Peter's Place

Given the state of international affairs these days, I thought @DolORiordan's pained vocals in "Zombie" appropriate:

On the evening before five very important primary elections were to be held on Tuesday, April 26, 2016, supporters of Bernie Sanders noticed something quite strange taking place on Facebook: groups advocating support for Bernie Sanders, which have been a primary vehicle for disseminating information and mobilizing support for actions, were disappearing. According to Lauren E Stafford, a social media consultant and administrative assistant, many of the affected Bernie Sanders Facebook groups have more than 50,000 members. "At least ten such very well-known and popular groups were removed during Monday evening's attack, leaving hundreds of thousands of Bernie Sanders supporters in the dark," she claimed. Evidence implicating a coordinated effort by Hillary Clinton's campaign and/or her supporters was quickly uncovered as some Clinton supporters, such as Casey Champagne, bragged about being part of that effort in the "BROS 4 HILLARY #GiveEmHill" Facebook gr...

At a youth town hall in London, England on Saturday, April 23, 2016, President Obama said that activists—specifically Black Lives Matter activists—need to be willing to compromise . He also claimed that the tone of some activism can turn people off to its message. "You have a responsibility to prepare an agenda that is achievable," Obama told the crowd. But achievable by whom, and in whose eyes? People wonder why I'm no fan of this POTUS. Where would the Marriage Equality movement be in this country if we in the struggle to achieve marriage equality in all 50 states "learned to compromise"? Some may recall the amicus curiae brief Obama's DOJ filed in Windsor v. United States , which advocated for a ruling in favor of Edie Windsor but limiting the scope to that particular plaintiff—a breadcrumb, if you will. That brief further argued that each state should make up its own mind on the issue of marriage equality. Indeed, had the Supreme Court foll...

Bernie Sanders just released his TV advert for the upcoming New York Democratic Primary election, which will be held on April 19th! Bernie Sanders New York Democratic Primary TV advert: America Come see Bernie speak at the April 13, 2016 rally in NYC: 6pm @ Washington Square Park !

It's not often that I write movie or book reviews, and for good reason: I struggle to come up with meaningful insight that portrays the essence of the medium, and my thoughts and feelings about it, without giving away any spoilers. I was asked to review a new, independent film made by friends of a friend, and I reluctantly agreed. It has taken me over two weeks to put my thoughts together because I honestly didn't know where to start. The film completely blew me away, in pretty much every aspect. There is just so much I want to say about it ... but I found it difficult to start because I didn't know which of the myriad thoughts floating around in my mind should be brought up first. I also worried about how I could do justice to such an important work of art that does what all great artistic masterpieces do best: provoke and trigger public discourse. To review the film, I was given a private link where it is hosted on a password-protected server—and no, I'm not giv...

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...