March 1, 2016

I live in Denmark. Bernie Sanders’s Nordic dream is worth fighting for, even if he loses

(snip)
Sanders is our kind of politician. Principled, decent, beholden to no corporation or vampire squid bank and intent, it genuinely appears, on upholding the basic principles of social justice and democracy.

He gets it. Best of all, he gets us. Up here in the frozen lands just to the right of the UK and atop Germany, we have been basking in the attention lavished upon us during this most improbable of election years, thanks to the Sanders campaign.

"I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway, and learn from what they have accomplished for their working people," he said in the first Democratic debate last October.

Since then he has repeatedly invoked Scandinavia as his model for a better America, citing the region's world-leading levels of economic and gender equality, the generous welfare safety provision, and the free health care and education systems, and pointing to the great quality of life and self-perceived happiness enjoyed by these descendants of the Vikings.

http://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11133896/bernie-sanders-denmark
more at link
Michael Booth is the author of The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia, out now in paperback from Picador.

March 1, 2016

Sen. Sanders in Mass with a sign-waving crowd of 3,600 people.

(snip)
“I just wanted to see the person that I’m voting for,” Dan Sheehan, 20, of Pembroke, said nearly two hours before Sanders stood at a wooden podium near the middle of the room. “He’s the most, best honest candidate out there. He doesn’t have anything to hide.”

(snip)
“I look around this crowd here tonight, and I think we’re going to win here in Massachusetts!” Sanders told the sign-waving crowd of 3,600 people. “Your state led the American Revolution. Now it’s time for your state to lead the political revolution!”

(snip)
“We did very poorly in South Carolina, no ifs, buts, or maybes,” he said. “But we won the vote among people 29 years of age or younger, that’s black and white. What we have to do is get our message out, and the message is real reform of the criminal justice system and to create an economy that pays attention to the needs of working people in a way we’re not doing now.”

That message is exactly why Belinda McIlvaine, 40, of Milton, said she’s “feeling the Bern.” McIlvaine, who is black, said she knows numerous people of color who Sanders’ supporters as well.



http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/02/29/milton-sanders-calls-for-state-lead-another-revolution/tE7AxqRayDNYzpDE2LJ8tL/story.html?s_campaign=bostonglobe%3Asocialflow%3Atwitter

March 1, 2016

Massachusetts is feeling the Bern (pics)

Massachusetts is feeling the Bern big time for BernieSanders
https://twitter.com/joecaiazzo


https://twitter.com/jhickeymna


https://twitter.com/jhickeymna


https://twitter.com/WirSindAlleFRK


https://twitter.com/BostonGlobe

February 28, 2016

(video) Bernie Sanders: South Carolina primary results “as bad as it's going to get”

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders sees a path to the nomination despite losing by a large margin in South Carolina. “I think for us that is about as bad as it's going to get,” Sanders said, adding that he expects to win a “good share of delegates” on Super Tuesday.

February 27, 2016

Thousands line up to see Bernie Sanders in Austin

Thousands lined up to see Sen. Bernie Sanders at Circuit of Americas Saturday morning, despite long security lines.

Sanders visited Austin to kick off his “Future to Believe in Austin Rally.” He took the stage just after noon.

At the beginning of his speech, Sanders pointed out Texas will vote for the most delegates of any state on Super Tuesday, with 222 pledged delegates of the 4,051 needed to win the nomination.

(snip)
Following the Austin rally, Bernie Sanders will also travel to Dallas as part of his Texas visit this weekend.

http://kxan.com/2016/02/27/thousands-wait-in-line-to-see-bernie-sanders-in-austin/

February 27, 2016

Some pics and short videos from Texas

The best bumper sticker I've seen yet.
https://twitter.com/lizonomics/status/703640671211511809


https://twitter.com/annaleemurphy


https://twitter.com/annaleemurphy






https://twitter.com/KXAN_News


https://twitter.com/gdebenedetti/status/703645119740661760
Over 10,000 people are here in Austin


https://twitter.com/arandompirate/status/703644549554438144



https://twitter.com/RaniaBatrice


The view from backstage at Bernie Sanders's rally in Grand Prairie, Texas
The crowd count for the Bernie Sanders rally in Grand Prairie, Texas, is just over 7,000, according to the venue.
https://twitter.com/WPJohnWagner

(facebook pics)
Last night, Bernie announced a rally in Austin,Texas...
A few people showed up for it early this morning!!!
https://www.facebook.com/solja.itstrue/posts/974103952627515

short video clip of line
https://twitter.com/lizonomics/status/703640671211511809/video/1
The line for #BernieInDallas is INSANE.

