General Discussion
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(20,190 posts)In addition to tweeting these things, I suggest he WRITE LEGISLATION to fix the problems, rally support in Congress and pass some bills. After all, that's his job!
murielm99
(30,741 posts)Doc Sportello
(7,522 posts)Sanders, other Senators write legislation to end U.S military involvement in Yemen:
https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-sanders-leahy-and-warren-introduce-war-powers-resolution-to-end-u-s-involvement-in-saudi-war-in-yemen/
Sanders writes legislation to address income inequality:
https://gomez.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2369
Sanders writes legislation to combat windfall profiteering, rising inequality:
https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-sanders-introduces-legislation-to-reinstate-the-wwii-windfall-profit-tax-to-combat-rising-inequality-inflation-and-corporate-profiteering/
Seems Bernie is doing his job, as you define it. Now if only posters would do the job of research before rushing to falsely condemn someone they claim they love.
TheProle
(2,177 posts)ms liberty
(8,574 posts)Ferrets are Cool
(21,106 posts)Lunabell
(6,080 posts)Bernie bashing is so played. Most reasonable Americans would agree with his positions if they were championed by a large political party...
dchill
(38,493 posts)Evolve Dammit
(16,733 posts)whathehell
(29,067 posts)Tommymac
(7,263 posts)Roevember is coming.
We must pull together.
#GOTV2022
#ROEVEMBER2022
#BLUEWAVE 2022
Doc Sportello
(7,522 posts)Now is not the time to be taking potshots - especially when those potshots are untrue.
1WorldHope
(685 posts)Bernie is the best man in Washington.
krkaufman
(13,435 posts)When having done said research, that they take care to accurately relate the information they've found.
Another example of what NOT to do, from the same poster a bit later in the thread: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217237702#post40
appalachiablue
(41,132 posts)PatrickforB
(14,574 posts)Wall Street fears him. So do the oligarchs.
But consider this NYT article (hope you don't get a paywall): https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/upshot/medicare-advantage-fraud-allegations.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20221009&instance_id=74163&nl=todaysheadlines®i_id=95472539&segment_id=109477&user_id=122c14754c0ebb2d655cb1433556f337
And if the link above doesn't work, try this one: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/upshot/medicare-advantage-fraud-allegations.html
It is about how the capitalist cancer has over half privatized Medicare, and has systematically defrauded the government, and about how its regulatory body is basically a revolving door for people in that industry.
Bottom line, is we are getting ripped off, and we need to elect a bunch MORE Bernies, AOCs, Katie Porters and Elizabeth Warrens, because for every one of them you have a Manchin, a Sinema, or 50 Republican Senators that routinely filibuster EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF LEGISLATION THAT ATTEMPTS TO HELP AMERICANS AND THEIR FAMILIES.
Bernie cannot do it alone, and I know you know this. He has written reams of legislation and he has done a pretty darned good job of getting support in Congress, but bottom line, the Wall Street greed-lizards and the billionaire parasites have billions of dollars in corporate lobby money lined up against Bernie.
I know you know this.
Bernie HAS been doing his job. And a really good one at that. He singlehandedly moved the Overton window to where about 70% of us like the idea of Medicare for all Americans. According to Morning Consult, 55% of voters support Medicare for All, while 32%, including 62% of Republicans, oppose the single-payer plan. About 68% support a public option. THAT is all Bernie.
See, a republic like ours requires us to do some work - keep ourselves informed, abreast of issues, be active in our local politics, and elect people who will do what is in our best interest, not Wall Street's. This is why the 1971 Powell Manifesto (written as a memo at the request of the US Chamber of Commerce) laid out the plan for the whole corporate-funded right-wing propaganda apparatus that has been braying its constant drumbeat (the government is bad, we need to privatize, deregulate, cut taxes, and give all power except the common defense to state governments) since the snake Ronald Reagan allowed the Fairness Doctrine to die back in 1987. Since then.
This is why Bernie can't do it alone. He needs us, and we need to inform ourselves about the issues, the way government works at all levels and vote, vote, vote.
