Sacramento Bernie Sanders Rally - May 9, 2016 - Insufficiencies At The Gate

I joined the rapidly-growing line at Cal Expo outside Bonney Field about 4:10 p.m. A variety of petition signature workers and political button vendors worked the crowd.

For a time, I talked with an elderly woman interested in online publishing. She had written an unpublished book regarding proper diet subtitled "No Mo' Yo-Yo" she wants to publish.

Entry to Bonney Field formally began at 5:00 p.m., but soon after it started, it ground to a near-halt, then halted altogether from about 5:30 to 6:00 p.m. The situation quickly became stressful. We were paralyzed just outside Bonney Field, standing stock still in the full setting sun. I could understand slow entry - people were going through metal detectors - but the complete halt I found just bizarre.

They probably lost some people. I know I was scared, and getting faint. I didn't bring water because I knew they didn't want water bottles at the event, but that meant I was unprepared to stand stock still just outside the gate in the full sun for an hour and a half. They had medical people nearby, but their purpose seemed to be to create a health crisis rather than mitigate one. Thank goodness this was May rather than August.

Still, it was fun! Do it all over again!

Sacramento Bernie Sanders Rally, May 9, 2016 - Videos

I got good video from the Bernie Sanders rally yesterday (albeit shaky, under the circumstances), an embarrassment of riches, actually.

Joe Kye sings "I Will Survive"




Joe Kye sings "We Shall Overcome"




Here is Bernie Sanders talking about The Political Revolution, and Real Change is Coming.




Here is Bernie Sanders talking about political corruption, Super PACS, and the public funding of elections.




Here is Bernie Sanders talking about minimum wage, unequal wages, and climate change.




Here is Bernie Sanders talking about the 2003 Iraq War.




Here is Bernie Sanders talking about wealth inequality, unemployment, and infrastructure.




Here is Bernie Sanders talking about higher education. In my opinion, this was the best part of his speech.




Here is Bernie Sanders talking about undocumented workers and African-American issues.




Here is Bernie Sanders talking about prescription drugs, strength in diversity, and how Donald Trump will never become President.




Here is Bernie Sanders wrapping up his speech and urging everyone to go to the polls on June 7th.

Media Conspiracy? Hell, They Never Cover Anything Well

What was fun was that after the speech, Bernie ran onto the field, first along a barrier stage left, then stage right. I was bowled over by people trying to get close. I got within 15 feet of him:

Despite the mainstream media’s repeated assertions that the Bernie Sanders movement is now a thing of the past, enthusiasm from his base only seems to be growing, based on the overwhelming number of people who flocked to his rally in Sacramento this Monday night.

Supporters lined up for over four hours to see Senator Sanders outside Bonney Field — some of them even longer. The following video by Our Voice Media shows the massive scope of the line, as the videographers take several minutes to drive from one end of the line to the other. ....

...Somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 people were estimated to have been packed inside the stadium, with more than 10,000 more continuing to wait outside.

The hashtag #BernieInSacramento quickly exploded onto the top trends on Twitter, and yet the mainstream national media once again chose to ignore the massive influx of support and unprecedented turnout.

Sacramento Bernie Sanders Rally, May 9, 2016 - Photos

The political press.

Joe Kye entertained the growing crowd.

"The Wave".

Bill Camp.

Actor Danny Glover introduced Bernie Sanders.

What was fun was that after the speech, Bernie ran onto the field, first along a barrier stage left, then stage right. I was bowled over by people trying to get close. I got within 15 feet of him.

Rats

On tonight's walk, Bella sought out one of her favorite piles of garbage, at 26th St. and Highway 50. There's frequently food scraps there. There was the incessant roar of the freeway, of course, but there was something else too: a subaudible skittering....

Rats! A swarm of six, scrambling every which way. Bella jumped and bucked on her leash trying to give pursuit. It was all I could do to keep holding the leash.

The remainder of the walk was quiet. In one nearby homeless camp, someone was playing an opera recording.

Making Donuts

The portents were there for a good walk. Yesterday, I found scat indicating a mystery animal lurks outside my bedroom window at night, and I saw a mystery animal cross 19th St. at N St. that I thought might be a dog or a raccoon, but decided was instead probably a chupacabra.

Nevertheless, Bella's walk last night was quiet. For inscrutable dog reasons, she hewed very closely to the Highway 50 W-X corridor. Her big find of the night was an empty 40 lb. bag of what looked like cement, but proved to be donut mix. And we passed by the donut shop. Like a scene from the movie "Eraserhead", we watched the hardest-working man in all Sacramento making the donuts that fuel the city. He's always there, and always will be.

