 So this week, Bernie Sanders came out with two sweeping reform plans, one for criminal justice, one for democracy in the workplace, and I can't cover them in the way that I regularly will just cover things by reading an article because these plans are so comprehensive that I actually want to just go over the plans themselves I just have this up on the screen as a resource because I think that would probably be the best way to educate you about this because it's just it's so thorough and I'll link to these down below so you can read them for yourself Now, of course, I can't go over everything, but these plans are absolutely solid, you know, there's some areas for improvement with regard to the criminal justice plan, but overall, this is still fantastic Now, basically, his overall goal is to end profiteering in our criminal justice system. I think that he has made this clear from the beginning, but here's what he wants to do. Ban for-profit prisons that absolutely is a no-brainer. He wants to make prison phone calls and other communications such as video chats free of charge. Again, this is a no-brainer. I don't know how this would even be controversial or if it is. I think that, you know, just because you are serving time doesn't mean that we have to remove humanity away from you and strip you of your dignity, incentivize states and localities to end police departments' reliance on fines and fees for revenue. This is huge. Audit the practices of commissaries and use regulatory authority to end price gouging and exorbitant fees, remove the profit motto from our reentry system and diversion, community supervision, or treatment programs and ensure people leaving incarceration or participating in diversion, community supervision, or treatment programs can do so free of charge. This is so important here because one thing that a lot of people don't realize is that the recidivism rate in the United States is absolutely astronomical and it's because you serve your time, you get out, and maybe you lose contact with a bunch of people and you don't have the resources needed to get off of your feet and, you know, different types of programs and whatnot that could help you treatment programs and educational programs. You just, you don't have access to them. So a lot of times people have to resort to crime again or feel the need to resort to crime and they end up back in prison. So trying to tackle recidivism is incredibly important and I'm glad that Bernie Sanders included that here. Now, he also wants to end cash bail. This is another no brainer. It's a system that I don't even know why we have it. It just favors the rich because, of course, being free when you are arrested will entirely hinge on if you have the money to get out. Of course, rich people will pay their bail and poor people won't be able to do that. So this disproportionately favors the rich. Of course, we should end cash bail. He wants to end the use of secured bonds in federal criminal proceedings, provide grants to states to reduce their pre-trial detention populations, which are particularly high at the county level, and require states to report on outcomes as a condition of renewing their funding, withhold funding from states that continue the use of cash bail systems. So this is something that he basically has to do because these prison systems, they're run at the state level. So at the federal level, I don't believe that he can compel them to end cash bail. So basically what he's doing is, you know, this carrot stick approach. And in this instance, he's using the stick to say, look, we'll withhold funding if you still use this antiquated cash bail program that just favors the rich. That's important. Ensure that alternatives to cash bail are not leading to disparities in the prison system. Again, very forward-thinking. So far, everything about this is absolutely amazing. And now here's where we get to a really important part. Ensure law enforcement accountability and robust oversight. So rescind former Attorney General Jeff Sessions' guidance on consent decrees, revitalize the use of Department of Justice investigations consent decrees, and federal lawsuits to address systemic constitutional violations by police departments. Ensure accountability-strict guidelines and independent oversight for all federal funds used by police departments and federal programs that use military equipment to local police forces. Of course, demilitarizing the police is important. Create a federally mandated database of police use of deadly force. Provide grants for states and cities to establish civilian oversight agencies with enforceable accountability mechanisms. Establish federal standards for the use of body cameras, including establishing third-party agencies to oversee the storage and release of police videos. Very, very important. Mandate criminal liability for civil rights violations resulting from police conduct. Limit the use of qualified immunity to address the lack of criminal liability for civil rights violations resulting from police misconduct. Conduct a U.S. Attorney General's investigation whenever someone is killed in police custody. Very, very important. Because I don't expect someone who is investigating someone that they know on a personal level to be objective. You know, you can't neutrally administer justice if you know that person. I couldn't investigate my friend and be fair, right? So this is important. Band the use of facial recognition software for policing. I would like him to take this a step further and just ban the use of facial recognition software, period. Ron Placone has done a number of videos about this. Fight for the Future has kind of taken this up as an initiative. And for those of you who don't know Fight for the Future, they are a huge net neutrality advocacy organization. So taking it a step further would be great, but this is a new issue and I would imagine that Bernie Sanders would evolve with new information. Now, I'm not going to go through all of this because this is really long, but I wanted to get to the bulk of it. Provide more support to police officers and create a robust non-law enforcement alternative response system. And this force would emphasize de-escalation. Now, every single police officer should be trained to de-escalate and not further escalate, but I see what he's doing here. And I like this. Rights of Council. Very, very important. Triple national spending. Review current salaries and workloads at a minimum starting salary for