Category Archives: Uncategorized

Ivanka Trump: Worst Daughter

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Having re-styled herself over the years into Malibu Barbie, Ivanka Trump believes anything is possible if you’re wearing the right pair of designer pumps. 

So it was that, older but no wiser than she was when she toddled into the White House on her adoring Daddy’s arm, Ivanka tagged along to Japan for the G-20 Summit Cotillion and North Korean 4th of July Barbecue. 

Little did she suspect that people could be so unkind to such a darling girl as she!  After all, she had her very own tall tube of tooth paste by her side to make her look almost real. 

So life-like!

But even she has to admit that maybe she went a bit too far trying to fill her souvenir photo album with cute candids and quotable quotes.

Now her dream of being the first Princess President seems to be fading into the peach-scented mist that wafts through her blonde vinyl head.  

How COULD those mean old dignitaries give her the frosted shoulder, when she pouted her prettiest and flung her incredibly graceful fingers into all kinds of artful angles of flirtatious expression.

She was sure she used the perfect code words for getting down with a couple of strong lady types: “Grrr …male- dominated… blah-blah-blah…,”  but they just left her standing there looking like a gooseberry.

Ivanka: “It’s so unfair!  I didn’t even get to talk disarmament with Kim…or give hair and makeup tips to  Mrs. May.”

DJT: “Nevermind, Honey; Daddy doesn’t like them very much anyway.  I’ll let you fly the plane a little on the trip home.  Would you like that…huh, Sweetie? 

“…And tell that husband of yours, there’ll be no hanging upside down in the john. It just scares the heck out of me every time!”

“Let’s go home, kids!”

I Can’t Watch.

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‘Can’t watch, I say.

Seems like Joe Biden has just barely entered the 2020 presidential race and already I can’t bear to watch him in action.   It’s too painful: like waiting for someone to finish a very old joke that they tell very badly.

I will, of course, support him if he is the ultimate nominee, as any sane person would; but the thought of having to watch his fossilized attempts to walk-back three decades of mis-step and mis-speak for the next year-and-a-half makes me instinctively reach for the remote.

The mere fact that he would be running against the most dishonest, most venal and most corrupt president in living memory will only slightly dampen my distaste at the spectacle of the Democrat’s least inspiring candidate feebly hoisting the banner for progressive reform.

If it has taught me nothing else, the continued popularity of Donald Trump has once and for all quashed any delusion I had of the fundamental common sense of the American people.  The fact that Joe Biden is ten points ahead of any other comers in the most recent polls just reinforces that point.

It’s as if we are being held at gunpoint by the pollsters who are telling us to disobey our nobler instincts and elevate the guy who would be least objectionable to the phalanx of assorted bigots, misogynists and toxic greed-o-philes who comprise Donald Trump’s miserable margin.

Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t think Joe Biden belongs in that stew of misanthropes.  It’s just that he is “old school;” and the checkered political past that dogs his primary path is seen as a feature, not a bug, by some of those who might otherwise fall for Donald Trump’s sour “sweet talk” once again.  And, if that is all it takes to defeat Donald Trump, I’m in.

But is it?  If his performance at last night’s debate is anything to judge by, Biden may no longer have the stuffin’ to withstand a pummeling by the Meanest Man on Earth.

In fact, over the past two days, it was the women more than anyone else who impressed.  Of course that is just my husband’s and my opinion, but I have a feeling that there is an unspoken fear that any female candidate will be “HIllaried” in a match-up with Trump.  

There is ample evidence from recent public apathy in the face of attack after attack on women’s civil rights and credible rape and assault allegations against Donald Trump and others within his sphere, that women’s status in America is actually declining after more than a century of upward trajectory. You can thank those hypocrites in the male-dominated “Christian” Right for that stone in our collective shoe.

But Kamala Harris is NOT Hillary Clinton.  Elizabeth Warren is NOT Hillary Clinton.  Kirstin Gillibrand is NOT Hillary Clinton.  Amy Klobuchar is NOT Hillary Clinton.  Tulsi Gabbard is NOT Hillary Clinton.  And  Marianne Williams is NOT…well, I don’t know exactly who she is, but she is certainly NOT Hillary Clinton.

In fact, none of them is anything like Hillary Clinton: not in personal history, nor in political experience.

And Democrats have plenty more compelling women candidates waiting in the wings.  To name just a few: there are Stacey Abrams, Jennifer Granholm and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.

