July 1, 2016


News and Views


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bangladesh-hindu-temple-worker-hacked-fatal-slashing-attack-islamic-extremists/

Man hacked to death while picking flowers for morning prayers
AP July 1, 2016, 9:03 AM

Photograph -- Bangladeshi activists hold the photos of activists, writers and bloggers (L-R) Niloy Neel, Humayun Azad, Ananta Bijoy Das, Avijit Roy, Faisal Arefin Dipan, Nazimuddin Samad, Ahmed Rajib Haider and Oyasiqur Rhaman) who were murdered by unidentified assassins in the last few years, in Dhaka, June 15, 2016. GETTY
Photograph -- bangladeshap289345931513.jpg, A Bangladeshi policeman stands guard at the spot where three motorcycle-riding assailants hacked a student activist, Nazimuddin Samad, to death as he walked with a friend, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 7, 2016. AP


DHAKA, Bangladesh -- A Hindu temple worker was hacked to death in southwest Bangladesh early Friday in the latest attack blamed on radical Islamists, police said.

At least three assailants on a motorbike fled after hacking Shyamonando Das with sharp weapons as he was plucking flowers for his morning prayers near the temple, local police chief Hasan Hafizur Rahman said.

The attack happened in Jhenaidah district, 120 miles southwest of Dhaka. The worker died on the spot, Rahman said.

Police had no immediate clues about who was behind the latest killing, but they suspected that Islamist militant groups could be responsible as the pattern of the attack fits previous ones. No group has claimed responsibility.

At least 18 people, including atheist bloggers, foreign aid workers and religious minorities, have been killed in attacks over the last two years. Police launched a crackdown that led to the arrests of some 12,000 people, mostly petty criminals and opposition supporters.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, but authorities have denied it has a presence in the country.

The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina says homegrown groups are responsible for the killings and want to create chaos in the country.

Meanwhile, police said Friday they have arrested the suspected mastermind of an attempted murder of a Hindu college teacher, Ripon Chakravarty, two weeks ago in Madaripur district.

Chakravary was critically injured by sharp weapons, and residents chased the attackers and caught one of them. The suspect, Golam Faizullah Fahim, was later killed in the crossfire after he led police to a hideout of radical Islamists.

Police said Fahim, 18, was a member of the banned Islamic group Hizbut Tahrir. His parents said he went missing a few days before the attack and they didn't know that he was a member of the group.



“At least three assailants on a motorbike fled after hacking Shyamonando Das with sharp weapons as he was plucking flowers for his morning prayers near the temple, local police chief Hasan Hafizur Rahman said. …. At least 18 people, including atheist bloggers, foreign aid workers and religious minorities, have been killed in attacks over the last two years. Police launched a crackdown that led to the arrests of some 12,000 people, mostly petty criminals and opposition supporters. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, but authorities have denied it has a presence in the country. …. Meanwhile, police said Friday they have arrested the suspected mastermind of an attempted murder of a Hindu college teacher, Ripon Chakravarty, two weeks ago in Madaripur district. Chakravary was critically injured by sharp weapons, and residents chased the attackers and caught one of them. The suspect, Golam Faizullah Fahim, was later killed in the crossfire after he led police to a hideout of radical Islamists. Police said Fahim, 18, was a member of the banned Islamic group Hizbut Tahrir. His parents said he went missing a few days before the attack and they didn't know that he was a member of the group.”



An illegal Islamic organization called Hizbut Tahrir has been blamed for this Hindu man’s death. A belief that killing anyone, especially a mainly helpful group like foreign aid workers, and doing it by hacking them up in this way, has to be due to insanity. I’ve said before and will say it again, the more Fundamentalist and radical a group is, the more a really sane person cannot, will not become one of its’ members. Believing things “on faith” is good only when the teachings are good.

Religion at its’ best can be ennobling if it increases deeper thought, but at its’ most hysterical and bizarre, it produces true evil. I don’t want ANY religion to be sponsored as a State Religion and membership in it mandated, anywhere, and especially in the US. That’s one of the main things that our forefathers ran away from in the 1600s from Europe. Unfortunately, we carried the seeds of the same tree with us when we came here.

