Bernie Sanders: Stimulus Check for working class or NO DEAL

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-Dn28Q1jyw&ab_channel=ChristoAivalis

Supreme Court DENIES Trump and Mike Kelly Pennsylvania Case; even Alito REJECTED him

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReEcev_7rhQ&ab_channel=ChristoAivalis

Dereliction Of Duty -- Dylan Ratigan SPEECHLESS at Feckless Democrats

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4In4xThqxiw&ab_channel=TheJimmyDoreShow

BREAKING - More Repubs Than Dems Vote Against Military Budget

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkBuzjF25Ak&ab_channel=TheJimmyDoreShow

'All About the Grift': Trump Reportedly Raises Over $150 Million for Non-Existent 'Election Defense Fund'

"Small donors who give to Trump thinking they are financing an 'official election defense fund' are in fact helping pay down the Trump campaign's debt or funding his post-presidential political operation."


Jake Johnson, staff writer



https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/12/01/all-about-grift-trump-reportedly-raises-over-150-million-non-existent-election




After bombarding supporters daily with emails blaring lies about the election and soliciting donations to overcome virtually non-existent voter fraud, President Donald Trump's political operation has reportedly raised more than $150 million since November 3, a staggering windfall that is being funneled into a Republican joint fundraising committee and a Trump PAC established to fuel his post-White House activities.

While the Trump team's aggressive emails—sometimes as many as 15 per day—purport to be raising money for an "Official Election Defense Fund" set up to finance the president's flailing legal effort to overturn the election, the fund does not exist.


Observers said the post-election fundraising initiative has all the markings of a shameless grift, with much of the money likely going toward paying off the Trump campaign's debts, financing events at the president's properties, and other purposes. The Post noted that "there are very few limitations on how money going to" the Trump leadership PAC can be spent."There is no such account," the Washington Post reported late Monday. "The fundraising requests are being made by the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, a joint fundraising committee that raises money for the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee. As of November 18, that committee also shares its funds with Save America, a new leadership PAC that Trump set up in early November and which he can use to fund his post-presidency activities."

Brendan Fischer, director of federal reform at the Campaign Legal Center (CLC), told the Post that "small donors who give to Trump thinking they are financing an 'Official Election Defense Fund' are in fact helping pay down the Trump campaign's debt or funding his post-presidential political operation."

"The average donor who gives in response to Trump's appeal for funds to 'stop the fraud' likely doesn't realize that their money is actually retiring Trump's debt or funding his leadership PAC," Fischer said, pointing out that "only bigger donors who've maxed-out to Trump's campaign or the RNC will see any portion of their contribution go to dedicated recount or legal funds."


Buried in the fine print of the early barrage of Trump's post-election fundraising emails, as Common Dreams reported last month, was language informing those who read far enough that a percentage of donations would go toward "general election debt retirement."

"According to the fine print in the latest fundraising appeals," the Post reported, "75% of each contribution to the joint fundraising committee would first go toward the Save America leadership PAC and the rest would be shared with the party committee, to help with the party's operating expenses. This effectively means that the vast majority of low-dollar donations under the current agreement would go toward financing the president’s new leadership PAC, instead of efforts to support the party or to finance voting lawsuits."

News of the Trump operation's massive fundraising haul came shortly after two additional battleground states, Wisconsin and Arizona, certified President-elect Joe Biden's victories there and dealt yet another blow to the president's disastrous court fight.

In a tweet late Monday, Rob Flaherty, digital director for the Biden campaign, called Trump's "election defense" fundraising ploy a "plain and simple grift."

'Looking at You, Senate Majority Leader': 87 Million Could Lose Paid Leave Without Urgent Action From Congress

"It's very America for us to finally require paid sick leave and family leave during the pandemic only to let it lapse before the pandemic is over."


Jake Johnson, staff writer










https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/30/looking-you-senate-majority-leader-87-million-could-lose-paid-leave-without-urgent














Without legislative action from a divided lame-duck Congress before the end of the year, nearly 90 million public and private-sector workers in the U.S. could soon lose federal paid sick and family leave benefits that have helped prevent tens of thousands of coronavirus infections.

The federal paid leave benefits mandated under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) are set to expire at the end of December without an extension from Congress, which—thanks in large part to obstruction by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)—has made little progress toward another relief package in recent months despite spiking Covid-19 cases and a worsening economic crisis.

