Peter's Place

Foreword One of my friends and fellow activists recently penned an essay personalizing his support of Hillary Clinton's candidacy. I offer the following not so much as a response but rather, to provide a similar tale of my own journey in supporting Bernie Sanders's presidential candidacy. Tif's writing inspired me to return to my writing roots by authoring an essay-turned-short-story, written more in a poetic prose than the usually journalistic-styled English of an article. I hope this narrative will inspire you while infusing hope into our collective efforts in supporting Bernie's political revolution. Please keep in mind that while this narrative is sprinkled with many facts, much of it is my personal experience and opinion. I wish Americans were familiar with the differences between fact and opinion , including the varying degrees that exist between those two extremes. I also wish people were familiar with how to engage in civilized debate, which includes rec...

Guest Blog by Sarah Dubinsky, Esq. I wonder if Supreme Court Justices laugh. They must when they realize that five of them are being  sued over gay marriage . Most people when served with a lawsuit utter an expletive of some sort or an “Are you kidding me?” I feel like in their chambers, one of them, maybe Justice Sonia Sotomeyer (she looks like she has a sense of humor), opened a bottle of fine brandy and started telling young lawyer jokes. She and the other four justices on the complaint, Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Elena Kegan are probably stringing together puns about the Alabama lawyer, Austin Burdick. Apparently, he seeks to be compensated  $6,000,000  plus punitive damages for their majority decision allowing same-sex marriage in  Obergefell v. Hodges . He is basically alleging breach of contract,  breach of fiduciary duty, and violations of the 5th and 14th Amendments (which t...

Guest blog by Sarah Dubinsky, Esq. What do you do for a living? That’s the first question asked at any networking event.  It’s the second question potential in-laws ask after the pleasantry of “where did you two meet” has been resolved. Work status comes up on Facebook. Your friends of friends want to know.  Heck, I want to know. Am I defined by my disability or my career? I used to work full-time as a lawyer, advocating for impoverished individuals with disabilities seeking public benefits.  Due to a relapse of schizoaffective disorder last year, I became one of them. I didn’t earn a dollar for 14 months.  In irony, my sympathy curdled into empathy. Every interaction with neighbors, former colleagues, people I met at weddings became a self-judgment. A simple “how are you?” internally turned into “what are you doing with your life?” Well, I was being sick.  I couldn’t decide between shrugging off the question with a quick smile and a “fine” or ...

Ed Schultz , former host of The Ed Show on MSNBC (who now has his own web site and also is a host on The Ring of Fire alternative media network), talks with Rep. Alan Grayson ( D-FL ) about his decision to let the people decide what he should do with his Superdelegate vote. Ed Schultz (l) and Congressmember Alan Grayson (r) During the interview, Schultz first asks Grayson why so many superdelegates have made a decision to back Clinton "before the people have spoken through the primary process." His response is an honest but very unsurprising, "it shows that the system is rigged." Grayson worries about a situation where a candidate could still be the party's nominee even if they received 59% of the popular vote due to the superdelegate situation. He called this "a betrayal of democracy" and explained, "That's why I've done what I've done here and told people I will follow their advice. Let the people rule ," referr...

At last night's (Feb. 18th) MSNBC   Democratic Town Hall in Las Vegas, Nevada, Secretary Clinton was asked, once again , whether she would release the transcripts of her $250,000-per-hour paid speeches to Goldman Sachs, in the interest of being transparent. Clinton responded as she did during the last debate: I am happy to release anything I have whenever everybody else does the same, because everybody in this race, including Sen. Sanders, has given speeches to private groups. Everybody else does the same because every other candidate in this race has given speeches to private groups, including Sen. Sanders. Sanders's Response: Late last night, Senator Sanders sent the following tweet out on Twitter: Bernie Sanders's campaign tweet (click the image to view a larger version), posted at 10:51pm EDT on Feb. 18, 2016 reads: This is what a paid  @BernieSanders   speech looks like: https://youtu.be/AXGM3MBT4B8 . Don't worry. The $500 payout was given to...

CBS's Scott Pelley In a segment on the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley, Clinton was asked, point blank, if she would pledge, as presidential candidate Jimmy Carter did, to tell the truth (as well as whether or not she has ever told a lie). One would expect a fairly simple, and straight-forward answer to this question, consisting of exactly one word that has three letters in it. This, however, was her response: Well, I have to tell you I have tried in every way I know how literally from my years as a young lawyer all the way through my time as secretary of state to level with the American people. ~Hillary Clinton She has always tried . On seeking clarification, Pelley followed up by asking her if she's always told the truth. Again, Clinton repeated that she has "always tried." When pressed by Pelley, she again stated that she has always tried, and then gave the following response, which was I guess what she believed was supposed to allay the disbelie...

Democratic Presidential Candidate and US Senator Bernie Sanders's (I-VT) voice was raw in conviction as he detoured from his standard stump speech and began an hour-long, impassioned oration with a radical suggestion for bringing accountability to the Flint, Michigan water crisis : If the local government cannot protect those children, if the state government cannot protect those children, then the federal government better get in and do the right thing. Shortly before his address on Monday, February 15, 2016, Sanders  met with seven individuals from Flint, Michigan who continue to be hurt by lead poisoning as a result of the water crisis in their city. During his first campaign visit to Michigan , he questioned whether we should settle for small ideas or whether we have the courage to stand up for " Yooooge " ideas. The impact of that meeting was voluble as he delivered a commanding speech  to a standing-room-only crowd of 9,400 at the Eastern Michigan Universi...