I Googled Bangladesh for general information. It has a widely divergent population, mainly Muslim, but there are in the range of half a dozen other religions mentioned in Wikipedia, also. Scan the Wikipedia article below. Some religious killings, especially against Hindus, are mentioned there. In the restaurant the “derailed youths” were said to be chanting "Allahu Akbar" during the attack and were provided with both firearms and bombs.


MORE NEWS ON BANGLADESH – POSSIBLY RELATED TO THE BRUTAL KILLING ABOVE

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bangladesh-attack-gunmen-hostages-diplomatic-zone-restaurant/

Bangladesh attack: Gunmen take hostages in deadly assault at Dhaka restaurant
CBS/AP
July 1, 2016, 1:36 PM

Photograph -- Bangladeshi security personnel stand guard near a restaurant that was attacked by gunmen in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on July 1, 2016. AP PHOTO


DHAKA, Bangladesh -- A group of as many as nine gunmen attacked a restaurant popular with foreigners in a diplomatic zone of the Bangladeshi capital on Friday night, taking hostages and exchanging gunfire with security forces, authorities said.

CBS News confirmed that a police officer was killed in the attack and at least 12 people were injured.

The head of the elite anti-crime force, Rapid Action Battalion, or RAB, told reporters Friday night that they were working to save the lives of the people trapped inside the Holey Artisan Bakery. Some foreigners are believed to be among the hostages.

"Some derailed youths have entered the restaurant and launched the attack," Benazir Ahmed said. "We have talked to some of the people who fled the restaurant after the attack. We want to resolve this peacefully. We are trying to talk to the attackers, we want to listen to them about what they want."

A huge contingent of security guards cordoned off the area around the restaurant, trading gunfire with the attackers who set off bombs and exchanged gunfire with the security forces.

"Some of our people have been injured. Our first priority is to save the lives of the people trapped inside," Ahmed said. He would not say how many people were trapped inside.

Sumon Reza, a kitchen staffer who escaped the attack at the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka's Gulshan area, told reporters that the attackers were armed with firearms and bombs as they entered the restaurant around 9:20 p.m. Friday and took customers and staffers hostage at gunpoint.

Jamuna Television, quoting Reza, said the attackers chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) as they launched the attack.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters: "We are aware of reports of what appears to a hostage situation in the Gulshan neighborhood of Dhaka."

Kirby said no Americans were involved in the situation.

He said it was too early to say who was involved in the assault and their motivation.

On Twitter, the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka advised people to shelter in place.

Follow
U.S. Embassy Dhaka @usembassydhaka
Reports of shooting and hostage situation in Gulshan 2, Dhaka. Please shelter in place and monitor news.
12:54 PM - 1 Jul 2016
575 575 Retweets 141 141 likes

Bangladesh, a traditionally moderate Muslim-majority nation, has recently seen an upsurge in militant violence. Nearly two dozen atheist writers, publishers, members of religious minorities, social activists and foreign aid workers have been slain since 2013 by attackers. The frequency of attacks has increased in recent months. On Friday, a Hindu temple worker was hacked to death in southwest Bangladesh.

The attacks have raised fears that religious extremists are gaining a foothold in the country, despite its traditions of secularism and tolerance.

On Thursday, the State Department officially designated al Qaeda's affiliate in Bangladesh, al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, as a foreign terrorist organization. The group has claimed responsibility for the killings of U.S. citizen Avijit Roy and U.S. Embassy worker Xulhaz Manna, who was hacked to death, according to the department.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government has cracked down on domestic radical Islamists. It has accused local terrorists and opposition political parties - especially the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its Islamist ally Jamaat-e-Islami - of orchestrating the violence in order to destabilize the nation, which both parties deny.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and al Qaeda affiliates have claimed responsibility for many of the attacks but the government denies that either group has a presence in the country.



