If only he weren't so *angry* I could support him!

...not to mention so white, and male, and old! And Vermont-y! ... or so I gather from reading many DU threads.

And there he goes again, advocating Medicare for All, supporting Planned Parenthood, and calling out the Republicans for their staunch support of the welfare of 20 grotesquely wealthy individuals at the expense of 150 million others... Sanders is so out of touch! So tone deaf! So ignorant of the day-to-day experience of people of color!!

Or so we've been told, a few thousand times lately.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, this is a great speech by Sen. Sanders. In measured and direct statements, he completely eviscerates the Republicans' idiotic and cruel agenda.

Bravo!

David Lynch on Movies on the iPhone

Maker Shed stands with Ahmed

Maker Shed, the popular web site for the DIY builder community, stands with Ahmed! They've invited him to be a special guest at World Maker Faire, and -- in the true spirit of the Maker tribe -- they've posted an article showing how Ahmed built his clock. How cool is that?

The Maker Shed folks are also promoting 12 of their DIY clock kits in solidarity with the young Texas builder. Yes, Maker Shed is a commercial web site, these kits are for sale, and Maker Shed pockets the proceeds. But it's great that this hub of the builder/maker community is expressing solidarity with Ahmed Mohamed and celebrating his creative energy. Hats off to Maker Shed!

I rooted for the Braves since 1966 when they moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta,

until they announced their move to Cobb County so all the scaredy-cat white suburbanites and redneck out-of-town fans won't have to endure the urban terrors of going to the current ballpark.

I used to do my homework while listening to Milo Hamilton and Ernie Johnson call the games. The first MLB game I saw in person was at the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, where I got to see Hank Aaron and Ernie Banks on the field at the same time. (Cubs won.) As a Southerner and a baseball fan, I proudly supported the Braves as our only regional team for a long time. And I stuck with them through some pretty painful years before the Maddux-Smoltz-Glavine glory days, and some more semi-painful years after that.

But I no longer have a team. I am not rooting for the Marietta Fucking Braves.

I'm sure the "walking into traffic" line refers to how crappy of a season they're having, after dumping every high-priced player they could. And the planned pedestrian bridge, which is an absolute joke since the new stadium will be inaccessible via public transportation and will create even bigger traffic nightmares (if that's possible) in that zone, is facing major resistance.

I've had it with the franchise. I hope they continue to falter and end up moving to Charlotte or Memphis.

Great stuff

My first thought was "White Like Me," Eddie Murphy's excellent Sat. Night Live bit:
https://screen.yahoo.com/white-000000112.html

Delving more deeply, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" by Peggy McIntosh is a must-read and a real eye-opener for every white American:
http://amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html

As I read these petitions and look at the photos of these murder victims,

I keep thinking "Black lives matter. It's so maddening that this discussion is so often about Black deaths."

Chances are we never would have known the names of Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, John Crawford III, Eric Harris, Walter Scott, Sandra Bland, and so many others if it weren't for their maddening and heartbreaking deaths at the hands of police (or in the case of Trayvon and Eric Harris, pretend police).

I think of them and the millions of other people of color just trying to live their lives, hoping they won't become a hashtag. Their lives matter.


John Crawford, III

Petition: Black Lives Matter

From an email sent by Latonya Goldsby of Cleveland, Ohio:

When my 12-year-old cousin Tamir Rice was shot and killed by a police officer as he played in a park with a toy gun, our family didn’t know what to do. Shocked and heartbroken, we knew we had to find justice for Tamir. I remembered that Trayvon Martin’s parents started a petition on Change.org when police refused to arrest the killer of their young son and that it helped draw national attention to their story.

So I started my own petition on Change.org and over 50,000 people have signed it.

It’s been one year since the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, which propelled #BlackLivesMatter into a national movement. I never thought my family would be part of this conversation – that my little cousin would become one of the reasons we needed to call for police accountability and racial justice here in Cleveland and nationwide.

The simple act of signing a petition can make a difference and other families at the center of the #BlackLivesMatter movement have started petitions on Change.org. The parents of John Crawford, who was killed in a Walmart while he held a toy gun sold at the store used a petition to secure an important Department of Justice investigation into the death of their son. The brother of Walter Scott, shot and killed as he ran away, and the parents of Michael Brown, have each started petitions to call for body cameras nationwide.

You can view all of these petitions on one page by clicking here. There are more than three million signatures from people like you who have shown us that we’re not alone – and that meant the world to us.

A true superhero

Thanks for posting about this inspiring and moving event!

I'm proud to say Mr. Lewis is my Congressional rep. He is America's voice in Congress, really, so the rest of you can claim him, too -- I won't mind.



P.S. I've been in lurk mode for several months, but came out of hiding to kick and recommend this thread. I can think of no better use for my 5,000th post on DU.