Category Archives: Uncategorized

Freedom

Ask anyone who lives in the United States of America what they cherish most about this great nation and they inevitably say, “freedom.”

Thanks to Donald Trump, the RNC and its joined-at-the-hip Heritage Foundation and Project 2025, we are about to lose that freedom unless we get our act together and let the country and world know that America is the land of the free!

Joe Biden has told us many times that whenever Americans work together, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. I have believed in that can-do spirit for my 65 years as an American citizen, 47 of those years as a voter (since age 18). President Biden has gotten us over COVID, rescued our economy, is repairing our neglected infrastructure, respects the rights of women and other groups opponents are targeting, and has renewed the world’s respect of the USA through strengthening ties with NATO and other alliances.

He has garnered the vote of 85% of primary voters, who have sent his nomination to delegates who will meet in a few weeks at the Democratic National Convention to nominate him as the Democratic designee for President. He has asked us for our support and we voters gave it. Now party leaders and especially the press (that’s you, Gray Lady) are saying he’s not the one, that we should abandon the man who has given fifty years of his life to serving us, we, the people.

The choice should be clear. One side wants the US to be free, the other wants to tell all of us what to do. One side wants to continue our 248-year democracy, the other wishes to tear up our Constitution. For what? A sixteen-page campaign brochure that gives kingly powers to Donald Trump. To do what, exactly? Anything he wants.

This week, a decision must be made. From then on, every Democrat, Independent, Never Trumper and Undecided (but still yearning to breathe free) must go with the speed and strength of a freight train to save our democracy from Republican political hacks, christian nationalists, paramilitary organizations in Trump’s thrall, a broken Congress and now a MAGA Supreme Court. Because when we put our minds to it and work together, nothing is impossible.

When Tories in the UK fell the other day to Labour, it was to eliminate 14 years of conservative excess that has taken a toll on its economy. The French hemmed and hawed about Le Pen and a conservative takeover just this week and voila, the people heeded the call and turned the tables. What does the American free press say? Biden can’t win because Sunak and Macron are incumbents and voters hate incumbents these days. What?! Citizens want freedom and stable economies, not tyrants with an axe to grind. L’etat, c’est moi didn’t work in the French Revolution, and it didn’t work this week.

I’m sick of hearing that my country is a cesspool, about its downfall, third-world nation status and “American carnage.” That’s not where we live. We live in a land of plenty, of opportunity, of equal rights and talented immigrants. And yes, women who have yearned for equality, the right to vote, hold a good job with good pay, have say over their bodily functions, want affordable child care, want to be safe, along with their children, from gun violence and domestic abuse, and to be able to obtain a no-fault divorce.

The Christian right want to send women back to the fifties, the 1850’s. We’ve worked too hard for equality and freedom. Sorry, but no rich white guy is going to tell me I have to give up freedom and equality. What’s the big deal about abortion and only man/woman marriage in the “new and improved” Republican Platform that was passed in secret? The language hasn’t changed, it’s merely been removed. The 14th Amendment is still in there allowing for citizenship upon conception. And I’m sure that in order to get the evangelicals on board, they’re being told that it’s OK to merely remove language that’s been in the platform since Reagan, we’re not really doing anything, just leaving it out to pretend until after the election, see? Once Trump wins and gains control over the House and Senate, it’s back to business as usual and a national ban on abortion, contraception, IVF and everything else on the real wish list. The Platform is only a ruse to get moderates and independents to vote for Trump, it’ll be torn up on November 6 and vettings will begin in earnest for Heritage Foundation leaders to man (yes, to a man, men) the cabinet.

I’m just telling it like it is, folks. If you really believe Trump has no clue about Project 2025, even who the Heritage Foundation is, just look at the banners behind him at speaking events; the people who wrote Project 2025 also wrote the new RNC platform and most of them were on his staff when he was president. Read it and decide if you want democracy and freedom, or tyranny and oppression. Join the freedom train. I see Joe Biden waving us in at the station. Hi, Joe! We’re with you all the way. Vote! Dee

The People Have Spoken

Hey, mainstream media. Get your hands off the scale. Democrats have enough votes/delegates to nominate Joe Biden for President of the United States. The Convention is coming up.

