Bernie Has Plans For The Post Office:



Salmon also raised a possibility that has not been as prominent in Sanders’s stump speeches, but animates him nonetheless: turning the U.S.’s post offices into banks. Sanders:

If you are a low-income person, it is, depending upon where you live, very difficult to find normal banking. Banks don’t want you. And what people are forced to do is go to payday lenders who charge outrageously high interest rates. You go to check-cashing places, which rip you off. And, yes, I think that the postal service, in fact, can play an important role in providing modest types of banking service to folks who need it. It’s something Sanders alluded to in a 2014 Wall Street Journal op-ed, and it’s not even the craziest idea proposed to save the USPS—a report last year explored the implications of turning post offices into hubs for 3-D printing. In fact, Sanders’s idea is quite sensible. “Postal banking”—which just means that post offices run savings accounts, cash checks, and perform other basic financial services—is common in most of Asia and Europe, and only about 7 percent of the world’s national postal systems don’t offer some bank-like services. Postal banking is a really good way to reach people who haven’t had access to standard savings accounts. One estimate figures that more than 1 billion people have used post offices for making deposits.

Bernie Sanders: ‘Invest in jobs and education, rather than jails and incarceration.’ https://t.co/... #FeelTheBern — People For Bernie (@People4Bernie) October 21, 2015

Sanders To Talk Gun Laws With Parents Of Aurora Victim:



Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will meet with the parents of a woman who was killed in a mass shooting in 2012 to discuss the Democratic presidential candidate's vote in favor of a controversial gun law. The Sanders campaign told The Huffington Post Tuesday that it had arranged for the senator to meet with Lonnie and Sandy Phillips, whose daughter, Jessica Ghawi, died at age 24 in the shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. The couple wants to speak with Sanders about his support for the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, a 2005 law that shields gun manufacturers and dealers from legal liability. The legislation prohibits civil liability lawsuits against the manufacturers, distributors and dealers of guns and ammunition for "damages, injunctive or other relief resulting from the misuse of their products by others." .. The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, which has been working with the Phillipses, confirmed on Tuesday that the meeting with Sanders has been scheduled. “The gesture is appreciated,” Ladd Everitt, the coalition's communications director, told HuffPost. “Some great dialogue on gun issues is happening right now in Democratic politics and we want Senator Sanders to be part of that. We want him to lead on this.”

LI getting it together by hitting up Plainview & Woodbury Plaza. Chatting or Flyering over 100 people! #FeelTheBern pic.twitter.com/DptQHLso03 — BKforBernie (@BKforBernie) October 18, 2015

Sanders Wants A Federal Exxon Probe:



Oil companies have long been accused of secretly funding opposition to action on climate change. A pair of new reports, though, have raised the prospect that ExxonMobil understood the damage of man-made fossil fuels long ago and ignored its own climate research in possible violation of federal law. The revelations inspired presidential candidate Bernie Sanders to call for a federal probe of the company on Tuesday. Over the last few weeks, separate months-long reporting projects by the nonprofit InsideClimate News and by a collaborating team from Columbia University and the Los Angeles Times have revealed new information about what the energy company knew about climate change and when it knew it. The reports state that starting as early as 1977—more than a decade before former NASA scientist James Hansen’s famous Senate testimony that first brought widespread public attention to climate change—scientists at Exxon had discovered their product contributed to the problem in a big way, and hid the results from public view. Sen. Sanders sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Tuesday citing the reports and calling for a federal investigation. At issue is whether Exxon and other oil companies may have worked together for decades to deliberately mislead the public of the dangers posed by climate change and fossil fuel burning.

Not Shocking: Trumps A Liar:



Trump said Bernie Sanders is going to "tax you people at 90 percent." Sanders hasn’t released an official tax plan, either for billionaires or for anyone else. But based on his previous comments and proposals, the tax policies Sanders is advocating are targeted at corporations and affluent Americans. Sanders has dismissed the notion that he wants to set marginal tax rates for billionaires at 90 percent. But even if he did end up doing that, that rate wouldn’t affect "you people" — that is, the rank and file Americans who attended Trump’s rally. We rate Trump’s claim Pants on Fire.

