DECEMBER 16,
2019
NEWS AND VIEWS
THE UBERWEALTHY
POWERS WHO DRIVE THE OPINION-MAKERS LIKE FOX NEWS, OR SOME OF THOSE WHOM I HAVE
TRUSTED IN THE PAST LIKE MSNBC, HAVE LONG KNOWN THE EXISTENTIAL THREAT THAT
BERNIE SANDERS IS TO THEM, AND THAT IS WHY HE HAS BEEN FOUGHT SO GRIMLY. IT ISN’T
THAT THEY ARE JUST NOW “TAKING HIM SERIOUSLY.”
AS TO WHY THE
MAINSTREAM MEDIA ARE PATTING BERNIE ON THE HEAD RIGHT NOW INSTEAD OF KICKING
HIM, I THINK IT IS THE FACT THAT THE OPINIONS OF THE PUBLIC DO AFFECT THEIR
BOTTOM LINE, AND BERNIE IS RESPECTED AS WELL AS LIKED BY A GREAT MANY PEOPLE.
AFTER ALL, WE CAN ALWAYS GO TO ANOTHER NEWS SITE. THE INTERNET OFFERS AN
ENDLESS VARIETY FOR US TO CHOOSE FROM.
Krystal Ball:
'Media is actually starting to take Bernie seriously'
12/17/2019
VIDEO – PHIL DONAHUE
SHOW FEATURING SANDERS ON RISING
Hill.TV Host
Krystal Ball said Tuesday that more and more news outlets are starting to treat
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic
presidential nomination.
“For perhaps
the first time, the media is actually starting to take Bernie seriously,” Ball
said.
“I mean how
many cable news segments have we had where he was just left out entirely?” she
asked, echoing comments often made by Sanders allies, who argue the press often
ignores or downplays his standing in polls.
A Suffolk
University–USA Today poll released Tuesday showed Sanders topping Sen.
Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as the two continue to jockey for second place in
the crowded primary. Sanders boasted 14 percent support, with Warren at 13
percent.
Former Vice
President Joe Biden remains the front-runner nationally with 23 percent
support in the Suffolk University–USA Today survey.
Ball said that
Sanders, the runner-up for the 2016 nomination, has “never been better positioned,”
adding that the Vermont independent is “well within range” of capturing key
early voting states such as Iowa and New Hampshire.
According to
the RealClearPolitics average of polls in New Hampshire, Sanders
leads the pack at 19 percent. South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) trails
him there by less than 2 points at 17.7 percent. Biden places third at 14.3
percent followed by Warren at 13.3 percent.
The average
of Iowa polls, meanwhile, shows Sanders in second place at 19.3 percent,
only 3 points away from Buttigieg’s 22.5 percent.
—Tess Bonn
THIS SEEMS LIKE
AN UNLIKELY ISSUE AS A CAMPAIGN MATTER, BUT IT IS A VERY HUMAN INDICATOR. THIS
IS MORE THAN HIS ACTIVITY IN HELPING UNIONS. BERNIE LOVES BASEBALL. GO TO
YOUTUBE AND LOOK UP ‘BERNIE SANDERS RABBI MOVIE” (OR KEYWORDS TO THAT EFFECT)
AND YOU WILL FIND ONE OF HIS TWO OR THREE CAMEO APPEARANCES IN MOVIES. THIS WAS
A “SPEAKING PART,” AND HE DID IT WELL. BUT THE SUBJECT WAS – THE PAIN CAUSED WHEN
THE BROOKLYN DODGERS MOVED TO ANOTHER CITY. PEOPLE MAY NOT LOVE THEIR INSURANCE
COMPANIES, BUT THEY DO LOVE THEIR HOMETOWN SPORTS TEAMS.
