February 3, 2016

As Countries Line Up to Sign Toxic Deal, Warren Leads Call to Reject TPP

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/02/03/countries-line-sign-toxic-deal-warren-leads-call-reject-tpp


Elizabeth Warren warns agreement 'would tilt the playing field even more in favor of big multinational corporations and against working families'

With 12 nations expected to sign the corporate-friendly Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) in New Zealand on Thursday, opponents in the U.S. and beyond are renewing their criticisms of the deal's worst provisions, which they warn pose serious dangers to the climate, working families, and democracy.

The signatures mark the end of the negotiating process, with a broad agreement on the deal having been reached in October. Now, all 12 Pacific Rim countries will be able to begin their respective domestic ratification processes, which in the U.S. means passage by Congress.
(snip)

"The TPP is a giveaway to big corporations, special interests and all those who want economic rules that benefit the wealthy few. It is no wonder the presidential front-runners from both political parties oppose it."
—Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO

February 3, 2016

What Would Sanders Do? An Analysis of His Proposals

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/34675-what-would-sanders-do

Taken together, Bernie Sanders' policies would not only dramatically increase employment and national income, but would also raise wages, reduce poverty and narrow the gap between rich and poor Americans.

Senator Bernie Sanders has proposed an ambitious program of social reform, including regulatory changes to raise wages and protect workers' rights, progressive tax reforms, and universal health insurance (Improved Medicare for All). Taken together, these policies would not only dramatically increase employment and national income, but would also raise wages, reduce poverty, and narrow the gap between rich and poor Americans.

The Sanders program will end wage stagnation.
(See Figure 1.) I project that, under the Sanders program, real wages would grow by 2.5% a year, returning to the growth rates of the late 1990s. Faster wage growth would result from 1) faster economic growth, which would raise wages by improving the bargaining position of workers, and 2) government regulations restoring the real value of the minimum wage and protecting workers' rights to overtime pay, equal pay for women, and workers' right to organize unions. In addition, universal health insurance financed through progressive taxation would lift the burden of health insurance premiums off workers and employers, freeing up employers' expenses on labor to be paid in higher money wages.
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February 3, 2016

Hillary Clinton says she supports GMOs

Apparently knowing what's in your food is NOT a right.

Oh yea. She's on MY side, I'll vote for THIS.

AYFKM?

I wonder if she'll start calling Nuclear Fallout - Sunshine Dust?

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http://www.naturalnews.com/045924_Hillary_Clinton_GMOs_biotech_industry.html

The darling of the Democratic Party, Hillary Rodham Clinton, says she supports genetically modified food, making her no different from most other American politicians from both major political parties.

In a recent speech before the world's largest biotechnology meeting in San Diego, Clinton -- who commands speaking fees of about $225,000 per speech -- was enthusiastic in her support for the use of GMOs in farming and agriculture in general. She also spoke positively of using taxpayer-funded federal financial subsidies as payoffs to American companies, to keep them from relocating outside the United States.

According to the Guardian Liberty Voice:

She also declared her desire to get industry representatives around a table to have an "intensive discussion" about "how the federal government could help biotechs with insurance against [financial] risk."

February 3, 2016

Could a Legal Case Save Humanity From Climate Disaster? Exxon Could Face a Big Comeuppance

http://www.alternet.org/environment/could-legal-case-save-humanity-climate-disaster-exxon-could-face-big-comeuppance



Corporate accountability expert Katherine Sawyer discusses the case that could force the fossil fuel industry to pay for its lies about climate change.


For the past few months, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has been investigating ExxonMobil to determine if the world's largest publicly traded international oil and gas company lied to the public or investors about the risks of climate change to its future business, based on the firm’s own internal studies. In November, Schneiderman issued a subpoena demanding a wide range of documents, including emails and financial documents.

The New York Times reported that the inquiry “would include a period of at least a decade during which ExxonMobil funded outside groups that sought to undermine climate science, even as its in-house scientists were outlining the potential consequences — and uncertainties — to company executives."

Kenneth P. Cohen, the company's vice president for public affairs, vehemently denied the accusations. “We unequivocally reject the allegations that ExxonMobil has suppressed climate change research.” He added that the company had "funded mainstream climate science since the 1970s, had published dozens of scientific papers on the topic and had disclosed climate risks to investors.

California’s AG, Kamala D. Harris, launched a similar investigation.......

February 2, 2016

"Hillary the Pragmatist vs. Bernie the Dreamer" Is "Big Lie" Propaganda

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/34668-hillary-the-pragmatist-vs-bernie-the-dreamer-is-big-lie-propaganda


The idea that Hillary Clinton is experienced and pragmatic whereas Bernie Sanders is inexperienced and idealistic is only true if you accept that the plutocratic system that is the United States cannot be transformed into a democracy that serves the majority of the people.

(snip)

The latest propaganda designed to encounter the enthusiasm behind his winning campaign is that Hillary Clinton is experienced and pragmatic whereas Bernie Sanders is an inexperienced dreamer who by reaching for impossibly poetic ideals will sacrifice the achievable prosaic reform.

It must be said very clearly that this is a lie that deploys "the big lie" technique of propagandists. It must be called out as such. "Very Serious Columnists" who purvey this lie have been attacked for their partisan motives. A Madame Defarge might find employment sorting out the hacks for plutocracy from the advocates of democracy on this issue. But it is important to resist propaganda not just by rejecting its partisan messengers but also by clearly marshaling the contrary facts.

