The last cut was the deepest...

The e-mail hit my inbox at 9:51, on June 21: “Your AncestryDNA Results Are In!”

I’d been waiting patiently for weeks, as I’ve always been a genealogy fan, trying to go back on both sides of my family as far as I could.

I hit the website, which has been open on my browser for almost the entire time of my wait. I clicked on the Ethnicity Estimate link, and there it was: 37 percent Irish, 37 percent Great Britain, 8 percent Italy/Greece, with the rest just smatterings here and there.

Oddly, there was little French, and zero Native American — and my understanding had always been to the contrary. I knew that our name had been “La Pierre” once upon a time, before it became Stone.

Then I clicked on the DNA Match link. There were two people in the top-level, close relationship category. One was my niece, Heather.

Who the hell was this other guy? I had heard the name, from my hometown in Oswego, New York, but we were not related at all far as I knew. Yet, here he was in my top tier DNA match.

I messaged five of my cousins on Facebook, asking them if they knew how we were related to this guy.

Then it hit me.

Duh. There was only one way I was closely related to this guy.

I was in tears for a couple hours. I was not crying over my lineage, but over my stolen childhood. But what I first got a hint of over 25 years ago was true: I was a bastard.

Back then, my mother consulted with my first wife, Peggy. She was inquiring if I had ever said anything about my father maybe not being my father.

I had not.

The reasons for the questions were that my dad had often blurted things out in anger, in the heat of battle, about me not being his son — and she was afraid I had overhead them, or at least some of them. I had not — or if I had, did not understand them.

The fights were epic. We would be parceled off to various relatives for a few days, and then brought back as if nothing had happened. We moved to California in 1965, ostensibly because of the snow. I found out later that it was an ultimatum from my mother: move vs. divorce. Somehow, she thought the women in California would be less interested in my father than New York women. Wrong.

Things did not change, except that we children no longer had the family support group.

When he was out carousing, my mother used to plant me in her bed so there was no room for him if he came home. For years, I thought it was because I was the oldest. My mother broke my heart from the grave when I finally woke up (another “duh”), and realized that I was a pawn in those battles, and that picking me instead of one of my siblings was the best “Screw you!” she could throw in my father’s face.

The psychologists call it emotional incest.

So, in June of 1954, in largely-Roman Catholic Oswego, New York, on the shore of Lake Ontario, after several years of marriage, and trying and failing to get pregnant, with increasing pressure from families, I’m sure, and in the shadow possible sterility… Mom strayed.

Was she first? I will never know.

My first wife told me both that I had met the guy, and that they’d done all the testing that was doable back then. Inconclusive either way. Maybe, maybe not.

I didn’t talk to Mom about it, but I tried to talk to my father years later — and he was having none of it.

No name had been forthcoming from my mother, but I recognized the name on Ancestry as belonging to a family friend, part of the old gang of guys in my father’s world that played rabid softball on humid New York evenings, guzzling beer between innings — and sometimes during. My uncle told me the man is dead, but was a “stand-up guy,” so, obviously this is a son who was named after the father, just as I had been named after mine, in a twisted attempt to block out reality — some form of myopic, hopeful compensation or denial.

My half-brother.

Interestingly, he does not have a family tree — just a DNA section. Maybe he had some knowledge beforehand as well? I don’t know if we will ever discuss this, but I certainly don’t want to disrupt his life or his memories.

I called Ancestry. I hope they don’t get too many of those types of calls, for their sake. Sure enough, nieces, half-nieces and half-brothers would all show up in the “First/Second Cousin” category, with a very, very high confidence level.

I have been suffering for some years now with alcohol, depression and childhood PTSD. I also have some organic issues from my mom’s family, but it all started way back then by being shunned by the man who was supposed to love me and nurture me, and show me the ways of life. My versions of Dad 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 were a much, much better product than I experienced, with so many upgrades, but I will nonetheless always regret that they were not all they could have been.