Published 29
mins ago, DECEMBER 17, 2019
Bernie Sanders
goes to bat for minor league baseball on the campaign trail
Andrew CraftBy
Andrew Craft | Fox News
BURLINGTON,
Iowa – Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is becoming minor league baseball’s loudest
voice in the room and unlikely champion as he tries to find a remedy to a
restructuring plan Major League Baseball (MLB) has of cutting affiliations with
42 minor league teams.
MAJOR LEAGUE
BASEBALL: MARIJUANA WILL NO LONGER BE CONSIDERED A BANNED SUBSTANCE
The 2020
Democratic presidential candidate says it’s all about corporate greed.
“I am outraged
that we have today Major League Baseball, an institution owned mostly by
billionaires," Sanders told local minor league officials and current
and former players as he campaigned in Iowa last weekend, "an institution
that last year made $1.2 billion in profits, an institution that has received
exemptions, anti-trust exemptions from Major League Baseball, an institution
that over the years has received hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate
welfare as taxpayers built major stadiums around the country -- has
announced a proposal that would shut down 42 teams, minor league teams around
the country."
PHOTOGRAPH -- Democratic
presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., hits in the batting cage
during a meeting with minor league baseball players and officials at
FunCity Turf, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2019, in Burlington, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie
Neibergall)
Early this
fall, as negotiations were underway to reestablish a new 10-year
Professional Baseball Agreement that guides the relationship between the minors
and the majors, MLB proposed plans to cut 42 teams in a move to reduce
costs, sparking an outcry.
MLB DRAFT
RELOCATING TO OMAHA AHEAD OF COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
Sanders met
with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred over his opposition to the plan. More than
100 members of Congress in both parties signed a letter expressing their
concern over the damage it would cause communities. Now, a congressional task
force has been created to find a solution and monitor negotiations.
The baseball
agreement expires after the 2020 season and tensions have been building in
recent days, with the MLB threatening to sever all affiliation with the
minors over the fact that negotiations have become so public.
“If the
National Association [of Minor League Clubs] has an interest in an agreement with
Major League Baseball, it must address the very significant issues with the
current system at the bargaining table," MLB said in a statement.
"Otherwise, MLB clubs will be free to affiliate with any minor league
team or potential team in the United States, including independent
league teams and cities which are not permitted to compete for an
affiliate under the current agreement.”
VIDEO -- Bernie
Sanders Takes Swings At Batting Practice, Makes Pitch For Minor-League Teams
Former and
current players told Fox News they are thankful for Sanders’ efforts and that
the issue is getting the attention it deserves.
“It’s exciting
to see the issue kind of take political gain, it’s super important to keep
baseball alive in small towns across the U.S.," said Simon
Rosenblum-Larson, a Tampa Bay Rays player.
Minor league
players have no bargaining union and sometimes don’t even make minimum wage.
“You don’t make
very much money, your paycheck is around $1,100 a month. In the course
of a year, the most I made was $7,500, it’s not enough to support yourself or
live off of," said Aaron Sennie, a former Miami Marlins.
The issue is
personal for Sanders. His long-held political views of fighting for the working
class and against corporate greed manifested themselves after the Brooklyn
Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1957. Sanders also was responsible for bringing
a minor league team to his constituents in Burlington, Vt.: The Vermont Lake
Monsters.
Sanders told
Fox News there is a political remedy to save teams like the Burlington Bees in
Iowa, Binghamton Rumble Ponies in New York, Erie Seawolves in Pennsylvania, and
Chattanooga Lookouts in Tennessee.
Sanders said
America's national pastime has to be considered more than the bottom line.
"It's not
just another business," he said, "where you can pay people low wages
and then shut down your enterprises in communities where they means [sic] so
much to the kids and the families."
