347 rabbis sign letter to Bernie Sanders in support of AIPAC, after he
declines to attend
Newsletter published on February 28, 2020
(1) 347 rabbis sign letter to Bernie Sanders in support of AIPAC, after
he declines to attend
(2) Bernie Sanders' foreign-policy adviser Matt Duss; Aipac are ballistic
(3) Matt Duss breaks with Washington interventionism
(4) Media gives Sanders the Trump treatment, citing anonymous Deep State
'intelligence' source
(5) At Bernie Sanders' packed rallies, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez steals
the show
(6) Bloomberg brags he "Bought" Democratic Majority in the House in 2018
(7) Sanders says 'we will end' Big Pharma 'greed'
(1) 347 rabbis sign letter to Bernie Sanders in support of AIPAC, after
he declines to attend
Sadanand, Nanjundiah (Physics and Engineering Physics) <sadanand@ccsu.edu>
347 rabbis sign letter to Bernie Sanders in support of AIPAC
February 26, 2020
By Marcy Oster
(JTA) — In the wake of Bernie Sanders's decision to not attend the AIPAC
Israel lobby's annual conference for what he called the organization's
support of "bigotry," a group of 347 rabbis signed an open letter to
Sanders supporting AIPAC's role in advancing the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Sanders, now the frontrunner in the race for the Democratic presidential
nomination, said AIPAC provides a "platform" for "leaders who express
bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights."
"As strong supporters of the U.S.-Israel relationship and AIPAC's role
in advancing it, we reject Senator Bernie Sanders' outrageous comment
accusing AIPAC of fostering bigotry. AIPAC's mission is one that we and
our congregants care deeply about," the rabbis, who are from Reform,
Conservative and Orthodox denominations, wrote in the letter.
"AIPAC is one of the last remaining vehicles in American politics that
proactively seeks to bring Americans from across the political spectrum
together to achieve a common goal. The AIPAC Policy Conference may be
the largest political gathering of Democrats and Republicans in the
entire country," the rabbis added.
During Tuesday night's candidates' debate in South Carolina, Sanders
responded to a question about U.S. support for Israel, saying "our
foreign policy in the Mideast should be about is absolutely protecting
the independence and security of Israel."
But, he added, "you cannot ignore the suffering of the Palestinian people."
The post 347 rabbis sign letter to Bernie Sanders in support of AIPAC
appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
(2) Bernie Sanders' foreign-policy adviser Matt Duss; Aipac are ballistic
From: Eric Walberg <walberg2002@yahoo.com>
Sanders is serious about middle east. This is his close adviser. Aipac
et al are ballistic.
Matt Duss father, a journalist, was born in a Ukrainian kulak family
and immigrated to the United States at age 2. According to The Nation,
like Senator Sanders, Duss spent his twenties "adrift."
worked at center for american progress CAP until 2014 and blogged
prolifically for<https://thinkprogress.org/author/mattduss/>
ThinkProgress, where he was an outspoken voice against military
interventionism, a critic of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian
territories, and an advocate of diplomacy with Iran. He co-authored
a report on Islamophobia in the world of conservative donor networks and
think tanks, making his share of enemies in the process. He also helped
identify and recruit like-minded writers to the site, including Ali
Gharib (now an editor at The Intercept). weeks after Trump's shocking
victory, Duss met with Sanders in person and soon found himself working
for the Vermont senator, taking a pay cut in order to directly shape
policy on Capitol Hill. responsible for the biggest foreign-policy
success of the past few years, with the Yemen vote.
(3) Matt Duss breaks with Washington interventionism
Who Is Matt Duss, and Can He Take On Washington's 'Blob'? Bernie
Sanders's foreign-policy adviser is part of a new generation of
progressives fighting an entrenched status quo.
By David Klion
February 6, 2019
[...] This time around, Sanders has won over skeptics in the
foreign-policy establishment with substantive speeches in 2017 and 2018,
laying out a comprehensive vision for America's role in the world.
Beyond wanting to end or prevent wars in the Middle East, Sanders has
also linked the global rise of authoritarian populism to wealth
inequality, and has called for an international progressive movement to
combat authoritarian leaders and kleptocrats from Russia to Brazil. And
while Duss doesn't want to take credit for what he says are his boss's
deeply held views, he has had a hand in all of this.