So it’s time for Democratic handicappers to grow a pair and stop thinking out-loud: “we tried a woman and we LOST!”  

I am so glad that 94-year-old Jimmy Carter is still around to say unequivocally what no one else seems to want to say: Donald Trump didn’t legitimately win the presidency.  Even if no effort has been made so far to quantify the impact of Russian interference on the election outcome, ample evidence exists suggesting it could have been considerable.  That, on top of the fact that Hillary Clinton received three-million more votes than did Donald Trump, pretty much puts a lie to the “We tried a woman and she lost.” argument.

I’m a big ol’ fan of Bernie Sanders and a number of the other men look like exciting prospects, too; but my money is on the women, whom the Democrats overlook at their…and our…own peril.

Red state/blue state vegetable poll

National, Uncategorized

I have been keeping away from early polling of the two dozen Democratic presidential primary candidates. If the truth be told I really can’t wait for the Democratic primaries to be done and the general election battle with Trump to begin.

But for now take close look (just to stay in practice) at the annual Green Giant poll of American’s favorite vegetables.

More than 5,000 consumers, from age 13 to 73, took the frozen/canned vegetables company’s survey, and broccoli placed first in 39 states. The results were released in connection with National Eat Your Vegetables Day, June 17, according to a news release.

Some interesting findings from the survey, which was open-ended, letting consumers choose any vegetable:

  • What’s up, Idaho?: Potatoes ranked first only in Arkansas, a loss of four states from last year;
  • Et tu, Iowa?: Of the 7 states choosing corn, Iowa wasn’t included. (Yes, sweet corn and field corn are vastly different, but still …);
  • No juicers? Despite the juicing craze that’s boosted celery prices to new heights, the fad didn’t elevate the stalk to the top in any state;
  • No CUKES!: Cucumbers did not carry a single state, unlike in 2018, when New Mexico and Louisiana residents chose them above other vegetables; and
  • The “orange” candidate: Nevada and North Dakota opted for carrots;
  • Welcome to the club: Asparagus led Alaska polling, and cauliflower was the favorite in Montana, the first times for both vegetables.

The survey, conducted through Suzy, a company that offers an online consumer insights platform, took place April 26-May 10, according to the release.

Time will tell but it may prove significant come November that celery couldn’t translate its popular fad into votes. Eh, I mean sales at grocery stores

Revive the Equal Rights Amendment

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In light of current attacks on a woman’s right to choose, it’s time to revisit the Equal Rights Amendment;  which, contrary to common assumptions, was not ratified and adopted by all of the states more than thirty years ago.  Had we gotten the job done right in the 1970’s and ’80’s, women would not now be facing the sweeping assaults on reproductive health that have scourged Alabama, Missouri, Georgia, and Louisiana…with other states waiting in the wings to do their worst. 

It is now necessary to replace and update it with language to protect people of all gender variations.

As the largest reliable voting block, it is also time for women to band together, applying their own “litmus test” to anyone, male or female, who seeks to represent them in government.

Here is a list of positions, vis-a-vis women’s rights, that I am looking for in a candidate:

. In all reproductive matters, a woman has full ownership of her own body and therefore the inalienable right to choose.   The relegation of what is a highly individual and painful ethical and moral decision to a crass engine of shifting political self-interest is an outrage against humanity. 

. She has the right to equal pay for equal labor, whether mental or physical.

. She has the right to equal opportunity.

. She has the right to say ‘no’ to anyone, even an insistent spouse.  If her refusal is not respected, the state has a duty to believe her unless there is persuasive evidence to the contrary.  

Violations of this right are by nature so intimate and humiliating for the victim, that it may be impossible to prove “beyond a doubt” that the violation has occurred.  For this reason, I believe a different standard of proof should apply for such crimes; but the penalty for deliberately misrepresenting an assault claim should be equally severe for the claimant as it would be for an assailant, since  such a misrepresentation is as injurious to victims as a whole as would be an actual assault.

. No law governing the behavior of women exclusively should be enforceable unless it has been formally ratified by a body comprised of at least 50% female members.

Despite the fact that we represent more than half the population, woman are so severely underrepresented in elected and appointed government positions that we are in effect a defacto minority group.

Nothing has more vividly illustrated this injustice than the passage of Alabama’s draconian anti-choice law without the vote of a single female legislator.

We can no longer hold up the United States as a beacon of democracy and social justice when we surrender women’s reproductive rights to what amounts to a “Christian” Taliban.