Andrew Craft is
a video journalist and digital reporter for Fox News in New York. Follow him on
Twitter: @AndrewCraft
“THE IOWA
CAUCUSES ARE LESS THAN 50 DAYS AWAY.” 2020 IS HALF A MONTH AWAY. THIS HORSE RACE
IS ON THE HOME STRETCH ALREADY. I’M A LITTLE NERVOUS AND A LITTLE EXCITED. I
HOPE BERNIE KEEPS UP THE STEADY PACE THAT HE HAS ACHIEVED AFTER HIS HEART
ATTACK, RATHER THAN THE FRANTIC PACE BEFORE THAT. HIS MEETING WITH PEOPLE IN
THE SMALLER VENUES SINCE THE HEART ATTACK IS ALSO A GOOD THING, BECAUSE PEOPLE
NEED TO GET TO KNOW HIM; AND WHILE I HAD HEARD HIS NAME, I DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING
ABOUT HIM UNTIL HE BEGAN TO ISSUE ONCE A DAY A LITTLE BLURB OR APHORISM THAT
INDICATED THE TREND OF HIS THINKING. THAT WAS IN 2015 OR SO. I WAS QUICKLY
WOWED, BECAUSE SO FEW POLITICIANS IN ANY PARTY BELIEVE IN OUR DEMOCRACY ANYMORE,
OR EVINCE ENOUGH IDEALISM TO MAKE ME WANT TO VOTE FOR THEM. BERNIE DOES.
Sanders surges
ahead of Iowa caucuses
BY JONATHAN
EASLEY - 12/16/19 03:40 PM EST
Sen. Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.) is rising in the polls ahead of Thursday’s pivotal debate in
Los Angeles, reestablishing his standing in the top tier of Democratic
contenders with the Iowa caucuses less than 50 days away.
Sanders, who
electrified liberals over the course of his unlikely challenge to former
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary, has at
times been treated as an afterthought in the 2020 race, which has produced
a rival on the left in Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and a new Democratic
star in South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
But party
leaders and the news media are taking notice now that Warren has slipped in the
polls. Buttigieg is sustaining attacks from every direction and questions
linger about whether former Vice President Joe Biden can go wire-to-wire as the
front-runner.
Sanders appears
to be hitting his stride at just the right moment, surging past Warren and
cutting into Biden’s lead in new national surveys. Sanders leads in the
RealClearPolitics average of polls in New Hampshire, and is in second place in
Iowa, only 3 points behind Buttigieg.
Campaign
officials say Sanders weathered the rough stretches on the strength of his firm
base of support and unparalleled grassroots fundraising operation.
The campaign
did not panic or make dramatic changes in messaging or strategy in the fall
after Sanders suffered a heart attack and appeared to be headed for a
disappointing finish.
Instead, the
campaign banked on Sanders’s unwavering focus on economic issues and wealth
inequality, believing that consistent message would win out in the end.
The campaign
believes the strategy is paying off in the stretch run to Iowa, leading to
rising poll numbers, record fundraising and big crowds.
“No other
candidate has as durable a base as we do,” said Nina Turner, the former Ohio
state senator who has been one of Sanders’s most high-profile surrogates since
2015.
“So now he has
an energized base and we’re starting to see his crossover appeal. We can
enumerate that too, with 4 million donations and hundreds of thousands of
volunteers. We have the receipts and we have the moral clarity from a
senator who has stood on the right side of justice for over 40 years, whether
it’s been popular or not.”
Nationally,
Sanders is back in the game, surpassing Warren after trailing her by
double-digits, and cutting into Biden’s lead at the top.
The latest
NPR-PBS-Marist national survey released Sunday found Biden with the support of 24
percent of respondents, Sanders at 22 percent and Warren at 17 percent, with
the Vermont senator leading among progressives, independents, men, nonwhite
voters and young people. Sanders has a 20-point lead over the next closest
contender among voters under the age of 45.
Sanders has
also raised more money than anyone else while reaching the 4 million donors
milestone in record time.
And polls
routinely show that Sanders’s backers are the most enthusiastic and most likely
to have firmly made up their minds. Supporters are flocking to his town hall
events. He has had the largest one-day crowds in both Iowa and New Hampshire,
where high-profile surrogates helped him to attract record numbers.
