Hi all. Just a little reminder that we have C99 members who create and/or sell a variety of items, many of which would make wonderful gifts. And who wouldn't want to send a few dollars to progressive small businesses rather than the big box stores or Amazon?

Hey, I get it. Donald Trump is vile scum. And yeah, he may be worse than Al Franken, whose resignation Democrats are lamenting as we speak. Sexism and sexual harassment, assault and abuse is a terrible thing. But here's the kicker. If this is so important, why are Hillary and Obama fans ignoring this story?

I'm ambiguous about the Deminvade strategy that Sanders, Our Revolution, Justice Democrats, etc. have pursued. I understand the desire to take over an existing party structure that has a protected and embedded status in almost every state vs. creating a new third party. On the other hand, I see the current "leaders" of the Democrats as unlikely to surrender power.

This isn't an easy story to tell, but I've been up all night thinking about why the stories linking sexual predator Matt Lauer to alleged sexism toward Hillary at a political forum 14 months ago were resurrected yesterday, and why they bothered me so much I felt compelled to write about it. And last night, a nasty twitter exchange with a Clinton supporter made me understand why.

Matt Lauer, powerful host of NBC's Today Show has been fired over allegations of "sexual misconduct." One more in a trail of powerful men in the media brought down for misbehavior ranging from rape to harassment. All fine and good. No one should be permitted to abuse their position to act badly. Yet, some Clintonites are claiming this is a vindication of Hillary? WTF?

When you've lost Kirsten Gillibrand, Hillary's hand-picked choice to replace her in the Senate, your run controlling the Democratic Party is over.

New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand believes that former President Bill Clinton should have resigned in light of the Lewinsky affair.

Bernie Sanders' campaign was orchestrated by Putin to sabotage Hillary and elect Trump.

Glenn Greenwald of the Intercept has deep ties to Putin.

So does Donna Brazile, who is a Putin stooge.

Mark Zuckerberg is a Putin propagandist. So are the folks that own Twitter.

Julian Assange should be executed for treason even though he's not an American. Also he is Putin's biggest propagandist and co-conspirator with Trump.

The Pentagon earlier this year said it has spent $1.5 Trillion on Post 9/11 wars. That's a helluva a lot. But now Newsweek reports that they grossly lied about the true amount: $5.6 Trillion!

We itemize our medical expenses on our income taxes because our medical costs consistently exceed $20,000 a year. Last year it was $26,000. But the GOP bill will eliminate that deduction which means we will have to dip further into our limited savings.

I only recently learned about this from my daughter's boyfriend who has been deployed to the Ukraine. He has a "Battle Buddy" not to be a friend but so neither of them will commit suicide. And why is that? Because since 2005 the Army suicide rate has exploded.