Sanders blasts Congress for ignoring its own workforce

John Shinkle

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Sanders blasts Congress for ignoring its own workforce

By Daniel Strauss

09/22/15, 10:39 AM EDT

Sen. Bernie Sanders blasted his fellow lawmakers on Tuesday for looking the other way as contract workers on its payroll struggle to make ends meet.

Speaking at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation just a few blocks away from the Capitol, Sanders joined calls on Congress from low-wage workers and a number of religious leaders to raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers to $15 an hour.

“There is no justice when millions of people throughout our country, including people working in the United States Senate, are working for wages that are too little to take care of their kids, to take care of their family. That’s wrong, that has got to change,” Sanders said. “There is no justice in America when the largest low-wage employer is not McDonalds, it is not Burger King, it is not Walmart. It is the United States government.”

Sanders, in his short speech, met with loud applause from the crowd of workers striking to highlight Pope Francis' calls to focus more on reducing poverty when he demanded that President Barack Obama sign an executive order raising the minimum wage and giving federal contractors the option to form a union. Obama last year signed an executive order raising the minimum wage for federal contract workers to $10.10 per hour, and Democrats in Congress introduced a bill to boost the federal minimum wage to $12 by 2020.

But Sanders wants more.

“The time has come for federal contractors to pay all of their workers no less than $15 an hour, with decent benefits and with the right to form a union,” Sanders continued.

"When we talk about morality and when we talk about justice, we must understand there is no justice when so few have so much and so many have so little," he said.

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Market Skeptics Miss Out on $5.5 Billion From Biggest 2015 Deal

Market Skeptics Miss Out on $5.5 Billion From Biggest 2015 Deal

Sep 22nd, 2015 

by John Donovan. 

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By Inyoung Hwang: BLOOMBERG.COM 22 Sept 2015

A fresh drop in in oil prices and political instability in Brazil is making investors miss out on about $5.5 billion in Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s pending takeover of BG Group Plc.

BG closed on Monday at 990.4 pence, about 9.5 percent below Shell’s cash-and-stock offer. The difference in share prices in the deal — the largest in the energy sector in at least a decade — is wider than the average for other global acquisitions bigger than $10 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

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Posted in: Australia, Ben van Beurden, BG Group, Bloomberg, Brazil, Gas, LNG, Oil Prices, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Tagged: Australia · BG Group · Brazil · Gas · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Shell

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Junipero Serra’s Sainthood Dismays Many

