While Bernie Was Talking About the Poor, Hillary Was Eating with the Rich - Protest at $350k dinner

[tomm2thumbs]

Protesters at the big money Hillary donation dinner in San Francisco

While supportive Italians and visitors to Rome cheered on Bernie speaking to the issues of economic morality at the Vatican, protesters greeted the well-to-do who were willing to dump $350,000+ at a chance to eat with Hillary. If her $225,000 dollar speeches were good, you can only imagine how good the appetizer must've been for $350k!!

[tomm2thumbs]

1. I can't even imagine what the just desserts were like

"Let them eat Cake.."

[SunSeeker]

2. No, Hillary was in Harlem bringing attention to public housing conditions.

Sanders was reading his 10-minute stump speech to a room full of religious academics and a couple gold-bricking South American strongmen, while his wife and her children were enjoying a whirlwind Roman holiday paid for by campaign donations.

And while the Sanders clan were enjoying their excellent adventure in Rome, Hillary was here, bringing attention to the poor right here in America:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/hillary-clinton-tours-run-down-nycha-building-vows-change-article-1.2602857

And then, in the evening, as the Sanders and their entourage boarded their chartered Delta jet to head back to the U.S., Hillary flew to San Francisco to a fundraiser for down-ballot Democrats, because SOMEONE has to raise money for them to get Congress in Democratic hands, Sanders sure as hell hasn't.

[Feeling the Bern]

4. man, that kool aid must taste amazing

[Bubzer]

5. Oh, right. THATS what hillary was doing... raising money for down-ballot Democrats...

Do you think we were born yesterday? Anyone who's bothered to follow what's happening with the money knows the money is flowing into the DNC where it's magically free of all campaign donation restrictions, then redirected back into Hillary's coffers. It's legalized money laundering.

And while you're crook of a candidate was engaging in legalized money laundering, Bernie actually was bringing attention to the poor...like he's done this WHOLE CAMPAIGN!

Sanders at Vatican says rich-poor gap worse than 100 years ago

U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, addressing a Vatican conference on social justice on Friday, decried the "immoral" gap between the world's rich and poor that he said was worse than a century ago.
The Democratic hopeful from Vermont has campaigned on a vow to rein in corporate power and level the economic playing field for working and lower-income Americans who he says have been left behind, a message echoing that of Pope Francis.

The trip is inconveniently timed for 74-year-old senator, coming four days before a Democratic party primary in New York. A loss there would blunt his momentum after winning seven of the last eight state contests and give front-runner Hillary Clinton a boost in her drive to the party’s presidential nomination.
Sanders said in his speech to the Pontifical Academy of Social Science that the Roman Catholic Church's first encyclical on social justice, written in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII, lamented the enormous gap between the rich and the poor.

"That situation is worse today. In the year 2016, the top 1 percent of the people on this planet own more wealth than the bottom 99 percent," the self-described democratic socialist said.
"At a time when so few have so much, and so many have so little, we must reject the foundations of this contemporary economy as immoral and unsustainable," he said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-sanders-vatican-speech-idUSKCN0XC1V9

[lexington filly]

20. Bernie won't be able to do squat unless the Dems take back Congress and

wrong as it is, it takes raising mega-bucks for everyone's campaigns. Prominent Dems raise cash for others who don't have the "wattage" to do much for themselves. It isn't a big Hillary conspiracy, just the facts. Nowadays, it seems facts that don't paint Hillary in ugly colors are discounted or denied.

The hate talk towards Hillary Clinton on a website I visit daily and for years has been really disheartening for me this year. If anyone has a kind word to say about her, this person is treated as an enemy. I've been on a fence about which one to vote for---Bernie or Hillary---because I've seen the good and the advantage in each candidate. I've haven't thought or written a bad word about Bernie. But I have to say, the extreme negativity towards Hillary does not make me detest her too or be more for Bernie.

Folks may not care if they're helping to win voters for Bernie. But if you do, the hatefulness isn't working. It may very well, in fact be driving us away.

[djean111]

28. Maybe you just don't get this - yeah, we believe Hillary could get things done - things like war and

fracking and dismantling Social Security. That's why we oppose her. Because of ISSUES. That affect PEOPLE.

[kracer20]

33. Hillary could raise a billion for down ticket dems, but

The sheer number of R's that are going to come out of the woodwork to vote for her, and vote for R's down the ballot will be staggering.

My whole stance from the start of this race is the only thing that R's hate more than Obama, are the Clintons.

[Firebrand Gary]

7. +10000

[BeanMusical]

13. Please clap.

[Bubzer]

14. -10000

[JDPriestly]

8. Ths is Democratic Underground, not Alice in Wonderland, redux.

Just thought I would set that straight.

Everybody knows . . . .

"Everybody Knows"

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
. . . .

Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you've been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows

. . . .
And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you've done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows

(For the rest of the lyrics, here

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/leonardcohen/everybodyknows.html

Don't want to argue, but everybody knows . . . . .

[Scootaloo]

17. Actually, that's a campaign finance loophole.

In principle, donors are maxing out their donation to the candidate's campaign, then to the DNC, then to the State Parties. However, these donations are maxed out with one single check for the aggregate amount. prior to the 2014 McCutcheon v. FEC Supreme court decision (with Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and Kennedy in the majority) these aggregate donations had a cap of $123,000 per calendar year, but since that decision, that's no longer the case.

in reality, these big fat checks are being placed into the hands of the campaign-controlled Clinton Victory Fund. Which doles out the funds to the DNC and State parties and individual campaigns at its own discretion. There is basically no oversight to make sure the monies are properly apportioned. The reality is that this creates a slush fund for the campaign from which the campaign may dip out some monies, at its own discretion, for the State parties, the DNC, or individual campaigns.

