Has Bernie put up a BAT?!
A new Boston Globe article begins:
“The Vermont senator has far more Instagram followers than any other Democratic presidential candidate and posts more frequently with a variety of con-tent.”
Does anyone know if he has a bat up on Instagram? If so: COOL!!
Does anyone know if he has a bat up on Instagram? If so: COOL!!
Three French Hens
ReplyDeleteTwo Turtle Doves
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree
"far more Instagram followers than any other Democratic presidential candidate" you say? Can't say as I participate in Instagram, but it certainly sounds good to this old slide rule and vacuum tube guy.
ReplyDeleteDonno about a bat, but there is a "Donate" link prominently displayed on his Instagram page.
DeleteThere's also a "People for Bernie Sanders":
People for Bernie Sanders - Click
Dandy story from the Boston Glove, listener; I managed to get through to it with my (outdated) Chrome browser. Here are direct links to the referenced Onion article and another about his income inequality plan:
ReplyDeleteBernie Sanders Holds Secret Campaign Meeting With 15,000 Working-Class Democratic Donors [Click]
Bernie Sanders Unveils Plan To Tackle Income Inequality With Art Heist From Billionaire’s Home [Click]
Oops--Boston "GLOBE"
DeleteI was moved to read up on Instagram at Wikipedia. There are parts of the entry that are rather obscure to me, but that's OK. My eyebrows raised considerably when I read that it is owned by Facebook. It is obviously designed to be very psychologically (and commercially) manipulative, but does seem to serve a social purpose. Hugely influential, I am sure. Not surprisingly it is much more popular among the young; interestingly it is considerably more popular among young women than among young men.
ReplyDeleteIt started as an independent service, but was bought by Facebook. Not that Facebook is a monopoly or anything. :P What Facebook doesn't own these days, Google does.
DeleteI don't do Instagram, but I did think it bodes well for the youth vote.
DeleteHow the loyalty Bernie Sanders commands makes him a formidable contender in the Democratic primary race. The focus is on Iowa, with the big takeaway being that enough people are absolutely committed to Bernie to guarantee him the minimum 15% at almost every caucus site. support for other candidates is less firm and subject to change.
ReplyDeleteHurrah!
DeleteWhoo hoo!!
DeleteRussia Commissions Intercontinental Hypersonic Weapon [Click] Oops—I wonder if this will cause the US to react by pushing out such a weapon before it is ready; it has happened before. Russia has a history of fielding very effective weapons.
ReplyDelete“The future of the Democratic Party is not Pete Buttigieg. It’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”
— Will Rodriguez-Kennedy, president of the California Young Democrats, quoted by Politico. [Click]
'How many more people have to die?': what a closed rural hospital tells us about US healthcare [Click] The rural hospital where I worked for 18 years closed, in the opinion of many of the workers, because of mismanagement by the Board of Directors, but the effect is about the same.
It occurred to me to wonder if there is a difference between "toward" and "towards." It seems not; the latter is more common in the UK, but it is generally obsolete or a regionalism. (Per Fowler's Modern English Usage and Webster's International Dictionary.) BUT--there is variation in the pronunciation of the "o." They say it can be either long (as in "tone") or as in "to;" in either case the "o" is pronounced and the word has two syllables. But in my native speech (said to be pretty much identical to the old Chicago accent) the "o" has been shortened into nonexistence and the word is pronounced as a single syllable: "t'word" with the remaining vowel pronounced about like the "o" in "orb." How is it where others here live (or grew up)?
ReplyDeleteI tend to have my own peculiar (er, very peculiar) speech patterns and diction, largely influenced by Oxbridge. In this case I usually say 'twords' or 'tords', with the 'or' sounding as in the word "ore", almost always with the 's'. Similarly, I usually put the 's' on "afterwards".
DeleteI have a very poor ear for accent, probably because I grew up hearing one accent from the people around me and another on the radio without noticing the difference. I have never noticed any difference from the way I say the word: Two syllables, no "s". The first syllable is like "to" and the second like "ward," with the vowel a shortened form of "ah."
