Tag Archives: politics

Positive Solutions

Posted on November 16, 2024 | Leave a comment

The time for crying and blame are over. It’s time to plan for the future and save our precious democracy. We have a major birthday (250) coming up and don’t want to let down our founders.

Much will change in our country due to the perceived economic circumstances that re-elected Donald Trump. When all the votes are counted, he will not win the popular vote by more than 2% so this is NOT any type of mandate.

I’m going to use my age and wisdom garnered over a lifetime of work and living to think positive thoughts and solve problems with pro-active solutions. Here are two thoughts.

To the United States Senate:

Do your job. Read your oath of office. Honor it. The founders made you alone responsible for advice and consent to the president’s cabinet and other picks. Use it. Do not let Donald Trump skip background checks and public hearings for these critical staff positions.

Why would I, a longtime Democrat, tell you this? It looks like Trump will make good on his worst campaign promises. As a woman, that really bothers me. As a woman with a brain who was as good or better than any man I ever worked alongside, the incoming president’s plans to blow up our government from the inside and make us vulnerable to attacks from foreign enemies and even our own military, there is much about which to be fearful.

Trump was elected to bring down the price of eggs (and bacon), keep the border safe and to make white men feel better about themselves not being “replaced.” When his voters realize, very soon, that tax cuts are only going to the rich, and none of us will have health insurance, vaccines, and that inflation will go through the roof, they’re not gonna be happy with the bait and switch we dems warned them about.

If you, Senators, allow these ludicrous picks for AG, DOD. HHS and National Security go through without vetting or public scrutiny of any kind, you will bear the brunt of that anger and will not be re-elected. Advise and consent was a good idea for 250 years, as was FBI background checks. If these folks can’t get a job at a local McDonalds, they shouldn’t be in charge of nearly three million soldiers, for example.

Just do your job and let the chips fall where they may. Some may pass public scrutiny, others may not. Let the people know what you’re doing and don’t skip town and call it recess. Same with the House. Let the Ethics Committee’s report out, and don’t help Trump engineer a recess so he can dupe the American people yet again. You have to run every two years and midterms have already started.

To Disillusioned Young Men:

I’m an older woman who was in my teens and twenties from 1975 to 1985. It was a chaotic time but I grew up OK and don’t remember any horrific things that scarred me for life. That said, I do not know the realities you are facing in today’s world with omnipresent social media and anonymous judgements that can hurt young hearts and souls.

I would ask you to look to your own father, perhaps grandfather or uncle, for inspiration as to what kind of man you’d like to be. If those are not inspiring choices, look to a teacher, coach or religious leader as a mentor. Often a busy person will make time to help mold a young mind and help you get started on your life’s journey. If you’re concerned about your life’s work, the library is a great choice. Reading helped me understand a lot about the world and my place in it.

That said, I’ve always abided by the golden rule of doing unto others. Be interested in the world around you. Put down your phone and smell the roses. If you have dangerous thoughts, talk to an adult and get help. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.

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Positive thoughts. We must try to hold on to our rights with tenacity, vigor, steadfastness and belief that we’re doing what we need to do to save our nation. That means also being there for disillusioned Trump voters who will soon realize that he only wanted the job for power, to stay out of prison and to reward his rich friends and punish his enemies. There is no thought given to seniors on Social Security and Medicare, the poor on Medicaid and food stamps, or especially women who miscarry and are blithely left to die in hospital parking lots. There’s a lot to do and moping and finger-pointing are useless at this point. We all need to work together and be useful to get out of this mess. Cheers! Dee

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Legacy or Malevolence?

Posted on November 7, 2024 | Leave a comment

‘Tis a sad week for backers of the U.S. Constition and rule of law. Depending on the House results Trump may be blessed with a trifecta plus SCOTUS, all of whom clearly care more for Dear Leader than their oaths or constituency. SCOTUS no longer opines for the ages, but for one man. All I can say is, it’s our own da** fault, voters. Apparently, this is what the American people want. At least until the spotlight turns its evil eye upon them, which it certainly will. Beware what you signed up for, Elon Musk.

As Kamala Harris said, there remain stars in our upcoming dark world. Let me share a few of them.

