Welcome once again to a $27-group / The Political Revolution open thread — a weekly place where you can sit back, relax, enjoy some inspiring quotes and good music, and (most importantly) spend time gazing at a picture or two of foresterbob’s cat Noble Fur.
As usual I’m running late and short on time. But most of tonight’s quotes don’t need much comment from me as they speak for themselves.
But before reading the quotes here, please go over to the story elenacarlena posted this morning if you haven’t already been there, Video of Interest: Reaching Out to Neo-Nazis. There’s a great quote there which I’m tempted to include here but I’d rather you read and rec it over there.
The quotes I’ve posted here (and a couple more Noble Fur pictures) will be waiting for you here when you get back.
Every woman – no matter their background, income, or zipcode – should have access to comprehensive reproductive care, including abortion.
It’s time to get to work --Congress must be bold, end Hyde, and pass the EACH Woman Act!
~ Barbara Lee
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We are long overdue for some accountability and transparency on the US role in the atrocities in Yemen. I’m proud to see the US Senate acting in a bipartisan fashion to jump-start this conversation – the House must do the same.
~ Barbara Lee
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The tear-gassing of women and children at the border is an atrocity. It’s a violation of human rights. And it is a grotesque betrayal of our founding promise, as a nation built by immigrants.
I’ve called for UN inspectors on the border, and I reiterate that call today.
~ Barbara Lee
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In my on-boarding to Congress, I get to pick my insurance plan.
As a waitress, I had to pay more than TWICE what I’d pay as a member of Congress.
It’s frustrating that Congressmembers would deny other people affordability that they themselves enjoy. It's time for Medicare For All.
~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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Twenty-one TRILLION dollars of Pentagon financial transactions “could not be traced, documented, or explained.”
That’s 21 trillion dollars in Pentagon accounting errors. Medicare for All costs about 32 trillion dollars.
That means 66% of Medicare for All could have been funded already by the Pentagon.
And that’s before our premiums.
~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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By law, Dutch police cannot enter a house of worship during services. After an Armenian family sought sanctuary at one church in The Hague, 300 volunteer pastors conducted round-the-clock services to prevent police from entering. Hundreds more attendees showed up to support the Tamrazyan family, who say they are refugees fleeing death threats in their homeland. A petition to grant the family asylum has received more than 250,000 signatures. "It’s impossible to express how special it feels when so many people help you," says Hayarpi Tamrazyan, one of the family’s three children.
~ David Beard (for the weekly Mother Jones Recharge feature)
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For 2 years, Donald Trump has boasted about the stock market. That’s great... if you’re invested in it. But almost half of Americans are NOT invested in the stock market. How about we build an economy where you have a career you can count on and wages you can invest with?
~ Eric Swalwell
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The Hyde Amendment disproportionately impacts low-income women, women of color, immigrants, and young people who rely on Medicaid for their healthcare coverage. It’s time to repeal Hyde!
~ Ayanna Pressley
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A Green New Deal is about more than natural resources and good jobs. It’s about protecting our most precious commodities: our people and our future.
~ Ayanna Pressley
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The American Dream is real. It burns brightest in the hearts of immigrants coming here for a better life. They remind us who we are.
~ Abdul El-Sayed
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Less and less of our healthcare costs pay doctors, nurses, and medical staff.
More and more of it is going to pay administrators.
See a problem here?
That's why it's time for Medicare For All.
~ Abdul El-Sayed
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Happy Hanukkah on this, the first night!
May your homes be filled with love, light and the enduring hope that miracles are possible. (And lots, and lots of latkes.)
~ Ilhan Omar
(I think that’s an especially beautiful quote since Ilhan Omar’s religion is Islam rather than Judaism. While conservative Christian talking heads complain about an alleged “War On Christmas”, it seems more like they are the ones at war with anyone who doesn’t celebrate the way they think everyone should have to celebrate.)
People deserve a future unencumbered by the burden of student debt, and the money they save will be immediately put back into our economy.
Student debt is nothing but a continuation of class divides that persist because of structural inequity.
~ Ilhan Omar
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We are fighting for the people because people should be at the center of our politics.
Not big corporate money.
Not those who seek to divide us.
The people.
~ Ilhan Omar
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Voters didn’t send us here just to resist; we are re-energizing them to believe in a system that was built for them, a system that can be transformed by them.
~ Ilhan Omar
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We must act immediately to protect our planet, our health, and our economy from the affects of climate change. The 100 by ‘50 Act I introduced along with senator Jeff Merkley would transition the U.S. 100% away from fossil fuels by 2050!
~ Pramila Jayapal
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I met with asylum-seekers who were fleeing violence and persecution. We need to find a better way to protect and process our asylum-seekers. This is a humanitarian crisis of Donald Trump's making.
I was able to successfully assist 5 asylum seekers — 2 unaccompanied minors, a mother and her 9 year old child, and a young man with a serious medical condition — into the United States.
Initially they were denied, in violation of U.S. and international law, but I was able to intervene and ensure that they could simply present themselves for asylum in the United States.
It shouldn’t take intervention from a Member of Congress and an incredibly compassionate Border Patrol Chief for those fleeing violence and persecution to seek asylum in the United States.