Martin Eden
(12,867 posts)Evolve Dammit
(16,733 posts)TexasBushwhacker
(20,190 posts)I understand no one can do it alone. Cosponsoring counts just as much as sponsoring, but my complaint is about Bernie's efficacy.
You can check every member of Congress's record. Underneath where it says "Legislation sponsored ..." go to the right and click on "Status of Legislation".
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - First elected 2018. 946 pieces of legislation sponsored or cosponsored. Number that became law? 26
https://www.congress.gov/member/alexandria-ocasio-cortez/O000172
Katie Porter - First elected 2018. 1335 pieces of legislation sponsored or cosponsored. Number passed into law? 32
https://www.congress.gov/member/katie-porter/P000618
Elizabeth Warren - First elected 2012. 3665 pieces of legislation sponsored or cosponsored. Number that became law? 73
https://www.congress.gov/member/elizabeth-warren/W000817
Bernie Sanders - First elected 1990. Over 1000 pieces of legislation sponsored or cosponsored. Number passed into law? 3 THREE in 30 years!!!
https://www.congress.gov/member/bernard-sanders/S000033?
Mitch McConnell - who I loath every bit as much as you.
https://www.congress.gov/member/mitch-mcconnell/M000355
As much as I hate him, the dude gets shit done.
Doc Sportello
(7,522 posts)It is very difficult to get significant legislation passed, as Biden found out with BBB. Yes, they got a much smaller version passed, but your metric condemns him for the failure on a bigger package as well as every congressperson who gets "only" a few bills passed. I would say that standard applies to most of them, especially when it comes to game-changing legislation. But you only apply it to progressives and express admiration for McConnell, who works with very different criteria than Democrats. OK.
krkaufman
(13,435 posts)See my parallel reply: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=17239778
Doc Sportello
(7,522 posts)Good work on the research!
krkaufman
(13,435 posts)krkaufman
(13,435 posts)Last edited Mon Oct 10, 2022, 01:11 PM - Edit history (1)
"Bernie Sanders - First elected 1990. Over 1000 pieces of legislation sponsored or cosponsored. Number passed into law? 3 THREE in 30 years!!!
https://www.congress.gov/member/bernard-sanders/S000033? "
You appear to have clicked directly on the "Sponsored" link for Sanders, filtering out all the "Cosponsored" legislation.
Actual sponsored/cosponsored... 7,939
* Sponsored: 1,031
* Cosponsored: 6,908
Became law: 233
---
Somehow managed to get the summaries correct for the other politicians, even bumping one by 200 with some bad math.
AOC: numbers match exactlly
Porter: 1135 s/co-s (inflated by 200); became law: 32 (accurate)
Warren: numbers match exactly
Sanders: ludicrously truncated numbers
Additionally curious is that though the other numbers are exact to the last digit (even the erroneous Porter numbers), you managed not just to truncate all cosponsored legislation from Sanders' totals, but you opted to truncate the count for his sponsored legislation. Why the switch from exactly reporting the quantity of legislation for each of the other candidates to "over 1000" for just Sanders (when Warren and Porter both have numbers that also fit the "over 1000" qualification)?
Doc Sportello
(7,522 posts)And as I wrote, it is not easy for Democrats to get significant legislation passed, especially considering the corporate money awash in Washington.
krkaufman
(13,435 posts)A comparison between the cited politicians filtering to only "Sponsored" legislation that became law:
AOC: 0 -- none past "floor consideration"
Porter: 1
Warren: 1
Sanders: 3
GreenWave
(6,754 posts)I am surprised how many rethugs can freely run for Congress without being called out for being a traitor voting to overturn the results in REPUBLICAN controlled areas.
krkaufman
(13,435 posts)... getting in the first reply and immediately turning the guns on ourselves, rather than those who *should* be targeted per the quoted messages.
Joinfortmill
(14,420 posts)malaise
(268,998 posts)For truth
Orrex
(63,212 posts)The sentiment is passionate and widespread, with lower middle class zealots shrieking against any proposed measure to establish any sort of reasonable taxation of the super-hyper-wealthy.
