Bernie Sanders Sayings

By slashing special breaks for corporations, we could help working families immensely--and ordinary Americans would not have to pay a cent more in taxes.

Bernie Sanders considered significantly more honest than Hillary Clinton

Why enforcing current gun laws hasn't worked

Members of Congress, including some Democrats, answer new gun control legislation with, 'Just enforce the current gun laws.' During Barack Obama's town hall on guns broadcast on CNN last Thursday, he at least partially answered the question. These same members of Congress "...then cut (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) budgets to make it impossible to enforce the law," he said.

An example is my post yesterday connecting new Speaker, Paul Ryan, to "voodoo economics" in his 2014 budget, designed to cut taxes to the bone, eliminating needed programs like those above. Another vivid illustration is the GOP action, initiated and backed by the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) some years ago that refuses to allow the CDC to release figures on gun violence. These valuable statistics would allow the government to prioritize gun laws.

And then while Obama was actually speaking at the CNN town hall on guns, the NRA boneheads, who didn't attend the town hall, tweeted to the President, "If the goal is to save lives, then prosecute criminals." Wayne LaPierre, NRA head, just keeps putting out the same old shit.

THE NATION Magazine endorses Bernie Sanders

If you haven't read The Nation and you are a Progressive, you should. If you are a conservative, you should read The Nation just to find out how ridiculous your ideologies are. It is the top Progressive publication on the market and I have followed this publication for the last few years; it has strengthened my Progressive position more with each article read. Today, it endorsed Bernie Sanders.

This endorsement confirms with no doubt who the Progressive candidate is in the Democratic primary, placing Bernie Sanders in the position of being the people's candidate. If you're not sure what that means, it indicates the only one running for President who wants to put the middle class and the disadvantaged before the wealthy and big corporations.

It is an endorsement that Bernie can take to the bank. The Nation has endorsed Democratic candidates only twice. Jesse Jackson in 1988 and Barack Obama in 2008.




















t

Bernie Sanders Sayings

We can also reverse the inequitable distribution of wealth by closing loopholes in corporate taxes. If we eliminated tax breaks for corporations, corporate subsidies, and other forms of corporate welfare, we could save $125 billion a year. Those savings could be applied to healthcare, education, social services--and to balancing the budget. 

Paul Ryan ups John Boehner on untruths

MSNBC says the Beltway "considers Paul Ryan some kind of numbers-wiz policy wonk," even though his 2014 budget that passed the House was considered "voodoo economics." But Steve Benen says, :...his answer yesterday was a reminder that the Wisconsin congressman really doesn’t know what he’s talking about." Benen refers to Ryan's attempt to explain the success of the Obama-era economy.

It's almost like the new Speaker lives in a dream world of his own and, unfortunately,  he is only two heart beats away from the Presidency. Here's Ryan's "gibberish," as Benen refers to it:

1. Paul Ryan opposes the Fed’s recent monetary policies.
2. Paul Ryan believes the Fed’s recent monetary policies are bad for the economy.
3. Asked about positive economic developments, Paul Ryan credits the policies he doesn’t support.

Paul Ryan is obsessed with rewarding the wealthy at the expense of the working class and the needy. Bernie Sanders will remedy that when his Presidency sweeps out the House GOP majority and replaces it with Progressives.  

Bernie Sanders Sayings

It is also time, high time, to establish a tax on wealth similar to those that exist in most European countries. Simply stated, a wealth tax would require the very wealthiest Americans, people worth millions of dollars, to pay taxes on their accumulated wealth, rather than enabling them to get ever richer without giving anything back to the society that makes their wealth possible. A tax on wealth could raise tens of billions of dollars a year.

Close connections between President's SOTU speech and Bernie Sanders campaign

Barack Obama closed the last year of his Presidency with an excellent SOTU speech that reverberated through all the accomplishments of his seven years and the conflict that he has experienced with the GOP Congress in opposing almost everything he has proposed. No hostility, just hard facts that should put Republicans on notice that this will probably gain momentum with the new Democratic President in January 2017.

He did not identify who the next President will be but he indicated the United States is now on a course of Progressivism, one that is supported by the American public, and one that must be advanced in the future. Obama also touched on some topics he felt were priorities for this country that have been championed by Bernie Sanders for the last 30 years and are major thrusts of his campaign for President.

