An unforgettable piece about Bernie Sanders.....
What Bernie Sanders Gave to America Today – theindependentthinker2016
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
TRANSFORMATION 2016
Madelaine,
I am writing you today to express my deep pride in the movement – the political revolution – you and I have created together over the last 15 months. When we began this historic campaign, we were considered fringe players by the political, economic and media establishment. Well, we proved them wrong.
We showed that the American people support a bold, progressive agenda that takes on the billionaire class, that fights for racial, social, economic and environmental justice and that seeks to create a government that works for all of us and not just the big campaign donors.
We mobilized over 13 million voters across the country. We won 23 Democratic primary and caucus contests. We had literally hundreds of thousands of volunteers across the country. And we showed – in a way that can change politics in America forever – that you can run a competitive national grassroots campaign without begging millionaires and billionaires for campaign contributions.
Most importantly, we elevated the critical issues facing our country – issues the establishment has pushed under the rug for too long. We focused attention on the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality in this country and the importance of breaking up the large banks who brought our economy to the brink of collapse. We exposed our horrendous trade policies, our broken criminal justice system, and our people's lack of access to affordable health care and higher education. We fought aggressively to address the crisis of climate change, the need for real comprehensive immigration reform, the importance of developing a foreign policy that values diplomacy over war, and so much more.
We have shown throughout this election that these are issues that are important to voters and that progressive solutions energize people in the fight for real change. What we have accomplished so far is historic – but our work is far from over.
This movement of ours – this political revolution – must continue. We cannot let all of the momentum we have achieved in the fight to transform America be lost. We will never stop fighting for what is right.
It is true that in terms of winning the Democratic nomination, we did come up short. But this election was never about me or any candidate. It was about the powerful coming together of millions of people to take their country back from the billionaire class. That was the strength of our campaign and it will be the strength of our movement going forward in the months and years ahead.
In the coming weeks, I will be announcing the creation of successor organizations to carry on the struggle that we have been a part of these past 15 months. I hope you will continue to be involved in fighting to transform America. Our goal will be to advance the progressive agenda that we believe in and to elect like-minded candidates at the federal, state and local levels who are committed to accomplishing our goals.
In terms of the presidential election this November, there is no doubt that the election of Donald Trump as president would be a devastating blow to all that we are fighting for. His openly bigoted and pro-billionaire campaign could precipitate the same decades-long rightward shift in American politics that happened after the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. That rightward shift after Reagan’s election infected not just politics as a whole but led to the ascendancy of the corporatist wing of the Democratic Party – an era from which we are still recovering.
I cannot in good conscience let that happen.
To have all of the work we have done in elevating our progressive ideals be dashed away by a complete Republican takeover of Washington – a takeover headed by a candidate that demonizes Latinos, Muslims, women, African Americans, veterans, and others – would be unthinkable.
Today, I endorsed Hillary Clinton to be our next president. I know that some of you will be disappointed with that decision. But I believe that, at this moment, our country, our values, and our common vision for a transformed America, are best served by the defeat of Donald Trump and the election of Hillary Clinton.
You should know that in the weeks since the last primary, both campaigns have worked together in good faith to bridge some of the policy issues that divided us during the election. Did we come to agreement on everything? Of course not. But we made important steps forward.
Hillary Clinton released a debt free college plan that we developed together which now includes free tuition at public colleges and universities for working families. This was a major part of our campaign’s agenda and a proposal that, if enacted into law, would revolutionize higher education in this country.
Secretary Clinton has also publicly committed to massive investments in health care for communities across this country that will increase primary care, including mental health care, dental care, and low-cost prescription drug access for an additional 25 million people. Importantly, she has also endorsed the enactment of a so-called public option to allow everyone in this country to participate in a public insurance program. This idea was killed by the insurance industry during consideration of President Obama’s health care program.
