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Wednesday, April 8, 2020


APRIL 8, 2020

PROGRESSIVE OPINION AND NEWS


THIS IS BERNIE SANDERS DAY. BERNIE SANDERS HAS JUST ANNOUNCED THE SUSPENSION OF HIS CANDIDACY, BUT IS LEAVING HIS NAME ON THE REMAINING BALLOTS THROUGHOUT THE STATES TO GARNER MORE DELEGATES FOR THE CONVENTION. HIS REASON FOR DOING THAT IS TO HAVE MORE EVIDENCE TO SHOW AT THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION OF THE NEED FOR A MUCH MORE PROGRESSIVE AND INCLUSIVE DEMOCRATIC PARTY PLATFORM. AS ALWAYS, HE IS AN IDEAS MAN, ANYTHING BUT A “PARTY HACK,” AND IS FOREVER COMMITTED TO A GOOD QUALITY OF LIFE FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT IN THE UPPER ECONOMIC LEVELS. ALL OF HIS GOALS HAVE BEEN TO THAT END – HEALTHCARE, HOUSING, SOCIAL JUSTICE, EDUCATION, A GREATER FINANCIAL SECURITY. WINNING OR LOSING, BERNIE IS STILL THE BEST. HE HAS MADE CLEAR THE PATTERN OF LIFE THAT IS NEEDED IN THIS AND IN ANY OTHER NATION.

TO THOSE ENDS, WE NEED TO STAY BEHIND OUR PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT TO COME TOGETHER AS A UNIFIED POLITICAL FORCE, SO THE LESS DEMOCRATIC ELEMENTS WITHIN ALL PARTIES WILL CONTINUE TO FACE A CHALLENGE. I WILL NOW SEND MY FEW DOLLARS TO GROUPS WHO PURSUE THAT PATH. I WILL VOTE THIS TIME TO OUST PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP FROM THE WHITE HOUSE, BUT AFTER THAT I WANT TO SEE A PROGRESSIVES PARTY STRUCTURE THAT IS UNITED AND SEPARATE FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, AND WHICH COVERS THE VARIOUS GROUPS WITHIN IT WHOSE GOALS ARE ESSENTIAL TO A GOOD LIFE FOR ALL.

WE NEED, AMONG OTHER THINGS NOT YET MENTIONED: A MORE DEMOCRATIC WAY OF MAKING NATIONAL DECISIONS; EVER GREATER SOCIAL JUSTICE IN PRACTICE AS WELL AS IN THE LAW; LAWS AND POLICIES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE REDUCTION OF THE FINANCIAL DIVIDE BETWEEN THE ECONOMIC CLASSES RATHER THAN INCREASING IT; GUARANTEED HOUSING AND HEALTHCARE AS A HUMAN RIGHT; FREE PUBLIC COLLEGE OR TRADE SCHOOL FOR THOSE WHO CHOOSE IT; SAFETY FROM ABUSE FOR ALL PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY ALL MINORITIES; EQUALITY FOR WOMEN IN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC LIFE; AND A DRASTIC REDUCTION OF CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS INTO THE AIR AS WELL AS ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION OF ALL KINDS. WATER SHOULD BE SAFE TO DRINK AND GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE MUST BE STOPPED. WE MUST NOT LET THE EARTH BECOME A WASTELAND.

A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM BERNIE
DURATION 37:30
A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM BERNIE (11:45AM ET)
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Bernie Sanders
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Category
News & Politics



GRACEFULLY, BERNIE BOWS OUT.

Published on
Wednesday, April 08, 2020
byCommon Dreams
After Sanders Exits Race, Climate Campaigners Thank Him for 'Raising the Bar' and Urge Biden to 'Step Up'
"Sanders has been a constant, fearless voice for people and the planet, advocating for the bold ideas and real solutions like the Green New Deal, which met the scale of what is needed to avoid climate catastrophe."

byJessica Corbett, staff writer

PHOTOGRAPH -- Then-Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) attended a news conference to introduce legislation to transform public housing as part of the Green New Deal outside the U.S. Capitol Nov. 14, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The end of Bernie Sanders' second campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination on Wednesday provoked an immediate wave of praise from climate campaigners for the Vermont senator's ambitious plans to address the planetary emergency and calls for former Vice President Joe Biden, now the party's presumed nominee, to embrace his ex-rival's progressive proposals.


"Senator Sanders' presidential bid permanently changed the fight for a healthy and just planet."
—Erich Pica, Friends of the Earth Action


Sanders "built a campaign on holding the wealthy and powerful to account," Greenpeace USA said in a series of tweets. "His vision for a world beyond fossil fuels must now become the baseline" for the Democratic Party.