Likewise, Husband 2.0 was much better than Husband 1.0, but of those, too, could have been much better, and my journey these last few years has been very, very difficult for Wife 2.0, the love of my life. It’s been tough. I’m sure it was tough for my father, too, to have me there as a daily reminder… of love, broken hearts, shattered dreams?

Given the life I’ve had, I should have been growing old gracefully and graciously — not experiencing horrors deeper than I ever imagined. As bad as it’s been, the overall basis of my life makes it easy not to feel sorry for myself. Rarely, and never sober.

Would I do Ancestry again? Of course. I now know the truth.

Given my father’s behavior, I’m surprised there were not more “surprises” in Ancestry — which I’m sure will change as the database expands. Is there a chance that this guy is, instead, my father’s son — that he is the outlier? Slightly, perhaps, but the facts as I know them say otherwise.

What has changed.

Nothing.

Everything.

I now know only half of my family medical history.

I had a father, but I never had a dad, although my wife’s father has been wonderful.

My niece is upset. I don’t know yet how my children feel — perhaps they themselves don’t know yet, either, nor do I know how my three siblings and two nephews will react.

Perhaps with some myopia of my own, I have focused most of my genealogy efforts on my father’s side of the family, including extensive Civil War records of an ancestor killed at Cold Harbor. Time and money wasted.

Am I sorry I took three years of French in high school? Mais, non.

Gratitude is something that’s supposed to be a large part of my recovery. I have survived and, given that I have only offered you a small glimpse into my first 18 years, my survival was not at all inevitable, so I am very grateful for that. Not only survived, but thrived.

My children. My wife. My friends. My dogs. My cat.

At least one half-sibling, maybe more.

My health is great, and will remain so for awhile if I stay on this path.

I also now have a hundred people in my family tree that are third through eighth cousins, with a high degree of certainty, that I didn’t know anything about — on both sides of my family. Some of these people have thousands of people in their own family trees.

And, hey — there’s not a trace of “Trump” anywhere to be found!

The Penis Diatribe

Hello.  My name is Pierre, and I am a penis.

Yesterday, I upset Facebook, and they deleted my picture as “offensive content”.

I love this picture of me.  And certainly, as you can plainly see, I am in no way offensive, objectionable- and certainly not intimidating.

Thankfully, I am a Grower, and not a Shower.  I mean, really, if I were a Shower, I would be more of a Show-Me-Not, and I would go by my initials- P.P., or the translation from “Pierre” would be Pete, and not Peter.

Sadly, Facebook’s reaction to my innocuous photo reflects the very basics of what is wrong with the United States of America.

Hard to believe, so to speak?  Well, let me ‘splain.

There are 1) American penii and 2) there all the others in the World.

The land of Mom & Apple Pie is all about penii, and “mine is bigger than yours.”

Let’s start with Facebook.

Nudity?  Heaven forbid!

But, on a daily basis, we are subjected to the worst vulgar words imaginable- simple profanity, racism, sexism, homophobia, atheist-bashing, liberal-bashing, Islam-hating excrement. 

We see pictures of torture, murder, terror, and mayhem.  Countless pictures of people compensating by brandishing their guns, and sometimes showing them proudly posing with African lions, giraffes, rhinos, and elephants- having won the “battle” against harmless creatures, with the odds worse than that idiot Custer at Little Big Penis.

Our kids can see all that?

The latest is the abomination of transgender bathrooms.  The gun-toting, Bible-thumping morons who regularly see filly’s use the men’s room at a frickin’ Ted Nugent concert, as they wade their way through the marijuana smoke, are all of a sudden outraged about bathroom usage.  And, as always, the ones who cry the loudest are the ones with something to hide, some personal hole in their armor.

Lies.  Sometimes I think there are more news lies on Facebook than truth.  Bernie.  Hillary.  Trump.  Cruz.  Climate-change.  Target.  “The” Bakery.  The Bible, and the history of Christianity. 

The litany of lies is endless.

