#khanna — Public Fediverse posts

#NaomiKlein, #BernieSanders, and #RoKhanna Roundtable Explores Future of AI
“#AI is the most far-reaching and pivotal technological revolution in the history of humanity,” notes the Sanders Institute. “The choices we make now will determine whether those changes make the world better or worse.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/artificial-intelligence-policy

from #CommonDreams
Brett Wilkins
Apr 14, 2026

Turning to #Khanna and Klein, the senator asked: “What are the motives of these guys? Do the American people think that Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are sitting up nights saying, ‘Wow, we got this #technology, we’re going to improve life for working people?’”

Klein contended that “their motives are exactly the opposite, and they’re very blunt about this, that they are in a race to reach something that they call AGI—artificial general intelligence—or even something beyond that, superintelligence.”

#ArtificialIntelligence #news #politics #US #USpol

@UnitedStates

#USpol #EUpol #EpsteinFiles

"...Rep. #RoKhanna, a Fremont #Democrat and co-author of the legislation that compelled the release of the #Epstein files...
In an interview last week, #Khanna said the arrest of former #PrinceAndrew is evidence that it will happen...

“This sets the standard for accountability,” he said. “I believe 👉you’re going to see the elite of the Epstein class start to fall both in the #UnitedStates and around the world.”👈"

Hope so!

https://www.europesays.com/2807346/

Until Sen. Bernie Sanders began holding rallies in Republican-held districts to address DOGE’s destructive impact on federal workers and programs,
most progressives had not dared to dream of rural America as fertile ground for a backlash.
But it’s central to the concept of the "Rural Urban Bridge Initiative" ( #RUBI ),
a group determined to breathe new life into rural organizing strategies.

Conceived in early 2020 by
#Anthony #Flaccavento, a small farmer, former Democratic congressional candidate,
and community organizer in southern Virginia, and
#Erica #Etelson,
a political writer and former public-interest attorney based in California,
-- RUBI is kindling a new way to approach -- and ultimately advance -- rural concerns within the progressive movement.

Through training sessions,
reports from local experts,
policy development,
and traditional volunteer work,
RUBI hopes to #depolarize rural politics and persuade other activist groups to #engage in good faith with the needs, fears, and aspirations of rural communities.

RUBI’s most prominent effort to date is its campaign to convince the "Democratic National Committee" and the broader fundraising network on the left
👉to devote substantially more resources to rural causes.

Since #Ken #Martin, chair of the "Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party",
was elected in February to head the DNC,
RUBI has lobbied him to allocate $400 million
—10 percent of the Democratic ad buy for the 2024 general election
—toward rural districts and candidates.

Although RUBI has yet to secure Martin’s commitment,
co-signatories to the public letter include Rep. #Ro #Khanna (D-CA),
author and sociologist #Arlie #Hochschild,
veteran Texas populist #Jim #Hightower,
two state party chairs
and dozens of county committees,
and scores of other individuals and organizations
alarmed by Democratic decline in rural areas.

✅ Rural strategists hope to change the narrative and trajectory of American politics by transforming the everyday ways progressives think of and relate to left-behind Americans.

Regardless of the DNC’s final decision,
the campaign testifies to the perseverance of rural progressive populism.

It reflects, too, a growing recognition on the part of local groups committed to the welfare of rural workers
-- that they are not isolated in their anger over how national Democrats have burned through billions of dollars in the last several election cycles without improving their position in a single “purple” state.

🆘During Barack Obama’s presidency, Democrats lost well over a thousand congressional, statewide, and local down-ballot offices.

Tentative gains in critical presidential swing states since 2018 have been largely offset by Trump’s comeback;
-- He won all seven in November.

Other states where Democrats used to be competitive across the board,
such as Florida and Ohio,
are poised to go the way of Missouri, Indiana, and Arkansas.

A recent study from the "Carsey School of Public Policy" at the University of New Hampshire suggests that
💯a shift among rural voters to Kamala Harris of just 3 percent could have led her to victory over Donald Trump.

👍If even just a few dozen rural Democrats from the South and Midwest won back offices controlled by the GOP,
there could be a tectonic shift in how the party competes at the gubernatorial, congressional, and presidential levels.

As RUBI’s founders know well,
it is a herculean task just to get the party elite to admit the main facts
—that austerity, trade shocks, and monopoly power have distressed rural America
—much less own their own culpability in these issues.

