SandersDem
SandersDem's JournalLast night Bernie Sanders was on Fire
and Tucson felt the Bern!
You know I have to report here.
I brought an old friend of mine to see his first political rally ever. He is a teacher in AZ making $35,000 a year with a family to support as the sole earner. He has a special needs daughter and faces a lot of medical expenses each year and even with good healthcare this puts him just barely above the poverty line here. He was excited to go and experience something new and was on the fence between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.
We arrived late and skirted the back of the crowd looking for a small bump that might allow us to see the stage, but all we could see were the people back dropping the speakers, barely. Looking around the crowd and knowing that one stadium up in Phoenix holds about 19,000, my guess was that the crowd size had swelled to around 9 to 10,000, but one speaker reported over 11K. It didn't matter there were a lot of people here per capita for a smaller town like Tucson, this was an enormous turnout bolstered by people coming from as faraway as Las Vegas and all over Arizone.
Other's have reported on the early speakers, some could be heard from the back and others couldn't. Then Bernie came on and the crowd lit up. Some of them actually lit up...
Bernie Sanders touched on every single issue in his platform and more. A few moments in to his speech he paused to acknowledge the two shootings on college campuses and said that while the families had all of our thought and prayers, that this was no longer enough. That real gun control measures must be put in place beginning with the obvious ones like closing gun show loopholes as well as increasing funding for mental health services. Tucson has certainly been touched by this kind of gun violence in the recent past and the crowd definitely showed their approval here.
He also spoke about Immigration and keeping families together. He spoke of his active engagement in writing comprehensive Immigration reform to allow the millions of people here to stay together. He spoke of family values and defined exactly what Republicans mean when they speak of family values, that they believe women should not have control over their own bodies as well as many other points completely debunking any notion that Republicans actually have one iota of support for families. He talked about the Dream Act as an example of a family value. He also said that immigrants to this country should be welcome and told a story of his family's immigration to the United States, how his Dad worked low wage jobs and they lived in a rent control apartment in New York always dreaming of owning a home, which never happened for them, but they did live the dream of getting two kids to college.
Then Bernie began talking about the middle class and the poor. He began by listing off a number of things that are needed to address income inequality, talking about how we can lift people out poverty and revitalize a disappearing middle class in this country. He spoke about making college tuition FREE in this country. He spoke about jobs and infrastructure. He went through a long list of things that would truly help restore us as the greatest, most prosperous nation on earth and then...he said..."yes, but you may ask how are we going to pay for all of this?" and what came next was I thought one of his best lines of the night among many...."Well". he said..."In 2008, the American People bailed out Wall Street, when I am President it will be time for Wall Street to bail out the American People!"
Oh fuck, yeah.
He spoke about equal pay for women, he spoke about equal rights for the LBGT community, he spoke about teachers and how poorly teachers are paid in this country.....I looked over at my guest and watched him yell out for the first time all night...."Hell yes!" He was felling the Bern.
Over an hour, Bernie Sanders covered just about every major domestic political topic in the US right now. I could not object to anything he had to say. I did try and take pictures, and as I went around to the side, I could see Bernie. There were also a ton of volunteers out with their laptops signing people up at Bernie's website. It was pretty much a seamless event. although with the overflow crowd, it could have used a few more speakers in the back.
For some perspective, Tucson is a city of just over 500,000 people. Several months ago, Phoenix drew 11,000 Sander's supporters. Phoenix is a city of 1.5 million people. A crowd of 11,000 in Tucson relates to that event as a 3 to 1 turnout per capita or is equivalent to turning out 33,000 in Phoenix....I wonder if the next Phoenix rally will hit those numbers....
Make no mistake, this is not just a campaign, it is a real movement.
As far as the crowd there goes...this is early in a campaign. A good number of these people will influence their friends and neighbors, they will deliver literature, contribute in small amounts, phone bank, volunteer, hold debate watch parties (which are springing up all over AZ and the rest of the country).