"#ThankYouBernie, for raising the bar. The fight for a just and peaceful future continues," Greenpeace declared. "It's now time for [Joe Biden] to step up. There is no 'middle of the road' approach to a crisis."

Noting that Biden has previously responded to pressure to improve his climate policies, the group added that the former vice president "should pick up where Sanders left off and say no to fossil fuels and yes to a #GreenNewDeal."

Although Biden's website states that he "believes the Green New Deal is a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face," the candidate has been criticized by advocacy groups for not going far enough to address the global crisis, which experts warn requires sweeping reforms within the next decade.

Sanders, by comparison, led the once-crowded field in terms of climate policy, unveiling a Green New Deal plan last August that supporters called a "game-changer." The senator topped various groups' climate scorecards, including rankings from Greenpeace and the Sunrise Movement, which endorsed Sanders in January.

"We're not going to sugarcoat it: our hearts are heavy," Sunrise spokesperson Aracely Jimenez said in a statement. "In Bernie Sanders, we had a presidential candidate whose visionary solutions—Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, paid sick leave—are exactly the policies we need to get out of the crises we're living through now."

Echoing Sanders' own comments Wednesday about "winning the ideological battle," Jimenez said Sunrise members "find hope" in the popularity of progressive proposals embraced by the movement that powered his campaign.


Sunrise Movement 🌅
@sunrisemvmt
Bernie helped mobilize a generation, but the fight doesn't begin or end with him.

We have plenty of work ahead of us, but we will rise to the challenge of building a movement that fights for us all, a movement that will bring power to the people.

#NotMeUS #ThankYouBernie

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"In Bernie Sanders, we had a presidential candidate whose visionary solutions—Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, paid sick leave—are exactly the policies we need to get out of the crises we're living through now."
—Aracely Jimenez, Sunrise Movement

"We need to see this moment as a wake-up call. Our ideas are winning, but we're not going to win overnight," she continued. "We need to recommit to the hard, long-term work of building a fighting force capable of taking on Wall Street and the political establishment to win the change Bernie campaigned on. The ball's now in Joe Biden's court."

Biden, Jimenez warned, "needs to show young people that he's going to stand up for them by embracing policies like an ambitious Green New Deal that led young voters to flock to Bernie. If he doesn't do this, our work turning out our generation to defeat [President Donald] Trump this fall becomes a lot harder."

Friends of the Earth Action president Erich Pica also said in a statement that "it is now up to [former] Vice President Biden to excite climate activists around the country by offering bolder solutions that protect people and the planet over greedy corporate interests."

In January, Pica's group issued a dual endorsement of Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who ended her presidential campaign in early March.

"Senator Sanders' presidential bid permanently changed the fight for a healthy and just planet," Pica said Wednesday. "Throughout the campaign Sanders has been a constant, fearless voice for people and the planet, advocating for the bold ideas and real solutions like the Green New Deal, which met the scale of what is needed to avoid climate catastrophe."

"While his campaign may be over, our movement continues," Pica added. "At this time of crisis, the progressive policies Senator Sanders champions remain indispensable to advancing the transformational changes we so badly need."

Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune tweeted that "the climate movement is stronger" because of Sanders and expressed relief that the senator vowed to continue working on the issues he championed as as candidate.


Michael Brune
@bruneski
The climate movement is stronger because of @BernieSanders. From Congress to the campaign trail, his voice has been invaluable, and I'm comforted knowing his work continues. Thank you, @BernieSanders, and I look forward to our continued efforts to tackle the climate crisis. https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1247913426166280192 …

Bernie Sanders
@BernieSanders
Today I am suspending my campaign. But while the campaign ends, the struggle for justice continues on. https://www.pscp.tv/w/cVyXkDMyNzU3OTl8MW1yeG1RWmxRVnd4ec1Yy_fXXM6Jj9st36A12ZDamfAe7Cmy6M_vzHvhEt8Q …

125
11:50 AM - Apr 8, 2020


The League of Conservation Voters thanked Sanders "for fighting for climate solutions that center on creating family-sustaining jobs in a clean energy economy and that invest in communities of color and low-income communities who have been hit first and worst by the climate crisis."

The Vermont senator was an original co-sponsor of the Green New Deal resolution introduced last year by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), one of Sanders' most high-profile surrogates. His campaign's climate plan called for transitioning to 100% renewable energy and investing $16.3 trillion to create 20 million well-paying union jobs and help communities in need over 10 years.

The Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund credited Sanders with directing attention to the planetary emergency throughout his party's contentious 2020 contest, tweeting that the senator's "longtime focus on solving the climate crisis pushed the issue to the top of policy discussions during the primary."

Even some other ex-presidential candidates, such as Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, praised Sanders' leadership in terms of climate policy.


Kamala Harris
@KamalaHarris
.@BernieSanders is an extraordinary leader. From health care to climate change, his campaign drove the conversation around what's in the best interests of working families. We must continue that spirit and ethos as we work to unite the party to defeat Trump.

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Johnny Verhovek
@JTHVerhovek
.@TomSteyer: "Senator Sanders...deserves tremendous credit for pushing our party to more fully embrace the progressive values of economic equality, healthcare for all, climate justice + an America that works for working class families, not just the wealthy and big corporations."

View image on Twitter [LW: TO READ STEYER’S WHOLE STATEMENT GO TO COMMON DREAMS WEBSITE.]


The New York Working Families Party thanked Sanders for "changing this country," highlighting how he "forced Medicare for All into the mainstream" and "demanded we confront climate change" while railing against billionaires and fighting for working people.

In a lengthy Twitter thread responding to Sanders' announcement Wednesday, Indivisible argued that his "focus on grassroots fundraising, rejection of PACs, and embrace of activism at the core of his race has changed what it means to run for president."

"If we learned anything from Senator Sanders and his campaign, it's that this isn't time for progressives to give up," the group added. "Now more than ever, we need to fight for a platform that reflects the pillars of his campaign: M4A, a GND, and reforms to protect the most vulnerable people."

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THIS ARTICLE GIVES COMMENTS FROM A LARGE NUMBER OF THE POLITICAL PEER GROUP OF WHICH HE IS A MEMBER. I DIDN’T FIND ONE FROM ELIZABETH WARREN. PERHAPS TOMORROW.

Bernie Sanders Weighs The Toughest Decision Of His Campaign
April 8, 2020 5:00 AM ET
Domenico Montanaro - 2015
DOMENICO MONTANARO

PHOTOGRAPH -- Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, behind in the delegate count, is considering his options and what to do now.
Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images

There comes a time in every campaign when a candidate needs to make a tough decision.

Ending a bid for president is one of the hardest things any candidate can do.

They put themselves out there; they open themselves – and their families – up to relentless criticism and, nowadays, social media abuse.

That's got to be even harder for someone like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who against all odds built a movement and, at 78, likely won't run for president again.

ELECTIONS
Wisconsin Election Held Amid Virus Fears: Here's What You Need To Know

The Vermont senator's supporters are fervent and fed up. Many are young and grew up in an era with America at war, enduring economic collapse, crushing student loan debt and now a viral pandemic that only underscores for them the point they've been making all along about a health care system that's inexorably tied to big corporations.

"Medicare for All," they say, isn't looking so bad when millions are losing jobs — and their health care.

They want it all fixed, they want it fixed now, and they don't trust the power structures that have been in charge for generations, Democrats included.

That change may come someday, but the revolution is not matching the present reality.

Sanders' path to the Democratic nomination is getting narrower every day. Former Vice President Joe Biden has a 1,217-to-914 delegate lead over Sanders. To be the nominee, a candidate needs 1,991. That means Biden needs just 46% of the remaining delegates to be the nominee; Sanders needs 64%.

In other words, for Sanders to turn this aircraft carrier around, he would need to get at least 64% of the vote in all of the remaining contests to beat Biden.


CORONAVIRUS LIVE UPDATES
More Aid Coming For Small Businesses, Senate Majority Leader McConnell Says


And the opposite looked to be the case heading into Wisconsin, where voting took place Tuesday three weeks after the last primaries. Biden was up 62% to 34% in the latest Marquette Law School poll. Sanders won the Wisconsin primary in 2016 by 13 points.

There are no results being released in Wisconsin until Monday. But the Wisconsin outcome could be determinative if it winds up looking like what's happened in previous weeks, with big Biden victories on Super Tuesday and beyond.

Sanders, for his part, said last month he would be "assessing" his campaign and noted that there wasn't an election for another three weeks, which was Tuesday's Wisconsin primary.


THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS
'They're All Really Afraid': Coronavirus Spreads In Federal Prisons


"We are talking to our supporters," he added. "Anybody who suggests that at this point we are ending the campaign is not telling the truth."

Since then, though, the campaign has mostly taken a back seat. Sanders has shifted focus to his day job as a senator and working on relief for Americans economically besieged by the coronavirus outbreak.

