February 26, 2020

Audio: Bloomberg slammed Warren as 'scary' and demeaned his endorsement of Obama

WASHINGTON – Leaked audio of billionaire and 2020 Democratic contender Michael Bloomberg shows him calling the progressive left and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mas., "scary" while also suggesting that Sen. Mitt Romney, R-UT, would have been a better president than former President Barack Obama.

CNN released the audio Monday, saying it came from a Goldman Sachs event for at Yankee Stadium in 2016. In it, Bloomberg is heard saying "the left is rising. The progressive movement is just as scary. Elizabeth Warren on one side. And whoever you want to pick on the Republicans on the right side?" when asked about the rise of the far-right in Europe.

Bloomberg also said that he would use a "campaign platform" for the presidency to "defend the banks."

"You know how well that's gonna sell in this country," he said, adding that the people in the banking crowd are his "peeps."

USA Today
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/4864125002

February 24, 2020

Obama praising Cuba's education system

https://twitter.com/WalkerBragman/status/1231808706301562881

John Kerry under Obama wanted to normalize relations with Cuba. Lets continue that.

On edit: It looks like those that have moral outrage over Sanders don't share it when it comes to Obama. I'm used to that.

This is a better Tweet.

https://twitter.com/shaunking/status/1231809944921477120

February 24, 2020

A Bernie Sanders presidency could be a nightmare for Saudi Arabia

Mohammed bin Salman has put all his eggs in Trump's basket, but what happens if the US leadership changes?

Picture for a moment Senator Bernie Sanders winning the US presidential election this November and then heading to a scheduled meeting next year with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (known as MBS).

In a clash of persona and style, President Sanders would most likely make a lengthy statement about his "political revolution", while sitting next to MBS, and the White House press corps crowded into the Oval Office would awkwardly ask him how he was going to manage a meeting with rulers he once called "murderous thugs".

Would that be the Saudi leadership's nightmare scenario for a post-Donald Trump presidency?

Sanders, who is currently the frontrunner in the Democratic primaries, made this bold statement about the Saudi leadership during a town hall meeting in Nevada on February 18, just as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was stepping on to a flight for a three-day visit to Riyadh.

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/bernie-sanders-presidency-nightmare-saudi-arabia-200223070957319.html

February 14, 2020

Bernie Sanders may be just what U.S. capitalism needs, says top economist: Don Pittis

(snip)

Piketty himself was labelled a Marxist by opponents when he made a splash with his 2013 book Capital in the Twenty-First Century that some say accurately foreshadowed the populist win by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Piketty's case in that book was that unless capitalism was adjusted in favour of the poor, we should expect a nationalist backlash by those who were losing out and blamed global capitalism for all their problems.

(snip)

"I think, first, that [Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth] Warren and Sanders are not radicals," said Piketty in response to one interviewer's question. "They are moderate social democrats by European standards."

Looked at in historical terms, said the French economist, even by the standards of the U.S. — a country that in another era was the world leader in progressive taxation — raising taxes on the rich from their current low levels is hardly radical. History is filled with examples of ideological shifts away from inequality far short of revolutions that made countries' economies stronger.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/democrats-sanders-capitalism-1.5460890?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar

February 11, 2020

BERNIE SANDERS LEADS ALL DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES IN SUPPORT FROM NON-WHITE VOTERS, NEW POLLS SHOW

Newsweek all caps their headlines which is why the the thread title is in all caps.

-----

Senator Bernie Sanders leads all the Democratic presidential candidates in support from non-white voters and has gained 10 points among black voters, according to new polls released Tuesday.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has long touted his support from minority–and particularly black–voters to demonstrate his electability for the Democratic party's nomination. But the candidate's support has appeared to slide dramatically among all demographics since his fourth-place finish in Iowa last Monday. Meanwhile, Sanders appears to be surging.

The independent senator from Vermont is backed by 28 percent of black, non-white Hispanic and Asian voters, according to the latest polling data from Monmouth University. Biden came in second with support from 20 percent, or 8 points less than Sanders.

A separate by Morning Consult, Sanders has gained 10 points in support among black voters, with 27 percent saying they now back the senator, as opposed to the 17 percent who were before the Iowa caucuses. Meanwhile, Biden's support from the vital demographic has dropped to just 35 percent, which still puts him ahead of Sanders by 8 percent.

https://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-leads-all-democratic-candidates-support-non-white-voters-new-polls-show-1486807

February 11, 2020

Bernie Sanders isn't a radical -- he's a pragmatist who fights to un-rig the system

As Bernie Sanders continues to increase his standing in the Democratic primary, and his opponents in both parties feel the pain, there is an effort to paint him as an extremist of some sort. Someone who might even lose to Trump because of this alleged “radicalism.” But it’s not that easy to make the case on the basis of facts.

He has a 40-year track record as a politician. The things he is saying now are mostly what he has shouted from the mountain tops for pretty much the whole time. The main difference is that now, other Democratic politicians have joined him: on a $15 minimum wage, student-debt relief, free tuition at public universities, expanding Social Security, reducing income inequality, and some even on Medicare for All.

His actions speak even more consistently than his words: he understands that politics is about compromise. He fights hard for what he has promised to voters, but then takes the best deal he can win if it will advance the ball down the field, and prepares to fight again the next day.

That’s why he supported Obamacare when it was the best deal on the table — expanding insurance coverage to 20 million Americans, without the life-threatening exclusions for “pre-existing conditions.” This despite the fact that Obamacare was still quite a distance from Medicare for All — “health care as a human right” — that had been his passion and signature issue for decades.

Market Watch
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/guid/793708FC-4C26-11EA-B630-D3AA685BDC0A