osodecanela | Entries tagged with politics

I am not a fan of Liz Cheney. I certainly was not a fan of her father. During the <s>Cheney</s> Bush administration, Liz’s daddy often made me think about the antichrist. One of his few saving graces, was he wasn’t rabidly anti-LGBT, likely having more to do with Liz’s sister, Mary, living her authentic life. As I recall however, unlike her parents, Liz was vehemently opposed to marriage equality.

Unlike most of the Republican party currently in office, Liz Chaney has some anatomy most of her party lacks, namely a spine. I am gob smacked that for once I’m in agreement with her. Donald Trump is a threat to the United States, he fomented an insurrection and is continuing to press publicly outright lies about the validity 2020 election. What kind of topsy turvy world is this, that I’m suddenly in Liz Cheney’s corner?

My thoughts about the Republican party have not been charitable for over a generation. The purge of anyone who could be labeled a moderate, let alone liberal from the Republican ranks galls me. I see pandering, gerrymandering and a threat to any institution that serves a public good. 35 years of practicing medicine and watching too many people fall thru the cracks of our so-called safety net, people who were working two and sometimes three jobs to make ends meet, and still unable to access healthcare in a timely and compassionate way. I have no respect for a society that treats healthcare as a privilege and not a right, and shortsightedly and purposefully shorts education resources so that there remains a permanent underclass, with few hopes of improving their social standing.

(Gee Weaver, tell us how you really feel.)

So. the House Republicans purged Liz Cheney from power today. She was the #3 person in the Republican leadership. That is no longer. She had the audacity to speak the truth, to say the Emperor had no clothes. She told the truth. Unthinkable.

For that the talking heads on Fox, and Newsmax, and OAN, opinion writers masquerading as news reporters, have trumpeted from their bully pulpits that Liz Cheney is dangerously deranged and must go. Despite all this, she has remained steadfast. She will not lie about Trump. She will not bow to kiss his ring, and make nice, and pretend he did not try to overthrow an election. For that she has my grudging respect, as uncomfortable as I am about it.

Current Mood: grumpy

I'm getting old and not so tolerant.

The TV is sounding like a modern day Paul Revere. "The vaccine is coming" The Vaccine is coming!" Well, not fast enough for me I'm afraid. According to the state of California, at 65 I am now eligible to be vaccinated. Good luck finding it however.

Locally, we're way behind vaccinating. there was one batch of the Moderna vaccine that had a higher than expected allergic reaction rate at a site in Southern California and for the time being the rest of that batch was place on hold. That includes 7500 doses that were shipped to this county. Bloody wonderful. Supposedly, they are asking recently retired MDs and RNs to volunteer to give out vaccines. I would be more than happy to. Just not before I have had the jab myself, given my personal risks. I'm not having any luck finding out where I can go and get the shot so I can go volunteer, nor am I seeing where I could sign up to volunteer.

It angers me. My friend's parents in rural North Carolina, in the heart of Trump's Republican country, had absolutely no trouble finding the vaccine and getting it. I know because I had a personal chat with them, telling them why it was crucial they get it. Less than 4 days post chat, they were vaccinated. In Democratic Northern California, I am still waiting. Even though the Governor's office says officially, I am eligible, none of the local vaccinations sites will make me an appointment. Either they have no vaccines or they are still working their way through those age 70 and up. My age 65 with significant health related risks isn't putting me any higher on anyone's list for now. Other than the Governor's that is.

I have been stewing over the impeachment hearings this week. I have deeply appreciated the house managers and their presentation. It's damning of Trump. The videos played in the Senate chambers have made is dramatically clear just how close we came to bloodshed of our elected representatives, whipped up by Trump on the ellipse and then aimed directly at the Capitol. The videos have been graphic. I cannot understand how anyone in the room watching them cannot be moved, especially anyone that was there that day and who could easily have been victim to that mob.

The reports that folks like Senators Hawley, Cruz, Scott (Florida) and Paul sitting there with their eyes averted, reading magazines or doodling absolutely incenses me. Five people died in the attack on our capitol. Two more Capitol police took their own lives thereafter. 140 officers were injured. The Capitol was left in shambles, by our own fellow citizens. If spurring this mob on to attack a co-equal branch of government isn't an impeachable offense, then what is? I just don't get it.

<sigh>

I spent more time this year working for political change than since I was in my 20s. In January & February I canvassed door to door for Warren. don’t wanna think how many miles I walked going door to door. I just remember my ankles telling me, “this had better be worth it.” After lockdown, there was phone banking. I’ve always been a believer that politics is local and that my action needs to be local. I no longer hold to that. Not since my rights were stepped on during Prop 8, when forces from outside California funded the most vicious ads on our airwaves to deny not only the rights of my community to marry, but to undo my own already existent marriage. How dare you tell lies about me.

