I was in Bakersfield, CA, last night and asked folks what they thought about AI and Flock cameras.
Listen to what they had to say.
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Bernie Sanders
@BernieSanders@mastox.eu
mastodon 4.7.3U.S. Senator for Vermont. Not me, us.
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Trump has now banned CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO from entering the White House grounds.
That’s not all. He is threatening that more news organizations who criticize him, including the New York Times and Washington Post, will be next.
Why? Because when demagogues like Trump are in trouble they want to control the flow of information and silence media that might hold them accountable.
We will not allow Trump to undermine the First Amendment, the Constitution and our democracy.
We will not accept authoritarianism.
Fight back.
Five months ago, AOC and I called for a moratorium on new AI data centers.
We were called “radical,” “crazy” and “extremists.”
Today, 75% of Americans agree and hundreds of candidates are responding.
The message is clear: We need a moratorium.
DEFEATING TRUMPISM IS NOT ENOUGH: DEMOCRATS MUST DELIVER FOR WORKING FAMILIES
Donald Trump is the most dangerous president in American history and Democrats must do everything possible to roll back his disastrous policies.
But running against Trump is not enough. The American people are hurting and they want to see a pro-working class agenda that will provide meaningful improvements to their lives. Democrats must have the courage to take on Oligarchy, corporate greed and a corrupt campaign finance system. No more incrementalism, no more same-old, same-old failed establishment policies that simply make the rich even richer.
Democrats must restore faith in democracy and the belief that government can work for working families and not just the billionaire class. Our job is to expand our progressive grassroots movement so that when Democrats regain power they must:
✅ Pass Medicare for All and guarantee health care to every person in our country as a human right.
✅ Increase the minimum wage to $20 an hour and pass legislation making it easier for workers to join unions.
✅ Raise taxes on the billionaire class and large profitable corporations.
✅ Lower housing costs by building 7 million units of low income and affordable housing.
✅ Provide free tuition at public colleges and universities.
✅ Get billionaire funded super PACs out of elections.
✅ Create millions of jobs by moving our energy system away from fossil fuels to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.
✅ Protect the American people from the existential and economic threats of AI.
✅ Cut military spending, end “endless wars,” and stop all U.S. military aid to Israel.
Donald Trump's super PAC plans to spend up to $500 million to buy the midterm elections.
Megadonors from both parties — almost all billionaires — have spent another $1.8 billion.
ENOUGH. Get big money out of politics. End Citizens United. Move to public funding of elections.
If voters in California approve the 5% billionaire wealth tax in November, Mark Zuckerberg would owe $10.5 billion in taxes & healthcare would be saved for 3 million low-income people.
Poor Mr. Zuckerberg would only have $200 billion left to feed his family. How will he survive?
We Need Medicare for All More Than Ever
Over and over again, I hear from critics that moving to Medicare for All is just “too expensive.” That is demonstrably untrue.
But let me tell you what IS too expensive. And that is our current healthcare system, which puts the profits of the big health insurance and drug companies ahead of the well-being of the American people.
Today, not only is our current system cruel, broken and dysfunctional, it is wildly expensive. Despite spending twice as much per capita on healthcare as other wealthy countries, we remain the only major nation on Earth not to guarantee healthcare for all. The result: 85 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured and thousands die unnecessarily every year because they can’t afford the healthcare they need.
The outrageous cost of the current American healthcare system is unsustainable. If we do nothing, it is estimated that we will spend $72 trillion over the next ten years. That is trillion with a T.
These skyrocketing costs are not only making healthcare unaffordable for ordinary Americans, they are negatively impacting businesses and our entire economy. According to a recent survey, employers in our country are expecting the cost of healthcare to skyrocket by 11% next year — the highest in decades.
Last year, as healthcare costs soared, insurance companies made over $54 billion in profits, drug companies continued to charge us, by far, the highest prices in the world for medicine, and healthcare CEOs received huge compensation packages. But that’s not all. The current system maintains massive amounts of expensive bureaucracy and administrative costs designed not to provide high quality healthcare to all, but to make executives and stockholders extraordinarily rich. It is not an accident, for example, that we spend a fraction of what other countries spend on primary healthcare and disease prevention. Not only would investments in these areas make Americans healthier, they would save tens of billions a year in keeping people out of emergency rooms and hospitals.
The Medicare for All legislation that I introduced would save the American people over $1 trillion and 114,000 lives each and every year according to researchers at the Yale School of Public Health. This legislation has 18 cosponsors in the Senate and 115 in the House. Most importantly, it now has the support of 64% of the American people, according to a poll that came out last month.
Over a four-year transition period, Medicare for All would guarantee healthcare as a human right to everyone.
In the first year, we reduce the eligibility age to 55, cover all children under 18, and expand Medicare to cover dental, vision and hearing.
In the second year, the Medicare eligibility age would be reduced to 45. And in the third year it would drop to 35.
By the fourth year, every man, woman and child would be enrolled in a Medicare for All system with no copayments, no premiums, no deductibles and no out-of-pocket expenses.
