April 26, 2016

Same experience voting for Sanders in Frederick Co., MD.

It wasn't crowded, no line, simple process, easy as pie. In our state we didn't have to guess which delegates were for which Presidential candidate, they were plainly marked. We were to choose 4 men and 4 women delegates, which was interesting. There were 4 of each for Sanders, so that was an easy choice. I too, had all my choices pre-marked on a sample form that was sent to us by the state. It took me about 10 minutes too, start to finidh, at an elementary school 3 blocks from where I live. Couldn't be easier.

Turnout didn't seem any different from other years at the same polling location. I zipped in and out with the previous machines too, before our conversion this year to paper, in about the same time. Maryland is good at elections, which I appreciate (no way to tell whether the counting part of it is tamper-free though; I assume it's ok, unless we hear indications otherwise).

There's no reason every state can't do elections this smoothly. I feel really bad that so many people have to endure the misery that some states and parties put voters through. It is intentional voter repression, pure and simple, and it should be illegal. We need some guidelines on elections.

I saw on the tube this afternoon that an MSNBC reporter happened to see O'Malley outside of the Mount Vernon (my old neighborhood as a 20-something) polling place in Baltimore City. O'Malley said that he thinks Sanders can win California! Loved that! The reporter though, was not happy.

I could co-sign your whole post. I'm 66, and this was by far the best vote of my whole life!

I saw Jane Sanders on the tube earlier in the day saying Bernie is NOT leaving the race until all of it is completed. So glad to hear that in such definite terms. Bernie supporters in every state should get their chance to vote for him.

I realize tonight is going to be tough, but that isn't a problem. We know where the rough spots are in the calendar and this is one of them. Later this evening I will most definitely be donating again, just to make a statement countering the election results in my state. In it to win it to the end, and beyond.

So proud of Bernie, and so glad he decided to run this time. And I have a hunch he may pull this off yet, before it's all said and done.

Cheers, Berners! And don't let tonight throw you.

April 26, 2016

It isn't their choice to make, and it's presumption not math.

They are presuming how many delegates in each race will go to whom. Oh, really? They are fortune tellers now? How analytical and coldly objective of them! (not)

But the biggest point is, they have no say in the matter. It's up to Sanders, and his supporters. Period.

He doesn't have big donors who can pull the plug, and he hasn't had much media coverage throughout his campaign, so the media can't pull the plug on him either. Imagine how much he would be crushing Hillary if he had the equivalent of Trump's free "news" coverage all year.

And yes, I totally agree with the OP that the reason for "drop out mania" is they are worried he will win... and they're right to be worried, he probably will! Time is on Bernie's side, the more people hear about him the more his support grows.

In any challenge I believe it's always good to do the opposite of what an opponent wants, and that's exactly what he's doing. Good for him! Go Bernie!

AND I WILL BE VOTING FOR HIM TODAY IN MD!!! It's by far the best vote of my lifetime, and I'm 66. There's no way I want my friends on the other coast to miss the chance to do the same!


This is dedicated to the Clintonites, who are newly so afraid of time -- I would be too in their shoes, but I won't bring up that bad 3-letter "F" word...

Time Is (It's A Beautiful Day, 1969)

"Time is too slow for those who wait
And time is too swift for those who fear
Time is too long for those who grieve
And time is too short for those that laugh
...
But for those who love,
But for those who really love,
But for those who love,
Time, sweet time, precious time,
Lovely time, all the time,
Time, time, time, time, time, time
Time, time, time, time, time,
Is eternity... "

(Just a random trivia note for the heck of it... They are one of the best bands I ever saw, at Finnegan's Rainbow in Long Beach CA where David Bowie who was an unknown, opened for them. I like this song, but "White Bird" is my favorite, and one of a few that people still associate with me to this day. If anyone hasn't heard it, highly recommended. David LaFlamme, who had been a concert violinist with the Utah symphony, was astonishing on violin, which I could appreciate having played it some too back in the day.)

Another very slow cup of coffee, and then off to vote!

Oh, why not; I'd make this a link above but it doesn't seem to work... for those who have some TIME to kill, like me right now, check out the violin crescendo...




Time for us to fly! Let's do this, voters!

April 22, 2016

You did a great job putting this together, IdaBriggs!

I read it all the way through and will do so again, and bookmark.

I have a Notepad full of links that I started saving as of about a month ago, which is a mess because it is growing much faster than I expected. It isn't just Fox reporting this, there isn't a major source that is left out of the links I've collected. And that is just links that I happen to see, and links from those stories, etc., not in-depth research on my part.

So I can appreciate the great work you did here, in putting together the main points so clearly and logically, because I can estimate what it would take to organize the messy Notepad I have that well.

I'll be matching what you have here with my "collection". Some of the links I recognize, and some I probably missed and will add. That you! for the great job you did on this, and I hope a lot of people who haven't been paying attention to this will take the time to follow the info you provided here.

My opinion on the whole thing is this: there are an abundance of criminal charges that can be brought against HRC, most of which she has admitted to doing. She insists that it was fine, but no, it really wasn't. She's going entirely on bluff about this, just bulling through on blatant lies. Highly credible people, like former heads of the agencies involved, have said that what she did was criminal, along with numerous less serious legal issues.

Whenever the FBI releases its findings, her goose is cooked in my opinion. Because no matter what happens after that, the court of public opinion WILL believe the FBI and whichever Repub is running WILL harp on their findings 24/7, and her career will be DONE at that point, regardless of any charges to come out of it later. And the 38 civil suits will not be going away either. She won't be able to raise any other subject and no one will vote for her.