Today I found the abandoned "sugar shack" in VT where the #BernieSanders revolution began in the '60s #FeelTheBern pic.twitter.com/lY6WJ8qK42 — Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) October 20, 2015

Bernie To Appear On Jimmy Kimmel!:



Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders will be a guest on Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show, airing this week from Brooklyn, New York. The U.S. senator from Vermont is becoming quite the TV star. After taking part in the first Democratic candidates' debate, he was portrayed by Larry David on "Saturday Night Live" last weekend. The real Sanders will appear on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on Wednesday.

Why Bernie Sanders Is Starting to Attract Conservative Voters https://t.co/... #Bernie2016 pic.twitter.com/pYA0DlMJpM — Bernie2016 TV (@Bernie2016tv) October 20, 2015

Support For Sanders Is Deep & Passionate:



Bernie Sanders doesn’t attract supporters. He draws believers. Isabel Storey, 22, is taking a year off school to volunteer for his campaign. Rachel Joselson, a voice teacher and opera singer, plans to send him her latest CD – songs created in the concentration camps during the Holocaust – in hopes of singing at a Sanders’ inauguration. “He’s my soul mate, I love that man,” exclaims Joselon, 60, a University of Iowa professor, leaving a house party here for Sanders. “He’s the salt of the Earth. There’s no hidden agenda, he’s just about justice and fairness for the American people.” As the Vermont senator looks to transform a surprising summer insurgency into an enduring campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, he’s fueled by deep enthusiasm from voters weary with a long-faltering economy who cherish what they say is his unvarnished authenticity and outspoken advocacy.

Wisconsin Public Employees Union votes to recommend that AFSCME endorse Bernie Sanders! #Bernie2016 #feelthebern pic.twitter.com/htp47gxCdr — ToastyPoptart (@LollipopCrumbs) October 20, 2015

America May Not Care About Sanders' 'Socialism':



When Bernie Sanders got behind the podium for the first Democratic presidential debate last week, it was clear that he had a different mission than anyone else on stage. Other candidates used their opening statements to talk about their children, their wives, the things they'd accomplished while in office. They thanked Anderson Cooper and Facebook, and noted how grateful they were to be in Las Vegas that night. Sanders had no time for these pleasantries. Grimacing and gesticulating like an angry Brooklyn deli man, the Vermont Senator launched into a diatribe about declining wages for American workers, youth unemployment, climate change, and Citizens United. "What this campaign is about," he concluded abruptly, "is whether we can mobilize our people to take back our government from a handful of billionaires and create the vibrant democracy we know we can and should have." In almost any other presidential election year, Sanders and his hair-on-fire populism would be dismissed as a novelty, notable for his hair-on-fire populism and remarkable resemblance to Larry David, but otherwise a non-factor. But this is the Democratic Party in 2015 and to almost everyone one's surprise, a 74-year-old self-described Socialist is the second most important candidate vying for the party's nomination. The question now is whether Sanders' success has come because of, or in spite of, his unabashed embrace of that coded label.

After Bernie Sanders Rejects His Campaign Donation, Price-Gouging Exec Fractures Wrist...or Did He?: Martin S... http://t.co/... — Eric (@terriferic) October 19, 2015

Why The Right Ring Is Laughably Wrong On Sanders:



Ultimately, what Will finds so unpleasant about the rise of Sanders is that he is “stoking the discontent of those who are comfortable but envious.” This is very much like Darrell Issa, the richest man in Congress, who contends that the American poor are the “envy of the world.” It is a Republican way of saying: Shut up and stop complaining. Of course, there are many people who do envy the the super-rich, and this is simply a part of human nature. If someone working 60 hours a week lives paycheck to paycheck, and then sees the super-rich living luxuriously on television or in the movies, there is going to discontent. But Will has Sanders completely wrong. The senator does not promote envy of the rich. He promotes worker rights, and fair pay for one’s labor. He is running against the plutocracy that has formed in American politics, where every candidate relies on the donor class to get elected, and then goes on to grant favors to that donor class. And he is running against the greed (one of the seven deadly sins, I might add) of Wall Street and corporate America. He is, in other words, running to save American democracy. So then, it seems a more appropriate headline for Will’s latest editorial would have been: “What George Will does not understand about Bernie Sanders.” The columnist seems quite unaware of the historical reality of inequality (i.e. the higher the inequality, the greater the discontent). The distribution of wealth that Will bemoans, and the welfare state that the right would have dissolved, is the one thing that keeps the “envious masses” from truly revolting against the capitalist class. The welfare state was, after all, developed to mediate class tensions and save capitalism from itself.