In other words...Bernie Sander's fire shot flames right off of that small stage into the crowd and put fire in everyone's bellies....That is how you feel the Bern!
I am going to see Bernie tomorrow!
Oh and I am driving to another part of Arizona in the morning to pick up a friend who started out supporting Hillary because he didn't think Bernie could get elected being a socialist and all....well, he has come full circle and now feels the Bern and is really excited to go. He is a major influencer and very religious and I think the fact that Bernie Sanders gave a speech at Liberty University as well as hearing about the crowds and enthusiasm, along with reading Bernie's platform, well that got him. You see, my friend SHOULD be solidly in the middle class, but he isn't because he happens to be a teacher in Arizona. Arizona does not pay teachers enough to be considered middle class if they are the sole earner in a family.
I know this event will be important and will be focused on latino outreach, but all of us have this thing in common regarding economic fairness. The only person to crush the new gilded age is Bernie and US. Shout out if you will be there!
Tucson Sanders Event Update
https://www.facebook.com/events/1632302203712287/
1,984 signed up....just on FB. Event site can accommodate 7K.....
Please join Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and local leaders for a rally in Tucson to discuss the major issues facing our country.
Please RSVP in order to attend: http://bernie.to/RSVP-Tucson
Parking
Parking for the event will be limited, but includes all available parking at Reid Park. Please note, however, that the parking lot immediately behind the band shell at the end of Bucky Steele Drive will be closed for this event.
ADA Parking and Entrance
There will be a designated ADA drop-off location and entrance immediately behind the band shell at the end of Bucky Steele Drive. Please note this is for drop-off only, and ADA designated parking will be located at the parking lot between S Country Club Road and Bucky Steele Drive. This will be available to cars with officially issued AZ disability placards and plates only.
Attendee Entrances
Entrances to the event will be located at the band shell plaza on S Concert Place, and on the Country Club Road side of the band shell. All attendees will be required to enter through one of these entrances.
Doors Open
Entrance to the event area will not be open until 6:00pm. Attendees arriving earlier may wait in line prior to 6:00pm.
Omaha Steve Money Bomb for Bernie
http://www.democraticunderground.com/~Omaha%20Steve
Let's do it!
Please Rec this...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141227417The comments are priceless.
Tucson Sanders Event Update
https://www.facebook.com/events/1632302203712287/1.8K signed up....just on FB. Event site can accommodate 7K.....I may have gotten 3 more to come.
Please join Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and local leaders for a rally in Tucson to discuss the major issues facing our country.
Please RSVP in order to attend: http://bernie.to/RSVP-Tucson
Parking
Parking for the event will be limited, but includes all available parking at Reid Park. Please note, however, that the parking lot immediately behind the band shell at the end of Bucky Steele Drive will be closed for this event.
ADA Parking and Entrance
There will be a designated ADA drop-off location and entrance immediately behind the band shell at the end of Bucky Steele Drive. Please note this is for drop-off only, and ADA designated parking will be located at the parking lot between S Country Club Road and Bucky Steele Drive. This will be available to cars with officially issued AZ disability placards and plates only.
Attendee Entrances
Entrances to the event will be located at the band shell plaza on S Concert Place, and on the Country Club Road side of the band shell. All attendees will be required to enter through one of these entrances.
Doors Open
Entrance to the event area will not be open until 6:00pm. Attendees arriving earlier may wait in line prior to 6:00pm.
Cross posting over here...
only because I think you may find it interesting. It does relate somewhat to Bernie Sander's position re NSA and perhaps academic freedom.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11787231
Edward Snowden, Purdue, Barton Gellman and National Security vs. Academic Freedom and Over-Reaction
https://twitter.com/bartongellman/status/651861068793409537https://www.instapaper.com/text?u=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:J2gV7Dc3zDkJ:www.tcf.org/blog/detail/scholarship-security-and-spillage-on-campus+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
"UPDATE: Just after posting this item I received an email from Julie Rosa, who heads strategic communications for Purdue. She confirmed that Purdue wiped my video after consulting the Defense Security Service, but the university now believes it went too far.
