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In Major Speech and Ahead of Election, Sanders to Focus on
In Major Speech and Ahead of Election, Sanders to Focus on 'Unprecedented and Dangerous' Threat Trump Poses to US Democracy
“Nothing less than our democracy is at stake,” the senator said.
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The sun sets on President Donald Trump as he boards Air Force One at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on May 14, 2019, in Kenner, Louisiana. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP)
In his first in-person event since the end of his 2020 primary campaign for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday will deliver a major address on the “unprecedented and dangerous moment” in which Americans find themselves as a result of President Donald Trump’s threats to the future of democracy in the United States.
As Common Dreams reported earlier this month, the independent senator from Vermont has been warning his supporters to prepare for a “nightmare scenario” in which Trump bombards the public with misinformation about the results of the November election or refuses to leave office voluntarily if voted out.
Now—in an effort to persuade the country to adopt his agenda for ensuring that voters can participate safely and freely in the election and that the results will be honored—Sanders intends to spend the next several weeks bringing his message to the American people, beginning with Thursday’s speech at George Washington University’s Jack Morton Auditorium.
This election is about democracy vs. authoritarianism.
On Thursday I will be giving an address on the unprecedented and dangerous moment we are in right now given President Donald Trump’s unique threats to our democracy.
Tune in at https://t.co/vreIiWfeoS Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. pic.twitter.com/p9q4KP77oa
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 22, 2020
Since early September, Sanders has suggested in an interview with Politico and in messages to his email list that too many news outlets, social media platforms, legislators, and citizens have underestimated Trump’s willingness to maintain his grip on power by undermining the legitimacy of the election—for which early voting has already begun.
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Sanders is not alone in his concerns. As Common Dreams reported at the beginning of the month, researchers have warned that Trump could try to prematurely claim an election night victory on November 3 based on same-day voting by Republicans but excluding millions of uncounted mail-in ballots cast by Democrats in key battleground states, which could unleash confusion and chaos if not adequately handled.
The senator has pointed out other ways Trump is already laying the groundwork for a potential chain of events that could have politically and socially destructive ramifications. In a recent email, Sanders summarized the multiple ways that Trump has threatened U.S. democracy:
- When asked in July if he would accept the results of the November election, Trump told Fox News, “I have to see“;
- The president has questioned the legitimacy of mail-in voting, while his Postmaster General has worked to undermine the postal service;
- Despite being behind in almost every national poll and most battleground state polls, Trump told supporters last month that the only way he could lose is if the election is “rigged”; and
- Trump has also threatened to delay the election.
Sanders has been adamant that the country must be prepared to counter any attempt made by Trump to stay in power if he loses to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Specific action items endorsed by Sanders include: allowing mail-in-votes to be counted before Election Day, as they arrive; educating the public that there is no longer a single Election Day, which means the final results may not be known on November 3; ensuring that local officials are equipped with a plan for Election Day and the days that follow; and regulating political harassment and disinformation on social media.
“Nothing less than our democracy is at stake,” Sanders said in early September.
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'Shameful Reality Stops Today': Indigenous Rights Advocates Applaud
As lawmakers Tuesday celebrated the U.S. House’s long-overdue passage of two bills aimed at helping local and national law enforcement agencies track and prosecute crimes against Native American women and girls, tribal advocates—while pleased the measures are moving forward—cautioned that there is more work ahead.
“It’s been a long road to have policy to protect Natives,” Emily Washines, a historian and member of the Yakama Nation told the Spokesman-Review Tuesday. “I think back to when I was in elementary school, not understanding why we had so many missing and murdered women on the Yakama Reservation.”