I have seen the sentiment expressed many times even here, alas. The worship of billionaires is truly our most beloved national pastime.
jaxexpat
(6,828 posts)Clever, these sentient bipeds with their opposing thumbs and perpetual fecundity. They'll invent a deity for every occasion, even a casual meal.
But what's more fun, being the object of their worship or just messing with them? Ask Elon.
erronis
(15,257 posts)The peons want something to follow, to tell them how to think.
They'll even listen to a trumpf or a musk.
I think our species (and most of the phyla associated) are doomed because they don't dig survival. Their brains have been co-opted by messaging. Having a larger cortex doesn't imply having a better set of survival skills. In fact it probably diverts from survival.
jaxexpat
(6,828 posts)Time will tell, I bet.
whathehell
(29,067 posts)of the super rich..Please stop equating the delusions of a minority of Americans with America itself.
.
snot
(10,529 posts)burrowowl
(17,641 posts)LymphocyteLover
(5,644 posts)HeartachesNhangovers
(814 posts)Example: "over 60% of Americans now live paycheck to paycheck". But he never cites a source or shows his work. If he's going to throw data around and expect people to believe it, he should explain where the data came from. When I see unsupported figures, I assume they're made up.
Uncle Joe
(58,362 posts)SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LendingClub Corporation (NYSE: LC), the parent company of LendingClub Bank, America's leading digital marketplace bank, today released findings from the 12th edition of the Reality Check: Paycheck-To-Paycheck research series, conducted in partnership with PYMNTS.com. The Consumer Savings Edition examines the financial lifestyle of U.S. consumers who live paycheck to paycheck, the factors that cause financial distress and the impact of financial stressors on their ability to manage expenses and put aside savings.
Key Findings
- In June 2022, 61% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck, up from a low of 52% in April 2021 and 55% in June 2021.
- Average savings dropped $517 from $11,724 in May 2022 to $10,757 in June 2022.
- The biggest rise in paycheck-to-paycheck consumers was in consumers earning between $100,000 and $150,000, up 11 percentage points from May 2022 to 52% in June 2022.
- The average consumer stores 11% of their savings in either stocks or bonds, yet half of all stockholders reported that their portfolios recently lost value in the last three months.
- An estimated 33.5 million or 13% of U.S. consumers spent more than they earned in the past six months.
(snip)
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-number-of-consumers-living-paycheck-to-paycheck-has-increased-year-over-year-across-all-income-levels-301596552.html#:~:text=Living%20paycheck%20to%20paycheck%20is,and%2055%25%20in%20June%202021.
HeartachesNhangovers
(814 posts)I hope you see my point. Bernie Sanders obviously wants people to like his tweets and to retweet them, and he should do them the courtesy of providing a source. That way, he won't be putting his followers in the position of having to admit "I have no idea where these figures come from. I just re-tweet whatever Bernie says."
jaxexpat
(6,828 posts)But I've got a quicker and just as accurate test for fact quality. If Republicans refute it without evidence, it's an actual true fact. If the teller had an R after the name, it's a cherry picked bit of misinformation or even a plain lie. If it's straight outta Trump, it's a ridiculous made up lie hot off the smooth places of his mind.
But especially, if it's from Bernie, he's had it checked over and over and he'll repeat it over and over even as people think he's lying. Also, if Bernie gets something wrong you'll hear about it from him first.
questionseverything
(9,654 posts)HeartachesNhangovers
(814 posts)numerical assertions with no backup (if any actually exist!). For completeness, I should also check other politician tweeters to see if they are also guilty (allegedly!) of throwing around unsubstantiated figures. Instead, I'm going to go get drunk.
multigraincracker
(32,677 posts)they are slow roasted until tender. Then sliced very thin with light seasoning.
questionseverything
(9,654 posts)PatrickforB
(14,574 posts)Beastly Boy
(9,345 posts)Thanks for siding with me, Bernie!