Sanders has done some virtual town halls, but the campaign has been all but frozen. And there's a debate going on in Sanders world about what to do next, The Washington Post reported.


THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS
Facing Likely Defeat, Bernie Sanders' Campaign Found A New Cause


On one side, there's his campaign manager and a trusted adviser said to be in favor of dropping out; on the other side, a campaign co-chairwoman, some grassroots supporters and Larry Cohen, the head of Our Revolution, a prominent outside group supporting Sanders.

Cohen told NPR that he wants Sanders to stay in to have sway within the Democratic National Committee to continue — or make permanent — rules changes Sanders fought for, like "superdelegates" not being able to vote on the first ballot at the nominating convention.

"That's a bottom line position," Cohen said.


CORONAVIRUS LIVE UPDATES
'We Should Reward Them': Senate Democrats To Push For Frontline Worker Hazard Pay


He also noted that Sanders staying in and amassing more delegates would mean more power to influence the Democratic platform, especially pushing for as progressive a position possible on healthcare.

"People like their health insurance?" he asked rhetorically, "When 30 million are likely to lose their health care that's employer-based" because of the coronavirus?

He added, "That's the price of unity. They think unity is salute Joe Biden."

Biden and Sanders, though, seem to have a warm relationship, something Sanders did not have with Hillary Clinton, who defeated him for the nomination in 2016.

Photograph -- Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders touch elbows, as they greet each other for a Democratic presidential debate last month.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

"If I'm the nominee, I can tell you one thing, I would very much want Bernie to be part of the journey," Biden said Tuesday on NBC's Today. "Not as a vice presidential nominee, but just engaging in all the things that he's worked so hard to do, many of which I agree with."

With the writing on the wall becoming clear, negotiation is happening at the top levels between the campaigns, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

Not everyone will come around, and Sanders, of course, would first have to concede, but the goal of beating Trump and moving the country in a more progressive direction would likely be enough for many of the Sanders faithful to vote for Biden in the fall.

"We are all in if Biden is the nominee," Cohen said.

CORONAVIRUS LIVE UPDATES
Trump And Biden Have 'Very Friendly' Call On Virus Response 


CNN’S EDITOR CHRIS CILLIZZA, JUST ONE DAY AGO, WROTE A FORESHADOWING OF WHAT WAS TO COME. PERHAPS IT WAS KNOWN IN MEDIA CIRCLES BEFORE SANDERS’ ANNOUNCEMENT THAT HE WAS GOING TO THROW IN THE TOWEL SOON. HIS STORY IS NOT THE SORT OF SMEAR THAT I’VE SO OFTEN SEEN, BUT EVEN SO, CILLIZZA’S USE OF THE REFERENCE TO T.S. ELLIOTT’S AMAZING POEM CALLED THE HOLLOW MEN, IN SAYING SANDERS’ CAMPAIGN “ENDS WITH THIS SORT OF WHIMPER,” IS ILL APPLIED. HE SHOULD INSTEAD HAVE COMPARED HIS WHOLE INTELLECTUAL AND POLITICAL LIFE TO WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY’S POEM, INVICTUS: “MY HEAD IS BLOODY BUT UNBOWED.”

TO READ THEM BOTH, GO TO THESE SITES:

Today is Bernie Sanders' last meaningful day as a presidential candidate
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
[APRIL 7, 2020]

(CNN)For much of the past five years, Bernie Sanders has either been running for president or talking about running for president, an absolutely remarkable streak of longevity.

That streak, unfortunately for the Vermont senator and his army of supporters, effectively ends on Tuesday with the conclusion of the Wisconsin primary.

Sanders, if all available polling is to be believed, is widely expected to come up well short of former Vice President Joe Biden in the Badger State. That would mark a significant reversal from the 2016 Democratic primary race, when Sanders beat Hillary Clinton by 13 points in Wisconsin. It would also continue a losing streak for Sanders since Super Tuesday that has all but closed the door on his chances of overcoming Biden in the delegate chase.

The problem for Sanders is that after the Wisconsin primary, there's simply not many potential winners -- or even states voting -- for him on the calendar. The coronavirus pandemic has forced most states with April primaries to postpone the vote until early summer. The only large-population state left to vote in April is Ohio, which will vote entirely by mail for its scheduled April 28 primary.

What that means for Sanders is that there just aren't any real opportunities for him to change the arc of the primary anytime soon. While he was likely to come up short to Biden even before stay-at-home orders and social distancing guidelines forced the candidates off the campaign trail and froze the campaign in place, that fate seems nearly certain given the current state of the contest and the country.

