NORTON META TAG

Showing posts with label working class. Show all posts
Showing posts with label working class. Show all posts

24 May 2026

FROM SEN BERNIE SANDERS I-VT; Four great candidates I am asking you to support today 21MAI26

 


SEN Sanders has been traveling the country, often with Rep ( AOC ) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez D-NY endorsing progressive candidates in local, state and national elections and engaging with voters who are committed to saving our democratic Republic from the fascist heritage foundation's project 2025, the authoritarian theocratic oligarchy they expect the corrupt drumpf / trump-vance administration and the congressional gop / greed over people-republican party to impose on America. Here is his latest e mail, check it out and if you can make a donation of whatever you can afford to support these candidates ( I did ). And feel free to send this e mail to family, friends, coworkers, all you think may want or need to see it. AND PLEASE check your voter registration status to make sure you are still registered to vote or how to register to vote if you are not!!! WE NEED EVERY ELIGIBLE VOTER WHO LOVES OUR COUNTRY TO VOTE TO SHOW DRUMPF / TRUMP-VANCE AND THE GOP / GREED OVER PEOPLE-REPUBLICAN PARTY WE ARE WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!!!

Dear friends,

Over the last year and a half, I have traveled all over this country. We've held more than 40 events, in 26 states, and talked to almost half a million people. Just a few weeks ago I was in Ohio, Minnesota and Michigan with our great candidates - all of whom are running campaigns that I believe are going to lead to victory.

And what I can tell you without any fear of contradiction is that the American people do not want an oligarchic form of government, they do not want an authoritarian form of government, they do not want to live under a kleptocracy where a president gets rich by being president. They sure as hell are sick and tired of the arrogance and greed of the billionaire class, and they want an end to these horrific and unconstitutional wars that Trump is waging.

Most importantly, they are prepared to fight back.

Sisters and brothers -- we find ourselves living in an unprecedented moment in American history.

We live in the wealthiest country in the history of the world and, yet, we are asked to accept as “normal” the reality that tens of millions of Americans struggle every day to afford the basic necessities of life: food, housing, health care or education. And, while 60% live paycheck to paycheck, the Oligarchs have never had it so good.

We live in a “democracy,” but we are told that it is legal and proper for one man, the wealthiest person on earth, to spend $270 million in campaign contributions to help elect a president who then provides huge tax breaks and other benefits to the very rich.

We live in a nation whose Declaration of Independence in 1776 boldly proclaimed “that all men are created equal” while, today, the gap between the rich and poor is wider than ever and the top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 93%.

And not to scare you, but nothing less than the very future of our country, our planet and our democracy depends on what we do next.

Next week, the Fight Oligarchy Tour is going back on the road -- returning to Maine for a pair of events after our last visit 8 months ago.

A lot has happened since then.

Graham Platner, who was virtually unknown and taking on the entire Democratic Party establishment in his race for U.S. Senate, is now the presumptive nominee in the campaign to defeat Senator Susan Collins.

And Troy Jackson, running for Governor of Maine, who started as a significant underdog in his race now finds himself in a competitive campaign for the Democratic nomination.

Before I get to Maine, I am hoping you can split a contribution between Troy Jackson's campaign and two other candidates who are worthy of our support:

The first is Will Lawrence who is running for Congress in a competitive Democratic primary in Michigan. He is an accomplished organizer who co-founded the youth-led Sunrise Movement. In Congress, he will champion Medicare for All, protect Social Security, and demand real accountability for big tech and AI companies.

Trey Martin is running for Congress in Oklahoma. He is an Ironworker, union president, and eighth-generation Oklahoman who knows Oklahoma and the people who make it work. He’s building a movement strong enough to take on the powerful interests making life harder for working families and refocus our politics on the issues that matter most.

Claire Valdez is a union organizer who worked minimum-wage fast food jobs and understands firsthand how this economy fails working people. In my view, Congress needs more voices who come from America's working class. Claire has the experience and vision we need to take on the oligarchy and fight for unions, Medicare for All, and affordable housing. I’m proud to endorse her campaign for Congress.

Needless to say, given our corrupt campaign finance system, our strong progressive candidates are taking on powerful special interests and their super-PACs. They need our help. So I am asking you today - please split a contribution of $27 or whatever you can afford between Will Lawrence, Trey Martin's and Claire Valdez’s campaigns for Congress, and Troy Jackson’s campaign for governor. Please do it before I get to Maine for a rally this weekend. All four are great progressives who will need our help if they are going to win.

