Bruce Lindner
2 hrs · Milwaukie, OR ·

~ Things I've Learned This Week ~

• The Boy Scouts of America had to formally apologize for the behavior of one of their guests: The President of the United States. A first in the history of the organization. Just let that roll around inside your head for a minute.

• Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the replacement for the recently departed and now lamented Sean Spicer, presented a hand written letter purportedly scribed by a nine year old boy named Dylan, but goes by the name of "Pickles." Dylan remains anonymous. And the letter itself appeared to be written by someone in their twenties feigning how a developmentally disabled nine year old might write. The White House press room was uh ... unconvinced. It has since been revealed that VP Mike Pence has a cat named Pickles.

• Trump wakes up, grabs his iPhone, and tweets his latest dig at Barack Obama's legacy: No more transgender Americans will be accepted in the US Armed Forces. He didn't bother to inform anyone about this in advance, not even his SecDef. He just did it. It evolved from: Brain fart > tweet > Pentagon bewilderment > outrage > Chairman of Joint Chiefs saying > ignore this deranged fool > status quo. Or as it's known during the era of Trump, just another day.

• Sen. Lisa Mirkowski of Alaska didn't vote per the White House's agenda, so the administration literally threatened to take it out on the people of her state. Get in line, and you'll get a lollipop. Wander off, and energy, infrastructure, job programs will be denied to the citizens of your state. This is exactly how the Mafia works.

• And speaking of the Mafia, Trump brought his new muscle to the White House, in the form of Anthony Scaramucci. Less than one week in, and moms and dads across the country have been adjusting the language settings on their televisions. Scaramucci was given explicit orders from The Don; shake things up. Pit my people against one-another. Put everything you've got into hitting my Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus. Scaramucci's tweets and subsequent interview with (I believe) the New Yorker were raunchy enough to embarrass a longshoreman. Reaction for them moral values voters and Evangelicals who brought Trump to power? Crickets. We're good.

• Three Republican Senators, Sasse of Nebraska, Grassley of Iowa and Graham of South Carolina, all told the president that any attempt to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller will result in a revolt within his own party. There's legislation being drafted today to strengthen oversight between the Oval Office's authority and the Trump/Russia investigation... by a Republican!

• And speaking of Trump/Russia... while all of the above has been exploding, Bob Mueller rolls along. Like a steamroller with one speed (and the biggest muffler EVER), he and his team plod along in total silence, interviewing, subpoenaing and investigating. The difference this week, is they now have the full endorsement of several Senators who were until recently, too timid to speak out. That has changed.

• The bill to sanction Russia for their ongoing meddling in American policy passed the Senate by a vote of 98 to 2, setting the stage for a presidential quandary. "What should I do now? And how will I explain this to my boss, Vlad?" Oh, the humanity! Putin promises to retaliate. As Rachel Maddow says: Watch this space.

• Did somebody mention Rachel Maddow? Huuuuge kudos to her, to Chris Hayes and to Lawrence O'Donnell! For the first time ever, they've taken MSNBC across the ratings line for an entire week. First place, supplanting Fox News. Gosh, could it be that after 6 months of off-the-charts incompetence and corruption, there's a wave of buyer's remorse going on? And some former Trump supporters want to hear the news unfiltered through Sean Hannity's ass for a change? Let's hope.

• And then IT happened. After some 81 attempts to destroy Barack Obama's signature legislation; ObamaCare, literally tens of thousands of man-hours, millions of tax-payer's dollars wasted, the Senate said NO. The current President, whose number one campaign promise was to "repeal and replace ObamaCare," took to Twitter and blamed it on everyone but his own failed leadership.

• Finally—and not a moment too soon—John McCain earned his moniker. The #Maverick stepped up to the plate this morning, and reminded us... including those of us who had our doubts, that he DOES have the courage of his convictions. It was his vote this morning that scuttled McConnell's bill. McCain's epitaph will have many pluses and minuses, but this one... THIS ONE will be the vote that will outlive us all. And he did it with full knowledge that his party leadership bristled as he did it. If there was ever any doubt about his heroism before, there isn't this morning.

As for ObamaCare? We're all "Socialists" now!

