Hey folks. Sorry it has been little while, but it has been very difficult for me to write. One of my best friends in Washington, a fantastic woman named Maria Leavey, just suddenly passed away.

Maria was one of those people in the progressive movement behind the scenes, never asking for credit, but tirelessly working to promote people she barely knew on her own dime.

For example, she invited me to the conference where I met The Young Turks, which led to that gig on their show. She also introduced me to an interested publisher in my forthcoming book.

I will get back to writing soon. Hopefully today. She most certainly would have wanted it that way. But you should all know that a wonderful person and an important progressive ally was lost a few days ago. And a lot of people are hurting right now because of it.

Here is a tribute Cenk Uygur of the Turks wrote at The Huffington Post. He did an excellent job of capturing who she was.