FOCUS: Greta Thunberg Warns World Leaders 'Haven't Seen Anything Yet' Ahead of Davos Protests

18 January 20

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Revelation: Funding the Organization Is Not a Crime

What all this hoopla over fundraising is all about is a basic budget for the organization. It a simple thing, a straight forward thing and something that, when ignored creates large immediate problems.

It’s funding, getting it squared away is not a crime, it’s a necessity.

In earnest.

Marc Ash
Founder, Reader Supported News

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18 January 20 It's Live on the HomePage Now: Reader Supported News NEGLECTING THE FINANCIAL HEALTH OF RSN - I love this project. I love the community that we serve. Many of us have been together for over a decade. When I say that we are not getting a "reasonable" degree of support, and that the organization is suffering because of it, take that seriously. These fundraising drives have to be shorter in duration. Two weeks out of every month tied up in fundraising is damaging to everything we want for the project and is counterproductive to the mission. We have to address that. Please stop what you are doing and help end this fundraising drive TODAY! Our sincere thanks to you. / Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News Sure, I'll make a donation! FOCUS: Greta Thunberg Warns World Leaders 'Haven't Seen Anything Yet' Ahead of Davos Protests Marina Depetris and Cecile Mantovani, Reuters Excerpt: "Swedish activist Greta Thunberg marched with 10,000 protesters in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Friday and said 'you have not seen anything yet' before some head to Davos next week to challenge the global financial elite to fight climate change." The 17-year-old, who launched the #FridaysforFuture movement that has sparked worldwide protests, denounced a lack of government action to cut heat-trapping emissions before it is too late. “So, we are now in a new year and we have entered a new decade and so far, during this decade, we have seen no sign whatsoever that real climate action is coming and that has to change,” Thunberg said in a speech in Lausanne. “To the world leaders and those in power, I would like to say that you have not seen anything yet. You have not seen the last of us, we can assure you that. And that is the message that we will bring to the World Economic Forum in Davos next week.” Protesters held signs including “Wake up and Smell the Bushfires” and “It is late but it is not too late”. Hundreds will take trains over the weekend and then march to Klosters near Davos, the annual gathering of world political and business leaders that Thunberg is attending for the second year in a row and will take part in two panel events. Climate change and environmental destruction top the risks highlighted by global decision-makers in a survey ahead of the 2020 gathering of the global elite. This year’s meeting of 3,000 includes U.S. President Donald Trump who once described climate change as a “hoax” and whose administration in November filed paperwork to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement, the first formal step in a one-year process to exit the pact to fight climate change. The latest World Economic Forum annual meeting takes place against the backdrop of some of Australia’s worst ever bushfires. While the government there has avoided making a link to climate change, the fires have deepened public concern about the heating of the planet. Last year was the Earth’s second-hottest since records began, and the world should brace itself for more extreme weather events like Australia’s fires, the U.N. World Meteorological Organization said on Wednesday. “We are...an alliance that is organizing next week in 20 countries to say ‘time is up’ to the World Economic Forum in Davos. Time is up,” a Kenyan activist, Njoki Njoroge Njehu, told the crowd in Lausanne. “It is time to abolish billionaires. It is time to abolish billionaires, because we cannot afford them, the planet cannot afford billionaires,” she said. READ MORE Contribute to RSN Update My Monthly Donation

You are a donor to this campaign. Now can you commit to vote for Bernie?

Earlier this week, we released our fourth quarter fundraising numbers. As a donor to this campaign, we wanted to share them with you directly.

• In the last three months, our movement made 1.8 million contributions for a total of nearly $35 million – more than anyone else in this race. That's amazing.


• This past FEC deadline day on December 31, we raised more than we did the day after Bernie's virtual tie in the Iowa caucus in 2016, which is a huge show of strength for our campaign.


• We reached our huge goal of 5 million donations since the start of the campaign. And 9 of them came from you. Thank you.

These incredible fundraising totals will help us compete against our billionaire-funded opponents, but it will be a record voter turnout that will make it possible to win. So with voting starting very soon, we need to ask:

Add your name to say you plan to support Bernie in your state's caucus or primary. We're aiming for a lot of signatures today to send a powerful message about the movement we're building together.

Early voting begins in a few weeks. The Iowa caucus comes shortly after that. And it is what we do together right now that will help determine the outcome of this race.

There's never been a more important day than today to say you stand with Bernie. Thanks for adding your name.

In solidarity,

Faiz Shakir
Campaign Manager

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The billionaire class is VERY, VERY upset:

I experience daily amusement at the billionaire class and its media working overtime to ignore the fact that Bernie is at or near the top of every single poll in this race.