In September & October, I journeyed virtually to Pennsylvania, spending day after day phone banking in the get out the vote effort there. Vote Save America sponsored an adopt a state program and I opted for Pennsylvania. The adage tgat the state is Philadelphia in the East, Pittsburgh in the West, with Alabama in between isn’t all that far off. Remember the Mason Dixon line is the boarder between Pennsylvania with Maryland & W, Virginia. All this month, I moved my efforts to virtual, near daily travel to Georgia, in the get out the vote effort there for the Senate runoffs, jointing NextGen, Fair Fight & the New Georgia Project.

Personally, while I was unsurprised of the outcome in November in Pennsylvania given all the positive conversations I had in the 7 weeks prior to Election Day, I still feel the effort I put in, along with volunteers from all over the country, helped the cause significantly. Similarly, the last month in Georgia, the determination I heard from the Metro areas of Altanta, Macon, Savannah, & Columbus, kept me calling. I felt good about making sure folks knew, where and how to register, when to get their votes posted by mail or dropped off, and how to find their polling place. I cannot tell you how any times I got told, “we have to get this done!” At times I was unsure who was bolstering who I this effort. Yes, there were plenty of “please stop calling me”, but almost as many offered their thanks for what I was doing.

Went to bed last night relieved, Warnock having been declared the winner by the AP, and Ossoff holding a 3,600 vote lead with the majority of the outstanding ballots predominantly from Democratic urban bastions. Again I was unshocked, but deeply grateful. In September, I had felt confident the Senate would flip; I thought a minimum of 4 seats would change. I was dashed after the election, certain that although Biden wound take the White House, that McConnell would prevent and significant change in the new Senate and quash any attempt for progress in DC. Early on, I had serious doubts Georgia would flip the Senate. I went to sleep with incredible relief.

Today started with great hope, thinking last night’s Georgia news would be the main news story of the day. The staged drama in the House & Senate of objections to the acceptance of the ballots cast in the Electoral College might come in a close second. Instead, the news story of the day was a riot incited by the President. I’m incredulous. Protesters breeched the Capital, while both the House & Senate were in session no less. Someone died in the course of the protests, a woman shot inside the Capital. They smashed windows and there are photos of them closing in on and chasing solitary capital policemen. I was struck that many of the police were people of color; I saw no protestors they were not white. Not one. I was also struck the difference in the police response to white conservative protesters, in comparison to say how the protesters were treated the day the President decided to hold up a Bible in front of a church near the White House.

The insanity promoted by this charlatan in the White House cannot be over soon enough. I pray the state of NY is ready to indict him January 21.

So I woke up this morning, opened the news on my phone and found nothing yet announced. After 20 minutes or so, I got outta bed & trotted off to the kitchen to make b’fast for us both. I turned on a podcast and went about my business. Didn’t see my husband’s text, a few minutes after I started with the dishes from last night, as the coffee pot started to drip out this morning’s dose of caffeine. Nor did my husband say anything when I walked in with the b’fast tray.

An hour and a quarter after the AP called the election for Biden, after declaring he had successfully taken Pennsylvania, LJ remarked, “my friend just texted from New York that people are out celebrating and dancing in the streets. Oh and it’s 70° there.“ I countered with, “why? And what the hell, it’s 70°!“

“Apparently you didn’t see my text.“

“What text?“

“Um, they’ve called the election. Biden has won.”

The moment or so later I felt a single tear snaking its way down my right cheek and disappearing into my beard. I had thought of many ways I’d react to the news of Trump’s loss. I hadn’t expected a single tear today to be my actual response.

I am feeling a profound sense of relief, not that we as a country don’t have a tremendous amount of work to do. This is just the beginning. Our polarization as a nation is far from over. While it appears there is a growing acceptance that the nightmare of a Trump presidency is now about to end, the undoing of all the damage that he has wrought to our government and our nation still remains to be addressed.

Moreover, I am sitting here watching people in T-shirts & tank tops out celebrating in New York, Washington, and Philadelphia, while thinking it’s November. 70° in New York City is markedly abnormal for this time of year. I’m sitting in the heart of what’s supposed to be a temperate rainforest, one where the rains should have begun 2 to 3 weeks ago, yet we remain dry. My heart is lighter now than in much of the last 4 years. Though I see people out in the streets celebrating, I cannot help but focus on the reality of what we have done to this climate and how much worse it has gotten under the stewardship of this interloper, that’s about to get evicted from the People’s house. I’ll let others go out to celebrate for me and not begrudge them. Somehow, I’m not much in the mood to celebrate at the moment.

It still will be 2 1/2 months, before this man, this scourge, this sad excuse for a human being, is actually out of a position of power. Like a wounded creature, I have fear over what further damage he might wreak in that time left. Who will he pardon? What will he steal? What new norms will he break? How will he attempt to impede the new administration coming in? What will his enabler‘s do to support him?

