Letter to Susan Sarandon: Thank God Hillary Clinton Is Hours Away From Becoming Madam President

Dear Susan Sarandon, you don't know me. But as America stands on the brink of voting for tolerance, inclusion, sanity, wise governance and love, or endorsing bigotry, and thus either saving or condemning the world, I thought I would take this opportunity, to say a few words to you and introduce you to a few people.

Like many others, I read what you said ages ago about the chaos of a Trump presidency being better than a Hillary Clinton presidency, because then out of the chaos something really democratic could evolve. You proudly announced that you didn't vote with your vagina. It was cheeky of me, but all I could think was, perhaps your vagina hasn't learned yet that it's allowed to vote. 

Now listen here, Susan. If you want to blow your own life up, that's up to you. If you want to muzzle your vagina's voice, that's up to you too. Hard for me to believe it's a progressive thing but hey, that's just me. Here's the thing that does really bother me, though: you won't be the one who particularly suffers if Trump wins the election while you sulk over Bernie Sanders and egg others on to do the same. You've got immense wealth, fame, a fantastic job, a future, influence. You've got it all, and good for you. You deserve it, you've worked hard. 

Not everybody has such a safe place in life, though. I certainly don't. The people who will really suffer are the ones who don't have anything or who have very little. Those who can't vote with their vaginas because if they do they might get beaten up or abused in some way. Then there's that enormous group of human beings; African Americans, Latinos, Muslims, LGBT, and, hello, women in general. They'll suffer too. Think of all the Muslim children who will be bullied and beaten up. There'll be a corrupted Supreme Court for the next how many years? And world diplomacy and peace - kiss it goodbye! What about all the victims of the wars that Trump will engage in, the victims of his alliance with Putin, the increased power of the military industrial complex? The complete and utter fucking mess that will explode on the world? 

What about all the girls and women who will experience an upsurge in male entitlement? What about the women Trump abused? They'll have zero chance of retribution. What about the homeless all over the country, those people that Trump doesn't even see as human beings? I'm sure you get my drift.

And your idea that there will be some grand cathartic experience is fantasy, hon. There won't be. The chaos that everybody refers to isn't about the wealthy suddenly ending up with nothing. No, it's about them accumulating more. The wealthy will get wealthier, the middle class will disappear, the economy will plummet and take down other economies around the world, and the earth will get closer to destruction. A lot of irreversible things can happen in four years. Values will be over-ridden and banana republic tactics will run the show. White supremacy and racism will gain power. That's what the chaos will be.

But the wealthy? They'll be fine. You, darling, will be fine. None of the disasters that you are so willing to visit on the whole damn world will touch you.  

This isn't about allegiance to Bernie Sanders, because he has asked his followers to vote for Hillary Clinton. It's not about truth, because you and Sanders supporters in general have propagated as many lies about Hillary as the GOP and Trump. It's not about caring about democracy because you're willing to toss it. What's it about, then? Here's a thought: people who want to force a very punishing cathartic experience on others are often frustrated and too afraid to confront whatever will create a catharsis for themselves. I can relate; who can't? But that you don't care who gets sacrificed is, frankly, a slap in the face to people around the world. To all the minorities who have ever been and still are persecuted. To all the women who have been and still are being abused. 

I'm not American so I'm powerless to vote, I'm powerless to fight for tolerance and inclusion, for sanity. All I can do is watch and be grateful to all the Democrats whose vaginas have a vote, all the Democrats who don't have vaginas but still vote with good sense and accountability. Whether they know it or not they're saving the world right now. They're even saving you, Susan. They're voting for this woman who has withstood persecution the likes of which I hope you never have to experience.

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As I said, you deserve the place you've forged for yourself. You've been committed, you've worked hard. You've also been loved and appreciated. I wonder if you ever imagine what it might have been like for you to be trashed every waking moment, to have everything you've ever done that was good be twisted and distorted and fed into a giant media machine until everybody hated, despised and persecuted you. How it would feel if you knew you'd been scapegoated but nobody cared. If even intelligent people bought into the narrative and turned your beautiful life and achievements into something dirty.

