cal04
cal04's JournalImmigrant Who Works In Trump Hotel: I'm Ashamed Of Him, Not My Status (video)
Ricardo Aca wanted to use his position as an immigrant worker at a gleaming downtown Manhattan hotel owned by real estate mogul Donald Trump to show that Mexicans living in the United States are a hardworking bunch and not, as the Republican presidential candidate described them, rapists or drug dealers.
"I know I could lose my job just for talking about Trump," Aca said in a video produced by New Left Media. "But it doesn't make me proud to go to work every day under his name."
Aca, who described himself as an undocumented immigrant, explains in the video that he came to New York City from Puebla, Mexico, when he was 14. He said he works two jobs, including as a busboy at the restaurant housed inside the Trump SoHo hotel, on top of dabbling in commercial photography.
(snip)
"I can't vote, but I can take photos and share the stories of people like me," Aca says in the video, adding: "Trump keeps pointing out all these immigrants that have done all these terrible things, but those aren't the immigrants that I know."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ricardo-aca-trump-hotel-video
ON THE ROAD Reno, Nevada w/pics
Sen. Bernie Sanders was welcomed on Tuesday by a big and boisterous crowd at a rally on a plaza outside the student union at the University of Nevada, Reno.
The Vermont senator and his wife, Jane, were welcomed with cheers and chants as they walked up a catwalk to the outdoor stage on the campus located on the high desert at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
“This campaign is on the move,” Sanders said. “This campaign is going to end up in victory.”
Some 4,500 supporters, according to university official, heard Sanders call for tuition-free college and a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage. Hundreds more watched from a five-story parking garage overlooking the rally as he declared that it is long past time to close corporate tax loopholes and take on the corporate greed that is destroying our economy. People across America, he said, are fed up with “establishment politics, establishment economics and establishment media.”
Big crowds and small donors are the backbone of Sanders’ insurgent campaign for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. “I don’t believe in the corporate agenda. I don’t want their money. So instead of hustling money from billionaires we have asked working families to contribute and as of today we have more contributors than any other campaign, almost 400,000 people. And the average contribution of $31.20,” he said.
This was Sanders third trip this year to the key early caucus state.
Earlier Tuesday, the senator spoke in Las Vegas to the Nevada State AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention. That’s where he laid out an agenda for working families: a $1 trillion, jobs-creating road and bridge construction program, a switch from job-killing trade agreements like the corporate-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership, and big boost that would more than double the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020.
“We need bold changes in America,” Sanders told a news conference after the labor union speech. “We need a mass political movement. I call it a political revolution.”
https://berniesanders.com/on-the-road-reno-nevada/
more pics at link
Sanders Lays out Agenda for Working Families at AFL-CIO in Nevada
https://berniesanders.com/press-release/sanders-lays-out-agenda-for-working-families-at-afl-cio-in-nevada/Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Tuesday spoke here at the Nevada State AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention.
He called for a $1 trillion, five-year investment in rebuilding roads and bridges and other infrastructure projects to support 13 million decent-paying jobs. He advocated raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020, more than double the $7.25 an hour under current law. He urged men to stand with women for pay equity.
Shedding his suit coat and rolling up his shirt sleeves, Sanders also made the case against a proposed Pacific Rim trade deal. A leading opponent in Congress of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, Sanders said the corporate-backed agreement which is uniformly opposed by labor would continue a string of disastrous trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement and others which have destroyed millions of decent-paying jobs in the United States.
“During my 24 years in Congress, I have been proud to stand side by side with the AFL-CIO fighting to increase the minimum wage; fighting to guarantee health care to every man, woman and child as a right of citizenship; fighting to make it easier for workers to join unions; fighting to create millions of jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure; fighting for pay equity for women workers; fighting for paid family and medical leave; fighting to expand, not cut, Social Security,” Sanders said in prepared remarks.
At a news conference afterward, Sanders told reporters he agrees with the AFL-CIO effort to eliminate the excise tax on health benefits union workers earned in collective bargaining agreements.
He also spoke about the gains labor unions have helped achieve for working families.
“When only the wealthy were allowed to vote, the trade union movement was successful in demanding universal suffrage and a more democratic society. When tiny children were forced to work in the factories and fields, it was the trade union movement who put an end to abusive child labor and who fought for quality public education. When bosses refused to negotiate with their workers and fired them for standing up for their rights, the trade union movement pushed Congress into passing legislation which guaranteed all people the right to organize unions and collectively bargain for better wages and benefits.
“The list goes on. Social Security, the minimum wage, Medicare and Medicaid, affordable housing – are just a few of the benefits that workers have won over the years thanks in large part to the trade union movement,” Sanders said.
After speaking at the labor convention, Sanders headed to Reno for a rally at the University of Nevada expected to draw a crowd of several thousand supporters. “How come people are coming out?” he asked before answering his own question. “Because they’ve had it up to here.”
This is the third time this year that Sanders has visited Nevada, one of the first states to hold caucuses to begin the process of selecting the Democratic Party nominee for president.
