Okay, Donny John, you're in luck! I don't want to do what I absolutely need to be doing today, thus I am have time to give you a lesson in political science. I will keep it sort and sweet--one blurb--as I know you have the attention span of a flea.
Pencil ready? Okay--yes, you may use your cell phone instead. But do take notes on this, because clearly--from your little "we will keep America from becoming a socialist country" dig at Bernie, AOC, and all of us you sneeringly referred to often in your 2016 campaign rallies as "Bernie people"--you don't understand the difference between "socialism" and "democratic socialism". So here's a little succinct lesson gleaned from a quick Google:
"The key difference between socialism and democratic socialism is that democratic socialists don't want the government to own the means of production and socialists do. They believe that certain general social goods like health care should be run by the government, but otherwise support capitalism."
Okay, you can go out and play now. But no bullying the other children.
Saturday, February 9, 2019
Friday, February 1, 2019
Bernie and us Berners Have Moved the Democratic Party and Our Country Forward
Bernie, his vision, his priorities, his platform, his leadership, his eloquence, his refusal to let the media drag him off message, his insistence on sticking to substance and never talking down to the American people, his entire 2016 campaign, and last but not least, all of US--the Berners!--really accomplished a tremendous amount in 2016, though right now, with the situation in the White House, it may not seem that way.
Bernie, his vision, his priorities, his platform, his leadership, his eloquence, his refusal to let the media drag him off message, his insistence on sticking to substance and never talking down to the American people, his entire 2016 campaign, and last but not least, all of US--the Berners!--really accomplished a tremendous amount in 2016, though right now, with the situation in the White House, it may not seem that way.
What did he, and we, do? We moved the dialog, discuss...ion and talking points in this country. We changed not only the 2016 platform of the Democratic Party, but we changed what are considered valid, mainstream ideas and issues moving forward, for the future of our party and this country!
Single payer? It's now not laughed out of the room. It's mainstream, Kamala Harris has come out strongly for it upon announcing her campaign, to my utter thrilledness. SINGLE PAYER NOW! I've been shouting for it since long about 1980, when I first came of age, and happened to go to Europe for a class in college one semester, and learned, while I was there, of a little thing called single payer, and democratic socialism. WOW. Brought some buttons (political) home with me. Still have them. Still for single payer. Know it is what our country needs for a health care system if we are ever going to have one that is economically sustainable and morally/ethically right--in other words, if we are going to have a health care system that is healthy for our country in more ways than one. Single payer now? Yes, Virginia: NOW!
Finally!
Thank you, dear, unwavering, unfaltering, Bernie Sanders. And thank you, me, you and all of us because we stood together, we raised our voices and our candles high in the air, and the party and the nation has taken note, and notes. Single payer is kitchen table talk now. He did that. We did that. Never think that you can't make a difference.
Bernie, his vision, his priorities, his platform, his leadership, his eloquence, his refusal to let the media drag him off message, his insistence on sticking to substance and never talking down to the American people, his entire 2016 campaign, and last but not least, all of US--the Berners!--really accomplished a tremendous amount in 2016, though right now, with the situation in the White House, it may not seem that way.
What did he, and we, do? We moved the dialog, discuss...ion and talking points in this country. We changed not only the 2016 platform of the Democratic Party, but we changed what are considered valid, mainstream ideas and issues moving forward, for the future of our party and this country!
Single payer? It's now not laughed out of the room. It's mainstream, Kamala Harris has come out strongly for it upon announcing her campaign, to my utter thrilledness. SINGLE PAYER NOW! I've been shouting for it since long about 1980, when I first came of age, and happened to go to Europe for a class in college one semester, and learned, while I was there, of a little thing called single payer, and democratic socialism. WOW. Brought some buttons (political) home with me. Still have them. Still for single payer. Know it is what our country needs for a health care system if we are ever going to have one that is economically sustainable and morally/ethically right--in other words, if we are going to have a health care system that is healthy for our country in more ways than one. Single payer now? Yes, Virginia: NOW!
Finally!
Thank you, dear, unwavering, unfaltering, Bernie Sanders. And thank you, me, you and all of us because we stood together, we raised our voices and our candles high in the air, and the party and the nation has taken note, and notes. Single payer is kitchen table talk now. He did that. We did that. Never think that you can't make a difference.
Impeach 45
It is a constitutional imperative to begin impeachment proceedings re 45. He has, and continues to, violate our precious constitution in so many ways, he is a clear and present danger to our country, and a treasonous traitor.
It's getting close to 2020 now. Some may be thinking, oh, let's just wait it out. Focus on 2020. I say we cannot set the precedent that a US President can get away with the violations of the constitution that this man has done and is doing, and we cannot tolerate a traitor in the White House.
