Joe Biden’s Ode To The Middle Class

Posted on May 9, 2019 by Trish Nelson

NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo will host the first 2020 presidential primary debate in June of 2019. This is the fifth in a series of BFIA’s coverage and commentary of the announcement speeches by the declared Democratic candidates for president for 2020 in no particular order.  BFIA is not endorsing any particular candidate.

Former vice-president Joe Biden announced his candidacy for President of the United States in a video, followed by a rally of union workers in Pittsburgh, PA.

In this powerful video, Biden references the Declaration of Independence and draws contrast to a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.  He describes how when he heard Trump’s response,”there are good people on both sides” he knew our country was facing the greatest threat we had ever faced.

Biden is persuasive in his argument and seems genuinely alarmed and sincere in his belief that “if we give Donald Trump eight years in the white house he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation.”

The video is an effective portrayal of a candidate who remembers when America had a thriving middle class,  who is not afraid of Donald Trump, and who cares deeply about the integrity of our democratic system of government.

First, the video:

The Biden rally in Pittsburgh, PA

The country was built by the great American middle class. The American middle class was built by you, by unions. And that’s the story of America. You are the backbone of the nation.”

It was a classic, traditional Democratic campaign speech both rhetorically and according to content. There was intermittent applause and chants of “we want Joe!”

On policy, he didn’t mention the Green New Deal, but he did mention the future of clean, renewable energy. He didn’t talk much about corporations but he did say this:

The stock market is roaring. But you don’t feel it. You don’t feel the tax break because it all went to the top. The basic bargain has been broken that when a company does well everyone benefits. Now, only the CEOs benefit.

On policy Biden mentioned capital gains loopholes, $15 minimum wage, education, health care, jobs, clean renewable energy, strong military and productive workers. I don’t think he mentioned climate change but I may have missed it.  He does address climate change on his campaign website joebiden.com

He cited three reasons why he is running for president.

1- restore the soul of the nation
2 – rebuild the backbone of the nation
3 – unify the nation

The rally music – Bruce Springsteen “We Take Care of Our Own”

And here’s the rally:

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Attend Your Local Town Hall On Iowa’s Medicaid Mess

Posted on May 8, 2019 by Trish Nelson


Action alert from Progress Iowa

From cuts to services for Iowa’s most vulnerable – some people are even being denied coverage for their wheelchairs – to late reimbursements for providers, Governor Kim Reynolds’ Medicaid privatization scheme is a disaster.

We can’t let this attack on Iowa’s most vulnerable continue. Stand up against Governor Reynolds’ Medicaid Mess at your local Medicaid town hall! 

Thank you,
Amy Adams
Organizer, Progress Iowa

FIND YOUR LOCAL TOWN HALL:

Des Moines – May 8 at 5:15 PM

Waterloo – May 9 at 5:15 PM

Cedar Rapids – May 10 at 5:15 PM

Sioux City – May 13 at 5:15 PM

Council Bluffs – May 14 at 5:15 PM

Davenport – May 16 at 5:15 PM

Follow Progress Iowa on Facebook and Twitter

Click here to contribute

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Study: Major Media Outlets’ Twitter Accounts Amplify Trump Lies

Posted on May 7, 2019 by Trish Nelson

Research confirming and quantifying the obvious.

Media Matters for America

Major media outlets failed to rebut President Donald Trump’s misinformation 65% of the time in their tweets about his false or misleading comments, according to a Media Matters review. That means the outlets amplified Trump’s misinformation more than 400 times over the three-week period of the study — a rate of 19 per day. The data shows that news outlets are still failing to grapple with a major problem that media critics highlighted during the Trump transition: When journalists apply their traditional method of crafting headlines, tweets, and other social media posts to Trump, they end up passively spreading misinformation by uncritically repeating his falsehoods.

