The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: Bernie Sanders

  • Sanders Wins California Primary

    Sanders Wins California Primary

    Sanders takes over 40 percent of Humboldt vote

    Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders won the California primary. With more than 400 delegates up for grabs, Sanders consistently polled higher for California Democrats leading up to the primary. Sanders’ progressive platform drew a coalition of voters and strong support from unions across the country.

    Tuesday night marked the biggest event in the primary season. Fourteen states plus American Samoa held primaries Tuesday, with 1,357 delegates to be allocated. That is just over a third of the delegate total needed to win the Democratic nomination.

    Humboldt County overwhelmingly voted for Sanders. Part of California’s second congressional district, Humboldt voters choose six delegates to send to the Democratic National Convention in July. Tuesday night reports around 9:30 p.m. showed Sanders leading Humboldt with 42.4% of the vote, followed by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren with 14.5%.

    Sanders led California overall with 28.7% of the vote. Michael Bloomberg was second with 18.8%. Biden was third at 17.2%.

    Biden had a surprising surge in support in other states. Biden is running as a moderate, citing the need to beat President Donald Trump in the general election. Though Sanders draws support from demographics with generally low-voter turnout, Biden’s campaign claims a candidate running too far to the left will discourage many potential Democratic voters from showing up in November.

    “I believe that Sanders is still going to be the delegate leader. And he has the enthusiastic base needed to beat Trump.”

    Billy Cook

    This boost in support may be a result of the recent dropouts of Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar. Both candidates were running moderate campaigns similar to Biden’s. Sanders had been accumulating significant momentum in the early primary states. Before Tuesday, many viewed Biden’s campaign as an insignificant challenge to Sanders’ campaign.

    One of Humboldt County for Bernie 2020’s lead organizers, Billy Cook, remained hopeful that Sanders will win the nomination.

    “I believe that Sanders is still going to be the delegate leader,” Cook said. “And he has the enthusiastic base needed to beat Trump.”

    Since 2016, Sanders has drawn support around his long-standing progressive platform. His main campaign points are Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. Many Humboldt residents cited these policies as the main draw to support Sanders.

    Sanders supporters in Humboldt County have been hard at work campaigning to get residents to vote for Sanders. They have regularly sent crews to canvass Arcata, Eureka, McKinleyville and Blue Lake. One of their strategies is to reach out to voters face-to-face. A few members of the group have also set up tables with voting and candidate information in pedestrian areas around Humboldt as well.

    Another organizer for Sanders-supporters in Humboldt, Evan T. Nixon, said Super Tuesday made the race more complicated. Nixon said that the strategy for organizers in Humboldt is going to change. Their focus will shift to states that have not yet voted in the primary, like Oregon and Arizona.

    “We need,” Nixon said, “to just hit the phones.”

  • Biden’s Recent Slip-up is Not His First

    Biden’s Recent Slip-up is Not His First

    The South Carolina gaffe is only his most recent in a series of slip-ups

    In a speech given in South Carolina Feb. 24, Joe Biden asked for support in his campaign—but he may have forgotten what exactly he was campaigning for.

    “My name is Joe Biden, I’m a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate,” Biden said, a Democratic candidate for the United States presidency.

    This, however, was not the first time that Biden has slipped-up on the campaign trail. During the Nov. 20 Democratic debate in Atlanta, Georgia, The Guardian reported Biden said he was supported by the only African American woman to be elected to the Senate, Carol Moseley Braun.

    “We have this notion that if you’re poor, you cannot do it. Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.”

    Joe Biden

    Senator Kamala Harris, who was on stage with him, had to chime in and remind him she was also an African American woman elected to the Senate.

    One of his most glaring slip-ups was during a town hall meeting in Iowa hosted by the Asian and Latino Coalition. According to a New York Times article, Biden was talking about education and challenging students.

    “We should challenge students in these schools to have advanced placement programs in these schools,” Biden said. “We have this notion that if you’re poor, you cannot do it. Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.”

    He did attempt to amend his statement when he continued.

    “Wealthy kids, black kids, Asian kids, no, I really mean it,” Biden said.

    This isn’t the only gaffe that puts into question his views on race. On June 18, 2019, during a fundraiser event in New York, Biden recounted his time in the Senate in the 70s. Specifically, working with Mississippi Senator James Eastland and Georgia Senator Herman Talmadge, two senators who opposed civil rights and desegregation, according to CNN. He was comparing the Senate from that period to the Senate today.

    The big question regarding this most recent slip-up is whether or not it will affect his poll numbers that currently have him sitting in second place behind Bernie Sanders.

    “At least there was some civility. We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything. We got things done. We got it finished,” Biden said. “But today, you look at the other side and you’re the enemy. Not the opposition, the enemy. We don’t talk to each other anymore.”

    Kamala Harris spoke out again against Biden.

    “To coddle the reputations of segregationists, of people who, if they had their way, I would literally not be standing here as a member of the United States Senate, is, I think it’s just, it’s misinformed,” Harris said.

    Even before this election cycle, Biden has made questionable remarks regarding race. According to an article by CNN, when he started his 2008 presidential race, he referred to Barack Obama in a way that drew scrutiny from many people.

