2017 Season's Greetings...

Treason is the reason for impeaching Trump this season.

Short and Not Sweet RANT

Reaganomics:  The gift that keeps on TAKING.  Robbing from 99.99% of Americans and the health of our society as a whole, while calling it "tax cuts" since 1980.

Blue blue electric blue...

I find it fascinating that SUDDENLY, everyone and every news outlet is saying that, if the Republican Party doesn't stand up to this disgusting Moore character, they're finished. Um, no one said anything when the Access Hollywood tape came out re Trump. No one said anything back when primary candidate Trump called for "a complete and total ban on Muslims entering the United States", re--and I did say this, quite vociferously, but I mean, no news outlets were saying it and really no one seemed that outraged about it--that he just disqualified himself for becoming a Presidential nominee, by virtue of vowing to do something unconstitutional. I said then that the RNC should disqualify Trump from continuing on in their field of nominees. No one listened to the few lone voices like moi saying that. No one listened to anyone re the "pussy grabber" tape, either.

Yet now that some repug down in Alabama is revealed to be a sexual predator, the repug party is in mortal danger if they don't cut him loose? Why didn't they cut Trump loose when he vowed to up-end the constitution that he would have to swear to uphold if elected POTUS? Why didn't they cut Trump loose after the Access Hollywood tape, which was Trump in his own words?

Nobody seems to care what Trump does. Oh, except for all of us Americans who are in the MAJORITY and who voted for another candidate over him by a margin of over 3 million votes. Ah, now I see the difference: maybe the repugs and the news media got a wake up call last Tuesday? Maybe a little realization of how deep the BLUE sea is out here in the country has made them realize they'd better at least try to fake being a decent and law abiding party.

Hey, Bernie and Hillary supporters: it's long past time for us to unite.

Man. I started following someone on Twitter because she had some cool tweet (can't even remember what it was, but I thought she was cool). So just now I see that she has a tweet bashing Bernie and Bernie supporters, and accusing him of being divisive (which is the actual polar opposite of the truth--Bernie constantly talks about not letting demagogues divide us up, and how we have to stand together) and saying he cost Hillary the election (again--not true: he ENDORSED her in the general, and ran the epitome of a respectful, civil and very substantive primary campaign, even REFUSING steadfastly to be goaded/spun into any personal attacks in media interviews).

It is so discouraging to see the bitterness and blame of Hillary supporters toward Bernie and Bernie supporters, and the bitterness and blame of Bernie supporters toward Hillary and Hillary supporters. It really is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay past high time that we all came together now, people. No, we don't see things exactly the same way, but we really have so much more in common than not. We need to unite to resist the orange fascist wannabe. Seriously, stop looking back and look forward at the oncoming locomotive.

We Must Resist

Seven months in, this is America under Trump. We must #resist and fight hate with our hearts, minds, bodies and souls, and with our laws/constitution, our refusal to let anyone or any rhetoric divide us up, our voices, our feet in the streets, our presence in town halls and voicemail messages and voting booths, and, most of all, our love. We must show up, stand up and speak up for each other, and for what our special, inspirational, beautiful America is really all about.

We must RESIST. Stand together. Face down hate and divisiveness with love and unity. Trump's nightmare vision of America will NEVER triumph over the American dream.

Seven months in...

Connect the Dots: Jared + VEB = Trump is Putin's Puppet

Postscript to my last post (Trump + Vlad = Treason), just in case anyone is wondering what dots, exactly, I was talking about being connected. Here's an example: Jared's December meeting with the Kremlin's VEB Bank operatives. Rachel Maddow sounded the the alarm on this months ago. Now everyone is finally starting to connect the dots. Again, I simply say: follow the money. It will directly lead to the bedroom of Trump and Putin, and I would strongly advise that you knock first before barging in, because they are definitely in bed together:

Jared + VEB = Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmm

Trump + Vlad = Treason

I hope you all will watch the important interview of Bill Browder by Fareed Zakaria which I have linked below. Consider this fact: Vladimir Putin is the single richest man on planet earth. What does Donald Trump value? Money. Power. Putin and Trump: it's a match made in hell. I submit to you, follow the money and it will lead to the truth of just how in bed with, and beholden to, Putin and Russia's interests our sitting President is. He is not working for us. He is not working for America. He is working for Vlad. And that, my friends, is called treason.