First of all, Donald Trump is swayed by attention (good or bad, apparently) and popularity (crowd size, anyone?) He’s already about to get the biggest gift of his presidency, a get-out-of-jail-free card. Phew. He could possibly be convinced that burning down the house may not be best for his precious legacy. Of course he’ll still deport a slew of immigrants (but not nearly as many as he promised, remember the wall?) and treat all women like second-class citizens. But he may be dissuaded from following his evangelical base to the nth degree on reproductive rights. Why? Because he can’t run again, and if he wants to build a legacy he can’t have half the nation marching against him every week of his presidency.

Then I could be wrong. I certainly was wrong to even dare to bask in the brief glimmer of hope brought to us by Joe Biden for over three years and Kamala Harris for 107 days.

Even if the House and Senate go Republican, these folks still have to run for re-election and can’t afford to indulge the most evil of Trump’s whims. As soon as he publicly tries to disenfranchise half the population because we have wombs, or tanks the economy through his precious and scattershot tariffs, he could be held in check by realists on both sides of the aisle. Why do you think Congress never bit the third rail for fifty years and enshrined abortion rights into law? We wouldn’t be in this mess today if, in the 1970’s, Congress did one brave act that was made “OK” by prior SCOTUS intervention. Then again, Congress never adopts a budget either, waiting for the last minute to stave off catastrophe again again as in the Perils of Pauline.

Those of us with grand thoughts about protecting our nation through its Constitution and rule of law, we have a lot to do over the next two years to turn Congress and State houses. Let’s not let malaise set in, and instead roll up our sleeves, corral our neighbors and friends and get to work.

All I can say for now is let’s hope Trump lives another four years, more if it’s possible for him to actually pay for some of the myriad crimes he’s committed. Why? Trump’s merely a useful idiot, a dim bulb with motivation only to enrich himself. J.D. Vance, on the other hand, is smart and has drunk a ton of Theocracy Tea. Add to that, he truly despises women (wonder what Usha thinks of that, or is she really a Stepford Wife?) and then we’d be even worse off.

Keep your spirits up, once more into the breach, ladies! Cheers, Dee

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Dear Billionaires

Posted on October 31, 2024 | Leave a comment

To the newspaper owners who chickened out of endorsements in the 2024 Presidential election:

No, I’m not one of you. I am a customer who reads your content or buys whatever you sell. I’ve been an Amazon Prime member for ages. I’m also a taxpayer who pays for the government contracts you’re afraid of losing if Donald Trump wins the presidency.

If yours was a reasoned decision arrived at a year ago, that’s one thing. But waiting until a week before the election and weaseling out is so incredibly cowardly and it defies any other description.

I think of Shay Moss and Ruby Freeman who have feared for their lives for the past four years since Donald Trump singled them out for simply doing their election jobs in Georgia. They had guts and a heck of a lot to lose.

With such a cruel and ephemeral temper as has one Donald Trump, even sucking up to him now doesn’t guarantee for one minute that you won’t be next on his hit list. At least you have excess material wealth to fall back on. Most of the rest of us don’t.

Just because Kamala Harris will uphold the Constitution and rule of law, doesn’t mean that this doesn’t sting. No, she won’t shut down the free press or single you out for retribution, but that’s no reason to be an ultimate weenie. I might go to prison for all the reasoned, anti-Trump posts I’ve penned but I still write of the wrongs Mr. Trump has done and the more he can inflict from the Oval Office toward women, immigrants and other enemies from within.

I stand behind the red, white and blue. Your flag seems only to be green. Given a choice between 250 years of democracy or a new autocracy led by a cruel, inhumane idiot surrounded by sycophants I’ll choose democracy every day and twice on Sunday.

The economy will burst under the grand tariff plan and Trump’s daily mood swings will lead to the polar opposite of economic stability. Thanks for that. Staying on the fence gets awfully uncomfortable. Enjoy it. I voted for democracy and hope others will as well. Dee

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A Few Things…

Posted on October 21, 2024 | Leave a comment

that have been on my mind of late. I’ve been quite busy, moving from a tower in a bustling northern city (swing state) placing our lives in storage, and driving south to a small (slightly under 1,000 acres) cattle ranch in Trump Country.

