore a safe climate.”

https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/about-us/



The platform acknowledges the scale of the threat to be so large that it will require a leadership response from our country on the scale of our national mobilization to confront the threat of fascism during World War II.

The Democratic platform now contains language that brings shape to the enormity of the climate crisis, and thanks to Sander’s Policy Director Warren Gunnels, climate leader Bill McKibben, filmmaker Josh Fox and many others begins to point towards policy that we must implement if we are to transition away from fossil fuels and begin to draw down carbon sharply on the path to 100% clean, renewable energy and zero net greenhouse gas emissions.

We got as high up on this particular part of our climb as we could – and we put down a marker. And for that, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to Senator Bernie Sanders and the millions of voices of the political revolution. It does not mean it is enough. The policy falls short. But that’s not what party platforms are for. That’s what movements are for.

Now – we must recognize where we are – and climb higher. Much higher. And fast.

We are in an emergency. There is no time for gradualism. We must mobilize.

https://climateemergencydeclaration.org/democratic-party-platform/



February 7, 2019

Allen Ginsberg's Handwritten Poem for Bernie Sanders, ''Burlington Snow'' Feb 1986



Burlington Snow

Socialist snow on the streets
Socialist talk in the Maverick bookstore
Socialist kids sucking socialist lollipops
Socialist poetry in socialist mouths
—aren't the birds frozen socialists?
Aren't the snowclouds blocking the airfield
Social Democratic Appearances?
Isn't the socialist sky owned by
the socialist sun?
Earth itself socialist, forests, rivers, lakes
furry mountains, socialist salt
in oceans?
Isn't this poem socialist? It doesn't
belong to me anymore.


February 6, 2019

Socialism Is More Popular Than You Think, Mr. President

Most surveys show Trump would lose in a matchup against a democratic socialist named Bernie Sanders.

By John NicholsTwitter TODAY 5:16 PM

Excerpt:

Perhaps that is because, while Trump may think “socialism” is a scare word, and while many prominent Democrats may get scared when it is referenced, Sanders is comfortable discussing the ideology. “Do they think I’m afraid of the word? I’m not afraid of the word,” says Sanders.

On Tuesday night, the senator trumped Trump’s “born free… stay safe” rhetoric with a simple observation that: “People are not truly free when they can’t afford health care, prescription drugs, or a place to live. People are not free when they cannot retire with dignity or feed their families.”

That’s how Sanders does it. He’s not defensive. He’s aggressive. While Trump equates the humane democratic socialism that millions of Americans embrace with “government coercion, domination and control”—in a desperate attempt to narrow the discourse—Sanders makes honest comparisons that expand and enhance the dialogue.

“I happen to believe that, if the American people understood the significant accomplishments that have taken place under social-democratic governments, democratic-socialist governments, labor governments throughout Europe, they would be shocked to know about those accomplishments,” the senator told me several years ago. “How many Americans know that in virtually every European country, when you have a baby, you get guaranteed time off and, depending on the country, significant financial benefits as well. Do the American people know that? I doubt it. Do the American people even know that we’re the only major Western industrialized country that doesn’t guarantee healthcare for all? Most people don’t know that. Do the American people know that in many countries throughout Europe, public colleges and universities are either tuition-free or very inexpensive?”

The numbers don’t tell us that America is a socialist country. But they do suggest that Americans are intrigued by socialism as an alternative to capitalism. Thirty-seven percent of Americans now view socialism positively, according to a Gallup survey from last year. And among the rising generation of voters, the numbers are substantially higher. “Americans aged 18 to 29 are as positive about socialism (51 percent) as they are about capitalism (45 percent),” explains the Gallup analysis. “This represents a 12-point decline in young adults’ positive views of capitalism in just the past two years and a marked shift since 2010, when 68 percent viewed it positively.”

https://www.thenation.com/article/socialism-sotu-donald-trump-bernie-sanders/

February 6, 2019

Photo: Sen. Bernie Sanders looks at his notes as he watches the State of the Union address



Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) looks at his notes as he watches the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol Building on February 5, 2019 in Washington, DC. President Trump's second State of the Union address was postponed one week due to the partial government shutdown. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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