The LAST thing they want the general public to hear is that Bernie has been #1 in polls for young adults and Latino voters, and in just the last month has been #1 in Iowa, #1 in New Hampshire, #1 in Nevada and now #1 in California.

They are very, very upset...

Because it used to be that those were the people who determined winners and losers. It was just the way it always was. A bunch of rich people would get into a room, share expensive food and drinks, and determine who would have the resources needed to win a presidential primary.

Those days are over, and they HATE it.

They hate that working people now have the power to come together and collectively ensure campaigns like Bernie’s — campaigns that actually fight for them — can out-raise them.

And the billionaire class wants to take that power back to ensure Democrats nominate someone who will represent their interests, as if they don’t have it good enough already.

Well, we can’t let them. We have to keep fighting. We have to keep exercising OUR power. Because if we do, Bernie is going to win. So I am asking:

Can you make a $10 contribution to Bernie Sanders' campaign for president today? Because if we are in this together, not only are we going to win this election and defeat Trump, we are going to transform this country.

There’s always been obscenely wealthy people in this country who have extraordinary power, but they won’t have the ability to pull the strings here once we understand that we actually hold the true power.

We build this power through volunteering, through talking to your friends and family, and through your contributions.

So if you can chip in $10 today, it would mean a lot to Bernie’s campaign and to our movement. Use this link:

https://act.berniesanders.com/go/People-Power

Thank you for reading.

In solidarity,

Michael Moore

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Paid for by Bernie 2020

PO BOX 391, Burlington, VT 05402

FOCUS: The Democrats Have a Big Decision to Make About Mike Bloomberg

01 December 19

It's Live on the HomePage Now:
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FOCUS: The Democrats Have a Big Decision to Make About Mike Bloomberg

Daniel Newhauser, VICE
Newhauser writes: "Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren seem to be having fun clowning billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg lately. The question is whether they'll get the chance to say it to his face."

Bloomberg’s pledge not to accept any donations for his late-entry bid for the Democratic presidential nomination means that, as the rules currently stand, he will never be on a debate stage opposite his progressive nemeses.

The Democratic National Committee requires a candidate to have a certain number of donations to qualify (200,000 unique donors for the December debate, for instance). So unless the DNC changes its debate qualification rules, the entirely self-funding Bloomberg would not make the cut.

There is also a polling threshold, which Bloomberg has yet to hit. Bloomberg registered at 3% in the latest Quinnipiac Poll, released Tuesday — matching longtime candidates like Sens. Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar, who have qualified for the December debate with previous polling marks, and surpassing candidates like Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Sen. Cory Booker and Andrew Yang, who are on the cusp.

Bloomberg also bested the other billionaire in the race, Tom Steyer, who spent millions of his own dollars on digital ads to make the donor threshold, but has yet to meet the December debate polling metrics. But as relatively good as Bloomberg’s marks are for a late entrant, they are not good enough to meet the polling criteria the DNC set to winnow down the debate stages.

So for now, Bloomberg, like Steyer, is exactly where he belongs: Not on the stage. Things could change dramatically if the millions of dollars he’s pumping into advertising begin to pay off in the form of poll numbers that could actually qualify him to stand on a debate stage.

John Zogby, who polled for Bloomberg in the 1990s, said the former mayor could make a serious splash in the race because, if for no other reason, his intense competitiveness.

“If he joins a fight, it's because he knows he can win it. He can't even fathom losing, and so it would be hard to see him giving up. At least that's been his past,” Zogby said.

Lose-lose situation

In that sense, Bloomberg has put the DNC in somewhat of a lose-lose situation.

On the one hand, other candidates would almost certainly decry the DNC if it decided to change its rules to accommodate the latest billionaire in the race. On the other hand, if Bloomberg's ad blitz strategy works and he starts polling well, it could be preposterous not to allow a major candidate on the stage.

And wouldn't progressives, in that case, actually want him on the stage to be able to debate him face to face? Warren and Sanders have already essentially painted Bloomberg as exhibit A for why they’re running: A plutocrat trying to buy American democracy.

For his part, Bloomberg doesn’t seem to be putting too much importance on the debates, just like he doesn’t seem to care too much about skipping the all-important early state caucuses and primaries. When asked Monday whether he’d talked to the DNC about qualifying for the debates, he said, “it’s up to the DNC to … set the rules and if they set the rules where I qualify, I would certainly debate. If they set the rules where I don’t qualify, then I won’t.”

