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Monday, June 7, 2021

 JUNE 7, 2021
MONDAY
 
PROGRESSIVE OPINION AND NEWS
 
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/bernie-sanders-infrastructure-biden/
Bernie Sanders Is Fed Up With Republican Obstruction—and Democratic Caution
“If Republicans don’t want to cooperate,” he says, “then, yes, we have to move forward without them.”
By John Nichols
JUNE 4, 2021 

PHOTOGRAPH -- Bernie Sanders. (Caroline Brehman / CQ Roll Call via AP Images) 

Bernie Sanders ran for president promising a political revolution. When he did not secure the Democratic nomination, the unapologetic progressive immediately threw in as a supporter of a more moderate Democrat, Joe Biden, and became an ardent advocate for his former rival. 

But that does not mean that Sanders has lost his revolutionary zeal. 

In recent days, the independent senator from Vermont has become the highest-profile and most enthusiastic congressional champion of the argument that Senate Democrats must use their narrow majority to enact a transformational agenda. Sanders has made it clear that he is pleased by the ambitions of the White House when it comes to strategies like those outlined in the president’s initial proposal for an American Jobs Plan. But he has been equally clear in recent days about his frustration with the deference many Democrats continue to show to Republicans who are delaying and disrupting the governing process. 

The Biden administration has been engaged in a delicate dance of negotiations with a small group of Republican senators, maintaining the faint hopes of reaching an agreement to approve the president’s infrastructure proposal. Republicans, some Democrats, and many pundits who are unable to get over the delusion of “bipartisanship,” have suggested that compromise is necessary to enact a more modest proposal. 

But Sanders isn’t having it. 

If Republicans don’t want to cooperate and help us seriously address the many crises we’re facing today,” he says, “then, yes, we have to move forward without them to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and create millions of good-paying, union jobs. 

This is about much more than the usual wrangling between Democrats and Republicans. Sanders has a longer and more ambitious history of working with Republicans who really want to get things done—on issues ranging from fair trade to protecting civil liberties and auditing the Pentagon—than the vast majority of congressional Democrats. But the senator is unwilling to play the fool. If Republicans fail to bargain in good faith, he is prepared to abandon negotiations and start governing. 

That’s an emerging view on the part of progressives, who argue that the handful of Senate Republicans who are talking with Biden—and who have proposed weak-willed alternatives to the president’s agenda—are not taking the discussion about the American Jobs Plan seriously. Activists with the Sunrise Movement gathered outside the White House Friday to call for approval of “the boldest version of the American Jobs Plan.” “No Compromise, No Excuses,” declares the group. “Democrats must take their power seriously and stop negotiating with a GOP who is not serious about climate action or delivering for the American people.” 

Sanders is delivering a similar message with interviews, statements, and social media messages that suggest the time to act has arrived. 

When CNN’s Wolf Blitzer floated a case for continued negotiations and compromises on the part of Democrats, the senator shot it down. 

“The Republicans say they’re on board with a lot of President Biden’s plan when it comes to ‘traditional’ infrastructure—roads, bridges, airports, stuff like that,” argued Blitzer. “Are you and other progressives denying President Biden potentially a bipartisan ‘win’ by including all of the other issues that you’re labeling infrastructure that Republicans say is not really traditional infrastructure?” 

The Senate Budget Committee chair answered with facts, rather than wishful thinking. 

“According to the experts in our country, the American Society of Civil Engineers, what the Republicans are proposing for ‘traditional’ infrastructure is only a fraction of what we need,” said Sanders. “I think every American understands that our roads, and our bridges, our water systems, all of that, is really crumbing before our eyes. I’m a former mayor, and what I know is that, unless you invest in infrastructure, it’s only going to get worse—and it’s only going to be more expensive. We now have the opportunity to create millions of good-paying, often union jobs rebuilding our infrastructure. What the Republicans are talking about is totally inadequate. 

Totally inadequate. And totally antidemocratic. 

As Sanders and his fellow progressives note, Democrats won the presidency, control of the House of Representatives, and control of the Senate in the 2020 election cycle. Now, under any reasonable measure of how the system is supposed to work, the Democrats ought to be governing. And if filibuster reform is required to jump-start the process, so be it. 

Echoing the urgency of more than 100 groups that on Thursday declared, “We cannot allow the filibuster to stand in the way of progress or imperil the health of our democracy,” Sanders says, “The U.S. Senate is the only institution in the world where a vote of 59-41 can be considered a defeat instead of a huge victory. Enough is enough. Let us change the outdated rules of the Senate, end the filibuster and pass a bold agenda for working families with a majority vote.” 

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John Nichols
John Nichols is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and the author of the new book The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party: The Enduring Legacy of Henry Wallace's Anti-Fascist, Anti-Racist Politics (Verso). He’s also the author of Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse: A Field Guide to the Most Dangerous People in America, from Nation Books, and co-author, with Robert W. McChesney, of People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy.
 
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THE NATION AS A NEWS AND OPINION SOURCE, FROM ALLSIDES.COM 

https://www.allsides.com/news-source/nation-media-bias 
The Nation media bias rating is Left. 

The Nation has a Left media bias. The Nation describes itself on its website as, "Principled. Progressive. The Nation speaks truth to power to build a more just society ... [The Nation] empowers readers to fight for justice and equality for all ... We argue that dissent is patriotic and we hold the powerful to account, no matter their political persuasion." 