Chandra's T-Shirt Was a Big Hit!

Chandra in Los Angeles, these folks just wanted to say that the "Heisenbern" T-Shirt was, hands-down, the best T-Shirt of all the T-Shirts at the Sacramento Bernie Sanders Rally!

(Photo courtesy of Adam Sartain.)

You're One of Us, Aren't You?"

These folks were sitting behind me yesterday at the Bernie Sanders rally in Sacramento. Taking note of my advanced age, they asked, "You're one of us, aren't you?"

I explained that (to Gabriel's immense Millennial amusement) that I prefer not to self-identify as a Boomer, but prefer to belong to the late Boomers (called Generation Jones, a fact that Kendra helpfully supplied), although I actually prefer to belong to the Disco Generation (and even there, I'm one or two years too old to pass comfortably).

Basically, I radiated the kind of sincerity associated with Donald Trump explaining his evolving position on abortion, and just confused them, poor souls.

You Cannot Make This Shit Up

American Airlines grounds a plane because a passenger was working on differential equations.

Erasure - Chorus

In an Eighties frame of mind:

New Trellis

The back yard of the apartment house next door includes a patch of land that is my rarely-visited unfenced property. When Gil and Sherry lived next door, they maintained that space, but since they left and the Blow 'N Mow crew takes care of the yard now, they religiously respect the invisible dividing line that is the property line. Thus, on their side, the yard is well-kept, but on my side, it resembles the yard of the Addams Family. (You'd think they'd look after my side too, out of self-respect if for no other reason - it's one yard after all! - but you'd be wrong. The Blow 'N Mow crew make a point of blowing their leaves onto my side. More convenient for them that way.)

Anyway, an aging trellis broke and dropped a huge mass of vines off my tool shed roof during a windstorm last month onto the patch of land. I knew nothing about it. After two weeks, an apartment dweller timidly informed me of the problem. I responded with my usual alacrity, waiting another week before addressing the issue.

What a mess! But it's fixed now, with a better-looking metal trellis too. Even the Addams Family like to tidy things up a bit.

Tev's Birthday

There was a Memoriam on page B7 of today's Sacramento Bee for Tevye Ditter. Today was hard: Tev's 42nd birthday fell on Mother's Day.
---------

Tevye Anthony Ditter

Date Listed: May 8 

Tevye Anthony Ditter

May 8, 1974 - April 17, 2014

 

Happy Birthday to our Son, and Brother on Mother's Day. We miss you, Tevye. You are forever in our hearts.

 

Love, Mum and Family, Cosmo and Friends.

 

 

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! Marjorie Louise Buzzell, 1941 graduate of Hirschfield High School in Chicago, IL.

Time Lapse of Undulatus Asperatus Clouds in Augusta, Georgia

Surreal Jellyfish

Discovered at the Enigma Seamount:

Communards - Don't Leave Me This Way

Picture Yourself

The Ego Transcendence Master

Emergency Response

Tonight's walk with Bella was quiet and tedious until near the end. There was some kind of an emergency response at Der Wienerschnitzel: a fire engine, paramedic vehicle, four police vehicles, and about ten people, all attending a person who eventually displayed a neck brace that looked like one of those 'cones of shame' dogs wear. They took the fellow away to the hospital while police interviewed upset employees, and a hairy dude who looked like he belonged in a metal band. My guess is maybe a fight occurred.

Narnia Business

"For The Love of God, Someone Strap This Imbecile To A Rocket And Aim It At The Sun"

Brilliant move by Our Orange Master:

"On CNBC this morning Trump suggested that one strategy he'll use for reducing the national debt is having bond holders accept "haircuts". ... That's called defaulting on a debt obligation.

In other words, he wants to put the US through something like bankruptcy. ... So all good, except the United States is not a struggling casino. It's a sovereign nation with sovereign debt.

It is not too much to say that centuries of American prosperity have been undergirded by the "full faith and credit of the United States." In other words, the US always pays its debts in full and on time. Indeed, it's black letter text in the US constitution that the country's debt can never even be questioned. Defaulting on the national debt would clearly be unconstitutional.

...But the fact that Trump is proposing it shows that when it comes to macro-economics and global economics Trump is a huge ignoramus who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the Treasury. It's amazing suggestion. Not just stupid but someone who simply knows nothing about how the economy works."

Ajax

THIS is the Best Way to Look at New Mexico!

The Best Words

The Mongolian Origins Of American Bluegrass Music

Really Been Missing Dancehall