October 5, 2015

Bernie Sanders Holds Boston's Largest Democratic Primary Rally Ever

Before you read, I believe Bernie's campaign underestimated the size of the Boston crowd.

Election 2016
Bernie Sanders Holds Boston's Largest Democratic Primary Rally Ever
The event made history, topping the size of the Boston's biggest Obama rally.
By Zaid Jilani / AlterNet
October 4, 2015

On Saturday evening, Bernie Sanders finally took his campaign to Boston, Massachussetts, having canceled an earlier appearance there because they couldn't find a space large enough at an affordable price. The Boston stop was the second stop of the day, following a rally of 6,000 in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The Boston Globe noted that the rally in their city made history – topping the size of a 10,000-person rally Barack Obama held during the 2008 Democratic primary.

Sanders was introduced by several speakers, including both nursing students and a representative of National Nurses United, the large nursing union. Bill McKibben, one of the nation's most prominent climate activists, took the podium before the Senator, and praised his opposition to the Keystone pipeline, a project Sanders opposed first in 2011.

“We have raised substantial sums of money because 650,000 Americans made contributions averaging 30 dollars a piece,” said Sanders to a crowd of around 25,000 both inside the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center and more watching the event on screens outside who were unable to get in. The fundraising numbers have given renewed credibility to his campaign, with The New York Times noting that “Mr. Sanders was initially dismissed by political insiders as a fringe candidate running only to push Hillary Rodham Clinton to the left. But he has now demonstrated that he has the resources and the supporters, whom he has only begun to tap financially, to compete for the Democratic presidential nomination.” Indeed, the $26 million he raised placed him right behind Hillary Clinton's own $28 million haul (as of this writing Clinton did not release number of donors or the average donation).

It's worth pointing out that the crowd size Sanders generated tops where Obama was at this point in the campaign not only in Boston, but nationally. The Obama campaign went to a city more than ten times as large, New York, and spoke to 24,000 around this time in 2007.

much more http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-sanders-holds-bostons-largest-democratic-primary-rally-ever

October 5, 2015

Sanders is not Nader, is he?

I have not been able to relate much to Nader, especially since he lost all those elections. However, just from reading his wikipedia, I would bet everything that I own that he did more for people by the time he was 40 than most of his critics will even try to do in their entire lives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Nader

Despite that, the hatred and disinformation permeates any DU thread in which his name comes up is enough to make me reel.

Until recently, I read that his unforgiveable sin was running as a "spoiler," thereby resulting in the election of Dimson, which destroyed this country. That sentence is a lot to unpack. Maybe I or someone else will try to get help in unpacking it in the Populist Group someday. For purposes of this post today, however, let's take every bit of that sentence as unassailably true.

Senator Sanders has long been an ally of, and asset to, the Democratic Party. On his arrival in the House, he formed the House Progressive Caucus, now called the Congressional Progressive Caucus, even though Sanders is the only Senator who is a member. For the first eight years of its existence, he chaired it, too. It is the largest Caucus in Congress, other than the two main party caucuses.

When Dean was head of the DNC, he called Sanders an asset to the Party. Schumer, as head of the DSCC, did the same and decided not to run any Democratd against Sanders. Twice, Sanders was the nominee of the Vermont Democratic Party for the U.S. Senate, even though he did not run for the Democratic nomination. When a Democrat did challenge Sanders in a primary, the Democratic Party, including Bubba, supported Sanders against the Democrat!

When Sanders began contemplating a run for the Presidency, he said he would not run as a spoiler, as Nader had. True to his word, when Sander did decide to run, it was in the Democratic Presidential primary. From the very day of his formal announcement, however, the DNC has done whatever it could to undermine him. It attempted to raise money on the excitement of his announcement with an email that made it seem as though donations to the DNC would enure to Sanders' benefit. I have little doubt that diverted much needed seed money from Sanders' campaign. From that day to this, it's been one thing after another. Now, we hear that the DNC will weight debate audiences toward supporters of HRC.

WHY is the Party treating Sanders worse than it treated Nader?

Doesn't this encourage future challengers to the Party's anointed one (and, yes, there will be more anointed ones in the future) to run as spoilers?

October 4, 2015

Anyone want to help me make a list? What about Bernie's campaign and candidacy is newsworthy?

October 4, 2015

"Villages" help seniors age in their homes.

For openers, Beacon Hill has some very wealthy residents. It's where Kerry's official address was while he was a Senator. It also has poorer residents though. It's one of those city neighborhoods where walking a block or three can make a big difference in the cost of rent and the demographic.

I remember reading about a "village" movement in Boston where people just helped each other, trading services. Maybe a senior would teach someone to knit in exchange for some rides to medical appointments and so on. The arrangement described below is more formal.

"Warehousing" Boomers will not be cheap. Neither will visiting nurse services, home health aides, etc. Wouldn't it be great if government could get flexible enough to consider paying village dues for less fortunate seniors? Disabled, too.