Junipero Serra’s Sainthood Dismays Many Posted: 22 Sep 2015 10:41 AM PDT By Doug Porter  Eighteenth century Franciscan missionary Junipero Serra will be canonized by Pope Francis this week. Hailed by the church as “the evangelizer of west in the United States” and reviled by descendants of the indigenous people living along the coast, Serra’s ascension to sainthood is a controversial move. The expulsion of the Jesuit order from the Spanish colonies by King Carlos III brought Serra to Baja California. In 1769, the government, fearful of intrusions by Russian traders to the north, dispatched the Franciscans to what we now call California.  Serra founded nine missions, starting with the Mission San Diego de Alcalá and went about the business of ‘civilizing’ the local inhabitants. Tales of the conquest of California by Spanish soldiers and Catholic missionaries by supporters of the church tend towards laying the blame for much of the ensuing slaughter on the military. Serra viewed the native population as children, children who needed the kind of brutal discipline meted out by the Franciscan order in order to find salvation.   [Read more...] shared from San Diego Free Press The Pope Makes the Case for Climate Change and Helping the Poor Posted: 22 Sep 2015 05:19 AM PDT By John Lawrence The Pope is visiting the US this week to make the case that we should take climate change seriously and start doing something about it. He is really making the case that we should change our paradigm from one of individual self-fulfillment to one of "we're all in this together," from individual salvation to collective salvation of our earthly home. This has far-reaching implications. We need to be concerned about what's happening to the earth as a whole, to humanity as a whole, and not just to our own family, town, state, country. The Pope doesn't mince words. Far from being the conservative head of a 2000 year old bureaucracy, he is using his moral megaphone and authority to speak out on the major problems of our day - global warming and capitalism - and the two are interrelated. You can't have the entire sum of people on the planet involved with saving the planet from runaway climate change without getting involved with the collective plight of all those people in their daily lives. The Pope is putting the emphasis and focus on the plight of the poor, which is really what Jesus was all about. Finally.   [Read more...] ‘Totally Schizophrenic’: Fossil Fuel Subsidies in the Age of Climate Crisis Posted: 22 Sep 2015 05:19 AM PDT <By Lauren McCauley / Common Dreams One of the greatest contradictions of our time is that while world leaders profess concern over a rapidly warming planet, they continue to spend hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars subsidizing the fossil fuel industries that are driving climate change. In fact, according to a new report released on Monday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)—a global forum on economic policy—the world's richest nations spend roughly $160-200 billion each year supporting fossil fuel consumption and production. "We’re totally schizophrenic," said Angel Gurría, secretary-general of the Paris-based organization. "We’re trying to reduce emissions, and we subsidize the consumption of fossil fuels. These policies are not obsolete, they’re dangerous legacies of a bygone era when pollution was viewed as a tolerable side effect of economic growth. They should be erased from the books."   [Read more...] “Blueprints to Freedom” Made Bayard Rustin Come Alive Posted: 22 Sep 2015 05:18 AM PDT By Ernie McCray I saw "Blueprints to Freedom: an Ode to Bayard Rustin," at the La Jolla Playhouse a week ago. I was never so ready for a play to begin as I was that night because Bayard is a huge hero of mine, someone, whose memory, I've cherished for a long time. To me, he was about as outstanding a human being as anyone could be. Ghandi, personified. So tirelessly alive and brilliant and loving and wise, a master as to how to organize, able to gather what he called "angelic troublemakers" together against all kinds of odds, in all kinds of weather. He brought us the moment when Martin envisioned a world, aloud, where "little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers."   [Read more...]

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Raining Money on Main Street

Raining Money on Main Street Ellen Brown: The problem today is not inflation but deflation. Adding money to the economy will not drive up prices until demand is saturated and production has hit full capacity; and we’re a long way from full capacity now. READ MORE shared from

TUESDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER 2015 Surging Drug Prices: What to Do About It Michael T. Hertz: Basically, a cheap-to-make drug with a small market gets jacked up in price and is then sold for millions of dollars in a sale that is all about finance and nothing about health. READ MORE Friend on Facebook Follow on Twitter Forward to a Friend Raining Money on Main Street Ellen Brown: The problem today is not inflation but deflation. Adding money to the economy will not drive up prices until demand is saturated and production has hit full capacity; and we’re a long way from full capacity now. READ MORE Ben Carson Fights Trump for White Supremacist Vote David Love: Ben Carson spits in the face of millions of Muslim Americans as he tells this community they are not American enough to lead the nation. READ MORE Should Democrats Fear Repeat of 2000? Randy Shaw: As ominous as the 2000 storm clouds may appear for 2016, la shift to Democrats on social issues bodes well for Democratic chances. READ MORE Electricity a Penny an Hour Scott Peer: If you want to reduce your electricity use, put your efforts into things that either use a lot of power, or use power a lot of the time. READ HERE

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This Report Says The World Can Go 100 Percent Renewable By 2050

This Report Says The World Can Go 100 Percent Renewable By 2050

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While Bernie Sanders has emerged as the leading progressive candidate, his record on guns doesn't match up. Ben Carson has come under fire for saying that there shouldn't be a Muslim President, comments he's tried twice and failed twice to moderate. And, a Greenpeace report says that the world could be 100% renewable by 2050 -- and that it could be cost-neutral. Read about it in our top stories of the day: Voters Raise Concerns About Bernie Sanders’ Record On Guns PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE — When she was 13 years old, Clai Lasher-Sommers’ step-father shot her through the back with a “huge rifle.” That traumatic experience, which she barely survived in 1970, motivated her to become a lifelong advocate for gun control her in home state of New Hampshire, where she gives speeches and pressures elected officials to pass local and national measures to restrict easy access to firearms. ...(read more) Trans Woman Live-Tweets Her Frightening Experience With Airport Security Ben Carson Fails In Attempt To Walk Back His Comments About Whether A Muslim Could Be President Presidential candidate Ben Carson’s remarks that a Muslim would not be fit to lead the United States caused plenty of controversy Monday. To try and clear things up, Carson went on Fox News’ Hannity Monday evening....(read more) Ben Carson’s Islamophobia Isn’t Just Hateful. It Doesn’t Make Any Sense. This Report Says The World Can Go 100 Percent Renewable By 2050 ThinkProgress | Center for American Progress Action Fund 1333 H ST NW | Washington, DC 20005 Contributions to Center for American Progress Action Fund are not tax deductible