Bruce Lindner
9 hrs · Milwaukie, OR ·

An interesting thing has been happening. I'm sure you've noticed it too. The "Never Trump" movement is merging into the mainstream. For those who don't know who the Never Trumpers are, they're the Republicans who opposed Trump before, during, after the election, and continue to do so to this day. Republican stalwarts like David Frum, Steve Schmidt, Ana Navarro, Bill Kristol and Rick Wilson.

Even my Republican pal that I argue with via email is starting to get a little wobbly in his love for Trump. For the past year, he's been a true believer. He even wears the MAGA hat on his Facebook profile picture. But lately, he says he "wants to look forward," and not dwell on the Boy Scouts incident, the ObamaCare fiasco, etc. Nothing to see there, after all... just more unpatriotic liberals trying to bring him down. But he finished up with this: "Bruce, I'm surprised at you. I figured you'd be happy to see that Trump's been replacing all his key people with Democrats."

And late last night, Joe Scarborough, who until just last month was a lifelong Republican, tweeted this: "There are no Republicans around Donald Trump and why should there be? He supported Hillary and Schumer and was a Democrat until he was 65."

Not so fast there guys. Donald Trump at his core is neither a Republican or a Democrat. He's a Trumpian. He's in it for himself. As for party allegiance, he's flip-flopped back and forth between them, between the issues, and between the tenets of each party's agenda for fifty years.

But let's be clear on this. To my Republican friends, whether true believers or late to the party Never Trumpers, you *own* this man. He's as connected to you as if he were your Siamese twin. He's registered as a Republican. He campaigned in the Republican primaries. He participated in the Republican debates. He funneled millions into Republican down-ticket races. He married himself to the Republican Party megaphone, Fox News. He ran AGAINST the Democratic candidate. And on Election Day 2016, a plurality of white, mostly blue-collar, rural, REPUBLICANS elected him. And of the "faith and values" crowd, 80% of them didn't so much as flinch when it came to pulling the lever for the man who boasted about sexual assault.

So nice try, but no cigar. Donald Trump isn't just a textbook conservative, he's one who's pushed right-wing values to every despot's fantasy: Fascism. And since fascism is the antipode to liberal ideology, that's yet more proof that your claim of Trump being secretly left-leaning is absurd on its face.

It's already been said by some historians that Trump will go down as one of our worst, if not THE worst president ever. (Let's hope we never endure anyone worse than him). But I'd take it a step further. In my opinion, with the exception of convicted rapists and murderers, etc., he's one of the worst PEOPLE in American history. He's as flawed a human being as I can imagine. He's a textbook sociopath, whose only concern is the welfare of Donald J. Trump.

Yet he was the choice of the party of Lincoln. Go figure.

So what motivated 62M Americans to cast their vote for him? Joe Sixpack: "He's a multi-millionaire businessman who won't take any shit from anyone. And he'll take the gloves off when dealing with our enemies." That's just great. The same was true of Meyer Lansky and Frank Costello. Only in their defense, neither of them was a narcissist. Nor were they particularly diplomatic, which is why they entered the line of work they did.

So here's this man, elected by the far-right wing of the Republican Party, embroiled in multiple scandals right out of the gate, and only now... only NOW we're seeing cracks in his base. But rather than admitting "Maybe we were wrong about him," their excuse is "What do you expect? He was never really a Republican."

No way. You own him. You fucking OWN him. When the Access Hollywood tape was released, you said nothing.

When he mocked a handicapped journalist, you said nothing.

When he called Mexicans "criminals and rapists," you said nothing.

When he went on a sexist tirade with Megyn Kelly, you said nothing.

When he promised to ban 1.3B people from coming to these shores based on their faith, you said nothing.

But now that he's up to his armpits in snakes, suddenly you think he's a closet liberal.

Sorry. He's all yours. In fact, he's YOU. And you are him. To suggest at this point in his disastrous presidency that he isn't, is the height of cowardice. Which frankly, seems to be yet another Republican trait. (Senators Collins, McCain and Murkowski, rare exceptions).

So no my email friend, when Trump's era ends, and it won't end well, I won't confine myself to "looking forward." I'll reflect on where we were, and how we got there. And I will never, EVER let you off the hook for your vote. I'll hang it around your neck like one of Trump's 4 foot long ties.

