The fight to shut down a controversial family immigrant detention center in Pennsylvania received high-profile support on Thursday from Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who mentioned the issue during a campaign event ahead of the state’s primary.
Sanders, a Vermont independent senator, told a crowd in Reading, Pennsylvania, that he believes “that it’s time to shut down” the nearby Berks County Residential Center.
“The government should not be in the painful and inhumane business of locking up families who have fled unspeakable violence in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and other countries throughout the world,” he said. “Instead we should treat these families with the compassion, the dignity and the respect they deserve.”
Sanders has previously called for an end to family immigrant detention, which ballooned in 2014 after a surge in the number of mothers and children apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border. But highlighting Berks was significant for advocates in the state who have been working hard to get families, many of whom are seeking asylum in the U.S., out of detention.
Berks is one of the nation’s three family immigrant detention centers. Two others, established in 2014, are located in Karnes County, Texas, and Dilley, Texas. The Texas centers are far larger and privately operated, while the Berks facility is owned by the county and operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
But Berks is no less controversial. Advocates have raised questions about conditions and medical care there. Last week, a former employee was sentenced to prison for institutional sexual assault of a 19-year-old detainee in 2014.
About 2,500 people turned out to hear Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speak today at Gettysburg College about what he said is a moral obligation to change the economic and educational systems.
“It is not a sustainable economy. It is not a moral economy,” Sanders said, explaining that the financial gap between the wealthiest and poorest Americans is too large. He also said the U.S.’s broken criminal justice system needs to be fixed, and that the government needs to increase funding for higher education.
Morality was a key theme of Sanders’ campaign stop in Gettysburg, which started with the reading of the Gettysburg Address. U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who introduced Sanders to the crowd, read the first few lines of the historic speech, ending with “the proposition that all men are created equal.” Once on stage, Sanders continued reading the address, then added a few lines of his own.
“Government ‘of the people, by the people and for the people’ does not mean billionaires and Wall Street and the fossil fuel industry and corporate interests pouring huge sums of money into super PACs,” Sanders said. He emphasized the need to change how political campaigns are financed in the U.S., saying the current system is corrupt.
Along with campaign finance reform and income inequality, Sanders said the U.S. should have tuition-free colleges and universities. He said that working in the government to pass legislation is a challenge, but finding out where opposing sides agree is the first step toward a solution.
“You walk away feeling pretty good,” he said.
Bernie Sanders, as the first presidential candidate to visit Lancaster County this year, pushed his message of hammering Wall Street, providing tuition-free college education and reforming the campaign finance system at Millersville University on Friday night.
“Our campaign has been making enormous progress,” the Vermont senator said to 3,000 students and members of the general public. “We are doing something very, very radical. You know what we’re doing? We’re telling people the truth.”
The Democratic presidential underdog has relied on young voters in his fight to overcome front-runner Hillary Clinton’s lead to get the party’s nomination.
And his rally at Millersville’s Pucillo Gymnasium ignited his young fans here, who wore “Feel the Bern” shirts, hats and buttons as they cheered and chanted his name for most of his hourlong speech.
With his thick Brooklyn accent and fan-favorite arm-gesturing, Sanders spoke of his plans to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour, provide equal pay for women and tax big banks on Wall Street to provide free college tuition.
Some of the loudest applause of the night came when he spoke of equal pay for equal work: “Women are telling me that they are tired of earning 79 cents on the dollar. They want the whole damn dollar.”
A day after a Hillary Clinton-supporting super PAC revealed it would dedicate $1 million to “push back” against negative commenters and what they describe as “Bernie Bros” on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Instagram, a spokesperson at Bernie Sanders’ campaign stated that neither his camp nor its messaging surrogates have participated in the same behavior.
“Our campaign and our vendors are not paying people to reply to anti-Bernie comments on social media,” said Sanders campaign rapid response director Mike Casca. “Come on man, really?”
After news of Correct the Record’s “Barrier Breakers” comments section initiative was announced yesterday, many commenters on Reddit and Twitter responded by saying Sanders’ campaign had done the same thing, citing a $16 million creative spend with the marketing company “Revolution Messaging.”
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A Sanders campaign official told The Daily Beast that the money paid to Revolution Messaging was spent on “online ads, email fundraising, web development, graphic design, photography and videography.”
Unfounded rumors about Revolution Marketing’s role in the Sanders campaign found their way into The Washington Post on April 7th.
Clinton supporter Kim Frederick, who created the hashtag #HillarySoQualified in support of Clinton, spoke to reporter Justin Wm. Moyer after the hashtag had been coopted by Bernie Sanders supporters.
"Referencing Revolution Messaging, the company behind Sanders' digital fundraising, she added, 'Revolution media pays interns $15 an hour to troll people on the Internet. Hillary Clinton does not pay people to sit and troll the Internet. We are real people with real lives, full-time jobs, and we don't have time to sit there,’” the story originally said.
This claim about Revolution Messaging was untrue, and the Post later removed the quote and added a correction that reads, “Editor’s note: This story has been edited to remove an inaccurate reference to a vendor for the Sanders presidential campaign.”