There can be nothing more insane the Dem party could do, than nominating her. But I think the people who are scoffing it off now will understand how real this is when the FBI checks in. When they do though, there might not be enough time to salvage this election for the Dem party.

And wouldn't it be absurd for one of those idiot Repubs to win, in a year when that should be impossible, simply because the Dems insisted on backing to the end someone they should never in a million years even consider allowing to run -- someone under active FBI investigation. It is gobsmackingly stupid.

Excellent job, IdaBriggs.

April 21, 2016

Wow, thank you pat_k, for posting this! ^^^

Glad I came back to this thread, to see this because I don't read ATA much anymore.

And since I can't reply there in ATA, a big thank you! to Skinner for letting the conversation continue.

Very glad to see this, it's as good of a boost as this thread was a downer.

April 20, 2016

Why is discussion so threatening on a discussion board?

What is everybody so afraid of? Oh, wait, I think I know.

Most of us don't come here to persuade anyone to change sides, but for information, to get it and exchange it. And THAT'S what some would like to shut down the flow of, especially about certain topics such as the ones the FBI is interested in.

Well isn't that patriotic? And from a host of the Sanders group? Wow.

I've written it numerous times this week, but one more "true colors".

If Skinner does as you ask, I will still get information and will still discuss Hillary but it won't be here, and I won't be back. But I think and I hope that Skinner has better sense than that.

We will see, as we wait for more to reveal who they are.

April 20, 2016

Chuch Schumer probably remembers that

Bernie, and Bernie alone, gave the DEM PARTY the majority in 2010. How much do you think THAT was worth to the Dem Party? How much do you think the party itself and individual members benefited from THAT? Well I'll tell you, it was a lot. Everything for the two years of that congress that depended on having the majority, was owed to Bernie. All the committee chairmanships, for instance.

Grassroots Dems don't seem to know that because Bernie doesn't blow his own horn about everything he could take credit for.

Contrary to assumptions Bernie does have friends in Congress, and would have more supers if many weren't afraid of the Clinton machine. However that will likely change as the convention gets closer -- less time to endure their rath.

Some people (such as Chuck) do know the 26-year reality of Sanders' work in Congress, as opposed to the one-way talking points Hillary puts out.



As the following video shows, Sanders and Hillary couldn't possibly be more opposite as people. Hillary catalogs everything she considers a slight to her, and every favor she's owed something back for...





http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/hillary-clinton-hit-list-102067

April 19, 2016

A New York song for Bernie...

From the movie "Working Girl" which fits too because the theme was real ability winning out over the cheating image person. It has one of my favorite song lines...

"We, the great and small,
Stand on a star and
Blaze a trail of desire
Through the darkling dawn"

Let the River Run (Carly Simon, 1989)

"Let all the dreamers wake the nation!"

April 19, 2016

Go Bernie!!!

Hillary is the one who has to win New York, not Bernie. But an upset for him would be nice and there are enough wild cards in this election that it could happen.

Here's to Bernie and all of us Berners, especially those in New York today, for luck...

The Times They Are A-Changin' (Bob Dylan, 1964)

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’
It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’

April 9, 2016

The Clintons created and promoted

the Crime Bill and Welfare Reform in order make the Democratic party "Republican Lite". This is what the Third Way / DLC was all about. So instead of two parties we really had one. Today we are still trying to cleanse that mess out of the Dem party and return it to FDR values which did so much to raise the quality of life before and after WW2. And of course those same ideas work any time they are put into practice.

But returning to the intersection with Black Lives Matter. Young AAs realize that it is entirely pointless to go into the streets to protest institutional racism, if they are going to continue to elect the very people who created that institutional racism.

You (general you) can't get rid of what you keep electing.

Dems of all races are starting to realize this, and that is the movement that Sanders is leading. In exactly the same way, (mostly) young AAs are beginning to realize this too. We have to quit voting the perpetrators back into office. And it isn't just the Clintons, it's their whole network of Dems who support them. (Most of the super delegates.)

So this election is very useful in SHOWING us which elected officials are part of that network and that philosophy which is so damaging to all of us... because they step forward and tell us who they are by insisting on supporting HRC. And there have been some very sad surprises in that group, but it's better to know who your enemies are than to not know.

They all need to go and they need to go now or just as soon as we can manage it. And you can't vote someone out incrementally, they are either in or out.

I know most of us know this, but some younger people might not be so clear on how we got to this place and why we feel the way we do.

April 8, 2016

Obama got it all wrong again, and not by accident I'm sure.

First of all, corruption is a fact not an opinion.

Second, the "extreme positions", or the revolution as we call it, ARE the "views of the broad public". It's the entrenched public officials, who yes are in fact sell outs, who are being dragged along by the broad public.

And third, you can't get a corrupt official out incrementally. The official is either in, or out.

Fourth, as to policies and programs, case in point is the $15 minimum wage. Increases every couple of years by pennies never did anything for anybody. But promoting $15, ACHIEVED something that will make a real difference and it's getting done in a rather short time, only a few years.

Obama is one of the sell outs. It's time he took his outgoing thumb off the scales. I'm sure he has a gigantic and super-fast payday coming for himself, and that should be enough for him. He doesn't need to foist any more corrupt pols on us on the way out.