http://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2016/jun/23/eu-referendum-live-results-and-analysis?CMP=twt_gu

Let me know what you think, good or bad!

Sanders Supporters Need to Grieve, But Have Achieved Much and Still Have Big Role in Philly

A longtime party activist says reach out, show respect and continue.


As anybody who has suffered a loss knows, there needs to be a grieving and healing process before moving on.

This certainly applies to Bernie Sanders supporters. Despite Sanders' pledge Tuesday night to press on to next week’s final 2016 primary in Washington DC, the national progressive movement that formed around him is now feeling a different kind of burn. Hillary Clinton clinched the nomination, with more votes, more pledged delegates and more superdelegates willing to ratify popular vote results from their states than Sanders. Ouch.

Although Clinton is the nominee, that doesn't mean Sanders has no significant role to play at the Democratic National Convention or after, longtime Democrats say. They point out that this is especially true considering his supporters, as Sanders has said many times, skew young and represent the party's and the country’s future.

“I understand the political grieving process,” said Deb Kozikowski, Massachusetts Democratic Party vice chair, who has been a vocal critic of the Democratic National Committee, including chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. “The thing to do is to find your way to get through and don’t lose your desire for making things better… I know the feeling. Keep in mind, [1988 Democratic nominee] Michael Dukakis was my friend… If you don’t think that hurt, I was devastated… You find something that gets you through the grieving process.”

Kozikowski and other party insiders contacted Wednesday said there is plenty for the Clinton and Sanders teams to be doing, even if the Clinton team is ebullient and Sanders team disconsolate. She tellingly added, “I don’t think the party is reaching out in any appropriate way at the state or national level. I’m not sure they know how. The bottom line is respect. The bottom line is appreciation for their interest in politics. They are not jaded old political hacks. They are disheartened now. Give a little space. Be kind.”

All of it at the link: http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/sanders-supporters-need-grieve-have-achieved-much-and-still-have-big-role-philly

I look over at the caller ID and of course it's not someone I know.

I KNOW it's about the election.

I want to yell into it "We voted already! Go away and leave us alone!"

But then I'd have to answer it.

And I refuse to answer.

Bastards.

As the prospect of Donald Trump in the White House moves from ludicrous to terrifying, it’s time to reconsider the electability question. Despite polls suggesting that Hillary Clinton is more likely to lose the general election than Bernie Sanders, her supporters routinely argue that Sanders’ program is too radically utopian to have a chance. Often a note of condescension is injected: Young people support Sanders because they want free stuff. Once his proposals are seriously considered, it’s argued, any adult will reject them out of hand.

Although countless analyses have been devoted to the demographics each candidate needs to win, one demographic has not been part of the national conversation. Sanders won the first global Democratic Party primary by a landslide — 69% of the vote — that the media hardly noted and never analyzed. Democrats Abroad, the overseas arm of the Democratic Party, organized the election, which took place in March, to represent citizens who live outside the U.S., a group the Democratic National Committee considers the 51st state.

Expatriate Democrats could choose to send primary election absentee ballots back to their home states, or they could participate in the global primary, which will send 21 delegates to the party convention in July. Ballots could be cast by fax, email or snail mail in the global primary, or at one of 104 polling places that were organized in cities from Lima to London. (Since I was traveling at the time, I faxed my ballot, but my daughter sent me a festive photo showing her feeling the Bern in Berlin.)

Of the 8 million Americans who live abroad, 34,700 participated in the global Democratic primary. Although the sampling is not huge, it’s considerably larger than that used for polls that play crucial roles in the electoral process. While we are wondering what drives young Latinas or older white men to support this or that candidate, we ought to consider why 69% of Democratic voters who live in 40 countries preferred Bernie Sanders.

All of it at the link:
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-neiman-sanders-global-democratic-primary-20160603-snap-story.html