Read the entire study here

Key Takeaways:

  • 30% of the tweets by major media outlets’ Twitter accounts about Trump remarks referenced a false or misleading statement.
  • Nearly two-thirds of the time, the outlets did not dispute that misinformation.
  • That means the outlets amplified false or misleading Trump claims without disputing them 407 times over the three weeks of the study, an average of 19 times a day.
  • The extent to which outlets’ Twitter feeds passively spread Trump’s misinformation depended on the platform in which Trump made his comments. For example:
    • 92% of false or misleading Trump claims went undisputed when he was speaking at a press gaggle or pool spray.
    • 49% of false or misleading Trump claims went undisputed when outlets were responding to comments he made during formal speeches.
  • @TheHill was the worst actor and sent more than 40% of the tweets that pushed Trump’s misinformation without disputing it during our entire study.
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Fighting The Goliaths Of Greed

Posted on May 6, 2019 by Trish Nelson

Posted with permission from the Spring 2019 issue of  The Prairie Progressive, Iowa’s oldest progressive newsletter.  The Prairie Progressive is  funded entirely by reader subscription,  available only in hard copy for $12/yr.  Send check to PP, Box 1945, Iowa City 52244.

Somebody’s crazy

by Jesse Case

I used to have a crazy friend who often said, “What do you think I’ll be doing while you’re trying to punch me in the face?” I never tried to punch him in the face. He was speaking rhetorically (I think). His point was that he’d fight back if attacked. That’s not what made him crazy. One time he drove for several hours to literally pee on someone’s grave. When I say he’s crazy—I mean that type of crazy.

Anyway, he was right and kind of brilliant in his own crazy way. I’ve referenced him in almost every fight I’ve been in for the past 20 years. Most of these fights involved large corporations bullying workers and working families. Giant companies who prey on individuals and count on people not fighting back. But when people do organize and fight back—they sometimes win. And not fighting back guarantees a loss.

Speaking of crazy—Havenpark Capital is crazy. They’re the group out of Utah buying up mobile home parks in Iowa and jacking up lot rents to the point of forcing people out of their own homes. Havenpark has purchased mobile home parks in Waukee, North Liberty, Iowa City, and West Branch. They practice a predatory business model that relies on targeting people in far-away states that are at a disadvantage in a David and Goliath situation. In this case, the far-away state is right here at home. That’s not the crazy part though.

What’s crazy is in the short time Havenpark reared its ugly vulture head in Iowa, people in several mobile home parks have organized resident associations, state legislators are talking about legislation to protect residents from bad business models, and research showed Havenpark owners are vulnerable on their own turf back home.

What’s also crazy is that a horrible business plan hatched in Utah will undoubtedly be a catalyst for crazy changes in affordable housing in Iowa. And not just reactionary legislation (which is needed). It’s time to look at different business models to slay the giants and level the playing field. We need to create a business model where mobile home parks are purchased and operated by non-profit entities that provide more permanent rent stabilization, more local control of management, and more peace of mind for residents.

These new models of ownership could come in different forms. They could be newly formed co-ops where the residents are actual owners. Or it could be an existing non-profit that purchases mobile home parks for the sole purpose of providing a fair and equitable community. Under this model, the non-profit could own more than one park, similarly to the way Havenpark gobbles up communities like a mobile home eating Pac Man – but with a different purpose and outcome.

Here’s the craziest part—both of these examples of “new” models have already been done in other states. In 2004, in a mobile home park in California where residents
were fighting for 4 years against predatory rent hikes, a non-profit stepped in and bought the entire park for 27 million dollars. Turns out you don’t have to be the Goliath of Greed for real estate to be a good investment. And not all owners are bad. With the right tax incentives and some public-private partnerships, this is not only doable but gets a good response from people involved in state economic departments that can bring bi-partisan support to the coalition.

Speaking of Goliaths of Greed, what are we going to do about Havenpark while we figure out our new mobile home park model in Iowa? If they think they can come into our communities and drive people out of their homes without a fight they’re, well…crazy. And we’d be crazy to let them. We need to load up our sling shots and aim some rocks (metaphorically) at these giants.

