$27 Quotes: "Newt and the GOP are resorting to calling me a liar... I'll take it as a compliment."

Welcome once again to $27 Quotes —  a weekly place where you can sit back, relax, enjoy some inspiring quotes and good music, and (most importantly) spend time gazing at a picture or two of foresterbob’s cat Noble Fur.

As usual for the past few weeks, it’s thunderstormy weather here again today.  Today started off mostly dry, but now there’s water starting to fall from the sky again, accompanied by rumbling noises.  Let’s see if I can manage to type up and post this before anything knocks out the electricity and/or the phone/internet...

First, here’s a little music to enjoy while reading the quotes or gazing at the Noble Fur pictures.

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Here’s an e-mail I received at the end of June, just before the 2nd quarter fund-raising period was drawing to a close and candidates were trying to raise as much money as they could before the quarter ended in order to finish with as large a total as they could. 

I’m featuring this e-mail at the top of tonight’s diary because it is not a candidate fund-raising letter, and I think the campaign which sent this letter deserves the spotlight tonight and a thank you for doing this.

At the Clint Border Facility in Clint, TX — just outside of El Paso — more than 100 children are being detained in conditions so unsafe and inhumane that it’s being called “a public health crisis.” Children caring for other children, sleeping on concrete floors, and lacking the most basic care and supplies like toothbrushes, soap, or beds. This is happening, right now, in our nation’s name and under our government’s watch.

Conventional wisdom tells us that today we should be hosting big fundraising events and making phone calls to donors. But this is a human rights crisis that demands immediate action. These children deserve respect, dignity, and humane living conditions. Moving them out of these facilities quickly, providing them adequate shelter and support, and uniting them with family members should be this administration’s immediate priority.

That’s why Beto just held a rally outside of the facility with political leaders and activists from all over the country to demand that this mistreatment of children — as well as the separating of families and indefinite detainment of immigrants — immediately end.

We’re asking you to make a donation — not to our campaign, but to the Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services of El Paso. They’re an incredible organization that provides legal services for adults and unaccompanied immigrant children in the local immigration detention centers and shelters. 100% of your contribution will go to them.

You can chip in by clicking here.

~ the Beto O’Rourke  campaign

the continuing border crisis

Trump spent millions on a poorly attended, 1 day parade days after saying he couldn’t afford toothpaste & soap for caged children.

Did he ask Congress for military parade money? No.

Trump held these kids hostage to secure billions for their abusers. Congress needs to see that.

~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

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My bill, Dignity for Detained Immigrants, completely eliminates for-profit immigrant prisons. No one should profit from jailing asylum-seekers, children and families. We lock up 56,000 immigrants each night. The vast majority have no criminal charges, much less convictions.  That is so wrong.

~ Pramila Jayapal

If you’d like to know more about the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, introduced in the house by Pramila Jayapal and Adam Smith, the FCNL has a good write-up about it here.

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Kellyanne Conway criticized Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for voting against the recent appropriation bill providing $4.6 billion in funding to the agencies handling immigrants on the southern US border:  “How many migrant women did AOC help by voting AGAINST the $4.6 billion bipartisan humanitarian aid that is FOR THEM?” 

To which AOC replied: 

The $4.6 billion wasn’t humanitarian at all. It had NO accountability measures for facilities that abuse children and families. It didn’t fix the problem, just funded abuse.

I don’t believe in billion dollar blank checks for unethical, abusive administrations. Including yours.

~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

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And there was another scandal which came out last week about the people our government has entrusted with the lives of immigrants seeking to enter the US:

Inside the Secret Border Patrol Facebook Group Where Agents Joke About Migrant Deaths and Post Sexist Memes

Members of a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents joked about the deaths of migrants, discussed throwing burritos at Latino members of Congress visiting a detention facility in Texas on Monday and posted a vulgar illustration depicting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez engaged in oral sex with a detained migrant, according to screenshots of their postings.

In one exchange, group members responded with indifference and wisecracks to the post of a news story about a 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant who died in May while in custody at a Border Patrol station in Weslaco, Texas. One member posted a GIF of Elmo with the quote, “Oh well.” Another responded with an image and the words “If he dies, he dies.”

Created in August 2016, the Facebook group is called “I’m 10-15” and boasts roughly 9,500 members from across the country…

Here’s what one person had to say about that:

Racist and sexist behavior on the part of those who wear a uniform of the United States is completely unacceptable.

DHS must investigate and take strong action against those found guilty of this vulgar behavior.