Even to the extent that the transcripts of speeches my owner has witnessed have been altered.  Yup.

Your kids can see all that?

Video games with murder, torture, mayhem, faux terrorism.  They go to movies rated “R” because they are big for their ages, and of course, of our own children are “precocious”- which is why we live our disappointments through them vicariously- in class, on the stage, on athletic fields.

Your kids can see all that?

America.  Where the Wild, Wild, West came, and never left us.  Coming to a screen near you in the form of MMA!

We treat sex as taboo, we almost-never have the conversations about sex with our kids that we should have.  Ricky and Lucy, June and Ward- separate beds.  We used to measure women’s bathing suits, and men are studs, and women are sluts.

Native Americans who wore natural dress were savages and heathens, thank you very much to those who came here for religious freedom.  Our god is better than yours, so we will kill you.

Oh, and your God tells you to mutilate the penii of infants without their consent, while you are screaming at the top of your lungs that life begins at conception, that fetuses are immediately human beings.

Same thing today- we need a wall to keep out Latinos, who are returning to the country we stole from them in perhaps the most unjust war in history, but those white Canadians pose no threat- God, I wish there had been a wall to keep out Ted Cruz.

Breast-feeding is an abomination.  AYFKM?

As they pointed out in The Da Vinci Code, the blade and chalice are penis and vagina, respectively- and in the military, the person with the most “blades”, the most chevrons, is bigger and badder.

It’s no wonder you have all these counselors, therapists, philandering, divorces.

You are fighting to be able to walk around with your penii strapped to your sides, because apparently my “brothers” hanging between your legs are lacking something.

In this country, you cannot be successful unless you have the “balls” for it.

You were the first and only to drop atomic penii on human beings, showing those yellow-skinned heathens that yours was bigger than theirs- and, yes, creating a couple very penis-like mushroom clouds.

You treat alcohol like you treat sex.  It’s taboo, mystical- in your movies, in your locked cabinets, and on the “21” signs on the doors of your bars.  Nobody drinks normally in movies, they slam it down, feel better, and go off to wage war, rescue the damsel, or go tell the woman in their life that they love them.

Only in ‘Merica…

Even “America” is presumptuous.  You are NORTE Americanos, there are a couple dozen other countries in the Americas, and two others in the north.  Nonetheless, YOU are known as Americans.

Almost universally, the rest of the world treats sex, nudity, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, breast-feeding, et al, as normal, healthy parts of life- nude beaches, topless beaches, communal baths, older folks wearing speedos, no walking around in the shops with guns. 

No mystique.  No guilt.  No shame.  No going to hell.  No bravado.  No lamenting the “good old days”, when beatings in schools were allowed.

No big deal.

And no ignoring their own citizens, their own infrastructure, because they need to spend billions to “save the world”.

How do you react to that?  “Those socialist/communist bastards!”

There is a backlash, of sorts, in this election, and it is understandable- but myopic, nonetheless.  No matter what, many of you are voting for the “woman”.  Period.

John Kennedy or Abraham Lincoln could be on the ballot, or even Obama running for a third term- nope, you are voting for the woman.  As I said, understandable, but sad.  Voting for the woman, just because of gender, is as atrocious as the history that still has your women as second-class citizens, practically and figuratively.

We never see t-shirts advertised that say “Mess With My Sons, and I Will Kill You!” or “Rules For Dating My Son!”.  Those poor, helpless daughters…

When my owners’ daughter- he keeps me on a pretty short leash, btw- got a call from the Southerner who wanted to marry his oldest daughter, he thanked him graciously, but explained that it was not his decision to make.  What a concept!

Tammy Wynette did not help things with “Stand By Your Man.”

Things will not change in my lifetime, nor even a hundred years from now, when I will be sitting pickled in a jar next to Rasputin’s penis, his yang to my yang.

Still, I have hope.  The men of this country, in charge or not, need to stop “rising” to every occasion that presents them with the opportunity.  Stop thinking and reacting with your con genitals. 

