OPINIONS BASED ON FACTS (OBOF)
THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (TYMHM)
YEAR ONE
YEAR TWO
YEAR THREE
YEAR FOUR
YEAR FIVE
YEAR SIX
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OBOF YEAR SIX INDEX
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OBOF TYMHM Vol. 16 No. 1
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Jan. 03, 2016
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OBOF TYMHM Vol. 16 No. 2
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Jan. 25, 2016
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Agenda
1. FROM FLOYD
2. Bernie Sanders Rockets to First Place Iowa
3.
Hillary
& Bernie - The Credibility Gap
4.
The
Most Critically Important Issue in this Election; Taking our Country Back
5.
Bernie for President
2016
6. Bernie Sanders Raised $33 Million in Campaign
Donations Last Quarter
FROM FLOYD
GOOD
NEWS
My Son has been given clearance to start
walking and he has been able to come to my house and correct the problems with
my computer. Better, and more news
coming. It sure is good to see him getting
around again.
~~~
Bernie Sanders Rockets to First
Place Iowa
By Alexandra
Jacobo -
January 23, 2016
| News Report
It’s great news for progressives – Bernie Sanders has
pulled ahead of Hillary Clinton in Iowa less
than two weeks before the Iowa
According to a new poll released by CNN on Thursday, 51% of
polled voters would vote for Bernie Sanders, with only 43% in support of
Hillary Clinton.
The poll was conducted via telephone with a sample size
of 2,002 Iowa
This is a huge shift for Sanders, who was lagging behind Clinton Clinton
Sanders
continues to stay ahead of Clinton in New Hampshire, with 60% to Clinton
~~~
Hillary & Bernie - The
Credibility Gap
By Robert
Borosage -
January 23, 2016
| Op-Ed
Panic now grips the Clinton New Hampshire and closing in Iowa
But the question isn’t what’s wrong with Bernie — he’s
soaring beyond all expectations. The
question is what’s wrong with Hillary?
She has universal name recognition, unparalleled experience,
the support of the big money and the political gatekeepers, the Hollywood
glitz, the best political operatives, the pollsters, the ad makers, the
establishment policy mavens, and political press coverage. Having learned from 2008, she’s got the best
ground operation in the history of Iowa
It’s great news for progressives – Bernie Sanders has
pulled ahead of Hillary Clinton in Iowa less
than two weeks before the Iowa
According to a new poll released by CNN on Thursday, 51% of polled
voters would vote for Bernie Sanders, with only 43% in support of Hillary
Clinton.
The poll was conducted via telephone with a sample size
of 2,002 Iowa
This is a huge shift for Sanders, who was lagging behind Clinton
Sanders success may be attributed to his recent
announcements of his healthcare plan “Medicare for All” and his plans for breaking up Wall Street and the “too
big to fail” banks. In fact, Clinton
Sanders continues to stay ahead of Clinton in New Hampshire, with 60% to Clinton
Already the inevitable Clinton
Inevitably, any Clinton Clinton
Hillary’s Unilateral
Disarmament
From its start, the Clinton Washington , D.C. on the eve of the Iowa
Sanders, of course, made a different decision. He has condemned Super PACs, big money and
secret contributions. He has funded his
campaign with record numbers of small donations raised largely over the social
media. He doesn’t have anything like a
traditional campaign fundraising operation. That independence gives both force
and integrity to his core message that it is time to take back our democracy
from the “billionaire class,” the entrenched interests, and the Wall Street
banksters.
Clinton argues that she favors fundamental campaign
finance reform, but she can’t “unilaterally disarm.” Deep pocket Republicans
are amassing huge war chests to assault her. She has to be armed with big money to defend
herself.
But in doing so, Clinton Clinton
The result is corrosive. When Clinton
When Sanders invoked the $600,000 Clinton
Moreover, Sanders has demonstrated that it is possible to
generate enough true popular excitement to raise enough money from small
donations to be financially competitive at a presidential level. He didn’t “unilaterally disarm;” he armed
himself in a manner consistent with his program. And every attack by the Clinton
In the general election, this might not matter as much.
