Welcome to Bay Area for Bernie Week in Review No. 3! This was the week that my unread email counter officially broke 6,000. This is one of those good news-bad news situations. The good news is that many of those emails are coming from people who are feeling the Bern. The bad news is that I have 6,000 unread email messages. This raises the always timely question: What’s wrong with me?
But enough about my ghastly email habits. Here’s Bernie’s week in review:
Number of the Week: 300. That’s how many showed up for a Bernie rally in Alabama, bless its heart. Now, I’m not saying that folks in Bay Area for Bernie were jealous (and I will also note that we had room for only 100 people at our last public meeting), but I will say this: Alabama, you’re on notice. Three hundred is going to look like peanut shells compared to our next meeting. It’s on. Let’s rumble. Line-of-death-at-high-noon-style.
Hero of the Week: This week there are two, and they’re connected: Sarah Robinson and Mark Engravalle. Robinson fought for her children, and Engravalle decided to fight alongside her. It’s appropriate to ask at this juncture whether the wealthiest country on earth should produce these stories.
Quote of the Week: “I must confess, you have an astonishingly good idea there, Doctor.” Give us them inter-party debates!
Second number of the week: 284,000. That’s how many people have donated to the Bernie campaign. According to his email blast, that’s more donors than any other candidate. The New York Times has a nifty interactive chart. We’re rocking the small donor chart, folks – keep up the good work.
Offensively Patronizing Characterization of My Age Cohort of the Week: “Sanders’s grooming habits are a key part of his charm.” The only part of this sentence I go along with is the stylistic decision to include the possessive s, and I can’t even attribute that to the author – it was likely a copy editor (because copy editors rock). I can’t wait until my generation is no longer interesting to commentators, which, if I understand politics correctly, should happen at around age 65.
Self-Righteously Angry Post of the Week: “But the Times has long since ceased to be ‘the paper of record’ in this country, which no longer has a paper (or any media) of record.” I should note that I don’t necessarily agree with the author – “journalistic malpractice” is not a word I fling around lightly – but the post is delightful to read. A searing indictment, one might say, if one were addicted to clichés.
Horribly Depressing Pet Issue of the Week: I’ve randomly come across a whole bunch of commentary on the criminal justice system in general and the death penalty in particular this week. Here are my top three recs:
– 12 myths about the criminal justice system. This comes with an embarrassing admission: I take great pleasure in reading libertarian blogs. Maybe I just like self-righteous anger in all its forms. The Volokh Conspiracy blog, my favorite, is serializing an essay by a conservative judge who has spent his years on the bench witnessing the travesty that is the American criminal justice system and who, apparently, has finally had enough. Would other conservatives come to the same conclusion.
– Federal public defender talks about his work. Oral Argument is a great podcast but also a reminder that the FCC needs to pass a rule limiting banter in podcasts. Skip to 11:46, unless you have a burning desire to know what the host’s mother thinks about how guests should be introduced. After a whole lot of insufferable jocular nonsense comes a fascinating and deeply disturbing glimpse into how the death penalty operates.
– “Revenge Killing” in the New Yorker. DO NOT read this in the morning or at any time when you want to feel happy.
The Latest Underestimation Made By Whoever Schedules Venues: Seriously. Come on. Get it together.
What’s Next: Too much to list here. We’re trying to keep up with all of the events happening around the Bay and sponsored by eight local groups. The next big date is July 29, a Wednesday, when Bernie is encouraging local meetups. Send us a note if you’d like to hear about local house parties, and check out our events list. Also, make sure to keep an eye on the Netroots Nation in Phoenix. Our man will be there on Saturday morning.
Enjoy your weekend, folks, and #feelthebern!
– chris.
The header image is adapted from “Netroots Nation 2015: Border Delegation tour” by Flickr user yashmori, licensed under Creative Commons License CC BY-NC 2.0.