Bernie-Sanders

It’s going to be a busy Bernie week, his hair will be standing straight up by nightfall Wednesday.

As the discussions of Authorizing the Use of Military Force in Congress bounce back and forth, Sanders tries to sue for peace when he gets a chance. He was also not having a whole lot of Netanyahu, refusing the R.S.V.P. early in a stand against John Bo(eh)ner’s politico power-grabby move.

The SAVE Act, signed into law by President Obama last week, meant a good deal to Senator Sanders, a longtime proponent of treating Veterans fairly and with the dispatch and respect they deserve. His website highlighted the enthusiastic reaction he felt so connected to.

“This bill says loudly and clearly that we understand suicide among veterans is a national tragedy and it begins the process of addressing the problem,” said Sanders, who headed the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee when the panel late last year passed the measure.

Twenty-two veterans a day, on average, take their own lives. “The suicide rate, especially among young veterans, is tragically high and we have to do everything we can get these veterans timely access to the quality of care they have earned and deserve,” Sanders said.

He pledged to continue working with others on the committee to improve mental health services for veterans. “In my view the goal is to make sure that every veteran in this country is able to get access to the medical help they need and get that mental health care immediately,” the senator said.

The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act is named for a Marine veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who took his own life in 2011 after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder.

On the ISIS front, Sanders has long argued against the sort of drip-drip-drip that has kept us in Afghanistan for longer than dirt. He appeared on CNN and gave the hawks something to pause and note.

Once again, this war is a battle for the soul of Islam and it’s going to have to be the Muslim countries who are stepping up. These are billionaire families all over that region. They’ve got to get their hands dirty. They’ve got to get their troops on the ground. They’ve got to win that war with our support. We cannot be leading the effort…

Finally, while we were mourning the moving-on of Jon Stewart this past week, Bernie was busy showing us (via a study he initiated) how the GOP was pitting Seniors against those folks applying for/in the same budget bin as Disability in the Social Security Game we aren’t supposed to be paying attention to.