public defenders. Create a national formula to assure populations have a minimum number of public defenders. Establish federal guidelines and goals for a rights of council, including policies that reduce the number of cases overall. Create a federal agency to provide support and oversight for state public defense services. Okay, going down, rescind former Attorney General Jeff Sessions' orders on prosecutorial discretion and low-level offenses. You know, rescinding these guidelines from Jeff Sessions, that will be easy. You don't have to pass that with a bill. So I would imagine that a lot of this he'll be able to check off before this even gets passed, you know, when it becomes a bill. Limit absolute immunity for prosecutors, which is used to shield wrongdoers from liability, and the practice of jailing material witnesses. Place a moratorium on the use of the algorithmic risk assessment tools in the criminal justice system until an audit is completed. As president, he will also abolish the death penalty. Reverse the Trump administration's guidance on the use of death penalty drugs with the goal of ending the death penalty at the state level. Stop excessive sentencing with the goal of cutting the incarcerated population in half and mandatory sentencing minimums. Bring in state of federal parole system and end truth in sentencing. People serving long sentences will undergo a second look process to make sure their sentence is still appropriate. End three strikes laws. Invigorate and expand the compassionate release process. Expand the use of sentencing alternatives. Revitalize the executive clemency process by creating an independent clemency board. Stop the criminalization of homelessness and spend more than 25 billion over five years to end homelessness. And with regard to the war on drugs, legalize cannabis, expunge past marijuana convictions, provide people struggling with addiction, the health care they need. Decriminalize possession of the drug that treats opioid addiction. Not even going to try to pronounce that word, that is a doozy right there. Legalize safe injection sites and needle exchanges around the country and support pilot programs for supervised injection sites, which have shown to substantially reduce drug overdose deaths. This is so important, so forward thinking. This is going to be, you know, something that he'll be attacked for, but this is crucial and it does work. I'll raise the threshold for when drug charges are federalized. Work with states to fund and pursue innovative overdose prevention techniques. Institute a full review of the current sentencing guidelines and end the sentencing disparity between crack and cocaine. Okay, so this is very long. Let me just go through the cliff notes version here. Treat children like children. That means we ban the prosecution of children under the age of 18. I feel like this is a no-brainer. Reform our decrepit prison system to make jails and prisons more humane. Who would be against this? You know, and solitary confinement. This is so important because that is torture. That is absolutely cruel and unusual punishment. He wants living wages for prison labor. No more slave labor. The right to vote. All voting age Americans must have the right and meaningful access to vote. This is going to be controversial because as you will know, he was attacked on a debate stage when he was asked should the Boston bomber have the right to vote. Now, of course, the way that that's framed is absolutely disgusting. And I don't like that. But really what you have to make the case for is if we are Democrats, small D Democrats, we have to be radically committed to the idea of universal suffrage. That means every single person in this country has the right to vote. It doesn't matter if they did something that's atrocious. It doesn't matter if we personally disagree with them. Every person has the right to vote. It's a matter of principle. So he will get attacked for this as well. Doesn't matter. This is the right policy prescription. We have to allow people the right to vote. Okay. Ensure a just transition post release. So let's see here. Reversing the criminalization of disability, investing in our communities, federal jobs guarantee $15 minimum wage. This is all so important, so comprehensive. And I look forward to seeing criminal justice organizations vet this if they haven't already. But this seems incredibly, incredibly in depth, comprehensive. This would change so many people's lives for the better. Like this, really, it can't be overstated. This would be a game changer. This would be amazing. This is the criminal justice reform that we need. One glaring omission, though, that I will say I wish he included is the decriminalization of sex work. Now, previously he stated that he was open to that. In fact, I have a quote because he was asked about this not too long ago. So Eris Foley of the Hill reports, Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders would consider decriminalizing sex work if elected in 2020. Bernie believes that decriminalization is certainly something that should be considered. Sanders deputy communications director, Sarah Ford told Vice News in a statement on Thursday. Other countries have done this and it has shown to make the lives of sex workers safer. So the fact that he's open to it is important, but he didn't include that here. So that's disappointing. Don't just be open to it. Embrace it, Bernie. I'm not too worried that he'd be against it because, again, he already showed his willingness to consider it, but he should have included that here in this bill. But Bernie Sanders, he does evolve. I mean, in 2016 he did not support student loan debt cancellation and that was basically my main criticism of him. Look, you have this great plan to make colleges tuition-free. But what about those of us who already have all of this student loan debt? So you've got to do something for them. And he listened. So I believe that this is something that he would embrace. I just wish that he included that here, but I don't want to be too picky because this is still good, but just some area for improvement. Now getting to his workplace democracy plan. So basically this is a very pro-union plan. Union workers, they earn 22% more than the average workers. So this is really important. Bernie's pro-union plan would provide unions the ability to organize through a majority sign-up process, allowing the National Labor Relations Board to certify a union if it receives the consent of