Susan, while you exercised your right to visit chaos and suffering on the world, women of dignity like 99 year-old Minerva Turpin exercised their right to vote for the preservation of order and all that's good about being human. Being stronger together. Making history.

The Obamas Fought White Identity Crisis. Now It's Hillary Clinton's Turn To Do It.

Everything awful that can possibly have been said about Hillary Clinton has been said. Every sinister interpretation about her actions has been made. Every conspiracy theory has been elaborated on and substantiated by exactly nothing factual. Millions of dollars from tax-payers and wealthy Republicans have been spent trying to dig up facts that don't exist, trying to turn lies into truth. Her whole life in public office has been characterized by this battle. Notably absent has been a public willingness to penetrate the myths and their origins. Hillary met with conservative resistance in 1979, when Bill Clinton was elected Governor of Arkansas. She was interviewed on In Focus and asked if she felt comfortable in her new position, if it could be called a position, to which her response was,

"Well I do think it's a position and I do feel comfortable, but there's still a lot to learn and a lot to be done that we're just becoming acquainted with" so she couldn't really comment too much yet. When the host asked if it worried her that she didn't exactly fit the profile expected of First Ladies, she said, "No. I assess everybody by who they are, not by how they look." She might as well have added "And not by the things that are said of them," but she had no way of knowing what was in store for her.

No way of knowing that a huge sector of America was still unprepared for a woman who had the audacity to be intelligent, courageous, and outspoken.

It's been a long journey for Hillary Clinton from then to now. She was very openhearted in those days, not afraid to speak her mind. She didn't change because she became somehow untrustworthy and corrupt, or gain a reputation for being unlikeable because it was the truth about her, but because she encountered a savagery she hadn't known existed. Because it didn't exist in her family or in her. She did change her appearance, she did give people what they wanted as far as that went. But she stood her ground on her principles, and a certain misogynist element of America has never been able to forgive her. Women are not supposed to be powerful.

Or likeable. Everybody who knows Hillary Clinton likes her and not in a milk-toast way. They're enthusiastic about her. She's warm, she's funny, she has a great laugh, her smile lights up the room, she's a brilliant listener, she cares. Her 'unlikeability' has nothing to do with who she is.

It's not just an American thing. Julia Gillard, Australia's first female prime minister, learned it the hard way too. When she was first elected, she said she expected the supportive and the negative rhetoric but believed it would dissipate after a while and that she would be treated as any normal prime minister. It didn't happen. The misogyny she encountered, such as the Leader of the Opposition's comment "If it's true that men have more power generally speaking than women, is that a bad thing?" and "what if men are by physiology or temperament, more adapted to exercise authority or to issue command?" The misogyny ramped up over time until Julia Gillard had had enough and said so.

Her 'misogyny speech' went viral. Recently on GPS she said it probably resonated with every woman who has ever met with misogyny and longed to speak out but missed the opportunity as it arose. Fareed Zakaria also asked her if she thought Hillary Clinton was being held to a different standard. Her answer was a categorical yes.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have been exposed to the same bullying, spite, murderous persecution driven by white male identity crisis—although the role played by conservative women in supporting it shouldn't be underestimated. For the last eight years it's been like the Civil War take 2, except that the first was never really won. The Obamas have triumphed with tremendous dignity and in doing so have renewed, strengthened and invigorated all that's good about America.

Now it's Hillary Clinton's turn. She too has survived everything that's come at her and never let it thwart her and now that she's running for president she's looking the monster right in the eye. By standing her ground against the worst she's exposing it in all its glory for sane Americans and the world to revile.

The first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and the GOP candidate had the most viewers in US history. More than 80 million watched Clinton behave like an outstanding president. Close to 70% saw her as a winner.

They saw that she was ultra-prepared, which telegraphed that she respected them enough to do her homework well. They saw her confronted with bluster, lies, misogyny, rank stupidity, horrific racism, disrespect—bullying of every kind. She didn't once lose her composure but more than that, she knew how to deal very effectively with it without returning kind for kind. Hillary Clinton conducted herself with humor at times but never stooped to being snide. She was graceful throughout but there was never any doubting her steel, which Trump, for all his puerile and disgusting but considerable arsenal, couldn't get past. It showed what she'll do when she encounters that same behavior as president, which she will, in Congress and internationally. It also showed that she learns through challenges—referring to decades of facing the same kind of obstacles—without a hint of bitterness.