If you've stored your info with ActBlue, we'll process your split contribution instantly:

When we act collectively we have the ability not only to create a dynamic progressive movement, but we will be able to transform our nation and create a government that represents all of us, not just the people on top.

That’s the goal. Let’s do it.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

CONTRIBUTE

 

Paid for by Friends of Bernie Sanders

(not the billionaires)

PO BOX 391, Burlington, VT 05402

This email was sent to bucknackt@gmail.com. If you need to, unsubscribe here. You can also sign up to receive fewer emails. We hope you'll stay, because emails are such an important part of how we organize and how we raise money. In fact, there is no single greater source for our campaign's fundraising than emails like this one. And that's important, because no one person, not even Bernie Sanders, can take on the billionaire class alone.

Before you go about the rest of your day, help power our fight against the billionaire class by making a contribution today.

Submit this form to update your contact information.

12 October 2020

OUR REVOLUTION WEEKLY UPDATE: GOTV ON LINE MEETING 12OKT20, MIDWEST PIVOT COUNTIES CAMPAIGN, OUR REVOUTION NEW YORK, OUR REVOLUTION TEXAS, OUR REVOLUTION THE SQUAD, OUR REVOLUTION CALIFORNIA, OUR REVOLUTION MICHIGAN, OUR REVOLUTION COLORADO, SAVE THE POST OFFICE, OUR REVOLUTION ILLINOIS, OUR REVOLUTION MASSACHUSETTS, OUR REVOLUTION TEXAS, OUR REVOLUTION FLORIDA, OUR REVOLUTION PUERTO RICO, OUR REVOLUTION D.C., OUR REVOLUTION NEW JERSEY 12OKT20






 


Welcome to The Revolution Report — the weekly e-newsletter of our national grassroots organizing network!


★ ★ ★



Join our Weekly Organize to Win Meeting on Monday, October 10th at 8:30 PM ET featuring progressive Congressional candidates Jamaal Bowman from New York and Georgette Gomez from California!

RSVP HERE

★ ★ ★



As America votes, Our Revolution members are carrying out our 4-POINT PLAN to fight for a progressive future by #1) Defeating Trump; #2) Electing more progressives to Congress; #3) Building a down-ballot bench; and most critically, #4) Organizing a powerful grassroots movement to win transformative change after the election!

★ ★ ★



#1 - We must go all out to defeat Donald Trump by winning back working-class voters in the Midwest.

★ ★ ★



Journalist Sarah Jaffe profiled Our Revolution Ohio leader Chuckie Denison, a former autoworker who fought the closure of the GM factory in Lordstown, OH and is now challenging Trump’s lies about America’s economic recovery as part of Our Revolution’s Midwest “Pivot Counties” Campaign - our strategic initiative to win swing areas in swing states.



READ THE STORY ABOUT CHUCKIE'S ACTIVISM

★ ★ ★



This week, over 16,000 people tuned into Our Revolution Michigan’s Get Out the Vote” Virtual Rally with US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), US Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI), and GM auto workers. Teana Dowdell, who lost her job at the now shuttered GM Detroit-Hamtramck plant, called-out Trump for recently declaring: “You better vote for me Michigan. I got you so many car plants.” Teana - noting that the last GM plant in The Motor City closed under Trump - said Trump didn’t lift a finger to stop mass layoffs.



Rep. Levin talked about campaigning with Bernie this week to win Macomb County - a critical “pivot county” that voted twice for Obama-Biden but then flipped to Trump. Under Trump, GM closed its transmission plant there, which impacted thousands of working families. “Trump won Michigan with just 10,700 votes … if we beat Trump in Macomb County, we’ll win Michigan.”



Squad Member Rep. Rashida Tlaib also joined our GOTV rally to fire-up our members to organize to win on Election Day! “Grassroots power has never been so important - it’s not about the names on the ballot, it’s about the issues we care about and it’s about our survival.”

★ ★ ★



Donate to our Midwestern “Pivot County” Campaign and help us win back working class voters betrayed by Trump’s false populism!

★ ★ ★



#2 - We must elect more progressives to the US House and flip & fix the Senate to advance policies like Medicare for All and a Green New Deal.

