Monday, May 30, 2016

Memorial Day





27 comments:

  1. Huzzah for Bernie!

    I arrived at the fairgrounds for the Bernie rally about 2:30; I estimate I was in the first 500 in line. Temperature about 90 degrees (it warmed up a bit with time) . A while later a Faux Gnus cameraman and reporter came by and asked if I would be willing to be interviewed, and the answer was of course "yes." So I may have my 5 minutes of fame. They were evidently looking for someone older than typical for the crowd. I might have gin them too highfalutin' an answer to their questions.

    They were running out of room for the lines in the area outside the gates, so decided to let people in starting at 3:45 rather than 5:00 PM. At that time I estimated the crowd to be around a thousand. I managed to nab a seat in the shade. During the extended warmup (the PA system was too loud for my ears) one young lady seated in the full sun evidently collapsed and had to be evacuated by the paramedics--evidently from dehydration. Over the course of my stay there I drank two pints of water (and took a salt tablet) and didn't have to take a leak, so I sweated off at least a quart. Probably more--I am still thirsty. Had a second salt pill after getting home, and think I will have another before going to bed. With a glass of water.

    To be continued..

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  2. Sometime between 5:30 and 6:00 PM the 5,000-seat theater was filled, and new arrivals were directed into the overflow area, which was equipped with a PA system so they could hear Bernie. He was scheduled to speak at 7:30, but (typically for Bernie) he was reported by people with friends outside to be addressing the overflow crowd (reported to be in the thousands), and he arrived on stage about 8:00 or 8:15. We all know his stump speech, I think--but it was very well delivered. By modern standards he is definitely a better speaker than Huey Long, but the comparison is not fair--Huey Long was an exemplar of a style of public speaking now extinct. Bernie seems to thrive on campaigning. I managed to work my way out of the [smaller] parking lot in about 45 minutes.

    We will have to wait for tomorrow for an estimate of the crowd size, but seven to eight thousand isn't out of the question. That would beat Trump and put Bill Clinton to shame, although once when Bill spoke during his presidency he drew the biggest political rally crowd ever in Fresno--8,000 or 8,500, I think.

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  3. Bernie also drew a good-sized crowd in Visalia, the seat of Tulare County (to the south of here) at an afternoon rally there--the first presidential candidate to visit "in decades." Size of that crowd also not yet certain. He even drew a respectable crowd the day before in Bakersfield.

    Bernie's ground game has been going great guns here for the past three weeks or so; in the newspaper it says Clinton just opened an office in Fresno.

    --Alan

    All in all, good fun.

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    1. Oh...my...God! Les than a week-and-a-half before the primary, and she only just opened an office? Arrogant, complacent, supremely self-confident and sublimely out of touch. I could go on, but those are the only words that come to mind that are printable.

      She has zero acumen and lousy advisors. Not that this is the first time I've noticed. These are not attributes this voter considers desirable in a president!

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  4. wOOt, Alan!! It sounds like the experience went as well as it possibly could have (unless the temp was 10 degrees cooler)! Your description of what it was like to be in line, be interviewed ( ! ), be in the crowd, and hear Bernie make it a little like having been there. Bernie thrives on helping people, talking with people, listening to people, and giving us a vision for what is possible. His views are all the more poignant because he's been in Congress so long! He knows what it takes to get a law passed, to tend the nation and help people. And he knows what's in the way of that!! (As you surely heard! Ha!)

    Do you have any photos of your sign? Be sure to send us the link once your comment is published!

    Go Bernie! Go Fresno! Go California! This is your chance to lead the Revolution!

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    1. The sign wasn;t my best piece of work--I knew I should have used a san-serif font; but from a couple feet away the minor stuff was invisible. It was yellow letters on a black background. One side read:

      Bernie
      Sanders--
      Zounds!

      and the other borrowed (and slightly edited for brevity) a new Jill Stein slogan:

      Greater Good
      Not
      Lesser Evil

      The latter got a really good response from those close enough to read it.

      I will see about sending you photos--not sure how to edit the files for size.

      --Alan

      P.S.: I counted eleven camera crews at the rally.

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  5. Bernie Sanders did something special for this California farm town. He showed up.
    [Click] WaPo on Bernie in Visalia.

    Both Visalia and Fresno speeches are on YouTube, but they are by the campaign videographers stationed in the middles of the audiences, so show at most maybe a third of the crowds. Will look on Google images.

    --Alan

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  6. OK, here’s a pretty good slide show for Bernie in Fresno and Visalia. [Click] You will notice empty seats in the bleachers at the Visalia venue, but I understand it seats 9,000—and a lot [most?] of the attendees were on the playing field. The Fresno photos give a decent idea of the 5,000 in the theatre, but there is no photo of the overflow crowd. And bear in mind that this area has been flyover territory for Democratic candidates for decades; not enough Democratic voters to bother with (they say), and no five thousand dollar per plate Democratic fundraising dinners (right enough). You guess which of those two carries more weight with establishment Dems…

    Bernie seems to be going all-out in California.

    —Alan

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  7. Here is a photo from the Trump rally in Fresno. [Click] The arena seats 10,000. It looks to me like an audience of maybe 5,000. Still waiting to find/hear an estimate of the overflow at the Bernie rally.