About 66 million watched the second debate and saw the same woman. When asked questions her answers were, as always deeply thoughtful and insightful. Her opponent's were incoherent, as always. 57% saw Hillary Clinton as the winner.

At least 50 million people for the 1st debate and 37 million for the 2nd got and believed the message that Hillary Clinton respects them, takes her task seriously, has the capacity to overcome barriers, and can be trusted with the job as president. I think the tide finally turned with this debate, not because her opponent had a meltdown—which he did—but because she rose to a very challenging occasion in a big way, which she has done her whole life.

It's no surprise that the NYT puts Hillary Clinton's chances of winning at 90%. Talk about triumph through adversity. Which is what America is really about.

The photo is from the video of Hillary Clinton's interview on In Focus in 1979.
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Hillary Clinton Goes High. The Other Person On Stage Starts Low And Sinks

Hillary Clinton aced it last night at the first debate, if you can call it that. My idea of a debate is the exchange of serious ideas by intelligent people. This of course wasn't that.

One debater was a super-informed, well-prepared candidate who has spent her life in public office working to improve lives of others. A woman with an enormous investment in the well-being of all Americans, equipped with formidable intelligence, articulacy and experience in debating in general and especially in the topics up for debate. A woman who has faced down an inordinate amount of bullying for decades, a lot of it driven by misogyny in a chauvenist political world where men and women were threatened by her for having the audacity to be in her power. She's never given up, never lost focus, resolve, dignity or compassion. And her smile still lights up the room. All in all, she's a pretty intimidating debate opponent.

The other person on the stage was a super-privileged, un-prepared, uninformed bully who has destroyed the lives of many in his lust to accumulate wealth and power and who, unable to achieve his goals, has simply lied; a coward of sub-intellect who struggles to finish even a simple sentence, who doesn't understand the laws of grammar, and whose only talent is for bluster, bullying, bullshit and bloviation. No wonder he looked nervous. It's one thing having your ego stroked by a crowd of deplorables.

It's another facing, on your own, an opponent who is the real deal, who isn't afraid of you, who knows how to cut you down to size, who is better than you in every conceivable way. Who has an inner strength you can only dream of, and the respect and endorsement of all the good people, all the smart people.

First Lady Michelle Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention about her girls, how hard it was to watch them at the age of seven and ten pile into those black SUVs with men with guns, how she thought "What have we done?" How she and Barack had to teach them that the vile rhetoric they saw on TV and in the media did not represent "the true spirit of America". And that the way to deal with bullies is "when they go low we go high". It was a speech for the ages.

Hillary Clinton quoted the First Lady last night at the debate "when they go low we go high", and it was how she conducted herself. As Trump disintegrated, she kept her composure; as he tried to trade insults, going lower and lower, she went higher and higher.

Of all the edited video footage that's come out of the debate so far, this is my favorite, from the Huffpost's article Lester Holt Proved That Moderators Can Fack-Check.

"Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S." - Huffpost Editor’s Note.

NYT Unequivocally Supports Hillary Clinton & Condemns Trump

David Leonhardt of the New York Times recently sent out an email to subscribers introducing himself and asking what we wanted to read, providing an email address to reply to. I jumped on that one.

"I've been reading the NYT every morning with my breakfast for years. Up until a couple of weeks ago I was ready to ditch my subscription; disillusioned with all the irresponsible attention given to Trump, sick to death of headlines that exploited the fascination with Trump. A lot of damage has been done, although not, of course, by the NYT alone.

Op-ed writers Gail Collins and economist Prof. Paul Krugman have valiantly held up the fort. I would like to see the entire NYT follow suit, take an unabashedly and unitedly unequivocal stand against Donald Trump. As Christian Amanpour has said, there is no sitting on the fence on this one. Any sentence that doesn't take a stand legitimizes Trump. The liberal media's responsibility is enormous right now. 

In my opinion, the NYT needs to step up in a way that makes the whole world take notice. If it does, others may follow suit."