Some men have a B-52, and some have a Piper Cub- both fly quite well.

Oh- objects in the photo are larger than they appear.

The Thin Blue Lives...

All lives matter, of course they do.  To use the old clichés: white, black, brown, red, yellow- all of them!

Even the Blue ones.  No, not the Picts, or as we frequently call them, Woads- my ancestral barbarians from the north of Great Britain, in central Scotland. 

(Yes, perhaps that ‘splains a lot, huh?”              

The contemporary term.  Blue Lives, as in Blue Lives Matter.

My law enforcement brethren are horribly upset at the extensive, negative press that a FEW of them have gotten while they either did or may have abused their power.

Of course they are upset, and they think that nobody really cares.

Well, we do.  It’s only that they don’t realize it!

Why?  The shallow news format we find ourselves ensconced within, and people’s idea of news.

Police officers are expected to suffer casualties, as are firefighters, sailors, soldiers, and Marines.  It’s always a tragedy, but not an unexpected one.

When it happens, unless of a particularly “epic” nature, the word goes out across the state, or maybe just within a 100-mile or so radius.  People may or may not see it in their news feed, or briefly on cable, but, anymore, it is almost certain they will NOT see it in a newspaper- especially since so few read them anymore.

“…not an unexpected one.” 

Expected events are not news anymore, not in most cases.  It is the unexpected things that are news, that catch people’s attention, and get played over and over again on Cable Snooze Networks.

Most police officers do a good job, and many do a great one.  At a conscious level, most people understand that, but subconsciously the authority of the job, and its inherent conflicts, modulate that consciousness.

Unfortunately, racial profiling has been- and still is- a significant issue.  Ironically, police officers, especially in large cities, are now being subjected to the same type of myopia- all of them being judged, being placed under the microscope, by the actions of a few.

What constitutes news these days are the anomalies.

A firefighter who commits arson.  A soldier or Marine involved in a slaughter.  Collateral damage from a bombing mission gone awry.

And, certainly, a police officer abusing his or her authority- particularly when there is video, and in particular when the video either conflicts with the officer’s story, or at least APPEARS to do so.

So, what’s the solution, how do we regain some semblance of balance? 

Our elected and appointed officials need to do a better job of leading the way…

Governor Jay Inslee here in Washington gives us some insight.  The flags here in WA are often at half-staff on his orders.  He has a system in place that gets people asking routinely “Why are the flags at half-mast?”, and sends them scrambling for their iPhones and Androids to look it up.

Police officers.  Firefighters.  Battle casualties.  Washingtonians of some renown.

Me thinks there is a lesson here, to be followed and expanded upon everywhere.

When a police officer dies in the line of duty, the flags in that State should be flown at half-staff until the day after the funeral.  Period- in each and every state.

It should be the Lieutenant Governor’s job in all states to attend the funeral- again, period. 

Standard, and consistent- no quibbling over who should be there, none of the hypocritical double-standards that accompany so many line-of-duty deaths today, across the spectrum.  Stop this crap about which events, which trips, for living people should be cancelled or should not.  What total, myopic bullshit.

On a local level, in the City Hall or County Courthouse, a large portrait of the officer should be displayed appropriately for a period of 30 days.  The portrait can then be passed on to the family, or placed permanently in a public place- someplace well-traveled, lest we forget.

A state law enforcement officer should be so honored in their respective state Capitols, and Federal officers should be honored both in Washington, D.C., and at their local Federal Court.

These things would help a lot, but people already have e-mail lists, Facebook pages, and Bulletin 

Boards that are available to keep them informed.

If they want to know.  If they really care.

Recordless...

Donald Trump wants the protesters arrested, convicted, and to have a police record.  THAT would make them one step ahead of Trump, who has no record at all...

Supreme Beings

For the last 40 years, I have read about and researched extensively the United States Supreme Court- its traditions, its history, its scandals.

