Max Rose

  One of my childhood homes was on East 17th Street between Avenues O and P in Brooklyn. Manny Cellar was the powerful congressman from that district from 1923, long before I was born, to 1973, long after I had moved away. The district has been redrawn many time since then and it is divided between the current 8th (Hakeem Jeffries), 9th (Yvette Clarke) and 11th (Max Rose) districts. About 2 blocks from my old house, Yvette Clarke's district ends and Max Rose's begins-- the corner of East 15th Street and Avenue P.

...And he represents my old neighborhood in Brooklyn, a neighborhood where both Bernie and Ruth Bader Ginsberg grew up. Rose's district ends at the corner of Avenue P and E 15th Street and I lived 2 blocks away on 17th between Avenues O and P. It was once the most liberal district in America. Now it's paired with Staten Island and Bay Ridge to make a swing district that's only been represented by a Republican or a Blue Dog from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, right now Max Rose.He's got a tough Republican challenger and I hope she beats him. His new ad isn't about her.

Team BloombergOnce Bloomberg, the billionaire self-funder and least liked of all the Democratic candidates running for president, put out feelers that he would pay-- and pay big-- for congressional endorsements, we asked who the first asshole would be.

If you vote for the lesser of two evils... you're voting for evilI spent a lot of time in Afghanistan-- and without an army. I was there twice. First time was in 1969 and I don't mean to toot my own horn, but you had to be either brave or crazy. I was just coming down off a 4-year psychedelic haze (and worse), that some people refer to as "college." The Afghanistan I saw was wilder the what the U.S.

Brindisi addressing other right-wing fake DemocratsThere are just 10 Democrats left who haven't come out for an impeachment inquiry. It's probably the final list-- cowardly careerists afraid of losing their seats. These are the final 10-- 9 Blue Dogs and someone who should be tossed out of the Progressive Caucus-- with Trump's 2016 win numbers in their districts:

A new poll done by Change Research-- a very good firm-- found that 60% of voters in rural counties in 9 states-- Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and West Virginia-- approve of the way Trump is doing his job.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi by Nancy OhanianPelosi is bending over backwards for the freshmen-- who Cedric Richmond, Louisiana New Dem and co-chair of Biden's campaign-- says to ignore because they're "scared of their own shadows." A small handful of them are the reason Congress isn't doing it's duty for the American people.

Wednesday morning Pelosi and Schumer headed over to the White House to discuss an already doomed infrastructure plan (and to be booted out by the always gracious Señor Trumpanzee). A reporter asked her about the closed door Democratic Party caucus she had just left (not even chiefs of staff were allowed in-- just members). She told him-- and his tape recorder: "It was a very positive meeting, a respectful sharing of ideas. And I think a very impressive presentation by our chairs.

Another colorful lesser of 2 evils race shaping up in NY: Rose v Grimm?There's a subway stop on the corner of Kings Highway and East 17th Street in Brooklyn, a few feet from the famous Dubrow's Cafeteria where JFK came for a rally in 1960. Back then that area around Dubrow's was the heart of Brooklyn's liberal Jewish bastion.

Blue Dog Max Rose and progressive Democrat Ilhan OmarIt should be no surprise to anyone who's been paying attention that the Republicans are going to run against Democrats next year by asserting they're all "socialists" who want to turn the U.S. into Venezuela. I asked Alan Grayson about the problem that Democratic candidates will be facing as they endeavor to combat these pernicious tactics.