We must stop family separation; reunite families that have been separated; end detention of families, children and anyone who doesn't pose a danger; eliminate private detention facilities; and protect asylum seekers. We also must oppose Trump's nightmarish mass-deportation plans.

Here is what we need to do: Convene the countries of this hemisphere to address the violence and deprivation that is prompting people to flee their own countries. As neighbors, we can solve these problems together.

~ Bernie Sanders

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The continuing climate crisis

We just experienced the hottest month ever recorded on Planet Earth.

Unless we act drastically now, it’s only going to get worse.

What will that mean for our food, water, shelter, safety?

We need a Green New Deal. Now.

~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

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The continuing economic crisis

So, we know Trump is ignoring the poor and low wealth people in this country. Will Democrats also talk only about middle class and the neoliberal myth that helping the middle class helps everybody?

The 140 million poor and low-wealth people includes:

... 39 million children (below 18) ... 21 million elders (above 65) .... 65.8 million men ... 74.2 million women.

The 140 million poor and low-wealth people includes:

... 26 million Black people ... 38 million Latinx people ... 8 million Asian people ... 2.14 million Native/Indigenous people ... 66 million white people.

Poverty and low-wealth is a crisis in America.

~ William Barber

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40 million Americans live in poverty.

500,000 people will sleep on the street tonight.

34 million people don’t have health insurance.

I, for one, don’t think we should be spending tens of millions of dollars driving tanks through downtown D.C.

~ Bernie Sanders

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Instead of giving criminal records to people who possess marijuana, maybe we should give them to the crooks on Wall Street who crashed our economy.

~ Bernie Sanders

Our government saddled a generation with $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. That’s why I’m calling for something truly transformational: universal free public college and cancellation of student loan debt.  I’m calling for cancelling student loan debt for more than 95% of Americans who have it. We must end the student debt crisis.

~ Elizabeth Warren

And agreeing with her:

This is the point of canceling student debt and providing free college for all. Education should be treated as a public right, enjoyed by everyone—not a luxury afforded to the few.

~ Bernie Sanders

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I’m proud to be working with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and so many other Democrats to pass Medicare for All, debt free college and a Green New Deal. This is the agenda America needs — and that will energize voters to defeat Donald Trump.

~ Bernie Sanders

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I Have A Plan For That

Women of color face a steeper climb to provide financial security for their families because of systemic discrimination. On Day One of a Warren administration, I’ll take a series of executive actions to help boost their wages and leadership opportunities.

The gender pay gap hits women of color particularly hard. When future employers use salary history to make new offers, they trap women of color in lower wages. Black and Brown women are disproportionately mistreated at work. Their path to higher-level management jobs is rockier.

The government has helped perpetuate the systemic discrimination that has denied women of color equal opportunities, and it’s time to right those wrongs. I've got a plan to boost their wages, open up career advancement, and fight systemic discrimination.

First, I will have new requirements for federal contractors: companies with bad track records on equal pay and management diversity won’t get new contracts. No contractor will be permitted to use forced arbitration and non-compete clauses for low- and medium-wage workers.

I will also make sure the senior ranks of the federal government look like America. My administration will ensure that federal agencies recruit women of color and develop leadership paths for them. The government should do better if it demands more from the private sector.

Finally, I will strengthen enforcement against systemic discrimination. I will direct federal agencies to target enforcement towards industries where we know women of color face higher rates of discrimination.

This is just the first step—but it’s a necessary one. It’s time to build an America that recognizes the role that women of color play in their families and in the economy, that fairly values their work, and that delivers equal opportunity for everyone.

~ Elizabeth Warren

Perhaps it’s time for a little music.  Here’s Shelly Goldstein with a familiar classic as done in the delightfully distinctive Goldstein fashion …

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And a few final quotes to round things out: 

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American democracy was once an unspeakable idea. To challenge the divine right of Kings & aristocrats was to challenge the structure of society.

The founders’ notion of a government by the people was incredibly radical. And in many ways, it still is.

~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

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I learned a long time ago that when change happens it's either because people see the light or they feel the fire.

We're lifting up these stories in the hopes that you will see the light. And if you don't, we will bring the fire. ~ Ayanna Pressley

Ah yes, now Newt and the GOP are resorting to calling me a liar.

Who else do they call liars?

 96% of scientists who agree on climate change  Millions of Americans they locked up in the War on Drugs  MeToo survivors

So I’ll take it as a compliment. Thanks.

~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

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Policies to provide living wages, health care and uplift for poor and low wealth people are not far left or extreme, but the moral center.

~ William Barber

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