It’s temporary, and quite an ordeal to find out that my drivers license expires on my birthday next month and the state of Texas requires everyone to prove they’re a US citizen for everything, presumably so that all those millions of “illegal” rapists and murderers can’t vote for Kamala Harris. They did it backwards, though. In order to get a drivers license for a new resident one needs to register their car in the state and in order to get proof of address in a hurry, one must have something like… a voter registration card (!!!) to prove it. So yes, I’m registered to vote here and early voting started today. No, I didn’t have to get a certified copy of my birth certificate because a US Passport is sufficient but most of the folks here don’t have passports and are mighty upset that they have to go back to vital records in the town where they were born for a certified copy. Especially older folks, and especially since many of these elderly courthouses have burned over the years and lost many records.

I read that the The Heritage Foundation (one and the same as Project 2025) did a study over several years of over a billion voters and found that fewer than ONE HUNDRED had voted as an unregistered immigrant, and most of those were accidental. So red states are going nuts about immigration and murderers and insane people descending on communities, taking their jobs and eating their pets…for nothing.

A Criminal Oligarchy

If Trump wins, we’ll definitely have the first but in my mind, not the last part of that description. Why? An emboldened Trump will try to break all the rules, including the Constitution. And he will grift every day in office like he’s doing now and did throughout his first term. Jared and Ivanka will be in charge of foreign grift (laundering money for favors, see how much he’s returned to his $2 billion investors, ZERO), and Eric and Junior domestic through crypto and other schemes. Elon will be cast aside after his $75 million is spent, because Trump is notoriously transactional and has no friends to prove it. And Elon gets as much press as Donald. Donald won’t share power, or limelight, with anyone. But the White House will definitely be for sale, look for high prices on Lincoln Bedroom stays and signed photos of Breakfast with Barron.

The Politics of Less

All my life I’ve strived to be more, more than others expect and more than I expect for myself. I joined public service to actually serve the public, and non-profits because I believed in their missions and wanted to help them grow to better serve their niche whether it be education for the poor, theatre, and other worthy causes even spaying/neutering of feral cats.

Donald Trump works on the philosophy of less. Fewer voters, only appeal to the base, deny emergency funding to states that didn’t vote for him. Deny the oath of office and stay past his welcome using every ruse possible, including the violence of January 6.

A few weeks ago I read that one voter is casting his vote for Trump because “he hates all the right people.” Funny (not), politicians are supposed to add to their voter base, identify and pose solutions to the problems of everyday Americans. Running on proud hatred of women, Jews, Muslims, immigrants (legal as well), African-Americans, Latinos and anyone who’s not at least a millionaire. Not to mention that Democrats and anyone Republican or Independent who doesn’t vote for Trump are now the “enemy within” and may be thrown in the gulag with no legal rights or hope of reprieve.

Perhaps I’m just naive. But I never wanted to join a club whose motto is “hating all the right people.” I don’t like book banners or people who patronize women posing as “protectors” while they take away our Constitutional rights.

Another Person’s Shoes

Have I led a charmed life? Maybe. I grew up in an upwardly mobile, middle class family and always knew I’d go to college. I had good jobs, not the best paying but post-college they were challenging and interesting. Now we’re living temporarily in a town of about 5,000 people, many quite poor. It’s a shock to go to the grocery store, which is nothing like my local Whole Foods Market.

It’s an historic town, that manufacturing left perhaps fifty years ago, so it’s an older community. Very conservative and religious. My husband was born and raised in Texas and retains a hint of the regional accent but I’m definitely a Yank and a Democrat to boot. It’s temporary, so I’ll vote but not make a stink about it.

I’ve always thought it would be advantageous for every American to go to a foreign country and meet the people and see that even if we dress a bit differently, worship a different faith and speak a language we may not understand in the end everything is familiar. We all have family, friends, like to eat good food so there’s always something to talk about. Same with Americans meeting Americans from different regions and socio-economic realms. Republicans still try to make rural folk hate city folk. There’s no difference except there’s a heck of a lot more space out here and in this particular place there may actually be more cows than people. It’s a taste of another world, one which I truly appreciate while I might not choose it for myself on a full-time basis.

Do unto others. It’s always been my philosophy. Political leaders, especially presidents, must serve all the people, lifting them up instead of beating them down. We have a choice before us that will determine the future of our nation, our 250-year experiment in democracy. Vote wisely. Our lives literally depend upon it. Cheers! Dee

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Wow, Great Idea!

Posted on July 22, 2024 | Leave a comment

It’s been 24 hours since Joe Biden got out of the presidential race. In that brief time Kamala Harris has raked in an unheard-of $81 million, and the Republican party has gone bats***.