During the Democratic platform proceedings in St. Louis and Orlando, we were victorious in including amendments to make it a clear priority of the Democratic Party to fight for a $15 an hour federal minimum wage, expand Social Security, abolish the death penalty, put a price on carbon, establish a path toward the legalization of marijuana, enact major criminal justice reforms, pass comprehensive immigration reform, end for-profit prisons and detention facilities, break up too-big-to-fail banks and create a 21st century Glass-Steagall Act, close loopholes that allow big companies to avoid taxes by stashing their cash in offshore tax havens and use that revenue to rebuild America, approve the most expansive agenda ever for protecting Native American rights and so much more.
All of these progressive policies were at the heart of our campaign. The truth is our movement is responsible for the most progressive Democratic platform in the history of our country. All of that is the direct result of the work that our members of the platform committee did in the meetings and that you have been doing over the last 15 months.
But none of these initiatives will happen if we do not elect a Democratic president in November. None! In fact, we will go backward. We must elect the Democratic nominee in November and progressive Democrats up and down the ballot so that we ensure that these policy commitments can advance.
It is extremely important that we keep our movement together, that we hold public officials accountable and that we elect progressive candidates to office at the federal, state, and local level who will stand with us.
As part of that effort, we still have a tremendous amount of work left to do in the Democratic Rules Committee that will be meeting in the coming weeks. We have to enact the kinds of reforms to the Democratic Party and to the electoral process that will provide us the tools to elect progressive candidates, to allow new voices and new energy into the Party, and to break up the excessive power that the economic and political elites in the Party currently have. As with our fights on the platform committee, that will only be possible if we stand together.
You should know that I intend to be actively campaigning throughout this election season to elect candidates who will stand by our agenda. I hope to see many of you at events from coast to coast.
In conclusion, I again want to express my pride in what we have accomplished together over the last year. But so much more must be done to make our vision a reality. Now more than ever our country needs our movement – our political revolution. As you have throughout this historic campaign, I ask for your ongoing support as we continue through the fall and beyond.
On a personal note, I cannot say with words how appreciative Jane and I are of the kindness, dedication and love we experienced from so many people across the country. We are deeply touched by it and will never, ever forget it.
Forever committed, forever fighting, forever forward,
Bernie Sanders
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Friday, July 1, 2016
Breakdown of Society / Information for alienated children, parents and grandparents/article by Laura L. Carstenson
A recent Time magazine article by Laura L. Carstenson might be of interest to alienated parents and grandparents. It is now obvious to sociologists and psychologists, said Carstenson, that today’s baby boomers “are less likely to participate in community or religious organizations than were their counterparts 20 years ago. They are less likely to be married. They talk with their neighbors less frequently. And it doesn’t stop with participation in communities and neighborhoods: boomers report fewer meaningful interactions with their spouses and partners than did previous generations, and they report weaker ties to family and friends.”
What we’re experiencing, in other words, is a cultural phenomenon in which baby boomers, the generation of late-middle-aged adults who were born in the aftermath of World War Two, are less integrally tied to their parents and society than those of us who were born before the great war. This can be read as a weakening of all societal ties, or perhaps even a complete refusal of that particular generation of people to be intimately related to and responsible for fellow human beings.
Suppose this is a trend, and that the children of baby boomers, those born after 1970, are even less inclined to be obligated to or related to the generations that went before them.
While this possibility is disconcerting to imagine, it may help to explain why many of our alienated children have renounced all responsibility to and for the parents who brought them into the world and spent years nurturing them. Our very culture appears to be shifting into a new mode, one in which some of our children now disown all relationships to us and can casually reject us without feeling any sense of regret or failure. They simply refuse to accept any moral responsibility toward those who gave them life and sheltered them through their early years, as if their relationship to those forebears is a mere accident of time and matter which they can disregard with full impunity. They have forsaken all the old guidelines about love and family and responsibility, leaving them free to live as they please, without any obligation to those who cared and sacrificed so much for them.