But although it is tempting to place all the blame on party elites, the same, unfortunately, can often be said of the major progressive groups that have cropped up since the Bush years,
Flaccavento argues. 

The overriding focus,
he says, on
“call[ing] out how horrible the Republicans are 24/7”
has left little energy to discuss what matters to rural folks:
👉“jobs, employment, the economy, livelihoods, manufacturing, trade policy, [and] antitrust.”

🔥This, then, is how rural strategists hope to change the narrative and trajectory of American politics:

not through conferences, white papers, and viral media,

⭐️but by transforming the everyday ways progressives think of and relate to left-behind Americans.
https://prospect.org/2025/03/21/2025-03-21-sowing-rural-insurgency-democrats/

Until Sen. Bernie Sanders began holding rallies in Republican-held districts to address DOGE’s destructive impact on federal workers and programs,
most progressives had not dared to dream of rural America as fertile ground for a backlash.
But it’s central to the concept of the "Rural Urban Bridge Initiative" ( #RUBI ),
a group determined to breathe new life into rural organizing strategies.

Conceived in early 2020 by
#Anthony #Flaccavento, a small farmer, former Democratic congressional candidate,
and community organizer in southern Virginia, and
#Erica #Etelson,
a political writer and former public-interest attorney based in California,
-- RUBI is kindling a new way to approach -- and ultimately advance -- rural concerns within the progressive movement.

Through training sessions,
reports from local experts,
policy development,
and traditional volunteer work,
RUBI hopes to #depolarize rural politics and persuade other activist groups to #engage in good faith with the needs, fears, and aspirations of rural communities.

RUBI’s most prominent effort to date is its campaign to convince the "Democratic National Committee" and the broader fundraising network on the left
👉to devote substantially more resources to rural causes.

Since #Ken #Martin, chair of the "Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party",
was elected in February to head the DNC,
RUBI has lobbied him to allocate $400 million
—10 percent of the Democratic ad buy for the 2024 general election
—toward rural districts and candidates.

Although RUBI has yet to secure Martin’s commitment,
co-signatories to the public letter include Rep. #Ro #Khanna (D-CA),
author and sociologist #Arlie #Hochschild,
veteran Texas populist #Jim #Hightower,
two state party chairs
and dozens of county committees,
and scores of other individuals and organizations
alarmed by Democratic decline in rural areas.

✅ Rural strategists hope to change the narrative and trajectory of American politics by transforming the everyday ways progressives think of and relate to left-behind Americans.

Regardless of the DNC’s final decision,
the campaign testifies to the perseverance of rural progressive populism.

It reflects, too, a growing recognition on the part of local groups committed to the welfare of rural workers
-- that they are not isolated in their anger over how national Democrats have burned through billions of dollars in the last several election cycles without improving their position in a single “purple” state.

🆘During Barack Obama’s presidency, Democrats lost well over a thousand congressional, statewide, and local down-ballot offices.

Tentative gains in critical presidential swing states since 2018 have been largely offset by Trump’s comeback;
-- He won all seven in November.

Other states where Democrats used to be competitive across the board,
such as Florida and Ohio,
are poised to go the way of Missouri, Indiana, and Arkansas.

A recent study from the "Carsey School of Public Policy" at the University of New Hampshire suggests that
💯a shift among rural voters to Kamala Harris of just 3 percent could have led her to victory over Donald Trump.

👍If even just a few dozen rural Democrats from the South and Midwest won back offices controlled by the GOP,
there could be a tectonic shift in how the party competes at the gubernatorial, congressional, and presidential levels.

As RUBI’s founders know well,
it is a herculean task just to get the party elite to admit the main facts
—that austerity, trade shocks, and monopoly power have distressed rural America
—much less own their own culpability in these issues.

But although it is tempting to place all the blame on party elites, the same, unfortunately, can often be said of the major progressive groups that have cropped up since the Bush years,
Flaccavento argues. 

The overriding focus,
he says, on
“call[ing] out how horrible the Republicans are 24/7”
has left little energy to discuss what matters to rural folks:
👉“jobs, employment, the economy, livelihoods, manufacturing, trade policy, [and] antitrust.”