Soon we will be asking people who care, which hopefully includes Prairie Progressive readers, to call a number in Utah and ask the owners to sit down with the newly formed Golfview Residents Association in North Liberty to discuss a path forward. And we want you to keep calling until we drive them crazy. Or until they agree to sit down and bring some sanity to this crazy idea that it’s acceptable to drive people out of their homes in order to make a buck. If that doesn’t work, we’ll take the fight directly to their homes and businesses in Utah. They think they can prey on our neighbors. They don’t know us very well. We need to organize, push back, and fight against this bully behavior. And we can win.

What do they think we’re going to be doing while they’re punching us in the face? Load your sling shot. Let’s get crazy.

–Jesse Case is a Storm Lake native who lives in Iowa City

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Jay Inslee: Climate Leader For President

Posted on May 5, 2019 by Dave Bradley

Inslee family

NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo will host the first 2020 presidential primary debate in June of 2019. This is the fourth in a series of BFIA’s coverage and commentary of the announcement speeches by the declared Democratic candidates for president for 2020 in no particular order.

Video below from ABC’s “The View” of March 4th, 2019. I do not know who all the players are in this video. Inslee does a great job refuting Megan McCain’s totally unfounded right wing claims that have no basis in reality. See my story on this from a few weeks ago.  

8 minutes

Jay Inslee is currently the governor of Washington. He has had many major successes in that state. Not because Washington is a wild eyed liberal state, but moreso because Inslee has been able lead his state toward policy that is good for Washingtonians and good for the climate.

From the Inslee For President web page:   

“Under Jay’s leadership, Washington state has been a beacon of progress. The state has been ranked the best place to work, the #1 economy in the nation and one of the country’s leading states for clean energy.

According to The Atlantic: “On his watch, the state has boosted health care, increased access to early-childhood education and college, raised the minimum wage, expanded paid family leave, invested in infrastructure, and established in-state net neutrality, all while leading the country in job growth, overall personal-income growth, and GDP.”

Fighting climate change has been the driving force behind Jay’s career. As governor, he has enacted policies that make Washington state a national leader in clean energy, clean air and clean water.

Jay created a new Clean Energy Fund, which has invested more than $100 million in developing and deploying innovative energy technologies, and growing clean energy businesses and jobs. He passed the largest and greenest transportation infrastructure investment package in state history. And he started the Clean Energy Institute at the University of Washington, which is pioneering research into next-generation renewable energy technologies like solar and battery storage.”

Inslee has a proven track record of leadership and solid policies. According to his website Inslee has been a progressive force in the great northwest:

“Washington has raised the minimum wage, provided paid sick leave for every worker and a best-in-the-nation paid family leave program, protected net neutrality and passed some of the best voting rights laws in the nation.

Jay’s efforts to protect Washington’s clean air and water, invest in people’s economic security and stand up for the values of inclusivity and diversity has made Washington state “the epicenter of resistance to Trump’s agenda.”

Under Jay’s leadership, Washington created thousands of clean energy jobs, dramatically expanded voter rights, protected LGBTQI Americans from discrimination, provided affordable health care to 800,000 more Washingtonians, passed Reproductive Parity for all women, became the first state to stand up to Trump’s Muslim ban, and passed historic investments in public schools, teacher pay and infrastructure. “

These are policies that progressives in most other states only dream of. Now he wants to do it for the country.

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Sunday Funday – Happy Cinco De Mayo Edition

Posted on May 5, 2019 by Dave Bradley

Randy Rainbow takes on Bill Barr (4 minutes, but hilarious)

Kind of strange that we will be having a holiday that celebrates Hispanic heritage where many of those celebrating would be people who would be more than happy to drive all those of Hispanic heritage out of this country. 

What is extremely sad is that the country that claims to be the beacon of liberty to the world looks to its southern border and sees children operated from their families and housed in what are essentially jails. Have another Margarita to shut down what little conscience you have if you approve of those policies.

