[mpen-dayton4] FW: "We're just getting started (Bernie)" & "LOON STAR STATE" & "First Walgreens, now Pfizer?!" & "A budget for the People" and more
FYI. Best, Munsup
P.S. Please reply back to me with 'unsubscribe' on the subject line if you no longer want to receive my e-Newsletters. The convenient link to unsubscribe is no longer available due to security reasons to protect my email servers.
P.P.S. "He who dares not offend cannot be honest" - Thomas Paine
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· FW: We're just getting started (Bernie)
· FW: How to fix the Supreme Court
· FW: LOON STAR STATE & James Crow Esq
· FW: We're taking democracy back from big monied interests
· FW: First Walgreens, now Pfizer?!
· FW: Social Security is the solution
· FW: A budget for the People (citizen cosponsor opportunity)
· FW: Why did a Lutheran college just host a Trump rally?
· FW: "Hillary Clinton just can't win: Democrats need to accept that only Bernie Sanders can defeat the GOP"
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From: Matt, Emily, Ilya, Mark, and the rest of the MoveOn for Bernie team, MoveOn.org Political Action
Subject: We're just getting started (Bernie)
Just over two months ago, MoveOn members voted overwhelmingly to endorse Bernie Sanders for President. Since then this revolutionary campaign has accomplished more than anyone predicted—as The New York Times just reported yesterday, Bernie has a real pathway to victory, a sign of the momentum that has catapulted a long-shot candidate into a serious contender.1
After this past Tuesday, just over half of the states have voted. Here's what MoveOn members have done so far to help power this incredible campaign:
- More than 78,000 members have donated a total of more than $1,000,000 to the Bernie Sanders campaign through MoveOn.
- Thousands of MoveOn members have volunteered as event hosts, knocked on doors, made phone calls, and reached millions of friends over social media with MoveOn for Bernie content.
- MoveOn produced a series of original videos that have been seen by millions. Robert Reich's "Six Responses to Bernie Skeptics" has over 12 million views alone, and episodes of the "O'Keefe Brief" told the story of young voters "feeling the Bern."
- Hundreds of thousands of MoveOn members signed petitions calling on the Democratic Party superdelegates to respect the will of the voters. And The New York Times editorial board agreed.2
- We've lifted up the voices of MoveOn members and movement leaders who have endorsed Bernie: Ben Jealous, Keith Ellison, Erica Garner, Raul Grijalva, Susan Sarandon, and many others.
- We've sent over 300 different email messages to members—including messages tailored to MoveOn members in each and every state that has voted so far.
- Over 300 media outlets have talked about MoveOn's endorsement of Bernie—including The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, and PBS.
And we're just getting started! While some want to prematurely declare this campaign over, the math shows that Bernie still has a path to victory.3 MoveOn members are ready to keep fighting for every vote until the nomination is decided.
Will you volunteer for Bernie?
Yes, I'll volunteer to help Bernie win!
As Bernie Sanders continues to win more and more states through June, his campaign will keep defining the race and proving that running as an unapologetic progressive is the way to win.
Look at some of what he's accomplished in the 10 weeks since MoveOn endorsed his campaign and the primary season began in earnest:
- In January, Bernie was down by 50% in some national polls, and now he's neck-and-neck.
- Bernie has exceeded polls and expectations across the board, pulling to virtual ties in states he was presumed to lose (Iowa), winning by landslides greater than projected (New Hampshire), and pulling off surprise victories that nobody predicted the day before (Michigan).
- Bernie has notched record-setting fundraising months with the most individual donors in any presidential primary ever, and the movement is still growing.
And he's doing this because of all of us—the millions of Americans who have stood up to be counted, dug deep to donate, knocked on doors to connect with neighbors, and picked up the phone to be heard by fellow voters.
Will you keep this momentum going by volunteering this weekend at an event near you?
The contested primary is engaging millions of new voters and activists, making whoever is the eventual Democratic nominee better prepared to defeat Donald Trump and the Republicans in November.
So while the corporate media will continue to dismiss Bernie and this movement, we'll continue talking to voters in every state about Bernie's message, and continue building this political revolution. Will you join us and volunteer for Bernie?
Yes, I'll volunteer to help Bernie win!
P.S. You can also search for other nearby volunteer events and offices here.