(snip)

In a democracy, it is not an impractical dream to think that the majority could enact the policies it favors.

February 2, 2016

Bernie Sanders And Big Business Find Something They Can Actually Agree On

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-tpp-chamber-of-commerce_us_56abb9bde4b0010e80e9f5b2

Neither thinks Hillary Clinton is really opposed to the TPP trade deal.

Hillary Clinton has tried to convince Democratic primary voters that she is firmly opposed to the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

But the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the country's leading business trade group and a proponent of the accord, told Bloomberg News earlier this month that he isn't buying Clinton's public stance. Now Sen. Bernie Sanders is seizing on those comments as a sign that his presidential primary rival can't be counted on to oppose TPP.

Thomas Donohue, head of the business lobby, suggested that Clinton is only opposing TPP to improve her chances against Sanders, who has objected to the deal from the beginning. Clinton would likely revert to her previous support for the agreement if she were elected president, Donohue posited.

"If she were to get nominated, if she were to be elected, I have a hunch that what runs in the family is you get a little practical if you get the job," Donohue said.
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So She's lying again?
no, it's just good nature'd Triangulation. Nothing to worry about here.

Now queue the spinsters that want us to believe that the TPP is actually great for us.



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Study: The Trans-Pacific Partnership Will Cost US a Half Million Jobs, Drag Down GDP
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/34661-study-tpp-will-cost-us-a-half-million-jobs-drag-down-gdp

February 1, 2016

300 Union Plumbers Spent The Weekend Installing Water Filters For Flint Residents For Free

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2016/02/01/3744770/hundreds-of-union-plumbers-spent-the-weekend-installing-water-filters-for-flint-residents-for-free/

Due to the inaction of state and federal officials, thousands of people in Flint have been exposed to unsafe levels of lead in their water. Now a group of union plumber are taking matters into their own hands.

On Saturday, 300 plumbers from unions across the country descended on Flint to install new faucets and water filters for free.

A Thank you to the Union.


Republicans Fuck it up to make money - The Union has to fix it for free

February 1, 2016

DANGER: ALEC and the Far Right are Seven States Away From Federal Constitutional Convention

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/alec-and-far-right-are-seven-states-away-convening-dangerous-and-unpredictable-federal


ALEC and the Far Right are Seven States Away From Convening A Dangerous and Unpredictable Federal Constitutional Convention

Amendment-seeking right wingers are getting close.

It’s only a short phrase buried in the U.S. Constitution, but it enables an unprecedented avenue to change the law of the land: If two-thirds of the states demand it, Congress “shall call a convention” for proposing constitutional amendments.

A hopeless pipe dream? Actually, no; the issue is front and center right now. Some 27 states have active calls for a convention on a balanced budget amendment, which would force the federal government to pass budgets that do not enlarge the national debt. This means that theoretically just seven more have to actfor a constitutional convention to be called, at least on that subject.

In just the first few weeks of this year's state legislative sessions, at least 10 states have bills pending that call for a convention. So suddenly such a meeting, not held since the earliest days of this country, is becoming a real possibility.

February 1, 2016

Bernie Sanders Vows to Crack Down on Greedy Corporate Tax Dodgers

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/01/29/bernie-sanders-vows-crack-down-greedy-corporate-tax-dodgers

"In America today we are losing $100 billion in revenue every single year because large corporations are stashing their profits in the Cayman Islands and other offshore tax havens.'

Singling out what he dubs the "top 10 corporate tax dodgers," Bernie Sanders on Friday pledged to close loopholes that let huge corporations avoid paying their fair share in taxes.

The list (pdf) includes General Electric, Boeing, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Merck, and notes that several of the companies' CEOs, even as they sit on massive retirement savings, want to raise the eligibility age for—and make significant cuts to—social safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security.

"In America today we are losing $100 billion in revenue every single year because large corporations are stashing their profits in the Cayman Islands and other offshore tax havens," Sanders said during a swing through eastern Iowa three days before the state holds its first-in-the-nation caucuses.

For example, according to the Sanders campaign:

From 2008 to 2013, while GE made over $33.9 billion in United States profits, it received a total tax refund of more than $2.9 billion from the Internal Revenue Service.

G.E.’s effective U.S. corporate income tax rate over this six-year period was -9 percent.

In 2012, GE stashed $108 billion in offshore tax havens to avoid paying income taxes. If this practice were outlawed, GE would have paid $37.8 billion in federal income taxes that year.
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Hillary, on the other hand:

February 1, 2016

Final Poll Gives Edge to Sanders, But Has Bernie Already Won Iowa?

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/02/01/final-poll-gives-edge-sanders-has-bernie-already-won-iowa

Small donor contributions smash previous fundraising record as countdown ticks for pivotal caucus outcome

While the latest poll before the pivotal Iowa caucus on Monday shows Bernie Sanders holding a slight edge over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, observers argue that the campaign's clear momentum and success in bringing a bold populist agenda to the mainstream already signifies a substantial 'win' for the once-longshot candidate.

According to the poll conducted by Quinnipiac University, released Monday morning, the Vermont senator is ahead of Clinton 49 to 46 percent among Iowa's likely Democratic caucus-goers.

What's more, Sanders' advantage was secured by a substantial 62 to 35 percent lead among first-time attendees, underscoring the deep anti-establishment and grassroots support that his campaign has generated.

"Iowa isn’t about who wins the most delegates; it is about who gains momentum and legitimacy. What Sanders has already won is very real." —Robert Borosage, Campaign for America's Future

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