Joe Biden is not the answer

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Democrats need to think outside of the box.

Joe Biden is not the answer.

He’s a nice man but he is too old, too encumbered by establishment political history, and slow to admit his own mistakes.  I wish he would take himself out of the running, because we have played this scene before.

We can do better.

If there is any overarching lesson to take away from the perilous state of our union, it is that old assumptions and conventional wisdom can no longer be relied upon.  The same must be said about polls, focus groups, handicapping and other tools of the political trade.

There’s no such thing as a sure thing in topsy turvy Trumpland, where he is still fully capable of criminal election meddling in full sight.

Don’t pick a candidate based on what Pennsylvania might do. If the people of Pennsylvania can’t figure out that ANY candidate is better than Donald Trump, even after two years of his venomous lies and letdowns, the disease has progressed too far and the patient will die.

Democrats are just too polite and rational.  They think that the problem in 2016 was that Hillary wasn’t “relatable.”  The idea is that Biden will dish-out some of his blue collar B.S. and Trump’s base of noble working men will come a-running.

Bullshit. 

Trump’s faithful base is a white supremacist soup of religious haters, woman haters, brown haters  and repressed homophobes.  Democrats should not be offering anything that would  win their votes.  

I grew up in the 1950’s, in a lower middle-class household, in a blue-collar neighborhood.  Both of my parents had to work, because they thought they had to send us to Catholic school and otherwise couldn’t afford to do so.  They scraped and they struggled throughout their lives and never took a nickel in public assistance until the blessed relief of Social Security and Medicare kicked in;  but they NEVER looked down their noses at those who did, and they taught us tolerance and progressive values despite being given every opportunity to be bitter and resentful.

If my parents could be kind of heart and generous of mind, there is no excuse for the poisonous attitude that seems to have possessed the Trump base.

I’m tired of hearing that Democrats have to somehow “win over” those misanthropes, just as I am tired of seeing the outstanding women in the race treated as if they shouldn’t aspire beyond Vice-President, and the one proud Democratic Socialist, relegated to a sidebar, despite the fact that he stubbornly refuses to slip away from the top polling positions and his central ideas spring from the few really good public policies that we all depend upon.

If we don’t strive to be better than this, we deserve what we get.  

Put Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris on the debate platform opposite Donald Trump and be done with it.  Was there ever a more important moment to take a courageous stand?

After the dust clears, if we still have a “United States of America” maybe we’ll finally have the guts to mandate public funding for elections, eliminate special interest funding, put some guardrails on the presidency, and really do something about the environment.

If we can’t do that, what is the bloody point?

Speak Out Against Nuclear Weapons in Vermont

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It’s time to go there again:  the F-35 fighter jet should not be based at Burlington airport.

There are so many reasons why not:  

.There is a statistically high crash potential for new aircraft, like the F-35, that have minimal flight hours logged…anywhere.  Crashes are more likely to occur right after takeoff than at any other point in a flight.  That would make the immediate Burlington area the most likely  location for a crash.

.Burlington’s urban population lives in close proximity to the airport.  All of the other locations considered for this siting were appropriately situated away from civilian populations.  Burlington should never even have been in the running.

.Lake Champlain has a sensitive ecosystem which may be negatively impacted by the daily activity of F-35’s departing and returning to Burlington Airport.  Sophisticated new radar systems may represent additional disruptions for wildlife.

.Despite promises to the contrary, there is every reason to expect that the sound of the F-35’s will be significantly more disturbing than that of F-16’s currently in use.

.Any advanced weapons system represents a potential target to enemies of the U.S.  Burlington will be at the center of that target once the F-35 is located there.

.As was long suspected, we are learning that the F-35 will be nuclear capable.  Despite assurances to the contrary,  if the F-35 is deployed to Burlington airport, sooner or later, nuclear weapons will be onboard.  Nevermind the moral implications of a nuclear Burlington; it’s not difficult to imagine the risk involved for all of Vermont.

We can no longer trust cooler heads to prevail.

HR 7 is a House Resolution to preemptively ban nuclear weapons in Vermont.  So far, the Resolution has not been voted out of the General, Housing and Military Affairs Committee.

It’s time for every concerned Vermonter to call the Sergeant at Arms at (802) 828-2228 and tell him to pass a message on your behalf to Rep. Tom Stevens, the Committee Chair, that you want him to bring HR 7 up for discussion, and to please vote for it.

