Democrats Abroad In Argentina For Bernie Sanders

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Dear Janis,

When you're an outsider, sometimes you have to try something a little crazy to break in. Yesterday I did something that I wasn't sure would work — I made an offer that for a limited time, a new contribution to our campaign would get you a copy of my book, Outsider in the White House.

Selling merchandise and calling it a donation isn't crazy. It's par for the course
 
Ed Rooney: Thanks so much for point #4. While I see hatred on Yahoo.com against Mexican "illegals", they never mention that more than 2 million Mexican farmers have been put out of biz by US agricultural subsidies and dumping in Mexico.
 
I hope that Bernie Sanders does well in the very early primaries as has been alluded to here ! He strikes me as being the best candidate, albeit I fear much of the US public might write him off as too Socialist and perhaps too old. I don´t know what to make of the Republican candidates. I personally find it hard to imagine the current front runners (Trump, Carsons, Cruz) as standing up to heavy scrutiny. It´s going to be interesting !
 
I very much agree with Bernie Sanders' letter to Janis regarding the high rate of incarceration in US! This is especially true regarding marijuana offences. Legalization and regulation (as Canada is about to do) will reduce the number of needless incarcerations and weaken violent drug cartels.
 
Janis -

If you watched last night’s debate, there was a lot of talk about war in places like Iraq and Syria, but very little about how to care for the men and women who serve after they return home.

Today is Veterans Day — a fact that went unmentioned during the Republican debate. And that’s important, because the truth is that while planes and tanks and guns are a cost of war, so too is taking care of the service members who use those weapons and fight our battles.

Last year, as chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, I authored and passed the most comprehensive veterans’ legislation in decades, reaching across the aisle to team up with Sen. John McCain. Amid reports of unacceptable wait times and calls to dangerously privatize veterans health care, we actually authorized funding for 27 new medical facilities and hired more doctors and nurses to care for the surging number of veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After two wars over 14 years, never before have so few been asked to do so much for our country. I voted against the Iraq War, which I think will go down as one of the worst foreign policy blunders we have ever seen, but I have never wavered from my commitment to caring for the women and men who served, and continue to serve, in that conflict.

You may not have heard much about it from the Republican candidates last night, but how we care for our veterans is going to be a central issue this election. The Koch-connected Concerned Veterans for America is prepared to spend untold millions of dollars supporting the privatization of veterans’ health care. And almost every Republican candidate running for president supports their plan to place the profits of private corporations over the promise made to our veterans.

I believe we should take a different approach — that we should stand with the majority of veterans who believe we should continue strengthening the VA. Now I want to know that you’re with us.

Sign my petition if I can count on you to help me continue fighting against the Koch-connected plans to privatize veterans’ health care.

This issue is very important to me and it’s why I am so happy to receive so many letters from veterans who appreciate my work on their behalf.

People like Hilary from Polk County, Iowa who wrote to our campaign saying, “Bernie Sanders is the only candidate with a track record of fighting for veterans and veterans' rights. I know as president he won't send my brothers and sisters in arms into needless wars and for those that have served our country, he will ensure that they have access to the benefits and health care they earned through their service.”

And Peter from San Diego, “Retired Navy. Like [Bernie’s] stand on taking care of veterans. If you can't afford to take care of veterans you can't afford to fight a war.”

And also Jack from Massachusetts, “I'm a disabled Marine combat veteran, Bernie has always supported veterans with deeds and not just hot air. I'd love to have a President like that.”

I will always fight for Hilary, Peter, and Jack. And if we all stand together, we can protect and strengthen the care we provide for everyone who has served our country.

Sign my petition opposing Republican plans to privatize veterans’ health care.

The United States has spent trillions of dollars sending our young men and women to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. Surely we can come together to ensure the Department of Veterans Affairs has the resources needed to care for them when they return.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders
 
Janis -

There’s still a bit of time left to go before the end of the debate, but Bernie just delivered the defining moment of the evening.

The moderator asked about the Affordable Care Act, and Senator Sanders talked about how the legislation was a step in the right direction, but that we must go further. Bernie said, “I want to end the international embarrassment of the United States being the only country in the industrialized world that does not guarantee health care as a right and not a privilege.”

The crowd went nuts — one of the only times in this debate that happened.

If you believe, like Bernie does, that this is not the time to think small — that what is required in this moment is a political revolution that takes our democracy back from establishment politicians and the billionaire class buying our elections and profiting off our health— then make a contribution before Bernie steps off the stage.

Here’s the truth: this campaign is not a soap opera or a football game. It’s about the American people and the ideas and proposals that effectively address their needs.

In solidarity,

Jeff Weaver
Campaign Manager
Bernie 2016

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I just walked off the debate stage and I am more certain than ever: we are going to win.

Our country is at a moment of truth. The middle class is disappearing and more than half of new income is going to the top 1%. The rich are getting richer and using their wealth to buy elections. And the American people are looking for an alternative to endless war that has destabilized the Middle East and given rise to new threats.

This moment requires us to think differently about our challenges. The same old establishment ideas won’t do. But charting a new course will require the active participation of millions of Americans in every community in our country.

So I need to ask you directly:

Make a contribution to our campaign today as a way of saying you have had ENOUGH of the billionaire class buying our elections.

The billionaire class has never dealt with a threat like ours. And I am sure that if we stand together, we will win.

Chip in tonight to stand with our movement.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders
 
Janis -

My father Eli immigrated to America from Poland in 1921 after World War I at the age of 17. He was not a refugee fleeing war, although much of his family later became victims of the Holocaust. He came to America looking to make a better life. He never made a lot of money, but it didn’t matter because he was able to start a family and send his two sons to college. That meant the world to him and he loved this country.