“We knew he had
a core base that looked like it might be in the 10 percent range, but he’s
honing on 20 percent now and we know from experience in the Iowa caucuses that
you can turn that into much bigger numbers when ballots are cast,” said Patrick
Murray, the pollster for Monmouth University. “He’s not surging
statistically, but his numbers are very, very solid, and that’s a big
advantage when the other candidates are moving up and down.”
In Iowa, the
Sanders campaign believes its enthusiastic base of support is ready to deliver
a surprise victory on Feb. 3.
The campaign’s
network of volunteers, led by young people and college students, knocked on
30,000 doors in 48 hours over the weekend.
A Sanders event
in rural Ottumwa, Iowa, drew 200 people on Sunday night during a snowstorm.
“We’ve had a
consistently strong field organization and presence here, but there’s no doubt
that we’re starting to see the kind of momentum you get when good news
builds on good news,” said Bill Neidhardt, the campaign’s deputy director
in Iowa.
Sanders also
has a narrow lead in two of the past three polls of New Hampshire, where he
posted a blowout victory against Clinton in 2016.
On Friday,
Sanders and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) turned out 1,300 people at a rally in
Nashua, which is the largest crowd for any candidate in New Hampshire this
year.
And with the
next debate in liberal California, the Sanders campaign is turning its
sights on the Super Tuesday state with the largest delegate haul in the nation.
Sanders will
attend five events across California this week, including a Los Angles rally
with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). The campaign has five offices
in the state and says it has surpassed 8 million attempted voter contacts
through its network of 760,000 volunteers.
A Los Angeles
Times survey from early December found Sanders passing Warren to take a
narrow lead in the Golden State.
There are still
questions about whether Sanders can win the nomination.
While Sanders
has built a more diverse coalition than he had in 2016, Biden continues to have
a huge lead with black voters, who are the cornerstone of the party’s primary
electorate.
And while polls
find Sanders running as good or better than anyone in head-to-head match-ups
against President Trump, many Democrats remain fearful that nominating a
self-described socialist will be a surefire general election loser.
If Sanders
emerges as the rival to Biden as the campaign enters the home stretch, there
are questions on whether he can emerge on top.
Former
President Obama has reportedly told those close to him that he’d speak out
against Sanders if he continues to build momentum, and some believe that other
party leaders would join a concerted “anyone but Bernie” effort to block him
from winning the nomination, if it comes to that.
Many mainstream
Democrats continue to be annoyed by Sanders’s persistent lines of attack
against the national party and the moderates who refuse to embrace the left’s
most ambitious policy proposals.
“He’s still
running the same divisive campaign and claiming that it’s all rigged against
him,” said Jon Reinish, a Democratic strategist. “So it’s no surprise that
you’d have a popular party figure like President Obama speak out, and he’s
smart to raise the alarm about what’s at stake here.”
The Sanders
campaign says it’s fueled by the doubters and by slights from the political
press. Sanders allies have made a pastime out of highlighting examples of media
outlets ignoring or downplaying Sanders’s standing in the polls.
“It’s no
surprise; the establishment will do what it’s always done to protect the status
quo,” said Turner. “We’re ready for it. Thank God our victory won’t be
contingent on the establishment or media elites.”
TAGS ALEXANDRIA
OCASIO-CORTEZ ELIZABETH WARREN HILLARY CLINTON PETE BUTTIGIEG
I WONDER HOW
MANY PERSONAL POCKETS WILL BE LINED BY A 738 BILLION DOLLAR GRANT FROM CONGRESS
TO THAT AMERICAN SACRED COW, THE MILITARY. THERE’S A LOT OF MONEY THERE TO GO
AROUND.
