Progressives (Liberals)

If it helps to resolve these issues of states cheating voters of the right to vote, I am for it.

Support for Israel is a very good thing.

Support for our nation's defenses is a very good thing.

Shame on Sanders.

Establishment Dems have launched new Bernie attacks. Anything to keep the public from voting more progressive than they have already.

I think that narratives about big rifts or vast differences that exist between factions of Democrats are often wrong-headed and misleading.

Democrats have to both walk and chew gum in order to produce results They have to investigate and perform oversight on this rotten administration, AND they have to work to get meaningful progressive legislation through.

They have to listen to Bernie and Ocasio-Cortez (Nina Turner, etc) and try to implement their ideas, AND they have to work with Leader Pelosi to incorporate her political skills.

Two years of harping on all the differences and rooting for one group of Democrats over another is part of what netted us the pestilence we have in the executive branch right now.

Of course demonstrably corrupt or destructive Democrats should not be relied on, and I support genuine efforts to root them out and shut them out. But we have to find a way to work together and prove that this country is a majority liberal/ progressive country at its heart. The Dems I named and many more in positions of influence have MUCH more in common than they have insurmountable differences.

The establishment Dems are out for blood, where progressives are concerned.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that the health insurance she will receive as a member of Congress will cost significantly less than the health insurance she paid for as a waitress.
"In my on-boarding to Congress, I get to pick my insurance plan," the 29-year-old tweeted. "As a waitress, I had to pay more than TWICE what I'd pay as a member of Congress."

REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Members of Congress and their staff choose a gold-level healthcare plan through the open marketplace. According to Snopes, Congress members pay approximately 28 percent of their annual healthcare premiums through pre-tax payroll deductions and receive federal subsidies that cover 72 percent of the cost of premiums.

They also get special "free or low-cost" healthcare benefits not offered through healthcare plans on the open market.

https://www.thenation.com/article/was-fred-hampton-executed/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

How the Black Panthers were targeted and Fred Hampton executed.
A well written article that anyone who is curious about the early activities of these heroic people should read.

Heroic people? Are you serious?

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democrats-join-republicans-in-bill-criminalizing-speech_us_5978bc17e4b0c6616f7ce6d9?fbclid=IwAR0xgN61JxxrZk9bx_CHoFNENhvs0wCQWcuCwVQ3xHFZTis5M8CE3882nUg
With Trump as president, it is easy to forget how utterly hopeless many Congressional Democrats are, including many who look like progressives.

The best indicator of Democratic corruption is its slavishness toward the lobby that is to them what the National Rifle Association is to the GOP: the Israel lobby (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its satellite organizations).

The latest evidence of that slavishness comes in the form of growing support among Democrats in both Houses for legislation sponsored by Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) and co-sponsored by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer that would make it a felony for Americans to support the international boycott against Israel, commonly known as BDS. Anyone guilty of violating the prohibitions will face a minimum civil penalty of $250,000 and a maximum criminal penalty of $1 million and 20 years in prison.

According to the ACLU, the Cardin legislation would “bar U.S. persons from supporting boycotts against Israel, including its settlements in the Palestinian Occupied Territories (emphasis mine) conducted by international governmental organizations, such as the United Nations and the European Union. It would also... include penalties for simply requesting information about such boycotts. Violations would be subject to a minimum civil penalty of $250,000 and a maximum criminal penalty of $1 million and 20 years in prison....This bill would impose civil and criminal punishment on individuals solely because of their political beliefs about Israel and its policies.”

Pretty amazing. Why would anyone support such a law? Yes, lots of people (including me) oppose boycotting Israel (although I certainly support boycotting the settlements) but how is it even possible to criminalize simply supporting a boycott to protest the occupation? After all, we boycott states and municipalities here at home to protest discrimination based on race, sexual identity or anything else. Most recently, the state of North Carolina was faced with a boycott to protest its policy against allowing transgender people to use public bathrooms. How can it be legal to refuse to do business with North Carolina but illegal to refuse to do business with Israeli settlements?

