March 29, 2016

Sen. Sanders Statement on Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday issued the following statement after a 4-4 split decision by the Supreme Court left in place a lower court ruling allowing unions representing government employees to collect fees from workers who choose not to join:

“Today’s split decision underscores the need to confirm a Supreme Court nominee who will protect the constitutional rights of American workers to collectively bargain for fair wages and safe working conditions.

“The extreme right wing is just one conservative Supreme Court justice away from dismantling the rights of public sector unions to organize and collectively bargain on behalf of all of the workers they are legally bound to represent. We cannot allow that to happen.

“From Wisconsin to California, the extreme right wing has been waging a war to dismantle unions all over this country. That is a war they cannot be allowed to win.

“Working people in this country need a seat at the bargaining table to fight for higher wages, decent health care, a secure retirement and a safe working environment. Public sector unions are that voice. And if I am elected president, I’m not going to let the Supreme Court take away that voice.

“While Republican governors like Scott Walker and the Koch brothers may not like it, we are going to make it easier, not harder, for American workers to form a union. We need to expand, not eliminate, the collective bargaining rights of all Americans. When unions are strong, the middle class is strong.”


https://berniesanders.com/press-release/friedrichs-v-california/

March 29, 2016

Bernie Sanders joins Dem lawmakers pushing feds to help lower cost of prostate cancer drugs

A group of lawmakers is calling on the National Institutes of Health and Department of Health and Human Services to step in and reduce the cost of Medivation Inc’s and Astellas Pharma Inc’s prostate cancer drug Xtandi.

In the letter signed by Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), the lawmakers urged NIH to hold a public hearing to consider overriding the patent on Xtandi to make the drug available at a lower price.

The medication has an average wholesale price in the United States of more than $129,000 but is sold in Japan and Sweden for $39,000 and in Canada for $30,000, according to the lawmakers’ letter, addressed to HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell and NIH Director Francis Collins.

(snip)
Also signing the letter were Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), as well as Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.).

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/bernie-sanders-joins-dem-lawmakers-pushing-feds-to-help-lower-cost-of-prostate-cancer-drugs/

March 27, 2016

Bernie Sanders Needs Less than 57 Percent of the Remaining Vote to Win

For a long time now, CNN and other mainstream media sources have misled voters about the results in the Democratic primary. They’ve often combined pledged delegate totals for each candidate, which are tied to voting results, with super delegate totals, which have nothing to do with voting and are subject to change at any time. While most super delegates currently support Hillary Clinton, they almost certainly will end up backing whoever wins the pledged delegate race (if they don’t, they will be brazenly flouting democracy in a way that could quite possibly destroy the Democratic party), so including them when reporting election results makes Clinton’s lead seem much larger than it actually is. The networks occasionally note that there are two different types of delegates, but they rarely explain that the superdelegate totals don’t really matter and more often than not display delegate counts across the bottom of their broadcasts which, by erroneously suggesting a huge Clinton advantage, may discourage people from turning out to vote.

In case that practice isn’t bad enough, CNN decided to move its delegate math from misleading to downright false during Saturday’s Alaska and Washington caucuses. “Sanders would need 75% of remaining pledged delegates to win the nomination,” a rotating banner at the bottom of the screen declared, a statement that was egregiously wrong.

According to CNN’s own numbers (note how their headline graphics show the misleading combined delegate totals without explanation), Clinton had 1229 pledged delegates and Sanders had 934 before the caucuses took place. CNN estimates a total of 4053 pledged delegates, so a candidate would need 2027 (just over half) to win the nomination. Going into Saturday’s caucuses, Sanders therefore needed 1093 (2027 – 934) of the remaining 1890 (4053 – (1229 + 934)) pledged delegates, or just under 58 percent of those still on the table.