It’s a frightening thought, but what we are witnessing is, in some measure at least, the breakdown of society as we have always known and understood it, where people honored their fathers and mothers and continued all their lives to acknowledge an indebtedness to them.
What, if any, are the conclusions we can draw from this enormous change in the younger generations’ sense of meaningful ties to the society that produced them?
For one thing, our own disrespectful sons and daughters are not at all unique in their rejection of us; they are merely doing what an increasing number of sons and daughters are now doing when they separate from their original families with the intention of becoming fully independent of them.
Unless something happens to reverse this tendency, the dissolution of the family will only worsen as time goes by.
By the end of the present century, all human existence on this planet will be vastly different from the way it has always been in the past. We may well be entering a historical phase in which family relationships as we have known them will be completely abandoned in favor of a rootless, unrelated society in which everybody is independent of everybody else, even parents, children, and siblings.
All I can say about this is God help us, for we are on the path to the eventual and complete destruction of the very feelings and understandings which from the dawn of time have made human life beautiful and meaningful.
AGA YouTubes
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Friday, June 10, 2016
ES: Hillary Clinton Pro-War and Imperialism Record in Bullet Points
Among a long list of other things.......
ES: Hillary Clinton Pro-War and Imperialism Record in Bullet Points
ES: Hillary Clinton Pro-War and Imperialism Record in Bullet Points
Monday, June 6, 2016
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Trump Announced Earlier This Year That He Planned to Shut Down Internnet
Latest By Julie Sanders Published on 05/10/2016 – Global Tech Post
Earlier This Year Republican Presidential Candidate, Donald Trump Announced That He Planned To ‘Shut Down’ The Internet Right Across The U.S Due To Security Concerns.
U.S Residents Are Now In A Frenzy To Claim Their Internet Protection Online To Avoid Chaos & Disappointment – Find Out How!
If you live in the U.S and missed the internet ‘shut down’ news report but want to keep your personal data, bank details and even browsing history private, this may be the most important article you read all year!
*Exclusive*
Here’s the deal: Earlier this month we saw thousands of users right across the U.S rush to claim their internet protect plan for only $4.99.
Yes, you read that right.. Instant internet privacy & security for under five bucks! saving you well over $250!
Due to the overwhelming response and demand for the discounted protection plan, trusted provider, SaferWeb, have agreed to extend the promotion until midnight on May 27th, 2016.
We have however been advised that because of this unexpected offer extension, availability is very limited and is on a first come first serve basis.
So, why are they offering the software for at such a reduced rate?
Their Lead Developer, John explains, “Along with Trumps security concerns earlier this year, Samsung had to recall over 600 million handsets due to a major security flaw. Our main goal is pretty simple. We want to help users protect their online activity and personal data should this issue arise again in the future.”
Sunday, May 15, 2016
The Man Box and the Cult of Masculinity | Wake Up World
"The man box is full of proof. Except that there is no man box, the man box can never be filled, and real men don’t need proof......"
CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING
CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING
"I have personally been to a closed door corporate Clinton speech. This is what I experienced." ~ Daily Kos
"A few years ago, I went to an expensive industry conference. It was a conference for the energy industry, and was hosted in a huge corporate conference center. Tickets to the conference were close to 1K per attendee, and it cost between 15K-100K to have a exhibition booth. The conference sprawled across the three biggest halls in the center, and there were thousands of attendees and hundreds of exhibitors. Bill Clinton was the paid speaker on day two of the conference and he spoke for attendees only."
CLICK HERE TO READ ARTICLE
CLICK HERE TO READ ARTICLE
Why Bernie is Going to Win
Bernie is going to win. The writing is on the wall that Hillary is most likely guilty of [at a minimum] unintentional espionage and probably much worse and it looks like an indictment at this point is imminent. There’s no doubt that the democratic establishment is also aware of this inevitability and is beginning to hedge their bets, albeit behind closed doors. It’s only a matter of time before the majority of the DNC begins to realize that Hillary is a liability to the party and once this tipping point occurs, establishment democrats will defect en masse like rats from a sinking ship. But that’s not why Bernie is going to win....
CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING
CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING
Friday, May 13, 2016
Thursday, May 12, 2016
The Root Causes of Codependency and Narcissism?
The Root Causes of Codependency and Narcissism?: There’s an elephant in the room of our conversations on codependency and narcissism, and pretending the elephant is not there has proved costly to couple and family health and relationships, our communities and society at large. // While...
Loving Someone with Borderline Personality Disorder
Loving Someone with Borderline Personality Disorder: Caring about someone with borderline personality disorder (BPD) tosses you on a roller coaster ride from being loved and lauded to abandoned and bashed. Having BPD is no picnic, either. You live in unbearable psychic pain most of the time, and in severe...
Monday, May 9, 2016
Friday, May 6, 2016
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Thank you, MSNBC! Thank you, CNN! For Donald$#@#Trump!
Thank you, MSNBC! Thank you, CNN! For Donald$#@#Trump!
Jeez....no words needed!! Click on above link....
Jeez....no words needed!! Click on above link....
Monday, May 2, 2016
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Pfizer: Notorious prescription price gouger! Sign the Petition!
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Mar 21 (1 day ago)
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All Hat No Cattle: What violence at Trump Rallies?
This link has some hilarious posters! The phrase, "all hat, no cattle" , is appropriate for any of them!
All Hat No Cattle: What violence at Trump Rallies?
All Hat No Cattle: What violence at Trump Rallies?
Friday, March 18, 2016
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Hillary Might Break the Glass Ceiling If She Wins, But She Won't Put a Dent in the Military-Industrial Complex | Alternet
n the lead-up to International Women's Day, we present an excerpt from False Choices: The Faux Feminism of Hillary Clinton. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
Sunday, March 6, 2016
BLOCK PFIZER...outrageous thief and exploitationist!
We urge you to instruct the Treasury Department to update its 2014 Notice or issue a new Notice to prevent Pfizer and other corporate tax dodgers from shirking their responsibility to pay the taxes they owe on their current untaxed offshore profits. Pfizer alone owes an estimated $35 billion on its stash of untaxed offshore profits. That huge sum could be used to pay for investments in education, infrastructure, public safety, renewable energy, medical research, and much more. Mr. President, please stand up for the American people – not corporate tax dodgers!
Pfizer, a notorious price gouger, hopes to dodge paying an estimated $35 billion in taxes by merging with a foreign firm.1
Pfizer’s shareholders are expected to approve this merger by the middle of this year. That means we have a few months to block the enormous tax break Pfizer is after.
Pfizer will still remain based in New York and continue to benefit from all that America offers – legal protections for its lucrative drug patents, $1 billion a year in government purchases from Medicare and Medicaid, and much more. Pfizer will simply stop paying its fair share of U.S. taxes.
President Obama has the power to stop corporate deserters like Pfizer. He can direct his Treasury Department to close the loophole that Pfizer and an increasing number of multinational corporations are using to change their legal address to a tax haven and dodge paying the taxes they owe.
Please sign the petition to President Obama and the U.S. Treasury Department demanding action now. Your signature will be sent directly to the White House. If we reach 100,000 confirmed petition signatures, the White House will respond with a public statement.
American Family Voices
Americans for Tax Fairness
Campaign for America's Future
Corporate Accountability International
Courage Campaign
Daily Kos
Deluge
Economic Policy Institute
Left Action
National People's Action
National Priorities Project
People For the American Way
The Nation
The Other 98%
The Zero Hour
USAction
Watchdog.net
Americans for Tax Fairness
Campaign for America's Future
Corporate Accountability International
Courage Campaign
Daily Kos
Deluge
Economic Policy Institute
Left Action
National People's Action
National Priorities Project
People For the American Way
The Nation
The Other 98%
The Zero Hour
USAction
Watchdog.net
Saturday, March 5, 2016
Stand against Pfizer!!! STOP them from deserting America!!