🔥This, then, is how rural strategists hope to change the narrative and trajectory of American politics:

not through conferences, white papers, and viral media,

⭐️but by transforming the everyday ways progressives think of and relate to left-behind Americans.
https://prospect.org/2025/03/21/2025-03-21-sowing-rural-insurgency-democrats/

Until Sen. Bernie Sanders began holding rallies in Republican-held districts to address DOGE’s destructive impact on federal workers and programs,
most progressives had not dared to dream of rural America as fertile ground for a backlash.
But it’s central to the concept of the "Rural Urban Bridge Initiative" ( #RUBI ),
a group determined to breathe new life into rural organizing strategies.

Conceived in early 2020 by
#Anthony #Flaccavento, a small farmer, former Democratic congressional candidate,
and community organizer in southern Virginia, and
#Erica #Etelson,
a political writer and former public-interest attorney based in California,
-- RUBI is kindling a new way to approach -- and ultimately advance -- rural concerns within the progressive movement.

Through training sessions,
reports from local experts,
policy development,
and traditional volunteer work,
RUBI hopes to #depolarize rural politics and persuade other activist groups to #engage in good faith with the needs, fears, and aspirations of rural communities.

RUBI’s most prominent effort to date is its campaign to convince the "Democratic National Committee" and the broader fundraising network on the left
👉to devote substantially more resources to rural causes.

Since #Ken #Martin, chair of the "Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party",
was elected in February to head the DNC,
RUBI has lobbied him to allocate $400 million
—10 percent of the Democratic ad buy for the 2024 general election
—toward rural districts and candidates.

Although RUBI has yet to secure Martin’s commitment,
co-signatories to the public letter include Rep. #Ro #Khanna (D-CA),
author and sociologist #Arlie #Hochschild,
veteran Texas populist #Jim #Hightower,
two state party chairs
and dozens of county committees,
and scores of other individuals and organizations
alarmed by Democratic decline in rural areas.

✅ Rural strategists hope to change the narrative and trajectory of American politics by transforming the everyday ways progressives think of and relate to left-behind Americans.

Regardless of the DNC’s final decision,
the campaign testifies to the perseverance of rural progressive populism.

It reflects, too, a growing recognition on the part of local groups committed to the welfare of rural workers
-- that they are not isolated in their anger over how national Democrats have burned through billions of dollars in the last several election cycles without improving their position in a single “purple” state.

🆘During Barack Obama’s presidency, Democrats lost well over a thousand congressional, statewide, and local down-ballot offices.

Tentative gains in critical presidential swing states since 2018 have been largely offset by Trump’s comeback;
-- He won all seven in November.

Other states where Democrats used to be competitive across the board,
such as Florida and Ohio,
are poised to go the way of Missouri, Indiana, and Arkansas.

A recent study from the "Carsey School of Public Policy" at the University of New Hampshire suggests that
💯a shift among rural voters to Kamala Harris of just 3 percent could have led her to victory over Donald Trump.

👍If even just a few dozen rural Democrats from the South and Midwest won back offices controlled by the GOP,
there could be a tectonic shift in how the party competes at the gubernatorial, congressional, and presidential levels.

As RUBI’s founders know well,
it is a herculean task just to get the party elite to admit the main facts
—that austerity, trade shocks, and monopoly power have distressed rural America
—much less own their own culpability in these issues.

But although it is tempting to place all the blame on party elites, the same, unfortunately, can often be said of the major progressive groups that have cropped up since the Bush years,
Flaccavento argues. 

The overriding focus,
he says, on
“call[ing] out how horrible the Republicans are 24/7”
has left little energy to discuss what matters to rural folks:
👉“jobs, employment, the economy, livelihoods, manufacturing, trade policy, [and] antitrust.”

🔥This, then, is how rural strategists hope to change the narrative and trajectory of American politics:

not through conferences, white papers, and viral media,

⭐️but by transforming the everyday ways progressives think of and relate to left-behind Americans.
https://prospect.org/2025/03/21/2025-03-21-sowing-rural-insurgency-democrats/

Until Sen. Bernie Sanders began holding rallies in Republican-held districts to address DOGE’s destructive impact on federal workers and programs,
most progressives had not dared to dream of rural America as fertile ground for a backlash.
But it’s central to the concept of the "Rural Urban Bridge Initiative" ( #RUBI ),
a group determined to breathe new life into rural organizing strategies.

Conceived in early 2020 by
#Anthony #Flaccavento, a small farmer, former Democratic congressional candidate,
and community organizer in southern Virginia, and
#Erica #Etelson,
a political writer and former public-interest attorney based in California,
-- RUBI is kindling a new way to approach -- and ultimately advance -- rural concerns within the progressive movement.