I decided to tweet this fact at CNN. They did not correct their banner. One of their pro-Clinton commentators, Bakari Sellers, then proceeded to echo their inaccurate number. When someone on Twitter pointed him to my tweet, Sellers responded by claiming that he was actually referring to a total that included superdelegates. Yet in addition to the fact that he had explicitly said “pledged delegates” on air, the number that included outstanding superdelegates – which still would have been misleadingly high – would only have been 68 percent (the only way to get 75 percent would have been to include superdelegates in Sanders’ target delegate total while excluding them from his possible delegate count, an approach which is obviously incorrect). I gave Sellers this information. He did not respond.


http://34justice.com/2016/03/27/bernie-sanders-needs-less-than-57-percent-of-the-remaining-vote-to-win/


Thank you Thom Hartmann
https://twitter.com/Thom_Hartmann/status/714067940941963265

March 27, 2016

Sen. Sanders interview with Jake Tapper

March 27, 2016

Sen. Sanders on Meet the Press, ABC This Week, and CNN State of the Union

BernieSanders talks with @jonkarl about his wins in Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington, today on #ThisWeek.
https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/714058900618608640

March 27, 2016

Photos: NYers #FeelTheBern At Opening Of Bernie Sanders' Brooklyn Campaign Office

Just over three weeks before the April 19th presidential primary, Brooklyn welcomed back its hometown candidate this morning, with over 300 Bernie Sanders supporters gathering to celebrate the opening of his campaign’s Gowanus office. A few months ago, it seemed like an impossibility that the Brooklyn-born Sanders would still be running a campaign strong enough to keep New York State competitive. While the most recent poll [pdf] has Bernie lagging behind his opponent Hillary Clinton (though that might change after today's caucuses), for supporters, the fight for the state is just beginning.

“As the only City Councilman supporting Bernie Sanders, I’m proud to be here today,” Councilman Rafael Espinal told the crowd. “I’m here today because Bernie Sanders stands up for my people. I represent East New York and Bushwick, some of the poorest neighborhoods in the state of New York and when Bernie speaks, he speaks for us, for the people that live here.”

http://gothamist.com/2016/03/26/photos_new_yorkers_feelthebern_at_o.php#photo-9


Brooklyn is feel in the Bern
https://twitter.com/kartpath


https://twitter.com/pluralpolitx

March 26, 2016

Robert Reich: I don't recall a presidential candidate who has done so well with no big money

I don't recall a presidential candidate who has done so well with no big money behind him and a mainstream media dead so set against him as has Bernie Sanders. He's still packing stadiums, still raking in more money in small donations than his opponent is with lots of big donations, still gathering pledged delegates, still electrifying a large portion of America -- including an extraordinary percent of the nation's young -- who know that reclaiming our democracy and economy are the first necessary steps to accomplishing everything else.

Despite losing Arizona, he ended up taking away 57 percent of the pledged delegates up for grabs Tuesday, given his wins in Idaho and Utah. And as it happens, 58 is the percentage of outstanding pledged delegates Bernie needs to win from now on in order to finish the primary calendar with more pledged delegates than Hillary Clinton. And today he has a good shot at winning Washington state.

So despite what you hear or read in the mainstream media, Bernie still has a decent chance of getting the nomination -- and if he does, an excellent chance of winning the presidency. When New Zealand television asked me the other day who I thought would be the next president of the United States, I said "Bernie Sanders."
What do you think?

https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/1182398705106057

March 25, 2016

incredible ad featuring Tulsi Gabbard

http://berniepost.com/2016/03/sanders-releases-new-television-ad-featuring-tulsi-

March 24, 2016

Bernie Sanders returning to Spokane Thursday (video)

Washington State is Bernie Crazy!!

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, fresh off his victories in Democratic caucuses in Idaho and Utah, is returning to Spokane for another visit less than a week after he drew a crowd of nearly 10,000 at the Spokane Convention Center. KXLY4's Grace Ditzler reports.

March 23, 2016

Bernie Sanders plans rally at Seattle’s Safeco Field Friday, Thursday in Yakima

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders will return to Washington state this week — scheduling rallies Thursday in Yakima and Friday at Safeco Field in Seattle.

Sanders, who drew big crowds to recent rallies in Seattle, Vancouver and Spokane, will return to his largest Washington venue yet in Friday’s Safeco rally.

The ballpark will open at 4 p.m. for the event, with speeches to start later in the evening, the Sanders campaign announced in a news release Tuesday night.

While attendance at the event is free and open to the public, the campaign urged online RSVPs.
https://go.berniesanders.com/page/event/detail/rally/4gv34

Thursday
https://go.berniesanders.com/page/event/detail/rally/4gvfb


http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/bernie-sanders-to-rally-in-yakima-this-week/