All we hear from are morning and evening pundits, talking heads and editorial boards saying to ditch Joe Biden from the ticket because of a 90-minute debate against a criminal and serial liar. Nothing about the criminal/liar, of course. Apparently they want to live in a dictatorship with no free press.

The people have spoken. Let the delegates decide. Hands off. I mean it. Dee

Denying Project 2025?

Donald Trump just found out that Americans don’t want to lose their Constitutional rights or Social Security checks or have a theocracy tell them if they qualify for needed health care. As a matter of fact, while most Americans have not read the 900 page document, they are becoming aware of its greatest hits, and are, understandably, less than enthused.

Ask a voter whether s/he wants to lose their rights, be told what they can and cannot do, and have incompetent political hacks decide what drugs are safe to take and water to drink, air to breathe and they’ll probably say, Hell no!

So Donald Trump, all of a sudden, has no idea what Project 2025 is or who runs it so he “wishes them luck.” Kinda like telling the January 6 insurrectionists that he loves them and they’re very special.

Two problems with this:

  • They’re all HIS people; and
  • Donald Trump does not have a Republican Party platform, only “whatever I want” if that can be called a political platform.

So, are you willing to vote for someone who regularly convenes with his former senior staffers at the Heritage Foundation (author of Project 2025) events and has never stood on a political platform of his own? If he denies he’ll implement Project 2025, then gets elected and follows it to the letter, you can’t exactly vote him out of office for lying to you, again. Think about it.

Project 2025 will burn down the house of American democracy. I don’t think that’s a great way to plan for our great nation’s 250th birthday. And I can’t for the life of me see why so many Americans are willing to toss our Constitution for an imperial presidency that only benefits rich white men. Tossing away 250 years of freedom to live under the tyranny of one orange man is ludicrous, in my opinion. But that’s why we have elections. I plan to speak, and hope you do as well.

At least ask, if not the Project 2025 platform, what’s YOUR plan, Mr. Trump? Is it hiding along with your perfect alternative to the Affordable Care Act, Mexican funding for The Wall, and the always promised, never delivered “Infrastructure Week?” Vote! Dee

It’s Coalition Time

The Democratic Party’s circular firing squad must end now. The real threat is fascism and Donald Trump’s ready-made authoritarian presidency, now cemented by a decidedly MAGA Supreme Court.

Dems must have an iron-clad coalition with independents and Never-Trumpers to beat this disinformation circus that has infected our nation.

It’s not only good to stand together, our coalition must have a purpose and it can start simply. First, term-limit federal judges, beginning with the Supreme Court. Increase the number of Supreme Court justices to fifteen, and bind them by the same ethics rules of Congress (can’t accept gifts of over $50.00).

Pass the John Lewis Voting Act. Provide for transparency so there is no more “dark” money. We want to know who is buying our government. The Federal Elections Commission has to be non-partisan and on track to keep order in elections, and have some teeth. If Congress wants to take itself seriously it must hold itself accountable. They have to tell the courts that Congressional subpoenas are important, and to do that those who are living in a glass house (that’s you, Jim Jordan) must fess up. Certain roles that the Constitution allocates to Congress must be taken back from the Executive and Judiciary.

I don’t know how to keep the courts from legislating, but smarter people than I can find a solution. The Executive should be allowed to do what it does best, regulating laws clearly written by Congress. Yes, Congress needs legal staffs who can get it right so that it’s not overturned.

Voters should add parties so it’s not just Democrat or Republican. There could be, for example, a Progressive Party, or a Conservative Party. Then coalition governments could be formed that more fully address the needs of the public, for which this republic was formed. For we, the people.

Before that, and until a Constitutional amendment can be passed, American states should gain enough electoral votes to sidestep the Electoral College, which is unfair. And states should consider ranked choice voting. Voters should also strictly limit what campaign funds can be used for. Now, they can’t be used for certain minor things like vacations or expensive ties, but Donald Trump can use them for tens of millions of dollars to his lawyers every month. That’s just wrong. If people want to give him money for that, make it personal, and have everyone who does it pay taxes on it.