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The airplane graveyard that 3 families call home is the subject of a stunning photo series.

The airplane graveyard that 3 families call home is the subject of a stunning photo series.

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How a Humans of New York story turned into a class trip to visit Harvard — and $1 million.

Do you have 'bad blood' or 'good blood?' This Taylor Swift parody video wants you to find out.

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Republicans Fear Pope Francis Bombshells May End Their WorldThursday

Republicans Fear Pope Francis Bombshells May End Their WorldThursday Thursday, the pope can say anything he wants, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop him. And that's why Republicans are so afraid.     Read more »

The Real Dr. Ben Carson Finally Stands Up He's a very recent signee on the Republican bottom line. He no longer practices medicine. He retired in 2013. He officially joined the Republican Party less than a year ago, November 4, 2014. Late arrival notwithstanding, politically he's exactly where he belongs.     Read more » Clinton Scandal On Life Support After The FBI Refuses To Help GOP With Email Witch Hunt The Republican-driven Hillary Clinton email scandal suffered another blow as the FBI refused a request from a Republican-appointed judge for information.     Read more » Unions Celebrate As The Koch Brothers Fail To Buy The White House For Scott Walker Unions are celebrating the rapid demise of union busting national disgrace, Scott Walker.     Read more » A Bitter Scott Walker Blames Donald Trump For Being A Big Downer As He Quits GOP Race A bitter Scott Walker blamed Donald Trump for his spectacular failure as a candidate and claimed that he was quitting the Republican race so that somebody else could take out Trump.     Read more » At His Final Campaign Events Scott Walker Drew Crowds Of Less Than 50 People On Sunday, Scott Walker drew Iowa crowds of less than fifty people, as he tried desperately to keep his presidential hopes alive. This explains why he is dropping out of the race today.     Read more » With His Campaign In Flames, Scott Walker Is Dropping Out Of The Republican Presidential Race The Koch brothers chosen candidate, Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) is dropping out of the race for the Republican nomination.     Read more » Obama White House Slams Ben Carson’s Bigotry Towards Muslims The White House slammed Ben Carson's view that a Muslim shouldn't be president, as Press Secretary Josh Earnest pointed out that Carson's views are completely inconsistent with the Constitution.     Read more » Republicans Try To Rig The 2016 Election By Blocking LEGAL Immigrant Citizenship and Voting All of the chatter on the Republican campaign trail is about illegal immigration, but Republicans are pushing back on an effort by President Obama to get legal immigrants citizenship and registered to vote. There is an effort mounting on the right to stop legal immigrants from becoming citizens and voting.     Read more » How A Joe Biden Campaign Could Help Bernie Sanders Become the Democratic Nominee If Joe Biden enters the Democratic race he could split the centrist vote with Hillary Clinton, giving Sanders greater odds of winning.     Read more » If Joe Biden Runs He Will Take 15 Points Of Support Away From Hillary Clinton The chatter surrounding a potential Joe Biden run for the Democratic nomination is growing and a new poll found that a Biden candidacy draws almost all of its support from Hillary Clinton.     Read more » Republicans Love Donald Trump Because He Campaigns Like A WWE Wrestler Trump's entire campaign has been entirely like, and just as fake as, the WWE and it is why he is leading in the polls.     Read more » Republicans Fear Pope Francis Bombshells May End Their WorldThursday Thursday, the pope can say anything he wants, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop him. And that's why Republicans are so afraid.     Read more »

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