Tag: campaign surrogate

Ben Carson apparently thinks that abolitionists are only worth one-tenth of a person

For the first time in a century and a quarter, a woman will be on the face of U.S. paper currency. For the first time ever, the woman on the face of U.S. paper currency will be a woman of color.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced that Harriet Tubman, a slave, abolitionist, and pro-women’s suffrage activist who is best known for her roles in the Harper’s Ferry raid and the Underground Railroad, will replace Andrew Jackson, the 7th President of the United States whose legacy includes the Trail of Tears forced removal of Native Americans from the South, on the front the $20 bill. $20 bills currently in circulation with Jackson on the front will still be legal tender, however.

While both Democratic presidential candidates have praised the Treasury Department’s decision to place Tubman on the most widely circulated form of U.S. paper currency, failed former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, now a Donald Trump supporter, went on FOX Business Network and said that he thinks that the Treasury Department should have put Tubman on the rarely-circulated $2 bill instead:

…During a Fox Business Network interview Wednesday, the failed presidential candidate turned Trump surrogate lamented to Neil Cavuto that Jackson was “a tremendous president” and “in honor of that we kick him off the money.” Asked whether he is, by extension, anti-Tubman, the retired neurosurgeon replied: “No. I love Harriet Tubman, I love what she did. We can find another way to honor her. Maybe a $2 bill?”…

Many Americans don’t realize this, but the $2 bill, which currently features Thomas Jefferson on the front of the bill, is actually legal tender in the United States. However, the $2 bill is rarely circulated (in fact, I’ve not seen a $2 bill in many years).

Now, back to the main point of this blog post…right-wingers have officially gone from believing that people of color are three-fifths of a person to believing that people of color are one-tenth of a person. Personally, while Tubman wasn’t my first choice for the new $20 bill (Sacajawea was my first preference), I don’t think that there’s a better way to honor Tubman, who is one of the greatest Americans to have ever lived, than to put her on the front of the most circulated form of U.S. paper currency. Oh, and I believe that people of color are full people.

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PETITION: Tell Bill Clinton to apologize for falsely claiming that Bernie supporters are vigilantes

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This blog post is a republish of the “petition background” portion of a MoveOn online petition that was created by the author. The link to the petition itself is at the bottom of the blog post.

Recently, Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States and the husband of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, falsely claimed that supporters of the Bernie Sanders campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination would “shoot every third person on Wall Street” if given the opportunity to do so. That is a completely false characterization of Bernie supporters, and I, the author of this petition, believe that President Clinton is engaging in character assassination.

The truth of the matter is that me and other Bernie supporters would NEVER even consider shooting or otherwise attempting to kill anyone, even greedy Wall Street bankers. That’s because that Bernie supporters strongly believe in fair financial regulation and criminal justice systems where the rule of law, not greed or vigilantism, is valued. If someone who is an executive or employee of a financial firm of any kind violates the law, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and given a fair and speedy trial in a court of law. If someone who is an executive or employee of a financial firm of any kind is convicted of violating the law, then they should be given an appropriate sentence, imprisonment and/or other forms of punishment allowed by law, within the range of sentences allowed by law. That is something that I and other Bernie supporters strongly believe in.

President Clinton engaged in character assassination against Bernie supporters, and I will not tolerate character assassination against me or anyone else.

We, the signatories of this petition, demand that President Clinton apologize for incorrectly claiming that Bernie Sanders supporters would “shoot every third person on Wall Street”. That is not who we are at all.

You can sign the petition here.