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bluewater

bluewater's Journal
bluewater's Journal
February 16, 2020

Biden on Bloomberg: 'I don't think you can buy an election'

Former Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday he is eager to debate Michael Bloomberg, noting he doesn't think the former New York City mayor can "buy an election."

As he tries to resuscitate a campaign that faltered in the first two states to vote in the Democratic primary, Biden has turned his attention to Bloomberg -- who is surging with African American voters who make up the former vice president's base of support -- in the most direct way yet.

"I'm going to get a chance to debate him on everything from redlining to stop and frisk to a whole range of other things," Biden said on ABC's "The View."

Asked what he thought about audio that became public this week of Bloomberg defending stop-and-frisk policing, Biden paused and laughed.

"I'm laughing because it's amazing how every single thing I've said for the last 40 years has come up and I've answered them all. We're just now getting into the place where we're looking at other people's records," he said.
Biden's comments come at the end of a week in which reports about Bloomberg's previous comments and positions on housing and policing policies have come under scrutiny.

Bloomberg said at the height of the housing crisis, at a Georgetown University forum in 2008, that getting rid of "redlining," the discriminatory housing practice that stopped banks from providing mortgages in low-income, largely minority neighborhoods, was to blame for the collapse.


Well, I sincerely hope that Joe is right.



February 16, 2020

Bloomberg chose to avoid facing SC Primary Voters.

Serious question.

I can almost understand why he did not participate in the Iowa and Nevada Caucuses, he came in too late to have a ground game in place.

But why is he HIDING from the South Carolina Democratic voters?

Are too many African American Democrats voting in that primary for his taste?

Was he afraid that giving black Democrats a chance to vote on his candidacy would hurt his chances when he parachutes into Super Tuesday?

February 16, 2020

Sanders best on questions of character, values and empathy.

https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1228765036954431488

Is Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders likable enough to win the White House? A new USA TODAY/Ipsos poll released Friday suggests a lot of voters think so.

Asked for their views on the personal characteristics of several Democratic presidential contenders and of President Donald Trump, voters consistently gave Sanders the highest marks for his values and empathy.

Trump and his allies have long said they believe the president could easily defeat Sanders if he faces off against the Vermont senator in November. Some of Sanders’ Democratic rivals have suggested a more centrist candidate might have a better chance at taking on Trump.

But if character is on the ballot in November, the USA TODAY/Ipsos poll, conducted Wednesday through Thursday, shows Sanders has a clear advantage over the incumbent president. In the survey, 40% of voters said they admired Sanders’ character, well above the 26% who said they admired Trump.


February 16, 2020

Younger voters want some of that 'Boomer Socialism'

https://twitter.com/businessinsider/status/1229030937616318465

The same poll indicated that favorable views of socialism among young adults is still relatively high while those for capitalism steadily dropped over the past decade — 49% and 51%, respectively.

The rising price tags of healthcare, education, and homeownership have left many young people feeling marginalized from the economy, leading to calls for drastic reform that levels the playing field for them and curbs widening inequality. Sanders has pledged to deliver transformational change that deals with their deepening anxieties.


Glaeser pointed out that groups of people — like retirees and homeowners — have locked in benefits for themselves and made it more difficult for newcomers, whether young people or immigrants, to obtain similar chances of prosperity.

Here are three federal programs that mostly benefit older Americans, per the Atlantic's Derek Thompson:

Medicare represents a form of single-payer healthcare for people aged 65 and over, insuring almost 60 million Americans, or one in five people in the US.

Social Security is a program that operates similarly to universal basic income, guaranteeing monthly payments to elderly and disabled Americans.

The mortgage-interest deduction cuts a person's tax bill by the amount of interest paid on a home loan. In other words, it's a tax break for homeowners whose average age is 54 and critical gateway into the middle class.
Young adults are pressing to widen the reach of government benefits to include them as well. And they're no longer satisfied with a system that keeps those advantages sequestered for adults in previous generations.


February 15, 2020

Warren RESTORES all Nevada ad buys! Oh yeah, baby! It's on!

https://twitter.com/AlxThomp/status/1228761483766575104

This is FANTASTIC news!

All the small donations after NH have helped make the difference!

Currently, Warren is polling 3rd in Nevada and has a good shot at finishing in 2nd!





February 15, 2020

Warren's Environmental Grade is Very Good.

