Why The Young And Hip #FeelTheBern:



It’s 8pm on a Wednesday and in a Brooklyn loft, a Bernie Sanders screen-printing event is in full swing. “It’s a four-year-old workout shirt,” says Nick Kowalczyk, holding up a once-white cotton T-shirt that now has a lot of yellowing under the arms. Kowalcyzk, 29, is an actor originally from Atlanta. His friend asks if he plans to wear his cowboy hat with the freshly printed shirt, which now has a red heart with a cutout face in the middle which vaguely resembles an outline of the head of the Vermont senator and leftwing candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. Above the heart: “Bernie.” Below it: “For President.” “Fuck yeah,” says Kowalczyk. “I’m gonna wear a lot of things with this.” Dozens of people walk around the loft, an apartment with the high tin ceilings and single-pane windows of a converted factory. Most have brought T-shirts to be printed. Freshly inked shirts hang from clotheslines strung across the space, delicately balanced on window ledges and strewn across chairs. Since declaring his bid for the White House in April, Sanders, a self-stated Democratic socialist, has held some of the biggest rallies of any of the Democratic or Republican candidates. The Vermont senator – an independent in the Senate, but running for the Democratic nomination – hosted a live webcast in July that was watched by around 100,000 people at 3,500 different events nationwide. The screen-printing evening is taking place in Bushwick, an area known for – or lamented as – being the hippest part of Brooklyn. It’s a neighbourhood where artists, musicians and writers rub up against longer-term, mostly Hispanic residents. “Bernie Sanders uses socialism in the way it makes sense, which is just good, common, moral, ethical policy,” Kowalczyk says. “And I appreciate the guy’s honesty and his steadfastness to his beliefs. His consistency.”

Bernie and his wife, flying, of course, economy class. At the Charleston airport, South Carolina. #feelthebern pic.twitter.com/z8XmOGR2TX — Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) August 21, 2015

Attitudes Towards Socialism Are Changing:



In response to a Gallup poll in June, 47 percent of surveyors said they would vote for a socialist if their party nominated one, while 50 percent said they would not. Only three years ago, the Pew Research survey found that 31 percent of Americans reacted positively to the word “socialism,” while 60 percent reacted negatively. And Sanders’ call to go “beyond establishment politics” may appeal to one group whose political views tend to fall in a grey area: Millennials. The 2011 Pew Research survey showed that among 18-to-29-year olds, 49 percent had a positive view of socialism, while 47 percent had a positive view of capitalism. Younger Americans aren’t as set on their political views as their parents or grandparents because socialism means different things to different generations, Michelle Diggles, a senior political analyst at liberal think tank Third Way, told The International Business Times. "For older people, socialism is associated with Communism and the Soviet Union and the Cold War," she said. "But the oldest Millennials were 8 years old when the Berlin Wall fell. They have never known a world where the Soviet Union exists ... The connotations associated with the word 'socialism' just don't exist with millennials." Though Sanders’ views on several policy issues, such as climate change, campaign finance reform and the regulation of Wall Street, align with those of many Americans, time will tell whether the rest of the country is ready for a socialist president.

There are over 100 #FeelTheBern Flyering events for Bernie on Saturday. Sign up! http://t.co/... pic.twitter.com/DtlX0zjbah — Bernie's Homie (@BerniesHomie) August 21, 2015

Bernies Big Crowds:



As 1,800 mad-as-hell supporters jumped out of their seats and pumped their fists last Sunday, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont delivered the message they had come to hear. We will “give these guys an offer they can’t refuse,” he shouted in the jam-packed gym, vowing to bust up the banks, bring down the billionaire class and smash the political establishment. “So I welcome you all,” he said, “to the political revolution of 2015.”

Continue reading the main story The presidential election is, of course, in 2016, but Mr. Sanders can be forgiven for living in the moment. By overtaking Hillary Rodham Clinton in New Hampshire in some polls and drawing tens of thousands of people to his events on the West Coast, as well as thousands in Iowa and Nevada, Mr. Sanders, 73, has recaptured the enthusiasm that fueled the 2008 Obama campaign, with T-shirts that say “Feel the Bern” and show an image of floppy white hair and glasses replacing the famous image in the Obama “Hope” poster by Shepard Fairey.

