The good parents in central New Jersey's West Windsor - Plainsboro Regional School District are embroiled in a conflict over best educational practices that has broken down along racial lines.

The idea has taken hold in some circles that a fair number of Bernie Sanders supporters are sexist.  Fellow Dagblogger PeraclesPlease describes "leftist misogyny" as "waiting for the right woman [not Hillary]".

At Salon, the reliably misandrist Amanda Marcotte identifies a "Bernie bro phenomenon" consisting "of young men whose enthusiasm for socialism is goosed by an unacknowledged sexism".  Slate's more credible Michelle Goldberg contends many male Bernie backers "certainly don’t care about female leadership."

Bernie Sanders' Presidential bid received two significant boosts today. First, the 700,000 member Communications Workers of America (CWA) endorsed Sanders. Then, Howard Dean's Democracy for America (DFA) bucked its founder's call for members to support Clinton and instead overwhelmingly opted to back Dean's fellow Vermonter. Here are five takeaways:

As is her wont, Hillary Clinton is telling tales on the campaign trail. Eight years ago, she cited her landing in Sarajevo during the Balkans war under sniper fire and having "to run with our heads down" from the plane as evidence that she had more foreign policy experience than then-Senator Barack Obama. 

Chicago's Rahm Emanuel has about as ugly record as a Mayor can have when it comes to protecting the public - especially African Americans - from police brutality. An ongoing series by the Guardian this year revealed that since Emanuel took office in 2011, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) has detained over 2500 people – nearly all of whom are black - at a secretive facility known as Homan Square. Locals liken it to a CIA “black site” where arrestees are routinely held for hours or longer and subject to physical abuse.

I'm a hard-core liberal progressive definitely. Or perhaps I'm a progressive liberal. Anyway, I'm one or the other unless I'm both.  Conservative ideology in my view is morally and intellectually bankrupt.

Back in the last century, my somewhat more moderate - but still definitely liberal - father and my teenage self debated this. When the argument heated up, he would put his hand on my shoulder and say “my son, surtout pas trop de zèle.” Okay, maybe he didn't always say “surtout pas trop de zèle” but I'm pretty sure he did at least one time. And if he didn't he should have.

Hillary Clinton's kindler gentler Presidential campaign grinds on.  It's been a few weeks since the first (and so far only) Democratic debate where she enjoyed her finest hour in this election cycle thanks in no small measure to Bernie Sanders.  She has returned the favor by shamelessly and dishonestly playing gender and race cards against him.

An Illinois school district is in the news because it has been refusing to permit a transitioning female athlete use the girl's locker room.  Instead, her high school has made available a private shower for her.  She has sued claiming stigma and the Department of Education agrees that because she is psychologically a girl, she has the right to use the girl's room.  If the school doesn't make available to her full access to the girl's room within 30 days or reach a mutually agreeable accommodation, the feds may withhold funding.

Helaine Smith is an English teacher at an elite K-12 girls school in New York City.  The Wall Street Journal recently published her essay on teaching literature without letting "politics" or "personal identity" intrude.  Here is my response to the Journal:

Monday, the New York Times reported that the recently-concluded criminal trial against three former executives at the bankrupt Dewey & LeBoeuf law firm ended in a mistrial.  Last week, the jury hung on several of the 151 charged counts of fraud and acquitted on others.

Right after the Democratic debate Ryan Lizza tweeted "Hillary Clinton won because all of her opponents are terrible."  Other pundits were every bit as hyperbolic as the New Yorker's snarky reporter.  The Boston Globe declared "Hillary Clinton roars, Bernie Sanders stumbles".  Politico insisted "Clinton towers, Sanders glowers." 

As a caustic Clinton critic and tenacious tart-tongued TPP traducer, my reaction to Hillary's announcement that she opposes the multi-nation "free trade" deal should be obvious.  I would openly question her commitment to the working Americans she says the partnership will hurt.  I would doubt that she really cares that giveaways in the deal to pharmaceutical companies will hurt consumers.

The front page of Friday's Washington Post includes reporter David Farenthold's hit piece on Bernie Sanders. Much closer in tone and content to Charles Krauthammer on a bad day than legitimate journalism, Farenthold's commentary is expertly debunked by former Labor Secretary Robert Reich at Huffington Post and macroeconomist Dean Baker of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.

This past Sunday Senator Elizabeth Warren gave a justly lauded speech at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate. Warren focused on the interplay between racial and economic injustice in America over the past 80 years. “Prominent [Black Lives Matter] activist DeRay McKesson,” according to Salon, “praised Warren as better than any other politician on her understanding 'that the American dream has been sustained by an intentional violence[.]'” (Emphasis supplied.) I fear McKesson got Warren's message precisely wrong.

Readers have pushed back against my varied criticisms of Hillary Rodham Clinton over the past few months. Some accuse me of cherry-picking her worst moments, e.g., her vote to authorize the invasion of Iraq. Others claim that I have misconstrued various statements and votes over the past twenty years or that I arrogantly believe that I know better than her supporters what's best for them.

Yesterday evening, my 15-year old son William and I drove out to Manassas, VA, to see and hear Bernie Sanders. The rally began at 7:30 officially with Sanders due to appear at about 8. Here are my thoughts and experiences as they occurred.

For years I have criticized, frequently harshly, Hillary Rodham Clinton.  I think she is arrogant, aloof, and self-regarding.  Her political convictions are thin and yielding. More often than not she has shied away from tackling humankind's two most serious problems - economic injustice and global warming - perhaps because she seeks and accepts support from international business elites and the fossil fuel industry. 

President Obama is receiving praise for his fine-sounding speech at the Glacier Conference in Alaska Monday on the urgency of combating global warming.  If the soaring rhetoric, reminiscent of Obama circa 2008, were married to concrete action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, I'd be happy to join the acclaim.

Nate Silver’s 538 deserves journalism’s worst timing award.  On August 11, 538’s Harry Enten all but crowned Hillary Democratic nominee claiming that the Bernie Sanders surge was “over“.  A few hours later, the first of two polls came out showing Sanders ahead by 7 in New Hampshire.