On September 24, the Editorial Board published Hillary Clinton For President, unequivocally supporting her and explaining why. The introductory paragraph was:

"In any normal election year, we’d compare the two presidential candidates side by side on the issues. But this is not a normal election year. A comparison like that would be an empty exercise in a race where one candidate — our choice, Hillary Clinton — has a record of service and a raft of pragmatic ideas, and the other, Donald Trump, discloses nothing concrete about himself or his plans while promising the moon and offering the stars on layaway. (We will explain in a subsequent editorial why we believe Mr. Trump to be the worst nominee put forward by a major party in modern American history.)"

On September 25 the Board published Why Donald Trump Should Not Be President, unequivocally condemning him as a candidate.

Either I have extraordinary influence and/or powers of persuasion or I was one of a large crowd in my response to David Leonhardt. The first idea, whilst seductive, probably belongs with conspiracy theories insisting that Elvis Presley is still alive and the moon landing was all shot in a film studio. I like the second option better, anyway.

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Hillary Clinton Promoting Love, Kindness, Truth. The Media? Not So Much

Remember the GOP ads against the ACA? They couldn't find real disaster stories so they used actors and fiction. The lie was quickly unveiled. Then they used a real woman, but she lied, which was easily proven. It's par for the course for GOP ads. But not for the Hillary Clinton campaign. They don't have to use actors and screenwriters to make up fiction. They can draw from the truth, as they have in the above ad. You can't make that stuff up.

There's nothing of the compassion Hillary Clinton has shown for that cancer patient in a recent New York Times article Where Has Hillary Clinton Been? Ask The Ultrarich. It alleges that she's more comfortable among wealthy people than the ordinary Joe, and opens herself up to them more. Where Trump spends his time giving rallies and talking to the press, Clinton is keeping her distance but making herself omni-available to "some of the country’s most moneyed enclaves [who] are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to see her. In the last two weeks of August, Mrs. Clinton raked in roughly $50 million at 22 fund-raising events, averaging around $150,000 an hour, according to a New York Times tally."

The article drips with innuendo so explicit it verges on the overt; Clinton doesn't care about "ordinary" people. In this political climate, when populists are more driven by viciousness than a genuine desire for a better life, the title and matching piece are to people who oppose Hillary Clinton as a red rag is to an angry bull that's been harpooned one too many times by a picador with a huge arsenal and a taste for torturing animals. It's Trump's modus operandi.

   

The piece mentions in passing that Hillary Clinton is also focused on raising money from small donors but it's like a shard of dull glass among a bowl of glittering diamonds.

Populism has become a dangerous tool this election. On the ultra left, Bernie Sanders. On the other side, Donald Trump. Four things these two branches of populists share is that they've tried to raise themselves up by destroying Hillary Clinton; they've failed; they've hurt themselves in the process; and they've eroded America's chance to preserve democracy, protect and build on Obama's legacy of improving life for all. Putting the imminent and long term future of America at huge risk.

The common idea is that this brand of populism is driven by honest frustration with the system, and with the politicians who have allowed it to develop and that the purpose is to forge a better life.

If that were the truth, Bernie Sanders and supporters wouldn't have tried to succeed by destroying Hillary Clinton using unsubstantiated, highly provocative accusations as weapons of truth. Donald Trump's supporters wouldn't be turning a blind eye to his unethical business practices, his failures, overt racism, misogyny and megalomania and the fact that he is supported by white nationalist groups, the KKK and by Vladimir Putin and Kim Yong-un of North Korea. Not to mention his sexual attraction to his daughter.

Frustration plays a part, but I think the core driving factor of populists on both sides is a vengeful, mean-spirited desire to hurt somebody. Any weapon will do, any lie that can be spread around like a toxic virus. It's reminiscent of Roman days when people would watch Christians being torn apart lions and enjoy the sport.

In such a climate, when so much is at stake, the NYT article is irresponsible journalism. Particularly since Hillary Clinton is the candidate who has a history throughout her life so far like no other previous presidential candidate, of working for minorities, women, children and  equality. And who is reaching out to small donors. As it happens, according to Politico, in July 2016 the Clinton campaign raised $58.5 million, 58% of which was from donations under $200. So half the article should have been about those donations, right? Wrong. And it has nothing to do with the truth about Hillary Clinton. Does it have anything to do with what attracts readers—or what the NYT editors believe readers want? If it is, it proves rather unequivocally that the bias rests with them. Caught by thine own springe.