If you’ve been feeling a little powerless lately, this is your chance to make a difference.  Your voice can still be heard in Montpelier; so sing out loud, before it’s too late.

An Intervention

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Scan 3Custodial Care interview #3: Eric Trump

Interviewer:  So, Mr. Trump you believe your father could benefit from placement in our facility?

ET:  Yes, I do; he’s lost it. Totally.

Interviewer: I see.  Could you elaborate for me?

ET:  Well, he’s always been a little long on fantasy and short on the truth…like when me and Donnie and Vannie were little and he promised us a dog.  I mean he PROMISED us!  Still waiting for that dog, man.

Interviewer:  I’m sorry to hear that; but what has he done recently to raise your concerns?

ET:  What hasn’t he done?  He’s got that damn iPhone, you know; and we can’t peel him away from it.  Last weekend he locked himself in the bathroom for three hours and just let fly.  Not a word of truth…just the biggest whoppers you ever heard!  He lies like a million times a day!

Interviewer:  What about your siblings? Can’t they do anything to make him stop?  I hear that sister of yours can really get around him.  And Don Jr.;  what about him?

ET:  Junior?  Don’t make me laugh.  His voice gets higher every time he talks to Dad.  He wants so bad to be a chip off the ol’ block that we call him “Mini Me.”  But Dad is one of a kind: a gold-plated swaggering sonofabitch who believes his own bullshit.  That’s a hard act to follow. Donnie’s brand of bullshit just makes him stink, and he knows it.  Smells like desperation.  No wonder his wife showed him the door.  I hear she’d had enough even before he started fooling  around with Little Miss Paparazzi Bait.

Interviewer:  Your sister then; surely, she has some influence…

ET:  Pu-leaase!!  All she can manage is to get more for her.  Of course it works both ways. Vanny’s got more plastic on her than a Barbie doll. She was always his favorite, but she knew she better be picture perfect or he might drop her like he did our Ma…and Tiff’s Ma…and those three Ukranian house maids we had over at the Tower.  

She’s Daddy’s little girl, alright, but even she can’t make him behave.  And that goonie husband of hers…

Interviewer: Jared?

ET:  Yeah, Jared…Mr. Know-it-all Asshole.  “Why can’t you be like Jared??”  “Jared is smart.” “Jared’s going to make my Saudi hotel finally happen.”  “Jared’s got the Sheik’s ear.”  I am so sick of him!  I really hoped he’d end up in jail like his dear ol’ dad…  

Interviewer: Yes, I see you have issues with a lot of family members,  but we’re really here to discuss your father.  What makes you think he needs custodial care?

ET: Well, I downloaded the dementia checklist and he’s got all that, plus a few extra kinks.  He’s selfish and childish. He imagines stuff.  He’s paranoid.  He repeats himself endlessly.  He’s forgotten all but about 250 actual words, which he just repeats louder and louder; and he doesn’t always manage to get even those out in the right order.  He keeps making racist, insulting and just plain crazy remarks, right out loud. I tell you, it’s embarrassing to be out in public with the guy!

Interviewer:  Yes, I see…

ET: You tell him the simplest fact and he says or does just the opposite, as many times as he can.  Like that time he watched the eclipse on the White House lawn.  Everyone told him to wear those special shades, but no, he had to be the big tough guy and stare straight into the sun. He complained for a week about the “sand” in his eyes!

… And they say I’m the dumb one.  What a moron!

Interviewer:  Yes, yes, many people wonder…

ET:  He’s destroying the family businesses…again!! He shouldn’t be allowed near an iPhone.

Interviewer:  …And think of what he’s doing to the nation….

ET:  Screw the nation!  He’s tanking our inheritance.  We’ll all end up working at Walmart.

Interviewer (aside):  Your lips to God’s ear.

Doug Hoffer is just doing his job.

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Apparently Doug Hoffer struck a few nerves when, in his recent op-ed, he attempted to correct  some misconceptions concerning VEGI awards and other economic development incentives.

One of those nerves connected to St. Albans City Manager, Dominic Cloud, who responded very defensively in his own op-ed, which claims that the state auditor is biased against such incentives and therefore unfit to audit these programs.  

Sorry, Mr. Cloud, but that is his job.  

As City Manager, your job and that of everyone on your team is to promote the City and whatever you believe will serve the near-term interests of the City.  Hopefully, those near-term interests will not jeopardize long-term interests, but that is where politics complicate decision-making. 