To the extent that Sanders is raising new ideas and challenging the
interventionist consensus that has long dominated Washington, it makes
sense that he's relying on the advice of a relative outsider. The
nation's capital is infamously a town of straight-A students who hustled
their way through the most elite schools and prestigious internships in
pursuit of power. Duss took a more meandering path, playing in bands and
working odd jobs for years before finishing college in his early 30s. He
then spent the next decade influencing the public debate, mainly as a
blogger, before finally emerging as a Senate staffer.
Duss is now gaining prominence at a pivotal moment for progressive
foreign policy. Since the end of the Cold War, leading Democrats have
broadly subscribed to the liberal-internationalist doctrine, with its
emphasis on free-trade pacts, military coalitions to overthrow dictators
and prevent atrocities, and, since 9/11, ruthless prosecution of the War
on Terror; any differences with their Republican colleagues have often
been more of degree than kind. Foreign-policy critics on the left,
meanwhile, have generally been relegated to academia and the alternative
media, and have focused mainly on challenging the excesses of empire,
not on articulating a more positive and ambitious global vision.
More than most policy-makers, Duss is a product of that left-leaning
tradition. His ascension was in many ways made possible by the political
earthquake of 2016—not just Trump's election, but the defeat of Hillary
Clinton, the enduring influence of Sanders, and the emergence of a new
generation of progressives who have grown up amid endless wars. The open
question is whether Duss and others like him are capable of taking on
the foreign-policy world's entrenched status quo.
Duss was born in 1972 in the Hudson Valley town of Nyack, an hour north
of Manhattan. His mother, a nurse, came from a family of truck drivers
in rural western Pennsylvania; his father, a journalist and aid worker,
was born in a displaced-persons camp in Germany after his family, some
of whom had been kulaks in Ukraine, survived famine under Stalin and
some of the worst carnage of World War II. When Duss's father was 2, his
family emigrated to the United States and settled in Brooklyn. Despite
their very different origins, Duss's father and mother shared an
evangelical faith; they met while attending a missionary-training
college in Nyack, where they eventually settled.
"We're a family of refugees," Duss tells me over brunch near his home in
northern Virginia. "That's always been part of my understanding of where
we came from." Because of his family history, Duss says, he never had
any illusions about Soviet communism, but he does identify as a man of
the left, a strong social democrat perfectly at home with Sanders's
political program. ...
(4) Media gives Sanders the Trump treatment, citing anonymous Deep State
'intelligence' source
'2016 all over again for Bernie': Trump blames Adam Schiff for
'Russiagate' Sanders leaks
23 Feb, 2020 16:30
President Donald Trump has blamed House Intelligence Committee Chairman
Adam Schiff for leaking a report on a supposed Russian effort to support
Bernie Sanders's campaign. "It sounds like it's '16 all over again,"
Trump said.
As Sanders surged in the polls, the Washington Post ran an article on
Friday describing a covert Russian effort to help the Vermont senator
win the Democratic nomination. The article did not specify "what form
that Russian assistance has taken," and provided no evidence, only
assertions from anonymous intelligence officials.
Sanders's campaign was briefed on the supposed Russian plot, but
President Trump stated on Sunday that his administration received no
such warning, despite the article's claim that he had.
"Nobody said it to me at all, nobody briefed me about that at all,"
Trump told reporters outside the White House.
According to the article, the anonymous intelligence official sounded
the alarm at a closed-doors meeting of the House Intelligence Committee
last week. Trump claimed on Sunday that the report had been leaked to
the Post by committee chairman Adam Schiff - a committed 'Russiagater'
who led the impeachment effort against Trump.
"They leaked it, Adam Schiff and his group, they leaked it to the
papers," Trump said. "He should not be leaking information out of
intelligence. They ought to investigate Adam Schiff."
"What it could be is, you know, the Democrats are treating Bernie
Sanders very unfairly," the president continued. "It sounds to me like a
leak from Adam Schiff, because they don't want Bernie Sanders to
represent them. It sounds like 2016 all over again for Bernie Sanders." ...
(5) At Bernie Sanders' packed rallies, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez steals
the show
AOC is the best thing for Bernie Sanders: Devine
By Miranda Devine February 19, 2020 | 10:14pm
Whatever you think of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's undergraduate
politics, you have to admit the former Bronx bartender has more charisma
than all the Democratic presidential candidates put together.
