#BernieSandersMittens

 #BernieSandersMittens

by C.A. Matthews

It's amazing how quickly human beings can glomp onto a symbol of hope and run with it.

A photo of Senator Bernie Sanders, sitting on a folding chair at the inauguration ceremony in his usual brown parka and wearing a pair of handmade woolen mittens, has set the Internet alight and raised the spirits of many a Berner.

Hundreds of memes popped up overnight showing Bernie and his trademark mittens in a variety of positions and places--everything from sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office to sitting at the bar with the Dude from The Big Lebowski. Every single one brought a smile to thousands of faces. Every smile brought hope and revived fond memories of both Bernie's campaigns for the White House.

True to his nature, Bernie donated all proceeds from a "Bernie in Mittens" icon t-shirt/sweatshirt sale to the Vermont chapter of Meals on Wheels. For those who feel Bernie has become "just one of the boys" on Capitol Hill, consider this: A Vermont second grade teacher knitted Bernie's mittens from an old sweater and recycled plastic bottles. Joe Biden, the man whom Bernie inadvertently upstaged at the inauguration, typically wears a $7,000 Rolex watch and was found to have set up a "cancer foundation" that raised millions of dollars that was spent on executive salaries with none of the money actually going toward research for a cure.

No wonder memes of $7,000 Rolexes aren't trending!

The popularity of the Bernie's mittens meme speaks for itself. It's what is needed in an era where more Americans than ever before are becoming aware that they cannot trust those in power. They cannot trust a politician who promised a $2000 stimulus check right away before the election but now has backpedaled and lowered that amount to $1400 and pushed off the date to send it out to sometime in March at the earliest. 

 

Meanwhile, millions of unemployed Americans face eviction from their homes and starvation today and every day until then. Don't their lives matter more than the profits of Big Pharma and the health care industry? The military-industrial complex?

Bernie's mittens represent that even a working class boy like Bernie Sanders can grow up and do great things. They represent that the working class still has a friend in Washington DC who will stand up against the moneyed elites and their corporate donors and fight for our rights to health care and funds to survive during this pandemic.

Bernie's mittens will stand up there someday with the Statue of Liberty and the Liberty Bell as great symbols of what America could be without the greed and tone-deafness of the oligarchs and their politician-puppets.

God bless America. God bless Bernie Sanders' mittens.

Thanks to James Kirkland who posted most of these memes on the Artists for Bernie Sanders Facebook group.

You can make your own memes at https://outsnapped.com/content/sit-with-bernie-sanders-meme-generator/

 
More insights on Bernie Sanders' Mittens:

Sanders Hopes Nation Smitten by His Mittens Will Back Food Charity Push  https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/67456-sanders-hopes-nation-smitten-by-his-mittens-will-back-food-charity-push

The Mittens
https://correspondent.afp.com/mittens

The Meaning of the Mittens: Five Possibilities
https://theintercept.com/2021/01/21/inauguration-bernie-sanders-mittens/ 

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Incredible hope that Trump's sadistic attacks on children and families will end. Overwhelming heartbreak at the incredible pain so many families have suffered. Fierce determination to reunite all separated children with their families and forever turn the page on this nightmare.

President Biden has made clear that his administration is going all-in undoing the horrors of the last four years. We’re optimistic about the soon-to-be-announced Presidential Task Force on Family Separation, an immigration bill that centers care and compassion, and the rebuilding of our asylum system with an eye towards dignity and compassion.

It is a BIG deal politically that Biden has announced reuniting families and overhauling our immigration system as a major priority, but the key will be Congress. That's where you come in, right now:

Can you let your representatives in Congress know there is huge public support for not just rebuilding but re-imagining America’s cruel immigration system?

ACT NOW

Families have been waiting decades and decades for a more caring and compassionate immigration system. Many of them are essential workers who are keeping our communities together, whether serving as doctors and nurses on the front lines of the pandemic, picking our food, keeping our grocery stores going, or caring for our loved ones.

Millions of children come home every day unsure that their parents will be there to greet them, living in perpetual fear of ICE's family separation force.

We can not rest until every child torn from their parents is safe and reunited with their family. We will not rest until families are released from ICE jails. And we will tirelessly fight to ensure that these families get the restitution, love, and mental health support they need to start healing.