★ ★ ★



Mondaire Jones, who is poised to become the newest member of The Squad in Congress, headlined Our Revolution / New York Progressive Action Network’s “Get Out the Vote Rally” this week. Jones, who, if he wins, would become the first openly gay Black man in Congress, noted that progressives must be mobilizing to both get Trump out of the White House and demand real, transformative change from Joe Biden — beginning on Day 1. Dana Balter, a progressive running to knock off a conservative Republican in New York’s 24th Congressional District also delivered a powerful message via video saying that our progressive organizing will make 2021 “a year of transformative change.”



★ ★ ★

NEW FLASH!



Texas Congressional candidate Mike Siegel is gaining momentum in his bid to beat eight term Republican Rep. Mike McCaul, a co-author of the Muslim ban who recently called the Black Lives Matter movement a “violent riot.” RSVP HERE to watch Mike headline Our Revolution Texas’ GOTV Rally this week!

★ ★ ★

FEATURED CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE!



Georgette Gómez, President of the San Diego City Council, has been endorsed by Bernie and Our Revolution HQ in her race to represent California’s 53rd district in Congress. A longtime community organizer, Georgette was born and raised in San Diego to working-class immigrant parents, and this experience has informed her commitment to standing up for her community. She was twice elected unanimously as city council president, where her successes include expanding affordable housing, strengthening protections for low-income renters, and leading on San Diego’s landmark Climate Action Plan. In Congress, she will fight for Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, gun control, and immigrant rights. RSVP NOW for our Monday call to hear from Georgette on how her victory will help us build a progressive Congress!

★ ★ ★



Donate NOW to help us get Mike, Georgette, Dana and other progressives over the finish line in November!

★ ★ ★



#3 - We must build a bench of down-ballot progressive elected officials and policies to fight for change from the bottom up.

★ ★ ★



Over 120,000 joined Tuesday’s California GOTV Virtual Rally - and with ballots having just dropped the day before, our members are ready to mobilize! Former Bernie 2020 co-chair Nina Turner opened the call with a powerful message: “This moment is vitally important — not just for our future but for future generations. And progressives hold the key. We are winning on our ideas, now it’s time to take the power.” In a show of California's progressive strength, 87 candidates from across the state received Our Revolution HQ's endorsement, and six were featured on the call. San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who won a close race last year with the help of Our Revolution/SF Berniecrats, stressed the importance of volunteering in down ballot races. “We would not have won my race but for the tremendous energy we got from people like you. It can make a huge difference in the outcome of local races, and local races make a huge difference in the policies that shape our cities and towns.“



★ ★ ★

FEATURED DOWN-BALLOT PROGRESSIVE CHAMPION!



Eli Savit, our endorsed candidate for Washtenaw County, MI Prosecutor, joined Our Revolution Michigan’s GOTV Rally to talk about bringing equal justice under the law to the rich and poor alike. Savit - who clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg - recently conducted a “Criminal Justice Listening Tour” and announced plans to tackle racial bias in prosecutions.

★ ★ ★

FEATURED DOWN-BALLOT PROGRESSIVE CHAMPION!



Our Revolution Colorado held its Get Out the Vote Virtual Rally this week and announced national endorsements for progressive candidates, including Alexis King who’s running for District Attorney in Jefferson & Gilpin Counties. Alexis is campaigning on a bold criminal justice reform platform that includes creating a “Conviction Integrity Unit” to review prosecutions for innocence and equity.

★ ★ ★



Help us build a bench of progressive candidates and policies up and down the ballot!

★ ★ ★

FEATURED DOWN-BALLOT POLICY INITIATIVE!



Currently, only eight states and the District of Columbia provide workers with the legal right to paid family leave benefits when they need time off to care for their families. That’s why Our Revolution HQ endorsed the Family Paid Leave Proposition 118 in Colorado - we’re building a movement to ensure that state and local governments put the needs of America’s families first!

★ ★ ★



#4 - We must build a movement in the streets and inside the halls of power to win progressive change.

★ ★ ★

#SaveThePostOffice!

________





“Expansion of vote by mail is terrifying to many Republicans, particularly Trump, since it results in higher turnout.”

Read Our Revolution Chair Larry Cohen's piece on why we need to #SaveThePostOffice

★ ★ ★

FIGHT CORPORATE POWER!