Start the impeachment process now, for the sake of the present and future health of our constitution, rule of law, and country.
Impeach Trump Now
It's getting close to 2020 now. Some may be thinking, oh, let's just wait it out. Focus on 2020. I say we cannot set the precedent that a US President can get away with the violations of the constitution that this man has done and is doing, and we cannot tolerate a traitor in the White House.
Start the impeachment process now, for the sake of the present and future health of our constitution, rule of law, and country.
Impeach Trump Now
Sunday, January 27, 2019
Silence is Not Golden in the Face of Fascism
Silence is not golden in the face of fascism, hate, bigotry, and/or cruelty, and certainly not when any or all of those become national policy. In my strong opinion, we must speak out against the walking, talking, tweeting violation of, and affront to, our constitution that is our current President, and his barbaric, cruel, illegal, immoral, un-American and inhuman policies such as kidnapping babies and children, putting them in cages, not keeping records of who and where their parents are, traumatizing and orphaning them.
Because I am familiar--literally familiar, it affected my family, my people, but also familiar in the sense that I've studied it, studied the holocaust, studied history, and I know that history isn't really history: it's the present, in the sense that the potential for everything that has ever happened in human history lives within us all today--I know what I'm seeing in our current President, and I know I need to speak out, loudly and clearly, when I see it. I know I need to stand together with all my fellow Americans of all stripes in the Resistance, and I need to stand with all 45's victims--some are not American, some are not old enough to know how to talk, and have no way to be heard even if they can talk, as they are in cages as we speak. 74 years ago today, Auschwitz was liberated. 74 years ago is not a long time. Look around today. Both of those potentials in the history books from 74 years ago are still there: the Nazi potential. The Resistance potential. 74 years ago, the good guys won. Today, we need to open our eyes and see that the fight against hate and cruelty never is over. It's up to us.
Bernie 2020!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh my God. OH MY GOD. See article linked below re what all my Oh-my-Godding is about!
Okay, then, my 2020 Presidential Candidate dance card is FULL, and it's all Bernie Sanders!!!!!!!!! Yes, he's a senior. Yes, he's male. Yes, he's white. And YES: if you are against him due to any or all of those, you are any combination of ageist, sexist and/or racist. In a truly egalitarian society, which no, we aren't yet, but the only way to be that is to BE THAT, none of those factors would matter. Yet I've heard many so-called fellow progressives say they don't want any older, white and/or male candidates. Again: none of that should matter. I don't care if a candidate is white, black, purple, pink or polka-dotted. I don't care if she's a she or a he or anywhere in between. Age is a little bit different, as it is a legitimate factor to consider on two fronts: if the person is old, are they healthy? If so, then FUGGEDABOUTIT. If the person is young, do they maybe lack the relevant experience and wisdom to be the leader of the free world? If the experience isn't there, it's definitely relevant, yet if somehow the wisdom is, then they still could be worth consideration, as long as they meet the constitutional age requirement. Back to Bernie: he's healthy. And with his age, comes many, many years of experience, not just as a Senator, but as a political and civil rights activist and leader. He's been on the front lines in civil rights actions. He's been handcuffed and arrested fighting for equal rights, for civil rights, for everyone. So I don't care what color he is or isn't--he's a damn good egg. He puts his body and his life, his time and effort, where his mouth is.
Bernie Sanders' positions and priorities are EXACTLY in sync with my own and have been since I came of age in the early 1980's, and he was Mayor of Burlington, Vermont. The only issue we disagree on is open primaries, which isn't make or break to me. I'm a lifelong Democrat (since my dear Mom registered me as such when I was just 17 years old) and also a Democratic Socialist (since about age 19). Bernie has fought for single payer forever. Bernie has fought for fair taxation forever. Bernie has fought to change our budget priorities from unfair tax cuts for the very rich to fair taxation for all and investing in the PEOPLE and infrastructure and future instead of in, again, tax cuts for those who don't need them, and a war-based economy. But my entire adult life, and the entire time Bernie has been fighting, we've been up against a solid wall of Republican opposition and the dominance of the trickle-down theory (read: LIE) of economics. I think that now we are finally, finally seeing a demographic shift in our country, and an evolution of ideas, and now maybe America is ready to listen, hear and understand what we really need!