As recently as a month ago -- when Sanders lost the Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi and Idaho primaries on a single night -- he was pledging to stay in the race. "Today I say to the Democratic establishment, in order to win in the future, you need to win the voters who represent the future of our country and you must speak to the issues of concern to them," Sanders said in his concession speech on March 10.

Since then, however, Sanders' prospects have grown even dimmer as the 2020 race has all but disappeared amid coverage of coronavirus. (Worth noting: Biden, too, has struggled to attract media attention as he seeks to pivot to a general election fight against President Donald Trump.)

And as Sanders' chances have decreased, whispers have begun to emerge that now is the time for Sanders to acknowledge reality and bow out of the race.

That things would end -- for all intents and purposes -- for Sanders in Wisconsin is a cruel reality. The Wisconsin primary has been a massive mess for weeks, as the Democratic governor and Republican-led state legislature were unable to agree on changes that would avoid having voters turn out in person amid a stay-at-home order designed to limit the spread of coronavirus. After much legal wrangling, in-person voting went forward on Tuesday despite those health concerns.

But Sanders, who had called on the primary to be rescheduled last week, made clear that his campaign would not be conducting any sort of traditional get-out-the-vote operation in Wisconsin.

"Let's be clear: holding this election amid the coronavirus outbreak is dangerous, disregards the guidance of public health experts, and may very well prove deadly," Sanders said in a statement released Monday night.

While it's possible Sanders' decision to not aggressively turn out his voters might buy him a little bit more time in the race -- we didn't even try to win! -- there's simply no way to look at Biden's delegate lead, the remaining calendar and the way in which coronavirus is dominating all aspects of society and conclude that Sanders is still a relevant player in the race.

That Sanders' second campaign for president ends with this sort of whimper should not in any way diminish what the Vermont democratic socialist accomplished over these last five-ish years. Sanders' impact on the Democratic Party over that period of time is absolutely massive. He dragged the party's establishment -- at times unwillingly -- far further to the ideological left on a panoply of issues, chief among them health care and climate change.

Sanders did so by understanding far earlier and with far more clarity than anyone else in the Democratic Party where its base was -- and what it wanted from its future leaders. Sanders offered big, unapologetically liberal solutions to the problems facing the country -- and built a grassroots army of supporters that were (and are) the envy of every other Democratic politician.

All of which means that Sanders' ability to continue to influence the direction of the party is far from over.

"If I'm the nominee I can tell you one thing: I would very much want Bernie to be part of the journey, not as a vice presidential nominee but just engaging in all the things that he's worked so hard to do, many of which I agree with," Biden said Tuesday morning.

What has ended, however, are Sanders' presidential aspirations.


THE VERY INTERESTING POET, WILLIAM  ERNEST HENLEY

William Ernest Henley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Ernest Henley (23 August 1849 – 11 July 1903) was an influential English poet, critic and editor of the late Victorian era in England. Though he wrote several books of poetry, William Ernest Henley is remembered most often for his 1875 poem "Invictus", a piece which recurs in popular awareness (e.g., see the 2009 Clint Eastwood film, Invictus). A fixture in literary circles, the one-legged Henley was also the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's character Long John Silver (Treasure Island, 1883), while his young daughter Margaret inspired J.M. Barrie’s choice of the name Wendy for the heroine of his play Peter Pan (1904).[1]



Invictus

By William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
      Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
      For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
      I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
      My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
      Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
      Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
      How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
      I am the captain of my soul.


Poet Bio

Born in Gloucester, England, poet, editor, and critic William Ernest Henley was educated at Crypt Grammar School, where he studied with the poet T.E. Brown, and the University of St. Andrews. At age 12 Henley was diagnosed with tubercular arthritis that necessitated the amputation of one of his legs just below the knee; the other foot was saved only through a radical surgery performed by Joseph Lister. As he healed in the infirmary, Henley began to write poems, including “Invictus.” Henley was a close friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, who reportedly based his Long John Silver character in Treasure Island in part on Henley.

See More By This Poet
More Poems about Living



THIS IS AN EXCELLENT DISCUSSION BETWEEN SANDERS AND AN ALL-BLACK PANEL OF GUESTS. HE IS KNOWN AS A POWERFUL SPEAKER, BUT HE IS AT HIS BEST WHEN DEALING WITH PEOPLE ONE ON ONE. 

CORONAVIRUS AND THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY (7PM ET)
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