By next Cinco de Mayo we should be deep in deciding the candidates who will be instrumental in righting our policies. 

Turns my stomach to think of those kids at the border and the administration that is throwing these lives away.

  1. The Federal Reserve Board won’t get pizza after Herman Cain’s nomination was withdrawn. Now they won’t have a deadbeat dad after whose nomination was withdrawn last week?
  1. The NRA held their annual convention last weekend. It ended with a bit of a bang when what NRA higher up was removed from his position as president?
  1. One more candidate jumped into the presidential pool last week. What Colorado senator declared his candidacy for president?
  1. 10,000 is the new big record number Dear Leader established this week. 10,000 what?
  1. Attorney General Bill Barr did something really unprecedented to the House Judiciary Committee Thursday. What was it?
  1. Record flood crests were set at what Iowa city on the Mississippi, breaking 1993 records?
  1. In world weather, 100 million people are in the path as Cyclone Fani, the strongest cyclone in 20 years, hit what Asian country Friday?
  1. Following a very successful but quiet test market in Saint Louis, Burger King is rolling out its Impossible Burger which is made of what?
  1. May 3rd, 1963. The Birmingham, Alabama police roll out what new weapon in their war against civil rights protestors?
  1. Both of Iowa’s senators called for the end of tariffs imposed by Dear Leader on what products with Mexico and Canada as they continue to hamper trade deals?
  1. In Boston, the CEO of Insys Therapeutics was found guilty of racketeering in a bribery scheme that paid doctors to prescribe what product made by Insys?
  1. In a decision that will cost workers billions, the Labor Department decided that gig economy workers were what as opposed to being employees?
  1. On this date in 1961 (May 5, 1961) who became the first American in space when he went on a 15 minute ride to a height of 116 above the earth?
  1. What high level FBI official announced he would be resigning on May 11th?
  1. A 16 year old boy from what Central American country died in US custody on Tuesday?
  1. What world capital of nearly 10 million people will have to be moved as a result of sinking and rising seas?
  1. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US is prepared to intervene in what country’s internal struggles?
  1. May 7th, 1945, General Alfred Jodl signed the unconditional surrender of what country to the Allies?
  1. A letter written by whom was dismissed as “snitty” by AG William Barr during questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday?
  1. The FDA last week ok’ed the sale of IQOS a product that creates a vapor rich in what addictive drug that will be inhaled by users?

Andy Borowitz:   

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Reacting to the journalist April Ryan’s call for her to be fired, the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said, on Friday, that she has been the victim of the media’s “widespread anti-liar bias.”

“From their obsession with fact-checking to their relentless attacks on falsehoods, the media have made no secret of their bias,” Sanders said. “It’s open season on liars in America.”

Answers:

  1. Stephen Moore
  1. Oliver North. Ollie North not bad enough for the NRA? Wow
  1. Michael Bennet
  1. Provable lies since he entered office. He had a great weekend last weekend racking up hundreds of lies.
  1. He failed to show up to a hearing where he was the witness. Tell me about rule of law again.
  1. Davenport. 
  1. India. It will be felt as far away as Mt. Everest with heavy snows
  1. Plant based food, no meat.
  1. Fire hoses.
  1. Aluminum and steel.
  1. Oxycontin
  1. Contractors. Thus businesses will no longer have to pay OT or contribute to SS
  1. Alan Shepard
  1. Rod Rosenstein
  1. Guatamala
  1. Djakarta, Indonesia
  1. Venezuela – don’t think it is the oil do you?
  1. Germany
  1. Robert Mueller
  1. Nicotine 

One more from Borowitz:   

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Americans across the country wish that Donald Trump would reveal his secret to staying so young and vibrant, the nation’s personal trainers have confirmed.

According to Tracy Klugian, a fitness professional in St. Louis, “not a day goes by” without one of his clients requesting a physical regimen that will give him or her the youthful appearance and mental sharpness that have made Trump the envy of millions.