The Clinton ad is a lot more moving than the NYT's piece. And a whole lot more truthful. If you don't trust it because it's an ad, here's the story of another cancer patient who reached out to her, James Grissom, whose Facebook post has had 158k likes and over 66k shares.

I think about what it would be like if Hillary Clinton didn't win. The day after the election is called and reality hits home. All the so-called liberal journalists, editors, media outlets, TV anchors and hosts; what will be they be thinking, and doing? Staring at the TV in shock. How did it happen? Those of us who rely on the media for information will be the same, if we've bought their crap and haven't used our own discrimination. 

And it will be too late for regret. We'll all be plunged into chaos. 

Seasoned journalist Steve Majerus-Collins wrote a prescient account of what it would be like; a small gem of a book worth reading, a satire that chills you to the bone. Trump: An American Presidency. It's only 99c and it's worth its weight in gold. Trump for President? I hope not. For the sake of America. For the sake of the world.

US Crossroads: Land of the Free, Home of the Brave? Or land of the Paranoid Bigot?

Paranoia about and cruelty towards immigrants among a certain sector of the US is nothing new. Fred Packer drew the above cartoon in 1939.

On May 13 of that year, the SS St. Louis had sailed from Hamburg for Havana. There were over 900 passengers, most of whom were fleeing the Third Reich. Many were women and children. They had applied for US visas and were planning to stay in Cuba until the visas were granted. They left Hamburg believing they were on a vacation cruise to freedom. Can you imagine the relief, the celebration? What must it have felt like for parents with young children?

They were planning to stay in Cuba until their US visas came through. They were denied entry at Havana and the US visas were never granted. Allegedly a letter they sent to US President Roosevelt begging for refuge was ignored.

The ship hovered off the coast of Florida but eventually had to make its way back. There were protests and many attempts made to save the passengers from the worst fate imaginable. A few passengers got into Cuba and some into safe European countries and the UK. But many were sent back, and of course ended up in concentration camps. Imagine being a parent trying to explain that to your child.

The land of the free, the home of the brave? There's nothing free about rationalizing your fear and cruelty. And there's nothing brave about promoting the kind of hatred and bigotry that supports your rationalization.

America is the land where some people are free and many are tremendously brave. It's not the whole picture, though. It never was. The outcome of this Presidential race will show whether it's the bigger picture or not. It's a time where the free and the brave do as much as they can to preserve decency and humanity, and cling like hell to hope that they're in the majority. #ImWithHer.

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Inspired By Hillary Clinton For Good Reason

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"The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails!" Bernie Sanders said to Hillary Clinton back in the day when he also admitted, in reference to her now [in]famous speech-earning, that "everybody has the right to earn a living".

The New York Times reported Reince Priebus saying "Hillary Clinton seems incapable of telling the truth." Referring of course to the latest on her emails. It's rich, coming from him. The GOP is falling apart, as is Trump's campaign, and it's been recorded by Republican politicians struggling to survive, by Mitch McConnell even, and by Trump staff, but Priebus said on August 13 at a Pennsylvania rally that the "GOP is unified behind Donald Trump."

As for Trump, his modus operandi is to lie. And then lie again, saying he didn't say what he first said. Putting everything that America stands for, its democracy, its economy, the middle class, and world peace at tremendous risk. Because he lies.

Neither Trump nor Priebus has been subjected to the outrageous persecution and media distortion of every act, every word, for decades. Trump can't handle the media actually reporting the truth of what he says. These two cowards wouldn't last a day in Hillary Clinton's shoes. But they would never be there in the first place, because they don't have her work ethic, her commitment, her courage, her resilience.

The most important truth is that Hillary Clinton is winning despite the distortion of everything she does and says. Despite that many people believe the distortions. So one more won't make any difference. She's not a criminal. If she was, she'd have been found out by now, with all the scrutiny she's been subjected to. What Andra Day tweeted a week ago (below) still holds good. Perhaps even more so, as more and more accusations and recriminations are thrown at Hillary Clinton and she continues to plow straight ahead, working her ass off, as she always has. Never showing that this stuff gets to her, never letting it stop her or slow her down.