Religion in Bangladesh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bangladesh is constitutionally a secular country. Although removed from the constitution once, it was later reinstated. But the constitution recognises Islam as the state religion of Bangladesh.[1] Islam is the largest religion of Bangladesh; Muslims constitute over 90% of the population, while Hindus and Buddhists are most significant minorities of the country. Christians, Sikhs, animists and atheists form the the miniscule remainders.[2][self-published source] A survey in late 2003 confirmed that religion is the first choice by a citizen for self-identification. Bangladesh only recognises Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism.[3]

The Muslim community in the Bengal region developed independent of the dominant Islamic trends in India. Features of Bangladeshi Hinduism, which differed in some respects from Hinduism in other parts of South Asia, influenced both the practices and the social structure of the Bangladeshi Muslim community. In spite of the general personal commitment to Islam by the Muslims of Bangladesh, observance of Islamic rituals and tenets varies according to social position, locale, and personal considerations. In rural regions, some beliefs and practices tend to incorporate elements that differ from and often conflict with orthodox Islam.

Persecution of minorities[edit]

See also: 2014 Bangladesh anti-Hindu violence, 2012 Ramu violence, and Persecution of Biharis in Bangladesh

There have been several instances of violence against the religious minorities in Bangladesh. Hindus, Buddhists and Christians have come under widespread attacks by Islamist extremists during communal riots, elections and post-poll violence. However, most of these violences are perpetrated primarily against Hindus, the largest minority of the country, who are particularly vulnerable in a period of rising violence and extremism, whether motivated by religious, political or criminal factors, or some combination. Bangladesh has been rocked by several anti-Hindu riots in 1992, 2001, 2013 and 2014. These violences included attacking and killing Hindus, looting and burning of Hindu-owned properties and businesses, abduction and rape of women, desecrating and destroying Hindu temples by the extremist Muslim mobs. There are also alleged discrimination against Hindus by the administration in the form of Vested Property Act by which over 40% of Hindu-owned lands and houses have been confiscated, intimidation during elections and revoking their names from electoral rolls. Since the rising of Islamist political parties during 1990s, large number of Hindu families have migrated from Bangladesh to India due to a sense of insecurity and economic necessity. These factors combined with lower birth rates of minorities have resulted in a dwindling Hindu population in the country. The Bihari ethnic minority in Bangladesh has been subject to persecution during and after 1971 Liberation War. Due to their pro-Pakistan stance, many Biharis were forcefully repatriated to Pakistan and those who stayed back were not granted citizenship and voting rights by Bangladesh government.



TPP – PRESIDENTIAL ARM TWISTING?

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/06/30/backers-sanders-mobilize-overthrow-dnc-platforms-pro-tpp-stance

Published onThursday, June 30, 2016
By Common Dreams
Backers of Sanders Mobilize to Overthrow DNC Platform's Pro-TPP Stance

Opposition to the job-killing TPP should not be controversial within the Democratic Party,' declares progressive advocacy group. So why is it?

By Jon Queally, staff writer

Photograph -- A group of demonstrators protesting the Trans-Pacific Partnership gather at the Federal Buileing in San Francisco, California June 9, 2015. The proposed regional regulatory and investment treaty would include 12 nations throughout the Asia Pacific region that have participated in negotiations. (Photo: Robert Galbraith/Reuters)


Before the Democratic Party's platform is finalized at a meeting late next week, Bernie Sanders and his progressive allies are mobilizing to ensure that opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)—described by its critics as a global corporate power grab—is made the party's official stance.

Though President Obama continues to lobby hard on behalf of the controversial deal, and despite a proposal to include such language being voted down during a drafting session last weekend in St. Louis, Sanders and his supporters are making their case into a rallying cry about the future of the Democratic Party.

On Wednesday, both the Sanders campaign and Democracy for America, a progressive advocacy group, launched petitions calling on the platform committee to include the anti-TPP language in the final version.

"The Democratic Platform includes a number of very important initiatives that we have been fighting to achieve during this campaign," reads the petition from the Sanders campaign. "But one big item is missing: preventing the disastrous Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal from ever coming up for a vote in Congress."

In addition to citing the publicly stated opposition of both Sanders and Clinton, the Sanders petition points out how the TPP is also opposed by key Democratic voting blocs—including "virtually every labor union, environmental group, and even major religious groups." The party as a whole, the petition argues, should now "go on record in opposition to holding a vote on the TPP during the lame duck session of Congress and beyond."

According to DFA's petition, "opposition to the job-killing TPP should not be controversial within the Democratic Party: Both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton campaigned against the TPP during this year's presidential primary."