Through training sessions,
reports from local experts,
policy development,
and traditional volunteer work,
RUBI hopes to #depolarize rural politics and persuade other activist groups to #engage in good faith with the needs, fears, and aspirations of rural communities.

RUBI’s most prominent effort to date is its campaign to convince the "Democratic National Committee" and the broader fundraising network on the left
👉to devote substantially more resources to rural causes.

Since #Ken #Martin, chair of the "Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party",
was elected in February to head the DNC,
RUBI has lobbied him to allocate $400 million
—10 percent of the Democratic ad buy for the 2024 general election
—toward rural districts and candidates.

Although RUBI has yet to secure Martin’s commitment,
co-signatories to the public letter include Rep. #Ro #Khanna (D-CA),
author and sociologist #Arlie #Hochschild,
veteran Texas populist #Jim #Hightower,
two state party chairs
and dozens of county committees,
and scores of other individuals and organizations
alarmed by Democratic decline in rural areas.

✅ Rural strategists hope to change the narrative and trajectory of American politics by transforming the everyday ways progressives think of and relate to left-behind Americans.

Regardless of the DNC’s final decision,
the campaign testifies to the perseverance of rural progressive populism.

It reflects, too, a growing recognition on the part of local groups committed to the welfare of rural workers
-- that they are not isolated in their anger over how national Democrats have burned through billions of dollars in the last several election cycles without improving their position in a single “purple” state.

🆘During Barack Obama’s presidency, Democrats lost well over a thousand congressional, statewide, and local down-ballot offices.

Tentative gains in critical presidential swing states since 2018 have been largely offset by Trump’s comeback;
-- He won all seven in November.

Other states where Democrats used to be competitive across the board,
such as Florida and Ohio,
are poised to go the way of Missouri, Indiana, and Arkansas.

A recent study from the "Carsey School of Public Policy" at the University of New Hampshire suggests that
💯a shift among rural voters to Kamala Harris of just 3 percent could have led her to victory over Donald Trump.

👍If even just a few dozen rural Democrats from the South and Midwest won back offices controlled by the GOP,
there could be a tectonic shift in how the party competes at the gubernatorial, congressional, and presidential levels.

As RUBI’s founders know well,
it is a herculean task just to get the party elite to admit the main facts
—that austerity, trade shocks, and monopoly power have distressed rural America
—much less own their own culpability in these issues.

But although it is tempting to place all the blame on party elites, the same, unfortunately, can often be said of the major progressive groups that have cropped up since the Bush years,
Flaccavento argues. 

The overriding focus,
he says, on
“call[ing] out how horrible the Republicans are 24/7”
has left little energy to discuss what matters to rural folks:
👉“jobs, employment, the economy, livelihoods, manufacturing, trade policy, [and] antitrust.”

🔥This, then, is how rural strategists hope to change the narrative and trajectory of American politics:

not through conferences, white papers, and viral media,

⭐️but by transforming the everyday ways progressives think of and relate to left-behind Americans.
https://prospect.org/2025/03/21/2025-03-21-sowing-rural-insurgency-democrats/

Until Sen. Bernie Sanders began holding rallies in Republican-held districts to address DOGE’s destructive impact on federal workers and programs,
most progressives had not dared to dream of rural America as fertile ground for a backlash.
But it’s central to the concept of the "Rural Urban Bridge Initiative" ( #RUBI ),
a group determined to breathe new life into rural organizing strategies.

Conceived in early 2020 by
#Anthony #Flaccavento, a small farmer, former Democratic congressional candidate,
and community organizer in southern Virginia, and
#Erica #Etelson,
a political writer and former public-interest attorney based in California,
-- RUBI is kindling a new way to approach -- and ultimately advance -- rural concerns within the progressive movement.

Through training sessions,
reports from local experts,
policy development,
and traditional volunteer work,
RUBI hopes to #depolarize rural politics and persuade other activist groups to #engage in good faith with the needs, fears, and aspirations of rural communities.

RUBI’s most prominent effort to date is its campaign to convince the "Democratic National Committee" and the broader fundraising network on the left
👉to devote substantially more resources to rural causes.

Since #Ken #Martin, chair of the "Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party",
was elected in February to head the DNC,
RUBI has lobbied him to allocate $400 million
—10 percent of the Democratic ad buy for the 2024 general election
—toward rural districts and candidates.