One brilliant person floated the idea of forcing Joe Biden to remain in the race. A Republican, forcing a grown person to do something against their will. Imagine that. I thought Republicans only wanted women who were raped to be forced to carry a pregnancy to term because “it would be a blessing” or according to JD Vance, “two wrongs don’t make a right.”

Another genius wants to be reimbursed for all the money the Trump campaign has spent campaigning against Joe Biden. By whom, exactly? Donald Trump doesn’t actually donate to his own to his campaigns (or to his legal bills).

There is also talk of a “coup” within the Democratic party and that certain Democrats could be arrested for supporting Kamala Harris for President. This is all happening before the convention even takes place and the delegates’ votes counted.

So-called “Earth II” is one wacky place and I’m glad I’m not in it. Best to get on with the work at hand, defeating Donald Trump and his precious Project 2025. Fetal personhood is right around the corner if dems can’t get their act together and win this thing. Register to vote! Volunteer! Tell your friends. And VOTE!!! Dee

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A Great Leader

Posted on July 21, 2024 | Leave a comment

I made the mistake, once, of counting out Joe Biden. It was 1988 and he had a brain aneurysm that nearly killed him. I recall thinking, this guy could be a great President.

Finally, he got the chance to do so. Today, he gave up that chance for the good of the nation, its people, and his party. And he was a great President, up there with the best, especially as he was given an impossible task of getting us out of a worldwide pandemic, stopping the economy from spiraling into a depression (instead making it the envy of the world) and being sworn in just two weeks after his predecessor instigated an insurrection to remain in office despite a free and fair election.

I know that I couldn’t have done all those things in one term, not to even think of re-upping for another four years! But to Joe Biden’s credit, he did. For us. All of us.

There is no way that Donald Trump can ever hold a candle to the man Joe Biden is and has been for his Senate constituents then the nation for the past fifty years. I thank Jill and his family for allowing us to borrow him for most of his life and wish them a long and happy post-presidency.

It took several hours after the announcement for me to shed tears for what we’ve had and what we’re about to lose. Let’s hope Joe Biden’s selfless move will jump-start the Democrats into fighting for our lives to save our democracy, because it is the fight of our lives. It matters, it’s our future.

Joe Biden is a leader, a statesman, a true patriot with integrity, and an all-around stand-up guy who has been in it for us all along. He deserves our best as we voters strive to keep our democracy from the grimy hands of Donald Trump, the Heritage Foundation, Federalist Society and people who have in common a deep hatred of the USA and its people.

Donald Trump hates America and Americans. All he wants is power, money and revenge and there’s nothing in any of that for we, the people. Losing our Constitution for a felonious carnival barker, scammer, rapist, hater and even golf cheat is a choice I could never comprehend. Trump can just as easily turn on his wealthy benefactors as his avowed enemies as the list grows and grows.

Remember, a minimum 20 million immigrants will be deported, but who will populate the new military-run camps once they’re gone? Us. Think Nazis. He may not be after you today, but can change his mind in a heartbeat and our military will show up at your door and take you to the camps. Teachers, librarians, judges, doctors and nurses, attorneys general, prosecutors, members of the media. Women who cross state lines to get an abortion. Married couples who use IVF to have a baby or contraception to prevent it. That’s who the camps are for. We, the people.

Joe Biden was the right President for the right time. We needed steady, even boring at the helm. He didn’t need air time every day, or to take credit for everything. He works things out with all the parties quietly and only announces the result and takes credit with all participants and “the team.”

Joe Biden employs the best at what they do and expects results, not bootlicking and unnecessary toadying. He listens to expert government medical researchers for cancer cures and meteorologists for climate change. He cares about the poor and middle class, and doesn’t just reward rich individuals and corporations. He cares about regular folks having health insurance despite pre-existing conditions. He cares about voting rights and how they’re being destroyed by election deniers and the Supreme Court.

As Joe Biden says, and I paraphrase, we’re Americans, and there’s nothing we can’t do if we work together. Historians will judge him kindly. The Republican nominee and all those seduced by Trumpism, less so. I know that because I’ve been around a while and know a bit about the American people. Time to get on the Freedom Train, America. Let’s double down on democracy to save ourselves before we lose our freedoms. Dee

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Listen To Grandpa Joe

Posted on July 21, 2024 | Leave a comment

Dear Democrats,

Our President has just made the greatest sacrifice he could for the sake of our country. Listen to Joe Biden.

