Pam Martens: KOCH INDUSTRIES IS STAFFING UP WITH DATA SCIENTISTS TO TIP THE NOVEMBER ELECTIONS TO THE EXTREME RIGHT @ Counterpunch

Sanders in Kansas City, Ks, July 20, 2018

Wichita, Ks.: July 20, 2018 Century II Rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I - Vt.) and Alexandria Cortez

David Dayen: ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ & BERNIE SANDERS ARE TRYING TO PROVE THEIR CASE IN KANSAS @ The Intercept

... On Friday, they will rally for Brent Welder, a former labor lawyer running on a platform of “Medicare for All,” a $15 an hour minimum wage, tuition-free public college, and reducing big money’s influence in politics. “Brent can win, he can win,” Ocasio-Cortez said on The Dig, a podcast from Jacobin magazine. “And he can not only win his primary, but he can win in a red-to-blue district on a progressive vision. And I think that’s so exciting.” ...

Read more at The Intercept.

Peter Hancock: KANSAS SENATE PRESIDENT DEMOTES GOP SENATOR FOR ENDORSING DEMOCRATS @ Lawrence Journal World

Music provided by "Hear and Now" and the "Arsonists"

David Weigel: BERNIE SANDERS AND ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ WILL CAMPAIGN TOGETHER IN KANSAS @ Washington Post

Excerpt: 

... “I’ve believed for years that the Democratic Party has committed political malpractice by writing off half the states in this country,” said Sanders in an interview, as he campaigned in Minnesota for Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.). “They’ve got to fight for every state in this country.”

Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez will head to Kansas on July 20. They’ll begin in Wichita, where James Thompson, who narrowly lost a special election in 2017, wants another chance to win the 4th Congressional District. They’ll continue with an event in the Kansas City suburbs for Brent Welder, a former Sanders delegate now seeking the Democratic nomination in the 3rd Congressional District. .... 

“All over this country, you have people who understand that we need to [change] the minimum wage to a living wage; that health care is a right; that we need to rebuild our infrastructure,” Sanders said. “Those are popular issues in the Bronx. These are popular issues in Vermont. In Kansas, they’ve gone through the [former governor Sam] Brownback agenda, and they do not believe you should give tax breaks to the rich and cut Social Security.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s win, which came in a deep-blue New York district, has been galvanizing for left-wing candidates in red and purple states. Earlier this week, Ocasio-Cortez dispatched campaign staff to help Kerri Harris, an insurgent challenger to Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.). Later this month, Ocasio-Cortez will also campaign in Michigan, where former Detroit health commissioner Abdul El-Sayed is running an underdog campaign for governor.

“Alexandria’s victory was a proof of concept for campaigns like ours,” El-Sayed said in an interview.

Sanders compared the Kansas campaigns to the races left-wing candidates had run in other Democratic primaries this spring and summer. ... [End of Excerpt]

Read more at the Washington Post.