In a nutshell, if we don’t work together, our children will not grow up in a United States of America. So, hold your nose and vote for the coalition candidate. If we do that for two presidential election cycles we may be headed back on the right track and able to weather this horrific storm. Join together, make a platform all can live with and promote, and defeat the freight train that is tyranny of the minority. But first, take a breath and start talking with your neighbors again. We’re all in this together. Vote! Dee

Third World Country

On January 6th, 2021, we watched as an angry mob stormed the United States Capitol to stop the counting of electoral votes, kill the House Speaker and hang the Vice President. Afterwards, before the DOJ began investigating this failed coup attempt, the January 6th House Select Committee laid out the comprehensive plot led by President Trump to remain in office despite losing a free and fair election.

Forget the MAGA hysterics about bodies in the streets and American blood being tainted by vermin. And MAGA attacks on special counsels and prosecutors. The only reason Donald Trump is being prosecuted is because he has committed crimes, from sexual assault to business fraud to influence the 2016 election (guilty on both) to trying to overturn our government by refusing to relinquish power when he had no right to wield it. In the olden days, the day of or after such a coup, the perpetrator would have his head removed from his body and placed on a pike as a deterrent to future overthrowers.

What happened this week at the Supreme Court is heinous and cannot be tolerated. The entity trusted for 250 years to protect our Constitution and our democracy chose to do the polar opposite. They kneecapped current indictments against “King” Trump and may overturn convictions of their new king and his future brownshirts (Proud Boys et al), currently in prison for sedition and other crimes during the unsuccessful coup attempt.

The court made up this unnecessary and supremely unwise decision on a political 6-3 vote, adding proscriptions to evidence in hand in the January 6 federal investigation. In addition to that ridiculous (Amy Coney Barrett concurred) opinion, fellow justices threw out other MAGA bones (special counsels may be illegal, come back and ask us to rule on that one) as red meat to Trump’s base.

As we prepare for America’s 250th birthday as a democracy, there is little to cheer for, with women and minorities on the chopping block. Not to mention voters. Say what you will while you enjoy the jobs, economy, democracy and personal health (getting us out of the COVID pandemic) that Joe Biden has brought us. Turning our backs on our very democracy just to please one orange man is absolute lunacy.

Too bad Joe Biden’s not going to avail himself of the kingly powers he’s just been granted. If I had my wish, Donald Trump would be arrested and sent to GITMO with no phone or social media access, for treason for having tried to overturn our Constitution. To keep him company, I’d send along Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Jim Jordan, Leonard Leo and would remove Steve Bannon from Danbury Country Club prison and send him, too. Roger Stone as well, Mr. Dirty Tricks himself.

Add Ron Johnson just because he’s the weasel who tried to hand-deliver Wisconsin’s and Michigan’s fake elector forms to Vice President Pence on January 6th, plus he did (and does) nothing for the people of Wisconsin. Also Scott Perry, Matt Gaetz and every Senator and Representative who voted against certifying the 2020 election results. Have a big crane deliver a few cows over the fence every few days so they can fight each other for scraps while they await, and await, and await, trial.

Oh, as MTG and Lauren Boebert are frenemies now, put them in a cell together in the toughest women’s prison ward in the country and see how long they last. Add cameras for live streaming, but don’t allow Gitmo to have any TV’s. That’s the start of of my revenge fantasy. What’s yours? Dee

Vive La Différence

Today, our proven extremist Supreme Court basically offered Donald J. Trump immunity for violating the Constitution by fomenting an insurrection and conspiring to stop the legal transfer of power to his freely and fairly elected successor, Joseph R. Biden.

Happy 248th Birthday to U.S.! We left England because the King was all-powerful to the detriment of his people and came here, where we founded a democracy with no king and where everyone is subject to the same laws. Until today.

When deciding for whom to vote for President of the United States this November 5, consider this.

Joe Biden is our president, who will continue to act honorably as though he were not able to break the law to enrich himself or his friends, trade money for pardons or ambassadorships, order the DOJ to jail or audit all his enemies or prevent the constitutional transfer of power to his successor.

If we elect Donald Trump, he will be king, and act as such. And he will never leave office and perhaps even make us live in a permanent Trump family dynasty. The grift that keeps on grifting.

The stakes just got a whole lot higher, folks. I, for one, want to spend the rest of my life in a democracy and will move heaven and earth to do so. If not, consider the rights we’ll lose next: voting; reproductive freedoms; freedom to love whom we wish; and the list goes on. Luckily this blog has a niche following or I’d be preparing for the midwest gulag that will be empty once the millions of migrants are deported. What else would they be used for but anyone who ever said a bad word about Dear Leader?