And no Joe Scarborough, the fact that Trump may have contributed money to Clinton and Schumer in the past doesn't mean he's at heart a Democrat. The fact is, he has no heart. And your eleventh hour renouncing of the party of racism, bigotry, greed and corruption isn't fooling anyone. If you really wanted to stand against Trump on principle, the time to do that was two years ago—when you were giving him twelve hours of air time per month.

If you really wanted to stand against Trump on principle, the time to do that was two years ago—when you were giving him twelve hours of air time per month.

Bruce Lindner
4 hrs · Milwaukie, OR

As hard to believe as it may seem, it's been almost thirteen months since Hillary Clinton locked up the Democratic nomination for President. On the final day of the DNC Convention, I placed three $100.00 bets with three friends, that she'd be inaugurated on January 20th, 2017. Bitter as it was, I paid up those bets last winter.

Remember what we on the left were discussing one year ago today? A great conversation was still raging. Will we be united enough on Election Day to defeat Trump? To those Bernie and Jill supporters who bit the bullet and cast your votes for Hillary Clinton, you have my eternal gratitude, and that of 65M other Americans. But to those who still insist that Hillary was the "lesser of two evils," and you refused on principle to vote for evil, and therefore stayed home on Election Day... do you have any regrets today? Do you still defend your position on liberal "purity?" I lost several longtime Facebook friends over that issue (though curiously, I'm friendlier than ever before with the three people I lost the bets with).

Granted, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. It was the Electoral College that was the ultimate arbiter empowered to rescue us from this fool. But again, had we been more united by Election Day, we wouldn't be where we are today.

Some of you might remember, I wouldn't tolerate Bernie bashing or Hillary bashing on my Facebook threads. And the reason for that was because I wanted us to stand as one when it came time to take on the Ochre Ogre. Every Bernie-Hillary squabble created a handful of very angry Democrats. It should be obvious now, that I failed in that endeavor. Unlike the Republicans, who started out far more fractured than we did with some 16 candidates, our divisions sunk us. Insignificant though they seemed last November, had we all been on the same page, Hillary's 3M vote victory might have been a 4M vote victory. And we wouldn't be listening to this imbecile telling North Korea that he's "locked and loaded" today.

In the decades to come, people will ask "How is it that that guy even got elected? He was clearly sick in the head." As we've all been saying online, in conversations at work, etc. But nobody's acted upon it. Nobody formally appealed to Congress to use their extraordinary powers to right this listing ship based on Trump's deteriorating mental state.

Until yesterday.

Ex-Senator Gordon John Humphrey of New Hampshire, a REPUBLICAN, drafted a letter to Congress, imploring them to do exactly that. And for the specific reason of mental illness. Historians fifty years from now will wonder what took the rest of us so long to get onboard the Humphrey train. Though we've all been saying for two years that Trump is nuttier than a gunny sack full of filberts, his behavior over the past few days, his remarks about North Korea, Iran, etc., has pushed it to a whole new level. A very, very dangerous one.

Senator Humphrey took an official, historical position yesterday, August 10th 2017, that Donald John Trump is mentally unfit for the responsibilities bestowed upon him. He's planted his map pin in the calendar.

I'm doing it today. August 11th, 2017 will be the day when I establish for future generations both the date; today, and the reason; mental illness, as my official position for demanding that our national legislative body, the United States Congress, honor the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and remove this demented man from power.

The whole world has been holding its collective breath as Special Counsel Mueller carries out his investigation. There are those of us—myself amongst them—who have faith that our Intelligence Community is cooperating with Mueller's team and other entities to expedite Trump's removal. We should be grateful that we live in a country where that's even an option. A dictator would simply round everyone up, charge them with sedition and have them imprisoned. Or worse.

But frankly, we don't have the luxury of time. And time is the key ingredient to Mueller's opus. At the very least, Humphrey's letter should inspire a second front on the Trump presidency. As Mueller's Trump/Russia investigation plods along, We the People should be rallying behind both his efforts and Humphrey's. Write your Congressman/woman. Hammer your Senators online. Lobby them with everything you've got.

History is being written. We've got a madman in the White House threatening to rain fire and fury, rejecting sound advice, historical precedent and reality itself. The man has to go.

I stand with Senator Gordon Humphrey.

Bruce Lindner 8/11/17

Bruce Lindner
Yesterday at 7:21am · Milwaukie, OR ·

My reaction to the events of yesterday:

It was just another day. I got up, showered, made coffee and breakfast, had some personal things to take care of, Trump again revealed who he is, had enchiladas for dinner and went to bed at 10:00.