There’s a new policy disagreement brewing between Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Hillary Clinton: a soda tax.
Clinton said on Wednesday that she supports Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney’s proposal use pay for universal preschool using a soda tax.
“It starts early with working with families, working with kids, building up community resources — I’m very supportive of the mayor’s proposal to tax soda to get universal preschool for kids,” she said at an event in the city, according to CNN. “I mean, we need universal preschool. And if that’s a way to do it, that’s how we should do it.”
The Democratic mayor has suggested levying 3 cents in tax on every ounce of soda sold, according to The New York Times. It’s not clear whether consumers or distributors would have to pay the tax, the city anticipates it would drive up the cost of soda.
Sanders responded to Clinton on Thursday by saying this plan would effectively tax low-income people, who tend to drink more soda than the wealthy.
“Frankly, I am very surprised that Secretary Clinton would support this regressive tax after pledging not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000,” Sanders aid. “This proposal clearly violates her pledge. A tax on soda and juice drinks would disproportionately increase taxes on low-income families in Philadelphia.”
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders said in an interview broadcast Friday that he would wait to see what Hillary Clinton includes in her platform before deciding how actively to campaign for her in the fall if she is the party’s nominee.
The senator from Vermont, who has vowed to stay in the race until the Democratic convention, was asked by Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC whether he would try to persuade his young supporters to back Clinton in the same fashion that she supported President Obama after losing the nomination to him in 2008.
“Well, first of all, I’ve got to find out what her platform is, what the views are that she is going to be bringing forth, to what degree she will adopt many of the ideas that I think are extremely popular and I think very sensible,” Sanders told Mitchell.
He described the process as “a two-way street.”
“I want to see the Democratic Party have the courage to stand up to big-money interests in a way that they have not in the past, take on the drug companies, take on Wall Street, take on the fossil fuel industry, and I want to see them come up with ideas that really do excite working families and young people in this country,” Sanders said.
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Asked by Mitchell whether he will concede and endorse Clinton if he hasn’t secured a majority of pledged delegates before the convention, Sanders said, “Look, if we do not have a majority, it’s going to be hard for us to win.”
But, referring to his prospects with superdelegates, Sanders added: “The only fact that I think remains uncertain is if we continue to be running significantly stronger than she is against Donald Trump, or whoever the Republican nominee will be. I think that’s a factor.”
Polls show Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has nearly caught up with rival Hillary Clinton in the Hoosier State just a little over a week ahead of the pivotal Indiana primary, where 83 delegates will be up for grabs.
Two separate surveys released on Friday reveal Sanders and Clinton locked in a close race for Indiana, with elections there slated for May 3.
After winning big in New York this week, Clinton is holding onto a slim lead over Sanders in the Midwestern state. According to a Fox News poll, Clinton is backed by 46 percent of likely Democratic primary voters, while Sanders’ supporters amount to 42 percent. The results are based on the responses of 1,205 people polled from April 18 to 21.
However, Sanders defeats Clinton when it comes to favorability ratings.
The WTHR/Howey Politics poll showed Sanders’ favorability among Democrats stands at 56 percent, topping Clinton’s rating of 41 percent. Sanders also has an advantage when it comes to favorable versus. unfavorable ratings, with 73 percent seeing him favorably compared to 18 percent that consider him unfavorable, whereas Clinton has a 68 to 28 percent favorable versus unfavorable score.
The two poll results also reveal that Clinton is preferred by voters aged 45 and over, most of whom are women. Furthermore, the WTHR/Howey Politics survey indicates that the former secretary of state enjoys more support than Sanders among women at least 55 years old. The Vermont senator, however, beats Clinton in terms of favorability with women from 18 to 54 years old.
A Bernie Sanders supporter was arrested Thursday during a protest against U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott’s refusal to shift his vote as a Democratic superdelegate from Hillary Clinton to Sanders.
Wesley Irwin, one of the organizers of the Thursday protest, said the arrest had been planned as an act of civil disobedience. Sanders supporters have been angry over the refusal of superdelegates to back him, despite the Vermont senator’s big win in Washington’s caucuses last month.
The woman arrested was among a group of about a dozen Sanders supporters who showed up at McDermott’s Seattle office to demand a meeting with the longtime Democratic congressman, who is retiring this year.
Irwin said Sanders supporters feel stonewalled by McDermott, who has not agreed to a meeting despite two other visits by activists to his office. This time, he said, the congressman’s staff told the group the superdelegate issue was a campaign matter and therefore inappropriate to discuss at his official office.
“We believe our voices are not being represented in the government,” Irwin said. Photos and an account of the protester’s arrest were posted online by activists.
The action was part of an ongoing campaign by ardent Sanders supporters, who are demanding the state’s 17 superdelegates abandon support for Clinton, who took just 27 percent of delegates in the April 26 precinct caucuses.
Bernie Sanders shows no sign of dropping out of the presidential race anytime soon, but the vultures are already circling over his email list — perhaps the most coveted and valuable catalog of potential voters and donors in the Democratic Party at the moment.