Sources:
1. "'Here's How Bernie Sanders Could Win the Nomination" The New York Times, March 17, 2016
http://act.moveon.org/go/2203?t=2&akid=163212.1195276.uMVin3
2. "Superdelegates, Clarify Your Role," The New York Times, February 19, 2016
http://act.moveon.org/go/1551?t=4&akid=163212.1195276.uMVin3
3. "'Here's How Bernie Sanders Could Win the Nomination" The New York Times, March 17, 2016
http://act.moveon.org/go/2203?t=6&akid=163212.1195276.uMVin3
Want to support our work? We're going all out to help Bernie Sanders win the Democratic nomination. Polls across the country show that the race is close, so we really can win. But we can't do it without small-dollar donations from people like you. Click here to chip in.
From: Robert Reich via MoveOn.org Civic Action
Subject: How to fix the Supreme Court
The United States Constitution is perfectly clear.
By refusing to vote—or even hold a hearing—on Chief Judge Merrick Garland, President Obama's nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, GOP senators are abdicating their constitutional responsibility. They're just not doing their job.
Want to know the only thing that can break the GOP's chokehold on the Supreme Court—and end decades of conservative control of the Court? You. Yes, that's right. You.
The fight for the future of the Supreme Court has huge implications for all Americans. Health care. Women's rights. Fighting climate change. Overturning Citizens United. These are just some of the issues coming before the Court.
There's only one response for MoveOn members in the face of unprecedented GOP obstruction. It's the same winning response you had when Republicans shut down the government because they didn't get their way over the debt ceiling: You hold them accountable.
Want to support our work? MoveOn member contributions have powered our work together for more than 17 years. Hundreds of thousands of people chip in each year—which is why we're able to be fiercely independent, answering to no individual, corporation, politician, or political party. You can become a monthly donor by clicking here, or chip in a one-time gift here.
From: albert baca
Subject: FW: LOON STAR STATE & James Crow Esq
Old Al knows Texas. In my civilian USAF career, I probably had at least 200 TDY trips to San Antonio. My sister lives in El Paso. A nephew lives in Dallas. My parents are buried in El Paso. Yep, Old Al knows Texas. Even knows who is Gov. I just thought you all would enjoy seeing this one:
Loon Star State
Subject: FW: James Crow Esq
This article is worth a read. It is a pretty good summation of what has been going on since Tricky, St. Ronnie, Daddy Bush, Slick Willie, the Shrub and even the Big O who had a mandate to do more but let the Republicans hood wink him. For shame.
Notice I left off Carter. Poor Carter had the misfortune of being bookended by two of the all-time worst presidents. (Carter's inflation was really Nixon's inflation courtesy of the Arab Oil Shocks and Henry Kissinger.)
Nobody will ever convince me that release of the Iranian hostages was nothing but hanky-panky pulled off by disgruntled former CIA agents trying to help their old boss help St. Ronnie get elected.
Carter also had the misfortune of Big Oil putting the kibosh on his energy policy. Oil, oil, whose got the oil? We sure as hell need all the oil we can get you know. Solar energy and wind energy be damned. But what about nuclear energy? Look here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_power_accidents_by_country
TO THE ARTICLE: https://sojo.net/articles/4-ways-political-forces-steal-elections-and-how-we-can-stop-it
4 WAYS WHITE POLITICAL FORCES STEAL ELECTIONS AND
HOW WE CAN STOP IT
By Jim Wallis on 03-10-2016
A personal tweet I sent out this week said: "Let's be clear — and Christian: A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for racism."
In one of the many postmortem discussions on Tuesday's primary results, Cokie Roberts on Morning Joe said we were leaving race out of the questions we're asking. She's right. Donald Trump's success isn't just because of his entertaining flamboyance, his marketing brand, his experienced self-promotion, his business boasting, and his other fabricated "outsider" identities that appeal to people who genuinely feel outside of American politics and life. At its core, Donald Trump's campaign is about race — which is why this is about far more than politics and partisanship for many of us religious leaders. When Roberts asked Trump if he was proud of the growing reports about white schoolchildren verbally attacking students of color and telling them they will soon have a wall built against them to keep them out of America, Trump reacted by saying it was a "nasty" question. No, it was one of the few good questions from journalists that morning.
Donald Trump is the race candidate, projecting white nationalism and xenophobia, appealing to fear and resentment, and always blaming people of other races for the problems of low-income white people. There is a long history of that in the United States, recently exemplified again by the KKK and other white supremacists coming into the electoral conversation and Trump's unwillingness to be quick and clear about his rejection of racial politics.
