May 1, 2016

To me "Bernie or Bust" means two things

1) The Primary is NOT over, Bernie's still in it, and in it to WIN. I find the whole question of who I'll vote for if Bernie loses to be an insulting distraction from the fact that the Primary is not over until the moment the nominee is decided conclusively, and not a minute before.

2) IF when it's over Berine does not win, it's none of anyone's damnd business who I will vote for, i;e; I'm not much onto Loyalty Oaths, never have been. That's why we have a secret ballot in this nation. Besides, If ever there was a Primary season that is volatile and totally unpredictable it is this one; so it's presumptuous and totally premature to even ask who I'dl vote for should Bernie not be the nominee.

April 16, 2016

Release of Clinton’s Wall Street Speeches Could End Her Candidacy for President

Release of Clinton’s Wall Street Speeches Could End Her Candidacy for President
04/15/2016 * by Seth Abrasion * HuffPo

The reason you and I will never see the transcripts of Hillary Clinton’s speeches to Wall Street fat-cats — and the reason she’s established a nonsensical condition for their release, that being an agreement by members of another party, involved in a separate primary, to do the same — is that if she were ever to release those transcripts, it could end her candidacy for president.

Please don’t take my word for it, though.

Nor even that of the many neutral observers in the media who are deeply troubled by Clinton’s lack of transparency as to these well-compensated closed-door events — a lack of transparency that has actually been a hallmark of her career in politics.

Nor do we even need to take Clinton’s word for it — as we could certainly argue that her insistence that none of these transcripts ever be seen by the public is itself a confession that her words would cause significant trauma to her presidential bid.

In fact, it appears they’d cause enough trauma that Clinton would rather publicly stonewall — to the point of being conspicuously, uncomfortably evasive — in public debate after public debate, to endure damning editorial after damning editorial, and to leave thousands and thousands of voters further doubting her honesty and integrity, all to ensure that no one outside Goldman Sachs, and certainly no voter who wasn’t privy to those closed-door speeches, ever hears a word of what she said in them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/release-of-clintons-wall-street-speeches_b_9698632.html

April 14, 2016

I have a conscience': the Wall Streeters fighting for Bernie Sanders in New York

'I have a conscience': the Wall Streeters fighting for Bernie Sanders in New York
The financial industry looms large in the coming primary – and some bankers say they’ll push for the Vermont senator even if his policies could hurt their careers
Ed Pilkington in New York * April 1,2016 * The Guardian

A few months ago, Democratic party leaders attended a meeting in New York with some of the titans of Wall Street, among them heads of brand-name hedge funds and top private equity firms. The gathering was billed not as the usual high-dollar fundraiser but as a bridge-building exercise in which powerful financiers could vent their opinions privately to Democratic bosses.

Money influences everybody. That includes Hillary Clinton
Two US senators who formed part of the Democratic delegation kicked off the meeting by inviting the financiers to air their concerns about party policy. One of the big name Wall Street figures stood up, proclaimed grandly that he was speaking on behalf of every financial person in the room, and then slammed into the Democratic lawmakers for having had the audacity even to consider disbanding a low-tax arrangement popular with hedge fund managers known as “carried interest”.

“That was startling to me,” said one of the other financiers present in the room that day. “Here was a gathering of Wall Street’s greatest minds and what were we discussing? Not how to generate more jobs or create an economy that works for everyone, but how to protect our vested interests and tax advantages.”

Let’s call the financier speaking here by the false name Frank. He is one of a rare and fascinating breed which Politico has dubbed Bankers for Bernie – high-profile Wall Street figures who, unlike most of their peers, are prepared to abandon pure self-interest and embrace the radical financial reforms espoused by Bernie Sanders.

Even Asher Edelman, one of the real-life templates for Gordon “greed is good” Gekko of the 1987 movie Wall Street, has joined the club, writing in the Guardian that only Sanders is “committed to honest solutions” to the crisis of income inequality.

The fact that Frank – a prominent New York hedge fund manager – is only willing to talk to the Guardian anonymously itself tells a story. It’s not that he’s ashamed about his backing for Bernie – quite the contrary: he has openly canvassed for Sanders in Iowa and frequently goes out leafleting for him in New York City. Rather, Frank’s desire to keep his name out of the news was a reflection, he said, of the stultifying consensus within the New York financial world that Sanders’ proposals to rein in Wall Street and prevent another Great Recession are dangerous and must be rebuffed. He looks at his fellow hedge fund folk, and thinks to himself that “they have made so much money, yet all they want to do is preserve what they’ve got. It’s got so out of whack that virtually nobody is willing to think about the basic unfairness of income inequality or how to improve the economy.”

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/14/new-york-primary-bernie-sanders-wall-street

April 8, 2016

There are FACTS, and then there is SPIN.

April 4, 2016

Why is Hillary Clinton taking credit for the Fight for $15.?

Hillary Clinton will be joining New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday for a rally in the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center at 11 a.m. to celebrate the historic $15/hour minimum wage legislation. Speaking as someone who worked for the Fight for $15 from the very first action in NYC, let me explain why this is an appalling betrayal of workers.

Fast-food workers marched in the streets and shut down stores for years, while an army of online supporters shared viral photos, memes, and news. And we did it again and again. Despite all odds and haters telling us that a $15 minimum wage would never happen — and still telling us that we should be “realistic” — we started winning and never looked back.

Fight for $15 is arguably the greatest union victory in decades, perhaps even the greatest victory of the progressive movement in recent history. One of those victories came eight months ago, when the Democratic Party adopted a $15/hour minimum wage in the official party platform, weeks after Bernie Sanders introduced legislation in Congress.



By contrast, Hillary Clinton is the only prominent Democrat who refused to endorse $15/hour. Bernie Sanders won’t remind people of this, so I will: He was in the streets with fast-food workers every time. There’s photos of him marching with workers in the pouring fucking rain, and he’s the one who pushed Democrats to adopt it. Yet, Hillary Clinton will be on the stage tomorrow for the victory moment.

http://usuncut.com/politics/hillary-15-hour-minimum-wage/

April 3, 2016

Who Really "Gets Things Done"?

OK, Hillary was in Congress less time than Clinton, but still ..

April 2, 2016

Asher Edelman: Sanders best for the economy

Amazing interview with former "corporate raider", saying that Bernie's the ONLY candidate
who will fix our broken economy by putting money back into the hands that most needs
it, i.e. those who will actually SPEND it instead of stashing it in the Cayman Islands.