The post-campaign fate of Sanders’ list — his 2016 crown jewel, and the backbone of the Vermont senator's online fundraising juggernaut — is the topic of frequent conversation among operatives working with the Democratic party committees, down-ballot candidates and a variety of liberal interest groups. Some have already begun strategizing about how to access the list through informal conversations with people close to the Sanders campaign.
For those fighting for the issues Sanders has made the centerpiece of his campaign — like campaign finance reform, the environment, and economic justice — his list of several million fervent activists willing to volunteer and donate money, often repeatedly, is regarded as something of an electoral gold mine.
But Sanders, still a White House candidate facing an uphill battle for the Democratic nomination, has all the leverage and control. So for now, any talk about his data trove takes place behind-closed-doors among Democrats eager not to offend him.
“Sen. Sanders is focused on winning the nomination and carrying the campaign to voters in all of the remaining states. They deserve a voice in the democratic process. The amazing backing and enthusiasm of the senator’s millions of grassroots donors is one of the reasons for the success of the movement,” said Sanders communications director Michael Briggs. “Sen. Sanders has said from the beginning that this campaign is not just about electing him president. The political revolution is about energizing and mobilizing a movement of Americans to continue the struggle for real progressive change the day after the election. The senator has a strong track record of lending his support to other progressive candidates that dates back all the way to Jesse Jackson’s run in 1988. This year, he’s already raised significant funds to help elect progressives to the House and Senate."
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Some Sanders backers have higher ambitions for the list and cringe at the idea some of their fellow Democrats are eyeing it in pure dollars-and-cents terms.
Erich Pica, the head of Friends of the Earth Action, said such partisans don’t “understand what Bernie is creating, nor do they value, I think, the deep activist commitment that the Sanders campaign has been able to organize over the last year."
What better place than a hot California desert to feel the Bern while feeling the burn? A few hundred people gathered in the city of Coachella, California, Thursday night for a Bernie Sanders block party that became known as “Berniechella.” While thousands will attend the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this weekend just a stone's throw away, a few thousand had been expected to attend the satellite bash.
Organized by actress/musician Rain Phoenix (sister of Joaquin) and political consultant/event organizer Tizoc DeAztlan, the evening started slowly with what seemed to be more local sheriffs on hand than people to potentially arrest. But as the sun descended in the desert sky, Sanders supporters came out to frolic beneath the stars.
While the fest fell short of its attendance target, what it lacked in numbers it made up for in enthusiasm. From parents pushing their children in strollers to couples walking hand in hand to packs of teenagers roaming around, all ages and ethnicities were represented. And everyone was all smiles—even the cops. One festival attendee was overheard saying, “Why are there even cops here? This isn’t a Trump rally.” Most folks wore Sanders buttons pinned to their tops, but a few chose “Fuck Trump” flare in their stead.
With a beer garden serving local craft brews and plenty of Mexican food on hand, festivalgoers all seemed to be having a great ol’ Bernie Sanders time. The atmosphere was nothing short of convivial with imbibing, eating, laughter, dancing and singing. From cardboard cutout Bernies to Bernie temporary tattoos being administered to Bernie t-shirts and posters being sold, the only Bernie thing missing from Berniechella was, well, Bernie Sanders. Yes, the 74-year-old senator from Vermont turned star presidential candidate could not attend, as he had to campaign in Pennsylvania.
Phoenix, who conceived the event just two and a half weeks ago, said despite the fact that the rally was not officially designated, Sanders’ camp was “stoked” about it. She said she purposefully chose the heart of the city of Coachella, which has a strong working class, because it reflects Sanders’ community values. As to what she likes about Sanders, Phoenix told The Daily Beast, “I love that he’s never wavered from his principles and that he’s truly about fairness for all the people of this country. Whether he wins or not, he’s getting people off their couches and I feel grateful to be part of this political revolution.”
Hillary Clinton is already closer than anyone in history to being the nation's first woman president. But that doesn't mean all female Democratic officeholders are on her side.
Two of Bernie Sanders' biggest surrogates on the campaign trail are Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who is campaigning for him in Pennsylvania on Friday, and former Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner. And they say going against the Clinton grain has not been easy.
Turner distinctly remembers what happened a few days after she publicly endorsed Sanders. She was set to be the keynote speaker at Planned Parenthood event. The organization, which has now endorsed Hillary Clinton, was still unaffiliated with either campaign. Yet when she arrived folks who organized the fundraiser told her that they were working to "ease tensions" in order to make sure she was treated with respect.
Turner was confused by what they meant. She soon found out.
"After all we have done for you," one white Ohio woman said to Turner, an African American, after the event. The woman, Turner recalled, had a deadly look in her eyes, irate that Turner had not endorsed Clinton.
Earlier that day, Turner had explained that Sanders was her pick for president because she was attracted to his message, style and strong beliefs. She did not mention his gender.
"The irony [is] that women who want choice over their bodies don't think that I should have a choice in the candidate I support," Turner says. "I proceeded to let her know that I didn't care about her disappointment."