Petition to Congress: "Stop Pfizer from dodging billions in taxes owed to the American people by passing the Stop Corporate Inversions Act, which would block companies from hiding their profits by moving their tax address, but not their business, overseas." | |
Dear Madelaine,
One of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies makes billions off of U.S. government contracts, develops and sells its drugs here, relies on our roads and workforce – and is about to desert Americans to the tune of billions of dollars.1 American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer recently announced that it would be merging with Allergan, a tiny European rival, in a move designed to move Pfizer’s tax address offshore – while it continues to do business here in the U.S.2 Called a “corporate tax inversion,” the move would help Pfizer dodge taxes while robbing Americans of revenue that could fund infrastructure or education.3 Sen. Elizabeth Warren has had enough. While regulators still have a chance to stop the Pfizer merger, she’s calling on Congress to end corporate tax inversions altogether. The Pfizer case is only the latest outrageous example of corporations refusing to pay their fair share. That is why we are standing with our friends at Americans for Tax Fairness, and Democracy for America, to show that Americans back Sen. Warren and demand an end to corporate tax inversions. Pfizer already is already dodging taxes on nearly $150 billion parked offshore. It pays an effective tax rate of around 7.5%, thanks to a corporate tax code shredded with loopholes – far lower than what ordinary Americans and small businesses pay. It isn’t even planning to change its business model, keeping its headquarters, employees, and customers in the U.S. Pfizer simply wants to change its address and swindle America out of the billions we invested in helping make it successful.4 Tens of thousands of CREDO members have previously demanded strong regulators, who are willing to crack down on mergers, and for the Obama administration to use its executive authority to close tax loopholes. But we also need to demand that Congress pass the Stop Corporate Inversions Act, which would:5
As Sen. Warren puts it, “People like you have to pay your fair share of taxes. So do small businesses that don’t have armies of lawyers to help them stash their money in the Cayman Islands – or magically move their corporate citizenship to Ireland.”6 Pfizer’s actions are so outrageous, it is crucial to force members of Congress to pick a side by making a concerted demand for an end to inversions now. At its simplest, this is about a pharmaceutical industry that is out of control, CEOs chasing short-term profits over long-term growth, government regulators who have gone soft on corporate mega-mergers, and more. In the past, when our leaders decided to allow big companies to bring money back from overseas with lower taxes, Pfizer rewarded America’s generosity by raising its CEO’s pay while laying off more than 10,000 U.S. workers.6 This is about yet another corporation relying on our schools, roads, courts, markets, and customers – then shirking their responsibility when it comes time to paying their fair share in taxes. We have had enough. The time is now for us to demand Congress end tax inversions once and for all, or go on the record supporting tax dodging corporations. Stand with Sen. Warren: Stop Pfizer from deserting America. Click below to sign the petition: Thank you for speaking out, |
Monday, February 29, 2016
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Developing Healthy Detachment by Lucinda Bassett--Inspirational articles from Living Life Fully
| In her best-seller Codependent No More, Melody Beatty calls healthy detachment an act and an art. She believes that "detachment can become a habitual response in the same manner that obsessing, worrying, and controlling become habitual responses--with practice." Healthy detachment is about * allowing others to be themselves. * reversing the need to rescue, save or fix anyone who is ill, dysfunctional, or irrational. * reversing the need to be rescued, saved, or fixed yourself * giving other people the space to be themselves. * disengaging from overly enmeshed or dependent relationships * being willing to accept that you cannot control other people or situations. * developing and maintaining a safe emotional distance from someone to whom you previously gave away your power. * establishing emotional boundaries between you and those who are overly dependent on you. * feeling your own feelings when you see someone else falter, being neither responsible nor guilty. * facing life with a healthy perspective. * recognizing the need to avoid uncontrollable and unchangeable realities. * exercising emotional self-protection to avoid emotional devastation. | ||