Congress has finally passed Savanna’s Act, to combat the epidemic of missing & murdered Indigenous women. It’s named for Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, 22, a Native woman who was 8 months pregnant when she was murdered. Her baby was cut from her womb. #MMIW https://t.co/WUMGpuzUmc
— Ruth Hopkins (@Ruth_HHopkins) September 22, 2020
“The statistics are grim,” Tammy Ayer wrote for the Yakima Herald Monday. According to her reporting:
A report from the National Institute of Justice found that more than four out of five Native American women have experienced violence in their lives. In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control reported that homicide is the third leading cause of death among Native American women between the ages of 10 and 24. The Department of Justice has reported Native American women are 10 times more likely to be murdered than other Americans.
On the 1.3-million-acre Yakama Reservation, women have passed down stories from as far back as the mid-1800s of rape and murder by miners, by soldiers, by other outsiders. The passage of time does not diminish the terror of these assaults, which continue today.
A Department of Justice study published in 2016 found that more than 84% of Indigenous women have experienced violence in their lifetimes, yet the scale and breadth of the violence is unclear, particularly due to a lack of data collection and coordination between law enforcement, something these bills aim to improve.
“Murder is the third-leading cause of death for Native American women, according to The Urban Indian Health Institute,” Crystal EchoHawk, executive director of IllumiNative, tweeted early Tuesday in response to the bills’ passing. “In 2016, there were 5,712 cases reported of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. But only 116 cases were logged in the DOJ database.”
The first bill—named Savanna’s Act after 22-year-old Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a member of the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe from Fargo, North Dakota, who was eight months pregnant when she was killed in 2017—was passed by the U.S. Senate in 2018, but former Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), then the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, prevented the bill from going to the House floor for a vote. The bill directs the Justice Department to develop new law enforcement guidelines, require better training and data collection and improve tribes’ access to federal criminal data.
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“Everyone deserves to feel safe in their communities, but Native American and Alaskan Native women continue to face murder and violence at rates that should make our country ashamed,” Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M), co-chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus, said in a statement.
“Savanna Greywind’s story is heartbreaking and the fact that there are an unknown number of stories like hers is terrifying,” Haaland continued. “This long-standing epidemic will take time, resources, and dedication to resolve it—and today we’re taking a major step by passing Savanna’s Act to improve data collection of missing and murdered Indigenous women which is critical to solving this problem. Representatives Torres and Newhouse were great partners as I worked hard to prioritize the safety of all Native women, on and off Tribal lands, with this bill.”
Savanna’s Act has passed! This is a CRITICAL first step to addressing the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in this country. It now goes to the president’s desk to be signed. https://t.co/SEQv49PAFh
— Amnesty International USA (@amnestyusa) September 21, 2020
“Native women have endured horrific rates of assault, rape, and murder for far too long, and innocent people like Savanna have been lost with too little effort spent on ending this scourge,” Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.), a member of the Congressional Native American Caucus said in a statement Monday.
“That shameful reality stops today,” Torres continued. “I am incredibly grateful to the bipartisan group of lawmakers who joined forces with me to champion Savanna’s Act throughout the legislative process and usher it to a successful vote today. While we celebrate this victory, every one of us knows it’s bittersweet. I hope this vote brings some closure to the countless family members in Native communities who live with the pain of a lost loved one every day. Their unwavering advocacy made this day a reality, and an untold number of lives will be saved as a result.”
The second bill, the Not Invisible Act, passed by the Senate in March of 2020, creates an advisory commission to recommend changes to the Justice and Interior Departments in an attempt to improve coordination between federal agencies, tribal and municipal law enforcement, and victim service organizations.
As of Tuesday, President Donald Trump has not commented on the legislation, but a spokeswoman for Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), who cosponsored the bills, told the Spokesman-Review that Newhouse “fully expects” the president to sign both bills.
“This legislation passing means I won’t have to have those whispered conversations with my daughters about how the government turns its back on our Native women,” Washines said. “The work of safety and justice continues.”
In Secretly-Recorded 'Pebble Tapes,' Mining Execs Reveal True Scope
In Secretly-Recorded 'Pebble Tapes,' Mining Execs Reveal True Scope of 200-Year Project Planned for One of Earth's 'Most Pristine Ecosystems'
“The Pebble Tapes reveal what we suspected,” said the Audubon Society of Alaska. “This is not a small, short-term project.”