Just. Another. Day.

In other news, today is the 40th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death. It's also the anniversary of the day the Beatles rocked Shea Stadium in 1965. Oh, and it's also the 70th anniversary of the partitioning of India and Pakistan, India's Independence Day. How do I know this? Because I spent a good portion of yesterday morning trying to secure my visa online, only to have my application go *poof* when I learned the Indian Consulate was closed for the day.

But I'm focused this morning on the positive things. The eclipse that I've been looking forward to since literally 1979, is only five days away! My car's already packed, and even though I'm at the mercy of the weather gods, the Oregon Department of Transportation, and the National Guard, I'm looking forward to it. But really, life is pretty boring.

There was however, that other thing yesterday. You know... the one with Trump. Where he stood before the eyes of the world and proclaimed the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazis who marched in Charlottesville were "very fine people." Some of them marched down the street wearing paramilitary garb, armed to the teeth with semiautomatic weapons. Others assembled the night before in a great confluence of khaki pants and Tiki torches, yelling out "White Power!" Some "very fine people," according to Trump.

Right.

As he told us yesterday, there was no difference between these very fine people and those of us who oppose them. Because after all, had the Antifa forces stayed home on Saturday, there'd have been nobody to mow down with a Dodge Challenger. See? Iron-clad logic.

Those of you who are shocked by Trump's words yesterday, I can't imagine why you would be. He was raised by a man who was once arrested at a Klan rally. Do you think it's possible his own father's beliefs had NO influence on him? We've heard him blow his dog whistles for literally years. To people of color, Mexicans, Muslims, etc., they were more like klaxons. So no, yesterday was nothing new. The only thing new about it, was that those words came from the mouth of President Trump, rather than candidate Trump. Or businessman Trump. Or reality show host Trump. This is who the man IS.

To those Republicans who've finally said no more, I'm done with this guy, I say thank you. Nice to know you've finally found your threshold. To the Never Trumpers; Ana Navarro, Bill Kristol, Rick Davis, David Frum, etc., we thank you as well. I'm pretty sure you can now add the names of several Fox News personalities, including Charles Krauthammer amongst others to your ranks. Finally. It's time for all Republicans to abandon ship. The civilized world is your lifeboat.

And then there are those suddenly shocked Trump voters who insist; "Okay, this is bad, I had no idea he was a bigot." Oh yes you did, you LIAR. But you chose to ignore it, because as "the lesser of two evils," you insisted Hillary or Bernie would have been worse. Nope, you get no cover. You *knew* who he was and you cast your vote with pride. White pride, as it were. And now that his bigotry has spilled out in its rawest form, suddenly you're SHOCKED to learn that Donald Trump is a Nazi sympathizer. Repeat after me: "The man I voted for last November is a Nazi sympathizer." And the time has come for you to either own that vote, or abandon it.

There's no denying it now. He himself confirmed it. The decision Republicans must wrestle with today, August 16th 2017, is which side of history they want to stand on. The side of Bull Connor, David Duke and Donald Trump? Or literally, everybody else. Today you must choose.

And this includes the "leaders" of the Republican Party. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who's been mum as a tortoise in its shell since yesterday. Mike Pence, who continues to brush aside these insignificant potholes in his path to the White House. And Speaker Ryan, the invertebrate of Wisconsin, who tweeted this last night:

"We must be clear. White supremacy is repulsive. This bigotry is counter to all this country stands for. There can be no moral ambiguity."

Notice anything missing? How about calling out said bigot BY NAME? Nope. Ryan doesn't want to risk upsetting his apple cart either. Neither the man next in line nor the man third in line to the Oval Office, arguably the most powerful chamber on the planet, has the spine to say "I do NOT stand with Donald John Trump."

This is our payback. We the People made the unforgivable crime of electing a competent, kind, brilliant black man back in 2008. And now the racist forces who agree with Trump's assessment of race and color have their man in power. Van Jones called it "whitelash," and that's precisely what it was; the knee-jerk reaction by Trump's base to the sacrilege of having a black man in the White House.