It's nothing short of remarkable. The more I see of her and learn about her the more I'm inspired by her.

Connect with me on Twitter: @JenniferJS_

Hillary Clinton Climbs In The Polls, But Where Is Bernie Sanders' Help?

As the election heats up and Hillary Clinton gains at the national polls, I want to breathe a sigh of relief and let go of anxiety, but I tell myself "not yet."  Standing in the shower today, I thought, this wouldn’t be happening, it wouldn't even be a close contest, if Bernie Sanders and his supporters hadn't chosen to try and win by trashing Hillary Clinton. They lost anyway but they've done so much damage.

Anybody who has taken a side in the US election season is likely to have been insulted by somebody feeling equally passionately but on the other side.

I've had insults hurled at me from the left and the right. To my surprise, I haven't felt personally hurt. A comment I left on a New York Times article was published and I had over 450 comments, many from angry Bernie Sanders supporters  who actually didn't read what I said. I was even accused of being a $hillary Wall Street whore. I wish.

But what hurts my brain and my heart is the misinformation that's spread around so liberally and high-mindedly. Scapegoating. It gets all the molecules of my being vibrating madly, wildly and very noisily. Which probably means it scares me shitless.

I hated it when Barack and Michelle Obama were the targets, and I hated it just as much when Bernie Sanders was. So it's understandable that I'd it when Hillary Clinton is the target. 

When you scapegoat, two things happen. One, you don't perceive your victim to be a human being dealing with issues you probably will never have to. Two, it's never about them, it's about your frustration with yourself or your own life and your belief that you're powerless to change any of it. We've probably all scapegoated at some point. It feels very satisfying in the moment and makes you feel tremendously powerful, but you can't sustain that feeling, so you have to do it again. And again. Yeah, there's a word for that. Addiction.

Your own rage builds on itself and you get nastier and nastier. The more you do it the more you have to lock out good sense and real information. It achieves nothing, but it does a lot of damage, to you and the target.

It's a bit like the photo, which is of my apartment. There chair is facing inward but it's empty. The reflection of the chair faces out to the view and the open horizon. When you scapegoat you long to access what the horizon promises but until you choose to sit in that chair and face yourself and be real, only requiring culpability from people who actually are culpable, it will never happen for you. You'll always be facing away from the good stuff. The best part of you will always be the ghost. 

And if, in politics, the person you're rooting for can only win because his supporters trash the opposition, it's because his good points aren't strong enough to win with. But if he gets into power his weak points will override the strong and then everybody suffers. 

Would Bernie Sanders have gotten so much support if his movement hadn't relied on trashing Hillary Clinton? And if he was such a great leader, why not just promote his strength? His campaign started out that way. It was all about love and truth and honor. Now it's all about rage, scapegoating, hatred, misinformation and conspiracy theories. Bernie Sanders said he would do everything he could to prevent the GOP candidate from winning. But in effect he's done nothing. His endorsement of Hillary Clinton was lukewarm in intent and what is he doing now? A lot of his supporters have said they'll endorse Jill Stein. They just don't care that it could give the presidency to the GOP nominee.

Sanders said he fully understood the problem with Ralph Nader and he had no intention of repeating that mistake. But in truth he started a Ralph Nader movement and he's powerless to stop it. If he's trying he's being tremendously discreet. 

So, though I'm relieved that Hillary Clinton is climbing in the polls and the GOP candidate is dropping like a stone, I'm holding my breath. 

Connect with me on Twitter: @JenniferJS_

#BernieSanders Supporters Hurl Abuse At Elizabeth Warren For Endorsing Hillary Clinton

How did the Bernie Sanders campaign, which started out positive and full of love, honesty and good energy, turn into a movement that has attracted so many people driven by rage who will destroy a person whether they have good reason or not, and vent their anger on the nearest and most convenient victim, inventing justifications for their behavior?