Although RUBI has yet to secure Martin’s commitment,
co-signatories to the public letter include Rep. #Ro #Khanna (D-CA),
author and sociologist #Arlie #Hochschild,
veteran Texas populist #Jim #Hightower,
two state party chairs
and dozens of county committees,
and scores of other individuals and organizations
alarmed by Democratic decline in rural areas.

✅ Rural strategists hope to change the narrative and trajectory of American politics by transforming the everyday ways progressives think of and relate to left-behind Americans.

Regardless of the DNC’s final decision,
the campaign testifies to the perseverance of rural progressive populism.

It reflects, too, a growing recognition on the part of local groups committed to the welfare of rural workers
-- that they are not isolated in their anger over how national Democrats have burned through billions of dollars in the last several election cycles without improving their position in a single “purple” state.

🆘During Barack Obama’s presidency, Democrats lost well over a thousand congressional, statewide, and local down-ballot offices.

Tentative gains in critical presidential swing states since 2018 have been largely offset by Trump’s comeback;
-- He won all seven in November.

Other states where Democrats used to be competitive across the board,
such as Florida and Ohio,
are poised to go the way of Missouri, Indiana, and Arkansas.

A recent study from the "Carsey School of Public Policy" at the University of New Hampshire suggests that
💯a shift among rural voters to Kamala Harris of just 3 percent could have led her to victory over Donald Trump.

👍If even just a few dozen rural Democrats from the South and Midwest won back offices controlled by the GOP,
there could be a tectonic shift in how the party competes at the gubernatorial, congressional, and presidential levels.

As RUBI’s founders know well,
it is a herculean task just to get the party elite to admit the main facts
—that austerity, trade shocks, and monopoly power have distressed rural America
—much less own their own culpability in these issues.

But although it is tempting to place all the blame on party elites, the same, unfortunately, can often be said of the major progressive groups that have cropped up since the Bush years,
Flaccavento argues. 

The overriding focus,
he says, on
“call[ing] out how horrible the Republicans are 24/7”
has left little energy to discuss what matters to rural folks:
👉“jobs, employment, the economy, livelihoods, manufacturing, trade policy, [and] antitrust.”

🔥This, then, is how rural strategists hope to change the narrative and trajectory of American politics:

not through conferences, white papers, and viral media,

⭐️but by transforming the everyday ways progressives think of and relate to left-behind Americans.
https://prospect.org/2025/03/21/2025-03-21-sowing-rural-insurgency-democrats/

Rarely does the mere filing of a #ballot #initiative scramble politics in California.

But the "#Billionaires #Tax" proposal is suddenly dominating the discourse
as proponents collect signatures to place it on the November ballot
— and wealthy residents, like Google co-founders
Larry #Page and Sergey #Brin,
move their assets out of the state rather than wait to see if it will pass.

The idea of taxing billionaires’ total assets
— a more aggressive idea than the income taxes California already levies on high earners
— has long captivated the left,
galvanizing labor and shaping presidential politics.

But now that
SEIU-UHW,
a union representing more than 100,000 health care workers,
has pushed the idea closer to reality than ever before,
California is getting a vivid glimpse of just how politically explosive the proposal is
and, for supporters, how high the stakes are for getting it right

The fight has reignited a struggle over the Democratic Party’s economic agenda in the runup to the 2028 presidential contest,
-- drawing vehement denunciations from Governor #Newsom and prominent Democratic donors like Reid #Hoffman

-- while being embraced by progressives like Ro #Khanna,
who represents Silicon Valley and is also mulling a presidential run.

Sen. Bernie #Sanders called it “a model that should be emulated throughout the country.”

“This isn’t radical. This is fairly simple. We live in the wealthiest country in the world and people are struggling,”
Liz #Perlman, executive director of AFSCME 3299, said on a call this week in which unions and progressive groups from around the country trumpeted higher taxes in all 50 states.

But beyond Perlman, the unions on that call did not necessarily embrace a wealth tax. And even Democrats championing populist economic messages are treading cautiously on this particular wealth tax proposal.

California Sen. Adam #Schiff, for example, signed onto a letter this week encouraging Democrats to “demonstrate a real willingness to take on corporate power and the billionaires” in advance of the midterms.

But Schiff has not yet taken a position on the proposal roiling politics in his home state.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/16/wealth-tax-push-california-politics-00732882