What A 1987 Tax Battle Says About Sanders:



Burlington Mayor Bernie Sanders didn't attend the June 1987 press conference that opened with a bombshell. Assessor Rosaire Longe did his bidding, announcing that the city had sent a tax bill to the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, the venerable institution on the hill now known as the University of Vermont Medical Center. The amount the Sanders administration sought from the hospital, which, as a charitable institution, had been considered tax-exempt: $2.9 million. Spencer Knapp, the hospital's legal counsel then and now, was in the president's office when the hefty bill arrived. "Our jaws dropped to our chests," he recalled. A couple of hours later, hospital president James Taylor stood before news cameras to denounce the Sanders' plan to "put us on the tax rolls." He vowed: "We will not pay the bill. We will pursue all the channels proper and appropriate to protest it." Sanders himself publicly weighed in with a press conference the next day. He argued that seeking taxes from the medical center was about fairness for taxpayers. The hospital had a $100 million budget, he said, but paid "nothing in taxes, nothing in lieu of taxes and nothing for the services they receive," meaning fire, police and other municipal protections. He threw jabs about the hospital trustees meeting behind closed doors and administrators' salaries: "There are a heck of a lot of people up there making a heck of a lot of money," he said pointedly. A reporter asked Sanders if taking on a respected institution was politically risky. After squeaking out a 10-vote victory to capture the mayor's office in 1981, he had been reelected mayor twice by comfortable margins — but Sanders had statewide ambitions. He replied, "I have to do what I think is right."

Bernie Gets A Poll Boost In Wisconsin:



A new Marquette Law School Poll of Wisconsin found that Bernie Sanders is closing the gap on Hillary Clinton. The Democratic front-runner’s lead has shrunk from 44 points to twelve. According to the Marquette Law School Poll, “On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton leads with 44 percent, followed by Bernie Sanders at 32 percent and Joe Biden at 12 percent. Lincoln Chaffee, Martin O’Malley and Jim Webb each receive less than 1 percent support. In April, Clinton had 58 percent support and Biden 12 percent while Sanders was not included in the April poll. Elizabeth Warren, who was not included in this poll, had received 14 percent support in April.” As with other recent polling, it isn’t that Clinton is losing all of her support. It’s that Bernie Sanders is gaining. Clinton’s support did decline by 14 points since April, but Bernie Sanders has gained 18 points of support over where Elizabeth Warren was in the spring poll. Sen. Sanders (I-VT) has gone from not being in the first poll to being competitive with former Sec. of State Clinton before Labor Day. Bernie Sanders set his first crowd record of the 2016 campaign at a rally in Madison. Sanders has become a bona fide national candidate by breaking his own crowd records in venues all across the country. The mainstream media is obsessed with Donald Trump, but it is Bernie Sanders who is packing them in at his campaign events.

@TragicElegance How and when to vote for Bernie Sanders in the Primaries (by State) http://t.co/... via @vote_for_bernie — Living Truth (@TruthForAll16) August 21, 2015

On Private For Profit Prisons:



Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said Tuesday that he will introduce legislation to abolish private prisons, one piece of his comprehensive racial justice reform package that has won praise from Black Lives Matter activists. “When Congress reconvenes in September, I will be introducing legislation which takes corporations out of profiteering from running jails,” the independent senator said at a campaign rally in Nevada. Sanders released his racial justice platform last week after Black Lives Matter activists repeatedly disrupted his speeches in Seattle and Phoenix, demanding that he address racial inequalities in policing and in the criminal justice system. The platform he announced in response addresses both police violence against African Americans in the United States and the problems associated with mass incarceration. Black Americans are imprisoned at six times the rate of whites, Sanders notes on his campaign website, and if the trend continues, one in four black males born today can expect to spend time in prison. One of the methods Sanders proposes to address mass incarceration is eliminating the private prison industry. “It is morally repugnant and a national tragedy that we have privatized prisons all over America,” his website says. “In my view, corporations should not be allowed to make a profit by building more jails and keeping more Americans behind bars.” Private prison companies have been the target of countless lawsuits over their rampant corruption, mistreatment of inmates, and inhumane conditions which have even led to the death of prisoners. Because the corporations are profit-driven, they have an incentive to cut corners on the care of their inmates and detainees to save money.

