Bernie Sanders was coming to Palo Alto. I heard about it on the radio. I saw lots of friends saying "I'm going to go!" on Facebook. No charge to get in. I had to go and see what was up. When I got there the first thing I had to run was a gauntlet of tables selling Bernie buttons and shirts. The buttons give you a good idea of the threads of our culture he's working on developing.

I got one of the Birdie buttons. Cost me $5.

     

Then I had to go through security. That meant leaving my water bottle behind. The policy was "nothing that can be used as a weapon." Felt like I was getting on an airplane, except I didn't have to take off my shoes.

The crowd was huge. For an hour or two it was just us hanging out in the hot sun. No problem. Lots of people there I hadn't seen for ages. Lots of people there I've never met before. Had a great time. Then this singer came out. I remember him doing that Bob Marley song with the line "Stand up for your rights!" and Prince's Purple Rain.

     

Finally the speakers started. By this time there were a lot of people on that artificial soccer field.

     

I think this woman was the local organizer that had made this event possible. She was "feeling the Bern!" for sure.

Lenny Siegal told us that he'd just gotten a picture from his son in Bern, Switzerland. It featured the guy "Feeling the Bern!" and mailing in his absentee ballot for next Tuesday's California primary.

     

She's Tulsi Gabbard, the Congresswoman from Hawaii. She got elected as an Iraq war veteran. She called it "a crazy war" and said it should never have happened. She has faith that if we elect Bernie he'll make such stupid wars of choice a thing of the past.

     

The crowd loved it.

Then Bernie came up wearing a Golden State Warriors cap. He gave what was clearly a well rehearsed stump speech. He plans to pay for free college with a tax on Wall St. He thinks it's shameful the way the the millions of illegal aliens in the USA are exploited. He wants a path to citizenship for them. He thinks a single payer healthcare system is the right thing to do.

He talked about how Black Lives Matter, and how we need prison reform. There are simply too many black and brown people serving too many years for victimless crimes like smoking marijuana. He gave a nod to the many ways Native Americans have left their mark on our culture and wants the U.S. Govt. to honor our treaties with them.

        

He talked about marijuana law reform. By this time we'd been in the sun so long some were getting that pink "feeling the burn" look.

He finished by pointing out that in polls he does much better against Trump than Hillary. He also pointed out that in every state where there was huge voter turnout he'd won the primary. He urged all of us to vote on or before next Tuesday. He's sure that "If we win big on Tuesday there is a clear path to the nomination and the Oval Office." It all comes down to getting everybody that can to check by his name in the voting booth.

     

After the speech lots of organizing was happening around me. People were signing up to walk precincts and phone bank.

Dora was excited to say that she shook his hand. She said she told him "housing is going up too fast and we are getting priced out of our homes." She said he said "I know, I know."