As Politico explained on Sunday:


Families First, a relief package enacted in March, required many employers to provide workers with two weeks of coronavirus-related sick leave at full pay and up to 12 weeks of family and medical leave to care for family members at two-thirds pay. Researchers estimate this covered half the U.S. workforce.

But those provisions—which cost about $105 billion—are slated to expire at the end of the year... meaning that as many as 87 million public and private-sector workers could be deprived of the benefit.

"It's very America for us to finally require paid sick leave and family leave during the pandemic only to let it lapse before the pandemic is over," quipped Vox's Dylan Scott.

Even the limited paid sick leave mandated under the FFCRA—which denied benefits to workers at companies with more than 500 employees—prevented an estimated 400 coronavirus cases each day per state in the U.S., according to research published last month in the journal Health Affairs.




Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), whose attempt to amend the FFCRA to provide paid sick and family leave to all U.S. employees and independent contractors was blocked by Senate Republicans, warned of "disaster" if Congress lets the benefits expire at the end of the year.

"If you do not have paid sick leave, if you cannot take work off, you go to work when you're sick," Murray told HuffPost in a phone interview last week. "One of the things we know people need to do is to isolate themselves if they're exposed. That's how you stop the spread. But if you do not have any paid sick leave, you're going to go to work. You need to put food on the table. You need to pay your rent."

In a tweet late Sunday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) echoed Murray, declaring, "No worker should have to make the unacceptable choice of going to work sick or losing a paycheck."

The HEROES Act, passed by the Democrat-controlled House in May but blocked by McConnell, would extend the paid sick and family leave benefits through December of next year and expand the programs to cover workers left out by the FFCRA.


In addition to the expiration of paid sick and family leave, around 12 million Americans are set to lose unemployment insurance the day after Christmas if Congress doesn't extend the crucial lifeline, according to a report by The Century Foundation.

"Many struggling Americans will lose access to aid at the end of December," Accountable.US, a government watchdog group, tweeted Monday. "The Senate is past due on spending measures and more stimulus to help those hit hardest by the pandemic... looking at you, Senate majority leader."

If Israel goes to elections, it’ll be over the wrong problem

You could almost hear the collective groan this past week when Knesset members advanced a bill to dissolve the parliament and initiate Israel’s fourth election in two years. The decision is only in its preliminary stages, and the key dispute that ostensibly caused it — the government’s internal wrangling over next year’s state budget — may yet be resolved. Nonetheless, the move is very telling of the deep dysfunction at the heart of Israeli politics.

Expectations were not high when Blue and White leader Benny Gantz broke his campaign promises — and his own party — by allying with Benjamin Netanyahu in March. Despite claiming he had no illusions about the prime minister, it is clear that the former army chief was out of his element: Netanyahu manipulated and bypassed Gantz at every turn, from pursuing the normalization agreements with the UAE and Bahrain to stalling the proceedings over his corruption charges. The man hailed as the harbinger of Netanyahu’s ouster instead became his rival’s accomplice.

As the country’s Jewish parties rush to realign their political partnerships, the Joint List, an alliance of Arab parties in Israel, finds itself in a severe crisis. The insistence of Mansour Abbas, who heads the Islamist Ra’am party, to cooperate with Netanyahu as a way of pursuing policy actions on behalf of Palestinian citizens, has riled the other factions. Lacking a coherent strategy and reeling from disputes on everything from LGBTQ rights to the recommendation of Gantz as prime minister, the once-inspiring political slate may be facing its demise.

Caught on the brink of another election, the political scene in Israel is now characterized by precariousness across the board. That, however, can hardly be said of the issue politicians ought to be most concerned about yet is completely absent from the current arguments: Israel’s control over all the land and people between the river and the sea.

For most Palestinians, the bickering in the halls of a parliament that they cannot vote for, yet which governs every aspect of their life, is irrelevant. For them, apartheid existed regardless of whether the Israeli government was left or right wing. Until outside pressure forces the Palestinians back onto the agendas of Israeli politicians, that unjust regime will continue to thrive, no matter who wins the next election.







(LINKS TO ARTICLES BELOW)





Why are Palestinians being forced to prove their humanity?



‘I can’t fall asleep’: The trauma of Israeli raids on Palestinian homes





How crime became a cover for Israel to control its Palestinian citizens



Biden warned of annexation 50 years ago. Will he finally stop it?