Feel the Betrayal!

Feel the Betrayal!

Bernie Sanders during his campaign. He was supposed to be relaxing
this week but it looks like he might need a vacation from his vacation.
DailyKos.

Here's a diagnosis for while the media is questioning Donald Trump's mental health, and Trump and others are questioning Hillary Clinton's physical and mental health alleging that she has a neurological disorder. Both, by the way, must still be proven. Let me go out there having taken a distance learning psychology course at a community college, that Bernie Sanders supporters are having separation anxiety. They can't bear to accept the fact that they secretly love the capitalism they preach against, and that their icon of rage has in fact been rendered a spoke in the spinning wheel of capitalism. The purchasing of a $600 thousand summer home on the shores of Lake Champlain should be a slap in the face to all of the #Bernouts. Just read the whiny nonsense of Lucy Tiven of attn:. 

These comments and images are objectionable on several fronts. Most obviously, they are rude. Putting the Sanders family's personal choices under a microscope brings up the same misguided impulses we saw when various news outlets shamed Malia Obama for dancing at a music festival.

Unfortunately Lucy, the comparison between an adolescent girl who is the daughter of a politician and was trolled opportunistically for a moment of enjoyment that truly affects nobody, as opposed to a major national politician who has campaigned on a platform criticizing the rich as entitled and heartless, could not be any worse of a match. Even some dedicated opponents like me of President Obama  feel that Malia Obama has every right to twerk at a music festival, because the story has absolutely no relevance to anything. People have the right to make fun of her, but in the grand scheme of things it's an irrelevant story. So with all due respect Lucy, we'll continue to be as rude as we want while calling out this fraud of a politician.

The Defence

Snopes.com has long been an urban legend
busting clearinghouse, but when it comes to politics
their fact checking simply lacks context AND objectivity.
The Mikkelsons, the couple running the page, are
avowed liberals and atheists. On this issue they've missed
the point by focusing on the accusations and not on the
facts.
ChristianMoney.com

Leave it to the shield of truth Snopes.com to come to the rescue of Sanders' legion of emotionally fragile followers by quoting Sanders' wife Jane O'Meara Driscoll Sanders on her source of income for that purchase:

“My family had a lake home in Maine since 1900, but we hadn’t had the time to go there in recent years — especially since my parents passed away,” she said. “We finally let go of it and that enabled us to buy a place in the islands — something I’ve always hoped for.”

So Kim LaCapria of Snopes took that explanation at face value, because the accusations against Bernie mostly pertained to whether he had used donor money or had been paid off by the DNC. According to Mrs. Sanders the capital for the new home came from the sale of an inherited home in Maine and had nothing to do with  DNC money or stolen donations. Case closed then?

Not so fast. . .

Bernie was able to score points again the wealthy
by opposing the estate tax. According to his wife
Jane's explanation for the income, the sale of an
estate paid for their new home on Lake Champlain.
Michael Ramirez -- TownHall

 Among the issues that Sanders has discussed very passionately is the estate tax,  and last year he declared that there must be a lowering of the percentage that  can be shielded from this tax upon death, including a top bracket where the estate would have to pay 65% of the value straight to the government. Jane Sanders, already under fire in the past for taking a golden parachute of $200,000 due to her dragging Burlington College into major debt while serving as its president could open up new vulnerabilities for Sanders' personal credibility. 

Why even care?

Let's outline the reasons that the reader, whether a Sanders supporter or otherwise, should object to this otherwise private decision:

• Sanders, as stated above, is a prominent critic of inherited wealth, claiming that it only helps to promote multi-generational income inequality. Therefore they as a couple should have had the integrity to give their "fair share" of those assets to the government. Think about it this way, for an estate of between $500 -750 thousand in value the federal tax will be $155,800 (or 31%) PLUS 37% on the amount above $500 thousand. So for an estate of $550 thousand the heir would have to pay $174,300. (Source: Motley Fool parameters using my inputs). And Sanders says that THIS IS NOT ENOUGH. If the estate exceeded $2 million, it would be subject to state estate taxes in Maine. 

Remember, Bernie has always railed against how members of Congress are not just corrupt but lazy. Their privileged wealth has come under fire on both the left and right. 

• On the Republican side there are officials like former Reps. Connie Mack IV of Florida and Mary Bono of California. They both come from prominent backgrounds: In Bono's case the widow of the late Congressman Sonny Bono and in Mack's case the great grandson of the founder of what are now the Oakland A's and son of a US senator from Florida. These two patrician lawmakers actually got married while in Congress and divorced after neither of them won their elections in 2012. This show how two lawmakers from separate states somehow concocted a professional marriage that lasted only as long as their political dreams did.
• On the Democratic side there are the corrupt real estate deals of such people as Rep. Charles "Chip" Rangel of New York or the personal favors and gifts given by Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey to a physician. 
• And therefore for Bernie to come out and maintain not just his official family residence in Burlington, VT (now valued at over $300 thousand), and his condo residence in Washington, DC, (valued between $50-100 thousand) but now also a SUMMER residence on the banks of Lake Champlain, is a crossover point. Do average voters, in any state, maintain a SUMMER residence? 
• Jane Sanders can claim that buying the house was through the capital freed up about that deal, but let's address that for a second: Where are they gonna get the money to maintain that residence as she remains unemployed and he makes "only" a $157 thousand per year salary as a senator? And yet most of the assets and income reported on their financial disclosure form belonged to her.
• Why own a SUMMER home at all? I mean is he expecting spend a lot of time off during that part of the year? 
• Wouldn't a more modest cabin have been enough? How is he to explain now dividing his time between three residences, two of them only 43 minutes drive from one another? 

The Next domino

During the rise of the Bernie movement I was a major skeptic, and I'm still a skeptic after he withdrew from the race. It's time for his supporters to grow some critical thinking skills. Even in the most benign situation, this purchase exhibits just how off message Sanders' life is compared to his stated beliefs. Let me give my final verdict on this story:

• This reinforces the belief of myself, among others, that Bernie never launched the campaign with the intent to actually run in the general election.
• His figurehead status among the movement he abandoned needs to end. If you're a progressive, find a symbol that lives up to those ideals. They DO exist. Have you seen him since his concession? He's basically been like a caged dolphin with no spirit. 
• Lastly, I do not believe for one minute Jane Sanders' claim that they had enough money left over to purchase the house from the sale of a different house. I also will not believe seriously that he's defrauded his donors. . .
• The only explanation I have is that there must have been some big payoff, and it came from whoever would have it in their interest to keep him compliant during the DNC. And we all know who likes to give out and take in huge payouts in cash. . . Use your imagination.