Bernie, if he is in the race, is my candidate, period. PERIOD. And now it sounds like he's in the race! So let me declare, before he even declares, if it even needs declaring, given my approximately 10,000 or so posts in 2016: I'M FOR BERNIE. I'M WITH BERNIE. Bernie is with me, with all of us, with what is the healthy prescription for our ailing-in-so-many-ways, beloved country. BERNIE 2020! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Bernie Sanders Set to Announce 2020 Presidential Run
Okay, then, my 2020 Presidential Candidate dance card is FULL, and it's all Bernie Sanders!!!!!!!!! Yes, he's a senior. Yes, he's male. Yes, he's white. And YES: if you are against him due to any or all of those, you are any combination of ageist, sexist and/or racist. In a truly egalitarian society, which no, we aren't yet, but the only way to be that is to BE THAT, none of those factors would matter. Yet I've heard many so-called fellow progressives say they don't want any older, white and/or male candidates. Again: none of that should matter. I don't care if a candidate is white, black, purple, pink or polka-dotted. I don't care if she's a she or a he or anywhere in between. Age is a little bit different, as it is a legitimate factor to consider on two fronts: if the person is old, are they healthy? If so, then FUGGEDABOUTIT. If the person is young, do they maybe lack the relevant experience and wisdom to be the leader of the free world? If the experience isn't there, it's definitely relevant, yet if somehow the wisdom is, then they still could be worth consideration, as long as they meet the constitutional age requirement. Back to Bernie: he's healthy. And with his age, comes many, many years of experience, not just as a Senator, but as a political and civil rights activist and leader. He's been on the front lines in civil rights actions. He's been handcuffed and arrested fighting for equal rights, for civil rights, for everyone. So I don't care what color he is or isn't--he's a damn good egg. He puts his body and his life, his time and effort, where his mouth is.
Bernie Sanders' positions and priorities are EXACTLY in sync with my own and have been since I came of age in the early 1980's, and he was Mayor of Burlington, Vermont. The only issue we disagree on is open primaries, which isn't make or break to me. I'm a lifelong Democrat (since my dear Mom registered me as such when I was just 17 years old) and also a Democratic Socialist (since about age 19). Bernie has fought for single payer forever. Bernie has fought for fair taxation forever. Bernie has fought to change our budget priorities from unfair tax cuts for the very rich to fair taxation for all and investing in the PEOPLE and infrastructure and future instead of in, again, tax cuts for those who don't need them, and a war-based economy. But my entire adult life, and the entire time Bernie has been fighting, we've been up against a solid wall of Republican opposition and the dominance of the trickle-down theory (read: LIE) of economics. I think that now we are finally, finally seeing a demographic shift in our country, and an evolution of ideas, and now maybe America is ready to listen, hear and understand what we really need!
Bernie, if he is in the race, is my candidate, period. PERIOD. And now it sounds like he's in the race! So let me declare, before he even declares, if it even needs declaring, given my approximately 10,000 or so posts in 2016: I'M FOR BERNIE. I'M WITH BERNIE. Bernie is with me, with all of us, with what is the healthy prescription for our ailing-in-so-many-ways, beloved country. BERNIE 2020! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Bernie Sanders Set to Announce 2020 Presidential Run
Saturday, December 22, 2018
Another Brick in The Wall
Well, he's shut down the federal government over his xenophobic, pointless, surrealistically expensive, ugly, hateful, ineffective border wall. My dad was a government/civil service employee: GS15, I think was what his level was called, which was a mid-level position. He worked as a statistician at the Interstate Commerce Commission. My Mom, before I was born, also worked for the federal government. She was a computer programmer at the Pentagon. Yep, my parents were "the deep state". Mid-level government employees, middle class (remember that?), working, patriotic Americans with two children and a Chevrolet Corvair in the driveway (unsafe at any speed). Once the kids came along, since it was the 1960's, Mom stopped working. She later would say she thinks she would have been happier, had she continued working, but that wasn't really done back then. So, we were a middle class family of four, living on one mid-level government salary. Living comfortably in the suburbs of Washington, DC, on one mid-level government salary. You could do that back then. Back when there truly was a middle class. Now, you would need two, really high salaries, to afford the house in Bethesda, MD, just outside of DC, that they bought for something like 26k.
Our POTUS just ensured that lots of hard-working, patriotic federal government workers, like my parents were, are now furloughed--out of a job and a paycheck for the time being--just before Christmas.
He rose to power due to many cons, help from an enemy foreign power, and appealing to the ugly, xenophobia in a minority of Americans. He lost the popular vote by over 3 million votes, yet very narrowly won the electoral college, so the ugly xenophobia won and now rules the day.
