#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

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

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