Every major country on Earth figured out decades ago how to provide universal healthcare to all of their people at a much lower cost than we do. Please don’t tell me we cannot do the same.
Guaranteed paid annual leave days:
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It is long past time for the United States to join the rest of the world and guarantee paid annual leave and vacation days.
Trump-backed billionaire David Ellison recently purchased CBS. Now he wants to take over CNN and the rest of Warner Bros.
A coalition of state attorneys general sued to stop it.
Now the deal is on hold. Good.
We must stop corporate media consolidation.
Elon Musk Wealth
2012: $2 billion
2026: $719 billion
Jeff Bezos Wealth
2012: $18.4 billion
2026: $255 billion
Mark Zuckerberg Wealth
2012: $17.5 billion
2026: $212 billion
Federal Minimum Wage
2009: $7.25
2026: $7.25
Obscene. We must raise the minimum wage to a living wage.
The anger over massive income and wealth inequality is NOT envy of billionaires’ yachts and jewelry.
It’s that the working class is suffering. It's that seniors living in poverty die 9 years younger than the wealthy.
Yes. We need an economy that works for ALL, not just the few.
The Oligarchs are getting nervous.
AIPAC and other billionaire-funded super PACs have already spent almost $50 million in Michigan to try and defeat Dr. Abdul El-Sayed.
They have the money. We have the people.
Fight back. Let’s support Abdul.
Google founder Sergey Brin's wealth has DOUBLED to $311 billion since Trump's election.
Now he’s spending $57M to oppose a 5% billionaires' wealth tax in California.
He’d rather millions lose healthcare than pay his fair share in taxes. This kind of arrogance is unacceptable.
No, Mr. Trump, Canada is not “poisoning our air.”
Climate change is fueling more wildfires, heat waves, floods and other extreme weather.
Stop blaming our allies and start standing up to your friends in Big Oil, who are driving the climate crisis.
Some of the richest people in the country have now funneled more than $1.6 billion into the 2026 elections.
Democracy is one person, one vote — not billionaires buying elections.
We must end Citizens United and super PACs and move to public funding of elections.
If Elon Musk, the richest man alive, really believes "money won't matter" in 2036, he'd support a 5% tax on his wealth & the wealth of other billionaires to make sure all Americans have a decent standard of living.
The fact that he doesn’t tells you everything you need to know.
12 billionaires are spending over $120 million against California's 5% billionaire wealth tax.
These guys are worth $420 billion, got $182 billion richer since Trump's election & own at least 25 mansions in CA worth $550 million.
We must end billionaire greed.
The number of Amazon workers relying on food stamps and Medicaid nearly TRIPLED between 2020 and 2025.
Jeff Bezos is worth $257 billion and has a $500 million yacht.
He can afford to pay his workers a living wage.
Since 2020, Walmart spent $37.6 billion in stock buybacks—enough to give all their workers a $23,550 bonus.
Instead, Walmart pays wages so low that many of their workers need Medicaid & SNAP paid for by taxpayers.
The real welfare queen is the Walton family worth $485 billion.
Congratulations to the California Democratic Party for endorsing a billionaire wealth tax in their state.
At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, we need the courage to take on the billionaire class — not cave to it.
Are we really living in a “democracy” when billionaire-funded super PACs can spend tens of millions trying to defeat great progressive Senate candidates like Abdul El-Sayed (MI) and Peggy Flanagan (MN)?
We need to end Citizens United and move to public funding of elections NOW!
Our history books celebrate presidents, generals and billionaires. But how many Americans know about Eugene Debs?
A labor leader, anti-war activist and champion of the working class, Debs helped shape this country. It's time we learned about him.
Americans are tired of establishment politics, establishment economics and a corrupt campaign finance system.
They understand it is absurd for one man to own more wealth than the bottom half of society.
They understand healthcare is a human right.
Americans want real change.
A new AI model went rogue and hacked other computers.
No, this is not science fiction. Uncontrolled AI poses a serious threat to all of us.
We cannot continue the race to build and deploy this powerful technology until strong safeguards are in place.
CONGRESS MUST ACT.
A. Phillip Randolph is right:
“The essence of trade unionism is social uplift. The labor movement has been the haven for the dispossessed, the despised, the neglected, the downtrodden, the poor.”
Let's grow the trade union movement.
Trump says “we have an amazing economy.”
Really?
60% of our people live paycheck to paycheck.
85 million are uninsured or underinsured.
More than 750,000 are homeless.
The price of groceries is through the roof.
If this is “amazing,” God help us.
In the richest country on Earth, we should have a great standard of living for ALL our people, not massive income and wealth inequality.
The American people are tired of status quo politics.
They want change, real change.
Here’s how Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" works:
The richest 1% get $1 trillion in tax breaks.
Working families get $1.1 trillion in cuts to SNAP, Medicaid and other healthcare programs.
Tens of thousands will go hungry so the wealthy can get another tax break. Shameful.
Democratic establishment politics in action.
Outside groups, led by AIPAC, have spent $52.3 million in Michigan’s Senate primary to support Haley Stevens, compared to $853,000 in outside spending for Abdul El-Sayed — a 60-1 margin.