Published on
Tuesday,
December 17, 2019
byCommon Dreams
'Not What
Resistance to Trump Looks Like': Bernie Sanders Rips Senate for Passing $738
Billion Pentagon Budget
"We need
to fundamentally change our priorities as a nation," said the 2020
Democratic candidate as military spending bill heads to president's desk.
byJon Queally,
staff writer
PHOTOGRAPH -- Democratic
presidential hopeful Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders participates during the
fourth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign. (Photo:
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
Sen. Bernie
Sanders condemned passage of a massive $738 billion Pentagon spending bill in
the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, declaring: "this is not what resistance to
Donald Trump looks like."
The final vote
in the Senate was 86 in favor, 8 voting against, and 6 members—including
Sanders, out on the campaign trail—who did not vote. Also not voting were the other three U.S.
Senators still running as 2020 presidential candidates: Sens. Elizabeth
Warren, Cory Booker, and Amy Klobuchar. Having already cleared the U.S.
House, the bill is now head to President Donald Trump's desk where he is
expected to sign it.
"Congress
just passed a $738 billion defense package," tweeted Sanders following the
vote, along with a video denouncing the enormous sums devoted year after year
to military expenditures. "We spend more on defense than China, Saudi
Arabia, Russia, India, the U.K., France, Japan, Germany, South Korea, and
Brazil ...combined. We need to
fundamentally change our priorities as a nation."
Bernie Sanders
Verified
account
@BernieSanders
Follow Follow
@BernieSanders
Congress just
passed a $738 billion defense package. We spend more on defense than:
China
Saudi Arabia
Russia
India
UK
France
Japan
Germany
South Korea
Brazil
...combined.
We need to
fundamentally change our priorities as a nation.
/>
1:09 PM - 17
Dec 2019
3,255
Retweets12,698 Likes
Embedded video DURATION 1:23
11.2K
4:09 PM - Dec
17, 2019
Twitter Ads
info and privacy
3,387 people
are talking about this
Bernie Sanders
✔
@SenSanders
The United
States Congress just passed a $738 billion giveaway for arms manufacturers,
Pentagon lobbyists, and unconstitutional wars. @RepRoKhanna is right—this is
not what resistance to Donald Trump looks like.
Embedded video
[VERY GOOD
VIDEO BY RO KHANNA]
Following the
vote, Sanders also shared a video featuring Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) who
condemned the passage of the NDAA in the U.S. House last week. In the wake of
the House vote, Khanna called the NDAA's approval "an astonshing act of moral
cowardice" and a "complete capitulation to the White House" by
Democrats. Khanna has endorsed Sanders in his 2020 presidential bid and acts as
national co-chair for the campaign.
In his tweet of
the video, Sanders said, "Rep. Ro Khanna is right—this is not what
resistance to Donald Trump looks like."
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Conservative
commentator: Sanders is 'only one' who could take on Trump in debates
RISING
12/17/2019
Conservative
commentator Johnny Burtka argued Tuesday that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is
best equipped to take on President Trump on the debate stage.
“Bernie clearly
has the pugnacity,” Burtka, executive director for The American Conservative
magazine, told Hill.TV. “He’s the only one that I think could ultimately take on
Donald Trump on the debate stage.”
Burtka said
that Sanders and fellow 2020 contender Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have
effectively “amplified the progressive voice” in the Democratic race by
largely avoiding direct attacks on each other.
“It seems like
there’s been a multiplier effect in terms of the progressive energy that’s
coming from Bernie and Warren,” he said.
“They’ve done a
great job on the debate stage playing off each other, eventually they’re going
to have to decide who's the best candidate.”
Warren and
Sanders have been jockeying for second place in polls recently, behind former
Vice President Joe Biden.
A Quinnipiac
University poll released on Monday showed Warren and Sanders in a
statistical tie among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independent voters
nationwide. Warren had 17 percent support to Sanders's 16 percent, the poll
found.
The survey
showed Biden still leading the crowded Democratic field with 30 percent
support.
All three
top-tier candidates are poised to take the stage Thursday night for the sixth
Democratic debate. The debate is set to take place at Loyola Marymount
University, despite a labor dispute that had threatened its prospects
leading up to the event.
—Tess Bonn
**** ****
**** ****
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