No one is really mystified by this. There's a big wink-wink-nudge-nudge act put on, while just giving a campaign a big check that everyone knows may or may not be properly apportioned outside that campaign. Actually SAYING that it's all going into a campaign slush fund would cause legal problems. But so long as you say it's an aggregate donation, and nobody checks up on it, it's all good. Everyone involved is aware of this - After all, it can't be hard to write separate checks for a candidate, for a national party, and for the state parties, and send them accordingly.

And since both parties benefit from it, and since candidates getting screwed by the practice get further isolated if they don't "play ball" there's no real energy to approach the issue, much less try to correct it.

[stonecutter357]

22. +1000

[tomm2thumbs]

3. Rake those millions in from big dollar donors Hillary

Last edited Sat Apr 16, 2016, 01:57 AM - Edit history (1)

[Duckfan]

6. Get a good Job With More Pay And Your Okay

[Maynar]

11. This.

[Lunabell]

9. But I'm quite sure they fed the poor with their leftovers

or took them home to their servants. #?Bernie2016‬ ‪#?FeelTheBern‬ #?releasethetranscripts‬ ‪#?wherearethetranscripts‬

[tomm2thumbs]

10. Don't look at this, there's nothing to see here

ABC News is not a reputable source
*audio shifts to left-only speaker 1/2 thru

[BeanMusical]

12. Kick and R

[SammyWinstonJack]

15. So very "In your Face", isn't she.....

[jmowreader]

16. More accurate headline

While Bernie was illegally using campaign contributions to fly to Rome, Hillary was working with the poor in Harlem and raising money for downticket Dems.

And where exactly do you get a mortgage that requires a $23,000 yearly interest payment when you only make $230,000?

[SoapBox]

19. What a load...

Another one for my List.

[stonecutter357]

23. +1000

[FailureToCommunicate]

25. Hate to burst your bubble, but candidates fly all over the place every day, nothing illegal

about it. It called campaigning.

But do explain to us how Bernie flying to Rome for a conference on economic justice is somehow terrible but Hillary flying to out to the West Coast for her $350,000 a plate fundraiser is just fine with you?

[apcalc]

30. I guess we'll find out as time passes...

[jmowreader]

36. Easy

A candidate can only use campaign contributions for expenses directly related to campaigning.

Hillary's "$350,000 a plate fundraiser" (which, incidentally, raised funds for "downticket" candidates - congresscritters, governors and state legislators...the kind of people either Bernie or Hillary will need to be Democrats if they want to get anything done in the next few years) is directly related to campaigning. Therefore, it is fine to do that PER FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION REGULATION. I understand you don't like the optics of her flying across the country to raise money for other Democrats - something that up until a few days ago Bernie hadn't done, and Hillary has been doing from the start of the campaign - but that's another issue; legally there's no problem.

Bernie's trip to Rome is not directly related to campaigning. He therefore cannot legally use campaign contributions to pay for it, but he did. Of course, Bernie seems not to give a flying fuck about FEC regulations; he's been taking single-check contributions that exceed FEC limits and contributions from outside the country.

Sorry, but this trip had nothing to do with campaigning and he needs to be sanctioned for spending campaign contributions on it.

[apcalc]

29. Excellent points

Curious that.

[tomm2thumbs]

18. At what point?

[stonecutter357]

21. when i herd bernie and his bro's wher going to see the pope .

his campaign would turn it into something sleazy.

[Aldo Leopold]

24. wut

[FailureToCommunicate]

26. Coffee is ready. Any takers?

[tomm2thumbs]

32. computer programming failure

Abort! Abort!

[apcalc]

27. Which she is giving most of

To down ballot Dems. I support this idea strongly. We need Dems in Senate and House to get our bills passed.

Really disappointed in Sanders in this regard...but he has no party allegiance.

[djean111]

31. The Party has no allegiance to US any more. That's the problem.

And the money goes right to the Hillary Victory Fund. Debbie DINO makes sure not progressives get any of it. We see her at work here in Florida. She supports GOP cronies, she won't support liberals. IMO the only difference between Debbie (and a lot of other "Democrats&quot is she has a "D" on her jersey. As far as Democratic principles - nope. Nada. None.

Plus, I am sure Hillary would get the cooperation of the GOP for her pet projects, like war and fracking and weakening Social Security. I am quite sure of that. And then they will smile for the cameras and bray about buy-partisanship and "getting things done".

[appalachiablue]

35. *Changing Times: Rising New Progressives Contesting Third Way Politics, the Inevitable.*

[DhhD]

34. What is left of the Hillary Victory Fund, goes to the State Democratic Party AFTER the nomination.

Bernie is using donation from small donation NOT from the Victory Fund.

The DNC set up rules based on Citizens United. Citizens United allows what - used to be - illegal money laundering.

Counterpunch just did a release about the 33 states that went with the Victory Fund over 15 months ago. New York was not one of them. Bernie will win many of New York's delegates.

[jmowreader]

37. I guess fifty is "many"

Bernie should have no problem from Onondaga County to the lakeshore, but it's relatively unpopulated up there...the Syracuse metro has about 650,000 residents. I think he'll do well in the Wine Country too. The New York metro area is the big prize in New York state, and it's Hillary country.

[DhhD]

38. Let's see how the Big Apple does with Bill's, Obama's and Ryan's shake down of the Big Three.

Recently the Three Clinton's reminded us of the Big Three Republican talking points.