If you’ll forgive the metaphor, how I feel at the moment is best described as someone who has had an enormous boil lanced. The immediate pressure is relieved and the poisonous debris is finally streaming out. For the moment, I’m feeling better, though I know the healing process is far from over. There will be pain to come; part of the healing process. But just like an abscess, it must be tended to to be certain it heals properly, so not close prematurely and thus recur.

If Trump succumbs to Covid-19 it would be......

Current Mood: annoyed

So I’ve mentioned I cannot turn on Fox News without experiencing rage & an urge to put my foot through the tv screen within moments. Likewise, extended doses of Trump & his rhetoric triggers the same anger. Actually listening to the State of the Union as it happened, would have left me needing a new Roku today. This morning I’m taking in some of what he said, in bites small enough that neither my rage nor nausea are overpowering.

Needless to say, a speech that speaks to our better angels, that unites and inspires us a nation to move forward for the benefit of all, was not what we got last night. Trump may be a Republican, but he’s no Roosevelt, no Eisenhower, no Lincoln. He’s P.T. Barnum, offering spectacle and not substance.

Speaking of spectacle, Trump planted a military wife and her two young children in the gallery & on cue her husband, secretly back from deployment marched out to join them. Let’s script in a tender reunion scene of a hero & his loved ones, directly delivered by central casting. It’s sad to note those kids did not appear to recognize their own father.

AND speaking of nausea, Rush Limbaugh was seated in the box with the First Lady. He walked away last night with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. What the hell has that man done to warrant that honor? In the man’s defense, he did genuinely appear surprised, not that he wouldn’t happily be a shill for the President. Why do that at the SOTU? 4 words: pander to your base. Apparently, instilling fear of minority folk, be it of black & brown, of immigrants & refugees, of LGBT or of women seeking reforms and equality, now warrants that honor, unadulterated by being grouped with other such honorees, but instead on center stage, for the most eyes possible.

When he first arrived on the podium, Trump snubbed Pelosi’s proffered handshake, before launching what in essence wasn’t the SOTU, but a reëlection stump speech. Amen, Pelosi had the presence of mind to do what millions of Democrats & Independents wish they could have done. As Trump finished speaking, & as the Republicans present cheered, standing right behind the President, she ripped up her copy of his speech.

I’ve been watching the impeachment hearings this morning, and I just had to turn the thing off.

Is it just me, or is the hyper partisan jockeying of the Republican party bothering anyone else?

I may be naïve. I may be foolish to expect anything different. I may be a Democrat and therefore somewhat partisan myself. Still, I am disturbed more than I can describe by my clarity that the bulk of the republicans appear to have put party before country.

I thought that there were things to which a politician could not stoop, without consequences, such as extorting the assistance of a foreign government in an election. I was gob smacked to hear the phrase during the last presidential election cycle, “Russia, if you’re listening…” & disgusted to see Trump say on camera that he thought China should open up an investigation into the Bidens. However, that there are not apparently enough Republicans in the Senate with a back bone to stand up to either the president or the majority leader & insist on witnesses during the senate trial, Doesn’t just disappoint me, it sickens me.

After almost 250 years as a nation, that we are now watching one party in our Senate in essence give it’s stamp of approval to the creation of an imperial presidency is something that we as a nation should mourn. Our nations forefathers, those luminaries who wrote our constitution must be turning in their graves right now, if not out right spinning.

This is not a football game or a soccer match. We are not two opposing sides looking at who will win this game. This is a battle for our democracy. It is a battle for our republic, as one of our forefathers noted, if we can keep it.

We have had demagogues in elected office in this country before. Joe McCarthy comes to mind, as does President Nixon. Eventually, the tides were turned on both of them & they lost the power they held. are we as an American people paying attention? Are we able to look at what’s happening and evaluate it, as well as the voices who’ve sought both to obfuscate. What do the Sean Hannity’s, the Laura Ingram’s, the Rush Limbaugh’s, the Tucker Carlson’s stand to gain? Who puts the money behind them? Who puts them on their bully pulpit? For that matter who is funding the republican party? Who is playing the white working class against everyone else and for who’s gain? As someone wise once said, “follow the money.”

At this moment I am clinging to the hope that as they did in 2018, the American electorate will rise up this November and put a stop to this insanity. It’s clear to me at this point that we not only must remove this stain on the White House, but on the Senate as well.

(Nota bene - this was sent to Sen. Collins’ office directly. I have sent similar letters to my two Senators. I’d urge each of you in this country to do the same especially if either of your state’s Senators is a Republican.)

Dear Senator Collins,

I realize since I am not one of your constituents, it’s unlikely that this will ever reach you, but as a gay man who spent part of his childhood in Maine, I have to thank you for your opposition to the nomination of Matthew Kacsmaryk to the Federal bench in the Northern district of Texas.