Senator Elizabeth Warren, the darling of the further left for her fearless outspokenness, has become the latest target of their venom since she endorsed Hillary Clinton. A Mother Jones piece by Pima Levy alerted me to it. The Senator's Facebook page is inundated with insults from Sanders supporters. It's horrifying. There is a lot of disappointment that is simply and honestly expressed, but there a ton of abuse too. The comments could be coming from Trump's Twitter account. There are no holds barred. The core message is you have disagreed with me; ergo you are a disgusting human being. A dishonest bitch, a sleazy woman, a sellout, a traitor, a hypocrite. And a stupid, even mindless one.

All her years of public service wiped out in an instant in their minds. The idea that Warren might be able to think, might be better informed than they are and less inclined to swallow conspiracy theories hasn't registered. None of the angry Sanders supporters who clearly adored her before have paused to question themselves. None of them have stopped to think what it must be like to be on the receiving end of their invective.  

They trot out the same old tired and ridiculous rants about corrupt Hillary and how she and the Democratic Party don't care about the 99%. As always there are no facts, no specifics, to back up the generalizations. Just pure, unmitigated rage and pleasure in hurling abuse.

Some even level dark threats, and that isn't new either. They've been playing the blackmail game for a while—choose Bernie or we'll vote for Trump. Many say they have left the Democratic Party and will never return, and seem to think that Sanders will run as an Independent or that Hillary Clinton is on the verge of being indicted and sent to jail for using a private server when she was Secretary of State. I find it interesting that none of them question why there isn't an FBI investigation into Jeb Bush for using—you got it, a private server.

And yet these Sanders supporters are the ones who look down on Donald Trump followers, scorning them for their stupidity.

Senator Elizabeth Warren is a courageous woman, passionate about democracy, and never afraid to criticize policies or elements of the system that she profoundly disagrees with. She has fought for what she believes in and has also been hammered by the far right but has never lost her focus. She doesn't deserve to be targeted in this way. But painful as I'm sure it is, she's a fighter. Abuse doesn't weaken her, it strengthens her resolve.

As it does Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's. And Hillary Clinton is going to be the next US President, whether Bernie Sanders runs as an Independent or not, whether his die-hard supporters vote or not. There simply aren't enough of them for Sanders to legitimately win. 

Photo: By United States Senate - http://www.warren.senate.gov/images/Warren%20Headshot.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25541088

Congratulations Hillary Clinton! #HistoryMade

Congratulations Hillary Clinton! Her nomination win is thrilling, especially given how hard and long she's fought for it. She gave a fabulous speech; full of joy and humor and respect.

It's been a lifetime of fighting for her and she's had the harshest of allegations hurled at her for years and years and years. None of it has been proved but it hasn't stopped coming. Yet she pushed through it all and has triumphed. What an exceptional role model, teaching girls and women in every country that the highest hurdles, the most seemingly insurmountable barriers, can be overcome. Following on from Barack Obama's presidency where he and First Lady Michelle Obama triumphed by pushing through barriers equally impenetrable, equally challenging in every way.

For all its faults, there's a reason why America leads the world. Eight years ago they shattered a glass ceiling and they've done it again. One historic president is going to be followed by another. Historic indeed; on the day Hillary Clinton's mother was born, Congress approved the 19th Amendment allowing women the vote. And now her daughter is the Democratic nominee. Come November she will be the US President.

I'm so looking forward to her taking Trump down. Ironically, the negative exposure she has had for so long is going to work in her favor now; anything he throws at her will be old news, courtesy the GOP and Bernie Sanders and some of his supporters.

But there is a goldmine in Trump's life for Hillary to dig up. And we've already seen that she's the only one who can unseat that terrible man.

I'm going to open a bottle of champagne tonight to celebrate how far women have come. Yes, it matters to me that the next American President will be a woman.

Suck it up, Susan Sarandon! Whether you want to admit it or not you and your vagina are going to benefit from Hillary Clinton's presidency. Though you probably won't be grateful, the majority of Democrats and Independents in America will save you from a Trump presidency and the destruction you so happily said you would welcome if Bernie didn't win.

Over time all the lies that have been fabricated about Hillary Clinton will be exposed, all the conspiracy theories and predictions will come to nothing. She'll make a great president. Barack Obama's outstanding legacy will be honored. And young girls will know that their dreams can become a reality.