And we must hold those behind these atrocious policies accountable.

Restoring our moral standing in the world starts with doing right by those we have wronged and revamping our immigration and asylum system so no family lives in fear of being separated ever again. We have to seize this opportunity to fundamentally reshape our immigration system. Every single voice of public support can help tip the balance, so I'm asking:

Can you let your representatives in Congress know there is huge public support for fixing America’s broken immigration policies?

Thanks for all you do,

Paola Luisi, Director
Families Belong Together

 ***

The Revolution Continues will keep dancin' along with Bernie and his mittens!

We're now in our sixth year fighting against the corporate duopoly. We're not ashamed to say that we need fellow revolutionaries like you to help us stay online and provide progressive insights that are being actively censored elsewhere. If you can spare some of your pocket change, please use the Paypal.me link below to donate to help fund our operations.

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Thanks for all you do in making the world a better place. Power to the people!

Have Yourself A Non-Materialistic Little Christmas

Have Yourself A Non-Materialistic Little Christmas
by C. A. Matthews

We've made it through another year. More of our fellow citizens have died due to gunfire, murderous cops and unattended health conditions. More have gone into bankruptcy because of unpaid student loans and medical bills. More of our fellow human beings have been uprooted from their homelands because of war, drug cartels, and climate change. More have been killed by American drone bombers, merciless ICE and Border Patrol agents, and our financial and military support of corrupt regimes intent on genocide.

Ho. Ho. Ho.

It's difficult to feel "merry" when there's more than enough misery to go around, and yet… Yet there is still hope that things will get better. There is hope that we will see that "future to believe in" eventually after a long, hard struggle. We are seeing signs of the people waking up in France and elsewhere as they don their yellow vests and take to the streets to vocalize their dissatisfaction with the status quo.  The people aren't taking things lying down. One can only hope that Americans will do the same. Odds are we will see some similar protests and marches soon.

In the meantime, we have to find joy in the journey we've embarked upon when we decided to follow the progressive path. We have to take comfort in the companionship of our fellow activists. We have to stand the distance and take our lumps from time to time, knowing full well that potential glory could be lurking right around the corner.

Putting things into perspective, we know that money is essentially a fiction of the sick capitalist state and the endless pursuit of material wealth leads to the hoarding of resources of the Jeff Bezos variety. (Watch a Richard Wolff video to learn more.) The military-industrial complex and its sycophants doesn't need any more of our tax money, either!

As we gather with friends and family during the holidays, let us return to the basics and acknowledge what we can do without. We can do without hatred, grudges and jealousy. We can do with more charity, cooperation and generosity. We can do without buying things we can't afford, we don't really want and we don't have any use for in the long run. We can do with more understanding, compassion and courage.

To re-phrase the song Judy Garland made famous in the movie Meet Me in St. Louis: Have yourself a non-materialistic little Christmas. And a revolutionary New Year. Maybe Santa will put a yellow vest in your stocking if you're good, eh?

Here's more from a group that hasn't lost hope.

Toledoans for Safe Water are fighting the latest attempt at destroying democracy. Please sign the "I Support the Lake Erie Bill of Rights" letter online and share this link with others. You can sign as both an individual and as a representative of your business or organization or church. Thank you.
http://lakeerieaction.wixsite.com/safewatertoledo/support-lebor

  

And now for more insight on hope from our friend in the North.

We Can And Must Build A More Just World
by Vegematic Deluxe

 When one reaches a certain age, our experiences tend to breed a certain cynicism about life. It becomes easy to dismiss all hope for a brighter future. After all, we have repeatedly witnessed our hopes dashed until optimism can seem to be the province of youthful idealism. We consume media that indeed confirms our dark vision of humanity. We isolate ourselves behind screens. We ingest antidepressants, drink, gamble, shop, anything to numb the pain of our  existence. We have forgotten how to be human. If we lose our sense of the possible, we not only do ourselves a disservice--we betray those who come after us.

 My memory drifts back to my childhood in Montreal. At the age of ten, it was 1967 and Montreal was hosting The World's Fair, Expo67. I wandered enthralled and amazed at the futuristic pavilions from every nation on earth. The glittering spires from Iran, America's geodesic dome--even the Soviets got in on the act. My ten year old brain was infused with boundless joy and optimism. I truly believed that the world of the future would be wonderful. People would be evolved enough to put an end to racism, poverty and war, and of course scientific ingenuity would solve our pollution problems.

