January 1, 2016

Jim Hightower: The Corporate Media Is Basically Pretending Bernie Sanders Doesn't Exist

Polls show that Bernie Sanders would trounce Donald Trump, but you’d never know that from watching TV news.
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/jim-hightower-corporate-media-basically-pretending-bernie-sanders-doesnt-exist

(snip)
The Tyndall Report, a non-partisan media monitoring firm that has been tracking the nightly news broadcasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC, found that Trump is tromp, tromp, tromping over the airtime of everyone else.

From last January through November, these dominant flagship news shows devoted 234 minutes of prime-time coverage to the incessant chirping of the yellow-crested birdbrain, with no other contender getting even a fourth of that.

Take Bernie Sanders, who’s stunning the political establishment with a fiery populist campaign that’s drawing record crowds. Indeed, Sanders’ upstart campaign is commanding a comparable share of support within the Democratic Party’s voting base to what Trump is enjoying from the Republican electorate.

And — get this — polls also show Bernie trouncing The Donald if they face each other in November’s presidential showdown. So surely he’s getting a proportional level of media coverage by the networks on our public airwaves, right?

more at link

January 1, 2016

Bernie’s People-Powered Campaign Draws Big Crowds in Iowa, More than 34,000 at Campaign Stops

Bernie’s People-Powered Campaign Draws Big Crowds in Iowa, More than 34,000 at Campaign Stops since Campaign Kickoff
https://berniesanders.com/press-release/bernies-people-powered-campaign-draws-big-crowds-iowa-34000-campaign-stops-since-campaign-kickoff/

More than 500 people, bundled in winter coats, turned out Thursday on New Year’s Eve at an elementary school in rural Knoxville, Iowa, to hear Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. The night before, another 800 people packed into a meeting place decorated with holiday ornaments in snow-covered Ottumwa, Iowa.

The big turnouts during a three-day campaign swing across Iowa pushed to more than 34,000 the total number of supporters and others who came to Sanders’ campaign events since his bid for the White House officially began last April 30. Another 1,000 campaign volunteers and others are expected at a New Year’s Eve party that Sanders is throwing Thursday night here in the state capital.

With the Feb. 1 precinct caucuses only one month away, Sanders thanked Iowans for taking seriously their unique role in the American presidential nomination process.

“We are running a simple, straightforward grassroots campaign. Nothing fancy. We are discussing the major issues facing our country and hearing what Iowans have to say. I am very pleased that the turnouts at our meetings have been large and seem to be getting larger every day,” Sanders said. “As of the end of the year, we have had town meetings and rallies which have brought out more than 34,000 people. By the end of the campaign here in Iowa I suspect the number will be closer to 50,000.”

“We sense real growing momentum here in Iowa and we think we have a great opportunity to win,” Sanders added.

The 34,702 figure only counts Sanders-sponsored campaign events since April 30. All told, the senator hosted 49 meetings in Iowa since last spring. The total does not include, for example, major Iowa Democratic Party dinners attended by Sanders and other candidates or the record crowd on the midway at the Iowa State Fair last August when Sanders drew a bigger crowd than any presidential candidate at The Des Moines Register Soapbox.

To see where Sanders has drawn big crowds in Iowa, click here.
https://berniesanders.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Iowa-Crowds.pdf

January 1, 2016

Weekly Address: Making America Safer for Our Children

Source: White House

In this week's address, the President reflected on the progress of the past year, and looked forward to working on unfinished business in the coming year, particularly when it comes to the epidemic of gun violence. As he has many times before, the President reminded us that Congress has repeatedly failed to take action and pass laws that would reduce gun violence. That’s why the President a few months ago tasked his White House team with identifying new actions he can take to help reduce gun violence, and on Monday will meet with the Attorney General to discuss the options. In his address, the President called on everyone to join him in the fight to reduce gun violence, because it’s going to take all of us to make America safer for our children.

Read more: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=post&forum=1014

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(snip)
Last month, we remembered the third anniversary of Newtown. This Friday, I’ll be thinking about my friend Gabby Giffords, five years into her recovery from the shooting in Tucson. And all across America, survivors of gun violence and those who lost a child, a parent, a spouse to gun violence are forced to mark such awful anniversaries every single day.

And yet Congress still hasn’t done anything to prevent what happened to them from happening to other families. Three years ago, a bipartisan, commonsense bill would have required background checks for virtually everyone who buys a gun. Keep in mind, this policy was supported by some 90% of the American people. It was supported by a majority of NRA households. But the gun lobby mobilized against it. And the Senate blocked it.

Since then, tens of thousands of our fellow Americans have been mowed down by gun violence. Tens of thousands. Each time, we’re told that commonsense reforms like background checks might not have stopped the last massacre, or the one before that, so we shouldn’t do anything.

We know that we can’t stop every act of violence. But what if we tried to stop even one? What if Congress did something – anything – to protect our kids from gun violence?

A few months ago, I directed my team at the White House to look into any new actions I can take to help reduce gun violence. And on Monday, I’ll meet with our Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, to discuss our options. Because I get too many letters from parents, and teachers, and kids, to sit around and do nothing. I get letters from responsible gun owners who grieve with us every time these tragedies happen; who share my belief that the Second Amendment guarantees a right to bear arms; and who share my belief we can protect that right while keeping an irresponsible, dangerous few from inflicting harm on a massive scale.