The pundits say working class Republicans are in revolt against the Republican establishment, which makes sense as those elites are ones who have supported and benefitted from rigged market forces and globalization that have turned all our economic rewards to the top 1 percent while abandoning working and middle class people. Bernie Sanders is getting many of those angry white votes, too, in the Democratic primaries. But Sanders doesn't blame "the others" as Trump does; he instead focuses on the richest institutions and people in America who have managed all this — the same ones Trump loves to brag about being part of with his ostentatious lifestyle. (How many press conferences have you seen with the candidate's expensive wines and steaks on display while he proudly lists all of his properties? Is this really happening in America?) There is also a long history of uniting working people from all races against the forces that would both ignore and divide them. One kind of populism tries to divide those who have been marginalized; the other kind tries to bring them together.
Donald Trump is clearly appealing to our worst instincts, as many have said, but let's be more clear: Donald Trump is appealing to the worst instincts of white people, and American history has shown how ugly and violent those white instincts can be. He is right when he claims to be bringing out people that have never voted before; those new voters are angry white people.
At the same time we're adding them to our voting rolls, there are active political forces directly engaged in trying to block and diminish the turnout of black, Hispanic, Asian, and Muslim voters. They're doing so in four ways.
First, as Michelle Alexander explains in The New Jim Crow, political strategies now connect the deliberate mass incarceration of black and brown men and women with the subsequent and purposeful political disenfranchisement of those millions of people of color when they return to society.
Second, deliberate gerrymandering and misshaping of voting districts creates and protects white voting blocs and puts minorities together so as to not challenge those white majority blocs. After sweeping victories in 2010, newly elected Republicans in state legislatures and governors' mansions across the country took full advantage of Census-based redistricting to gerrymander in favor of white conservatives.
Third, the passage of a slew of new voting rules and regulations enacted since 2010 are again deliberate attempts to reduce the votes of minorities and young people in what Rev. William Barber calls "the second career of 'James Crow, Esq."
'"In other words, after the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of the 1960s dismantled the overt Jim Crow laws that enforced segregation and denied African Americans many basic rights, Jim Crow went to law school, became the more respectable "James Crow, Esq.," and devised more sophisticated and insidious ways to disenfranchise people of color. The historic election of 2008 brought an unprecedented number of young people and people of color to the polls. The white conservative backlash came in the 2010 mid-term elections. As Myrna Pérez explains in Sojourners magazine:
Since the 2010 election, 21 states have instituted new voting restrictions—the biggest rollback of the right to vote since the Jim Crow era. This year will be the first presidential election with many of these new barriers in place, from requiring photo identification (which millions of Americans do not have) to curtailing early voting (which many citizens depend on to cast their ballots). On top of this, voters will go to the polls in November with the fewest federal protections against racial discrimination in half a century, due to a 2013 Supreme Court decision gutting a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.
Fourth, there are efforts to bring new white voters to the polls that are angry and resentful of America's growing racial diversity — basically, Trump's constituency.
Sojourners has just released an important new video detailing some of these efforts at voter suppression across the country, and also lifts up some positive efforts to expand access to voting in some states. I encourage you to watch this video to get an even better sense of what is at stake for our democracy this year. Then share it with others.
So here is an election strategy for people of faith from all races, for people of moral conscience in both parties who are against racist policies and practices, for everyone who believes that every American should have the right and greatest opportunity to vote, and for those who believe that access is absolutely essential to the future of our democracy. This should be a moral issue, not a partisan one.
It is time for a new and powerful alliance between the faith community, white voters against racism, and democracy advocates of all political stripes to unite together to register as many racial minorities and young people as possible to vote — with the best efforts being led by leaders and organizations of color — and then to mobilize the best possible access to voting on Election Day for everyone. Perhaps it's time for clergy to show up on Election Day in polling places to help support and secure the votes of those minority voters who are under attack.
These are some moral marching orders for election 2016. We have about 8 months to do them.
Jim Wallis: Jim Wallis is president of Sojourners. His book, America's Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America, is available now. Follow Jim on Twitter @JimWallis.
- See more at: https://sojo.net/articles/4-ways-political-forces-steal-elections-and-how-we-can-stop-it#sthash.MEgxfwas.dpuf
From: Mara Schechter, Daily Kos
Subject: Please read: We're taking democracy back from big monied interests
You know the system is rigged. The wealthy and powerful influence our elections, and the right to vote is coming increasingly under threat. This country is feeling less and less like a democracy.
