Published on Apr 16, 2019
THE MEDIA AND VERIFIED BULLIES HAVE BEEN SQUAWKING NONSTOP ABOUT HOW TRUMP NEEDS TO TONE DOWN THE RHETORIC
THE MEDIA IS OUR ENEMY
Bernie Sanders Releases 10 Years of Tax Returns, Confirming Millionaire Status
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday released 10 years of his long-anticipated tax returns as he campaigns for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
His 2018 return reveals that he and his wife, Jane, earned more than $550,000, including $133,000 in income from his Senate salary and $391,000 in sales of his book, “Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In.”
The filings show that Sanders, who throughout his career has called for an economy and government that works for everyone and not just the 1 percent, is among the top 1 percent of earners in the U.S. According to the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute. families in the U.S. earning $421,926 or more a year are part of this group.
During his first presidential bid, Sanders released just one year of his tax returns — his 2014 return — and it was not a major issue in the Democratic primary contest. But this year, as President Donald Trump has continued to refuse to release his full tax returns and House Democrats are forcing the issue, tax transparency has grown in prominence.
Sanders’ status as a millionaire, which he acknowledged last week, was cemented in his 2017 statement. That year, Sanders disclosed $1.31 million income, combined from his Senate salary and $961,000 in book royalties and sales.
In a statement accompanying the release, Sanders said that the returns show that his family has been “fortunate,” something he is grateful for after growing up in a family that lived paycheck to paycheck.
“I consider paying more in taxes as my income rose to be both an obligation and an investment in our country. I will continue to fight to make our tax system more progressive so that our country has the resources to guarantee the American Dream to all people,” Sanders added.
Sanders, 77, has also listed Social Security payments for each year of the decade of tax returns he made available on Monday. By 2018, his wife, 69, was also taking Social Security, providing the couple with nearly $52,000 for the year.
Sanders and his wife disclosed $36,300 in charitable contributions in 2017, but their return does not detail each individual contribution.
A number of Sanders’ rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination — including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota — have released tax records to varying degrees. Gillibrand was the first candidate to release her 2018 tax returns, and her campaign released a video in which she called on other candidates to join her.
POLL SHOCK: BERNIE TAKES LEAD!
A new national Emerson poll, including 20 Democratic candidates for President, found Senator Bernie Sanders ahead of the pack with 29%, followed by former Vice President Joe Biden at 24%. They were followed by Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 9%, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke and Senator Kamala Harris at 8%, and Senator Elizabeth Warren at 7%.
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang and former HUD secretary Julian Castro were at 3%. The poll was conducted April 11-14 of Democratic Primary voters with a subset of n=356, +/- 5.2%.
Spencer Kimball, Director of Emerson Polling, said “while still early in the nominating process, it looks like Mayor Pete is the candidate capturing voters’ imagination; the numbers had him at 0% in mid-February, 3% in March and now at 9% in April.”
Kimball also noted that “Biden has seen his support drop. In February, he led Sanders 27% to 17%, and in March the two were tied at 26%. Now, Sanders has a 5 point lead, 29% to 24%.”
If Joe Biden decides not to run, Bernie Sanders looks to be the early beneficiary, picking up 31% of Bidens’ voters. Mayor Pete Buttigieg gets 17% of the Biden vote, followed by Beto O’Rourke at 13%.
President Trump has seen his approval numbers nationally stay consistent in 2019 and is currently at 43% approval and 49% disapproval among voters (n=914, +/-3.2%), similar to last month’s numbers (43% to 50%). However, among Republican primary voters, Trump remains very popular and leads potential challenger, former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, 85% to 15% (n=324, +/-5.4%).
In a head to head ballot test, Joe Biden appears the strongest opponent against Trump of the major Democratic candidates with a 53% to 47% advantage. This result is down 4 points from Emerson’s March poll, where Biden led Trump 55% to 45%. This general tightening is seen in the other head-to heads against other potential opponents: (n=914, +/-3.2%)
- Biden 53%, Trump 47%
- Sanders 51%, Trump 48%
- O’Rourke 51%, Trump 49%
- Harris 50%, Trump 50%
- Buttigieg 49%, Trump 51%
- Warren 48%, Trump 52%
Taxes
As of April 14, 2019, 73% of voters said they had filed their federal income tax returns, 17% plan to get them in on time and 4% have asked for an extension. 6% do not plan on filing returns.