_______




Our Revolution supports the findings of the House Antitrust Subcommittee’s new report - Tech giants are a threat to democracy and must be busted-up.
If we want to reclaim our democracy, we must not only defeat Trump, we must also defeat corporate goliaths like Amazon. Ahead of the report’s release, Our Revolution hosted a virtual town hall on Defeating Corporate Monopolies with Minnesota Attorney General and Our Revolution Board Member Keith Ellison, Law Professor Zephyr Teachout, Open Markets Institute’s Executive Director Barry Lynn, and Our Revolution Executive Director Joseph Geevarghese to lay the groundwork for pressuring Democrats to reverse Reagan-era antitrust policy and break-up the large corporations that dominate nearly every sector of our political economy. As Lynn - who wrote a new book about monopolies - noted, “When the power of government is fused to that of the private corporation, it’s bad for all of us.”

Sign up below to join our new campaign to call on the Biden Administration to fight corporate power on Day 1.



SIGN UP HERE

★ ★ ★

TAX THE RICH!

________




In states across the country, our slate of endorsed candidates for local offices are running on a platform to make the rich pay their fair share in taxes during this time of economic crisis. In addition, Our Revolution HQ has endorsed several citizen-powered initiatives, including California’s Schools and Communities First Proposition, which would provide $12 billion a year to California schools by closing a property tax loophole that allows corporations to benefit from artificially low tax assessments, and the Illinois Fair Tax Amendment, which would raise taxes only on those who can afford it through a graduated income tax system.



★ ★ ★



Ahead of Election Day, Our Revolution HQ is holding “Get Out the Vote” Rallies across the country to organize to win at the local, state and national levels.

★ ★ ★

UPCOMING “GET OUT THE VOTE” RALLIES!




Ranked Choice Voting is on the ballot! Our Revolution Massachusetts’ GOTV Rally will feature a discussion of how RCV can increase democratic participation with US Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Constitutional law professor, as well as progressive champions like Sen. Ed Markey

RSVP HERE

★ ★ ★



Our Revolution Illinois has an all-star line-up for it’s GOTV Rally - including Marie Newman, who took out an establishment Congressman in the primary, and key members of the Progressive Caucus in the Illinois House!

RSVP HERE

★ ★ ★



Our Revolution Texas is organizing to turn Texas blue in November by running a slate of progressives to serve as justices of the peace, drainage commissioners, district attorneys, and state representatives. Our Texas rally will be a “cattle call” of our endorsed candidates!

RSVP HERE

★ ★ ★



Join Bernie 2020 co-chair Nina Turner for Our Revolution Florida’s Election Rally as we organize to win a statewide $15 minimum wage ballot initiative and build down-ballot progressive power in Florida!

JOIN US!

★ ★ ★



Our Revolution DC is organizing to win a progressive takeover of the City Council. Join us and our slate of nationally endorsed candidates for our GOTV Rally in the nation’s capital!

RSVP HERE

★ ★ ★



Our Revolution New Jersey’s GOTV Call will feature Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Bernie 2020 Political Director Analilia Mejia, and advocates fighting to legalize marijuana in the Garden State!

RSVP HERE

★ ★ ★

04 March 2019

Fact-checking Bernie Sanders on a $15 minimum wage 1MAR19


I would have given it a Mostly True rating, but the facts are the facts and here they are from PolitiFact......

Fact-checking Bernie Sanders on a $15 minimum wage

By Louis Jacobson 
Supporting a $15 minimum wage has become something of a litmus test for Democratic candidates these days -- strikingly so, since as recently as his 2013 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama supported a far more modest increase, a raise from $7.25 to $9. Later that year, he increased his proposal to $10.10.
In a Feb. 26 tweet, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. -- who had recently announced his second presidential bid -- touted the benefits of raising the minimum wage to $15.
"We must follow cities and states across the country and raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour and index it to median wage growth thereafter," he wrote. "Doing so would give more than 40 million low-wage workers a raise, more than 25 percent of the U.S. workforce."
We found that Sanders was close on describing a study released Feb. 5 by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-of-center think tank. But it’s important to note that this study assumes that no net jobs will be lost as a result of a minimum wage -- an assumption that is speculative and, in some corners, controversial.
Analyzing the EPI report
The report looks at the potential impact of the Raise the Wage Act of 2019, which was sponsored by Sanders and other Democrats. The bill would phase in increases to the minimum wage so that it reaches $15 by 2024. It would also index future minimum wage increases to median wage growth.
The study took into account the projected natural growth of wages between now and 2024 and only counted as gains the amount above that baseline wage growth. It also excluded workers who would not be affected by a minimum wage hike, such as self-employed workers.
We should note that Sanders said "more than 40 million low-wage workers" would benefit, but the study itself said 39.7 million, which is slightly less than 40 million.
In addition, the tweet glosses over the fact that the study looked at the bill’s full phase-in period, from 2019 to 2024. The study does say that 39.7 million Americans will benefit once the $15 level is reached by 2024, but prior to that, the numbers are smaller.