Many (such as Rachel Maddow) have been connecting the money trail dots for a long time now, and I have full confidence that, sooner rather than later, the full picture will come into view so clearly that even the biggest dismissers of the Trump-Russia connection will see and understand. I stand by my prediction: Trump will be impeached and/or tender his resignation by Christmas. I plan to have eggnog. Possibly with rum (I don't drink, but an exception might need to be made, given the year I will, by that point, hopefully have lived through personally, and the year that our country will, by that point, have weathered).

We not only have a President who violates the constitution at every turn, and has conflicts of interest galore, we have a President who, because of one of those conflicts of interest--namely, being bought and paid for by Vladimir Putin--is acting not in the best interest of America but actually in the interest of a foreign enemy power.  What we have, folks, is a treasonous man occupying the White House.  We need to get all the facts via the investigations currently underway, and once there is enough evidence (which there will be--I've never been more certain of anything in my entire life), we need to impeach this treasonous con artist.  Democrats, Republicans, Independents, all of us need to come together on this, as President Donald J. Trump poses a clear and present danger to our country.

Bill Browder interview by Fareed Zakaria today, 7/16/2017

Today is a Tragic Day for the United States of America

This is a tragic, tragic day for my country. The United States of America ain't what she used to be.

The Republicans have been trying to get to this day since 1980. And today, they cemented the oligarchy.  Today, with the passage by the House of their GOP "health care" bill, they actually cheered when they threw the 99% to the wolves. Such a sad, sad, sad day. And, for many of us, terrifying. What kind of country is this anymore, really? Congratulations, Reagan Republicans. We are now living in the wild, wild west. It is everyone for themselves. In the immortal words of Sawyer from my beloved TV series, LOST: "It's Lord of the Flies time now."

Teshuvah

We are subtly and not-so-subtly taught/enculturated that human beings have evolved, civility-wise and even spiritually, from "barbaric", "savage" tribes to modern "civil" society. Somehow, we are lead to believe that mere advances in technology have made us less "savage". But that is all smoke and mirrors: us human are *exactly* the same as we've always been. Exactly. The good, wonderful potentials are there...and so are the savage, the barbaric...the evil.

This week, sarin gas was used by human beings against other, innocent, human beings, including children. It causes extreme suffering and death. It is against all the agreed upon conventions of war--and war is already barbaric--but even in war, there are supposed to be certain minimal standards of decency. Those were not in evidence in this attack in Syria.

So let's not delude ourselves, in our shiny cities, that we are better than those who lived or live in the deep forest with minimal tools. Let's not think that our religions make us somehow deeper or more spiritual or more "saved" than the religions or beliefs of earlier humans. Let's not think that any of our gleaming trappings make us any better than any human who has ever lived in any culture. We are no more or less barbaric than people and cultures from thousands of years ago.

We all have exactly the same potentials inside of us for good, and for evil, that humans have always had. It's always been up to us to choose.

Right now, in our world, I am seeing an awful lot of humans choosing evil. It's up to each of us to turn that around.

I'll Say It Again: Pay Attention to the Tiny Man Behind the Curtain

This Smerconish dude first came to my attention when he was bashing my cherished alma mater (long story--won't even get into it) on the rarified air of CNN a few years back. My verdict was that I couldn't stand him.

Well, today, I find myself cheering "Right on!" to his musing that, as a lawyer himself, he thinks it would be very interesting if Obama were to SUE THE SHIT OUTTA (<--my terminology there, he just said "sue"...I like to spice things up) Trump for LIBEL, baby. My reaction is YES: it is SO clear cut!!!

Obama did NOT "wiretap" Trump Tower. Now, Trump could have been, and Trump associates/campaign people definitely HAVE been, picked up/intercepted in communications with Russians in surveillance of said Russians. But Obama absolutely did NOT wiretap Trump tower, as *everyone* and every organization in a position to know that for sure has stated already. And Trump, as President, could simply unclassify any evidence he has (which he has none of, since there is none) of this and show the American people what he is talking about.

The entire reason Trump made this claim, if *anyone* out there is stupid enough (sorry not sorry) to actually believe him or even wonder if it is true, is as follows, and this is 100% definite, says ME: he made this claim to ***DISTRACT*** the media and us, the American people, from uncovering (and covering, as in devoting resources, investigation and AIR TIME to) TRUMP'S TIES TO PUTIN/RUSSIA AND THE POSSIBLE COLLUSION OF THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN WITH RUSSIA TO INFLUENCE THE COURSE OF THE AMERICAN 2016 ELECTION. Period! It's total Wizard of Oz stuff: Trump wants us to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, but look at all the smoke and mirrors and special effects he is throwing up for us.