But right now there are bills in front of Congress that would limit money's influence in politics and would restore equal voting rights. And there's a growing Democracy Awakening movement for change.
Join us, and tell Congress to take action NOW to strengthen our democracy.
We're coming together with a wide coalition to rise up and make clear what we the people want: A democracy that is accessible to all and is not beholden to big-money interests. We can do this if we do it together.
Add your name so Congress hears it loud and clear: It's time to get big money out of politics and restore our voting rights.
Keep fighting,
P.S. Join us in April as we take action around the country, including in Washington, D.C. from April 16-18 during a series of mobilizations. Learn more about the actions in April on the Democracy Awakening website.
From: Tim, along with Annie, Eddie, Emma, Ernesto, Kelsey, Laura, Lindsay, Moonyoung, Paul, and Scottie, Courage Campaign
Subject: First Walgreens, now Pfizer?!
Pfizer is about to sucker punch American taxpayers and leave them with a $35 billion bill. Join us to help stop this shady corporate tax dodge.
Pfizer -- the world's 2nd largest pharmaceutical company -- is trying to dodge paying its fair share of taxes by moving its corporate address from New York to Ireland, while continuing to keep the majority of its business in the U.S.(1)
This is unacceptable! No U.S. company should be able to pick up and move out of the country for the sole purpose of dodging taxes -- especially when that company makes BILLIONS off of U.S. government contracts and taxpayer-funded healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and reaps the benefits of our legal protections for its patents.(2) If Pfizer goes through with this, it'll be one of the most blatant and despicable offenses of corporate greed our country has ever seen.
President Obama and the U.S. Treasury Department have the power to stop Pfizer's plan by closing the tax loopholes that Pfizer and an increasing number of other corporations are abusing. But they must hear from American taxpayers like YOU right now before this deal goes through.
SIGN ON to stand up to Pfizer and urge President Obama and the U.S. Treasury Department to stop corporate tax dodgers! We've joined 16 other organizations and connected our petition to the White House's "We the People" platform, so once we hit 100,000 signatures, the White House will be required to respond. To make sure your signature counts, you must verify your signature in the confirmation email you receive from the White House.
If Pfizer renounces its U.S. citizenship, it would cost American taxpayers up to $35 BILLION in taxes!(3) That's enough to fund the National Cancer Institute for nearly seven years or cover pre-k funding NATIONWIDE FOR OVER FIVE YEARS.(4)
Here's how Pfizer could get away with this. By merging with Allergan, a small European pharmaceutical company based in Ireland, Pfizer would take advantage of a tax loophole that would allow it to move its tax residency overseas -- even though it would still keep its global operational headquarters and majority of employees in the U.S.(5)
Pfizer's tax-dodging scheme is not a done deal yet. Federal regulators still need to approve it. So it's up to taxpayers like us to urge President Obama and the Treasury Department to close corporate tax-dodging loopholes now to stop this deal in its tracks.
Tell President Obama and the U.S. Treasury Department: Pfizer must pay its fair share of taxes!
Munsup, we've already stopped a major corporate tax inversion like this before, and we know we can do it again. In 2014, Walgreens attempted the same dodgy move as Pfizer by trying to move its corporate address to Switzerland. But tens of thousands of Courage Campaign members swooped in to speak out and create a national outrage against the deal, and we won!(6)
Now it's time to speak out together and win AGAIN!
JOIN US to stop Pfizer and other corporations from dodging billions of dollars in taxes.
p.s. As individuals, we're limited in what we can do, but when we come together, WE are the big fish. Together, we have the power to force corporations to think twice before they try to throw American taxpayers under the bus. Join us!
1. http://act.couragecampaign.org/go/2599?t=9&akid=2601.790590.Aglyrf
2. http://act.couragecampaign.org/go/2600?t=11&akid=2601.790590.Aglyrf
3. http://act.couragecampaign.org/go/2601?t=13&akid=2601.790590.Aglyrf
4. http://act.couragecampaign.org/go/2602?t=15&akid=2601.790590.Aglyrf
5. http://act.couragecampaign.org/go/2603?t=17&akid=2601.790590.Aglyrf
6. https://couragecampaign.actionkit.com/go/2604?t=19&akid=2601.790590.Aglyrf
Courage Campaign fights for a more progressive California and country. We are an online community powered by more than 1.2 million members.
