The Hill

BY TAL AXELROD - 01/21/20 06:05 PM EST

Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign won the endorsement of a key California union Tuesday as it works to gin up support in the crucial Super Tuesday state.

Sanders earned the support of the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE) union, the nation’s largest Communications Workers of America (CWA) chapter. The group, which represents nearly 17,000 employees across the University of California system, announced its endorsement after 66 percent of its members decided to back Sanders in an internal vote.

“Senator Sanders has fought for labor for decades and empowers workers to fight for what is just and deserved,” said UPTE-CWA 9119 President Jamie McDole. “He stands against privatization of education, and as a union that represents nearly 17,000 higher education employees and educators on 13 public university and community college campuses, the fight is a reality for us. It’s time for a candidate who puts people first.”

The endorsement comes at a critical time for the union, which just reached a new agreement with the University of California system for salary increases, overtime pay and protections on health care premiums.

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HuffPost

The former vice president has backed Social Security cuts in the past, but now supports a plan that would increase them.

By Daniel Marans and Sanjana Karanth

In a matter of a few hours on Tuesday evening, former Vice President Joe Biden released a digital video advertisement accusing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a Democratic presidential rival, of lying about Biden’s support for Social Security cuts, and Sanders shot back with a video using Biden’s own words from 1995 indicating support for benefit cuts.

The exchange has given Biden a chance to assure voters that he plans to increase Social Security benefits rather than cut them, despite his record of support for benefit cuts.

But it also puts Sanders in the kind of head-to-head brawl over Social Security he had been craving, and heartens his supporters who worried that rival Democrats were taking advantage of his deference to civility norms.

Biden began the evening with a one-minute video that simultaneously sought to dispel Sanders’ claims that Biden had historically supported Social Security benefit cuts and paint Sanders as a divisive figure willing to “launch dishonest attacks against fellow Democrats.”

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Poitico

The poll found that 27 percent of registered Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents said they would support Sanders.

By MYAH WARD

01/22/2020 09:50 AM EST

Bernie Sanders’ standing with voters nationwide surged, with a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS showing that the Vermont senator has now joined Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic presidential field.

Among Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents who are registered to vote, 27 percent said they would support Sanders for the Democratic nomination, compared to Biden polling at 24 percent. The difference among the two candidates falls within the margin of error, so there is no clear leader in the poll.

This is the first CNN poll where Biden wasn’t the solo candidate on top. Sanders has gained 7 points since CNN’s last poll in December, the greatest surge among the candidates.

Both Biden and Sanders polled well ahead of other contenders like Elizabeth Warren at 14 percent and Pete Buttigieg at 11 percent. Michael Bloomberg’s support was at 5 percent.

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Mediaite

By Josh Feldman Jan 21st, 2020, 7:34 pm

Hillary Clinton took to Twitter tonight to address comments she made in a candid new interview about 2016 rival Bernie Sanders.

To briefly recap: Clinton stood by saying “nobody likes’ Sanders in a new Hollywood Reporter interview, unloading on “the culture around him” and “his online Bernie Bros and their relentless attacks on lots of his competitors, particularly the women.” She accused him of “permitting” this culture amongst his supporters and did not directly answer the question of whether she would endorse and campaign for him if he was the Democratic nominee for president.

As a result, #ILikeBernie trended on Twitter for much of the day, with Sanders supporters and even some other 2020 Democratic candidates weighing in:

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Politico

Bernie’s aides and allies feel that Hillary Clinton is trying to bait them.

By HOLLY OTTERBEIN

01/21/2020 07:23 PM EST

Bernie Sanders’ campaign remained largely — and uncharacteristically — quiet Tuesday in the wake of fiery attacks by Hillary Clinton.

Privately, Sanders’ aides and allies feel that Clinton is trying to bait them after she reiterated in a Hollywood Reporter article that “nobody likes” the Vermont senator, and refused to commit to supporting him if he wins the primary. In her remarks, published two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, they see a political establishment that is trying to stop him as he rises in early-state polling.