Along with the selection of a Pope, the process of replacing a Justice has long-fascinated me, and we are in the middle of that process again- maybe.  If you believe the GOP, again abrogating their responsibility, we are not in the “middle” of anything, have not, and will not, even get started.

Some of the history is fascinating- in fact, most of it!

We all know now that Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were fast friends, despite some very basic ideological differences.  I am not sure there has been anything like it in our times, except maybe Mary Matalin and James Carville being in love and getting married!

Both pairs, as you can find on YouTube, have been hysterical when they have gotten together on the same TV or cable show.

Did you know that there is no such animal as “Chief Justice of the Supreme Court”?  He (so far, only “he”) is officially designated the Chief Justice of the United States.

As I have written about before, perhaps, the most popular Justice ever amongst the employees and staff of SCOTUS is Clarence Thomas, the guy who has not asked a question during oral arguments for the last ten years.  Yup.

He has been fabulous at remembering names, being attentive, celebrating birthdays, keeping track of their family members, and routinely played basketball with the minions  before his knees would not allow it.

In an interesting demographic, there are no Protestants on the Court- we now are down one Catholic, leaving 5, along with the three Jewish members.  As much as we hear about the Founding Fathers, most of them would have been horrified to see the Court dominated by “Papists”.  

I have created a kerfuffle before by pointing out that Catholics have at least some allegiance to a foreign government, the Vatican, and one has to question if they come into oral arguments about the death penalty, abortion, gay marriage, and contraception as truly objective arbiters.

So, the games begin.  What is the best approach for the POTUS?

Can POTUS nominate himself?  Yes, there is nothing in the Constitution prohibiting it.  Likely?  No.

Next, he should look to the Senate- given the traditions of that body, and their “own” status amongst the 125 most-powerful people in the world, they would feel it very awkward to NOT elevate one of their own, let alone not even convening the process.

Elizabeth Warren.  She would serve for a long time, would actually help unify a polarized Democratic Party, and would leave a legacy for the ages.

Hmmm.  Ok, here we go: What about Hillary or Bernie?  Hillary would still be considered one of their “own”, and Bernie is, and the person left standing would almost certainly become POTUS next January.

Think about that?  Really.  Stop and think about it.  A swing vote on the Court, and POTUS in one swell foop?  Brilliant?  Perhaps…

Orrin Hatch has been mentioned, as have other moderate Republicans that are pro-choice.  No!  For the last eight years, they have stalled, dithered, and fiddled, and not only did Rome not burn, it didn’t catch fire, and has recovered nicely from being Bush-whacked.

NO!  As Martin Sheen said to Michael Douglas, “You fight the fights that need fighting! Go after [them]!”  

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

So, if he hasn’t decided by now, after the Senate where for thou go?  To the fork in the road.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch would be the first African-American woman to sit on the Court, and Republicans would be self-immolating to reject her or treat her harshly.

The other fork in the road is to sitting members of the Federal bench.  There are several candidates there who were confirmed unanimously or overwhelmingly, including the eighth Circuit’s Jane Kelly or Srikanth Srinivasan of the D.C. Court.  Once unimpeachably-qualified, how can they say no just a few years later?

So, there is a brief road map and minor history review.

I like Hillary or Bernie- if we are going to battle, as we most definitely should, there is no sense bringing a knife to a gunfight.

Hillary! WTF?!?!?!

What the hell are you thinking?

Sending Albright and Steinem out to castigate women for not supporting another woman?  “Going to hell?”  And sending hubby out to complain about you being “picked on”?

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(If you can read “feline”, you now know that my cat, Zorro, just agreed with me!)

It is 2016, over a hundred years since women were finally allowed to vote, and you and your people just played the GENDER card AND the “picked-on card?”

Now, you are starting to parade out a series of African-American legends to tell people how “black” you have been all these years, and reminding people that Bill used to refer to himself as “the first Black president?” 

AYFKM?  STOP!