Though many have questioned just how resolute Clinton will be in her opposition to the TPP, others are willing to take her at her word and argue that it is Obama and other pro-TPP forces within the Democratic Party who undermine her campaign by not falling in line. Either way, outside progressive [sic] forces have remained vigilant against the corporate-friendly agreement even as Obama steadfastly argues on its behalf.

Meanwhile, in a op-ed in the New York Times this week, Sanders warned the Democratic leadership they needed to "wake up" when it comes to recognizing just how frustrated working people and the poor are when it comes to an economic system that is so clearly rigged against them.

Killing the Messenger

While the 15-member committee voted down the measure in St. Louis by a 10-5 vote—with the five Sanders-appointed members voting in favor and all the Clinton- and DNC-appointed members voting against—the split offers a window into how Sanders and the millions of voters inspired by his campaign hope to influence the party in the weeks and months ahead. In turn, the battle over TPP—as well as similar fights related to the minimum wage, climate action, and universal healthcare—will reveal much about how the party establishment, currently transitioning its leadership from Obama to Clinton, will respond to the groundswells from below.

As the Washington Post reports Thursday, members of the platform panel who voted to reject the anti-TPP proposal said it was influence coming from the White House, not their own feelings on TPP, which most impacted their decision.

Citing "people with knowledge of the platform negotiations," the newspaper reports how Sanders used his post-primary meeting with the president to say he would push for the party to officially oppose the TPP. The president said he would now allow it. And since then, the White House has leaned on key Democrats to make sure that the platform did not include a rebuke.

This is how Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), co-chair of the platform committee, explained his vote: "We have one president, and I have listened to him argue his case many times, and I know that he truly believes this. He really does. I disagree with him, but I don't want to do anything, as he ends his term, to undercut the president. I'm just not going to do it. In his last six months? I'm not gonna do that."

Sanders, however, appears very willing to challenge the president on the issue which he believes will so negatively impact the planet, people, and communities for generations to come.

"Well, I don’t want to embarrass the president either. He’s a friend," Sanders told USA Today in an interview this week. "But in a Democratic society, people can have disagreements."

And in a series of tweets that began Wednesday night and continued into Thursday morning, he made it clear that the fight over TPP is among the foremost issues on his mind:

Bernie Sanders
✔ ‎@BernieSanders
Our job is to do everything we can to rally support for an amendment to the platform in strong opposition to the TPP. #StopTPP
5:24 PM - 29 Jun 2016

Bernie Sanders
✔ ‎@BernieSanders
Tell the DNC: We have gotta strongly oppose bad trade agreements like the TPP in the Party Platform. #StopTPPhttps://go.berniesanders.com/page/s/dnc-tpp?source=tw20160629-pm
7:25 PM - 29 Jun 2016

Bernie Sanders
✔ ‎@BernieSanders
The TPP is a continuation of our disastrous trade policies that have devastated manufacturing cities all over this country. #StopTPP
9:01 PM - 29 Jun 2016

Bernie Sanders
✔ ‎@BernieSanders
We need trade policies that benefit American workers, not just corporate CEOs. Democrats must do all they can to defeat the TPP. #StopTPP
9:34 AM - 30 Jun 2016

Bernie Sanders
✔ ‎@BernieSanders
Trade is a good thing but it has to be fair. And the TPP is anything but fair. We must ensure the TPP doesn't come up for a vote. #StopTPP
11:12 AM - 30 Jun 2016

The question, however, remains. If a majority of the Democrats on the panel oppose the TPP and the presumptive nominee opposes the TPP and the challenging candidate who won 22 primary contests by stirring the hopes of millions of voters opposes the TPP, why can't the leadership of the DNC take this opportunity to recalibrate the trajectory of the party on this seminal issue?

The full Democratic Platform Committee will meet in Orlando on July 8th and 9th to approve the final draft of the platform.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License



The DNC as a whole, including the White House, is obviously pressurizing those members who will give in to pushing through some Platform goals that primarily benefit Big Money, undoubtedly because Big Money is pressurizing them. It’s the only way I can explain this. I do hope Bernie will continue to fight on, because if he doesn’t, our hopes of achieving -- within the party -- a return to truly progressive politics is not going to happen this year. We may be in for a major split in the party’s membership soon becoming a fact and not a threat. I’m looking for it after November this year. I’m actually in favor of it, because we do need a purification or, if not that, a viable path in the right direction within the framework of a new Progressive Party. It isn’t a disaster. It’s like the division of a cell producing another, after which both live on to propagate the species. The two parties could work together sometimes, and not in others.



http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/286206-biden-spills-beans-sanders-will-endorse-clinton

Biden spills beans: Sanders will endorse Clinton
By Ben Kamisar
June 30, 2016, 06:06 pm

Photographs – Sanders, Clinton and Biden


Vice President Biden says Bernie Sanders will endorse his Democratic primary opponent, Hillary Clinton.

"I've talked to Bernie, Bernie's going to endorse her, this is going to work out," Biden said in an interview with NPR's "Weekend Edition" to air Sunday. "The Democrats are coalescing even before this occurs."

Michael Briggs, a Sanders spokesman, would not confirm or deny the vice president's assertion.

“We are in the process of talking” with the Clinton campaign, he said, and noted that the candidates met earlier this month to talk about next steps.

Sanders has been withholding his endorsement for weeks since primary season ended on June 14.

Clinton is seen as the party's likely nominee, having secured enough delegates to win the party's nomination at the July convention.

While Sanders has repeatedly promised he’ll do what he can to stop presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump from winning the White House, he's turned down numerous chances to endorse Clinton and has instead shifted his campaign's focus toward winning policy and platform concessions at the convention.

It's not the first time that Biden, who will campaign with Clinton next week in Pennsylvania, got out ahead of the news cycle. His surprise endorsement of same-sex marriage, before President Obama came out in support of the policy, prompted Obama to announce his support soon after.

Biden will hit the campaign trail with Clinton next Friday in Scranton, Pa. He told NPR that vouching for Clinton to voters back home is the best way to support her.

"I understand the hardest thing to do is not writing the check. The hardest thing is vouching. When you vouch for them you say, 'I'm putting my reputation on the line, I believe this person is a good person, has character," Biden said. "You're putting your rep on the line. You're saying, 'I think this person has character,' and that's what I'm prepared to do for Hillary."

In an interview on MSNBC later Thursday evening, Sanders wouldn't confirm or deny Biden's claim. He said he's hopeful he'll be able to give an endorsement but that "we're not there quite yet."

Updated at 9:20 p.m.



Excerpt -- “Michael Briggs, a Sanders spokesman, would not confirm or deny the vice president's assertion. “We are in the process of talking” with the Clinton campaign, he said, and noted that the candidates met earlier this month to talk about next steps.”


Same song, second verse …. Does Biden actually have a promise from Sanders, or is he simply putting more public pressure on him to give up? That game is getting old. It appears to me that Sanders is maintaining the same stance that he’s always had, and will continue his role as “the loyal opposition” in order to change the Dems back to the party of the people.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-convention_us_5773f0f4e4b0352fed3e97f7

Bernie Sanders’ Endgame Is Increasingly Bewildering To Team Clinton
The Vermont senator is raising the possibility of some convention disruptions.

Sam Stein
Senior Politics Editor, The Huffington Post
06/29/2016 01:30 pm ET | Updated 1 day ago

Photograph -- MIKE GROLL/ASSOCIATED PRESS, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has said he will vote for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton but won’t endorse her. This hasn’t gone over completely well among Democrats.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sanders’ push for a Democratic platform cast in his image faces pushback from both Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama.


Democrats have for weeks treated the still-operational presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) with a mix of deference and caution, worrying about too strongly pushing the occasionally irascible senator and his legion of devoted followers.

But as time has passed and the party’s convention nears, supporters of Hillary Clinton really want to know what Sanders’ endgame actually is.

The question has been prompted by some recent muddled messaging from Sanders himself. The senator has said he’ll vote for Clinton, but is declining to actually endorse her candidacy. On Tuesday, he raised the specter of convention disorder over the nuts and bolts of the party platform, all while insisting he will do everything in his power to ensure that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump loses.

The Democratic Party is eager to see that loss, but has begun wondering whether ideological disputes and bruised egos may get in the way.

“So far [Sanders] has been riding a wave of good feelings in the sense he ran an incredible campaign,” said former Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who served with Sanders and Clinton but has endorsed the latter.

“But that has a pretty short shelf life and then people start looking at you through a different lens, and that lens is: Are you a team player and do you have the larger picture in mind or are you just focused on yourself?” Conrad said. “At some point, pretty soon, he crosses the threshold. He may have already crossed it.”

Sanders’ campaign did not return requests for comment. But those who know the senator say that the simplest explanation for his current pursuits is, in his typical fashion, the right one: He wants to change the Democratic Party, from the way it nominates its candidates to the policies it pursues.

“Bernie is trying to do exactly what he says he is trying to do. It’s in every one of his statements. He is making sure the concerns he has raised are taken into account for the future of the Democratic Party,” said former Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), who worked with Sanders for a short period of time.

“The easiest answer with Bernie is to listen what he says because what he says is what he means,” he added. “It is remarkable working with him. You didn’t have to spend a lot of time figuring out what he was saying or what he meant. It was a pleasure being around him.”

And Sanders has been around. Since voting in the Democratic primary concluded, he hasn’t receded far from the spotlight. The stadium-sized rallies are over, but he has campaigned for like-minded progressives, sent fundraising emails to elect allies, pushed for platform changes through his delegates and, lately, has taken to the op-ed pages of the major newspapers.

The senator delivered his latest missive on Wednesday morning: He sent a warning shot to Democrats via The New York Times, writing that Britain’s vote to exit the European Union exposed an underappreciated anger in the electorate over income inequality and trade deals.

At some point, pretty soon, he crosses the threshold. He may have already crossed it.

Former Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) on whether Sanders is playing a productive or destructive role by remaining in the race

That Sanders remains a player in the party is clearly not in dispute. The question Democrats — especially those in the Clinton universe — are grappling with, is to what end?

“I’m confused by it,” conceded Ed Rendell, the former governor of Pennsylvania and a longtime Clinton ally. “If he wants to speak in primetime at the convention, then he has to suspend his campaign. If I was leading the movement and I wanted to convince the American people that the movement was correct, then I’d want to speak in primetime. But apparently he must not want to because he hasn’t thrown in the towel.”

With weeks to go before the party convenes in Philadelphia, Sanders’ role in that coronation of Clinton remains a mystery. He said Tuesday on MSNBC that he was taking his campaign to the convention floor in an effort to affect the platform.

“Politics is not a baseball game with winners or losers,” Sanders said at the time. “What politics is about is whether we protect the needs of millions of people in this country who are hurting.”

But changing the platform with the dramatic stripes that would satisfy the senator and his supporters seems unlikely. The party, for example, will be hard-pressed to formally disavow trade deals that its leader (President Barack Obama, not Clinton) still supports.

“You can’t have a platform that will embarrass the president,” said one prominent Democratic National Committee official.

Sanders’ leverage seems limited in other ways as well. The portion of the liberal base that is withholding its support for Clinton has decreased in recent polls. That’s been aided in part by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) endorsing the former secretary of state — although the Clinton camp believes that 10 percent to 15 percent of Sanders’ supporters were never Democrats to begin with and won’t vote for Clinton simply because other progressives are on board.

Many of Sanders’ prominent endorsers have switched their support to Clinton as well. And according to Democratic sources, the Clinton campaign has been working behind the scenes to try to limit the prospects of convention chaos: Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook has spoken repeatedly with Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver, in addition to meeting with Sanders’ delegates in Vermont in an attempt to earn their support.

Rendell, who is chairing the convention, said he has also been working with the Sanders campaign to ensure that it has access for a march through the city and a convenient spot to host a rally and demonstration. But even then, he wasn’t optimistic that the party was gearing up for a serene week.

“My guess is it won’t be totally peaceful,” Rendell said. “But it will be more peaceful than [the Republican convention in] Cleveland. Total low bar, I know.”

Sanders’ close colleagues say he’s fully aware of the delicate role he will play at the convention.

“He has clearly thought this thing through,” said one lawmaker who has worked with him. And they insist that he is sincere in his desire to see Trump lose. That he has not stuck to a timeline that pleases all Clinton supporters is not an act of ego, they argue, but of legitimate policy pursuits and, in some ways, political finesse.

“He can’t just snap a finger and the people who have all the passion and support suddenly get up and have an epiphany and support Hillary Clinton,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), one of the few members of Congress who endorsed Sanders. “It is not going to work like that. Part of it will happen if Bernie walks us in that direction.”


Excerpt -- “But those who know the senator say that the simplest explanation for his current pursuits is, in his typical fashion, the right one: He wants to change the Democratic Party, from the way it nominates its candidates to the policies it pursues. “Bernie is trying to do exactly what he says he is trying to do. It’s in every one of his statements. He is making sure the concerns he has raised are taken into account for the future of the Democratic Party,” said former Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), who worked with Sanders for a short period of time. “The easiest answer with Bernie is to listen what he says because what he says is what he means,” he added. “It is remarkable working with him. You didn’t have to spend a lot of time figuring out what he was saying or what he meant. It was a pleasure being around him.”


“Are you a team player and do you have the larger picture in mind or are you just focused on yourself?” My main problem with “team players” is that they simply cannot remain honest and courageous in that kind of endeavor. All of their hands are dirty. The ideal goal, in my view, is for all elected representatives to work for the basic interests of the people who have elected them for the purpose of improving the lives of those least able to defend themselves in this war we call politics.

In recent years Democrats have been all about “Rah! Rah!” rather than substance, and here comes Bernie chock full of substance. He’s an honest and courageous man. It isn’t that he’s “just focused on himself,” but that he wants to reform the Party status quo into a principled endeavor. He is a leader and not a sheep. The statement above by Ed Rendell, “’If he wants to speak in primetime at the convention, then he has to suspend his campaign. If I was leading the movement and I wanted to convince the American people that the movement was correct, then I’d want to speak in primetime. But apparently he must not want to because he hasn’t thrown in the towel.’”

That statement is nothing but another threat to intimidate Sanders. They are all failing to acknowledge that Sanders is likely to put on more of a show of force at the Convention than they are going to want to see going out uncensored over the TV screens across the country, and to get down to hardball, many of us plan to resign from the Democratic Party if they don’t concede more than they have so far. I could be wrong, but I think they must go back to siding with Unions and the poor rather than the 1% if they want to keep their party together.

If Clinton were to offer the Vice Presidency to Sanders, that would be good progress, and would meet the approval of the largest number of Democrats – 35% according to NBC below -- but instead she is still in the photo op/hand holding stage. She wants to see Sanders disabled before she does that, just in case he does go through on his promise to make a huge fight on the Convention floor. She had better, also, be alert to the possibility that many registered Democrats may well be abruptly leaving the party. Sanders warned the Dems of this: “The senator delivered his latest missive on Wednesday morning: He sent a warning shot to Democrats via The New York Times, writing that Britain’s vote to exit the European Union exposed an underappreciated anger in the electorate over income inequality and trade deals.”


http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/elizabeth-warren-most-likely-vp-pick-get-dems-pony-clinton-n601251

POLITICS JUN 29 2016, 3:32 PM ET
Elizabeth Warren Most Likely VP Pick to Get Dems to Pony Up for Clinton
by ALEX SEITZ-WALD

The smart money may be on Hillary Clinton making a safe, Tim Kaine-ish choice for her running mate, but Democratic voters would be more eager to chip in their own money to support Clinton if she picks Elizabeth Warren, according to a new survey shared with NBC News.

Small-dollar donations to a candidate are one sign of voter enthusiasm. So Iowa-based polling firm RABA Research asked Democratic and Republican voters which potential vice presidential candidates would make them more likely to donate $5 to Clinton or Donald Trump's campaign.

Bernie Sanders was the top choice for Democrats, with 35 percent picking him, but there's no indication Clinton is actually considering her primary rival for the spot. Warren, who NBC News has confirmed is being vetted by the Clinton campaign, was a close second choice at 30 percent.

The Massachusetts senator was followed by others said to be on Clinton's menu of choices: New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker (16 percent), Housing Secretary Julian Castro (14 percent), Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (11 percent), Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (10 percent), Labor Secretary Tom Perez (9 percent) and California Rep. Xavier Becerra (6 percent). Respondents could select multiple options.