January 1, Trump Sets His Sights on Bernie Sanders

This Day in History | 1964

The U.S. Surgeon General announces definitive link between smoking and cancer.

Good Saturday morning Middle America, 

Don’t look now, but Bernie Sanders has legit lane to securing the Democrat’s presidential nomination in 2020.  Think about it. A guy who has never passed a significant piece of legislation during his entire tenure in Congress.  It’s been a while. He was first elected in 1991. But here we are, with Sanders neck and neck with Joe Biden in early voting states. What a time to be alive.  President Trump is starting to notice, the thing is, Trump doesn’t seem to know how to handle Sanders. 

A majority of Americans support a wealth tax, which may help explain the rise of Sanders other socialistic tendencies. 

Also, here’s something to keep on your radar. The Pentagon is sending more specialized personal to military bases in the Pacific. The plan is to have the assets in place in case things start to pop off with China.  With all the attention paid towards the mideast over the past 20 years, we’ve not spent enough time prepping for the very real threats that exist in China and North Korea. 

Finally, A bunch of Hollywood actors went to Washington to get arrested on purpose. Martin Sheen, Jane Fonda, and Joaquin Phoenix, a.k.a. The Joker (pun intended) were protesting something.  

Read all about it

– Fraser Dixon 

Donald Trump Is Starting To Fixate On Bernie Sanders

President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is beginning to aggressively attack a rising threat to his power: Bernie Sanders.

The Trump campaign put out two statements centered on Sanders this week, and the Vermont senator was at the top of the list of people the president attacked at his first rally of the year in Toledo, Ohio, on Thursday night.

“Bernie Sanders — crazy Bernie! — has condemned the US military strike on Soleimani, the world’s top terrorist,” Trump said in his first mention of a Democratic candidate at the rally. Sanders has led the Democratic field in unequivocally condemning the strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week, solidifying his position as the anti-war candidate.

“Bernie is going up. He’s surging. Crazy Bernie is surging,” Trump said in Toledo.

Read more here

Poll: Majority of Americans Back Wealth Tax

(Reuters) – The idea of imposing a wealth tax on the richest Americans has elicited sharply divergent views across a spectrum of politicians, with President Donald Trump branding it socialist and progressive Democratic presidential contenders Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders prominently endorsing it.

But it may have broad public support, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that found nearly two-thirds of respondents agree that the very rich should pay more.

Among the 4,441 respondents to the poll, 64% strongly or somewhat agreed that “the very rich should contribute an extra share of their total wealth each year to support public programs” – the essence of a wealth tax. Results were similar across gender, race and household income. While support among Democrats was stronger, at 77%, a majority of Republicans, 53%, also agreed with the idea.

Read more here

U.S. to deploy forces to the Pacific capable of electronic, cyber and missile operations against China

(Reuters) – The U.S. Army plans to deploy two specialized task forces to the Pacific capable of conducting information, electronic, cyber and missile operations against Beijing, a Pentagon official said on Friday.

The task forces were slated to deploy over the next two years, U.S. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said at an event brook.gs/39VM3fS in Washington.

“The Army is reinvigorating our presence and disposition in the Pacific,” McCarty said, because “China will emerge as America’s strategic threat.”

The units, called Multi-Domain Task Forces, would help neutralize some capabilities China and Russia already possess. The units would potentially be equipped with long range precision weapons, hypersonic missiles, precision strike missiles, electronic warfare and cyber capabilities, McCarthy said, without citing any locations.

Learn more here

Joaquin Phoenix, Martin Sheen Among Those Arrested As Jane Fonda Leads Final D.C. Climate Protest

(Deadline) – Joaquin Phoenix and Martin Sheen were among the activists arrested on Friday as Jane Fonda led her final climate D.C. protest, weekly events that have drawn Hollywood figures and other activists in an effort to build support for much greater action on climate change.

Fonda did not join the dozens of others who were arrested for occupying the steps of the Capitol, but she and actress later went to participate in another climate demonstration at a Chase bank branch nearby.

Still, the demonstration drew one of its largest crowds. Capitol Police said that 147 were arrested, compared to 16 in the first week of the protests in October. Those arrested were charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding, and then released.

Read more about the arrests here