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Bernie Talks Immigration:
Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders talked about immigration reform at the Latino Heritage Festival on Saturday.
Sanders, who is edging Hillary Clinton in Iowa, spoke for about 20 minutes on a variety of issues, including immigration, raising the minimum wage and healthcare.
More than 100 people attended. Some used translation devices to listen.
“What we’re hoping to do is that the candidates will share their plans with us and also realize the Latino vote is very important for them to get elected,” said Alex Piedras, chair of the Latino forum.
Sanders focused his talk on the high minority incarceration rates and preached for immigration reform.
More:
Clapping, Cheering and chanting filled the air as Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was back in Iowa this weekend trying to win the Iowa vote.
In a small, white tent on the Walnut street bridge overlooking the Des Moines River, a crowd of around 100 people listened to Sanders.
Sanders started his speech by referencing a quote from Pope Francis, saying it moved him.
“He appealed to the world’s leaders to seek a new economic model to help the poor and to shun policies that sacrifice human lives on the altar of money and profit,” Sanders said.
He said that the problem with this country is "so few have so many, and so many have so little."
Sanders went on to say that the United States should not lead the world in wealth and income inequality, poverty and unemployment.
He wants to make access to health care, paid family and medical leave and a "living wage" a right
Bernies Bold Position On Prisons:
Bernie Sanders has a ballsy new plan to kill all of the US government's private-prison and detention-center contracts within three years in a bid to curb the country's soaring mass-incarceration rate.
But with a powerful lobbying presence and backing from several key political figures, experts and advocates say the private-prison industry won't be taken down so easily.
Last week, the Vermont senator and 2016 presidential hopeful announced his cosponsorship of the Justice is Not For Sale Act, staking a strong position on what he's called a "broken" criminal-justice system.
That system, he says, is riddled with corporate greed and rewards private prisons with incentives to keep beds full rather than reduce recidivism and promote social welfare.
"We need to start treating prisoners like human beings," Sanders said at a press conference announcing the legislation. "Private companies should not be profiting from their incarceration. Our emphasis must be on rehabilitation, not incarceration and longer prison sentences."
This is mostly a Clinton story but the bolded line seems important:
Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton is mounting an intense press to stockpile campaign dollars in the final days of the quarter, aiming to build a war chest big enough to eclipse what is expected to be a healthy fundraising haul by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Clinton attended five fundraising parties in and just outside New York City on Thursday and Friday, including one at the home of the wealthy corporate take-over chieftain who was a model for the Wall Street procedural “Barbarians at the Gate.” There were also events in Baton Rouge, Little Rock and Dallas in recent days, and more such events planned early next week.
People Are Still Talking About Liberty U:
I want to express my appreciation to Liberty University for inviting a presidential candidate with whom the school seems to have very little in common to address their students and faculty, and to Sen. Bernie Sanders for accepting that invitation.
This event was notable both for what did and did not occur. There was no heckling, no name-calling, no one tried to steal the microphone, neither speaker nor audience used the event to demonize the other. There was a frank and open admission of huge differences on issues such as abortion and gay marriage.
More important, much of the talk, as reported in The Roanoke Times, explored social justice issues, where speaker and audience might find common ground.
Is Sanders going to reconsider his position on abortion? Probably not. Have large numbers of the Liberty University community been swayed to vote for Sanders? Not likely. But for a brief period, they interacted. They exchanged ideas. The seeds of new ways of thinking about social problems may have been sown, both in speaker and audience.
Sanders Talks Trade:
While delivering his usual assault on "disastrous trade agreements," Sen. Bernie Sanders nodded to Newton's recent history coping with the loss of a Fortune 500 company.
Sanders said effective trade policy isn't only about creating jobs, but also about protecting existing jobs. Maytag, which once employed as many as 4,000 people in Newton, shuttered its Newton plant in 2006.
"I understand here in Newton you've dealt with that issue a little bit," the Vermont senator said. "Trade is not a sexy issue that gets a lot of discussion, but it is enormously important."
Newton officials have worked to diversify the economy since Maytag's departure. But Max Cates, who once worked at the plant, said the community hasn't ever fully recovered.
"When they left, it really ripped the heart out of the town," said Cates, 45, who now commutes to Des Moines for his information technology job in state government.
Cates said he's supporting Sanders because he's the only candidate addressing corruption in politics and widening income inequality in the U.S.
Opinion: Latinos Should Feel The Bern:
If Latinos are willing to give Sanders a chance, they will see that he has much to offer. He has been fighting for the civil rights of all Americans for decades. Like most Latinos, he believes that the government has an important role to play in solving big problems. Unlike Clinton, Sanders does not have to apologize to voters for email irregularities or a vote for the war in Iraq — nor is he beholden to corporate bankers.
Research from Latino Decisions shows that Latinos are generally progressive voters. So it’s worth noting that on the issues that matter most to Latinos — education, jobs, and health care — Sanders is actually more progressive than Clinton. Sanders supports free public college education, an idea that should be attractive to Latinos, who complete college at lower rates than other Americans. He has proposed a $15 minimum wage, while Clinton believes that goes too far. He wants single-payer health care, which would greatly benefit Latinos, who are still the largest uninsured demographic.
Sanders is an ally on immigration as well. He has said, ”Economically and morally, it is unacceptable that we have millions of workers who are living in the shadows.” He favors comprehensive reform and a path to citizenship for the undocumented, and wants to end the “bed quota” that results in thousands of immigrants being placed in for-profit detention centers. Last week, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert he denounced Donald Trump for “appealing to the baser instincts among us, xenophobia and, frankly, racism.” Echoing the views of Latinos nationwide, he termed Trump’s campaign “disgraceful.”
Sanders Visits His Alma Mater:
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) will return to his alma mater, the University of Chicago, Monday, but not to finish the coursework at which he was notoriously poor.
Sanders is running for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president and will speak at 11:15 a.m. Monday at Rockefeller Chapel as part of the Institute of Politics Road to 2016 series.
Sanders, who graduated in 1964, was not particularly fond of his classes and preferred to be out in the neighborhood on fair housing actions, sit-ins or working on the local alderman’s re-election campaign, according to reports of the senator's time in Hyde Park.
Sanders was an off-and-on-again student. He started in English and then was off that and on to political science.
Bernies Secret Advantage:
Bernie Sanders might still be trailing Hillary in all the national polls, but late last month he took the lead in a more newfangled — if possibly meaningless — measure of political strength: Facebook love. According to data obtained by Quintly, a social media analytics firm, Sanders’ presidential campaign page began the day of Saturday, August 22 with 1,197,290 likes to Clinton’s 1,199,797. By the end of the day, he had 1,218,879 to her 1,205,437. His lead has only increased since then.
Sanders’ success comes despite some suggestions that the Clinton campaign has been padding its totals on Facebook with purchased likes. Back in April, Vocative, a data mining media site, reported that Clinton’s presidential campaign page was more popular among Facebook users in Baghdad than any American city. And a further side-by-side comparison of both candidates’ page data shows that, over the last month, 95% of Sanders’ growth came from within the United States, while for Clinton that number is only 74%.
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Todd Haupman is the public relations director for Wishbond, an online marketing platform, and previously worked as the social media director for two members of Canada’s parliament. According to Haupman, when politicians purchase likes on Facebook, it comes from a general ignorance and lack of understanding of social media.
“People are looking for authenticity from politicians,” Haupman says. “One of the reasons people shouldn’t buy likes is that it creates an alienation from the real fans; the genuine followers that like a page.”