To read the senator’s prepared remarks at the AFL-CIO, click here.
https://berniesanders.com/remarks-at-afl-cio-conference/
GOPer Goes Off On 'Idiot' NY Lawmaker Who Just Became A Dem
Republican New York Assemblyman John Ceretto announced on Tuesday that he will run for re-election in 2016 as a Democrat, prompting one of his fellow Republican assembly members to launch a series of insults at Ceretto on Twitter.
Before serving in the New York state assembly, Ceretto was a member of the Democratic Party, according to The Buffalo News. He switched to the Republican Party in 2006, and he was elected to the assembly as a Republican in 2010. And now he's ready to return to the Democratic party.
Steve McLaughlin on Tuesday called Ceretto an "idiot" and said he had the "intellectual fire power of a squirt-gun."
(snip)
"I first got involved in public service to help our neighbors and have always put people ahead of politics, and that won’t change," he said in the statement. "I’ll continue to work with members on both sides of the aisle to do what’s best for our community – so that our children don’t have to leave to find good jobs and success elsewhere."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/steve-mclaughlin-john-ceretto-democrat-idiot
Assemblyman John Ceretto will become a Democrat
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2015/08/8574511/assemblyman-john-ceretto-will-become-democrat#
(snip)
“John was a Democrat before and he often voted with us, and he just feels it's a better fit and we're happy to have him," Heastie said. “I just love when people wake up and feel like being a Democrat is the right thing to do.”
Our Man in Havana: John Kerry Begins a New Era
The most significant and contentious issue remains the US Embargohttp://www.thenation.com/article/our-man-in-havana-john-kerry-begins-a-new-era/
In the aftermath of inaugurating the reopened US Embassy in Cuba last week, Secretary of State John Kerry toured the Plaza San Francisco in Old Havana and hopped into the driver’s seat of one of the vintage American automobiles that still traverse the streets of the Cuban capital. The shiny black ’59 Chevy Impala had been restored, just in time for the secretary’s historic visit, by master mechanic Julio Alvarez Torres; his renowned taxi fleet, NostalgiCar, is one of the new, entrepreneurial businesses in Cuba’s rapidly expanding private sector. In a sense, the classic Detroit car is a moving symbol—not only of past US-Cuban relations, but their future potential for full restoration.
The past and the future were very much on Kerry’s mind during his dramatic one-day trip to Cuba. During the flag-raising ceremony under a blazing mid-morning sun, Kerry noted that the breakthrough in relations owed to a courageous decision by Presidents Obama and Castro “to stop being prisoners of history and to focus on the opportunities of today and tomorrow.” But that “doesn’t mean that we should or will forget the past,” he noted. “How could we, after all?”
In his speech, Kerry recalled the Bay of Pigs—he referred to the CIA-led invasion as “a tragedy,” forgoing an opportunity to acknowledge and apologize for a flagrant act of US intervention that continues to resonate in Cuba—as well as the 1962 missile crisis. During those tense “13 days,” he remembered, “we were unsettled and uncertain about the future because we didn’t know, when closing our eyes at night, what we would find when we woke up.” For more than half a century, Kerry stated, US-Cuban relations “have been suspended in the amber of Cold War politics.” The raising of the Stars and Stripes marked the official beginning of a full-fledged détente in the Caribbean.
To be sure, there remain hard issues that divide the United States and Cuba and that will be difficult to resolve. At their press conference in an ornate salon of the Hotel Nacional, Kerry and his counterpart, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, exchanged words over the politically charged subjects of human rights and democracy. Rodriguez fended off criticism of Cuba’s human rights record by pointing to gender and racial discrimination in the United States, as well as the ongoing killing of young unarmed African-Americans at the hands of white policemen.
On The Road:Field of Dreams
https://berniesanders.com/field-of-dreams-iowa-road-update/Cars lined up for miles here in Eldridge, Iowa, to get to the Whispering Pines Shelter in Scott County Park to hear Democratic Party presidential candidate Bernie Sanders address a Democratic Party picnic on Sunday.
Bernie Sanders in IowaMore than 3,000 people watched under a blazing sun on a hot August afternoon as the senator from Vermont called for a political revolution to rebuild the once great American middle class and take on the wealthy and powerful billionaire class.
In the wealthiest country in the history of the world, most Americans are working two or three jobs to try to survive, they can’t afford to send their kids to college, emergency food shelters serve working families that can’t make ends meet and seniors struggle to survive on Social Security payments of $13,000 or $14,000 a year.
“Almost all of the wealth and all of the income is going to the top 1 percent. And what we are here to say today is enough is enough. This great country and our government belong to all of us and not to a handful of billionaires and that is what this campaign is about,” Sanders said.
“We need an economy that works for working families and not for billionaires,” he said in a voice that was powerful but raspy on the third day of a swing through Iowa that included a stop at the Iowa State Fair.
He called for pay equity for women workers, an increase in the minimum wage, tuition-free college, and increase in Social Security benefits.
Sen.Sanders to Visit Chicago
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday will travel to Chicago, Illinois, where he will hold a meet and greet fundraising reception at Park West.
Here is the itinerary:
MONDAY, AUGUST 17
5 p.m. Chicago Meet and Greet Fundraising Reception, Park West, 322 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago
Space for press is limited. Please e-mail [email protected] to request credentials.