The job of any business negotiator is to promote the immediate interests of the company, and that includes seizing on any available financial incentive.

The job of the state auditor is to assess, however possible, the net value of state invest

ments wherever they occur.  If the auditor genuinely cares for the interests of the citizenry, he/she goes one step further and attempts to explain the metrics involved in his assessments so that informed voters can do a better job of evaluating the performance of those who hold the purse strings.  Auditor Hoffer is to be applauded for his commitment to truth and transparency, even when that truth may be less flattering than others might hope.

It isn’t his job to be a cheer-leader for the state.  We have plenty of elected and appointed officials who need no coaxing to fill that role.  

We don’t need to look any further than the EB-5 scandal for evidence that incentive programs can be abused.  We need only look a little further back to remember when the Milton TIF went off the rails.

We need the cold hard gaze of an unromantic number cruncher like Doug Hoffer to offset

the overly rosy picture of opportunity that local politicians are inclined to paint.

What Mr. Hoffer is reminding us is that these economic incentive programs may look like easy wins; but the devil is in the details, of which we often have an insufficient grasp.  Outlining some of those considerations for taxpayers to weigh may look like “bias” to Mr. Cloud.  To me, it looks like responsible stewardship and an auditor’s job well-done.

Could it be that Mr. Cloud is trying to throw a little shade on Hoffer in anticipation that the   audit of St. Albans’s TIF will prove unfavorable?

We need a statewide Council on Senior Mobility

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It’s been a thoroughly harrowing winter. That, and an approaching big birthday, got me to thinking… 

We regularly hear moans about Vermont’s “aging population;” but little innovation is undertaken to improve the experience of old age  for those who either will not or cannot choose to simply move away.

Gone for good is the tradition that advanced age brings wisdom and a valued place at the table.  Having stayed on this earth well beyond their “use-by” date, the elderly grow accustomed to being the butt of the joke in a world where youth and beauty are currency.

Having myself reached that age of permanent embarrassment, I feel well-qualified to propose a statewide Council on Senior Mobility to explore ways to make later life more meaningful and valuable to the community through innovative accessibility solutions.

Yes, there are buses and ride services available to those who require motorized transport; but a large and growing sector of the senior population would prefer to walk or cycle on their daily rounds, both for health and for convenience sake.

Take, for instance, St. Albans City, where I live.  A network of sidewalks link neighborhoods with shops, services and gathering places.  They are admittedly a burden to maintain and not always in top condition; but at least they are available to the determined pedestrian.

Sadly, that amenity disappears at the City boundaries where the Town takes over and there are no sidewalks whatsoever.  All of the large shopping centers and box retailers lie beyond city boundaries and therefore, beyond access by foot traffic.

Anyone choosing to walk or bike along Main St. to those bustling hives of retail commerce is at risk for his or her life.  No quarter is given by motorists for the hapless pedestrian who has invaded “their” roadway.

Priority #1 for the Council on Senior Mobility would be to incentivize Vermont towns and cities to build sidewalks and bikepaths. This would benefit, not just seniors, but all citizens.  Here “incentivize” means to provide generous funding and planning assistance.  Some towns will not see the value of building and maintaining pedestrian infrastructure no matter how it is explained, so there must be a long-term funding commitment by the state to maintenance as well as the initial build.

When local shoppers begin to leave their cars at home, the payoff will come in health benefits to the entire community and reduced costs from illness and accident.

Each community will have slightly different infrastructure needs to address its senior population, but all should plan to make local amenities accessible in all four seasons without the necessity of an automobile.

This means in winter, too.  Snow removal and ice mitigation should be obligatory for any municipality, and state assistance should be available as needed.  Nothing is worse than looking out at a new blanket of heavy snow, realizing you have no choice but to go out to the bank or the post office, and then attempting to guess at a viable pathway to do so.  If the sidewalk hasn’t been plowed, you take your life into your hands to walk down the middle of the street.  If ithe sidewalk has been plowed, you might be tempted down the path, only to slip and fall on the ice lying hidden just beneath the remaining snow.

The end result is that older adults may become winter shut-ins, missing the fresh air, daylight and society that a walk downtown might provide.

So, in Vermont, Priority #2 should be to adequately fund and maintain snow removal and ice mitigation so that any pedestrian of any age might safely use the sidewalks in winter.