| * allowing your loved ones to accept responsibility for their actions as you avoid scolding them. * avoiding being hurt, abused, or taken advantage of by others, especially those with whom you have been overly enmeshed. Now you need to know when you should detach. Melody Beatty suggests we do it "when we can't stop thinking, talking about, or worrying about someone or something; when our emotions are churning and boiling; when we feel like we have to do something about someone because we can't stand it another minute; when we're hanging on by a thread, and it feels like the single thread is frayed; and when we believe we can no longer live with the problem we've been trying to live with." A good rule of thumb is: You need to detach most when it seems the least likely or possible thing to do. This is a very humbling but true realization. Developing inner detachment is no different from developing any other skill. It requires an understanding of detachment and the desire to achieve it, which takes patience, practice and skills. Based on the research of Dr. Bruce Perry, a clinician, researcher, and internationally recognized authority on children in crisis, here are some powerful steps for developing healthy detachment from toxic relationships. Step One: Once you've identified your toxic people and areas of dysfunction, spend time thinking through [these areas] to gain complete understanding about why you are in these toxic relationships and why it is so hard to detach. Step Two: Identify irrational or false beliefs in your toxic relationship that stop you from detaching. Replace those beliefs with healthy, rational, honest ones. Step Three: Identify why you feel hurt or threatened by the relationship. Step Four: Admit that the other person or situation is irrational, unhealthy, toxic, or addictive. No matter what you say or do, you cannot change or control this reality. But the one thing you can change is you. Stop imagining things to be better than they really are. Be honest about what the relationship really is or isn't. Step Five: Map out the reasons why there is no need to feel guilty over being emotionally detached from the relationship. Let go of the emotional "hooks." Step Six: Affirm yourself as someone who deserves healthy, wholesome relationships. See yourself as a good person at home, at work, and in the community. Step Seven: Seek support in therapy, from friends, and from support groups for letting go of your enmeshment in an unhealthy relationship. Step Eight: Meditate and pray for the strength to detach from unhealthy people and situations. Step Nine: Allow no one and nothing to affect your good feelings about yourself. Step Ten: Practice, practice, practice the fine art of letting go. It takes time. Step Eleven: Go back to Step One and go through the steps all over again. Unhealthy attachments come in many different forms--not just to people, but also to the underlying belief systems that urge us to look outside of ourselves for strength and support. These beliefs tell us that we're not strong or capable enough to take care of ourselves. To some degree, within all of us resides a frightened child who still believes we need something or someone more powerful than us, or we could die. This unhealed, scarred child within is looking for a "magic pill"--a person who will take away our fear and vulnerability. | ||
Matt Drudge slams 'media cover-up' of Hillary Clinton's declining health - Washington Times
Drudge Report creator Matt Drudge slammed what he called a “media cover-up” ofHillary Clinton’s “flaring hypothyroidism” after the Democratic presidential candidate suffered another coughing fit on the campaign trail.
Mrs. Clinton, 68, struggled to recover from a coughing fit during a speech at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City Tuesday, perpetuating rumors that the former secretary of state is in poor health. She suffered similar attacks last month during a speech in West Des Moines, Iowa, and during the Benghazi hearings in October. CLICK HERE TO READ ARTICLE
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Developing Healthy Detachment by Lucinda Bassett--Inspirational articles from Living Life Fully
"Now you need to know when you should detach. Melody Beatty suggests we do it "when we can't stop thinking, talking about, or worrying about someone or something; when our emotions are churning and boiling; when we feel like we have to do something about someone because we can't stand it another minute; when we're hanging on by a thread, and it feels like the single thread is frayed; and when we believe we can no longer live with the problem we've been trying to live with."
A good rule of thumb is: You need to detach most when it seems the least likely or possible thing to do.
This is a very humbling but true realization."
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"there were no words, but images flooded every cell in her being ...4 and a half decades!"