    YouTube—Bernie addresses Fresno rally OVERFLOW crowd—estimated at FIVE THOUSAND! [Click] If that is true, it would be the biggest political rally ever in Fresno—clearly putting Bill Clinton’s turnout when he was President into the shade. Some idea of the size of the crowd at the end of the (short) video.

    —Alan

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  8. I don't find my interview on the Fox Channel 26 news. Awww.

    --Alan

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    1. Alan, was the name of the interviewer Wendy Lane?

      http://kmph-kfre.com/news/local/thousands-line-up-to-see-bernie-sanders-in-fresno

      Watch for a follow-up piece…you never know.

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    2. It probably was Wendy Lane, but I don't know.
      --Alan

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    3. You think it was the local channel rather than the national?

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    4. Well, I'm afraid it must have been the local station. A search of the Fox News site yielded nothing about Bernie addressing a rally in Fresno on Sunday.

      It did, however, produce this headline:

      Trump tells California 'there is no drought'

      So, the search wasn't a complete waste of time. I'm so glad The Donald settled that question. No doubt Californians are relieved to hear the good news as well. :P

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    5. And we're all going to celebrate by flushing our toilets twice every time, taking extra long showers and watering our lawns every day!

      --Alan

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  9. Wherever Bernie is on Memorial Day, he always stops and pays quiet tribute to veterans, and does not use the moment for political gain. Imagine that. Instead he works hard championing veterans' need for medical care and benefits. So this article did not surprise me one bit.
    http://imgur.com/gallery/tBN7e

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    1. I should expect no less from Bernie. I am confident that he does not consider the members of our armed forces to be toy soldiers.

      --Alan

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  10. Clinton has no strategy, it seems… [Click] Quoted at length from politicalwire.com:

    “Hillary Clinton has upended her campaign schedule, adding more stops in California, in an effort to prevent an embarrassing loss there to Bernie Sanders, her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination,” the Washington Post reports.

    “Clinton originally planned to campaign for two days this week in New Jersey, but at the last minute canceled an event on Thursday and will instead return to California for a five-day swing. The schedule change comes as Sanders has barnstormed California, not leaving the state in more than a week. Meanwhile, a recent poll found the race closing significantly. Clinton’s lead over Sanders had narrowed to just two points.”


    --Alan

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    1. From WaPo:

      "Details are scarce, but Clinton now plans to hold events in California from Thursday until the day before the state's June 7 primary."

      Details are scarce? How could that be? I have a intuition that she will be hard pressed to line up venues and turn out big crowds on such short notice. Big crowds are not her thing, and neither are multiple appearances per day. She runs the risk of manifesting pathetic appeal to the voters--instead of disdain for them. This could be very interesting.

      --Alan

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  11. MORE THAN 20,000 PEOPLE ATTEND BERNIE SANDERS RALLY IN OAKLAND [Click] At 2 p.m. on Monday, Sanders joined actor Danny Glover and San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim for what his campaign describes as “a community conversation” at Allen Temple Baptist Church at 8501 International Blvd. in Oakland.
    At 4 p.m. on Monday, the Vermont senator spoke at a rally at Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of Oakland City Hall in the heart of downtown Oakland.
    On Tuesday, a press conference on health care is planned for the morning in Emeryville, followed by rallies in Santa Cruz and Monterey.

    Media Shrugs as Bernie Sanders Draws Enormous Crowd in Oakland (PHOTOS / VIDEO) [Click] Wow! Great photos!

    Clinton, a typical New Democrat, has been taking California and its voters for granted, but they sure don't seem to be in the mood for that. And there is that little matter of 1.8 million newly registered voters, predominantly young, largely registering as "Decline to State" or Democratic. Just might knock polls based on the assumption that voters will be the same this time as in recent previous elections into a cocked hat. That would be good fun indeed.

    --Alan

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  12. How Teenagers Got Police to Back Down and Remove Military-Grade Weaponry From Their High Schools [Click] Los Angeles high school students and organizers forced police to remove grenade launchers and M-16s from their arsenals.

    No, I Won't Work for Hillary Clinton: A Response to Robert Reich [Click] by Jake Johnson

    —Alan

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    1. Johnson says: "This is the point Reich fails to acknowledge: One can, without contradiction, both refuse to support Hillary Clinton and ardently oppose Donald Trump. Protests, engagement, organization, and civil disobedience often make more noise, and force more change, than decisions made at the ballot box." But as I understand Reich's view, he would say that attacking Trump IS supporting Hillary. In November there are effectively only two choices, and the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

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    2. I sometimes read Reich on Facebook, and it seems to me that he practices and advocates both refusing to support HRC and ardently opposing Trump. Last I checked, he was a Bernie person, so the two sort of go together naturally. Haven't read him for a few days though. I suppose it's possible he has changed his tune. Must remember to check it out.

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  13. That Oakland article is excellent! Go California!!

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    1. Hmm....it's not yet midnight here; think I'll send a little more love Bernie's way so it can count for May.

      BTW, I noticed the rent on the Fresno Fairgrounds' outdoor theater--only $1,030, bring your own audio and video equipment. Not bad.

      --Alan

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    2. Good stat that, Alan!

      We sent a little Bernie's way before midnight too. 6 days and counting!

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