“In an overreaction while attempting to comply with regulations, the video was ordered to be deleted instead of just blocking the piece of information in question. Just FYI: The conference organizers were not even aware that any of this had happened until well after the video was already gone.”
“I’m told we are attempting to recover the video, but I have not heard yet whether that is going to be possible. When I find out, I will let you know and we will, of course, provide a copy to you.”
Let’s rewind. Information Assurance? Site Security?
These are familiar terms elsewhere, but new to me in a university context. I learned that Purdue, like a number of its peers, has a “facility security clearance” to perform classified U.S. government research. The manual of regulations runs to 141 pages. (Its terms forbid uncleared trustees to ask about the work underway on their campus, but that’s a subject for another day.) The pertinent provision here, spelled out at length in a manual called Classified Information Spillage, requires “sanitization, physical removal, or destruction” of classified information discovered on unauthorized media.
If I had the spider sense that we journalists like to claim, I might have seen trouble coming. One of the first questions in the Q & A that followed my talk was:
“In the presentation you just gave, you were showing documents that were TS/SCI [top secret, sensitive compartmented information] and things like that. Since documents started to become published, has the NSA issued a declass order for that?”
I took the opportunity to explain the government’s dilemmas when classified information becomes available to anyone with an internet connection. I replied:
“These documents, by and large, are still classified. And in many cases, if you work for the government and you have clearance, you’re not allowed to go look at them…”
“Now, it’s perfectly rational for them to say, we’re not going to declassify everything that gets leaked because otherwise we’re letting someone else decide what’s classified and what’s not. But it gets them wound up in pretty bad knots.”
By way of example, I mentioned that the NSA, CIA, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence “have steadfastly refused to give me a secure channel to communicate with them” about the Snowden leaks. Bound by rules against mingling classified and unclassified communications networks, they will not accept, for example, encrypted emails from me that discuss Top Secret material. In service of secrecy rules, they resort to elliptical conversation on open telephone lines.
My remarks did not answer the question precisely enough for one post-doctoral research engineer. He stood, politely, to nail the matter down.
“Were the documents you showed tonight unclassified?” he asked.
“No. They’re classified still,” I replied.
“Thank you,” he said, and resumed his seat."
Tucson vs. Phoenix
Bernie Sanders will be in Tucson on October 9th
https://www.facebook.com/events/1632302203712287/
Please join Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and local leaders for a rally in Tucson to discuss the major issues facing our country.
Doors open at 6pm. Program begins at 7pm.
Please RSVP in order to attend: http://bernie.to/RSVP-Tucson
And don't forget to text JOIN to 82623 for important mobile alerts from our campaign!
Here are some Happy Facts
Phoenix drew 11,000. Phoenix is bigger. Phoenix is generally MORE conservative than Tucson. There is a bit of a rivalry between the Cities and Universities. The Park Amphitheater ONLY holds 7,000 people. Tucson is under a 2 hour drive from Phoenix. People have been known to carpool. Democrats in Phoenix AND Tucson want our State to GO BLUE. Arizona is DEAD last in education, once upon a time we got to say "At least we aren't Mississippi, but no longer..." Gov. Ducey = Gov. Brownback so we're hosed.
So what if? Tucson OUTDRAWS Phoenix for Bernie? It would require a new venue. Would that be newsworthy? Surely it would be here in Arizona! BUT wait there's more! What if Tucson OUTDRAWS BOSTON!? Would that make the National News? I bet it would! Did I say carpooling San Diego? Los Angeles? Riverside? Prescott? Flagstaff? El Paso? (yep, look at that map!)
Oh and wouldn't that be a nice BERN to Phoenix who ONLY drew 11,000????
So how is it going so far? To this moment only 1.2K have signed up via Facebook, BUT these kinds of things are J Curvy! So YES it's doable. Can you beat Phoenix and get Bernie on the local news? Can you beat Boston and get him on the NATIONAL NEWS???