    “I mean, you got the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” Biden said during an interview with the New York Observer.

    The big question regarding this most recent slip-up is whether or not it will affect his poll numbers that currently have him sitting in second place behind Bernie Sanders.

  • Mike Bloomberg is Democratic Trump

    Mike Bloomberg is Democratic Trump

    Mike Bloomberg is just another billionaire with outdated views looking for attention

    We’ve all seen the campaign ads. “Mike will get it done,” they profess. What exactly has he done? He’s had 64 sexual harassment cases brought against him. He’s expanded the infamously racist stop-and-frisk policy in New York. He’s spied on the Muslim community. And he has bought his way into the primary.

    Not to bring everything back to another bigoted New York billionaire who got bored with having too much money and went into politics, but Mike Bloomberg certainly does remind me of someone.

    Were it not for the mark on the ballot calling him a Democrat, people would assume based on his fiscal policy and social track record that he was at least a centrist-Independent, if not a conservative-Republican.

    Despite being a registered Republican from the beginning of his political career up until 2007, and an Independent until 2018, he chose to run as a Democrat. Presumably, to gain the support of both Republicans and party-line Democrats.

    He’s an authoritarian, plain and simple. Party isn’t the real issue here. He cares about power.

    Bloomberg has a long history of bigotry. While his predecessor, Rudy Giuliani, first implemented stop-and-frisk, it was under his watch that the program grew to the widespread excuse for police brutality and racial profiling.

    When it was brought up by critics that New York police officers were disproportionately targeting black and brown communities, he gave the rationale that, “That’s where all the crime was.” In addition, he justified having undercover officers stalk Muslim New Yorkers as preventative measures against another 9/11.

    “We had just lost 3,000 people at 9/11,” Bloomberg said in an interview with PBS Feb. 27. “Of course we’re supposed to do that.”

    If anything, Bloomberg is a more dangerous version of Trump. He’s smart. He knows that putting up a polished front and playing up the establishment card will make him look like the opposite of the current president.

    Aside from his dubious past, Bloomberg’s current policy proposals are anything but progressive. While his website claims that Bloomberg will defend equal rights for LGBTQ+ Americans, he has stated as recently as 2019 that he considers transgender individuals as just “some guy in a dress,” or “he, she, or it.”

    On his website, aside from a reference to overturning the military ban, he has nothing to say on transgender rights. By considering equal rights for the transgender community to be reaching too far, he betrays the entire LGBTQ+ community.

    Being progressive is about supporting the oppressed and the marginalized. No ally insults the people they claim to stand with behind their backs and considers the value of their identities negotiable.

    According to his website, his plan for climate change is to “restore America’s leadership in fighting the global climate crisis, propel the United States toward a 100% clean energy future, make environmental justice a national priority.” These promises are all incredibly vague, and his campaign has been silent on the specifics of how they’d achieve any those goals.

    General promises of somehow solving climate change aren’t going to help us. If we want this planet to be livable for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren, we need to take serious and quantifiable steps to ensure it. The science says we need ambitious action. All he offers are glossy advertisements.

    If anything, Bloomberg is a more dangerous version of Trump. He’s smart. He knows that putting up a polished front and playing up the establishment card will make him look like the opposite of the current president.

    I’m not afraid that he couldn’t defeat Trump in an election. If Bloomberg wins the Democratic primary, the general election won’t matter. It’s a self-serving billionaire in office either way.

  • Who Students are Supporting in the Upcoming Elections

    Who Students are Supporting in the Upcoming Elections

    What students think of the 2020 presidential candidates on offer

    The 2020 presidential campaign season has been in full swing for months. Candidates have risen and fallen. Media coverage of the race has been pervasive. Scandals, conspiracy theories and online warfare have all grabbed media attention. Headlines are filled with heart attacks, race-faking and corruption allegations. Voting begins in earnest this February with the Iowa caucuses. So, who will Humboldt State University students support going into election season?

    “I really have no idea what’s going on right now,” HSU student and competitive rower Travis Wills-Pendley said.

    The Lumberjack’s presidential poll from Oct. 2019.

    Wills-Pendley is one of the many students choosing to let the dust settle before making any decisions. Californians don’t vote until March 3, so students will have a chance to see how candidates perform in other states before voting.

    Although most students stayed away from the chaotic primary coverage, the majority said they would likely vote for the more left-wing candidates. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was frequently mentioned, along with Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.

    “I care a lot about education. I have a bunch of younger cousins and I really want to make sure they get a good education.”

    Elise Guerrero

    Elise Guerrero is a wildlife major who focuses on climate change policy and progressive advancement in education.

    “Currently I’m definitely voting for either Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren,” Guerrero said. “I care a lot about education. I have a bunch of younger cousins and I really want to make sure they get a good education.”

    Meanwhile, biology major Nathan Johle thinks there is a lack of effective climate policy among the democratic candidates.

    “I care a lot about environmental policies,” Johle said.

    “This will be the first time I can vote in a presidential election, so I might as well use my right.”

    Nathan Johle

    Johle previously supported the climate action-focused campaign of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. However, Inslee dropped out of the race in August 2019.