I’m acutely aware of the the role our Federal Courts play in defending the rights of minority people from the tyranny of the majority, particularly so when those minorities are threatened by opinions influenced by teachings of religious groups. In a country where the Bill of Rights is supposed to guarantee separation of church and state, the elevation to the Federal Court of someone who quotes the catechism of the Catholic Church as his personal guideline for what should, and more pressingly, should not be legal, is deeply disturbing to me.

Our public, predominantly non-Muslim, is often whipped into a frenzy of fear at the mention of Sharia Law; should we be comfortable accepting any particular church’s doctrine, simply because both said church and the bulk of this country’s population are nominally Christian? Our founding fathers thought not.

Senator, you and I are of similar vintage. We grew up in a time when members of the LGBT community lived within the closet for their own personal survival. As a child, I never dared to dream I would meet a man I’d be blessed to spend the rest of my life with, to publicly announce as my husband, and to enjoy the same legal protections that any heterosexual couple has on the local, state and federal levels, yet here I am, after 38 years since the morning I first saw him in church, and to my amazement still, with those hard fought for rights. We’ve been married almost 11 years, secure that should something happen to one of us, the other would not suffer financial discrimination and destitution, as so many of our community once endured when facing widowhood.

So I thank you Senator Collins, for your opposition and your unwillingness to see the clock turned back to an earlier and darker time for people like me.

Oprah said it. If you have not yet heard her speaking onstage with Stacy Abrams, who’s running for governor of Georgia, stop what you’re doing, go to Youtube now and listen to it. Both these women have a message that must be heard.

Incidentally, Abrams, the daughter of African American pastors, and who our ~~führer~~ president labeled as unqualified for the job, is both a Yale law school graduate and former minority leader of the Georgia State House. Unlike the president, she has a distinguished career in government service, plus she earned that Ivy League degree, rather than purchase it.

In her opening remarks, addressing the voter apathy that exists in the country, Winfrey said to everyone, if you are descended of people who were denied the right to vote, when you vote, you are voting for them. Well, not all of us are descendant of African American, but we’re all descended of women. That was not just in my grandmothers’ lifetime, but my aunt’s. Given the struggle of our ancestors to gain the right to vote, Winfrey is right. If we abdicate that right they fought so hard for, we disregard their struggle, we disrespect our families and our heritage and we dishonor ourselves.

We may not always be pleased by our election choices; that does not excuse us from casting our vote. Sometimes it will be voting for the lesser of two evils. I defy anyone who chose to sit out our last election, that they’re happy about that decision, after the last two years of chaos.

First George Soros. This morning, President Obama, the Clinton’s, CNN, former CIA director John Brennan, & possibly Debbie Wasserman Schultz all were recipients of nearly identical mail bombs. All were intercepted undetonated.

Meanwhile, the incitor-in-chief has taken no responsibility for fanning flames of violence and dischord in this country. This gentleman & I use that term extremely loosely, remains the same unrepentant liar who urged acolytes at his rallies, to beat up people protesting his hateful rhetoric & that he would cover their legal fees. (Yeah, right. And THAT cheque is in the mail.)

Now, just before Election Day, folks on Trump’s hit list are targets for what were thankfully thwarted attempts on their lives.

The President of cours, will accept no responsibility for inciting these attempted atrocities.

The first amendment protects free speech; it does not protect you from prosecution for screaming fire in a crowded theater. Will the American public convict the President and his cronies, when they go to the polls next month?

I will post my absentee ballot today (incidentally, I have no polling place. In my district it’s all mail in ballots). In as much as I can as an individual in a blue district in a blue state, I will be sending my message. We, as a country, must rise up and speak truth to power. Please, get everyone you know to the polls in the next to weeks. The status quo must not remain so.

Current Mood: Disgusted

I’m taking a break for lunch, while listening to the Senate hearings for Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to SCOTUS. I’m anxious what this man will do one he is confirmed, to lurch this country further to the right. As a minority person who’s marriage rights were affirmed by the court just 2 years ago, I’m fearful. As a progressive, the rollback of voting rights (via the gutting of the Voting Rights Act) by the court last year unnerves me. As a physician, I’m terrified what his rulings will do, not only to women’s legal reproductive rights, but to their access to care. It’s useless to have the right to terminate a pregnancy, if it’s legal to construct functional barriers barring access to that care, as we saw Judge Kavanaugh do last year in blocking a 17 y/o undocumented pregnant woman who was in ICE custody (Jane Doe) from seeking care to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, until a higher court intervened. He now stands likely to ascend to that court.

In disgust I turned the hearings off & turned to read to The NY Times. I found this op-ed & I thought it important enough to share in its entirety, not just the anonymous op-ed, but the paragraph written by the editor, explaining why they were publishing an anonymously written piece.