Do NOT buy this man's pathetic, utterly see-through attempt to DIVERT us from what is real and really important. And I agree with Smerconish on this one: Obama should sue Trump's disgusting, despicable self for LIBEL. He would win. As Smerconish said, he won't do it...he's too classy, he'll just ignore this diversion, which actually is another really good way to go--because the allegation is total SHIT, it is so obviously designed to divert our attention from Trump's Putin connections, and to make the news media all run around chasing its tail on this other thing, while meanwhile Trump's Putin connection, he HOPES, would drop off the radar. So, I agree with Smerconish that it would be beautiful, in a way--a satisfying, exposing-Trump-as-the-lying-idiot-he-is way--yet I actually, the more I am in the middle of writing this, realize that saying and doing NOTHING is the best response Obama can give. He has said it didn't happen, and that's it. That's all he should do. Don't even dignify this utter horse shit with a libel suit. That elevates it in a way. Leave it in the hole in the ground where it belongs. I just hope everyone sees this for what it is: a pathetic attempt by Trump to divert attention from the real, important investigation into Putin's interference in our election process, Trump's links to Putin, and Trump's likely collusion with Putin in interfering with our election.

Pull the curtain back and see the tiny man behind it, trying desperately to divert your attention with smoke and mirrors. Pay attention to what he is doing--to the buttons and levers he is pushing and pulling--not to the smoke and mirrors that said manipulations throw up all around you to distract you.

All Fascist Wannabes Go After the Free Press First

A friend posted on Facebook this morning about Trump's attacks on the press, writing "A free press is essential to democracy". To which I responded: Yes it is. And, even as stupid as Trump is, he knows that. Which is why he, like all fascist/dictator wannabes, is attacking and going after the press first. He's clearing a path.

I have been saying since the primary campaign, based on the things Trump said, the policies he put forward, and the dog whistles he consistently blew to his supporters, that this man is a fascist. I was told I was being overly dramatic. I will say it again: Trump is a FASCIST. He wants to make America a fascist country.

We cannot allow that. We have to keep doing exactly what we have been doing, in breathtakingly beautiful, inspiring fashion: we have to keep resisting: standing up, turning out, marching, chanting, holding signs, filling the switchboards, offices and town halls of our elected representatives, filling the streets, and refusing to be silenced.

"She was warned. She was told to stop. And yet she persisted."

We must persist in standing together, standing for each other, being indivisible, and protecting our constitution and democracy with everything we have, non-violently, as we have 100% been so far, because no matter how low Trump goes--and he's nowhere near his nadir yet--we *only* go high, we only go non-violent, we only go creative resistance, and we will triumph--look at history. And then look Trump in his beady little constitution-violating eyes and stare him the duck down. We will prevail.

The Man Behind the Curtain

People: Trump is amping up his tirades against the media for the purpose of discrediting the free press in the minds (such as they are) of his supporters. Why? Because he knows damn well that evidence is going to come up to link him to Putin, to show that he is compromised by Putin/Russia and therefore can't be trusted at all, even just due to that one reason--though there are so many other conflicts of interest when it comes to Trump, too--to put the interests of the United States first. In the case of Russia, we are talking about an enemy foreign power run by a murdering thug KGB dictator. Trump's allegiance seems to be to said murdering thug and not to the United States of America. That's what he's trying desperately to distract you from realizing.

Trump running around demonizing the press is a tactic that he, and all fascists and wannabe fascists use to control the people.

Think of the Wizard of Oz. He had and used a lot of smoke and mirrors to deflect from people seeing the tiny-handed (couldn't resist) man behind the curtain, who really didn't have magical powers and couldn't deliver on anything he promised. But at least the Wizard was "an old Kansas man" with a good heart. Trump does NOT have a good heart. And we are all definitely not in Kansas anymore. So don't be fooled by the smoke and mirrors.

When they go crude, we go green!

Throughout the campaign season, I shouted from the cyber-rooftops that one of the first things Trump would do as President would be to eviscerate environmental regulation in this country. Well, now he has actually appointed someone to head the EPA who wants to ABOLISH it.

Folks, here's what we, as individuals, have to do: we have to divest from fossil fuel interests, and invest in green, sustainable, renewable energy/interests. We have to practice, every day, in every big and small way, what Al Gore calls "sustainable capitalism".

How do we do this:

1. At the grocery store, buy foods that are sustainably raised, and boycott companies with fossil fuel interests.

2. If you have a 401(k) or 403(b) at work, call up your HR department and/or call the company providing your plan directly, and tell them you want them to divest from fossil fuel business interests. Ask them if they provide any green investment options for you as an individual investor to *CHOOSE*.

