Bernie Sanders | Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion - Part 19
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Bernie Sanders Tag

Early this week, while most people were focusing on the Nevada GOP caucus, CNN held another Democratic Party town hall event. When Bernie Sanders was confronted about the viability of his proposals, he got a little cranky. Jack Heretik reports at the Washington Free Beacon:
Bernie Sanders Tries To Defend Viability Of His Socialist Proposals Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) dismissed criticism of his socialist economic proposals as coming from Hillary Clinton’s campaign during CNN’s Democratic Town Hall Tuesday night.

Hillary Clinton has tried to solidify support from black voters by questioning Bernie Sanders' commitment to the civil rights movement but new images have been released which show a young Bernie Sanders being arrested during a civil rights protest. The New York Times reports:
Man Captured on Film Being Arrested in a 1963 Protest is Bernie Sanders, His Campaign Says In recent days, Hillary Clinton’s campaign has questioned Senator Bernie Sanders’s commitment to civil rights, trying to cement her support among black voters who could be crucial in upcoming primaries such as South Carolina’s. A lifeline has now arrived for the Sanders campaign, in the form of film footage more than half a century old.

I don't know that this comes close to the various Obama anthems from 2008, but it's a start. There's a new video anthem for Bernie Sanders, produced by the woman who produced the viral Obama Girl video. The anthem title is "Bernie Bae" (Bae is slang for Before Anyone Else). Time Magazine (which apparently still exists) reports:
The woman who brought us the mega-viral hit “Crush On Obama” is back with another political pop song just begging to go viral. This one is about Bernie Sanders. It’s called “Bernie Bae.” The production values in this music video are much higher this time around—and we have to admit, the song is quite catchy.

As Hillary tries to assure the progressive-socialist base of her party that she is not beholden to corporate or Wall Street money, super PACs supporting her campaign are purposefully wooing these same deep-pocketed donors. The Washington Post reports:
Two powerful organizations within the Democratic establishment announced steps Friday that have the potential to provide substantial financial firepower to presidential contender Hillary Clinton by drawing on the support of wealthy donors and corporate interests. . . . .  Priorities USA Action, the main super PAC supporting Clinton, unleashed a $5 million infusion of spending on her behalf, upending plans to hold its fire until the general election. The move calls attention to growing concern within the party’s leadership that her campaign may be in trouble, and it underscores how crucial several upcoming contests have become in Clinton’s battle with Sanders, a senator from Vermont.

Bernie Sanders is Jewish and worked on a kibbutz in Israel in the 1960s. Bernie supports Israel's right to exist, though he's decidedly more into the "balanced" approach compared to other candidates, and has questionable Middle East advisors. Bernie doesn't wear either his Judaism or Zionism on his sleeve, unlike his socialism. To the contrary, when given the perfect opportunity at the last Democratic PBS debate Thursday night, February, 2016. Gwen Ifill asked Bernie if his candidacy would "thwart" history by denying the opportunity for Hillary to become the first female president. It was a perfect opportunity for Bernie to make the point that he also would be a first -- the first Jewish president. But Bernie didn't go there, instead he danced around the issue and said that it would be historic for "someone of my background and views" to be president:

For months now, we've been told that the black community of South Carolina is Hillary Clinton's firewall to retain her front runner status but after Sanders' sizable New Hampshire win, she's not taking any chances.

Funny: conservative commentator Monica Crowley recently called Bernie Sanders Lenin of Brooklyn. I don't think Bernie has Lenin's cunning and brutality.  Vladimir Lenin managed to seize the day in 1917, leading his extreme minority party to overthrow the very tenuous government of the largest country on Earth and then held on to the power, consolidating the majority of the crumbling empire. Clown-haired Bernie doesn't leave an impression of an individual capable of such feat. The way I see Sanders, the reason I think he's popular among the college campuses or those under 30 in general, is very similar to the reasons why Ralph Nader was popular sixteen years ago.  Both men leave a similar impression on the impressionable.  They're very much alike in appearance: Nader, like Sanders, had rather imperfect hair; his suits were ill-fitted, his face -- asymmetrical.  This was all part of his appeal.  Although Nader received loads of favorable attention from the media, his imperfections lent him an aura of authenticity. After eight years of Clinton, a candidate who didn't seem overly media-produced was refreshing.