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Barr Sucks Up Attention; DOJ Continues Assault On ACA

Posted on May 4, 2019 by Dave Bradley

joni-ernst-the-perfect-Koch-investment

The eyes of much of the politically attuned folks of this country were watching William Barr lying, misleading and omitting in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, doing his best to fill his role not as America’s top cop that usually comes with his office but his role as America’s newest top criminal behind Trump. 

It was quite a show with tongue bathing by Republican senators who tried as best as they could to turn Barr’s appearance into yet another hearing on Hillary Clinton. Fortunately for America, Democratic senators used their time to turn the hearing into what it was meant to be.

Once again the Republican administration used the cover of a spectacular crap show to do much more behind the scenes damage. While news media prattled on and on about Barr and his defiance of the rule of law as the nation’s top law enforcement officer, the DOJ that Barr heads filed a brief supporting the lawsuit meant to end the Affordable Care Act that was filed by a series of red states with Texas in the lead. From the dailykos article:

“If the courts agree, everything the law provides—and more—will be invalidated. All of the protections it has provided for everyone, not just people buying insurance on the exchanges, would be gone. This is an extremely disruptive proposition. The ACA is what’s known as a “super statute,” one that has so many moving parts and is so interwoven into the entire health system that it’s changed in big and small ways how everyone gets health care.

Oral arguments before the reliably extremist Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans will be heard in July, and a decision expected around the end of the year, just in time for the 2020 election cycle to be really heating up. Whatever the decision, it will be appealed to the Supreme Court. In a presidential election year, with that court now weighted toward Trump with Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh joining Justices Thomas and Alito in the clearly extremist partisan column. And leaving Chief Justice John Roberts in a quandary, weighing his politics versus his legacy.”

Despite voting to get rid of the ACA multiple times, Republican senators including Grassley and Ernst have learned that the ACA, especially the pre-existing condition clauses, are quite popular. So Chuck and Joni have been lying their asses off trying to convince uninformed voters that they support the ACA. What balderdash!

Grassley was caught in a huge lie by a voter at a town hall last week. Grassley tries to bully and lie his way through the incident, but he was caught dead to rights. See the video and Lawrence O’Donnell’s follow up here.

Joni Ernst continues to try to tap dance around her votes to end the ACA. She has voted seven times to end the ACA, yet still tries to make Iowans believe that she supports the ACA. How stupid does she think we are, anyway?

Here in an interview with WHBF channel 4 in Rock Island, we see Ernst tap dance all around but in the end refuses to say she opposes the above mentioned lawsuit: (2 minutes) ( tip of the hat to Matt Sinovic at progressiveiowa.org

So while Chuck and Joni were doing all they could to distract Americans from what Barr is doing to the country, the administration was once again doing all they could to end the ACA which they continue to pretend to support – or at least sections. This was done by the DOJ whose head, William Barr was being grilled by the Judiciary Committee for illegalities around the Mueller Report.

Barr received confirmation as Attorney General with approving votes of Ernst and Grassley despite glaring evidence that he (Barr) would do exactly what he has been accused of doing.

Ernst’s “grilling” of Barr was a well rehearsed effort at pretending that she and Barr were much concerned about the 2020 election. Her questions and mannerisms were designed to make it look as if she were above the fray and concerned about the future. Considering that the Department of Homeland Security and the DOJ which are the two departments that should be focused on keeping the 2020 election free of interference are focused elsewhere makes the little scene Ernst and Barr enacted yesterday just more kabuki theater.

Ernst has tied her future to Donald Trump. For that matter the whole Republican Party from city hall to the halls of congress have tied their future to Trump with only some singular exceptions. Therefore Ernst must do anything she can to mislead citizens on the president’s corruption. This makes her complicit in the cover up.

Whatever the reason Ernst is tied to Trump – his trade wars that are bankrupting our farmers, his immigration policies that jail and kill immigrant children and separate them from their families, his racist and sexist policies and all the rest – that is what Joni Ernst has tied herself to.