“The Times today is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay. We have done so at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose job would be jeopardized by its disclosure. We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers. We invite you to submit a question about the essay or our vetting process.

“I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration. We work for the president but we have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.”

“President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader. It’s not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump’s leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall. The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.
I would know. I am one of them.

“To be clear, ours is not the popular “resistance” of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous. But we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic.

“That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office. The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making.

“Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright.

“In addition to his mass-marketing of the notion that the press is the “enemy of the people,” President Trump’s impulses are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic. Don’t get me wrong. There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more. But these successes have come despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective.

“From the White House to executive branch departments and agencies, senior officials will privately admit their daily disbelief at the commander in chief’s comments and actions. Most are working to insulate their operations from his whims. Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back.

“There is literally no telling whether he might change his mind from one minute to the next,” a top official complained to me recently, exasperated by an Oval Office meeting at which the president flip-flopped on a major policy decision he’d made only a week earlier. The erratic behavior would be more concerning if it weren’t for unsung heroes in and around the White House. Some of his aides have been cast as villains by the media. But in private, they have gone to great lengths to keep bad decisions contained to the West Wing, though they are clearly not always successful.

“It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room. We fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t. The result is a two-track presidency. Take foreign policy: In public and in private, President Trump shows a preference for autocrats and dictators, such as President Vladimir Putin of Russia and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and displays little genuine appreciation for the ties that bind us to allied, like-minded nations. Astute observers have noted, though, that the rest of the administration is operating on another track, one where countries like Russia are called out for meddling and punished accordingly, and where allies around the world are engaged as peers rather than ridiculed as rivals. On Russia, for instance, the president was reluctant to expel so many of Mr. Putin’s spies as punishment for the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain. He complained for weeks about senior staff members letting him get boxed into further confrontation with Russia, and he expressed frustration that the United States continued to impose sanctions on the country for its malign behavior. But his national security team knew better — such actions had to be taken, to hold Moscow accountable.

“This isn’t the work of the so-called deep state. It’s the work of the steady state.
Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until — one way or another — it’s over. The bigger concern is not what Mr. Trump has done to the presidency but rather what we as a nation have allowed him to do to us. We have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of civility.

“Senator John McCain put it best in his farewell letter. All Americans should heed his words and break free of the tribalism trap, with the high aim of uniting through our shared values and love of this great nation. We may no longer have Senator McCain. But we will always have his example — a lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue. Mr. Trump may fear such honorable men, but we should revere them.

“There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans.”

The writer is a senior official in the Trump administration.

Current Mood: discontent

Call me cynical, call me jaded. (Both are true.) Given the economic boost from the reliable bump in sales each time there’s a mass shooting, the gun industry and their unofficial lobby, the NRA see what the rest of us experience as horrific tragedy, as a boon to be taken advantage of, & benefited from. It’s good for business. It creates greater demand for their products. It adds to their bottom line.

Follow the money. The NRA has purchased the support of a huge portion of Congress, predominantly (though not exclusively) on the Republican side, not just with millions of dollars of campaign contributions to individual campaigns, but with the threat of funding opposition to their shills in office, should they not tow the NRA’s party line. There was a brilliant article in the Guardian detailing the top funded representatives in Congress, both House & Senate, and their responses to recent mass shootings. “Our thoughts and prayers from (insert spouse’s first name here) and me go out to the victims and their family/loved ones/community,” is the immediate response, followed by obstruction of any reforming legislation thereafter. The NRA has purchased their intransigence. “It’s too soon to discuss this in a meaningful way,” they croon when people demand action. It’s a stall to allow the period of fervor to blow over & dissipate.

The reality is, WE, the people, MUST take action to take back control of our representatives. WE, the people, MUST organize to reroute our representatives’ (both national and local) attention to us and not the gun lobby, and other deep pocket funders.

Campaign finance reform is at the root of this problem. As long as we continue with our current system, where fund raising for the next election begins on the first Wednesday in November, the status quo will likely remain the status quo. Yet, I am not completely in despair from my current disgust. Change is possible. The drive in the last two decades for marriage equality with its ultimate success in this country 3 years ago gives me hope. As the scales of justice began to tip in our favor, businesses began severing financial ties with states that enacted hurtful anti-LGBT regulations. I pray we’re approaching a similar tipping point for gun reform. The number of businesses that are severing their ties with the NRA recently may be heralding such a social change, with regard to meaningful gun legislation. For the most part, the directors of corporate America aren’t severing these ties out of the goodness of their hearts; they’re doing if out of concern their continued ties will hurt rather than enhance their bottom line. This gives us, the people, another line to move forward in our personal fight. Every letter we send, not just to our representatives, but to the businesses we frequent with out dollars, threatening to take our business elsewhere helps to move our goals further. Alone, we’re tilting at windmills. Collectively, we have the potential strength of an avalanche.