Think about it and read Project 2025 to find out what we’re in for should we opt out of democracy. I’m afraid, for the first time, for our country now that the Supreme Court has shown its true colors. Think, and vote. Dee

Optics

The debate is over, probably the last debate between these presidential candidates. Was it good? No. Did I learn anything new? No. Did it change my vote? No.

We have here two older white men with varied expertise. One is a lawyer who has been well trained in legislating, mastery of foreign and domestic policy and a lifetime of leadership and, yes, statesmanship. The other is a real estate developer who has had middling success at business, having been given a major leg up by his inheritance, and a lifetime of conning people into giving him money, topped off by great training as a reality tv host. Are either eloquent speakers? I think not.

The pundits have been handicapping this debate for months. I don’t think you need 23 cable tv hosts (crammed behind the same desk) live telling you everything they think about what the debate participants are saying. Plus, the Friday morning quarterbacking was insane. I know you get paid to hear yourselves talk but, please. Give it a rest.

In the end, these are the two people we voters have a choice for, for president of the United States. They’re the same people they were 24 hours ago before the debate, and tomorrow morning they’ll still be the same people with the same qualifications.

Yes, I believe that Joe Biden flubbed a lot of opportunities given to him by his opponent with his firehose of falsehoods. He could have been over-prepared, or his brain was just working too fast for his words to catch up. I know the feeling. But a former president, who wants to be re-elected, lied so many times I couldn’t even count them. And many were stupid lies, about losing the 2020 election, abiding by the vote count in 2024, even saying that Democrats are “for” murdering infants. Presidents should not be in the business of lying to the American people, look at what that did to the country during COVID.

The debate was neither man’s best performance, but let’s take it for what it was, a performance. It’s not what presidents are judged on. Presidents are decision-makers who have a wealth of information at their fingertips to make the best decisions for the American people. All Americans, not black or white, red or blue.

We can have a man who has served the American people all his life, surrounds himself with the best and most knowledgeable people, represents all Americans and will fight to preserve and defend our democracy. The other is a convicted criminal who tried to overturn the last election that he lost fair and square, who surrounds himself with sycophants and will repopulate the administrative state with theocrats and party loyalists who have no expertise in gene sequencing or meteorology or anything substantive and only wants to help rich, white MAGA Republicans. It’s an easy choice for me.

Heaven forbid, if Joe Biden kicks the bucket in his next term, we all know his VP, who has been vetted and is up to the task. With Trump, we might end up with Ivanka, Don Jr. or even Eric.

Yesterday was a day in the life. I’m a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan. Yes, they lost the Superbowl, more than once, but they got up the next day and fought on. Joe Biden’s been here before, and been underestimated before. Stop wringing your hands, Democrats. Joe Biden has given America over fifty years of his life. We can allow him an off-night. Think, and vote. That’s today’s Dee-ism.

Waiting for the Pileup

Tonight is the first presidential debate. I’m not optimistic. I do keep up with politics, my husband says too much, but I believe strongly that America’s democratic future depends on a well-informed electorate before voters make the decision to change the United States of America we know into a dictatorship.

The founders created a balanced system between executive, legislative and judicial for a reason, and there is always a tension between the triumvirate. I believe that when Congress abdicated war powers to the administration, they kind of cooked their goose for a long time. Now Trump wants a unitary executive that places all executive power, semi-autonomous agencies such as the FCC (and probably FEC so no election violations will ever be dealt with), and the ability to refuse to issue funds allocated by Congress. Plus control of the Justice Department and weakening (or killing outright) the rule of law that has governed our country from the outset.

To add another wrinkle, with the bureaucrats doing as they’re told by Congress and the President, and Congress acting like a bunch of out-of-control junior high school students, the Supreme Court is stepping in to say that they’ll be both the executive and the legislature and deregulate everything, while taking women out of the picture entirely.

When I was sixteen I was picked out of the crowd, surprise, surprise, by one of the coolest seniors in high school and ended up on my first date. Two weeks later everyone decamped for Spring Break and he came back from Florida with a popular cheerleader. Oh well, I got to see a couple of PG movies.