Ronald Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment, “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republicans!”, applies to us Democrats, too, lest we lose the White House!

You are in trouble.  You are feeling the Bern on the back of your neck- or maybe it is wind Bern or sun Bern!  I get it…

The State Department e-mail kerfuffle is horribly unfair, given what we have known for a long time about Colin Powell, and, more recently, about Condoleezza Rice. 

That’s politics, with the same typical bias and distortion over Democratic scandals that has existed for years.  Allow me to remind you of pervert Senators David Vitter and Larry Craig.  Somehow, the party that thinks it has God firmly on its side allows boys to be boys.

However, go after Powell and Rice!  Drag them into the pit, call them out of “retirement”, and broil them!  Talk non-specifically about the double standard, the false outrage, the attitude that this has never been done before!

It looks like the text of the speeches to Wall Street firms will, in all or part, be made public.  Shame on you for being gullible, and thinking that ANY speech you give is to a “safe” audience.  When the young people and minorities that you count on for support read what you said, you are likely, at least for now, to be toast- plain and simple, and it is self-inflicted. 

In the meantime, compete with The Bern, but no goddamn eviscerating each other!  Call him.  Get together.  Set up some ground rules.

Yes, it is well-beyond the time we should have had a woman president, and you have been our best hope for a very long time.  Now, you have Elizabeth Warren in your shadow, knocking on your door, right next to the Bern- and, maybe, to a lesser extent, Washington’s two senators, as well.

Ask yourself, “WHY IS THAT?  The presidency was sitting there on a platter for you, along the yellow-brick road- what happened? 

LEARN FROM BERNIE AND ELIZABETH, and slowly downshift- you have a hill to climb, and changing gears is mandatory.

You will likely win South Carolina by a wide margin, but the road is snowy and icy, after that- salt the road!

We can only help you if you help yourself!  If the last two weeks have been your idea, STOP!  If it has been advice you have been given, CHANGE ADVISORS!

Yes, fight- but not Bernie.  Go after the misogynist Trump!  Go after Cruz!  Use what they have given you, and there is plenty of ammunition!  Throw the stuff Cruz said about Obama’s birthplace in the Canadian’s face, but do it cleverly!

No, it is not over.  There is a chance you can recover, and your blind supporters will not abandon you no matter what. 

New Hampshire is not the disaster that is being portrayed.  Of course, Bernie did well there.  New Hampshire has always danced to a different tune, and it is right next to Vermont, where they love and respect the man immensely.  You are down, but not out- so far.

Get your act together. 

John Lewis says he has never met Bernie, never seen him march for minority rights, but the pictures on Facebook say otherwise.  People rising to your defense MUST be accurate and truthful.

Above all, you, Bernie, Joe Biden, and Elizabeth Warren must emerge from this contest unbattered by teammates!

When Obama came out of nowhere, and beat you, you got be SecState.  What if it happens to you again?

Bernie is 76 years old- how about you being Vice-President, and Bernie serving one term?  The two of you would be unbeatable.  In four years, Bernie retires, and you and Elizabeth form the first female 1-2 punch in American history.

This is not about any of you as individuals- it is about the future of the country.  Will we be moving forward, keeping our momentum- or going backwards?

I hope you can remember “Profiles in Courage” from memory, and without looking it up, the story of Edmund Ross.  He was the deciding vote on the impeachment of Andrew Johnson- and was destined for ridicule for voting his conscious, for doing the right thing for his country.

And remember this?  “Ask not what your country can do for you; rather, ask what you can do for your country”.

Courtesy of NBC News

Gut Check Time

And so it begins…

Iowa has spoken- loudly perhaps, perhaps not.  We shall see…

The other primaries and caucuses are approaching.  Hillary and Bernie were neck-and-neck in Iowa, and Bernie is leading in New Hampshire.  The Canadian won the GOP nod, but The Trumpeter is still amongst the leaders of the gaggle of sheep running to represent the Grand Old Party.