Senator Elizabeth Warren
Overall Grade = A-
Wildlife = B
Public Lands = A-
Environmental Justice = A
Climate = A-

As a senator since 2012, Elizabeth Warren has a strong record supporting wildlife, public lands and the environment. Warren was one of the first presidential candidates to sign the No Fossil Fuel pledge, and her climate plan recognizes the urgency of the climate crisis by dedicating trillions of dollars to achieve net-zero emissions by the scientist-recommended date of 2030. She also has comprehensive plans for how her administration would manage public lands and address environmental justice issues.
Wildlife (Grade: B) – As a senator Elizabeth Warren has consistently voted to protect wildlife and endangered species. She has cosponsored legislation that would overturn the Trump administration’s rollback of endangered species regulatory safeguards. However, she has not yet made many specific statements about protecting endangered species or addressing the extinction crisis in her presidential campaign.

Public Lands (Grade A-) – Warren’s public-lands plan calls for a total moratorium on all new fossil fuel leases and sets a goal of providing 10% of the nation’s overall electricity generation from renewable sources offshore or on public lands.30 She would restore protections to Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. She was one of the first candidates to come out in favor of protecting the Nevada Desert National Wildlife Refuge against a takeover by the Defense Department. And she was also the first candidate to oppose the Twin Metals mining project outside Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Warren has committed to revoking improperly issued permits for the Keystone XL, Dakota Access and Line 3 pipelines.31 Senator Warren voted in 2017 to allocate $25 billion to fund the border wall as a part of a deal to protect the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program32 but has since stated “I do not support building a wall.”33

Environmental Justice (Grade: A) – Warren released a robust environmental justice plan that calls for spending at least $1 trillion in the next 10 years to defend low-income and minority communities against pollution, contamination and extreme weather events that are exacerbated by climate change.34 The plan would strengthen existing environmental laws by mandating that all federal agencies consider climate impacts in developing rules, and would restore the Obama-era water rule the Trump administration recently rolled back. Warren also proposes that projects should not proceed unless developers have obtained the free, prior and informed consent of the tribal governments concerned. Her plan also instructs the EPA and the Department of Justice to enhance enforcement against industrial polluters and calls for improving equity mapping of marginalized communities to better identify climate risk damage from increasingly intense storms, droughts and wildfires. Finally, the plan empowers local communities with financing opportunities to build out community solar and bottom-up power to enhance energy democracy.

Climate (Grade: A-) – Warren would declare that the climate crisis is a national emergency and supports a just transition to a 100% clean and renewable energy economy. She would end all new federal fossil fuel leasing on public lands and waters, but she has not committed to phase out all existing fossil fuel production on both private and public lands. Warren would ban fracking and end the export of fossil fuels. Warren’s climate plan would require achieving 100% carbon-free electricity and 100% emissions-free vehicles on or before 2030. Warren would dedicate $3 trillion to green manufacturing and research and $1.5 trillion to subsidizing the transition to renewable energy and zero emission vehicles. She has also proposed a “Blue New Deal” to address the impacts of climate change on the oceans. As a senator Warren introduced the Climate Risk Disclosure Act, which would require public companies to disclose information about potential risks the company could face because of climate change, such as the company’s greenhouse gas emissions.35 Warren was also an original cosponsor of the Green New Deal.

https://centeractionfund.org/environmental-report-card/

Only Sanders, with an A grade overall, is rated slightly higher.

Steyer gets a B, Biden a C+, Yang a C, Buttigieg C- and Klobuchar D.

February 15, 2020

Mike Bloomberg has faced allegations of sexist, profane comments for decades

https://twitter.com/jdawsey1/status/1228693455284686848

Now, as Bloomberg is increasingly viewed as a viable Democratic candidate for president and the #MeToo era has raised the profile of workplace harassment, he is finding that his efforts to prevent disclosure are clashing against demands that he release former employees and complainants from their nondisclosure agreements.

The allegations that he tolerated a hostile office culture could undercut his ability to criticize President Trump’s alleged sexual misconduct and efforts to keep such claims private.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/politics/michael-bloomberg-women/



Bloomberg should let those women speak now. What is he afraid of?

February 14, 2020

Well it's Raman soups for me this week...

I just donated $100 to Elizabeth Warren last night!

Pitching in to help her do well in Nevada.

Polls have her in a possible 3rd place right now. 2nd place might even happen!



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