His supporters, his voters, were told by him, very clearly, very repeatedly, very unambiguously, that "Mexico is going to pay for it." Now, of course, most Americans and people listening to this nonsense around the world knew immediately that Mexico was not going to pay for it. But Trump's supporters? They actually believed this. They actually thought Mexico would pay for an incredibly expensive wall between our two countries. Trump lied to them, of course, as he does about everything. Had they known the truth, that really THEY and all Americans, out of our taxes, would pay for it, it may have given them pause, as most Trump supporters hate paying taxes at least as much as they hate everyone who is different from them. But they bought that lie, along with all of Trump's lies.
So now, federal employees, whom Trump and his supporters crazily and dementedly refer to as "the deep state", who go to work every day in service of our country, who have mortgages to pay and children to feed, are out of a paycheck, as this nutjob digs his allegedly bone-spur-laden heels in to get his wall, and to distract his supporters and perhaps himself from the fact that other walls are, in fact, closing in around him.
He'll get a wall. In fact, he'll get four walls, all closing in around him. Come on, Mueller. We are burning daylight.
Our POTUS just ensured that lots of hard-working, patriotic federal government workers, like my parents were, are now furloughed--out of a job and a paycheck for the time being--just before Christmas.
He rose to power due to many cons, help from an enemy foreign power, and appealing to the ugly, xenophobia in a minority of Americans. He lost the popular vote by over 3 million votes, yet very narrowly won the electoral college, so the ugly xenophobia won and now rules the day.
His supporters, his voters, were told by him, very clearly, very repeatedly, very unambiguously, that "Mexico is going to pay for it." Now, of course, most Americans and people listening to this nonsense around the world knew immediately that Mexico was not going to pay for it. But Trump's supporters? They actually believed this. They actually thought Mexico would pay for an incredibly expensive wall between our two countries. Trump lied to them, of course, as he does about everything. Had they known the truth, that really THEY and all Americans, out of our taxes, would pay for it, it may have given them pause, as most Trump supporters hate paying taxes at least as much as they hate everyone who is different from them. But they bought that lie, along with all of Trump's lies.
So now, federal employees, whom Trump and his supporters crazily and dementedly refer to as "the deep state", who go to work every day in service of our country, who have mortgages to pay and children to feed, are out of a paycheck, as this nutjob digs his allegedly bone-spur-laden heels in to get his wall, and to distract his supporters and perhaps himself from the fact that other walls are, in fact, closing in around him.
He'll get a wall. In fact, he'll get four walls, all closing in around him. Come on, Mueller. We are burning daylight.
Saturday, August 11, 2018
Remembering Heather Heyer: please don't say she died in a "car crash".
Thinking of Heather Heyer today.
She was a young woman. A fellow Bernie supporter. A good egg. She showed up. She showed up in Charlottesville a year ago today, to stand up and speak up for tolerance, for the pluralism that defines us as a country and is what truly makes us great. She stood for that. She stood against hate. The hate that was enveloping the city of Charlottesville that day. The hate that has been unleashed and encouraged in our country by our disgusting president. She stood against that. She stood for love.
Heather was murdered by a hateful, domestic terrorist who intentionally used a car as a weapon by plowing it into a crowd of peaceful counter-protesters--who were there to counter the hateful neo-Nazi event going on that day.
Not only is the fact that Heather was murdered bothering me--and "bothering" seems like far too mild a word--something else is still, very much to this day, really upsetting me too: even this morning, a year later, the news coverage of Heather's death, of what happened, is white-washing ( <-- pun not intended yet apt, so I'll keep that phrase) it by referring to it, as they have for this entire year since it happened, as "a car crash". I was just watching CNN and they had Heather's mom on. The news anchor referred to what happened as that Heather "died in a car crash."
NO: she didn't die "in a car crash". Make no mistake about this, let history record the truth: Heather Heyer was MURDERED BY A DOMESTIC TERRORIST, who used a car as a weapon. It wasn't some unintended, unfortunate accident that happened when "very fine people on both sides" got out of hand: NO, let history show that Heather Heyer was murdered in a terrorist attack, by a neo-Nazi who intentionally plowed a car into a group of peaceful counter-protesters, in order to do what terrorists do: TERRORIZE, and kill. SAY IT, news media! It wasn't a "car crash", it was a "terrorist attack". Not all terrorists are Muslim. Not all terrorists are foreign. Some are Americans. Some have white skin. Some may call themselves Christian. The one who murdered Heather Heyer was American, and white. I don't know or care what his belief system was, obviously it included being full of hate and being violent. He was a murderer. And he was definitely a terrorist: using a vehicle as a weapon of murder by plowing it into a crowd of peaceful protesters is designed to terrorize.
Every time those in the media refer to Heather's death as happening in "a car crash", or "that car crash", it makes it sound like it was an unfortunate accident. Just something that happened when a protest got out of hand. Again, NO: Heather Heyer was intentionally murdered by a domestic terrorist.