The Nation has been dubbed "the most widely read weekly journal of progressive political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis." [Source: Wikipedia] 

The Nation endorsed socialist Bernie Sanders for President in 2016. 

Some summer 2018 headlines featured on The Nation included, "Judge Kavanaugh: An Originalist With a New — and Terrifying — Interpretation of Executive Power," "These 5 Trump Policies Are Leading Us Toward Economic Chaos," "Trump's War on Children," and "The Republican Congress Isn't Even Pretending to Do Its Job." 

About The Nation 

The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, it is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City. Source: Wikipedia 

Funding, Financing, and Ownership

Note: Funding and ownership is not taken into account when determining AllSides Media Bias Ratings. While it's true ownership and financial interests can affect what goes to print, our bias ratings are determined by assessing the bias of content only. We provide financial and ownership information as an FYI to our readers. 

The Nation is sustained in part by a group of more than 30,000 donors called Nation Builders, who donate funds to the periodical above and beyond their annual subscription fees. 

Updated November 23, 2020 

Authors who have written for The Nation

John Nichols, Jimmy Tobias, Elie Mystal 

This list is provided by our.news. It is a beta feature and may not be 100% accurate. 

 

ENVIRONMENT ON A TIPPING POINT 

https://nation.com.pk/14-Jan-2021/ocean-temperatures-breaking-records?utm_source=ground.news&utm_medium=referral
Ocean temperatures breaking records
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Ocean temperatures breaking records
OUR STAFF REPORT
January 14, 2021 

ISLAMABAD - Even with the COVID-19-related small dip in global carbon emissions due to limited travel and other activities, the ocean temperatures continued a trend of breaking records in 2020. A new study, authored by 20 scientists from 13 institutes around the world, reported the highest ocean temperatures since 1955 from surface level to a depth of 2,000 meters. 

The report is published recently in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences and concluded with a plea to the policymakers and others to consider the lasting damage warmer oceans can cause as they attempt to mitigate the effects of climate change.“ 

Over 90% of the excess heat due to global warming is absorbed by the oceans, so ocean warming is a direct indicator of global warming — the warming we have measured paints a picture of long-term global warming,” said Lijing Cheng, lead paper author and associate professor with the International Center for Climate and Environmental Sciences at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Cheng is also affiliated with CAS’s Center for Ocean Mega-Science. “However, due to the ocean’s delayed response to global warming, the trends of ocean change will persist at least for several decades, so societies need to adapt to the now unavoidable consequences of our unabated warming. But there is still time to take action and reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases.” 

 

MEET LEE CARTER, A SITTING REPRESENTATIVE IN THE VIRGINIA STATE HOUSE, WHO IS NOW RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR. HE IS A FORMER WORKER FOR BERNIE SANDERS. HIS BACKGROUND IS NOT THE TYPICAL ONE FOR POLITICS, BUT IN A DEMOCRACY HE HAS EVERY RIGHT TO TAKE HIS PLACE IN LINE.  HIS VOTING RECORD IN THE HOUSE IS THE RIGHT SORT FOR MY TASTES AND HE SHOWS THE ENERGY THAT IS NEEDED. I WISH HIM WELL. 

https://www.carterforvirginia.com/
Carter for Governor - For the Rest of Us
 
A Virginia For the Rest of Us

Lee Carter is running for Governor of Virginia to fight for the millions of Virginians whose voices and interests have gone unheard by career politicians, lobbyists, corporate executives, and the political class at large. 

The widespread suffering and economic disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated what poor and working Virginians have known for too long: our system doesn't work for most of us, and it's time for a transformation. 

About Lee 

Lee is not a typical politician. An electronics repairman by trade and enlisted Marine Corps veteran, Lee has represented the people of Manassas and Prince William County since 2018 in Virginia’s House of Delegates. 

In his two terms, Lee has introduced bills to legalize cannabis, expunge records, end cash bail, abolish the death penalty, cap insulin copays, reform workers comp, allow teacher strikes, formalize worker cooperatives, ban corporate campaign contributions, and repeal the anti-union "right to work" law.

 

A NEW GENERATION OF PROPHETS HAVE EMERGED FOR THE SAME OLD PROBLEMS, AND THEY ARE INCREASINGLY MORE ACTIVE NOW. I DO HOPE THAT THIS TIME CHANGE WILL TAKE HOLD AND GROW MORE WIDELY. WE REALLY DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME LEFT TO MITIGATE THE WORLDWIDE WARMING THAT IS DEMONSTRABLY OCCURRING ALREADY. LISTEN TO THIS CBS SPECIAL. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP8ljBai_Ro
Reverb: Generation Climate, 25:41 MIN.
CBSN Originals presents "Reverb | Generation Climate"
6,701 views • Oct 22, 2020
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CBS News
3.73M subscribers 

A generation that grew up witnessing a world with a rapidly changing climate is coming of age. Now, Gen Z climate activists are bringing a sense of urgency to mobilizing social and political movements across the nation. As the world is running out of time, these young activists have made it their mission to fight for its future. 

CBSN Originals is our premium documentary series that is sure to challenge your views on this and a variety of other issues. See our full series library at http://cbsnews.com/cbsnoriginals. 

 

END OF JUNE 7 MONDAY 

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