I meet a lot of people in my business. No, I mean a LOT. Hundreds of new faces every week. And only rarely do I dislike anyone. But I can honestly say, I've never actually detested anyone as intensely as I do Donald Trump. His political and social agenda aside, he's just a despicable human being, and he's ruining our beloved country right before our eyes. We'll heal, but it's going to take years. Maybe decades.

But at my core, I'm still an optimist. I know as sure as the Sun rises, Donald Trump will be driven from power. The combined forces of the Russia investigation and our Intelligence Community, all of whom Trump has made into powerful enemies, will rid us of this vile tub of pus masquerading as our Commander in Chief. Maybe not imminently, but eventually. Remember, Watergate took 26 months to play out.

So to Trump's hardline supporters who still deny the gist of what we all heard yesterday, remember that history is recording all of this. Myself, I'm still looking forward. Eclipse 2017, My upcoming adventure to Punjab, getting up at 2:00 am to write, schmoozing with my customers ... and celebrating like never before on the day Trump leaves office, whether it be by his own free will, in hand cuffs or in a pine box, it matters not to me.

And when he's dead and gone, I'll feign sorrow at the occasion. I'll fly to wherever they inter his wretched corpse and I'll pour a dram of my oldest Lagavulin Whisky over his grave. Right after I strain it through my kidneys.

...this vile tub of pus masquerading as our Commander in Chief

Bruce Lindner
9 hrs ·

The letter President Obama left for Trump on Inauguration Day. Six weeks later, Trump was accusing Obama of leaving him "a mess" and tapping his phones.

Bruce Lindner
7 hrs · Milwaukie, OR ·

~ Things I've Learned This Week ~

• Lightning has struck twice in the same place. I ran into an old coworker at Costco yesterday, a week to the day after running into him there last Thursday. I hadn't seen him in two years, then boom... twice in a week. He's an amiable guy, but I think even he'd admit that we have uh, substantive ideological differences. I asked him what's cooking?

Him: "North Korea."

Me: "Yep, it's a serious mess. I'm betting you think it's Obama's fault?"

"Not just his. There's plenty of blame to go around. Clinton, Bush, Obama."

"Anybody else you can think of? Somebody more recent maybe?"

"Come on Bruce, he's only been in office seven months. But hey, how about that Condoleena Rice?

"What? Who? You mean Condoleezza Rice? What about her?"

"Yeah, her. She's going to have to testify about her meeting on the tarmac with Clinton. The Clintons are so corrupt!"

"What the HELL are you talking about? Are you talking about that Loretta Lynch thing?"

"Oh, yeah. Her. Not Condoloeena Rice."

(I went off script. I feel bad about it now, but I'd had it with him).

"You're an idiot." And I went about my shopping.

This is the result of an otherwise nice, relatively intelligent guy who's marinated his brain in Limbaugh and Fox News for 20+ years. I knew him pre-Rush, and while he was always a bit unique, he was never . He is now.

• Speaking of Limbaugh... I always assumed he was a vile, shameless, despicable propagandist, but until this week, I didn't know how truly reckless he could be. When he told his audience that the warnings of Hurricane #Irma were being exaggerated by the media, or to promote business, that knocked it out of the park as far as I'm concerned:

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

“Here comes a hurricane, local media goes on the air, ‘Big hurricane coming, oh, my God! Make sure you got batteries. Make sure you got water. It could be the worst ever. Have you seen the size of this baby? It’s already a Cat 5. Oh, my God, oh, my God, it’s bigger than the island of Haiti. Oh, my God.’ People run to the stores, they stock up everything, and they hoard. And they end up with vacant stores, nothing there. And it’s a big success. TV stations got eyeballs, the advertising businesses have sold out of business, gotta restock and the cycle repeats.”

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

With as many listeners as that festering tub of pus has, someone, somewhere probably made the decision to ride it out in harm's way. And that person could possibly lose his/her life as a result. Irma is an existential threat. And for Limbaugh to mock that fact, is the pinnacle of irresponsibility. Sadly, not everyone realizes that Limbaugh's just a self-serving, bloviating gasbag. In fact, there are literally millions of Americans who look up to him. So I'm hoping the FCC will finally step in and remind him where the line is drawn. Major kudos to Al Roker of NBC, who took to Twitter and did exactly that.