I will continue to do everything I can to return our country to one that upholds decency, compassion and human rights.
~ Pramila Jayapal
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US Progressives are more powerful than ever. With more than 90 members, including 6 elected to top Leadership positions, we’re ready to change how Washington works and create bold policies that work for EVERY American.
~ Rashida Tlaib
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Over 60 schools in my district don't have clean water. When will those in leadership stop supporting corporate tax breaks that shift the dollars we need to address this crisis?
~ Rashida Tlaib
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If you’re elected to public office, your job is to serve the public. Full stop.
That’s why I’m working with House Democrats and the congressional Debt Reduction Task Force to advance legislation that ensures public officials work for the public interest.
~ Elizabeth Warren
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CEOs won’t take protecting our data seriously unless their own jobs are on the line. Instead of working to give giant companies like @Marriott even bigger handouts, Congress should focus on holding them accountable for these giant screw-ups.
We can start by passing my bill with Mark Warner to impose massive, mandatory penalties on companies like Equifax that expose people's personal information. We can’t allow companies to get away with leaving sensitive data vulnerable to hackers and thieves.
~ Elizabeth Warren
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Elizabeth Warren recently wrote a good article for Foreign Affairs on the changes needed in US foreign policy. I recommend reading the entire article, A Foreign Policy for All. Here are a few passages to get you started:
While international economic policies and trade deals have worked gloriously well for elites around the world, they have left working people discouraged and disaffected. Efforts to promote the United States’ own security have soaked up huge resources and destabilized entire regions, and meanwhile, U.S. technological dominance has quietly eroded. Inequality has grown worldwide, contributing to an unfolding nationalist backlash that seeks to upend democracy itself. It is little wonder that the American people have less faith in their government today than at any other time in modern U.S. history. The country is in a moment of crisis decades in the making.
To fight back, we need to pursue international economic policies that benefit all Americans, not merely an elite few. We need strong yet pragmatic security policies, amplified by diplomacy. And the United States can no longer maintain the comfortable assumption that its domestic and foreign policies are separate. Every decision the government makes should be grounded in the recognition that actions that undermine working families in this country ultimately erode American strength in the world. In other words, we need a foreign policy that works for all Americans.
~ Elizabeth Warren
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The globalization of trade has been tremendously profitable for the largest American corporations. It has opened up opportunity and lifted billions out of poverty around the world.
But U.S. trade and economic policies have not delivered for the middle class. For decades, both Democratic and Republican leaders asserted that free trade was a rising tide that would lift all boats. Great rhetoric, except that the trade deals they negotiated mainly lifted the boats of the wealthy while leaving millions of working Americans to drown.
~ Elizabeth Warren
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Donald Trump campaigned against that rigged system. But after two years in office, it is clear that his economic policies are beyond inept; they are deliberately rigged in favor of his family and his wealthy friends... This president may have campaigned on a promise to put “America first,” but his policies have put the Trump family first and middle-class American families last.
~ Elizabeth Warren
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A new approach should begin with a simple principle: U.S. foreign policy should not prioritize corporate profits over American families. To make sure that globalization benefits middle-class Americans, trade negotiations should be used to curtail the power of multinational monopolies and crack down on tax havens. Workers should be meaningfully represented at the negotiating table, and the resulting agreements should be used to raise and enforce labor standards.
~ Elizabeth Warren
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A small number of major corporations owning and controlling large parts of what we see, hear, read, and buy poses a real threat to the kind democracy we want to be.
~ Bernie Sanders
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The debate surrounding climate change has nothing to do with science.
It has everything to do with money in politics.
~ Bernie Sanders
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The constitution is clear: Congress holds war making powers -- not the president.
U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen is unauthorized, unconstitutional, and must end.
~ Bernie Sanders
And in conjunction with that:
On the same day that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged senators not to "pack up and abandon" the role the U.S. has been playing in Yemen, the Senate voted 63-37 to consider a measure that would do just that, ending U.S. support for Saudi Arabia's military campaign in Yemen.
The bill proposed by Senators BernieSanders, Mike Lee, and Chris Murphy would require President Trump to withdraw U.S. troops in or affecting Yemen within 30 days, though it would not affect troops fighting al Qaeda in Yemen. It's expected to be considered on the floor next week…
~ CBS News, November 28: Senate votes to advance measure to end U.S. support for Saudi war in Yemen
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The question isn’t whether the United States, the wealthiest country in the world, can AFFORD to provide health care for every man, woman, and child. The question is whether we have the moral courage to make a basic human right a priority at the top of our country’s agenda.
~ Bernie Sanders
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The political revolution is about thinking big. It’s not about one election, one candidate, one issue. It’s about creating a movement that will transform the economic, political, social and environmental life of our country.
~ Bernie Sanders
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We are a nation of immigrants. I am proud to be the son of an immigrant. We must establish an immigration policy that stops the criminalization of communities of color and keeps families together while we push for comprehensive immigration reform.
~ Bernie Sanders
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and one last quote for tonight:
“I’m not a scientist, but—“
“—Then shut the fuck up, we’re discussing science.”
~ Michael Green (on twitter)
[Here’s a link to the tweet.)