Tuesday, July 26, 2016
"Any objective observer will conclude that, based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States," Sanders told a capacity crowd at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. "The choice is not even close."
It was a message some Sanderistas still weren't ready to hear. Throughout the first night of the Democratic Party confab — even during their candidate's primetime address — a small number of them jeered Clinton whenever her name was uttered.
Sanders acknowledged their heartache and confessed that he shared it.
"I understand that many people here in this convention hall and around the country are disappointed about the final results of the nominating process," he said. "I think it's fair to say that no one is more disappointed than I. But to all of our supporters, here and around the country, I hope you take enormous pride in the historical accomplishments we have achieved."
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Monday, July 25, 2016
At a rally an hour earlier, Sanders delegates had booed the senator when he uttered presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's name. But Weaver said he didn't expect the episode to repeat itself when the convention formally began.
"There were a lot of other people besides our delegates in the room today, so it was not clear to me who it was that was doing it," Weaver said of the booing. "But I expect all of our delegates to handle themselves with decorum inside the Wells Fargo Center."
Asked whether he worried Sanders supporters would refrain from supporting Clinton, the Highgate and St. Albans native said, "No, I think people in the end will realize the danger that [Republican nominee] Donald Trump poses."
Watch the video here:
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The moment of disunity came as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) gave a pre-convention pep talk to an electrified crowd of delegates at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. After celebrating the successes of his insurgent presidential campaign, the senator from Vermont turned his attention to the general election.
"We have got to defeat Donald Trump!" he shouted. "And we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine!"
The crowd erupted in a chorus of boos that lasted for close to a minute. Sanders raised his right arm in an effort to quiet his most fervent supporters.
"Brothers and sisters," he started. "Brothers and sisters, this is — this is the real world that we live in. Trump is a bully and a demagogue."
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , DNC 2016 , presidential campaign , Hillary Clinton , delegates , Philadelphia , Recommended Reading , Image , Web Only
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said Sunday she would resign her chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee at the conclusion of the party's convention this week in Philadelphia.
The move came as party leaders sought to quell an uproar over leaked DNC emails suggesting that committee staffers had undermined Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) presidential campaign. In one internal email, released Friday by WikiLeaks, DNC chief financial officer Brad Marshall asked two other party officials whether the organization could "get someone" to ask Sanders about his faith — an apparent effort to hurt his electoral chances in Kentucky and West Virginia.
Speaking Sunday morning on CNN's "State of the Union," Sanders called the emails "outrageous," but "not a great shock to me."
"I mean, there's no question, to my mind, and I think no question to any objective observer's mind, that the DNC was supporting [presumptive Democratic nominee] Hillary Clinton — was in opposition to our campaign," he said. "So I'm not quite shocked by this."
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Thursday, July 21, 2016
"But it often takes time for the state capital to catch up to public opinion," says Braden, who founded Gun Sense Vermont after the December 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
Now, with less than three weeks remaining before Vermont's gubernatorial primary, one candidate is staking her candidacy on the controversial issue. In a television advertisement released Wednesday, Democrat Sue Minter ties firearms to domestic violence and pledges to take on "the gun lobby."
"We need to keep guns away from domestic abusers and require background checks on all gun sales," she says.
It may not be the riskiest strategy in a Democratic primary. The Castleton Polling Institute found last February that 97 percent of Democrats support universal background checks. Even independents and Republicans overwhelmingly support the concept, the poll concluded.
Tags: Sue Minter , Peter Galbraith , Matt Dunne , Ann Braden , Evan Hughes , gun control , universal background checks , election 2016 , primary 2016 , Image , Video , Web Only
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) brought his insurgent presidential campaign to a close Tuesday morning and offered a robust endorsement to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Standing beside her in a Portsmouth, N.H., high school gymnasium, Sanders thanked his supporters for delivering more votes, states and delegates “than almost anyone thought we could win.”
“But it is not enough to win the nomination,” he conceded. “Secretary Clinton has won the Democratic nomination.”
The campaigns worked hard to project a message of unity, hanging blue and white banners throughout the gym reading “Stronger Together.” The candidates emerged together, waved to audience members and stood arm in arm, whispering to one another.
But they were quickly reminded of the deep divisions that marked their protracted campaign. Sanders supporters held his campaign placards aloft and chanted his name. Some booed when he announced his endorsement — and at least a dozen walked right out of Portsmouth High School. Others in the crowd responded with cheers of “Hillary!” and “Unity!”
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Monday, July 11, 2016
Sterling, 37, was killed early Tuesday morning in Baton Rouge, La. Castile, 32, was fatally shot after being pulled over for a broken taillight outside of St. Paul, Minn. Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, narrated the aftermath of his shooting via Facebook Live, with her 4-year-old daughter sitting in the car's back seat.
The Champlain Area NAACP, a local chapter of the civil rights organization founded in 1909, organized the event. The Vermont chapter was established in July 2015 under the leadership of president Mary Brown-Guillory. The vigil was also a call to action. Many who turned out on a rainy evening held Black Lives Matter signs.
At a Dallas demonstration against the shootings on Thursday, an African American army veteran shot and killed five police officers. In response, Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo suspended Burlington officer's solo patrols.
Brown-Guillory spoke to the Burlington crowd, as did others, including Pastor Mark Demers of Burlington's First United Methodist Church. One young man recited his poem, "For Trayvon," which included a call-and-response recitation of names of African Americans killed by police.
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Citing unnamed sources, multiple news organizations have reported since late last week that Sanders is expected to endorse Clinton at the unity event. His campaign did not respond to several requests for comment.
The joint appearance comes more than five weeks after Clinton locked up the Democratic presidential nomination. It follows a tense weekend in Orlando, Fla., where delegates for both candidates hammered out a final draft of the party's platform.
Calling it "the most progressive platform in party history," Sanders' campaign declared victory on several planks it supported — most notably a commitment to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. The senator lost another high-profile fight: to enshrine opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal in the platform.
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Friday, July 8, 2016
During the 30 minutes the tower was unmanned, the Federal Aviation Administration's Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center took over directing the airspace, FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac told Seven Days.
A fire alarm signal around 8:30 a.m. prompted a response by the Vermont Air National Guard's on-site 158th CEF/Fire & Emergency Services and the South Burlington Fire Department. The tower was cleared as firefighters searched for what triggered the alarm, which turned out to be a "very minor refrigerant condition involving the air-conditioning system in an isolated part of the building," South Burlington fire Capt. Sacha LaScala said.
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Wednesday, July 6, 2016
The image, which Trump posted to Twitter on Saturday and later deleted, has been widely described as anti-Semitic. It featured presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton next to a six-pointed star with the words, "Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!" set against a backdrop of hundred-dollar bills. The news organization Mic traced the image to an internet message board for a group of what it called "neo-Nazis, anti-Semites and white supremacists."
"There's nothing wrong with using the Star of David, but in this context it sounds like it was used completely inappropriately," said Lisman, who is Jewish, adding that he was "glad to hear" that Trump had removed the image. "I don't think anyone should be using extremist groups as a source, and you know how I feel about anti-Semitism."
Milne, who is challenging Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), called Trump's move "a poor decision" and said it was "inappropriate to dance around the edges of the Ku Klux Klan or anti-Semitism."
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