Platform objections at the DNC, because delegates are serious about their candidate
A twitter pie-fight is currently simmering but it’s unclear whether people/bots are doing it for the lulz.
It appears that Bernie delegates will still vote to represent their constituents, because there are policy positions at stake.
In the case of Cori Bush, there’s likely some supporters of the defeated Lacy Clay stirring something up on Twitter, considering the personal attacks.
The primary beefs return to the convention even if there is greater unity than in 2016, or at least having a virtual convention avoids some of the shenanigans that will probably happen for the GOP’s convention.
And in other health related craziness, Esper eyes $2.2 billion cut to military health care during a pandemic
Research into hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence, missile defense and more.will apparently have higher priority than military healthcare. Apparently military votes don’t count in 2020.
The proposed cut to the military health system over the next five years is part of a sweeping effort Esper initiated last year to eliminate inefficiencies within the Pentagon’s coffers. But two senior defense officials say the effort has been rushed and driven by an arbitrary cost-savings goal, and argue that the cuts to the system will imperil the health care of millions of military personnel and their families as the nation grapples with Covid-19.
Esper and his deputies have argued that America's private health system can pick up the slack.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 17, 2020
Esper rolled out the results of the first iteration of the defense-wide review in February, revealing $5.7 billion in cost savings that he said would be put toward preparing the Pentagon to better compete with Russia and China, including research into hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence, missile defense and more.
But the proposed health cuts, in the second iteration of the defense-wide review, would degrade military hospitals to the point that they will no longer be able to sustain the current training pipeline for the military’s medical force, potentially necessitating something akin to a draft of civilian medical workers into the military, the two defense officials said.
The second official noted the challenge in finding outside doctors given longstanding complaints from some U.S. hospitals and researchers that there aren’t enough physicians to serve civilians.
“How’s a 'draft' even going to work?” the official said “The U.S. is dealing with a doctor shortage.”
Fortunately, the GOP and their convention will have much more chaos.
As Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s star rises in the Democratic Party, all eyes are on how the progressive powerhouse will influence the 2020 platform — and with it the prospects of Joe Biden at the top of the ticket.
The New York Democrat endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the Democratic presidential primary, becoming one of his most vocal and prominent surrogates. She also frequently criticized Biden, the former vice president, as overly centrist, saying in January that the two would be in different political parties “in any other country.”
Since Biden became the Democrats’ presumptive presidential nominee earlier this year, Ocasio-Cortez has emerged as a key figure in attempts to bridge the ideological gap between the party establishment and the more populist camp represented by Sanders. Shortly after Sanders exited the race, she joined the party’s “unity task force,” which developed policy recommendations designed to satisfy both factions and build a common front against President Trump heading into November.
In an even more prominent role, Ocasio-Cortez is also scheduled to speak Tuesday at the Democrats’ virtual convention, providing an unusual platform for a first-term lawmaker — and self-described democratic socialist — who’s often at odds with the party brass. A day later, she’s set to address the same audience in a separate video segment.
It’s not that Ocasio-Cortez is driving the ship. The proposed platform she helped develop does not include “Medicare for All,” a signature issue for both her and Sanders, nor does it contain key components of the Green New Deal, the liberals’ wish list for environmental policy. However, it does embrace a host of other progressive priorities, including a public health insurance option, guaranteed early childhood education and a $15 minimum wage.
As a result, the party platform set to be adopted at the virtual convention is “definitively [the] most progressive platform that will be adopted by the Democratic Party,” Joel Rubin, a strategist with the liberal group Democracy Partners, told The Hill.
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 17, 2020
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