• I'm really proud of my dad. He flew up here from the Bay Area on Wednesday to check out some assisted living centers in the Portland area. After 67 years in California, my parents have decided they want to be closer to the rest of the family (my brother Mark moved here last year). So Mark picked him up at the airport, they swung by to pick me up, then we headed out to the first of several senior centers he's interested in to take their tour.

Before the tour, the Director sat us all down to run through some Q's and A's. She kept glancing over at Mark and I as if the decisions were ours, only occasionally making eye contact with my dad. Finally, my dad reached into his pocket, pulled out a little notebook, and started asking HER some questions that he'd formulated on the flight up here. And he took notes based on her answers. Mostly technical stuff, e.g. insurance issues, additional costs due to this and that, etc. After that, he had her undivided attention and she his. And she never again glanced over at either my brother or myself.

I mean here he is, 25 months shy of his 100th birthday, he's walking upright on his own two feet, thinking with his own two hemispheres, and grilling this ersatz salesperson like a prosecutor. I was impressed! One thing cracked me up though; one of his main concerns? Whether or not they had Wi-Fi.

He may be old ma'am, but he'd earned his Phd in nuclear physics before your parents were born. And he's just as sharp today as he was then. He just moves slower.

• Oregon's pristine Columbia Gorge is on fire. At a news conference yesterday, Governor Kate Brown said she requested Federal wildfire assistance two weeks ago. "I was told point-blank 'NO.'" You're welcome, Oregon.

• Republicans in Congress are shocked, SHOCKED to find that the leader of their party has turned on them. Until this week, Sen. Minority Leader was just "that clown." And House Minority Leader was persona non grata. But since the current friction between the Oval Office and his sycophants has erupted, suddenly they're "Chuck and Nancy." Welcome to reality, Republicans. You created this Hulk à l'Orange, remember? Good luck controlling it. If that chafing gets too unpleasant, Mitch, try rubbing it with a little KY (the jelly, not the state).

• Have you ever dealt with deep, institutional bureaucracy? I have, and it's not fun. But I've never, EVER dealt with anything like what I've been going through with the Indian Consulate just to get a visa. You have to fill out several pages at one website, you then go to a second website for more grilling, then a third to pay your fees, then back to the first for completion. Then if all goes well (it hasn't for me), you mail them your passport, and it's mailed back to you stamped with an entry visa. I just completed my third attempt, and I think I'm making progress. I got a text message yesterday telling me that my application has been received and is "presently under consideration." Miracle of miracles.

• Note to any would-be visitors to India: Should you decide to go there and you're willing to go through the aforementioned obstacle course , prepare to be asked about Pakistan.

(The following contains heavy doses of #Lindnersnark, but you get my drift.)

Q) Have you ever been to Pakistan?

A) No.

Are either of your parents of Pakistani descent?

No.

Have either of your parents ever been to Pakistan?

No.

Do you have relatives in Pakistan?

No.

Do you have friends in Pakistan?

No.

Have you ever picked up a social disease from a Pakistani?



No. Okay, yes. But just that one time.

I remember flying from Cairo to Tel Aviv several years ago, and even THAT was a cakewalk compared to this. It's been 70 years since partition. I guess even hand-me-down hatred dies hard.

• Notice whose name I DIDN'T mention this week? I'm working on dialing it back while Special Counsel Mueller completes his work.

• Finally, good luck and take cover, Floridians. You will rebuild. Property is expendable. Lives are not.

Bruce Lindner
3 hrs ·

I keep hearing the media say; "Trump didn't expect to win." I've heard it twice already this morning, and it's been ten months since that horrible day.

This picture was taken the moment the announcement was made that he'd won. I ask you: Does that look like the face of a man who was taken completely by surprise, or the face of a man who KNEW he was going to win? The fix was in. And he knew it.

Bruce Lindner
September 14 at 7:25am · Milwaukie, OR ·

I'm not a Democrat. I'm an Independent liberal, and have been since the day I first registered to vote. I posited a hypothetical question yesterday on Facebook; Shouldn't we as liberals, at least listen to what's in Bernie Sanders latest iteration of Medicare for all?

You'd think I got busted sneaking out of Ann Coulter's boudoir. Right out of the gate, it was about Sanders himself. Then the tide shifted, and the Hillary haters came out of the woodwork. By the time I left for work, the thread looked like a Wes Craven flick of liberals attacking liberals.