For the past few weeks, Democratic leadership and politicians have treated our President with a profound lack of respect, with many being solely concerned with themselves and their individual races, and oblivious to the 14 million Democrats who voted to renominate Joe Biden for the presidency. Shame on you.

Joe Biden is a statesman, a patriot, and has been exactly what the doctor ordered to cure us of Trump in 2020. He is still all of these things and will be so as our President until January 20, 2025.

Democrats have one chance to get this right and beat Donald Trump in 2024. Listen to Grandpa Joe and coalesce around Kamala Harris and her pick for VP. Do not fall all over yourselves at the convention trying to give freshman House members their 15 minutes of fame.

Unity (and not the Republican kind of cult membership for Trump’s “in” crowd) for our nation, our Constitution and representative democracy must rule the day. Get your act together, bring in Independents and Never Trumpers, all while treating your VOTERS with due respect. We all need to be rowing the boat in the same direction if we are to win this election.

I want voters and women to gain back the ground we’ve lost, and that includes reforming an overtly political Supreme Court and federal judges as well. We can’t afford to have posse comitatus overturned so the military has to remain on tap for world affairs, not peaceful locel demonstrations or Operation Wetback II. The Justice Department must be quasi-independent and not be weaponized against Trump’s enemies.

Abortion, gay marriage and contraception must be enshrined in law, along with the right of women to interstate travel, no-fault divorce and privacy of woment’s menstrual cycles . We need transparency of big (now dark) political money via the John Lewis Act. We must make sure the Federal Election Commission acts and has teeth, and is non-political. Perhaps another run at the ERA would be practicable, along with more political parties and perhaps states choosing ranked choice voting to open things up to communication and collaboration.

All the holes punched in norms must be plugged, like potholes. No president should use the White House for a political convention, as Trump did. PAC’s should not be allowed to pay for candidate legal bills save for necessary recounts and actual fraud. The emoluments clause must be enforced, as well as time limits before top presidential aides can start raking in the bucks by lobbying or representing foreign entities after leaving office.

We must speak with one voice and defeat Trumpism as a danger to our freedoms and our national security. There is no alternative come November. Get your act together, Congress. We’re counting on you more than ever. Sincerely, a longtime voter, Dee

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Shots Fired!

Posted on July 13, 2024 | Leave a comment

I was going to write a somewhat humorous piece earlier today about Trump’s denigration of our town, Milwaukee, as a horrible place. His enablers were quick to point out that no, he didn’t really mean horrible, it’s just the crime rate, or perhaps the inability to correctly count presidential votes.

The crime rate is quite low and decreasing ever since COVID, and Milwaukee and Madison (Democratic areas) counted the votes three times with even more votes going to Joe Biden so he really did mean this is a horrible place, a matter with which I heartily disagree. I was going to say that 55,000 MAGA zealots are marching on Milwaukee with weapons, led by a notorious criminal. It’s similar to how most MAGA conspiracy theories get started, but it’s about themselves. Haha.

Not any more. We’ve a law in Wisconsin that doesn’t allow municipalities to stray from state law in certain subject areas. So I read yesterday that in the safe space in and around the Fiserv Forum (where the RNC Convention will be held) certain items will be banned, such as tennis balls and light bulbs. What WILL be allowed are handguns, hunting rifles and AR-type weapons. How nice. A one-week crime spree in the making. I, for one, plan to stay in my neighborhood and not venture downtown or even to local restaurants.

Wisconsin’s two largest cities, Madison and Milwaukee, are not allowed to restrict guns any further than in rural areas where farmers actually need them for when varmints attack their livestock or crops.

Perhaps, given this horrific incident at today’s Trump PA rally, the Secret Service will reconsider firearms in the arena and surrounding buildings where events are scheduled. I’m concerned for attendees and for fellow residents of our host city.

For months we’ve been talking about the Hamas attack on Israel and the inability to reach an agreement for immediate or lasting peace. A huge part of the problem is that Hamas doesn’t want Jews to exist. At all. That is an untenable position and one with which I could never agree. Unfortunately, the split between political parties in the USA has reached an intolerable stage in.which political opponents are not “the loyal opposition,” but enemies who deserve to die.