“What I want to do is talk directly to the public and explain what I’ve done, and what I would do, and give them some comfort that because of what I did in the past I will deliver in the future. They’re not just empty promises,” Bloomberg continued. “And if you can say that in a debate, okay, although it’s hard to do that. I think I’d be much better off talking to the public just like I’m doing now.”

DNC Chairman Tom Perez was asked about whether they would relax the rules to accommodate Bloomberg last week and did not seem to rule it out — not necessarily because of Bloomberg, but because by early next year voters will be casting ballots and so they may revisit the thresholds.

“We haven't set the rules for after the first of the year, and that's something that we're doing right now and we always set the rules early enough so that we can give notice to the campaigns,” Perez said. “Right now, zero votes have been cast. And so the voters haven't spoken. What should the rules be once the voters have spoken and we have some actual data from states? That's the question that we are considering."

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24 November 19

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Folks You Gotta Help With the Fundraiser

“Reader Supported News” does not, cannot exist without Reader Support. It becomes an oxymoron. Worse it becomes someone else’s pet. This thing you love, that you trust is something funded by you.

That’s why it works for you day-in-and-day-out.

Please chip in.

Marc Ash
Founder, Reader Supported News

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23 November 19

It's Live on the HomePage Now:
Reader Supported News

IS RSN CRYING WOLF? - Another reader comment and prevalent misconception. No. The donations have absolutely fallen off. As a result we are obliged to spend more time and more effort to raise our basic budget. That is what we and you, by proxy are experiencing. The situation is serious. / Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News

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Sen. Bernie Sanders. (photo: Joshua Lott/Reuters)

Bernie Says He's Disgusted by Michael Bloomberg's $30 Million Ad Blitz

By James Crowley, Newsweek

23 November 19

ermont Senator Bernie Sanders ripped into former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's $30 million advertising campaign, as the latter is reportedly considering entering the 2020 Democratic presidential race.

In a statement released Friday, Sanders slammed the billionaire:

Bernie Sanders

✔@BernieSanders

I’m disgusted by the idea that Michael Bloomberg or any billionaire thinks they can circumvent the political process and spend tens of millions of dollars to buy elections.

If you can’t build grassroots support for your candidacy, you have no business running for president. https://twitter.com/ShaneGoldmacher/status/1197987318537367554 …

Shane Goldmacher

✔@ShaneGoldmacher

NEW: Bloomberg has reserved more than $30 million TV ads beginning on Monday.

A huge show of financial force. Story: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/22/us/politics/bloomberg-ads-2020-race.html …

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Sanders' statement came after The New York Times reported that Bloomberg spent over $30 million for a week's worth of campaign ads. Sanders thought the move this late in the 2020 race was an attempt to bypass the traditional political process.

"I'm disgusted by the idea that Michael Bloomberg or any other billionaire thinks they can circumvent the political process and spend tens of millions of dollars to buy our elections," Sanders said.

The massive amount of money spent on the ad campaign is significantly more than each Democratic candidate, with the exception of billionaire Tom Steyer, spent on ads in 2019. The Hill reported that Bloomberg's ad campaign is the largest amount any candidate has spent for a week of advertising.

"It's just the latest example of a rigged political system that we are going to change when we're in the White House," Sanders said.

Daniel Marans

✔@danielmarans

.@berniesanders immediately comes out swinging against Bloomberg's record-breaking ad buy.

"I’m disgusted by the idea that Michael Bloomberg or any other billionaire thinks they can circumvent the political process and spend tens of millions of dollars to buy our elections."

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Sanders also set himself apart from the billionaire candidate in the release, emphasizing the grassroots support and growth that his 2016 campaign had. "If you can't build grassroots support for your candidacy, you have no business running for president," he said.

Sanders declared that the former mayor's late decision to join the race is mainly informed by the amount of money he can spend on his campaign. He advised that many voters will see through Bloomberg's efforts. "The American people are sick and tired of the power of billionaires, and I suspect they won't react well to someone trying to buy an election," he said.

At an Iowa rally earlier this month, Sanders also warned Bloomberg that Americans will not let a billionaire "buy this election." He declared that his campaign would put a stop to billionaires and wealthy campaign donors from dominating the political system. "Tonight we say to Michael Bloomberg and other billionaires: sorry, you ain't going to buy this election," he said at the time. "You're not going to buy this election by spending hundreds of millions of dollars on media in California. Those days are gone."

Bernie Sanders

✔@BernieSanders

Tonight we say to Michael Bloomberg and other billionaires: Sorry, you’re not going to buy this election.

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