the majority of eligible workers. Under Bernie's plan, when a majority of workers in a bargaining unit sign valid authorization cards to join a union, they will have a union. If employers refuse to negotiate in good faith, we will impose strong penalties on those companies. Enact first contract provisions to ensure companies cannot prevent a union from forming by denying first contract. Eliminate the right to work for less. Bernie's plan would repeal section 14b of the Taft-Harley Act, which has allowed 28 states to pass legislation that eliminates the ability of unions to collect dues from those who benefit from union contracts and activities, undermining the union's representation of workers. This right here has decimated unions, so this is absolutely crucial, and I don't think this would be too controversial with regard to Democratic Party politics. I think that even corporate Democrats would get on board with this, but still it's important. Under Bernie's plan, companies will no longer be able to ruthlessly exploit workers by misclassifying them as independent contractors or deny them over time by falsely calling them a supervisor. Looking at you, Uber, this would directly affect those companies. Make sure that employers can no longer use franchisee or contractor arrangements to avoid responsibility and liability for workers. Give federal workers the right to strike. Make sure every public sector union in America has the freedom to negotiate. Require companies that merge to honor existing union contracts. Deny federal contracts to employers that pay poverty wages, outsource jobs overseas, engage in union busting. Deny good benefits and pay CEOs outrageous compensation packages. Ban the permanent replacement of striking workers. Protect the pensions of workers. This is also very important. We've kind of transitioned to a 401k system in lieu of pensions and guess what's happening. People can't really retire. People have to work until they die, essentially. So, you know, protecting pensions is very, very important. Stop corporations from forcing workers to attend mandatory anti-union meetings as a condition of continued employment. Establish federal protections against the firing of workers for any reason other than just cause. Create a sectoral collective bargaining system with wage boards to set minimum standards across industries. Guarantee the right to unionize for all workers. Allow for secondary boycotts. Expand and update the persuader rule. This plan would require companies to disclose anti-union information. They disseminate to workers and provide for equal time for organizing agents. Now, I really like this because, you know, if you apply for a new job and you're going through training and orientation, you may be shown an anti-union video. When I worked at Walmart, we were shown this brazenly anti-union video. It was just pure propaganda and I was like shocked by it. Well, I was taken aback by it because I didn't expect them to be so in your face with the anti-union rhetoric. And I, you know, it caught me off guard and I talked to my coworkers about it and they didn't know about unions because, you know, they're given this misinformation. It's fed to them so they don't know what to think. So they're told it's bad. So they just say, all right, it must be bad. So this is good. And probably my favorite part here is this, a fair transition to Medicare for All. This kneecaps one of the main critiques that we're seeing from corporate Democrats about Medicare for All. Bernie will require that resulting healthcare savings from union negotiated plans result in wage increases and additional benefits for workers during the transition to Medicare for All. When Medicare for All is signed into law, companies with union negotiated healthcare plans would be required to enter into new contract negotiations overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. Under this plan, all company savings that result from reduced healthcare contributions from Medicare for All will accrue equitably to workers in the form of increased wages or other benefits. Furthermore, the plan will ensure that union-sponsored clinics and other providers are integrated within the Medicare for All system and kept available for members. Unions will still be able to negotiate for and provide wraparound services and other coverage not duplicative of the benefits established under Medicare for All. And this is really important because when you hear people like Michael Bennett say, well, look, unions fought hard for these healthcare plans and now you're just going to take that away from them. So all that work was for nothing. What Bernie Sanders is saying is no, that's not all going to be for nothing. You still want to fight to provide some type of wraparound services, you know, so long as it's not duplicative, then that's fine. You can fight for something that maybe is left out of Medicare for All. It doesn't really leave out anything. But I mean, you can try if you want to offer like fucking a discount for cosmetic surgery since those procedures are usually like financed. So if you have someone that wants to get a facelift, I mean, I guess you could do that. Sure, you can negotiate that if you're a union, they probably won't do that. But it's still, you know, it's important that he's making that clear so they can't attack him. So look, by and large, both of these plans, let me go back up to the top. These are phenomenal. These are absolutely fantastic. One area for improvement here. This is mostly union centered, but I would like mandatory worker co-ops. But still, unions are incredibly important to the health of the middle class, right? Because when unions and union membership increases, then everyone else does better. The middle class thrives. People from the lower class are more able to easily move into the middle class. So these are fantastic. And Bernie Sanders is just coming out with policy after policy. This is innovation. This is fresh. And I absolutely love what he's doing. So kudos to Bernie Sanders here, because this is what you have to do when you have other competitors in the race who are trying to, you know, portray themselves as having a plan for everything. Actually, Bernie Sanders is kind of the person who now has the plan for everything. So this is great. You know, this is what a Democratic Party primary is all about. I want to see everyone compete to be the best. And Bernie Sanders is winning by a mile and a half so far, as far as I'm concerned.