Senior Mobility Priority #3 takes the pedestrian equation one step further, to providing and maintaining dedicated bike lanes of a sufficient width to allow a bicycle and an adult tricycle to safely pass one another.  Bike lanes should be signalized and provided with clear signage for maximum safety.

These first three priorities represent a fairly modest wish list, really; but they require a kind of investment Vermonters have been loathe to prioritize. We routinely pay for roads, parking lots and parking garages with only minor grumbling; and don’t imagine for a second that they don’t require even more maintenance investment than sidewalks do.

Priority #4 should be to make more affordable groceries available to the people who really need them;  not just to those with automobiles and living space to accommodate bulk buying.  This isn’t just a concern for seniors but for anyone of any age who has neither the means nor the space to do big box shopping. Thinking along the lines of food shelf organization, communities can make this happen by organizing non-profit group stores where box lots can be broken down for individual purchase, and the bulk savings shared among a pool of single and elderly neighbors.

Priority #5 is to think outside the box.  Mobility of the mind is just as important to senior health and well-being as physical exercise.

If we have to begin addressing our growing elderly demographic and declining youth population,  instead of bemoaning the shift as a loss, perhaps we should grow up and embrace it as an opportunity to explore a new market, adapting some of our old systems to fit that market.

If Vermont’s many small colleges are closing due to enrollment drops, how about opening them up again as Senior Living and Learning campuses?  

We are finding ways to live longer lives, why not make them better quality lives as well?  I would expect there might be quite a market out there among the growing population of people who are long on years but still full of vitality.

Not so very long ago, life was short and brutal, ending normally before age 50.  Now at age 50, there is every possibility that one might live an additional 50 years to age 100 or beyond.  That’s equal to a second lifetime!

Opportunity for the forward-looking state economy lies in identifying what people will want to do with that second lifetime, and what services they will require in order to get the most out of their additional years.  A progressive state like Vermont should see the value of investment in such an innovative economic model.

If we were smart, we would begin to examine Climate Change as an opportunity to positively rebrand Vermont’s four-season reputation.  A lot of people are growing weary of the scorching heat, water shortages and weather dramas that are playing out in America’s traditional retirement states.  

The cup is half-full, not half-empty.  Fill it to the brim with new ideas and innovative ambitions!

Bernie 2020

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Bernie is IN.

How could it be otherwise?  He owns the territory now and knows the terrain.

It was he who created the people-powered funding model in 2016.  

It was he who revived the spirit of democratic socialism that, in the past. has contributed popular programs like Social Security, Medicare and public education, our proudest and most humane domestic achievements. 

…And it was he who graciously and tirelessly supported the ultimate Democratic nominee without looking back.

Those aspirational ideas that are energizing youth and the Democratic base?  Bernie’s been pitching them for years.

Grouchy grandpa persona and all, the working-class core of America really responds to Bernie.

We can vouch for that here in Vermont, where the only prior election he ever lost was a mayoral race in his distant youth.

Before the Hillary folks start grousing that his candidacy cost her the election, they should remind themselves of what really happened: Russian interference and a thoroughly incongruous electoral college.

Those Bernie supporters who failed to get on the Hillary train as it left the station have plenty of soul-searching to do, for sure;  but Bernie is blameless when it comes to that,  and his continued participation in Democratic politics has served to energize and re-purpose the somewhat tired old party to a new, visionary model that appeals to youth and diversity, and recognizes the legitimate challenges Americans face in the twenty-first century if we want our democracy, and indeed our planet, to survive.

Sure he’s old.  So am I.  That doesn’t mean that either of us has nothing more of significance to contribute.  

Perhaps because Donald Trump is such a crazy old man, ageism isn’t getting the righteous attention that other prejudices do.  

The problem with Donald Trump isn’t geriatric dementia; it is a narcissistic dementia that has warped his entire life.  That a third of Americans still support him says more about cracks in the American psyche, regardless of age, than it does about old men in general.

Great experience in public service is a positive, not a handicap, for presidential potential. Look at what gross inexperience and ignorant vanity has cost us in just two years.

I’m going to get enthusiastically behind the nominee, whomever that may be. Without exception, they comprise the most promising field of Democratic hopefuls I can ever remember; an embarrassment of riches.  

It is my hope that before too long, they all come together in a private room to agree to some ground rules and an over-arching message of unity.  From there they can talk about what distinguishes their ideas and qualifications from the rest of the herd; but without descending into negative territory.   We don’t want to aid Donald Trump in his only campaign strategy.