Welcome to our live debate coverage! Watch the debate live: [debate over, clips below] https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/status/697990980398546944 https://twitter.com/whpresscorps/status/697991185768574976

I will admit I have a taste for sweet schadenfreude. After nearly a year of the elite media's reporting breathlessly on the war among Republicans, social media is now covering veritable insurrection occurring among the Democrats because of primary system shenanigans. Last week, we covered the Iowa Caucus coin flips that garnered Hillary Clinton more delegates than Bernie Sanders (despite the veritable tie). Now after trouncing Clinton in New Hampshire by a straight-up popular vote total difference over 20% points, Sanders will be leaving the state with an equal number of delegates.
...Sanders had won 13 delegates with his 20-point victory on Tuesday and is expected to raise that total to 15 by the time all of the votes are counted.

It is too bad for the Clintons that the Internet can travel back nearly 20 years! Feminist icons spent the weekend shaming women into voting for Hillary Clinton. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, even smeared supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders as sexist trolls. But video taken 20 years ago show that Vermont's socialist representative was made an "honorary woman" by feminist luminary Gloria Steinem herself. (Jump ahead to 15:44)
[I]n 1996 the famous feminist traveled to Burlington, VT to endorse him (OVER his female opponent) in what was a tough re-election fight against Republican Susan Sweetser.

During the MSNBC Democratic debate, Chuck Todd asked if Hillary would release the transcripts of her paid speeches, particularly the three Goldman Sachs speeches for which she was paid $675,000 total. As the question was being asked, you could see Hillary's mental wheels spinning until she came up with the response she needed: I'll think about it. Hillary then quickly moved on to her robotic stump speech:
After that awkward moment, Hillary deflected in classic Clintonian fashion, by setting preconditions she knew no one could or would meet -- everyone who ever gave a speech had to release all transcripts for all speeches. Hence, Hillary deflects from her massive Wall Street speaking fees:

Bernie Sanders gave a glimpse at his potential foreign policy on Sunday, and his choices of BDS supporter James Zogby and left-wing J Street raise serious questions. Sanders, the Jewish Senator from Vermont, is infamous for his avowed socialism.  On foreign policy, he is more or less a blank slate, making his choice of foreign policy advisers a valuable window into his mindsight and the least-worst predictor of a President Sanders's policy. On Sunday, two of the three advisers Sanders chose to identify were vehemently anti-Israel.  Sanders told Meet The Press he met recently with Larry Korb, Jim Zogby and J Street.

Do you believe a wild-haired socialist is our only hope for a better America? Would you like a permanent reminder of the 2016 dumpster fire of an election cycle? Then this little ink shop in Vermont has got you covered. You too can be like dozens of others who have opted to feel the bern forever.

There is an old adage that bad things come in threes. Today, there are three omens showing that Hillary Clinton's campaign may be floundering worse than previously imagined. We have covered two of those signs already: Donors wanting to Draft Vice President Joe Biden for the party's nomination and Gloria Steinem indicating women who vote for Senator Bernie Sanders are actually after men. Unexpectedly, that last bit is not playing too terribly well among progressive women.

Thursday, The Des Moines Register's Editorial Board called for an audit of Iowa's Democratic Caucus results.
...too many questions have been raised. Too many accounts have arisen of inconsistent counts, untrained and overwhelmed volunteers, confused voters, cramped precinct locations, a lack of voter registration forms and other problems. Too many of us, including members of the Register editorial board who were observing caucuses, saw opportunities for error amid Monday night’s chaos.
Hillary Clinton was declared the winner with a minuscule two-tenths of 1% victory over Bernie Sanders and some incredibly lucky coin tossing. Because Iowa's Democratic Party chair has refused to audit the caucus results. Bernie Sanders' campaign is doing their part to recount the ballots. Friday, Ben Jacobs of The Guardian reports that the Iowa Democratic Party changed the altered a precinct's caucus results, giving a Sanders delegate to Clinton.

Welcome to our live coverage of tonight's Democratic presidential debate. The debate begins at 9:00 PM ET on MSNBC and will be moderated by NBC's Chuck Todd and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. With Martin O'Malley out of the race, the Democratic presidential primary is officially a showdown. Just saying'...

How to watch the debate: