#Bernie wins huge
The results are in from Nevada's caucus and, as John Stauber notes, Bernie Sanders has won. Peter Marsh (Australia's ABC) notes:
Bernie Sanders is projected to win the Nevada
Democratic Caucuses and take the lead in the party’s race to face Donald
Trump at November’s presidential election.
Results are still
coming in but multiple US media outlets are reporting that Senator
Sanders is already in an insurmountable position.AP goes with, "Bernie Sanders scored a resounding victory in Nevada’s presidential caucuses on Saturday, cementing his status as the Democrats’ national front-runner [. . .] The 78-year-old Vermont senator successfully rallied his fiercely loyal base and tapped into support from Nevada’s large Latino community as the Democratic contest moved for the first time into a state with a significant minority population." Adam Edelman (NBC NEWS) explains, "Sanders' win -- in the third contest in the 2020 Democratic primary -- strengthens his status as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination and shows that the Vermont senator can compete strongly among a more diverse electorate: participants in Saturday's contest are much more racially diverse than voters in any presidential contest so far this year, according to results from the NBC News entrance poll."
Woooowowowoow.
Who's got the electability again? Oh, right, Bernie. He got the most votes in Iowa, he won New Hampshire and now he's won Nevada. David Siders, Laura Barron-Lopez and Marc Caputo (POLITICO) predict, "The victory will likely reverberate far beyond Nevada, with the contest soon turning to Super Tuesday. Sanders is well positioned to compete on that broader electoral map, with an army of small-dollar donors to fund his campaign."
What do you call it when you’re strong in every demographic group including age race and class?
I think that’s called electability.
#BernieBeatsTrump
Jake Johnson (COMMON DREAMS) reports:
Jennifer Medina of the New York Times reported that the leadership of Nevada's powerful Culinary Workers Union "urged members to vote for anyone other than Sanders because of his 'Medicare for All' plan, including in texts this morning."
"Many rank-and-file members of the Culinary Union voted for Sanders anyway," Medina reported. "It looks like Sanders did well at caucuses for casino workers on the Strip."
Monica Smith, a Culinary member since 1987 and a server at the Bellagio, told Buzzfeed that she caucused for Sanders out of concern for those without union-negotiated health insurance.
"We have so many people that have walked that picket line, blood sweat and tears, for us," said Smith. "We're going to be here to protect it, but I worry about other people that aren't protected by unions. How do they get healthcare? What's the dollar amount that they have to go through, do they have to worry about not being able to go to a hospital?"
Iraq continues to see protests.
Lujain Elbawldabi (AL-MONITOR) reports:
Parliamentary speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi expressed
full support for protesters’ demands Feb. 17, meeting with a 13-year-old
protester whose nickname, Hamid Daghethoum,
translates to "pressuring them," as in, pressuring the
government. Hamid is known for posting videos of himself on social
media, reciting poetry that voices the demands of Nasiriyah's
protesters. He posted a video challenging Halbusi to meet with him if he
supported the protests.
Hamid is not the only youthful Iraqi who is active
in the protests taking place in the squares of Iraqi cities throughout
the country.
The current protests are different from ones in
years past due to a large number of youths under the age of 18, and many
even under the age of 13, calling for the restoration of an Iraqi
national identity, something the country has lacked for decades given
successive crises, wars and the US occupation, in addition to
sectarianism.
Iraqi youths under the age of 18 have been killed,
kidnapped and detained while participating in protests. Al-Monitor
learned from medical sources that no less than 50 out of the 600
protesters killed in the protests were under the age of 18. These are violations of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which Iraq is a signatory. It states,
“The child shall have the right to freedom of expression,” and provides
for “the rights of the child to freedom of association and to freedom
of peaceful assembly." It adds, “No child shall be subjected to
arbitrary or unlawful interference” and that “the child has the right to
the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”