...for anyone that might be interested... https://t.co/... — Joshua Archer (@joshuaarcher) October 21, 2015

Please register to vote and find out when your state's Dem primary/caucus is! https://t.co/... #FeelTheBern #Bernie2016 — Mimzy (@Mimzy122) October 20, 2015

The Jewish Sanders Only Vermonters Know:



Bernie Sanders reads from the Passover Haggadah in Hebrew and jokes with his seder hosts about finding hametz, traces of leavening, after they have thoroughly cleaned the house in preparation for the holiday. The presidential candidate, a socialist competing for the Democratic nomination, also follows Israeli politics close enough to understand the influence of the haredi Orthodox parties in government. And like many Jews of his generation, Sanders, 74, chafes at what he sees as disproportionate critical attention applied to Israel. But little of this emerges in his public profile. .. “It’s not like he’s embarrassed or ashamed of [his faith],” said Richard Sugarman, an Orthodox Jew who is among Sanders’ closest friends and a professor of philosophy. “He continues to be a universalist; he doesn’t focus on those issues.” The Jewish Vermonters who know Sanders say his reluctance to make his Judaism central to his public persona is a function of his preference for the economic over the esoteric, as well as a libertarianism typical both of the state and its Jewish community – one that embraces expressions of faith and the lack of them.

Bernie May Not Need To Eve Pay For His 'Utopia':



Yeah, those are lovely ideas, but how's he gonna pay for all this?" For people who oppose Sanders' program, it makes for a nice "gotcha." But Sanders' supporters bring it up sometimes too. Comedian Bill Maher pressed the senator on this last Friday, and Sanders dutifully listed off various ideas. They might bring in enough revenue or they might not; like his fellow candidates, Sanders' proposals are still in their protean stage. What's interesting is that Sanders and his fans are implicitly conceding that, yes, we would need to pay for this stuff. May I humbly suggest this is wrong? Not only do we not need to pay for Sanders' programs, we shouldn't pay for them. In fact, the federal government's budget deficit is much too low. How could I possibly suggest anything so loony? Contrary to popular belief, smaller deficits are not always better. How big or small the deficit should be is determined by how it interacts with the rest of the U.S. economy and other international economies. And there are two key metrics to look for there: interest rates and inflation. .. You really can't think of the government as just another economic actor, like an individual person or a business. It's a unique thing unto itself: a hub or ballast tank for the overall flow of money and activity through the economy. No, its capacities to borrow and print money aren't infinitely elastic. But it's perfectly plausible that we could enter periods, like the current global doldrums, where government should run really big deficits and print lots of money for extended periods.

I am voting for the first time in this coming election and I #FeelTheBern!! @BernieSanders, make us proud and make a change!! — Mary Dobson (@CrazyMaryDobson) October 20, 2015

The racist signs against @BChinME in Lewiston have no place in our society. https://t.co/... — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 20, 2015

Bernie Tweets About Anti Ben Chin Signs:



U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a Democratic presidential candidate, tweeted Tuesday about the signs posted in Lewiston that compared mayoral candidate Ben Chin to the former Vietnamese communist leader Ho Chi Minh. “The racist signs against @BChinME in Lewiston have no place in our society,” Sanders tweeted. Chin, 30, is a third-generation American who said he was saddened by the signs, which were taken down Monday amid a public outcry.

UMass Students To Rally For Sanders



University of Massachusetts Amherst students will hold an educational rally next week to highlight U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders', I-Vt., 2016 presidential campaign platform and high-profile political issues. The rally, hosted by the unofficial student group UMass for Bernie Sanders, will take place Oct. 27 at 5 p.m. outside the campus' student union. Organizers stressed that the event, which open to the community members and people from all political denominations, will not endorse Sanders, but rather seek to educate attendees on issues important to the presidential campaign. Around 1,000 people are expected to attend the rally. Brennan Tierney, a sophomore hosting the rally, said while the event will focus on Sanders' policies, UMass for Bernie Sanders believes it's important to encourage civil discourse and engage people from different political backgrounds.