The high schoolers who survived this most recent horror are organizing. They’re out in front of the social media they grew up with and they’re using it to organize. More over, while most of them aren’t able to vote yet, many will be by November, and most of them by 2020. They’ve already headed off to the Florida state legislature and they’re pissed off by the reception they got. They aim not just to get angry, but to get even with their representatives for failing to take action. Just maybe this is one fight they’re going to ultimately win.

Current Mood: quixotic

The late Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill famously once said, "All politics is local".

The Koch brothers and their Americans for Prosperity action committee have been doing just that across the country, hitting small local elections to make local governmental officials friendlier to their agenda. It's an example of the "best democracy money can buy". They bring in outside financial support to target elected officials to get rid of, overwhelming the local financial support the incumbent has. It's how they pick off budding progressives. Today's progressive city councilman could be the locale's representative in the state legislature or congress a decade from now.

This is happening to my nephew, Councilman James Pasch in the Cleveland suburb of Beachwood. James is running for his second 4 year term on city council. He's a progressive, a Democrat, & a long time supporter of the LGBT community. Exactly the kind of profile the Kochs see as a problem.

Josh Mandel is a hard right Republican and currently Ohio's State Treasurer. He happens to be from Beachwood and is challenging sitting Sen. Sherron Brown for Senate in 2018, like he did unsuccessfully in '12. Sen. Brown is directly in the Koch Brothers' crosshairs. It's Mandel's office supervisor who's running against my nephew. Mandel is firmly in the Koch's pocket (think Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin for an example of a Koch supported politician) and he's helping to funnel contributions to my nephew's opponent. No matter how much James raises locally, he'll be up against the Kochs' deep, deep pockets.

James with Sherron Brown at a Cleveland Cavaliers game last year

James with Sherron Brown at a Cleveland Cavaliers game last year

My husband and I just donated to James' campaign. Though I really hate sending money from across the country, this as a necessity in our current milieu, if we're to speak truth to power. At least until we get real campaign finance reform, which will only happen if we have a congress full of people like my nephew.

If you're willing to help support James and the progressive values he espouses, the link to donate is below.

https://donorbox.org/re-elect-james-pasch-for-beachwood-city-council.

I only look white.

Ruddy complexion, curly auburn hair, now starting to grey. "What part of Ireland is your family from," isn't a rare question. Apparently I'm a LIBI - looks Irish, but isn't.

My minority identity is pretty strong. My family is Jewish, both sides. All 4 of my grandparents were emigrants & while they learned it as children, English was a second language for both my parents. Even I heard more than just English as a child. My family came here to escape European antisemitism. The States weren't devoid of antisemític sentiments. They just weren't what they were in Europe. Your prospects were much brighter here than there. The bulk of my father's family succeeded in coming over. Sadly, not the story for my mother's family. Particularly hard hit was my maternal grandmother's family. The town she was from was taken off the map by the Nazis. It no longer exists. The only two to survive were my grandmother and her eldest brother, the only two that were here in the states prior to the war.

Both my father and his brother wanted to become physicians. My uncle succeeded, although he was most of the way through a PhD program before he was able to get a seat in a medical school at the same midwestern public university. Despite graduating summa cum from Syracuse University with a dual major in political science and bio chemistry, my father wasn't able to gain entry to either medical or law school in this country in the early 1950s. Why did he go to Syracuse? Simple. They were one of the private universities willing to accept Jews in 1948. (Incidentally, Jerry Stiller was one of my father's fraternity brothers.)

Growing up in the safety of New York City's "melting pot" I never feared for my safety because of my ethnicity, the basic safety in numbers. However, after my grandfather's death, post a long battle with lung cancer in the summer of 1968, my parents took us on a road trip from New York to Florida. I was 13. We pulled off the interstate somewhere in the rural Georgia, to stop for gas and something to eat. Walking into a country diner, we sat and patiently waited for service. Though my mother is a blue-eyed blonde, Pop had the map of eastern Europe for a face & my youngest sister had a gold star of David hanging on her neck. After 20 minutes, a waitress sauntered over, leaned over to speak quietly to my mother, who was seated next to me. With a saccharine drawl over pursed lips she said, "we don't serve your kind here. I suggest you take your children and leave, before something untowards happens." With the nod of her head, she gestured over her shoulder towards two rather large men in overalls seated at the counter, both of whom glared menacingly in our direction. We left, leaving behind a piece of my innocence. Years later, I would read about lynchings of Jews, including one in outside of Atlanta in 1915 & feel much more comfortable with my parents move to retreat. .מאָדנע פרוכט (strange fruit.)

Most associate the KKK with the American south, but historically they've flexed their muscle in areas far flung. How about in Queens, New York in 1927? There was a march & with a riot that followed. Post riot, a number of people were arrested, including Fred Trump. That name familiar? It should be. He's the Donald's father. Perhaps this explains the president's tepid response condemning the recent events in Charlottesville, claiming both sides were to blame for the violence, where a young woman peacefully protesting was killed by a supremacist who plowed his van into the crowd, ala an ISIS inspired attack.