That's the key here: make choices anywhere and everywhere you can to buy green! Even the seemingly smallest purchase at the store makes a difference if we are ALL making those choices--buy organic, buy sustainable, buy ethical, buy green. If your heating system at your house goes belly up, look into going solar if possible. If your car goes belly up, can you afford an electric car? I probably cannot afford that, but then buy a car with excellent gas mileage--make that priority one about the car. Change your lawn from a lawn to native and/or xeriscaped plants that don't need watering once established. Are you in school? Speak to the administration about divesting from fossil fuel interests. Employers, colleges, churches, anything you are a member of, employee of, student at--tell the powers that be there that you want them to divest from fossil fuel interests and INVEST IN RENEWABLE ENERGY AND SUSTAINABLE, GREEN BUSINESSES IN GENERAL.

We now have a federal government run by fossil fuel interests. It is now more important, more crucial, than ever that we as individuals and private organizations make an end run around their gutting of environmental regulations, and CHOOSE GREEN. If no one buys fossil fuels, if there is no market for it, that will kill it. The only thing Big Business listens to is MONEY. You may not think you have any of the stuff but you do, even if all you do is shop in a grocery store.

Choose wisely, grasshoppers.

We Will Triumph Over Trump

On November 9, when I awoke to the news that Trump had won the election, I was terrified. Terrified with a kind of terror I can't put into words.

But since then, my faith in my fellow Americans, and in the strength of our country to survive Trump has been restored, inspired and amazed by seeing so many Americans, so consistently, so passionately, so bravely and doggedly stand up for what is right. We're marching in the streets. We're dissenting in ways big and seemingly small. We're wiping swastikas off subway walls.

Since then, I've begun to hope...and then to have faith...and then to really know, that our country will not only survive Trump, but we will triumph over Trump. The crisis that is the Donald Trump presidency is also an opportunity for those of us young enough to perhaps never have seen it as clearly as we can now to see the breathtaking brilliance, power, wisdom and resilience of our constitution...and the bravery and basic decency of the majority of our people. Yes, we'll survive. And we'll come out stronger, with renewed awe at, and love for, the true greatness that already is and always has been the United States of America.

America is not walls and bans, it is tolerance and pluralism!

America is not about walls and bans, and "us" and "them". America is great because we are a nation of immigrants, we are a pluralistic nation. THAT is what is most inspiring, wonderful and special about us--that's what makes us great! Our tolerance and our pluralism are our greatest inspiration to the world and our greatest strength as a nation. And if we build walls, enact bans, infuriate our neighbors to the south, turn people away at the airport who have been told they could come here, and who want nothing more than to live the American dream...or at least to LIVE, not to be sent back to certain death, then we are willingly giving up what actually makes us great in the name of barricading ourselves behind false protections. What really protects us is our constitution, and our welcoming hearts. Without those, we might as well wave the white flag now, because we are done.

We are done when we become unrecognizable to ourselves.  We are done when we move from welcoming democracy to walled fascist state.

My dear fellow Americans:  we need to fight--show up and stand up--for the constitution now. We need to come together and not let those who would divide us for their own ends succeed in doing that. We need to protect and defend our constitution and each other. And I will just add that I am so profoundly heartened to see so many people doing just that. From the Women's March last week, which I participated in and which gave me great inspiration, renewed faith in my fellow Americans, and hope, to the many, many people who showed up in the freezing cold to JFK airport last night, and to many other airports both last night and today (and to the White House), chanting "Let them in!  Let them in!", we are showing up to stand up for our democracy.

The whole world is watching...and hopefully seeing that there are more of us than there are of Trump and those who support his hateful world view.  And that we will keep on showing up and speaking up.

Not that many years ago at all, in terms of human history, some of my own Jewish people came here on boats, fleeing for their lives from Nazi Germany.  Surely America would take them in.  But no, America turned them away.  They were sent back to their deaths in concentration camps.  I'm lucky because my mom's side of the family, also German Jews, had come here before WWII.  We were already here.  Already safe.  But I see my family's faces in the faces of those German Jews, captured in photographs, who weren't so lucky.  And I can never let it happen again.  I can't be like "the Good Germans" who turned away and said they "didn't know".  Maybe some of them didn't know.