I would like someone to vote for Bernie Sanders in my place, since I'm barely going to be 16 when we vote... #Bernie2016 — Andrea (@EXOBtris) August 21, 2015

Heres Some Free Art:



Artist M X Farina has donated unlimited all rights of reproduction of his word painting, A POLITICAL REVOLUTION IS COMING, to the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. Missionlines.com founder Aldis Browne contributed use of his domain name ProgressiveBest.org to host unlimited free downloads. Now ready to share in social media and email, this image is available to everyone. Free? Absolutely! Though, the website hosts a link to enable supporters to make a direct donation to the Sanders campaign, this is enitrely voluntary. No contribution is too small. In fact, the average donation to the Sanders campaign is about $35. Mark Farina, an instructor at Otis College of Art and Design since 2010, is currently enrolled in the school's graduate Fine Arts program. He first exhibited his word paintings in Venice CA in 2012 during an event curated by the Armand Hammer Museum.

These materials are for volunteers and were created by volunteers to help build this movement. Included in this guide are several pieces of useful information to help you get started. We hope you will find everything here that you need—from what’s involved in a successful activity of any type, to what each role entails, to where you’ll get lists of volunteers. These guides are kept as Google documents because a team of volunteers responsible for each one of them are constantly updating them as the campaign develops and improving them as more and more feedback comes in. If you don’t find what you need, please email help@berniesanders.com — and remember, everyone answering those emails is a volunteer just like you.

Bernie Sanders for president in 2016! That is all! — Shannon Barnes (@shahara007) August 21, 2015

Bernie As The 'UnCola' of Politics:



Few people outside of Vermont had heard of Bernie Sanders before he decided to run for president earlier this year. Now the self-professed socialist is running almost even with Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire and packing tens of thousands into arenas all over the country. In hopes of trying to understand more about the Sanders' phenomenon, I reached out to Chris Graff, the longtime Vermont bureau chief for the Associated Press and author of "Dateline Vermont", to help fill in some of the gaps in the Sanders' story. Our interview, conducted via e-mail and edited only for grammar, is below.

FIX: Finish this sentence: Bernie Sanders best trait as a politician is ___. GRAFF: .... he is not a politician. FIX: Now, explain. GRAFF: Bernie is the Uncola of national politics. Remember 7-Up’s masterful marketing strategy to separate it from Coke and Pepsi? The lemon-lime soft drink became the “Uncola: tart, crisp, clear” and was branded as the exact opposite of the two sweet, brown colas. Call central casting for a presidential candidate and the last person they would send you is a rumpled, mad-as-hell, impatient Brooklyn native with the air of an absent-minded professor. But today the Bernie brand is hot. His issues resonate, his anger matches the nation’s mood, his no-nonsense approach to politics is seen as a breath of fresh air. In a time when politicians are on the outs, the unpolitician is in. The UnCola.

Why Bernie Is Right About The Media:



The more I hear Mr. Bernie Sanders speak, the more I find common ground with his points of view. The last time I authored a post about the Vermont socialist, who orates like an activist, I reviewed his racial justice policy paper, which has, in my opinion, set a standard in the presidential race. My focus in the present, however, will be on Mr. Sanders’ frustration with corporate media, which he and others believe are not taking him or the campaign seriously. Controversial sound-bites in which a candidate is attacked are what the mainstream media wants, Mr. Sanders suggested. Intellectual dialogue and discourse is what he would prefer, his attitude alluded. It’s the saddest reality, but, in the world of media, the former is often expected to trump the latter, because that’s what attracts eyeballs and serves as a catalyst for advertiser’s interest. To be fair, fault rest equally on the shoulders of media makers and consumers. It is, in most cases, the market, their demands and consumption behavior that drives what seen on television; read in print; displayed across big and small screens and pumped into our ears. But even with that truth remaining, there could be a greater level of civic conviction among news directors and editors – two of the most influential positions within a news organization – to ensure their platforms are populated with content-rich stories that articulate the systemic nature of the subject matter being covered, while providing viewpoint diversity regarding solutions and mitigation. - See more at: http://goodmenproject.com/...