Ronald Thiessen, CEO of Northern Dynasty Minerals, which owns Pebble Limited Partnership, was secretly recorded by the Environmental Investigation Agency in tapes showing that the companies’ plans for a mine near Bristol Bay, Alaska, are far more expansive than they’ve publicly acknowledged. (Image: Screenshot, EIA)
Tapes secretly recorded by the Environmental Investigation Agency reveal that two large mining companies in Alaska have far more expansive plans for a mine near the Bristol Bay fishery than they have publicly acknowledged in statements to the U.S. Congress and the Army Corps of Engineers.
“We are shocked at the depth and breadth of Pebble’s deception.”
—Rachel James, SalmonState
The EIA on Tuesday released more than an hour’s worth of conversations the group secretly recorded in August and September with Tom Collier, CEO of Pebble Limited Partnership, and Ronald Thiessen, president and CEO of Northern Dynasty Minerals, which owns Pebble. EIA investigators posed as potential investors in the companies’ mining projects in order to hear the executives speak openly about their plans.
In the “Pebble Tapes,” the two mining executives speak openly about their plans to build a large, long-term mine at Bristol Bay’s headquarters in western Alaska—not a small 20-year project, as the companies have said in official statements to the U.S. government.
Watch a compilation of the discussions below:
In the tapes, EIA asks Thiessen if the companies are planning “unstoppable” growth of the mining project, past the scale it applied for last year.
“Yes,” Thiessen replies. “Once you have something like this in production why would you want to stop?”
Thiessen and Collier detail their plans for a mine with a 180- to 200-year lifespan, with an expanded footprint after its first 20 years—the amount of time it told the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment, in written testimony last year, that the project would last.
Rather than processing 180,000 tons of mineral deposits per day, as stated in the companies’ Environmental Impact Statement, Collier and Thiessen admitted provately that they plan to increase their daily production rates to between 220,000 and 320,000 tons after the mine’s first 20 years.
The Audubon Society of Alaska tweeted that the tapes “reveal what we suspected. This is not a small, short-term project.”
The #PebbleTapes reveal what we suspected. This is not a small, short-term project. https://t.co/i8jURN5Wt9
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— Audubon Alaska (@AudubonAlaska1) September 21, 2020
“These tapes show that potential investors are given an entirely different vision for this massive mine than the government and the public,” said Alexander von Bismarck, executive director of EIA. “We think that is important information to release. The public, and especially the people of Alaska, should know about the scope of a project with permanent impacts on one of the most pristine ecosystems on Earth.”
In addition to planning a project that could last two centuries rather than two decades, Pebble and Northern Dynasty are hoping to activate the Donlin Mine, 175 miles north of Bristol Bay’s headquarters, if the Pebble mine is approved.
“There is a lot of logic to us joining forces to make a single corridor,” Thiessen told EIA investigators, while Collier added, “If you flip the Pebble switch on, it’s likely that you may be also flipping on the Donlin switch.”
“While the public is told this is a 20-year project, investors are told it will go for up to 200 years,” said von Bismarck. “While the public is told it will be five square miles, investors are told that it could spread over the entire valley and literally pave the way for other mines, hundreds of miles away.”
Critics of the Pebble mine near Bristol Bay say the project will pollute the bay, which supports a $1.5 billion fishery.
“We are shocked at the depth and breadth of Pebble’s deception,” said Rachel James, Bristol Bay campaign coordinator for SalmonState, which advocates for Alaska’s wild fisheries. “From their manipulation of the Alaska governor’s office, to the truth of their plan for a massive 200-year mine, to cozy relationships with the Army Corps and EPA political appointees, it’s clear they will stop at nothing in their plans to build a toxic mega-mine at the headwaters of the greatest sockeye salmon run left on the planet.”