Two years later upon my return from freshman year away at college, he called my first week home. We went out to the racetrack. I hated it. It was clear we were going to be together (we were, for years) for a while so I had to fix this.

Education was prized in my family, with both my parents being the first in their families to go to college, and at the time my father was a college president. Sending me out on Friday nights to go to local NASCAR races was not their idea of an appropriate date but they kept pretty quiet. I had a problem not with the people, but with the premise. Everyone was eagerly awaiting a multi-car crash. I’d prefer the Olympics, where an athlete can win a speed competition by a fraction of a second, a gymnastics routine by a soupçon of increased difficulty. Not assessing injuries and putting out fires.

I hate the way the mainstream and right-wing media are handicapping this presidential race and especially the debate, waiting for the inevitable pileup. This election is too important to rely solely on daily polls and harangues. Perhaps we’ll see an above-board exchange based on subject matter Americans really care about. Perhaps not.

My solution to the NASCAR issue was simple. My new boyfriend’s older sister and brother-in-law had a toddler who needed a babysitter. I volunteers, while remaining close to the family as after the races, parents and grandparents would come home with pizza and I didn’t have to see the pile-ups. I wasn’t paid for this gig, but it checked every other box for me.

Please know what this upcoming presidential election, and all the down-ballot races, mean for you and your family. You might be surprised. I know who I’m voting for. Above all, vote! Dee

Crassus, Redux?

Finally, I have an answer. I asked myself, why the need for mass concentration camps across the United States? Donald Trump, as is his wont, answered my question sanely and succinctly. Migrant fight camps. After all, why not round up our best non-native born housekeepers and landscapers and make them fight to the death for our amusement? They’re all mass murderers, rapists and psychopaths, anyway. Phew. And I thought he wouldn’t have a good answer!

I’ve a way to make the Fourth Reich even better. Separate the camps into mini-camps. The press camp would start with Bob Woodward, who Trump thought liked him until those fun interviews became a book. Throw in the entire staff of Pro Publica, all democrat reporters and those at Fox who don’t go the extra mile to make Trump look really good.

Then there would be the Expert sub-camp, led by the hated Dr. Fauci, who has saved gays from AIDS and entirely too many from being culled by COVID. Toss in anyone, from medical researchers to meteorologists, product testers, anyone who really knows anything about anything.

The Religion sub-camp would include all priests, imams, rabbis, and any protestant who doesn’t specifically toe the MAGA party line. Plus any philosophers, we can’t have that. May as well add anyone capable of independent thought, including all Democrats. I changed my mind, this is an entire camp, not a sub-camp. Everyone here will be in solitary confinement, as we can’t afford to have them talking to each other.

Another camp specifically for women. Uppity Black women, in particular. Now people would pay double to see these women fight to the death! Triple, even! Tish James vs. Fani Willis as the Main Event!!! Ini bikinis, in Jello. Of course Tanya Chutkan would be tossed in there preemptively because she’s sure to rule against Our Dear Leader. This camp would not be limited to lawers and judges, however. There’s plenty of room for women who want to keep the right to vote, bodily autonomy, financial independence, the right to not be killed by domestic violence. Also every women’s libber who ever lived on the planet.

Lastly, a camp for anyone who ever agreed with our founding fathers that there is a really good reason to separate church and state. That would include any democrat politician and all RINO’s. And anyone in the military who believes his/her oath of office is sacrosanct and will not obey an illegal order from Dear Leader.

Now that they’re all rounded up, the middle of the country is filled with MAGA undesirables, Reich IV can take the coasts. All the universities and prime military bases (Coronado and its golf course among them) have been vacated so there’s space for the faithful. Washington, D.C. is desolate so Marjory Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, who now run the city, have agreed to guest star in a special event at the arena that’ll be more popular than a Taylor Swift concert. Trump can’t decide whether to train them in pistols or swords, but promises it’ll be extra special and televised for an extraordinary fee that will be used to pay Trump’s legal bills and shore up his tanking DJT stock.

Hope this sounds good to you. All this activity will give us time to initiate the real plan. For the little people who don’t matter to billionaires or small-minded, myopic pols, I am… Spartacus

ps I hope all y’all are Spartacus, too.