Yet it was more important to regain control of its message after a week-long whirlwind featuring unplanned spats with Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and now his 2016 rival.

Sanders’ campaign told staffers internally to not discuss Clinton’s comments, and Sanders released a statement saying he is focusing on impeachment and that “together, we” will defeat President Donald Trump. His aides are also urging his online fans to volunteer for him instead of tweeting about Clinton.

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Mediaite

By Josh Feldman Jan 20th, 2020, 9:08 pm

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson warned Republicans tonight about how 2020 isn’t in the bag for them and how Bernie Sanders in particular could beat President Donald Trump and even win over some of his supporters.

“Republicans are starting to think that victory is assured, and that’s a mistake,” he said. “America remains as divided as it was three years ago… Trump could lose. Will he lose? Well, that depends entirely what he runs on.”

Carlson said Trump’s “MAGA” message clearly resonated with voters who saw Trump as someone who could solve their problems.

The economic numbers now, Carlson said, are good but things are “not fixed”:

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Mediaite

By Josh Feldman Jan 20th, 2020, 8:18 pm

The Trump impeachment trial team is adding a number of Republican House members to their ranks.

Tonight Fox News broke news that that following Republican congressmembers will be on the legal team:

Jim Jordan
Doug Collins
Debbie Lesko
Mark Meadows
John Ratcliffe
Elise Stefanik
Lee Zeldin
Mike Johnson

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HuffPost

The former vice president repeated a debunked trope about the racial achievement gap and blamed minority parents for the legacy of segregation.

By Michael Hobbes

In a long and often rambling interview with The New York Times published Friday, former Vice President Joe Biden responded to a question about the legacy of racism by blaming Black parents for the racial achievement gap.

In the third 2020 Democratic presidential debate, held in September, Biden had said that one way America could address the legacy of slavery and segregation was by bridging the “word gap” between white and Black children. “A kid coming from a very poor school, a very poor background, will hear 4 million words fewer spoken by the time we get there,” Biden said. He then recommended that Black parents play records at night to “make sure that kids hear words.”

The New York Times editorial board pressed Biden on these claims and asked him to elaborate on how solving the word gap would address the legacy of slavery. Biden began his answer by noting that former President Barack Obama had also been criticized for advising Black parents to take more responsibility for raising children. He then suggested that America could do more to help minority parents “provide more guidance and better guidance for themselves and their families.”

Finally, he suggested that Black parents may not participate in their children’s schooling due to embarrassment about their own lack of education. Biden said he’d learned from his wife, a former school teacher, that poor parents “don’t show up because they’re embarrassed. They’re embarrassed the teacher’s going to say — and it’s hard to say, ‘Well, I can’t read.’”

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JI: That’s something that most people support in both parties and across most demographics agreed on.Pew Research has found that two thirds of the country supports marijuana legalization. Can you make the case to me for why to take the more moderate approach when it seems ——

Because I think science matters. I mean one of the reasons I’m running against the guy I’m running against is science matters, not fiction. Now nobody says, I’m not arguing, and Senator Booker acknowledged, I wasn’t arguing that we should in fact, it was a gateway drug. What I’m arguing is there have been studies showing that it complicates other problems if you already have a problem with certain drugs.Marijuana is the most widely used psychotropic drug after alcohol. Some studies have found that regular marijuana usage is associated with mental illness (although causality has not been established), and many agree there should be further study of its medical effects. So we should just study it and decriminalize it, but study it and find out. Get the medical community to come up with a final definitive answer as to whether or not it does cause it. If it does cause other problems, then make it clear to people. So that’s a place you don’t not engage in the use of it.

KK: But so many states have already legalized it.Thirty-three states have legalized marijuana in some form, according to the National Conference of State Legislators.

Sure they have. I get that, but that doesn’t mean the science shouldn’t be looked at.

JI: Couldn’t you look at the science and legalize it at the federal level in tandem?

No. Why would you promote the science if the science would say it’d be a bad idea to legalize it? You’ve got to find out the facts first.