I get it, some folks hold Bernie Sanders responsible for Hillary's defeat. And some folks insist Hillary's candidacy is why we wound up with Trump. GROW UP! It's been a year. It's over! Neither Hillary nor Bernie were perfect, but either would have been better than the monster we ended up with. I ENTHUSIASTICALLY supported and voted for Hillary Clinton last year, but had Sanders won the nod, I'd have done likewise for him. What pains me, is how so many folks obsess over personality rather than policy, and they blame that person for everything. Like the fifty-five year old guy at a party who pulls out a picture of his wife who left him 25 years ago, and drones on about how she's responsible for his drinking problem.

IT'S

NOT

ABOUT

BERNIE,

IT'S

ABOUT

US!

Had anybody but Sanders introduced that bill yesterday, it wouldn't have been an issue. In fact, we'd have all welcomed it, if not applauded it. But no, some folks just had to drag the past into it, and the conversation veered into the gutter. It was shameful!

Early yesterday morning, 6 Senate Democrats had announced they'd co-sponsor Sanders' bill. Do you know how many had signed on by the end of the day? 16! That's one in three sitting United States Democratic Senators. Probably only one of whom, Jeff Merkley, endorsed Bernie Sanders last year. The rest all endorsed Hillary Clinton.

And yet, they were capable of seeing beyond their differences, forgetting for the moment the antipathy of last year for an opportunity to make a symbolic but IMPORTANT statement. That the American healthcare system needs to be revamped.

Of course, this new bill is dead on arrival. Nothing of this nature will make it into or out of committee—it's just too progressive for our pals across the aisle. Perish the thought, we'd actually cut corporate interests out of the system. The point of it, which was lost on so many of you, is that with each new attempt, it drives the ball one yard further towards the end zone. Yesterday, 16 Senators co-sponsored it. Next year maybe it'll be 18. And if the Democrats ever get their shit together long enough to retake Congress, they just might have a majority... and then... THEN we'll be able to put the Big Pharma lobby, the insurance industry, and all the other factors that have brought us to where we are today in check. And nobody in America will go bankrupt just because they woke up one day with cancer.

Novel concept, huh? What really nauseated me yesterday, was the cult of personality. Bernie this, Hillary that, and how so many of the comments were about these candidates, rather than their policies. I do not GET IT!!

There's only one personality that makes me retch at his very sight, and that's Donald Trump. Yet even there, Nancy Pelosi and Charles Schumer have been making progress. And isn't that the whole point of being a PROGRESSIVE?

Bury the hatchet Bernie/Hillary haters. Your hatred benefits only the Republicans. Again, I'm not even a Democrat, though I've ALWAYS voted for the Democratic candidate. But that little display of internecine warfare yesterday makes me worry for our future. You're our best hope. Don't blow it.

Looks like progressives want another 4 years of Trump.

Amazing how differently you and I are interpreting that last Bruce commentary I posted, oskar ~ I read it as Bruce saying we [libs/progressives] need to put our differences aside, to recognize there is no "perfect candidate" that everyone will ever agree on, and to find/strengthen our commonalities to create a cohesive group ~ we are stronger together!

Sooz

Bruce Lindner
Yesterday at 8:08am · Milwaukie, OR ·

Okay everyone, conservatives especially, wrap your heads around this. Republican never-Trumper Rick Wilson posted this on Twitter this morning.

Quote: “A friend is required to stay at Trump DC Hotel for work. They handed her this [flyer] at check in.”

So the president, Donald J. Trump, the man whose name is on that hotel, who’s been waging a campaign against CNN ever since he announced his candidacy, who just yesterday said the media shouldn’t be allowed to report what they want, who threatened to challenge the credentials of NBC News for reporting a story he disliked, who swore an OATH to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, INCLUDING THE FIRST AMENDMENT, has some ‘splainin’ to do.

This is a brazen violation of the Constitution. If it happened without his knowledge, that’s one thing. But if he gave the go-ahead or was even aware of it tangentially, then Congress must call upon him to explain himself. Congress MUST ACT.

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UPDATE, six hours after initial post.

It seems this petition is authentic, but it’s unclear who handed it to the woman at the Trump DC Hotel. If it was some bozo just taking advantage of a crowded place, that’s one thing. But she said it was handed to her ”at check in,” which implies it was a hotel staff member. At any rate, this is one to watch.