Of course, my childhood naivety is humorous to me today, yet I can see something of value in it. Something in the innocent belief in a just universe. It's easy for those of us who believe in progressive causes to become bitter and cynical. Many of us have fought the good fight for years only to witness the forces of oppression grow more powerful.

 In 2011, I once again felt that sense of optimism with the Occupy Movement. I felt it again in 2016 when Bernie gave us all hope. Each time our hopes have been dashed on the rocks of corruption and repression, and with it, each time, a little more hope dies. The 61-year-old man in me says that things are hopeless. But every once in a while, the ten-year-old boy reemerges to inspire me to continue. I hope he never goes away.

BIO: Vegematic elaborates on what he calls the "sh*t-o-sphere" of our current society, but deep down he's an optimist. Don't tell him that--or do tell him by leaving a comment on a video at his You Tube channel. He'll return your comment. No kidding. Canadians are nice that way.

***

Since Christmas falls on a Tuesday this year, and we usually post a new blog on Tuesday, we thought we'd take a break this coming week. It'll be the first time we have ever skipped a weekly posting since June of 2015. It's rather amazing considering how hectic life can be. The urgency to keep the progressive dialogue going actually keeps us going through illness and major life upheavals. I hope it does you, too. So, enjoy the week off, but remember--the Revolution will be waiting when you return.

Don't forget you can always click on the archive links on the right sidebar (keep scrolling) and read past posts--Christmas or otherwise--from the past 3 1/2 years. There's a lot of material there you might want to catch up on. (Last year's holiday piece was pretty interesting--A Christmas Story--Republican Style.)  Please share it with others on your social media sites. Nothing ticks the establishment off more than progressives sharing information and thought-provoking commentary with each other. Power to the good people--not the naughty corporations!

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Power to the people and not the corporations!

***

This is critical --

Late last week, a conservative U.S. District Court judge in Texas ruled that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. The ruling advances Republican efforts to kill the ACA and strip millions of their lifesaving and necessary care.

This ruling also violates the will of millions of health care voters like you, who sent a strong message in the midterm elections that we won’t stand for any more attempts to sabotage the ACA.

We will NOT let the GOP get away with this -- call your member of Congress and urge them to protect the ACA.

If this disastrous ruling is upheld, more than 17 million people could lose access to their health care coverage in a single year. Even worse, 130 million more Americans with pre-existing conditions would be left without protection.

The ruling is expected to be appealed, and Senate Democrats already have a plan to intervene. Now, Congress needs to know that we won’t stay on the sidelines while our care is ripped away.

Call your Representative and demand that Congress take action to protect the ACA.

Thanks for keeping up the fight,

The Health Care Voter Team

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Tell Congress: "People fleeing violence and poverty in Central America and elsewhere should be treated with humanity and compassion – not face family separation, military troops, or criminalization." ADD YOUR NAME

The United States is full of people whose parents were seeking a better life. My great-grandparents were fleeing Ireland after the potato famine. For all of our faults, America was a beacon to many other parts of the world where people were fleeing violence and poverty.

Donald Trump has tried to snuff that beacon, pulling up the ladder of opportunity behind him, and denying the internationally recognized human right of asylum. He deployed troops to the border and imprisoned children. A 7 year old girl recently died in Border Patrol custody this week after her group of migrants turned themselves in.

That’s not how this is supposed to work. By criminalizing the asylum process, Donald Trump is terrorizing families who are just trying to stay safe. It’s unconscionable.

Sign the petition: Respect the human right to migrate and end militarization at the border.

Instead of responding with compassion, President Trump has deployed thousands of troops, shot tear gas at children, and pursued policies to criminalize all who seek refuge. Trump’s cruel strategy is to create as much danger for families seeking asylum here as they faced at home.

People fleeing violence and poverty in Central America and elsewhere should be treated with humanity and compassion – not face family separation, military troops, or criminalization.

It’s time for Congress to stop funding cruelty against immigrants.

Sign the petition: Respect the human right to migrate and end militarization at the border.

Thank you,
Mike Phelan, Progress America

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A little humorous vignette that makes a good point....