At Bernie Sanders' packed rallies in Iowa and New Hampshire, she always
stole the show.
Tapping the 30-year-old Democratic Socialist as his sidekick after his
heart attack in October was the smartest thing he's done. She has sent
his poll numbers soaring and helps "Bernie Bros" feel they are part of a
dynamic millennial movement, not the last gasp of a worn out 78-year-old
socialist.
Wednesday, when AOC appeared on ABC's "The View," her star power shone
brighter than her sequined dress.
She was there to laud Sanders as a fighter for "people like us . . .
working families . . . He wants a political revolution at the ballot box."
But AOC also is using Sanders as a vehicle for the most dangerous idea
to hit those unsuspecting working families: the Green New Deal. ...
(6) Bloomberg brags he "Bought" Democratic Majority in the House in 2018
by Tyler Durden
Wed, 02/26/2020 - 13:14
A Freudian slip by billionaire Mike Bloomberg is what seems to be
getting most attention following last night's South Carolina debate,
even attracting Washington Post commentary and the rare attention of the
mainstream in a moment underscoring how the elites view their role in
America's two-party system.
While he was touting his $100 million in donations to House Democrats,
he essentially bragged that he "bought" 21 congressional Democrats their
seats in 2018 midterms.
Bloomberg came within a hair's breadth of saying he *bought* the
Democratic majority in the House and caught himself as it came out of
his mouth pic.twitter.com/DG0keVMo2J — Brandon Wall (@Walldo) February
26, 2020
"Let's just go on the record, they talk about 40 Democrats," Bloomberg
said, referring to former Vice President Joe Biden.
"Twenty-one of those were people that I spent $100 million to help
elect," he continued.
"All of the new Democrats that came in and put Nancy Pelosi in charge
and gave the Congress the ability to control this president, I bough-...
I got them."
Incredible. In the #DemDebate, billionaire Bloomberg boasted that he
"bought" right-wing neoliberal Democrats like Nancy Pelosi
Then after saying "bought," he quickly corrected himself and said "I
bought, uh got them" pic.twitter.com/2mcDgPPhIJ — Ben Norton
(@BenjaminNorton) February 26, 2020
Needless to say the backlash was swift and merciless.
I BOUGHT THEM — Bloomberg accidentally admitting his world view. —
Markos Moulitsas (@markos) February 26, 2020
(7) Sanders says 'we will end' Big Pharma 'greed'
Sen. Bernie Sanders says 'we will end' Big Pharma 'greed' as lawmakers
push bills aimed at slashing prescription drug prices
PUBLISHED THU, JAN 10 201911:08 AM ESTUPDATED THU, JAN 10 201911:46 AM EST
Berkeley Lovelace Jr.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic House leaders on Thursday
will introduce three new bills aimed at slashing high prescription drug
costs in the U.S.
The bills would permit Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to
negotiate lower prices for drugs under Medicare Part D. Democrats, who
regained control of the House this month, listed lowering prescription
drug costs as one of their top priorities.
Vowing to bring an end to "greed" in the pharmaceutical industry,
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic House leaders said they plan
to introduce three new bills Thursday aimed at slashing high
prescription drug prices in the U.S.
Democrats, who regained control of the House this month, listed lowering
prescription drug costs as one of their top priorities. The bills, led
by Sanders and Reps. Elijah Cummings of Maryland and Ro Khanna of
California, would permit Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar
to negotiate lower prices for drugs under Medicare Part D, the federal
program for prescription drug benefits.
The measures would also allow Americans to import lower priced drugs
from abroad and peg the price of prescription drugs in the U.S. to the
median price in five major countries — Canada, the United Kingdom,
France, Germany and Japan.
Drug companies don't hear anything Congress is saying on drug prices,
says analyst
"If the pharmaceutical industry will not end its greed, which is
literally killing Americans, then we will end it for them." Sanders said
in a statement. "The United States pays by far the highest prices in the
world for prescription drugs. This has created a health care crisis in
which 1 in 5 American adults cannot afford to get the medicine they need."
According to the latest data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services, spending on prescription drugs in the U.S. increased 0.4
percent in 2017 to $333.4 billion, and lawmakers are pinning the blame
on the pharmaceutical industry, which sells drugs at significantly
higher prices in the U.S. than abroad. ...
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