Every Republican — except Donald Trump, the self-funding billionaire — is
enmeshed in the same pursuit of big money. But in the primary, as Clinton
Credibility and
Electability
In his brilliant new book, America Ascendent, Stanley
Greenberg has tracked the emerging majority that Obama
helped forge of the young, single women, and people of color whom he projects
will constitute a majority of the electorate in 2016. These voters are looking for change. They fare among the worst in the modern
economy and are the most supportive of the activist government and progressive
reforms championed by Bernie Sanders and, yes, by Hillary Clinton.
(Note their rankings on the CAF Candidate
Scorecard)
But, Greenberg argues, these voters are the most
skeptical of whether government will serve them in the end. They understand that the rich and powerful
have rigged the rules, that when money talks, politicians listen. Corruption isn’t a bug, it’s a feature of our
big money politics.
Greenberg’s polling for Women’s Voices, Women’s Vote and
other groups suggest that before they give a reform agenda a hearing, these
voters must see a candidate who is credibly committed to political reform — to
curbing big money in politics, to cleaning out the stables in Washington, to
making government serve the many and not just the wealthy and wired few. As Greenberg concludes, “When voters
hear the [political] reform narrative first, they are dramatically more open to
the middle-class economic narrative that calls for government activism in
response to America
This helps explain the remarkable excitement that Sanders
has generated among the young. He passionately champions popular big reforms —
tuition free college, a $15 minimum wage, Medicare for all, a bold climate
change agenda, breaking up the big banks and more. And his integrity and credibility are affirmed
by his commitment to funding his campaign with the support of millions of
citizens, not the big money of special interests.
As Greg Sargent of the Washington
Post notes, Hillary’s
credibility gulf also undermines her argument about “electability.” Democrats have a natural majority among the
electorate, but only if they turn out. Even
the Clinton Iowa
Hillary Clinton is a formidable candidate who has
assembled a strong campaign. She will
remain formidable even if Sanders exceeds expectations by doing well in Iowa and winning in New Hampshire Clinton
~~~
The Most Critically Important Issue in this Election; Taking our
Country Back
By Michael Payne
-
January 17, 2016
| Op-Ed
Nothing is more important than the need for the American
people to take their government back; to once again make this a government “Of,
by and for the people.” Sadly we have seen our democracy transformed into an
oligarchy in which the rich and powerful, together with the masters of
Corporatism, have taken control over this country and its government.
Over the past several decades this ultra-powerful entity
has placed a vice-like grip on this government. It, thanks to the U.S.
Let’s see how this corporate grip on our government is
damaging this country. What we have here
is a powerful alliance between Corporate America America
For example, in poll after poll, Americans are quite
clear about what they believe that their government should do. First, they badly want this government to
create millions of more jobs for America
Americans are sick and tired of constant war and watching
massive amounts of taxpayer dollars pumped into the military machine. Iraq
and Afghanistan were
disastrous and now the U.S.
government is caught up in another quagmire in Syria U.S. military presence all over the world, with
elite U.S.
Here is one of the major conclusions that this excellent
article presents: “Investing in enduring bases rather than diplomatic,
political, and humanitarian efforts to reduce conflict across the region
(meaning the Greater Middle East in
particular) is likely to do little more than ensure enduring war. Wise words to
be sure but they will fall on deaf ears of those who continue to facilitate
this government’s agenda of war.
This controlling corporate/government alliance places an
enormous emphasis on expanding U.S.
military presence across the world but at the expense of America America America ’s creative and innovative abilities that
once produced great achievements and made America
The people want to see an appropriate portion of those
funds shifted from the military into domestic needs, for example, those such as
repairing and improving our crumbling national infrastructure and our education
system.
Americans want to see steps taken to lessen this
country’s dependency on petroleum and begin the process of developing alternate
sources of energy, primarily solar power. That’s not going to happen anytime soon
because the giant petroleum corporations who are a major part of this alliance;
they say NO!
Bernie Sanders continually talks about the massive
inequality of wealth and income between those at the top and the
rest of Americans, which is hurting this country and this society in so many
ways. Congress clearly has the power to deal with this inequality in many
different ways but chooses to totally ignore it. And why? Well, because the wealthiest Americans and the
masters of corporatism don’t want any part of it and so the Congress does what it
is told.