    “If I’m going to support a politician it’ll be Tulsi Gabbard,” Johle said. “This will be the first time I can vote in a presidential election, so I might as well use my right.”

    Johle doesn’t identify with a certain political party. Instead, he chooses candidates based on their individual positions.

    “I have beliefs,” Johle said. “I don’t like to put them between two labels.”

    He expressed concern that students vote for candidates without doing their research, a sentiment echoed by fellow student Kitty Quintrell.

    “I don’t like making a conclusion until I’ve got my own research,” Quintrell said. “That’s one of the main things I’m going to be doing before I submit my vote.”

    In the short time before California votes, some states will have already decided. The popularity of the candidates will be much clearer. Momentum will be gained by some and lost by others. Due to the shifting field of the democratic primary, students are resorting to a tried and true method—waiting until the last minute to cram.

  • Berning Green

    Berning Green

    Bernie supporters find political similarities with Jill Stein

    By Ali Osgood

    Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein spoke to an audience of nearly 400 Humboldt County community members on Wednesday night in HSU’s Kate Buchanan room. Among the crowd were human rights activists, environmentalists, future, past, and present politicians, and a large number of young people. Many of these audience members were also former Bernie Sanders supporters who looked toward Stein when Sanders was out of the running for president.

    “There are lots of Berners who are burning green,” Stein said (a Berner is another name for Bernie Sanders supporters). “The important thing here is not to close your eyes to what history is telling us…If you think we have more time to keep beating around the bush, stay in the Democratic Party. If you don’t? Move on, move forward. The more of us the better.”

    A crowd of nearly 400 gathered in the Kate Buchanan room on Wednesday Mar. 8 to watch 2016 Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein speak. | Photo by Ali Osgood

    Throughout the night Stein, as well as audience members, tied in comparisons to Sanders’ platform. In the beginning of her speech, Stein addressed that she believes Sanders would have won the presidential election against Trump.

    For Humboldt, Sanders was the top democratic pick in the 2016 primary election with a 40% lead over Hillary Clinton according to the Humboldt County elections office. Clinton went on to become the democratic candidate and many Humboldt Berners went on to support Stein over Clinton. Stein had over 3,500 votes locally, a thousand more than she received when she ran for president in 2012. Clinton had a thousand less votes than president Obama received in 2012.

    Audience member Rob Jensen, Eureka, was one of the Berners who voted for Stein.

    “When the Democratic Party forced out Bernie, I felt that the Green Party had a similar platform to his,” Jensen said. “People have told me I wasted my vote, but for me, Clinton wasn’t a viable option.”

    As Stein covered topics including climate change and corrupt economics, she also discussed the problems with a two party system and how voters are more likely to vote against a candidate. Her campaign manager and 2004 Green Party presidential candidate, David Cobb, helped reiterate this concept.

    “[It’s] a voting system that forces people to feel like they have to vote against the candidate that they hate rather than for the one that they want,” Cobb said.

    Cobb, a Eureka local, saw a spike in Stein support after the 2016 Democratic National Convention(DNC) in Philadelphia where Bernie was beat out by Clinton for the nomination.

    “It’s worth pointing out that even with every single dirty trick that they did, Bernie almost won the Democratic nomination. So it’s really a testament to the hunger that so many people had for the kind of platform that Bernie represented,” Cobb said.

    According to both Sanders’ and Stein’s websites, they do have a lot of common ground in their political beliefs. Their policies on education, climate change, and a single payer health care system are nearly identical. This may have played a part in the 1000 percent fundraising increase Stein’s campaign saw after the DNC.

    Jill Stein covered an array of topics including healthcare, economic corruption, demilitarizing American foreign policy, and the flaws with the two party system. | Photo by Ali Osgood

    The spike in support for Stein, hitting as high as 20 percent in August in Colorado, according to MSNBC, helped get the Green Party ticket on 48 ballots of the 50 states.

    The HSU Greens, a student club of Green Party members, helped organize Stein’s event on Wednesday. The president of HSU Greens worked with Stein and Cobb during the 2016 campaign and helped get Stein to Humboldt State. Aaron Zvirman, HSU Greens treasurer, helped organize the grants for Steins visit and coordinated with other groups on campus for the event.

    “Having someone this high profile to the little town of Arcata is an excellent opportunity for people to play a more active role in politics and voice their opinions to someone with actual political standing,” Zvirman said.

    Audience members showed a great diversity of community members including students, activists, and even a city council member. Stein spoke for 50 minutes and answer audience questions for another hour and a half after her speech. | Photo by Ali Osgood

    After a 50 minute speech by Stein, the microphone was open to audience members to ask Stein questions. Stein was able to answer every person’s question, which went on for about an hour and a half. The crowd trickled out throughout the question panel, but about a quarter remained to see the evening through to its conclusion.

    Stein ended her speech to a standing ovation. She closed with a familiar call to action that’s been heard throughout her 2016 campaign trail.

    “We need a government that’s of, by, and for the people,” Stein said. “The power to create that world is not just in our hopes, it’s not just in our dreams. Right here and now, more than ever, it’s in our hands.”