One of the Charlottesville synagogues had three white supremacists, armed with semi automatic rifles standing across the street while their congregation met for services Saturday morning. I guess simply being a person of color, or Jewish appears to be provocation. They got to listen to those man screaming for people to burn down the synagogue as the congregation stood there in worship. (A letter from the rabbi of my sister's congregation in New Jersey of her communication with the congregation in Charlottesville will be posted to follow this post. Please do read it.)

I am clearer now than ever that I am a minority person, who is not safe within the borders of my own country. That we have a president who cannot unequivocally and immediately condemn in no uncertain terms, racial and ethnic hatred as antithetical to everything this country stands for, gives me great pause. Reality is he is both a cause and a symptom of the pervasive underlying bigotry that still exists in a large portion of this country. There is no racial, ethnic, religious, or social minority within this country he is unwilling to throw under the bus, if it suits his needs & sadly enough, he has a like minded community to preach to.

We must work in coalition and unity to stand up for what is right. Jew must support Muslim, who must support Hispanic, who must support African-American, who must support LGBT, who must support women, who must support environmentalist, who must support Native American, and so on, and so on. We must speak with clarity when we speak truth to power. Anything less insures our failure, if not out right subjugation.

If you didn't see her tonight on MSNBC, Listen to the podcast ASAP.

Be aware, this is a call to arms to any of us who're part of the 99%. That should be about everyone. Certainly anyone who is reading my journal.

We cannot be complacent. The Republican elite in control in this country is now answering to big money (if they ever listened to anyone else, at least in my lifetime). They think they have a mandate, but as they found out from town halls and political activism in their home districts, many of them are in marked danger of defeat at the ballot box in 2018 if they continue to do what they have been threatening to do.

For the time being we have stopped them from killing the affordable care act. Note - I said for the time being. They are actively gutting the EPA. They are working to do the same with public education.

As I said, we cannot be complacent. The price of not taking direct action now, to protect the environment, to protect our health care, to protect our rights, to protect our future is too high.

Current Mood: quixotic

Forgive the hyperbole in the title for this post. I am deadly serious.

We are living in dangerous times right now. At the risk of offending some who supported him blindly, we have put the fox in charge of the henhouse and we may pay for it dearly. We need to be vigilant and carefully pay attention to forces that have likely been behind the scenes, engineering putting the fox in charge. I have often said in the past to understand why things are as they are, you have to follow the money. That dictum remains I think all too true.

Rachel Maddow is a major voice that needs to be heard and listened to. She brings to the airwaves a thirst for truth and examination. If you don't catch her on cable, I strongly suggest you subscribe to the podcast of her show. Specifically, listen this past Friday's show and then tell me you're not disturbed, perturbed, and asking for more information. The appointments of Jeff Sessions, Rex Tillerson and Wilbur Ross to the cabinet now make much more sense to me.

And I'm starting to have greater respect to some of the intelligence community.

Seriously, if you do nothing else today download Friday's podcast and listen to it!

Then join the resistance.

I am constantly flabbergasted these days. How in the world did it come to pass that the buffoon currently sitting in the Oval Office, is sitting in the Oval Office?

Honestly, at best I'm embarrassed. How can any other nation actually take us seriously when this is the quality of individual who holds that position. It would be one thing if he had inherited the position (see the Madness of King George), but this man was elected. No matter how much you question the validity of the last election, a significant number of people did actually vote for him. (Yes, he did lose the popular vote by something like 3 million votes, but thanks to the method we use with an electoral college, he did win enough electoral delegates to win.)

Yes, there ~~may~~ were foreign influences afoot to push the election in his favor, but these could not have worked if there were not already a huge number of people in this country clambering for things Trump promised.

There, I said his name. I started off resisting doing that and couldn't even get past the 3rd paragraph successfully.

In my not so humble personal opinion, Trump thrives on lies and deceptions, now being dubbed alternative facts by people like Kelly Ann Conway, that he can use to sway the less well educated in our greater society. Venues like Breitbart, Drudge, and Fox News dispense this pablum as gospel. They and other similar media outlets are therefore being given favored status by the administration, while, dangerously so, more objective news outlets like, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The LA Times, and CNN are not allowed into his most recent press briefings. WTF??

"Fake News!", Trump proclaims. This is not only dangerous, it should be considered by my fellow citizens as heresy! In support of this concept I offer something that should be known to any American High School-er who has taken a civics class:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." ---------1st Amendment to the US Constitution.