What say you Tucson?
Oh and to help, I am going. I am going to help my Tucson brothers and sisters because I WANT to FORCE the media to NOTICE what is going on under their sad little under-reporting noses. I want the news people to stop telling me what's going to be on TV next, I don't want to buy the soap they are selling, but I do want them to go to their News Editors and SAY, WE HAVE TO REPORT THIS!!!!
Ok, so who is IN???
The Bernie Objection Memes I have Heard
I am sharing these as I know they have been pretty common. I won't waste my time with Republican thoughts on Bernie, because, well who cares.
But Dems...
1) He isn't electable in the General. This was early, this one has changed...a lot.
2) He is a socialist. Yep all heard that one, just have to dive into the issues and mention Democratic Socialist and who cares anyway, haven't you heard republicans refer to Obama as a Socialist anyways? Get used to that, R's just trying to move us away from being what we are progressives.
3) I am concerned that he would be really bad for business. (I have a number of friends who are dedicated Democrats, but in the Corporate world and Hillary is probably up their alley, but I do not believe Bernie will be bad for business, in fact the opposite. Big business needs the middle class, I call them customers....)
4) He only gets supported by this (insert here) segment of the population. It's early, and even though I am not a stereotypical Democrat (if I were profiled odds would be on me being a conservative R...god forbid!) Honestly, I am very concerned about how people get treated in this country, including the poor, women, immigrants, minorities, LGBTP, the elderly, students...ya know most of America...and I see Bernie's issues standing up well for 99% of us.
Anything else you guys are running up against and how have you swayed people to Bernie based on their specific concerns? My biggest challenge is with #3.
Oh and I do believe I have swayed at least 12 people to vote for Bernie in my circle of influence. 
People know I love talking politics and am pretty well informed. A LOT of them like to argue with me, I just tell them, "Yeah, I like that Trump guy too, you should vote for him" laughing under my breath...
True Confessions and Open Secrets
Ok, so here goes....I am about to confess something rather huge. Until this year, I have never contributed money to a Presidential Campaign other than checking a box on my tax forms. Oh, I have given to other candidates, the State Party, my LD and sometimes local candidates, but rarely.
This time, it's different and I have actually given to a Presidential Campaign...I have given to Bernie Sanders. Here's why. I have been very lucky, very lucky to barely survive staying in the middle class, unlike many of my neighbors who lost almost everything but their families and some even lost those.
I am trying to give as much as I can, because I know that if politics as usual stays the same, I am done for, my family is done for and my status in the middle class is over. Why? Well, I am paying a LOT for College even though I am told I am getting a great value. And this is just the first year, I am staring down the barrel of 8 to 10 years of tuition paid directly or via loans. Yep, ouch.
I am also living in a home whose value collapsed, my wife's retirement all but disappeared and we are just hoping that one day before the huge balloon payment comes on a refi hits us, we have positive value and can downsize, maybe even retire with something more than social security. Most of my friends don't even have that luxury.
But that's my personal story, I know so many more that have had it much worse, but you know what? Bernie Sanders is right...it is going to take a massive revolution in this country to change politics as usual and if Bernie does get elected President, you know what...the lobbyists in Washington will collectively crap their pants, because if one man can get elected to the highest office in this country, well I will just bet a whole new wave of officials will drop the yoke of PAC money and take a run too.
So why post this now?
5 Days
5 days left in this cycle of donations and then political campaigns everywhere will close their books for the period and file. The information will become public on October 15th for contributions made on or before Sept 30th.
So, let's get there. $1, $2, $3 or the individual maximum of $2750...(Bernie doesn't get many of those, but this time he just might from me, I just have to pace myself, but I am a good way there). Before the 1st...I am going to give again. I promise.
It's interesting by the way to look at Open Secrets and search contributions in your zip code. I was surprised to learn that the majority of donations here are going to democratic causes even though I live in a very red community. I also noticed another Bernie supporter here making similar contributions to me.
Anyway....if you can, give before the end of the month, please!
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