In addition to conservationist groups, 30 local native tribes which rely on the region’s salmon for their subsistence culture have opposed Pebble as well as protested the Donlin gold mine.
“The proposed project poses too much risk to our lands and our food sources which we have an obligation to protect and develop responsibly for future generations,” wrote 10 tribes in May.
Watch the Pebble Tapes in their entirety here.
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'Colossal Backdoor Bailout': Outrage as Pentagon Funnels Hundreds of
'Colossal Backdoor Bailout': Outrage as Pentagon Funnels Hundreds of Millions Meant for Covid Supplies to Private Defense Contractors
“If you can’t get a Covid test or find an N95, it’s because these contractors stole from the American people to make faster jets and fancy uniforms.”

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley hold an end of year press conference at the Pentagon on December 20, 2019 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Instead of adhering to congressional intent by building up the nation’s inadequate supply of N95 masks and other equipment to combat the Covid-19 crisis, the Pentagon has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars in appropriated taxpayer funds to private defense contractors for drone technology, jet engine parts, Army uniform material, body armor, and other purposes not directly related to the pandemic.
As the Washington Post reported Tuesday morning, the Department of Defense—headed by former Raytheon lobbyist Mark Esper—”began reshaping how it would award the money” just weeks after Congress in March approved a $1 billion fund under the Defense Production Act to help the nation “prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.”
“The Trump administration has done little to limit the defense firms from accessing multiple bailout funds at once and is not requiring the companies to refrain from layoffs as a condition of receiving the awards,” the Post noted. “Some defense contractors were given the Pentagon money even though they had already dipped into another pot of bailout funds, the Paycheck Protection Program.”
As the U.S. still faces major shortages of testing supplies and N95 masks six months into the pandemic, the Post reported that the Pentagon has used congressionally approved funds to dish out $183 million to luxury carmaker Rolls-Royce and other companies to help “maintain the shipbuilding industry,” tens of millions for “drone and space surveillance technology,” and $80 million to “a Kansas aircraft parts business.”
A subsidiary of Rolls-Royce also received $22 million from the Pentagon “to upgrade a Mississippi plant,” according to the Post.
If you can’t get a COVID test or find an N95, it’s because these contractors stole from the American people to make faster jets and fancy uniforms. After all, Trump did say we were “at war.”https://t.co/a1wth7pvKV
— Dr. Emily Porter, M.D. (@dremilyportermd) September 22, 2020
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Mandy Smithberger, a weapons industry analyst at the Project on Government Oversight, told the Post, “This is part and parcel of whether we have budget priorities that actually serve our public safety or whether we have a government that is captured by special interests.”
The Pentagon’s misuse of taxpayer funds aimed at addressing the Covid-19 pandemic has drawn a rebuke from the Democrat-controlled House Appropriations Committee, which characterized the Defense Department’s rewards to defense contractors as a clear violation of congressional intent.
“While the Department plans to execute a portion of that funding for personal protective equipment (PPE) as intended by Congress, most of the funds will be used to address the impact of Covid–19 on the [defense industrial base], which was not the original intent of the funds,” the committee said in a July report (pdf).
Pentagon officials insisted to the Post that the funds were allocated appropriately, citing the need to “protect key defense capabilities from the consequences of Covid,” but Slate’s Elliot Hannon argued the Defense Department’s generous taxpayer-funded gifts to private corporations amount to little more than “a colossal backdoor bailout for the defense industry.”
Pointing to the Pentagon’s handouts to Rolls-Royce and other major companies, Hannon wrote, “That doesn’t exactly sound like PPE.”
Our work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely.
This is the world we live in. This is the world we cover.
Because of people like you, another world is possible. There are many battles to be won, but we will battle them together—all of us. Common Dreams is not your normal news site. We don’t survive on clicks. We don’t want advertising dollars. We want the world to be a better place. But we can’t do it alone. It doesn’t work that way. We need you. If you can help today—because every gift of every size matters—please do. Without Your Support We Simply Don’t Exist.
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