Bernie: Thanks for the endorsement Lloyd! "Both Clintons have long ties to Blankfein and to Goldman Sachs, which has been a heavy donor to Bill Clinton's charity work."

I chose to post this on Hal's "Incurable Romantics" blog because, well ... if you read the link you might understand why. But my first instinct was to put it here. It's personal, wonky, thoughtful and full of perspective about and largely by, Hillary Clinton. The woman she's always been.

The super PAC supporting former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for president, uses footage of the late Terri Schiavo, a decision her husband slammed as "disgusting." The ad calls Bush "a man of deep faith who fought time and again for the right to life," while flashing an image of Schiavo...also features an image of a vigil outside of Schiavo's home with someone holding a "Jeb" sign...autopsy showed Schiavo had irreversible brain damage and was blind. Examiners determined Schiavo could not have been aware of her surroundings, and that no treatment would have improved her condition.

Dayne Walling, then the town’s mayor, ceremoniously pushed a button to stop the flow of treated Lake Huron water from Detroit for the first time in nearly 50 years. Water from the nearby Flint River began gushing into Flint’s 700-mile-long pipe system instead. The politicians raised glasses of water and toasted the historic change.

Wantwaz Davis — the recently elected city councilman from Flint’s 5th Ward — did not join in on the toast.

“I was in the corner like, ‘Nah, I’m not drinking that,” Davis recalls.

The finger-pointing, buck passing, blame shifting and other various forms of non-culpability is like a big swirl of non-information right now. The poisoned babies in Flint don't really care about that. All they want is for the itching to stop.

Davis sought outside help again and again. Starting in June 2014, he sent the exact same letter to the Justice Department, addressed to then-Attorney General Eric Holder, every Monday morning.

He received a reply several months later, telling him to contact the state police.

No one listened in time for these lead-laced water problems to be stopped.

Is Councilman Davis correct in saying it was "genocide"? Not of a racial kind, but of class.

Graspers, meet straws (perhaps) but worth noting this academically connected analysis

Former Mayor Bloomberg might run for the Presidency as an Independent?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/nyregion/bloomberg-sensing-an-opening-revisits-a-potential-white-house-run.html?_r=0

I think this could turn out to be a big deal.

Another billionaire (although this former mayor is a real billionaire) in the race could really make it a three-person race.

I certainly feel that Bloomberg could take more repubs than dems....but?

Time is ticking of course and a real decision must be made soon.

But this decision could surely shake things up.

16 notes on the Democratic campaign from leftist historian Corey Robin.

"Democrats have occupied the White House for sixteen of the last twenty-four years, and in that time . . . they’ve done nothing to change the vicious cycle of wealth and power that has rigged the economy for the benefit of those at the top, and undermined the working class."

I'm going to vote for Bernie in the primary despite my support for Hillary because it just makes sense to do so in New York.  Hillary will likely win my state primary anyway and if I somehow tip the scales to Bernie, I am not going to lose sleep over it.

But, damn, Jonathan Chait just makes me want to switch sides entirely.