As the chart above shows, the study referred to workers who are "directly" impacted by the minimum wage hike as well as workers who are "indirectly" affected by it. Indirectly affected workers were defined as having a wage rate just above the new minimum wage. The study assumes that these workers will receive a raise as employers adjust their pay scales upward to reflect the new minimum wage.
Will there be job losses?
The biggest concern with the Economic Policy Institute study, though, is that it assumes no net change in employment status as a result of the minimum wage increase.
For years, some economists have expressed caution about raising the minimum wage to $15, saying it could raise employers’ costs so much that it leads to higher unemployment.
Supporters of a higher minimum wage point to a recent study that indicated that minimum wages between $10 and $13 did not generally lead to negative labor-force impacts. The study didn’t test a $15 minimum wage, however, since that level hasn’t been enacted anywhere yet.
We reached out to several economists who had told us in 2016 that they were at least somewhat wary of increasing the wage that high.
Timothy Smeeding, a professor of public affairs and economics at the University of Wisconsin, said the study is incomplete because it only counts the benefits and not the drawbacks.
While conservatives "look only at job losses," liberals "look only at higher pay. The truth is that both will happen."
A particular problem is that a national minimum wage will pack a bigger wallop -- and potentially harm employment levels more -- in states with lower wage scales. In 2016, three states had median wages below $15, another 11 had median wages between $15 and $16, and another nine had median wages between $16 and $17.
In these states, mandating a $15 minimum wage could immediately raise wages for close to half of workers, with some seeing their pay roughly double overnight. This could have untold impacts on employment, consumer prices and other aspects of the economy.
"I can’t see how a rapid increase of the minimum to $15 would be in the best interest of such areas, since I’m afraid employment opportunities for the low-skilled might suffer real harm," said Gary Burtless, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
One of the economists we checked back with, Henry Aaron of the Brookings Institution, said he finally ended his opposition to a $15 minimum wage this week, because Sanders’ bill phases in the increase over several years and because it indexes future increases, removing it from the realm of politics.
"In the past, we have had a minimum wage, adjusted for inflation, as high as the one that is proposed at a period when real labor productivity was lower, on average, than it is today or will be five years hence," Aaron said. "Will there be some employment effects in some places from establishing a $15 minimum wage in 2024? Probably. But the effects will be small and the boost in earnings for relatively low-wage workers will be high."
Ultimately, it’s impossible to know how many jobs will be lost due to a minimum wage hike to $15. What we do know is that Sanders’ tweet focuses on the benefits but not the potential downside, expressing certainty where uncertainty prevails.
Our ruling
Sanders said that raising the federal minimum wage to $15 "would give more than 40 million low-wage workers a raise, more than 25 percent of the U.S. workforce."
That sticks closely to the top-line findings of a study by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal group. Still, it’s important to note that the study assumed no change in unemployment. That’s a big assumption, and one that is not certain to pan out.
We rate the statement Half True.

About this statement:

Published: Friday, March 1st, 2019 at 2:15 p.m.
Researched by: Louis Jacobson
Edited by: Angie Drobnic Holan
Subjects: EconomyJobsWorkers

Sources:

Bernie Sanders, tweet, Feb. 26, 2019
Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, "The New Wave of Local Minimum Wage Policies: Evidence from Six Cities," Sept. 6, 2018
Governing, Median Wages by State, accessed March 1, 2019
PolitiFact, "Fact-checking a $15 minimum wage," May 9, 2016
Email interview with Gary Burtless, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Feb. 28, 2019
Email interview with Ben Zipperer, economist with the Economic Policy Institute, Feb. 28, 2019
Email interview with Timothy Smeeding, professor of public affairs and economics at the University of Wisconsin, March 1, 2019
Email interview with Henry Aaron, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, March 1, 2019
Email interview with Josh Orton, spokesman for Bernie Sanders, Feb. 28. 2019