That's who the "very fine people", as the President described them, are on the other side. So there aren't two equivalent sides here. There are those racist, anti-semitic bigots, full of hate, who have some violent terrorists among them, and then there are those standing for tolerance, non-violence and the e. pluribus unum that is the best part of America.
So today, I remember Heather Heyer. I remember what she stood for. And I think of what took her away. It's up to the rest of us to keep standing for good--tolerance, respect, diversity, love, and a welcoming country. And when we see hate, we call it hate. When we see violence, we call it violence. When we see terrorism and murder, we call it terrorism and murder, not a "car crash".
Rest in peace, Heather. As your fellow peaceful protester from way back before you were even born, as your fellow Bernie supporter, as your fellow liberal American, I wish I could have had your back that day, but I have your ideals and I have America's back. I won't be silent. I won't be complicit. I will continue to resist the hate that is threatening to envelop our beautiful country. I'll continue to fight for tolerance, and for the ideals that so many, including you, who have cherished them and cherished what America really stands for, have fought and died for. You are not forgotten, and neither is the America that we both love. That's the one I'm fighting for. And I'm not alone.
#Resist
She was a young woman. A fellow Bernie supporter. A good egg. She showed up. She showed up in Charlottesville a year ago today, to stand up and speak up for tolerance, for the pluralism that defines us as a country and is what truly makes us great. She stood for that. She stood against hate. The hate that was enveloping the city of Charlottesville that day. The hate that has been unleashed and encouraged in our country by our disgusting president. She stood against that. She stood for love.
Heather was murdered by a hateful, domestic terrorist who intentionally used a car as a weapon by plowing it into a crowd of peaceful counter-protesters--who were there to counter the hateful neo-Nazi event going on that day.
Not only is the fact that Heather was murdered bothering me--and "bothering" seems like far too mild a word--something else is still, very much to this day, really upsetting me too: even this morning, a year later, the news coverage of Heather's death, of what happened, is white-washing ( <-- pun not intended yet apt, so I'll keep that phrase) it by referring to it, as they have for this entire year since it happened, as "a car crash". I was just watching CNN and they had Heather's mom on. The news anchor referred to what happened as that Heather "died in a car crash."
NO: she didn't die "in a car crash". Make no mistake about this, let history record the truth: Heather Heyer was MURDERED BY A DOMESTIC TERRORIST, who used a car as a weapon. It wasn't some unintended, unfortunate accident that happened when "very fine people on both sides" got out of hand: NO, let history show that Heather Heyer was murdered in a terrorist attack, by a neo-Nazi who intentionally plowed a car into a group of peaceful counter-protesters, in order to do what terrorists do: TERRORIZE, and kill. SAY IT, news media! It wasn't a "car crash", it was a "terrorist attack". Not all terrorists are Muslim. Not all terrorists are foreign. Some are Americans. Some have white skin. Some may call themselves Christian. The one who murdered Heather Heyer was American, and white. I don't know or care what his belief system was, obviously it included being full of hate and being violent. He was a murderer. And he was definitely a terrorist: using a vehicle as a weapon of murder by plowing it into a crowd of peaceful protesters is designed to terrorize.
Every time those in the media refer to Heather's death as happening in "a car crash", or "that car crash", it makes it sound like it was an unfortunate accident. Just something that happened when a protest got out of hand. Again, NO: Heather Heyer was intentionally murdered by a domestic terrorist.
That's who the "very fine people", as the President described them, are on the other side. So there aren't two equivalent sides here. There are those racist, anti-semitic bigots, full of hate, who have some violent terrorists among them, and then there are those standing for tolerance, non-violence and the e. pluribus unum that is the best part of America.
So today, I remember Heather Heyer. I remember what she stood for. And I think of what took her away. It's up to the rest of us to keep standing for good--tolerance, respect, diversity, love, and a welcoming country. And when we see hate, we call it hate. When we see violence, we call it violence. When we see terrorism and murder, we call it terrorism and murder, not a "car crash".
Rest in peace, Heather. As your fellow peaceful protester from way back before you were even born, as your fellow Bernie supporter, as your fellow liberal American, I wish I could have had your back that day, but I have your ideals and I have America's back. I won't be silent. I won't be complicit. I will continue to resist the hate that is threatening to envelop our beautiful country. I'll continue to fight for tolerance, and for the ideals that so many, including you, who have cherished them and cherished what America really stands for, have fought and died for. You are not forgotten, and neither is the America that we both love. That's the one I'm fighting for. And I'm not alone.
#Resist
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)