And the establishment is still going to lose.
Detroit. Thanks for the great turnout tonight.
Together, we’re going to take on AIPAC and the billionaire-funded super PACs trying to buy the election in Michigan.
We’re sending Abdul El-Sayed to the U.S. Senate.
ARE WE STILL LIVING IN A DEMOCRACY?
AIPAC, and other billionaire-funded super PACs, are preparing to spend tens of millions of dollars to defeat Dr. Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan U.S. Senate race.
Why are they so determined to defeat him?
As a doctor, he believes in healthcare as a human right. He knows firsthand that our current healthcare system is broken and that we must pass Medicare for All.
As a taxpayer, he understands that we should not be spending over a trillion dollars on the military and billions of dollars supporting the genocidal Netanyahu government in Israel.
As a supporter of working families, he knows that we have to raise the minimum wage to a living wage and make it easier for workers to join unions.
Whether it is AIPAC, AI or crypto, billionaire-funded super PACs will spend unlimited amounts of money to undermine democracy and defeat candidates who stand with working people and challenge their power. We cannot allow them to succeed.
And that is precisely why we must do everything in OUR power to elect Abdul in the Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate primary on August 4.
They have the money. We have the people.
Let’s stand together and win.
Thank you to a packed house in Minneapolis who came out to support @peggyflanagan.
Together, we are going to take on crypto, the AI industry, AIPAC and other billionaire super PACs and send Peggy to the United States Senate.
Jeff Bezos is seeking $100 billion to put robots into factories. Millions of manufacturing jobs — GONE.
Driverless vehicle companies are expanding rapidly. Millions of transportation jobs — truckers, cab drivers, Uber drivers — GONE.
We are not ready for what’s coming.
The Trump administration is now:
- Investigating an Atlantic reporter who wrote a story about FBI Director Kash Patel
- Suing the New York Times over its employment practices
- Threatening ABC's broadcast licenses
We say NO to Trump’s authoritarianism. FIGHT BACK.
Congress needs more voices from America's working class.
@claireforny has the experience and vision we need to take on the oligarchy and fight for unions, Medicare for All, and affordable housing.
I’m proud to endorse her campaign for Congress.
They have the money. We have the people. Watch a great ad from Abdul’s campaign In Michigan.
The time for status quo politics and incremental change is over.
We need leaders in Congress like Peggy Flanagan who will stand up against the oligarchs and fight for working people. https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1OGwbbaZPBDKB
I stand in solidarity with @afa_cwa Spirit flight attendants and workers whose lives and livelihoods were ripped apart last week.
These workers lost their jobs, healthcare & community overnight, through no fault of their own. They deserve our support now more than ever.
Trump’s chief economist is right: “Credit card spending is through the roof.”
Americans are forced to put more of their spending on credit cards because of outrageously high prices.
That’s a win for big banks charging 30% interest rates. It’s a disaster for working people.
Today’s elections are about whether we have a government of the people, by the people & for the people—or a government of the billionaire class, by the billionaire class & for the billionaire class.
MI: VOTE Abdul El-Sayed, Donovan McKinney & Will Lawrence.
MO: VOTE Cori Bush.
Corporate greed is UnitedHealth making a $5.48 billion profit last quarter (up 60% from last year), spending $33 billion in stock buybacks since 2022, paying its CEO over $60 million last year while it works to hike premiums by up to 25% next year.
Yes. We need Medicare for All.
This is what authoritarianism looks like.
38 days before the midterms, narcissist-in-chief Trump is illegally using $430,000 in taxpayer dollars to run a 30-second ad on Fox praising himself.
This is what you'd see in North Korea, not America.
Fox: Take this bogus ad down.
Congratulations to Will Lawrence, Donavan McKinney and Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on their historic victories last night.
Abdul took on the entire billionaire class, faced more than $60 million in spending against him, and WON.
Now let's beat Mike Rogers and take back the Senate.
President Trump: Instead of insulting Europeans, why don’t we learn something from them.
In Denmark, for example, everyone is guaranteed healthcare, college education is free, parents receive one year of paid family leave and workers don’t make less than $22 an hour.
Billionaires get richer while working families struggle.
The U.S. is in decline.
How do we turn that around and create an economy that works for ALL? We knock on doors and build our grassroots movement.
They have the money. We have the people.
ORGANIZE. ORGANIZE. ORGANIZE.
When you see political ads, think about who’s paying for them:
AI super PACs have amassed a war chest of over $200 million and crypto has already spent $288 million.
Now, AIPAC is spending tens of millions in Michigan against @AbdulElSayed.
We must end Citizens United!
Trump is throwing 15 million people off their healthcare and doubling insurance premiums for over 20 million.
Now he wants to kick another 750,000 people off the ACA.
Trump's horrific priorities: tax breaks for the rich, billions more for war, cruelty for working families.
The Michigan Senate primary is a fight as to whether billionaires and their super PACs will continue to control American politics, or whether we can have a government that represents working families.
Tomorrow is Election Day in MI. Let’s elect Abdul El-Sayed.