http://www.couragecampaign.org?akid=2601.790590.Aglyrf
From: Alex Lawson, Social Security Works
Subject: Social Security is the solution
We're used to the annual budgets Paul Ryan and his colleagues in the House of Representatives put out. Trillions of dollars in cuts — mostly to programs that help low-income individuals and seniors — coupled with enormous tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, and plans to dismantle Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Fortunately, there's another budget under consideration in the House next week: The People's Budget — introduced by the Congressional Progressive Caucus — strengthens programs that working- and middle-class Americans rely on, keeps Social Security's trust fund separate from the general budget fund, just as the law requires, and protects it for current and future generations. It also endorses increasing Social Security's modest benefits separate and apart from the budget.
Take a stand against cuts to our earned benefits! Show Congress that we can EXPAND, not cut Social Security by becoming a co-sponsor of The People's Budget today.
This budget recognizes that our Social Security system is the solution to our growing retirement security crisis and makes clear that its funds are dedicated exclusively to funding those earned benefits.
Right now, the average Social Security benefit for current recipients is just $14,000 a year. And two-thirds of retirees depend on Social Security benefits for the majority of their income.
We are not going to solve rising levels of income inequality or the retirement security crisis through cuts to critical programs. That is why we must stand united in our opposition to a Republican budget – balanced on the backs of hardworking Americans – and instead support The People's Budget, which benefits the middle class and working families of this country.
Please, become a citizen co-sponsor of The People's Budget today to protect the future of our earned benefits.
Republicans will use their budget as a blueprint for their election year policies and it is more important than ever that we stand united in our message of expansion.
From: Alex, Ben, Kristen and the whole People For the American Way team, People For the American Way
Subject: A budget for the People (citizen cosponsor opportunity)
The House of Representatives could vote on the People's Budget within the next few weeks!
The People's Budget is the Congressional Progressive Caucus's blueprint for rebuilding the middle class with investments in job creation, clean energy, infrastructure, housing, and education.
Will you add your name as a citizen co-sponsor of the People's Budget now?
The People's Budget:
- includes numerous provisions to close persistent racially based inequalities
- supports a justice system that is fair and effective for all Americans
- supports voting rights
- aims to make debt-free college a reality for all students
- supports women's reproductive health
- includes infrastructure funding for replacing aging water pipes, including for Flint, Michigan.
Join our coalition petition to become a citizen co-sponsor of the People's Budget and we will deliver your signature to Congress in support of a plan that puts working families first>>
From: Michael Sherrard, Faithful America
Subject: Why did a Lutheran college just host a Trump rally?
Donald Trump's rallies have repeatedly turned violent, egged on by the candidate's own rhetoric about "roughing up" and "kicking the crap out of" protestors.
So why did a college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America just host a pre-election Trump rally?
Lutherans are on the record opposing nearly everything Donald Trump stands for, and local Lutherans showed up to protest. But Lutheran bishops didn't criticize Lenoir-Rhyne University for hosting the event.
And instead of condemning Trump's rhetoric and violence as beyond the bounds of reasonable political or religious discourse, the church's presiding bishop wrote that "we don't cut off debate."
With Trump hurtling towards the Republican nomination, Christian leaders need to be crystal clear that his campaign is fundamentally incompatible with the gospel of Jesus Christ - and demand that church institutions not have anything to do with him.
Tell Lutheran bishops: No more Trump rallies at Lutheran colleges
From: Judy Burnnette
Subject: RE: "Hillary Clinton just can't win: Democrats need to accept that only Bernie Sanders can defeat the GOP"
This is the response a member of my email network received after forwarding this article. Check out the take on Hillary:
The naivete of too many grown women is incredible! Her description of "the other candidate" certainly fits Hillary as well. - Judy B.
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"Funny, I just wrote the same to my sis in law & she immediately responded with the below:
'Please, don't ever consider not voting! It's your country and we must exercise our privilege to vote. Too many, before us, gave up their lives so we could exercise that right! Even if it is the lesser of two evils, choose one.
One of the candidates, I believe, truly loves her country but has been caught up in the big money way to do her job for the best of the people. I will pray that there is hope for her as she appears to have a heart.
The other probable candidate, is in my opinion, a self absorbed ego maniac who wants to control the world and doesn't care about anyone else because he is incapable of feeling human sensible emotion. Just sayin' '
End of MPEN e-Newsletter
posted by lucas at 3:02 PM
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