The income and wealth inequality, something Joe Biden praised him for saying this was new territory for Hillary Clinton. Getting big money out of politics. Establishing a living wage, increasing the minimum to $15.00 per hour. Creating decent paying jobs. Strengthening and expanding Social Security, to name only a few. Clinton has picked up on many of these issues, attempting to make them her ideas. But the voting public is beginning to get wise, as they become more familiar with the Senator from Vermont.

President Obama has said he won't endorse one of the Democratic candidates. After tonight's SOTU, it won't be necessary.

Sanders takes lead in Iowa and thunders to new high in New Hampshire

A new Quinnipiac University poll out today places Bernie Sanders with 49% of likely Iowa Democratic Caucus voters with Clinton at 44%, a five point lead. Just recently Clinton led Sanders by three points.  The men are 61 to 30 percent for Bernie, the women 55 to 39 percent for Hillary. And Sanders favorability with this same group is 87-3 compared to Clinton's 74-21. Hillary Clinton does lead Bernie Sanders when it comes to who would win in the general election, 85% to 68%.

In the New Hampshire Primary, Bernie has taken a significant lead of 14-points over Hillary, 53% to 39% in todays Monmouth University poll. With 52% of New Hampshire primary voters completely decided on who they will support, in addition to the 53% currently supporting Sanders, "... another 20% of primary voters say they could end up voting for him on February 9th instead of their current choice.

For the General Election in November, Bernie Sanders against the GOP leading candidate, Donald Trump, 51 percent to 38 percent, but Hillary Clinton only 44 to 47 percent, both Quinnipiac polls.

Now, onward to South Carolina.

Bernie Sanders Sayings

That {a flat tax}is precisely the wrong direction to take. We need to reaffirm the just principle that those who benefit the most economically from our society should pay the most to sustain it.

Gun Control could be Bernie Sanders weak link in long haul

Hillary Clinton hammered Bernie Sanders on gun control by pointing out his votes to grant immunity to gun makers from lawsuits when their products are used in crimes, and for voting against the Brady Bill five times. Clinton says Sanders shows no signs of changing his positions on these issues and that does not correspond with the wishes of the American public which is veering more in the favor of reasonable gun control.
I have been critical of Bernie's failure to come out strong for gun control from the beginning and believe it hurts him now more while the realization is finally hitting the U.S. that too many guns are responsible for the daily shootings and mass killings in this country. I really cannot see how someone can be a true Progressive and not realize how much negative impact guns have on the total population. The 2nd Amendment be damned, America needs to rein in the gun culture now.

In last Thursday's CNN Town Hall on gun control, Barack Obama came out moderately for more action on guns, with much less force than I had expected and hoped for. Again, I have felt that the President has also been much to soft on this issue, and this has been another let down for me. Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs told Politico,  Sanders was “willing to take another look at the gun manufacturer immunity legislation.” Not good enough for me and, I am sure, many gun-violence-fed-up Americans.

I am for Bernie Sanders to the end, which I envision to be the day that he and Jane walk into the White House after he is elected President. But in the meantime, too many innocent people, including children, are dying from gun violence and I believe that all that are involved in this fiasco know what has to be done. So why don't we do it.

Bernie Sanders Sayings

They {the wealthy} and many of their conservative mouthpieces are even trying to sell the nation on a flat tax, allowing a billionaire to pay the same rate as a mother of two earning $5.50 an hour in her service-sector job.

Obamacare survives with President's veto

Over 50 times now the dunce cap kids have tried to repeal The Affordable Care Act that has more people covered for their health care needs now than ever before. Okay, I hear the naysayers, and yes there are still problems that have to be fixed but what if they had given up on Social Security and Medicare during their trying times? In the MSNBC article, one reader posed this question:

"I know that republicans will do whatever the NRA wants because of the millions of dollars that they receive in bribes. What I'm not sure about is why they are so stuck on continually trying to abolish or not fund Obamacare? Who has bribed them on this one?"

 That's an interesting question and raises another equally absorbing query; just who has the GOP's gonads on this one. One would need only to look at the health care industry and health professionals. The GOP and conservative groups receive far more in donations than Democrats and Progressive organizations. Which would indicate to me that if you are a Republican politician, you're in it for the money. Sure, the Dems do it but the scales are weighed heavily toward the GOP when it comes to taking money for favors.

Of course there is still that factor of animosity toward Barack Obama and anything he has or is trying to accomplish in his presidency. This will perhaps go down in U.S. history as the most egregious act ever perpetrated by a Republican Congress.