January 6th cannot be forgotten, an armed attack on our Capitol to stop the electoral count and designation of the president-to-be. The political rhetoric is dangerous and unbalanced individuals can hear it and try to take matters into their own hands. It’s a sad situation for a democratic nation who has nearly always (Civil War excepted) arrived at consensus through discussions and free and fair elections.

Let’s make sure everyone is safe in Milwaukee next week, and Chicago in a few weeks. But let’s all think about the country we live in, how we want to spend our 250th birthday coming up, and what kind of country we want to leave to our kids. I just heard that Mr. Trump was grazed by a bullet (his post) and not hit by glass, and that one spectator is dead and two others critically wounded. It’s a sad day in America. Dee

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Informed Voters

Posted on July 12, 2024 | Leave a comment

Right out of college I was looking for work and taking short-term gigs in the process while living at home, in the middle of no-where. I traveled back to my alma mater’s stomping grounds for a round of interviews and got two offers.

One was to be head of PR at a major summer festival, a year-round job that paid very little and on the off-season, transitioned to planning for next season while doing administrative work. The other, for 75% more pay (still very little) would drop me into the deep end in the statewide political sphere, working as an analyist for the Speaker of the Assembly.

That was on a Friday. On Monday I became a policy wonk. At first I was filling in for the insurance committee analyst who was on maternity leave. I must have done OK because they only kept me on after Session, paying me to shift between information support and odd projects until a committee came up that I could staff.

The hirers, my former bosses all those years ago, saw something in me that I wasn’t able to see for myself. That I could dive into the deep end and swim, learning esoterica about whatever subject I was confronted with. Luckily or unluckily, the committee that came to me was governmental operations. I didn’t get to dive into a single subject, like banking, tourism or real property taxation.

No, not me. I had the largest committee without a complementary staff such as Ways and Means and Judiciary. I had 750 bills to shepherd, more than twice the normal committee, and this was pre-computer. We wrote out bill reports by hand for transcription by a clerical staff and tracked all bills by hand. I had to become an expert on legislative ethics, fire and safety codes, crime victims, non-professional business licensing (financial advisors, estheticians), civil and human rights, veterans’ affairs, cable television franchising, qualified immunity for police officers, land sales, let’s just say it was the “grab bag” committee.

I loved delving into policy. A couple of years into it, a lawyer from the bill drafting staff said, “no problems with this major piece of legislation you wrote, I have no changes. Did you know you’re the only analyst who writes your own bills?” Huh?

Last night Joe Biden gave a masterful press conference in which I learned a lot about the wars in both Ukraine and Gaza. Only someone with such history and policy/political expertise could have explained the intricacies of our negotiations on the world stage to achieve peace. If voters want to know a bit about what is needed to achieve successful diplomacy, they can’t ask for a better example.

I’ve my own theories about the student protests pre-graduation and think they may have been averted if they knew more about the historical situation. I do believe the U.S. is now on the right track using world pressure to get a cease-fire, prioritizing food and aid, and going through the steps for a two-state solution.

All the information I got back in the day came from nightly news and daily newspapers, including NYTimes, WaPo and local papers. One morning I got in to work super early, dropped my stack of papers by my desk and got to work immediately. My boss walked in and asked what I was doing. I told him I had too much work to spend time on the daily news. No, he said, that’s my job. Read the news, then get to work! Good lesson.

Now our information comes from so many and so few sources. Voters have to read a panoply of new sources to judge for themselves what is true. I always look at who wrote the article, what it’s published in, and what the writer/publication has to gain from spouting this point of view. If one only gets news from TikTok or Facebook, they have very limited information and it may be skewed misinformation or disinformation from un-trusted sources.

Being a good citizen isn’t easy. Last night I learned that we won’t grant 2,000 lb. bombs as part of our assistance packages because they cannot be used in urban environments as they cause unnecessary damage to innocent civilians. Who knew outside of current policy wonks and military officials about that granularity of information?

Next time your neighbor says there’s a pedophile ring coming in across the street from the barbershop, don’t accept it as gospel. Check it out. I get notices about public hearings on certain types of new businesses (after stopping an after-hours biker bar) and it turns out not to be the case. I’m not happy with what moved in, as it seems sketchy, but no-one’s ever there. I got it from the horse’s mouth, my barber, across the street. Get your news from reputable sources, read up on the issues, and vote! Dee

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Freedom

Posted on July 10, 2024 | Leave a comment

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

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