short video clip
https://twitter.com/annaleemurphy/status/703645194391003137

Big Thank You to all the twitter people that keep posting this GREAT stuff


Official crowd count for @BernieSanders Austin Tx rally just over 10,000 people

February 27, 2016

Sen. Sanders on ABC's This Week and Face the Nation, Sunday

Two days before Super Tuesday, presidential candidates Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Bernie Sanders come to “This Week.”
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sunday-week-sen-ted-cruz-sen-bernie-sanders/story?id=37232217






Turning to the Democratic race, we'll talk to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT., about the results in South Carolina and his strategy leading into Super Tuesday. With former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leading in the polls in most Super Tuesday states, how can Sanders broaden his appeal?
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/coming-up-sunday-all-eyes-on-super-tuesday/



If he's added to anymore I will update

February 27, 2016

Bernie Sanders is right: Bill Clinton’s welfare law doubled extreme poverty

(snip)
The profound and enduring consequences of that law, and of the rest of Clinton's policies on poverty, are only just becoming clear. It is a complicated legacy. Economists credit Clinton's decisions with reducing poverty overall and helping many people find work. Yet recent evidence suggests that financial conditions have worsened for those who could not find work — the poorest of the poor.

(snip)
President Clinton's law required welfare recipients to participate in various work-related programs, such as vocational training, community service, and employment searches, in order to get financial help. States were free to determine the specific requirements, and they had broad authority over how the money dedicated to public assistance would be spent.

The reforms had broad public support, but the new system had cracks, and some people fell through them. Those who couldn't work for whatever reason were ineligible for any kind of assistance.

As a result, a certain kind of grave poverty has reappeared in the United States. Sanders said that the number of people living in extreme poverty has doubled under President Clinton's reforms. If anything, that was an understatement. Edin and Shaefer's research shows that the number of people living on $2 a day or less in cash has increased more than twofold, to 1.6 million households.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/27/bernie-sanders-is-right-bill-clintons-welfare-law-doubled-extreme-poverty/

February 26, 2016

Opinion: Bernie Sanders is right: The American dream is alive and well in Scandinavia

David Brooks is wrong: Nordic countries aren’t stagnant, nonproductive dystopias
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bernie-sanders-is-right-the-american-dream-is-alive-and-well-in-scandinavia-2016-02-26

(snip)
In a nutshell, Brooks, at 54 a late boomer, argued that inequality in the U.S. is simply the consequence of a vibrant society that nurtures “disruptive dynamos” like Bell Labs, Walmart, Whole Foods, Google and Apple .

(snip)
A contributor to the Policy Shop blog of the left-leaning Demos think tank, Matt Bruenig, another millennial, shredded Brooks’s sweeping assertions about Nordic economies as inaccurate.

Brooks touted greater U.S. “entrepreneurial creativity” — alas, at the expense of security — but Bruenig noted that measured by the birth rate of employer enterprises, the Nordics are well ahead of the U.S., with Denmark leading the pack.

Nordic countries are correspondingly innovative, Bruenig said, and have given birth in recent years to Spotify, Skype, Mojang (maker of Minecraft), Rovio (maker of Angry Birds), Supercell (maker of Clash of Clans), and Klarna (cutting-edge fintech firm). (Note to Brooks: That disruptive dynamo Bell Labs now belongs to the Finnish telecoms company Nokia NOK, +1.64% )



David Brooks Is Incorrect About Northern Europe
http://www.demos.org/blog/2/19/16/david-brooks-incorrect-about-northern-europe

February 25, 2016

Bernie Sanders is Reddit’s favorite presidential candidate — by a landslide

(snip)
In May, Vox’s Matt Yglesias anointed him the president of Reddit for being wildly popular with a small slice of Americans who can’t get enough of a grumpy old man with a Brooklyn accent shouting at George Stephanopoulos about the Nordic social model.

Of course, since then, Sanders has migrated from Reddit into real presidential contender territory, giving Hillary Clinton a scare with his 22-point win over her in New Hampshire.

But before all that, the Pew Research Center decided to peer into the depths of Reddit to get a better sense of how, exactly, presidential chatter was going down.

(snip)
These internet-savvy supporters are likely not the strongest factor that’s keeping Sanders competitive. But they certainly play a part, and this Pew report helps underscore the fact that to forget them is to overlook a sizable and growing force in presidential politics.
http://www.vox.com/2016/2/25/11112676/sanders-reddit