The majority of the people are not pleased with the sad
state of the electoral process in this country. They see politicians continually elected who
then go to Congress and, instead of representing the interests of the country
and its people, they answer only to those who control the campaign funds that
determine the outcome of most elections. That’s deplorable but it’s how the system
operates and the people are helpless to do anything about it.
So what in the world can the American people do to deal
with this situation; how can they reverse this direction, what measures can
they use, what process can they follow
to turn it around?
The most effective way to deal with this situation would
be to determine how to reverse the Citizens United decision and ban those
massive corporate campaign contributions. The best one would be through the Supreme
Court reversing that decision. The other would necessitate a Constitutional
Amendment, a virtually impossible endeavor. However, neither of these options
will ever materialize as long as the current court is controlled by five
Republican-appointed justices who will block any attempt to do it.
So what to do? Simply
this; that court’s makeup would have to be reconstituted into one that would be
very receptive to taking the steps to initiate that reversal.
Let’s look at the ages of the 9 justices on the court to
determine how long it could be before one or more would retire or might die in
office.
Antonin Scalia – 79
Anthony Kennedy – 79
Ruth Bader Ginsburg – 82
Clarence Thomas – 67
Steven Breyer – 77
John Roberts – 60
Samuel Alito – 65
Sonia Sotomayor – 61
Elena Kagan – 55
That indicates that there are 3 or 4 of these justices
who would probably need to be replaced in the next one or two terms of the next
president.
Of all the current candidates running in the presidential
primaries in both parties how many of them even consider this to be a deep and
serious issue and problem for this country? The only one that consistently brings it up is
Bernie Sanders as one of his main talking points. Hillary Clinton does not emphasize it as much
but indications are that she would make this reversal of Citizens United a
prime objective in her administration.
Therefore, we can conclude that of all the candidates of
both parties who are currently in the running to become the next president only
two, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, would appoint new justices who would,
undoubtedly, be favorable to reversing Citizens United.
As far as the Republican candidates go, the idea that any
one of them would ever even consider initiating steps to reverse that decision
is unthinkable. So, the natural
conclusion for those who are very intent on taking their country back and
restoring its democracy will call for them to think deeply about voting for
either Clinton or Sanders. While I
certainly am not a supporter of Clinton
Bernie Sanders talks about the major banks that are “too
big to fail”, those who were the primary cause of the 2007-2008 recession, who
are masters of using clever scams and schemes to fleece the American people. Banks that have been receiving ongoing huge
loans from the Federal Reserve Bank at near zero % rates and who have not
appropriately used the funds to make loans to businesses; and, instead, have
used a good portion of them for their own purposes, including buybacks of their
stocks.
The collusive nature of these banks and the government
was evident when these banks who largely caused the 2007-2008 recession cried
out for government to help them when they were in deep trouble. Thereafter the U.S.
In this upcoming presidential election it’s imperative
that the vast majority of Americans join the movement whose chief objective is
to take our government back; to make it “A government of, by and for the people
and to restore our democracy. And the
only way to accomplish that formidable task is to break up the powerful
corporate/government alliance that stands in the way.
Michael Payne is an
independent progressive activist. His writings deal with social, economic,
political and foreign policy issues; and especially with the great dangers
involved with the proliferation of perpetual war, the associated defense
industry, and the massive control that Corporate America holds over this
government and our election process; all which are leading this nation down the
road to eventual financial ruin if the conditions are not reversed. He is a graduate of Northwestern
University , Evanston ,
Illinois and a U.S.
~~~
Bernie for
President 2016
Dear Floyd,
“I like to give on a scale where I can see impact...” - David Koch
Earlier this year, a number of Republicans flew to California
It’s worth
taking a moment to ask the question, who are the Koch brothers, and what do
they want?
The Koch brothers are the second-wealthiest family in America
Owning the second-largest private company in America
It doesn’t appear that they will be satisfied until they
are able to control the entire political process.
This issue isn't personal for me. I
don't know the Koch brothers, but I do know this. They have advocated for destroying the federal
programs that are critical to the financial and personal health of middle class
Americans.
Now, most Americans know that the Koch brothers are the
primary source of funding for the Tea Party, and that’s fine. They know that they favor the outright repeal
of the Affordable Care Act, and that’s their opinion. It’s wrong, but that’s fine as well.
