Hip Hop song "Feel the Bern" - Bernie Sanders

Rapper Tony Tig does a very cool "Feel the Bern" hip-hop theme song for Senator Bernie Sanders (I created the video.)

In other news...

Over the course of the last 3 months the DOW was briefly down 2,895 points today (or down 15.8% from 3 months ago.) Those privatized Social Security accounts would have taken a big hit today.

18,351 The record all-time high on May 19, 2015
-15,456 When the DOW opened on August 24, 2015
= 2,895 (Down 15.8%)

VP Joe Biden chose Kate Bedingfield — a former spokeswoman for John Edwards’ 2008 presidential campaign — as his new White House communications director.

Vote totals from Iowa straw poll:

Donald Trump.........1,830
Hillary Clinton.........1,338 (rats!)
Bernie Sanders........1,217
Ben Carson.............1,185

Donald Trump blamed Jeb Bush for his problems with Univision. He thinks Jeb and his wife (Columba) are close with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim (the 2nd richest person in the world behind Bill Gates) — and that Univision got pressure from Slim's operatives. In a move that further confirmed Trump’s suspicions, Univision has hired Miguel Estrada, a Washington lawyer with deep Bush ties. (Also, Jeb's father-in-law was an "undocumented immigrant").

Fox News and Wall Street Journal owner Rupert Murdoch tweeted: "With Trump becoming very serious candidate, it's time for next billionaire candidate, Mike Bloomberg to step into ring. Greatest mayor."

ISIS militants destroyed a temple at the historic Palmyra ruins in Syria. ISIS believes anything built before Islam’s birth (c. 570) represents paganism. [These criminally insane and evil monsters are a cancer on God's human race and must be eradicated like plague-infested rats.]

Wow! Talk about a dedicated big government worker! A recent Kentucky GOP rule change now allows Rand Paul to run for the Senate during his presidential campaign.

Who is this guy? Deez Nuts, the 15-year old rising Iowa sophomore high school student otherwise known as Brady Olson, has endorsed Ohio Governor John Kasich (R) and Bernie Sanders (D) in their respective primaries. But why? They have totally opposite political ideologies. I endorsed Trump for the GOP and Sanders for the Democrats because of their stand on trade agreements, H-1B visas and Social Security (I don't wish to express my views on immigration at this time because the issue is too divisive.)

Bernie Sanders delighted a South Carolina rally of more than 3,000 people Saturday with his assertions that the Koch brothers and other greedy billionaires are destroying American democracy by infusing huge sums of cash into campaigns and election. (The South can rise again with progressives like Bernie.)

ON THE LABOR FRONT:

I'm so glad I'm not 18 years old now.... via Robert Reich:

Independent contractors, temporary workers, the self-employed, part-timers, freelancers, free agents, on-demand and on-call — in the “share” economy, the “gig” economy, or, more prosaically, the “irregular” economy — the result is the same: no predictable earnings or hours. It’s the biggest change in the American workforce in over a century, and it’s happening at lightening speed. It’s estimated that in five years over 40 percent of the American labor force will have uncertain work; in a decade, most of us ... Almost a quarter of American workers worry they won’t be earning enough in the future. That’s up from 15 percent a decade ago.

Huffington Post: The union-backed Fight for $15 and its allies have roiled the service sector with intermittent strikes over the past three years, demanding a $15 wage floor and union recognition. But Labor Secretary Perez' support of the workers shouldn't be read as an endorsement of a federal $15 wage floor -- because Obama's White House and Labor Department instead back a $12 proposal recently put forth by Congressional Democrats -- but the labor secretary said he views the Fight for $15 as a model for how workers can boost wages by banding together.

New York Times: Prompted by a spurt of new minimum wage proposals in major cities, an expanding number of restaurateurs are experimenting with no-tipping policies and raising prices as a way to manage rising labor costs. (Why can't the owners just buy a smaller yacht or mansion?)

A POLITICAL DIATRIBE...

As much as we all like and respect uncle Joe Biden (who has recently been privately meeting with Senator Elizabeth Warren), how can Joe oppose Obama's policies on the TPP trade deal, the keystone pipeline or chained-CPI for Social Security (and a host of other issues) if he's still the sitting VP for Obama — while also campaigning for President of the United States?

During the Democratic debates, he would have to bash Obama while he’s still his VP! (Awkward!!!)

And personally, I thought it was very tacky to be using the death of Joe's son and his "last dying wish" as a reason for his father to run.

But how could Senator Elizabeth Warren either run as VP for Joe Biden (or endorse him for President) when his and Obama's polices clash so much with Warren's own views?

It would seem that Warren's secret meeting with Hillary Clinton last year was an effort by the Democratic Party Machine (Third Way Democrats) to keep Warren out of the presidential race to politically neutralize Warren to benefit Hillary, while also getting some "progressive" talking points for the Clinton campaign.

But why would Warren be meeting with Joe Biden? Shouldn't she really be meeting with Bernie Sanders instead?

And because Warren's previous supporters now back Bernie, shouldn’t she have endorsed Bernie a long time ago? Will Warren just end up being another empty and false and disingenuous politician?