One of the first things on the agenda of almost all authoritarian rulers is to stamp our freedom of the press. Declaring war on so-called fake media and then putting news stalwarts like the NYT, and CNN, et.al. in that group is Trump's attempt to do just that. This cannot be allowed. From her televised bully pulpet, Rachel Maddow has been pushing people for months now if not longer to go out and subscribe to their local news papers so they do not go away due to financial troubles. She's right. The demise of many of the print media across the country is not serving the truth in this country. It is serving the likes of Donald Trump and his ilk.

It is not only our right but our civic duty to speak out and to protest this (see 1st amendment above). If we do not, then we get what we deserve. Inaction in times like these is not a luxury we can afford. So far some of what he has attempted to do has been thwarted by the courts. That can only continue if the American Public stands up and presses OUR elected representatives to do what is right for us.

That's right; they are OUR representatives. Not the NRA, not the Koch Brothers, not Goldman Sach's. They represent us. They have to respond to us, both Democrats and Republican. BUT it also means they have to hear from us, in large numbers and often. It means we have to push our friends, neighbors and relatives to not sit back, but to do what they can. We have to show up at town halls, write and call our representatives and if they do not respond to us, WE HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO BE CERTAIN THEY ARE VOTED OUT OF OFFICE AT THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY. The deluge Republican members of congress are getting in their home districts around the country will bear fruit, if it continues. If they start seeing their chances for re-election dwindling away, they will respond to that. If districts flip in special elections for seats now vacant because people have moved on into Trump's cabinet, the members who remain will recognize that if they continue on the path they are on, there will be consequences for their political futures.

Current Mood: quixotic

So while discussing the odd pledge the Donald has extracted from his ~~blind followers~~ adoring supporters where they were asked to raise their right hands and promise to vote for him in an upcoming primary, the discourse on MSNBC went like this:

Brian Williams: One supporter was seen holding up the right paw of his border collie.

Rachel Maddow: Not a German Shepherd?

Honestly, I find watching these rallies disturbing when Herr Drumpf (the family name Trump's grandfather carried on arrival to the US from Germany), when he calls for a protester or a reporter to be ejected from the rally and supporters physically manhandles the person roughly out the door. It reminds me all too clearly of Hitler's brown shirts.

As much as I dislike the man, I have no love for anyone in the Republican field. I suspect Trump is the Republican with the worst odds winning in November and ultimately I am praying to see The Republican party lose in November. Hopefully to Bernie Sanders, though I could live with Clinton.

Note to all: Go to Louis CK's website and read his letter about Trump. It's scathing.

Current Mood: discontent

Derek Kitchen, the lead plaintiff in the suit that lead to marriage equality in Utah is running for city council in Salt Lake City and came in first in the primary. He faces the #2 finisher for a runoff this November. Meanwhile, an open lesbian has finished #1 in her primary and will face the current sitting mayor in that race in SLC this fall.

I have heard in the past, Salt Lake is supposed to be fairly gay friendly, which I had taken with a grain of salt. (As in the whole bloody shaker!) Perhaps I need to question my assumption.

Not happy this morning. Mourning would be an apter word. This country took a hard turn to the right last night & it ain't sitting well with me.

When I look across the country and see the results of the current inch last night, I'm disturbed. Even the sounds of Joni Ernst's laughter last night sounded Machiavellian to me.seeing the likes of Sam Brownback, Paul LePage, Rick Scott and Scott Walker all return to governorships was more than just disappointing; it borders on sickening. Mitch McConnell as the new Senate majority leader sends chills up my spine. With the current makeup how long will it be before some ultra conservative decide to it's time to impeach the president? I suspect Ted Cruz is salivating at the moment.

After seeing the midterm turnout at the polls, I'm reinforced my belief that yes, Democrats fall in love, while Republicans fall in line.

Well, at least in the spirit of Tip O'Neill's comments of all politics being local, I'm somewhat relieved with the returns here in my home state. The ballot initiatives hear that really needed to fail, all did so. Prop 46, put up of the trial lawyers & which would likely have had a major negative effect on my professional life, failed resoundingly. Good news indeed. People actually do have the ability to vote in their own interest. Most of our congressional delegation made it through unscathed, sadly though not including Dr. Bera from Sacramento.

After last night I am praying both Justices Bryer and Ginsberg stay strong and healthy.

Current Mood: depressed

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Entries tagged with politics

Conflicted....

Of vaccine searches and impeachments....

Dumbfounded......

Didn’t expect that...

Fill in the Blank....

WTF........

Despairing for my country…

An open letter to Sen. Susan Collins....

Disregard, Disrespect, & Dishonor....

Incindiary language, Explosive discourse....

Power of the Fourth Estate.....

Common sense legislation....

Re-elect James Pasch to Beachwood city council...

Shame, disgust & identity politics ....

On Rachel Maddow tonight - Elizabeth Warren

Warning Will Robinson! Danger! Warning!

Through the looking glass...

Heil Drumpf!

A Kitchen in city hall....

Bloodbath....