A Democratic Socialist establishing a juggernaut, and getting the attention of the country?  Who’da thunk?

However, the road ahead is treacherous, lest we turn over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to the Draconians.

Eight years ago, senators were persona non grata amongst the Republican aspirants- Senator Obama wasn’t qualified, we needed somebody with executive experience in order to hit the ground running from Day 1- ultimately, of course, in the form of Mitt Romney.

The governors and “executives” are being shunned this time around, in favor of “new ideas”, and “fresh leadership”, the maverick Trump, Senators Cruz and Rubio.

Jeb Bush has been shortchanged horribly by his handlers, and the heir apparent has run a horrendous campaign- to the point where one has to question for whom he was running- himself or the family?

Chris Christie, particularly post-bridgegate (Thank you, Rachel!) has mostly been an assterisk.

And Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina have had some brief blips on the radar, but nothing of consequence.

I have been “watching” Bernie for years, weekly, on the Thom Hartmann radio show, and I love him to death- and he, too, has tapped into the search for fresh leadership and new ideas, and has been coming on strong.

His quest for single-payer healthcare, and his indignation over not even having that on the table during the formulation of the ACA, are legendary.  Yes, it is an uphill battle, with no less than Nancy Pelosi announcing this week that the whole idea is a non-starter.

Not so fast.  If the “Medicaid For All” plan gains no cumulative traction, maybe with some persuasion, and perhaps some inducements, might not a President Sanders divide and conquer, and get individual states to take the plunge?  

Maybe.  

He wants to break up the banks, and is likewise being ridiculed for likely not having the necessary clout in the Congress with which he will be confronted.

Again, not so fast.  

Even though Reagan stopped enforcing it, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act is still in effect.  That’s right.  Remember the Baby Bells after they broke up A.T.&T.?  So, what’s a non-starter here is that he does not even need Congress- just a resolute Justice Department.

Could he pull it off, and find a permanenet solution, outlasting his presidency?  Perhaps.  Me thinks that the subsequent solution during the break-ups, can be found in the construction of the Charters of the new banks.  Clause or clauses within, that would limit their scope and/or size in perpetuity?

As I said, Sanders is running on the “change” platform, Hillary as the battle-hardened, progressive pragmatist, that will continue parts of the last 8 years, and tweak and/or go beyond when necessary- and suddenly a fan of continuing the fight for “universal healthcare”.

So, Bernie or Hillary?

New Hampshire feels the problem acutely right now, because it can be, and often has been, pivotal in making or breaking campaigns.  It is early, second place, and it is a primary, not a caucus, state. They 

can change the course, or set it in place more firmly.

You may be asking, “What exactly is the problem?”, and perhaps commenting: “Just vote your conscience!”

And maybe lose the White House…

The problem is that Hillary can beat every one of the long list of GOP wannabes- Bernie probably cannot.

Once alone at the top, Hillary will capture the female vote, and her lagging support amongst young people will increase and solidify- many people see what’s real about her and what’s not, and recognize the character assassination that has dogged the Clintons for years.  Many people will want to be a part of electing the first woman POTUS, as they did 8 years ago with the first African-American.  I believe it will become a juggernaut, and unless there are serious missteps along the way, cannot be stopped.

And we don't hate Hillary, stop giving us that bullshit.  Many of us just think she is not as good for the country as Bernie would be. She is like Dianne Feinstein, has forgotten whence she came, her roots, but we will work hard for her if she is the nominee.  It is clear though, that right now, she is in panic mode to some extent.

Bernie can beat Trump easily, but it becomes murky after that- Cruz and Rubio will go toe-to-toe with him, and he’s vulnerable among too many shallow voters to their methods- the socialism; the subtle, but clever attacks on his age; his dreaming the “impossible” dream.

The important thing is that one does not destroy the other during this process, creating cannon fodder for the GOP.  It may become critical at some point that the voters recognize the inevitable, when it becomes so, set their consciences aside, and vote for the country and not themselves.