While my father came here as an immigrant, many have also come as refugees fleeing war, oppression and violence. That's why I opposed the call of some to turn away unaccompanied children who showed up on our borders from Latin America. We must not allow the horrific violence we have seen in France and elsewhere to turn us from our historic role as a haven for the oppressed.

In terms of the Syrian refugee situation we are now facing, now is not the time for us to succumb to racism and bigotry. In this moment, it is particularly important that we not allow ourselves to be divided by the anti-immigrant hysteria that Republican presidential candidates are ginning up.

When hundreds of thousands of people have lost everything and have nothing left but the shirts on their backs, we should not turn our backs on these refugees escaping violence in the Middle East. Of course we have to investigate the backgrounds of people coming into the country — and we will — but to suggest that we would even turn away orphans is incredible.

Sign my petition to say you support continuing the refugee program that promises to resettle 10,000 Syrians, mostly women and children, who are escaping violence in their home country.

The rhetoric and fear mongering about these refugees from some Republicans running for President is abhorrent and has no place in our political discourse.

Donald Trump has not just called for keeping out Syrian refugees, he also said he thinks it's a good idea to create a national database of all Muslims in America. Meanwhile, Ben Carson said some Syrian refugees are like "rabid dogs" and referred to the rest of Syrian refugees as just "dogs." This disgusting rhetoric cannot be tolerated.

Other Republicans have suggested rounding up existing refugees and deporting them. And yesterday afternoon, the House of Representatives voted on a plan that would make it near impossible for the United States to continue our Syrian refugee program.

This is not what America stands for.

Syrians and other refugees from the Middle East are escaping unspeakable horrors. To get to our country, refugees already go through a vigorous vetting program by the FBI, National Counterterrorism Center, Homeland Security and the State Department. The process takes almost two years and refugees from Syria face additional scrutiny.

We should continue our program to provide Syrians fleeing violence with the opportunity for a new life. I hope you’ll join me to stand together to admit Syrian refugees. Sign my petition here:

https://go.berniesanders.com/support-refugees

Thank you for standing with me and making your voice heard on this important issue.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders
 
Killer Mike introduces Bernie Sanders in Atlanta

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmtAsnS42_0
 
Dear Janis -

Here is the very sad truth: it is very difficult for the American people to keep up with the mass shootings we seem to see every day in the news. Yesterday, San Bernardino. Last week, Colorado Springs. Last month, Colorado Springs again. Newtown, Aurora, Tucson, Isla Vista, Virginia Tech, Navy Yard, Roseburg, and far too many others.

The crisis of gun violence has reached epidemic levels in this country to the point that we are averaging more than one mass shooting per day. Now, I am going to tell you something that most candidates wouldn’t say: I am not sure there is a magical answer to how we end gun violence in America. But I do know that while thoughts and prayers are important, they are insufficient and it is long past time for action.

That’s why I want to talk to you today about a few concrete actions we should take as a country that will save lives.

Add your name in support of the following commonsense measures Congress can take to make our communities safer from gun violence.

1. We can expand background checks to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the dangerously mentally ill. This is an idea that over 80% of Americans agree with, even a majority of gun owners.

2. & 3. We can renew the assault weapons ban and end the sale of high capacity magazines — military-style tools created for the purpose of killing people as efficiently as possible.

4. Since 2004, over 2,000 people on the FBI’s terrorist watch list have legally purchased guns in the United States. Let’s close the “terror gap” and make sure known foreign and domestic terrorists are included on prohibited purchaser lists.

5. We can close loopholes in our laws that allow perpetrators of stalking and dating violence to buy guns. In the United States, the intended targets of a majority of our mass shootings are intimate partners or family members, and over 60% of victims are women and children. Indeed, a woman is five times more likely to die in a domestic violence incident when a gun is present.

6. We should close the loophole that allows prohibited purchasers to buy a gun without a completed background check after a three-day waiting period expires. Earlier this year, Dylann Roof shot and killed nine of our fellow Americans while they prayed in a historic church, simply because of the color of their skin. This act of terror was possible because of loopholes in our background check laws. Congress should act to ensure the standard for ALL gun purchases is a completed background check. No check — no sale.

7. It’s time to pass federal gun trafficking laws. I support Kirsten Gillibrand’s Hadiya Pendleton and Nyasia Pryear-Yard Gun Trafficking & Crime Prevention Act of 2015, which would “make gun trafficking a federal crime and provide tools to law enforcement to get illegal guns off the streets and away from criminal networks and street gangs.”

8. It’s time to strengthen penalties for straw purchasers who buy guns from licensed dealers on behalf of a prohibited purchaser.

9. We must authorize resources for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study and research the causes and effects of gun violence in the United States of America.

10. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are over 21,000 firearm suicides every year in the United States. It’s time we expand and improve our mental health capabilities in this country so that people who need care can get care when they need it, regardless of their level of income.

Add your name in support of these commonsense measures Congress can take to make our communities safer from gun violence.

Earlier today, the U.S. Senate voted against non-binding legislation to expand background checks, close the “terror gap,” and improve our mental health systems. I voted for all three, although each of them came up short.

They failed for the same reason the bipartisan Manchin-Toomey legislation failed in 2013, just months after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School: because of the financial political power of a gun lobby that has bought candidates and elections for the better part of the last several decades.

In 2014 alone, the gun lobby spent over $30 million on political advertising and lobbying to influence legislators in Congress and state capitals across the country. And just last month, it was reported that the Koch brothers made a $5 million contribution to the NRA.

Americans of all political stripes agree. It's time to address the all too common scene of our neighbors being killed. It's time to pass a common sense package of gun safety legislation.

With your help, that's what we’ll do when I’m president.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders
 
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