June 19, 2015

June 19, 2015, is the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth

You can help make that even more meaningful

http://www.juneteenth.com/150th%20anniversary_campaign.htm

Juneteenth, also known as Juneteenth Independence Day, Freedom Day, or Emancipation Day, is a holiday in the United States that commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. state of Texas in June 1865, and more generally the emancipation of African-American slaves throughout the Confederate South. Celebrated on June 19, the term is a contraction of June and nineteenth,[1][2] and is recognized as a state holiday or special day of observance in most states.

The holiday is observed primarily in local celebrations. Traditions include public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, singing traditional songs such as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing", and readings by noted African-American writers such as Ralph Ellison and Maya Angelou.[3] Celebrations may include parades, rodeos, street fairs, cookouts, family reunions, park parties, historical reenactments, or Miss Juneteenth contests.[4][self-published source]

https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Juneteenth (I strongly recommend reading the entire article.)

On the positive side, it marked the end of slavery under color of United States law. On the other side, of course, slavery under law should never have existed and Juneteenth was well after Lincoln had signed, as an EXECUTIVE ORDER USING HIS POWER AS CIC, the Emancipation Proclamation (signed September 22, 1862, with an effective date of January 1, 1863)

See also http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/hidden-history-of-juneteenth

There has been a movement to make Juneteenth a national holiday. It is a state holiday in a number of states.

June 19, 2015

Supreme Court Says Texas Can Reject Confederate Flag License Plate

1

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Texas did not violate the First Amendment when it refused to allow specialty license plates bearing the Confederate battle flag. Such plates, Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote for the majority, are the government’s speech and are thus immune from First Amendment attacks.

The vote was 5 to 4. The court’s other three liberal members joined Justice Breyer’s majority opinion, as did Justice Clarence Thomas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/us/supreme-court-says-texas-can-reject-confederate-flag-license-plates.html?_r=0

Good for Thomas!

June 19, 2015

Supreme Court Refines Rules Regarding Police Conduct in 8 to 1 Decision

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/supreme-court-refines-rules-governing-police-conduct

(article describes several decisions)

June 18, 2015

Is MSNBC's journalism for this Democratic primary going to be about the

Democratic primary candidates or about Hillary?

Ed Schultz seems to be a fan of Bernie's. Other than that, will Bernie and O'Malley get treated fairly? (Sorry, for many reasons, Webb can take a hike as far as I am concerned and I don't think even Chafee is taking Chafee seriously.)

After watching Lawrence O'Donnell this evening, I just had to email MSNBC and inquire about how they intend to cover the Democratic primary, though I did not mention any host's name because it's across the board, except for Schultz.

I've also decided to join their message boards and comment often on the prior day's shows. I'll also be commenting about their shows on facebook.

Just sayin'.

June 18, 2015

Two documentaries about the fight for control of Market Basket coming soon

Food Fight: Inside the Battle for Market Basket Jay Childs, JBC Film Group


http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/FOOD-FIGHT-Inside-the-Battle-for-Market-Basket-Trailer-Released--307606161.html (trailer)

Money to make Food Fight was raised, at least in part, on kickstarter.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/323618710/food-fight-inside-the-battle-for-market-basket




We the People: The Market Basket Effect.

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/blog/2015/03/12/market-basket-documentary/

June 17, 2015

Some things Bernie is apparently too polite/modest to mention:

One of those times he ran for Mayor of Burlington, Republicans and Democrats were so fed up with his winning that they decided on a single candidate between them. Bernie, underfunded and running as an Independent, beat the one candidate backed by the nation's two largest political parties.

Bernie declined to run for the Senate until Jeffords retired. Jeffords had been elected as a Republican. However, in 2001, he had changed registration to Independent and was caucusing with the Democrats.

Bernie is the longest serving Independent in Congress in US history, which means neither of the two largest political parties have been funding his campaigns or supporting him, but, to the contrary, have run candidates against him. At this point, though, the DSCC has not only stopped recruiting candidates to run against him, but has declared that iit will not support any Democrat who runs against him. That's how big an asset to the Democrat Caucus Bernie has been and also how hard to beat he has been.

Media stories want to treat him almost as some kind of political outlier who doesn't know Schick from Shinola, who is running for most odd senior citizen of Burlington. Don't buy it for a second.

June 16, 2015

Thanks for bringing up all that. One of the first federal officeholders to speak out after Ferguson

co-sponsoring youth employment package with Conyers, equal rights activist for decades; 97% rating from NAACP, 100% rating from Human Rights Campaign, outstanding record on reproductive choice legislation (rated ZERO by anti-abortion groups and 100% by NARAL); contrary to Gutierrez's lie, has been speaking out about immigration for a long time (rated ZERO by a "border security" group); and a whole host of other things.

See also
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017271517

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12809672

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6743489'

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/video-audio/ferguson

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017271517 (video of 20 minute speech on immigration given in the Senate 2013)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6819505

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141115277 see replies

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026817096 see replies

Luckily, Sanders has been an activist so long that facts trump insinuations and attempted smears.

June 15, 2015

Free Bernie Sanders Bumper Stickers.

https://go.berniesanders.com/page/s/free-bernie-sticker?source=fb20150611&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=facebook20150611

June 15, 2015

How to handle polls that say Americans don't trust your candidate? Easy peasy!

While Clinton remains strikingly dominant in the Democratic field, the poll shows that her numbers have dropped significantly across several key indicators since she launched her campaign in April.

A growing number of people say she is not honest and trustworthy (57%, up from 49% in March), less than half feel she cares about people like them (47%, down from 53% last July) and more now feel she does not inspire confidence (50%, up from 42% last March).

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/02/politics/hillary-clinton-2016-poll-gop-field-close/

DICKERSON: Here's the question that -- when I talk to Democratic strategist, people even are anxious for her to be president. They say she can list a lot of things. The biggest problem for her is trust. The voters in the polls have shown this. Voters do not trust her. How does she overcome that?

MOOK: Well, first of all, there -- no poll shows that voters don't trust Hillary Clinton.

DICKERSON: They don't find her honest and trustworthy.

MOOK: Well, no poll says that.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/face-the-nation-transcripts-june-14-2015-sanders-graham-mook/

June 14, 2015

Facebook Massachusetts for Bernie Sanders page

Could use some love and likes!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Massachusetts-for-Bernie-Sanders/1621051114796603

I just found it today.