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The answer is simple: AIPAC, which is the lobby few Democrats (let alone Republicans) are willing to cross. Here is its “Call to Action” sent to every member of the House and Senate telling them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cardin bill is a top priority of the lobby. As for Cardin, it is no surprise that he is the lead sponsor of the bill (1) because he never, if ever, deviates from doing what the Israeli government wants and (2) he is one of the top recipients of campaign contributions from AIPAC officers and associated donors. The same can be said of Schumer who has always carried water for the lobby. (Both senators opposed President Obama’s bill to end sanctions on Iran in exchange for its terminating its nuclear weapons program.)

Am I being unfair to ascribe such venal motives to those Democrats who support this bill? (I don’t mention Republicans because their support for it comports completely with their worldviews which is not the case with the Democrats). I don’t think so because every single Democrat supporting this anti-free speech bill consistently opposes limits on free speech. Their support for this bill represents the only time they promoted legislation to curtail free speech. I cannot imagine any reason for this egregious offense against the First Amendment except to please AIPAC and their AIPAC associated donors.

Fortunately, this legislation can still be stopped. Here are lists of the Senate and House Democrats who are co-sponsoring this abominable bill. Let them know of your opposition. Just as important, if your legislator is not yet a co-sponsor, let him or her know that he or she better not become one.

Many years ago, the #2 man at AIPAC, Steve Rosen (later indicted under the Espionage Act of 1917 wrote me the following about AIPAC’s activities: “A lobby is a night flower. It thrives in the dark and dies in the sun.”

The same applies to those in Congress who, disregarding their constituents, take their marching orders from AIPAC. It’s time to shine some sunlight on them.

The First Amendment does not include an exception stating “does not apply to speech about Israel or its settlements.” We can’t allow a lobby and its Congressional cutouts to insert one. But, believe me, that is their goal and going after BDS supporters is just the beginning.

Do you have information you w

Hyperbole much?

Fact.

Is anyone with any criticism for Bernie "out for blood"? Could you give a specific example of this bloodletting speech or behavior?

I have been posting articles explaining about this stuff for years now. If you haven't read enough of it to know why I post these things it's not my fault. You are welcome on this thread, because I respect you and like you. But I am not going to get into these tit for tat postings with anybody.

Robert Reich
·
Trump’s “America first” economic nationalism is finally crashing into the reality of America’s shareholder-first global capitalism.

His giant $1.5 trillion tax cut was supposed to help big corporations make more investments in America and thereby create more jobs. But GM announced last week it will cut about 14,000 jobs in Michigan and Ohio in order to save money.

Even as Trump has escalated his trade war with China, GM is now making and selling more cars in China than it does in the United States.

Trump accuses China of stealing technology from American businesses, but GM is investing in state-of-the-art electrification, autonomous vehicles and ride-sharing technologies there. “China is playing a key role in the company’s strategy,” says GM’s CEO, Mary Barra.

If Trump were serious about his aims, he’d take on shareholder-first global capitalism by reducing the chokehold of Wall Street investors on American corporations, while strengthening the hand of American labor. Don’t hold your breath.

For those who do not know, this is the lunatic who thinks a presidency can be annulled. As they say, consider the source.

You don't have the right one o welcome or deny anyone to any thread. I like you and always have but I don't respect the way you argue. You say contentious things about the Dems you don't like and when challenged you say they would understand if they only read your posts. That's snotty and disingenuous; it doesn't progress the discussion and it contributes to division. I won't keep up with this either because it's tiresome and unilluminating.

So if you don't like it do what like. I am finished if that's your take.

I am more like doing an information style thing here. We have dozens of debate threads meandering endlessly. People posting on this thread are free to do as they choose, because that's the way Robert and his hamsters have it set up, but I am sticking to my original purpose come heck or boilng water.

...which goes pretty far in explaining why they don’t give a **** about our healthcare.

We afford them the very best at a low cost.

The WAITRESSES have to pay twice the amount they pay.