For African-American travelers in the Jim Crow-era South—often journeying from the north to visit relatives who had not joined the Great Migration—an unprepossessing paper-bound travel guide often amounted to a survival kit. The Green Book often functioned as a lifesaver.

Visionary publisher-entrepreneur Victor Green, a Harlem postal carrier, introduced the travel guide in 1937. For blacks denied access to restaurants, hotels and restrooms—and who often risked even greater danger if they were driving after dark—it was an essential resource, listing hundreds of establishments, across the South and the nation, that welcomed African-Americans.

Before the 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawed segregation, the Green Book sold in the millions and was passed from family member to family member. For those who relied on it, it amounted to an essential safety precaution. Today, it is a potent artifact of discrimination.

The Green Book is also the subject of filmmaker Ric Burns’s forthcoming documentary. Burns is exploring the Green Book as a window into history, and into the present, where the experience of driving while black is again at the center of our national conversation. I spoke with Burns about what he’s learned so far in making this film.

HunterHRC2016 ‏@HunterHRC2016 1h1 hour ago

Now @TheDemocrats & @DWStweets who cry about
anti-Semitism are supporting a RACIST JEW

HunterHRC2016 ‏@HunterHRC2016 2h2 hours ago

Bernie Paints A Happy Face On Communism

https://twitter.com/sdzzz/status/706956400035901440 …

@MyRudeOpinion @KasiaMikurda @Alasscan_ @SDzzz

HunterHRC2016 ‏@HunterHRC2016 2h2 hours ago

BERNIE:
"Let's Make A Crooked Deal For A Buck"

https://twitter.com/sdzzz/status/707274833713713152 …

@Luminate_Design @Alasscan_ @SDzzz

HunterHRC2016 ‏@HunterHRC2016 3h3 hours ago

Former East German Exposes Bernie Sanders
https://twitter.com/sdzzz/status/708173340213518336 …

@Luminate_Design
@Alasscan_ @SDzzz

HunterHRC2016 ‏@HunterHRC2016 3h3 hours ago

.@Luminate_Design Has A Copy Of Bernie's Marxist Journal

…Do Share

https://twitter.com/hunterhrc2016/status/705267804556042240 …

@Alasscan_ @SDzzz

HunterHRC2016 ‏@HunterHRC2016 3h3 hours ago

Comrade #JaneSanders Is A Dirty Crook

https://twitter.com/hunterhrc2016/status/705631508543836161 …

@Alasscan_ @Luminate_Design @SDzzz

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.

-Emily Dickinson

A few months ago, I woke up with a “berning” need to join the Bernie Sanders campaign. I had followed the evolution of the revolution because of Bernie’s outstanding climate platform, and I wanted to do more. I canvased in New Hampshire ahead of the primary and interned with the campaign, immersing myself in the “Feel the Bern” movement’s theory of change.

As Bernie’s campaign marched into my life, I could not help but compare its strategies to those of the other cause that dominates my world: the climate movement. Climate organizers have worked for decades to build a mass movement, an effort that produced the largest climate event in US history when 400,000 people marched in 2014 in New York City. Yet within six months of launching his campaign, Bernie had drawn that many people to his rallies. As the climate movement struggles to build electoral power, Bernie has inspired more people than ever to vote and engage with the political process. Up close and personal, I learned that America’s new political uprising and its leader offer invaluable lessons for climate activists.

1. Shared vision: The Sanders campaign revolves around a unified, concrete, and identifiable vision defined in the platforms on Bernie’s website. People can easily understand the values and objectives of Bernie’s political revolution. When it comes to climate change, for example, the senator envisions a country in which we “reclaim our democracy from the billionaire fossil fuel lobby.”

In contrast, the climate movement does not have a unified vision for the future other than a general imperative to avoid climate catastrophe. This makes it confusing for outsiders and even those within the movement to understand exactly what we are fighting for. Some organizations, including a few of the “Big Greens,” support natural gas as a bridge fuel. Yet more and more groups reject natural gas, citing health and environmental risks. Each approach represents different values and futures. Can the climate movement create clarity by rallying around a common vision?

You may have seen the commercials for Men’s Wearhouse, the dress clothes retailer, which end with the bearded CEO promising , “you’re going to like the way you look. I guarantee it.” But you almost certainly haven’t seen the ad for Congressmen’s Wearhouse… until now !

Because Congressmen’s Wearhouse (CMW) doesn’t exist, a least technically speaking. But a parody video from Big Bad Boris, satirizes the purchasing of politicians, and foresees a day when the falling price of candidates ushers in a whole new way of campaign-financing– cut-rate candidates for the budget-conscious consumer!

The mission of CMW is clear: “At Congressmen’s Warehouse, you don’t have to be a billionaire to buy a candidate. We welcome your dark money no matter what denomination it comes in,” including bitcoins, Apple Pay and unmarked singles. 2016 has seen the rise of crowdfunding (Bernie) and self-funding (Trump) as alternatives to the super pac. Congressmen’s Warehouse offers another alternative – niche-funding or personalized pandering. Now every citizen can buy their own candidate, selecting from a ready-made set of memes, dog whistles and hidden agendas to advance their interests and obsessions.

The infinite number of ways you can build a complicated Rube Goldberg machine makes it infinitely fascinating to watch them run. Even when they’re built from tiny watch parts like this Seiko creation, and are so small they can easily squeeze onto a table, instead of filling a massive warehouse.



It’s a little disappointing that occasionally there’s some human intervention required to keep this Rube Goldberg contraption running. But it’s understandable when some of the 1,200 mechanical watch parts used are smaller than a millimeter in size. At that scale, even gravity needs a helping hand.