DeleteSame here, Cat. Maybe it's more regional than we know.
DeleteIf so, the region seems to be transcontinental...
DeleteOne statement in the article where Bernie talks about the difference between jobs and decent wages strikes me::
ReplyDelete"The federal minimum wage has not risen since 2009, staying at $7.25 per hour."
I went off on this when I posted to FB. Here's my rambling rant:
That's ten years, folks. How many white collar workers would put up with not getting a raise for ten years?
Hell, how many Social Security recipients would put up with not geting a raise for ten years? I know the answer to that one: None! Can't remember offhand when the cost of living adjustment (COLA) was written into law, but I remember the once or twice since the early '80s it was canceled or merely delayed, Social Security recipiants raised holy Hell till it was reinstated. That is as it should be. The minimum wage should also rise automatically - every year, every other year - at stated, reliable intervals and by a stated, reliable amount. There is no reason workers should be left further and further behind each year, while at the same time there is no reason for Congress to have to take up (or be able to ignore) the matter of the minimum wage as it sees fit. Just as old age pensioners should be able to rely on their COLA, so should minimum wage workers be able to rely on theirs - no muss, no fuss.
Sounds good. Although we need to start by doubling the current minimum wage.
DeleteI continue trying to make sense of minimum wages. When I was a college undergraduate the official minimum wage was $1.25, later $1.35 per hour, and the real minimum wage was a dollar an hour, which adjusted for inflation is supposed to be about $8.50/hr. Let's use $1.25 X 8.5 = $10/hr. Near as I can figure, the same food costs about a third of what it did in constant dollars. Gasoline costs somewhat less per mile, considering better fuel economy. I think the BIG problem is the considerable real increase in the cost and availability of housing. Increasing wages is probably the easiest way to deal with that, but won't work in hyper-expensive places (I'm looking at you, San Francisco).
DeleteOne of the cities in this area (Clovis) has instituted a program of permitting very small houses on lots with room for them (of which there are many). They offer a catalog of ready-approved house plans--for free, as memory serves me, as well as expedited approvals. It's slow going, but seems very promising.
DeleteElizabeth Warren's campaign says its fundraising dropped 30 percent from last quarter [Click]
ReplyDeleteIs Iowa swinging blue again? [Click]
Biden Discloses His Bundlers [Click] Freudian slip—I first read it as “Biden Discloses His Blunders”
ReplyDeleteAnalysis of the names. [Click]
DeleteTrump Tariffs Backfired [Click] “A new Federal Reserve study finds President Trump’s tariffs on imports — intended to boost the economy and protect jobs — ultimately led to job losses and higher prices for consumers.” Oh, go on!
ReplyDeleteBill Greider has passed away. [Click] I remember his stories about Howard Dean.
ReplyDeleteZephyr Teachout endorses Sanders because he is “constitutionally incapable of sucking up.” [Click]
"Don't Tell Me We Can't Afford Medicare for All," Says Sanders, After NYT Details Insanely Higher Costs of US Healthcare [Click]
Citing Joe Biden's Troubling Voting Record, Bernie Sanders Warns 'My God... Trump Will Eat His Lunch' [Click]
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I just try to pull up a watercolour video on YouTube and all of a sudden there is Bernie Sanders in my face, hitting me up for money! There's no hiding! AAAAAAAAA........
ReplyDeleteSo you've noticed that too!
DeleteBy way of contrast, Miyoko likes to look at YouTube Japan--for news commentary, cat and parrot videos and piano concerts mostly--and she keeps getting Michael Bloomberg's advertisement (evidently he has only one). She has never donated money or otherwise demonstrated any interest in him, and for that matter can't vote in the US. (As a practical matter, there is little disadvantage for a resident alien in the US; but there are considerable disadvantages for a resident alien in Japan, so she has kept her Japanese citizenship in case of need.)
DeleteIt's pretty spooky, but interesting that Bernie is on to both of us, Bill.
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