36% of those who have filed their taxes say they are paying more compared to last year, with 29% saying they are paying less, and 35% saying they are paying about the same.
Of those who said they were receiving a tax return this year, 41% said they plan to use it to pay off debt, 31% plan to save it, and 13% will spend the money on enjoyment.
Campaign Issues
- 47% of voters support building a wall on the US-Mexico Border, 45% oppose, 8% are undecided.
- 41% of voters do not think large tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google should be broken up, 29% think they should be broken up, and 31% are undecided.
- 43% of voters do not support American intervention in Venezuela to overthrow the Maduro Regime, 27% do support American intervention, 31% were unsure.
- 55% of voters do not think individuals currently incarcerated should have the right to vote, 30% believe those incarcerated should be able to vote , and 15% are undecided on this issue.
- 65% of voters think that felons who completed their prison sentences should have the right to vote, 23% do not, and 12% are undecided.
Unlikely Voter
Voters who did not plan to vote in either party primary/caucus were asked why they were not planning on voting, 16% said lack of interest, 12% said they don’t like any of the candidates, 11% said it was too hard to vote, 6% said a lack of time, and 55% responded that it was for some other reason that they do not plan to vote in the primaries.
Caller ID
The national Emerson College poll was conducted April 11-14, 2019 under the Supervision of Professor Spencer Kimball. The sample consisted of registered voters, n=914, with a Credibility Interval (CI) similar to a poll’s margin of error (MOE) of +/- 3.2 percentage points. The data was weighted based on a 2016 voter model of gender, age, party affiliation, region and ethnicity. It is important to remember that subsets based on gender, age, party breakdown, ethnicity and region carry with them higher margins of error, as the sample size is reduced. Data was collected using both an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system of landlines only (n=599) and an online panel provided by Amazon Turk (n=315). Visit our website at www.emersonpolling.com.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: ‘I Support Impeaching This President’
By Pam Key
Sunday on Yahoo News’ “Skullduggery” podcast, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) argued there were “so many” reasons to impeach President Donald Trump.
Ocasio-Cortez said, “I think you could reach in a bag and pull so many things out that are impeachable of this president. I support impeaching this president.”
When asked why she thought the president should be impeached, Ocasio-Cortez said “Number one is emoluments. I think it’s always been emoluments. It’s always been about that for me.”
She continued, “I think two would be tax fraud.”
She added, “I think emoluments kind of includes any misconduct, financial misconduct in relation to Russia.”
PELOSI ORDERS CAPITOL HILL POLICE TO BEEF UP SECURITY FOR REP. OMAR
“The President’s words weigh a ton, and his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger. President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video.”
By Kerry Picket
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi instructed Capitol Hill Police to heighten security arrangements around Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar in the wake of comments she made about the 9/11 terror attacks and the response from the president on social media.
“Following the President’s tweet, I spoke with the Sergeant-at-Arms to ensure that Capitol Police are conducting a security assessment to safeguard Congresswoman Omar, her family and her staff. They will continue to monitor and address the threats she faces,” Pelosi said in a statement Sunday afternoon.
She added, “The President’s words weigh a ton, and his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger. President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video.” (RELATED: Pelosi Condemns Trump’s 9/11 Tweet But Remains Silent On Omar’s Remarks)
Pelosi condemned President Trump for his critical tweet of Omar for describing the attacks as “something some people did.” Trump’s tweet included video of Omar’s remarks and video of the 9/11 attacks. (RELATED: Pelosi Dodges Question On Omar’s 9/11 Comments)
“The memory of 9/11 is sacred ground, and any discussion of it must be done with reverence. The President shouldn’t use the painful images of 9/11 for a political attack,” Pelosi said in a separate statement on Saturday.
Omar made the remarks at an event hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) back in March.
“For far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen and, frankly, I’m tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it,” she said.
She continued, “CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties. So you can’t just say that today someone is looking at me strange and that I am trying to make myself look pleasant. You have to say that this person is looking at me strange, I am not comfortable with it, and I am going to talk to them and ask them why. Because that is the right you have.”
Pelosi has made no public criticism of Omar’s comments despite Assistant House Speaker Rep. Ben Ray Luján calling them “extremely hurtful” and “wrong.” when he appeared on MSNBC.
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