But in America today, we have no excuse, no way to say "We didn't know".  We have a free press and we have news coming in from all over the world.  We have the internet--they didn't have that in WWII.  They didn't have Facebook.  They didn't have the face of a 5-year-old boy, who had been bombed, sitting shell-shocked and wounded in an ambulance in Aleppo staring back at them.  But we do.  We know.  We know what is going on in Syria.  Are we going to let our President just slam the door on refugees from there, who are fleeing for their very lives?  Are we going to turn away?  Or are we going to show ourselves and the world what America really stands for, emphasis on "stands for"?  Let's rise up and demand that our President let them in!

He had to put a Schlafley on it.

Breaking: Trump just said "Phyllis Schlafley was a great lady."

Evidently, we weren't already sufficiently terrified tonight. He had to put a Schlafley on it.

Thank you, President Obama

Well, O, you weren't the change I can believe in--and I always knew you wouldn't be. I was hard on you from the beginning for that. But you know what? Now? I profoundly appreciate you and am so glad you were President from 2008 - 16. You weren't the change but you were the steadiness, in a time that called for a steady, calm hand. You were the steadiness I could believe in. You were the calm in a storm. You were the eloquence when we desperately needed it. You were the class and the civility in a society descending into something else--you remind us, stay civil. You were the pragmatist in times that absolutely called for it. I'm an idealist but 2008 - 16 was not a time that was open to my ideals. It was a time that critically needed a pragmatist. It was a time that needed you.

Someone to pull us back up onto the cliff (our economy had already slipped off the edge) and onto solid ground, or at least back from the edge. Someone to unify during polarizing forces. Someone to compromise and be reasonable with uncompromising and unreasonable people surrounding you.

Thanks, O. My deepest thank you. You weren't the change, but it turns out it wasn't quite time for that. You kept our ship from going under. You gave us courage in the night. And now. Now is the time for the change I can believe in. And we all have to help bring it about.

A look back at 2016 and forward to 2017...

A lot of people are saying that 2016 was a bad year because we lost a lot of brightly shining stars from life here on earth to back up in the night sky, and/or because of the horrific things that have unfolded in politics and the world in general. To the first thing (so many deaths of famous people): I think it would be interesting if someone actually compared the number of famous folks who passed in 2016 to how many are lost, on average, in any given year, as I think we'd find that we did not, in fact, lose more than usual. What I think happened is this: this was the first year that Baby Boomers started dropping off at an alarming (to us Boomers!) rate, and that has scared us about our own mortality. I'm at the tail end of the Boom, so hopefully I've got a few more good years in me *lol*, but many of the older Boomers are still very vital and healthy, too, so not to worry loves--hopefully, our best years are yet to come for many of us!

Moving on to what unfolded in politics and the news this year, I can't argue with how horrifying much of it is. However, there was something else, too: Bernie. BERNIE! <3 His message was spot on, and his campaign and the passionate following and movement it brought to flower was absolutely inspiring, breathtaking, and so hopeful! As I said in another post on FB today, it was a beginning, not an ending, so take heart. We could be in the darkness before the dawn right now.

Finally, I will say that, for me, personally, 2016 was actually a good year. Yes, I have some ongoing sadness over important stuff I don't have, and challenges I do have, but instead of focusing on that as I look back at this year, what I'm struck by are the blessings I did have: my aging mom held her own this year and actually improved a bit from recent years; my four furkids are all healthy (versus in 2014, my dear dog had two operations to remove a cancer--two years later, he's healthy and cancer-free); I still have my job which, while incredibly stressful and grueling, does pay the bills; and I think I've finally recovered from all the major stressors and upheaval I went through in 2013 and 14 (took me all of 15 just to do that), so 2016 was, for me personally (not for the world!) a very and much, much-needed stable year--loved ones healthy, job still there, no selling or buying of houses, or moving twice in 10 months...2016 (again, other than the political!), for me, was a year of calming down. Which I very much needed. So I just wanted to take a moment to express my appreciation to the cosmos for that.

Now, about 2017: I pray that my loved ones and myself stay healthy, and that things stay stable for me in most ways, though I do think I'm ready to maybe take a leap off a cliff in another way, if the opportunity were to present itself for such cliff leaping. But other than that, I'm good with things staying calm and stable! Let's just hope that, as I pan out from the personal to the macro level, the world, which is anything but calm and stable right now, will somehow have good and healthy forces come to the fore and take the wheel...as I said, if we glance back a moment at Bernie's campaign, we get a window into those forces, and we can take heart and hope in knowing that they are still there, beating within us...they haven't gone anywhere, and neither have we. 2017 will be a time to stand up, speak up, and let our light shine.