Information for the public: Tickets can be purchased here.
https://secure.berniesanders.com/page/contribute/chicago-reception
Bernie Flintstones
Singin' Bernie Sanders back to the stone age - that's me singing all 5 voices into an iPhone to give you my Bernie take on the famous theme song - enjoy and #FeelTheBern
a link to his other songs about Bernie
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXpF-8fZ2X8mJv8UnXE7NXw
Sen.Sanders to Make Two-Day Swing in New Hampshire
Sanders to Make Two-Day Swing in New Hampshire
BURLINGTON, Vt. – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on August 23 begins a two-day swing through New Hampshire. A town hall in Salem kicks off the trip, which also includes stops in Conway, Berlin and Littleton.
Here is the itinerary:
SUNDAY, AUGUST 23
5 P.M.
Salem Town Hall, Woodbury School Gymnasium, 206 Main St., Salem
Information for the public: Doors open at 4:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Admission is first come, first served. Tickets are not required, but an RSVP is strongly encouraged.
MONDAY, AUGUST 24
10:30 A.M.
Conway Town Hall, Kennett Middle School Cafeteria, 176 Main St., Conway
Information for the public: Doors open at 10 a.m. The event is free and open to the public. Admission is first come, first served. Tickets are not required, but an RSVP is strongly encouraged.
2:30 P.M.
Berlin Town Hall, The White Mountain Chalet, 161 East Milan Rd., Berlin
Information for the public: Doors open at 2 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Admission is first come, first served. Tickets are not required, but an RSVP is strongly encouraged.
7 P.M.
Littleton Town Hall, Littleton Opera House, 2 Union St., Littleton
Information for the public: Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Admission is first come, first served. Tickets are not required, but an RSVP is strongly encouraged.
Press registration for all events can be found here.
https://go.berniesanders.com/page/s/press-list?source=media_kit
Sanders Calls for Strengthening Social Security, Slams Republican Plans to Dismantle Retirement
Sanders Calls for Strengthening Social Security, Slams Republican Plans to Dismantle Retirement Programhttps://berniesanders.com/press-release/sanders-calls-for-strengthening-social-security/
BOONE, Iowa – Eighty years after Social Security was signed into law, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Saturday called for strengthening and expanding the retirement and disability program and slammed Republican White House hopefuls who would dismantle Social Security.
Sanders outlined his legislation during a town hall meeting here at the Boone County Fairgrounds. He also planned to talk about Republican attacks on the program at The Des Moines Register’s State Fair Soapbox.
“Social Security is the most successful government program in our nation’s history. Through good times and bad, Social Security has paid out every benefit owed to every eligible American,” Sanders said. “The most effective way to strengthen Social Security for the future is to make millionaires and billionaires pay the same share as everyone else.”
Republican presidential candidates have floated proposals to cut Social Security. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sens. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Lindsey Graham all have suggested raising the retirement age. Proposals to privatize the system have been advanced by many of those candidates and by Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.
“It is unacceptable to ask construction workers, truck drivers, nurses and other working-class Americans to work until they are 68 to 70 years old before qualifying for full Social Security benefits,” Sanders said.
In Iowa, more than 616,000 people (19.8 percent of the population) received $9 billion in Social Security benefits last year. This includes more than 430,000 seniors, 78,000 people with disabilities and more than 38,000 Iowa children.
Social Security lifted 228,000 Iowans out of poverty in 2013. The average Social Security benefit was just $14,556 in 2014. Without Social Security, 47 percent of the elderly, including more than half of senior women in Iowa, would be living in poverty. With Social Security, the elderly poverty rate for Iowa is just 4.7 percent. For Iowa women it is 8.2 percent in Iowa.
In Washington, D.C., Sanders introduced legislation on March 12 to expand benefits and strengthen the retirement program for generations to come. Under current law, the amount of income subject to the payroll tax is capped at $118,500. That means someone making millions of dollars a year pays the same amount in payroll taxes as someone making $118,500 a year. Sanders would levy the payroll tax on all income over $250,000. That change would impact the top 1.5 percent of wage earners, according to the Center for Economic Policy Research.
Having the wealthiest Americans contribute their fair share would extend the solvency of Social Security through 2060 and allow benefits to be expanded for millions of Americans. “At a time when over half of the American people have less than $10,000 in savings and senior poverty is increasing, we should not be talking about cutting Social Security benefits. We should be talking about expanding benefits to make sure that every American can retire with dignity,” the senator said.
Under the legislation, Social Security benefits would go up by about $65 a month for most recipients. Annual cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security recipients would increase and set a new minimum benefit to significantly reduce the senior poverty rate.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on Aug. 14, 1935.
Social Security today has a $2.8 trillion surplus and will be able to pay all promised benefits until 2033, after which it will be able to pay around 75 percent of all promised benefits. Sanders’ Social Security Expansion Act would increase revenue and extend the solvency of Social Security for the next 45 years.
To read what Republican candidates say about Social Security, click here.
https://berniesanders.com/where-the-republicans-stand-on-social-security/
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