Another Horrible Day

in Milwaukee. Today there’s a music festival in the neighborhood spanning seven stages with a number of local bands to showcase and tons of vendors. I think we’ll venture out this afternoon, the horrible weather will be sunny and in the low 70’s, before the heat wave hits tomorrow for the foreseeable future. But rest assured, a sweltering summer like we’ve never experienced should not be equated with any climate crisis caused by burning excessive fossil fuels.

We’ll probably run into our horrible neighbors, because who but horrible peoplle, as described by one Donald J Trump, would live here? Mr. Trump is expected to bring his felonious reputation and fellow felons to town next month to be crowned king of the Republican National Committee and its nominee for King of America, or should I say president. One step at a time, buster.

I’m told different stories by his enablers about why he called Milwaukee, his kind host for the 2024 RNC Convention, a horrible city. They can’t seem to get their answers straight. What I read through the inevitable cover-up is that it is because of: violent crime, and that rate has plummeted since Trump was president last time; and something about the 2020 presidential election being rigged, even though the Trump campaign’s own recount of Milwaukee and Madison showed that Biden won fair and square.

In fact, when Trump plans to be in town next month for the convention, his mere presence will increase the crime statistics, because so many of his business and campaign associates are also felons. Then there are all the as-yet unindicted ones, many who still hold elective office, who have been with him lock, stock and barrel in The Big Lie since its inception.

In Milwaukee if I am mailed an absentee ballot, I have to fill it out in front of a witness, sign and date it and have the witness do the same. Then I have to make sure the Board of Elections has a valid copy of my Wisconsin drivers’ license with photo on file showing current address, with proof of said address via a bill or official document sent to my home. Then, because drop boxes are now illegal and the mail is uncertain to be received in time to be counted, I have to drive downtown to the main election office and go up to the fifth floor and hand-deliver my ballot.

Then, I have to go back down to the idling car where my husband is with our dog (who we can’t leave in the car because it’s too cold in November) and sit there while he hand-delivers his ballot. Why? Because otherwise I could be convicted of “ballot harvesting” even though he is my legal witness to said document and I am his.

Welcome to being a registered voter in Wisconsin! Whenever I can, I vote in person as the precinct location is walkable and the poll workers amiable. I deliver my absentee ballot, unopened, and assure that it is voided, then I am issued a new ballot to fill out. Upon watching my ballot go into the counting machine I am given my “I Voted” sticker, thank all the poll workers for their service (followed by an email to the Board of Elections thanking everyone) and promptly lose the sticker in the snow/wind as I walk home.

The irony of all this double-checking and proof of this and that is that ballots received prior to election day are not allowed to be opened until the polls open on election day. That is not for “election integrity” at all. It was devised probably by the RNC so they could say mail ballots are fraudulent and so that someone like Donald J Trump, as he did on election night in 2020, can say that he won and to STOP COUNTING BALLOTS! And you wonder how The Big Lie got started.

Question. If Donald Trump won the presidency in 2020, why weren’t any down-ballot races investigated? Doesn’t it seem odd that ONLY Donald Trump was cheated that year? Just like all the investigations into this particular president’s attempts to steal the 2020 election (federal and state cases pending), steal top secret documents that belong to the American people (case pending) and illegally influence the 2016 presidential election (guilty, 34 federal felony counts) are “politically motivated?”

Maybe rural Wisconsonites will vote for Trump regardless of his thoughtless comments on its most populous city, but that’s OK. They’ll like him until he tariffs their farms out of existence. Perhaps a day will dawn when they finally realize Trump doesn’t care a whit about them, their businesses or their lives and only cares for his own and that of his rich donors. He said it himself last weekend, he doesn’t care at all about his voters, he only wants their votes. What you see is what you get.

The sun is up, dog is fed and walked and the windows are open bringing in fresh lake air before closing up for the summer. Lest people from outside Milwaukee think it an urban hellscape, I assure you it is not. I don’t trip over homeless people outside our building or worry about being robbed while walking to the market. There are people walking everywhere, many with canine companions, and families grilling picnics in the local park. Tennis players at public courts across the road. Music and arts and even kite festivals. And here, a lot of houses have front porches where people can hang out and watch the world go by. It’s summertime, school’s out and it’s time to put the top down or dust off your Harley for a beautiful, sunny day. Vote! Dee