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Pelosi Looks Very Concerned In Her Weekly Presser

Posted on May 4, 2019 by Dave Bradley

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi seemed very concerned during her weekly press conference held on Thursday morning.

The previous day, Attorney General William Barr made no pretense that he would protect the president at all costs, including lying to congress. Barr then followed that up by refusing to appear at a House Judiciary Committee hearing where he had been set to testify.

As we listen to Pelosi, we can hear the concern that she has for her country and for many segments of our citizenry.

During my reading this week I came across a phrase that pretty accurately describes the state of the Republican Party in this country today: Banana Republicans. 

Members of the once proud Republican Party have turned into a group of thugs that want to turn Americans against Americans and the country into governments of graft and corruption that are often described as banana republics.

Michael Tomasky wrote a rather ominous article over at thedailybeast.com   

“The Republican Party started life as a grand and admirable thing. Our anti-slavery party; our conscience. Its leader was assassinated, and in short order it became the party of Wall Street, and it remained that for a century, though it always contained within it conservatives, moderates, and even some liberals.

Then, starting in the 1980s, it lost the liberals. Then, in the 1990s, it started to lose most of the moderates, as right-wing issue and interest groups and Koch money began to define what constituted “conservatism,” pushing it ever-further rightward so that today it really isn’t even conservatism, but just a collection of grievances that they can use to piss off enough white people to stay in power.

Bill Barr came of political age in this period. He was a young, right-wing legal hotshot at the time of originalism, the Federalist Society, the rise of the right-wing arguments about a strong executive.

<<snip>>

“It’s one of the greatest political quotes of all time, from philosopher Eric Hoffer; I’ve used it before and I’ll use it again: “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” Barr and Graham were around I suppose to just catch the tail end of the movement phase. But mostly, they matured in Washington during the business era.”

<<snip>>

“So after today, if we didn’t before, we see now with a new and oddly liberating clarity where this is headed. It’s 18 months until Election Day. They may well be the most consequential and frightening stretch in the history of the country, or at least since Reconstruction.”

This is a column well worth the short time it will take to read it. Tomasky really captures what has been going on that so many of us have been unable to articulate.

You may also notice that Democrats, including Speaker Pelosi, are the only ones making themselves available to the press in Washington these days.

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Take The Indivisible 2020 Activist Pledge

Posted on May 3, 2019 by Trish Nelson

pledge.indivisible.org

This is an important start to a long primary. Indivisible is committed to engaging in this primary from now through the convention, pushing on issues that the grassroots cares about and holding candidates accountable. We’re going to work to make this a healthy, constructive primary that identifies a candidate who can build a powerful, diverse coalition and ultimately win.

We must defeat Donald Trump. The first step is a primary contest that produces a strong Democratic nominee. The second step is winning the general election. We will not accept anything less. To ensure this outcome, I pledge to:

Make the primary constructive. I’ll respect the other candidates and make the primary election about inspiring voters with my vision for the future.

Rally behind the winner. I’ll support the ultimate Democratic nominee, whoever it is — period. No Monday morning quarterbacking. No third-party threats. Immediately after there’s a nominee, I’ll endorse.

Do the work to beat Trump. I will do everything in my power to make the Democratic Nominee the next President of the United States. As soon as there is a nominee, I will put myself at the disposal of the campaign.

Click here to take the pledge

Share the pledge on Twitter.

Share the pledge on Facebook.

Record a pledge video.

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Chuck Caught On Video Being Himself

Posted on May 2, 2019 by Trish Nelson

Friends, grassroots activists, voters, indivisibles, constituents everywhere, lovers of Democracy, this is one of the most effective things we can do.  Go to town halls, ask a question, ask follow-up questions, and get video.   It is now too urgent of a situation to lose time sending a letter into the black hole of non-responsiveness that is your Republican senator or representative’s mailbox. They have now taken to lying and saying they are only getting mail from those that agree with them, anyway.  Media exposure is one thing they care about.

Watch Lawrence O’Donnell’s interview with Robin Stone here:

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