But it is not widely known that David Koch once ran for
Vice President of the United
States of America
- “We favor
the repeal of the fraudulent, virtually bankrupt and increasingly
oppressive Social Security system.”
- “We favor
the abolition of Medicare and Medicaid programs.”
- “We
support repeal of all laws which impede the ability of any person to find
employment, such as minimum wage laws…”
- “We
support the eventual repeal of all taxation.”
In 1980, David Koch’s presidential ticket received one
percent of the vote from the American people. And rightly so. His views were so extreme they were rejected
completely out of hand by the American people.
But fast forward almost thirty-six years, and one of the
most significant realities of modern politics is just how successful David Koch
and the like-minded billionaires attending his retreat have been at moving the
Republican Party to the extreme right. The ideas above that were dismissed as
downright crazy in 1980 are now part of today’s mainstream Republican thinking.
The Koch
brothers, and billionaires like them, have bought up the private sector and now
they’re buying up the government. It’s
up to us to put a stop to them, but it will require all of us standing together
with one voice on this issue.
Your donation to our campaign today is a contribution
towards the dismantling of a corrupt system of campaign finance held in place
by the Koch brothers and their billionaire friends:
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue
Express, your donation will go through immediately:
Here’s the truth: The economic and political systems of
this country are stacked against ordinary Americans. The rich get richer and use their wealth to
buy elections, and I believe that we cannot change this corrupt system by
taking its money. If we’re serious about
creating jobs, health care for all, climate change, and the needs of our
children and the elderly, we must be serious about campaign finance reform.
So far in this election, less than four hundred families
have contributed the majority of all the money raised by all the candidates and
super PACs combined. According to media reports, one family will spend more
money in this election than either the Democratic or Republican Parties.
This is not democracy. This is oligarchy.
Our job is not to think small in this moment. The current system of campaign finance in this
country is utterly corrupt. That is one
of the reasons I am so proud of how we have funded our campaign — over 2.5 million
contributions from working Americans giving less than $30 at a time. But our campaign is unique.
We must pass a constitutional amendment to overturn
Citizens United, and I will not nominate any justice to the Supreme Court who
does not make it abundantly clear that she or he will overturn that decision. We need legislation that requires wealthy
individuals and corporations who make large campaign contributions to disclose
where their money is going. And more
importantly, I believe we need to move towards the public funding of elections.
Our vision for American democracy should be a nation in
which all people, regardless of their income, can participate in the political
process, can run for office without begging for contributions from the wealthy
and the powerful.
Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be in New York City
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders Raised $33 Million in Campaign Donations Last Quarter
By Andrew Emett
-
January 3, 2016
During the final quarter of 2015, Sen. Bernie Sanders managed to raise $33 million in campaign donations. With over a million individual donors making more than 2.5 million contributions, Sanders’ campaign shattered President Obama’s previous record of more than 2.2 million contributions in 2011.
“This people-powered campaign is revolutionizing American politics,” said Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager. “What we are showing is that we can run a strong, national campaign without a super PAC and without depending on millionaires and billionaires for their support. We are making history and we are proud of it.”
Although Sanders’ campaign fell $4 million short of Hillary Clinton’s $37 million contributions received last quarter, Sanders’ supporters are able to donate again because most have not reached their campaign contribution limit. Unlike Sanders’ campaign,
GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson reported raising $23 million last quarter, while Sen. Ted Cruz only raised $20 million. Even after refusing to accept any support from super PACs, Sanders’ campaign ended up raising $72.8 million for 2015.
“Bernie is the only candidate generating the kind of broad-based enthusiasm and excitement that Democrats must have in order to raise funds for a general election campaign and keep the White House and make gains in Congress,” Weaver said.
Unlike
Andrew Emett is a staff writer for
NationofChange. Andrew is a Los Angeles-based reporter exposing political and
corporate corruption. His interests include national security, corporate abuse,
and holding government officials accountable. Andrew's work has appeared at
WeAreChange, TravelersToday, The Joy Camp, and ForceChange.
~~~
If the good Lord is willing and the creek don't rise, I'll try to get
more to you. I am still in hopes of
getting my computer fixed before long and that would make it much easer to get
info to you,
God Bless You All
&
God Bless the United
States of America
Floyd
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