Beacon Hill Village has grown to nearly 400 members throughout Boston. Their annual dues - $925 for a household, or $640 for a single person - get them a wide variety of support services, from drivers for doctor appointments to hiring screened repairmen. It has spawned 78 other “village’’ groups across Massachusetts and the United States, and similar organizations overseas, in Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands. And a recently formed national organization - the Village to Village Network - is also in talks to open 150 more villages across the country.

“This is a common sense movement that comes from elderly organizers themselves,’’ said Judy Willett, the former director of Beacon Hill Village and the new national director of Village to Village, which is based in Newton. “Ultimately, it’s elderly volunteers who organize each village, and every [group] has roughly the same values and same core goal of helping people stay in their homes.’’

..........

Another group, Cambridge At Home, launched in 2007 and now affiliated with Village to Village, has 325 members in Cambridge, Belmont, Arlington, and Watertown, according to executive director Kathy Spirer. Its offerings include a “one call’’ phone service where staff help members with requests that can range from how to hire a snow plow operator to dealing with health insurance issues. Dues also cover grocery deliveries, provided by a transportation company, and a free driving service for members - handled by volunteers - to get to medical appointments or the pharmacy.
Beacon Hill Village members Roger Cox and Barbara Rappaport during a recent lunch.

..........

For an additional fee, members can access a screened list of home service providers, including plumbers, electricians, handymen, physical therapists, home health care assistants, tailors, gardeners, and others. After interviewing each participating vendor, Cambridge At Home secures 10 to 15 percent price discounts from them for its members.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2012/05/19/villages-help-seniors-remain-their-homes-communities/K2WCFsCF03r5Jcnhtt1MkL/story.html

See also http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129086737 and http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/09/garden/09care.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

October 4, 2015

Bernie who? Why does TV media ignore Sanders even as he tops polls?

Sorry. I can't remember whether this particular CSM article has been posted in the Bernie Group or not. Sigh.

Bernie who? Why does TV media ignore Sanders even as he tops polls? (+video)

Bernie Sanders has faced a near-blackout from major TV news sources, even though he continues to rise in popularity and fundraising.
By Story Hinckley, Staff October 1, 2015

If you’re still a little confused about who Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is, that makes sense – network TV news has largely ignored the Democratic presidential candidate from Vermont. With 23 candidates currently running for president, how could the media have time to cover everyone’s opinions and policies?

But a recent poll has Senator Sanders only 7 points behind Hillary Clinton nationally, and in an average of recent New Hampshire primary polls, Sanders leads Mrs. Clinton by 9 points. In a hypothetical election between Republican candidate Donald Trump and Sanders, Real Clear Politics estimated at the end of Sept. that Sanders would win by 16 points. Even more impressive, only four of the 23 2016 presidential candidates have ever polled at 20 percent support: Mr. Trump, Ben Carson, Clinton, and you guessed it – Bernie Sanders.

............

Andrew Tyndall monitored broadcast news from ABC, NBC, and CBS and found that of the 504 minutes devoted thus far to the presidential race, Donald Trump has been given a staggering 145 minutes (nearly 30 percent) and Clinton’s campaign has been given 82 minutes. (Add another 83 minutes if you want to count the time exclusively given to the email scandal.) How does Sanders compare? He has only gotten a shocking total of eight minutes on network news (about 1.5 percent). This is equivalent to the amount of time the news has devoted to Gov. Chris Christie (who is polling below four percent) and far less than the 43 minutes of coverage devoted to Jeb Bush, who is polling less than 10 percent.

Sanders has gotten just as much airtime as Mitt Romney got when he was considering a campaign earlier this year. And with the total broadcast TV coverage of 504 minutes greater at this point on the campaign calendar than in both 2007 and 2011, the media has had plenty of opportunities to talk about Bernie.



(at the link: video of Bernie highlighting differences between him and Hillary)

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2015/1001/Bernie-who-Why-does-TV-media-ignore-Sanders-even-as-he-tops-polls-video

I wish I could have copied and pasted more, but it is all at the link, beloveds.

Once again, journalists and media analysts say coverage of Bernie's by media has been shocking.

October 3, 2015

Film Festival: Anatomy of a Cancellation?

You still have time to pick up refreshments in the lobby. Please mute your phones.

On the Ed Show, Ed Shultz and Bernie Sanders discuss Obama's comment about MSNBC's coverage of TPP and Schultz challenges Obama to prove TPP will not hurt workers.

Shultz discusses cancellation of his show:



Comcast ordered MSNBC to remove hosts who criticize TPP:



MSNBC Guts Lineup And Somehow Makes It Worse (I so agree with this analysis). By the way, David Brock = mediamatters

October 3, 2015

Bernie Sanders in Springfield and Boston today.

I am sure everyone who reads this group and cares about attending already knows that, but what the heck?

More knfo here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/128057675