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.
Saturday, December 22, 2018
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
Sunday, July 22, 2018
Who's the "commie pinko" now?
Regarding the title of the linked Washington Post article below, "The Entire Republican Party is Becoming a Russian Asset", I say: sad but true.
I remember when I was young (Lord, it's so weird that I'm old enough to start a sentence that way!), I very briefly worked for SANE, going door to door, canvassing against the nuclear arms race. I lived in the DC area. I had to go to a very conservative area once to canvass, and I had countless doors slammed in my face after being summarily called a commie pinko.
The Right used to always call those of us hippie freaks on the left, in our tie-dyed shirts and Birkenstocks, commie pinkos. And I'm sure, had Bernie (my love) won the primary, the Republicans would have red-baited him for all they are worth, since he is a Democratic Socialist, even though that is NOT the same as being a communist, they would have tried to make it seem that it is. Since they had NOTHING to use against Bernie, as his integrity is unimpeachable and his policies are all (except for open primaries) exactly what our country needs to bring it to economic and moral health.
The Right, I'm trying to impart to you, was always the group claiming to corner the market on being anti-fascist and anti-communist (not that the two things are the same, but they always jumbled them together).
As a person who grew up in that reality, constantly being called a commie pinko by the Right, since I was a very liberal child and remain a very liberal adult, and proud of it, I'm shocked at how the Right is turning a blind eye to the fact that the POTUS is basically a Russian asset. He's Putin's puppet. And they don't care.
For as much as I passionately disagree with them on trickle-down economics, and social issues, and basically everything, I always thought that they were a patriotic lot, in their way. I mean, that was their whole thing, right? Patriotism? Yet now, suddenly, they are putting a sleazy, two-bit con artist above their duty to their country and democracy, just because his has the same party affiliation as they do? I really am shocked, and I don't get it. How much more evidence do they need? It could not possibly be clearer. Once Mueller's report comes out, provided Rosenstein isn't fired first and a yes man installed who will compromise it, the evidence will be undeniable. Let's see what they do then. Let's see who the real "commie pinkos" are. Because what I see now are my fellow liberals out in the streets, fighting for our country that the Right has always claimed such fidelity to, and I see the Right turning a blind eye to treason and being COMPLICIT.
The Entire Republican Party is Becoming a Russian Asset
I remember when I was young (Lord, it's so weird that I'm old enough to start a sentence that way!), I very briefly worked for SANE, going door to door, canvassing against the nuclear arms race. I lived in the DC area. I had to go to a very conservative area once to canvass, and I had countless doors slammed in my face after being summarily called a commie pinko.
The Right used to always call those of us hippie freaks on the left, in our tie-dyed shirts and Birkenstocks, commie pinkos. And I'm sure, had Bernie (my love) won the primary, the Republicans would have red-baited him for all they are worth, since he is a Democratic Socialist, even though that is NOT the same as being a communist, they would have tried to make it seem that it is. Since they had NOTHING to use against Bernie, as his integrity is unimpeachable and his policies are all (except for open primaries) exactly what our country needs to bring it to economic and moral health.
The Right, I'm trying to impart to you, was always the group claiming to corner the market on being anti-fascist and anti-communist (not that the two things are the same, but they always jumbled them together).
As a person who grew up in that reality, constantly being called a commie pinko by the Right, since I was a very liberal child and remain a very liberal adult, and proud of it, I'm shocked at how the Right is turning a blind eye to the fact that the POTUS is basically a Russian asset. He's Putin's puppet. And they don't care.
For as much as I passionately disagree with them on trickle-down economics, and social issues, and basically everything, I always thought that they were a patriotic lot, in their way. I mean, that was their whole thing, right? Patriotism? Yet now, suddenly, they are putting a sleazy, two-bit con artist above their duty to their country and democracy, just because his has the same party affiliation as they do? I really am shocked, and I don't get it. How much more evidence do they need? It could not possibly be clearer. Once Mueller's report comes out, provided Rosenstein isn't fired first and a yes man installed who will compromise it, the evidence will be undeniable. Let's see what they do then. Let's see who the real "commie pinkos" are. Because what I see now are my fellow liberals out in the streets, fighting for our country that the Right has always claimed such fidelity to, and I see the Right turning a blind eye to treason and being COMPLICIT.
The Entire Republican Party is Becoming a Russian Asset
Friday, July 20, 2018
Democracy is a Verb
We must resist the fascist Trump with all our might, to save America. So many before us sacrificed so much for the highest ideals of America, the idea of America, and the very real democracy and rights and pluralism that we enjoy. My parents were the WWII generation. That generation fought fascism in its ugliest possible iteration. My generation protested (and many of us still are) in the streets for peace, civil rights, and the environment. We can do that here. We can peacefully and powerfully take to the streets. Let's keep it that way. It's up to us.
#resist
#resist
Monday, July 16, 2018
I'm with The Resistance
And so proud of it, and so grateful that it exists and it isn't just me, but millions and millions of patriotic, decent, diverse Americans all over this country, who have been standing up, hitting the pavement, dialing the phone, showing up, speaking up and refusing to be quiet, since Day One of the Trumpocalypse.
We will not be silent. And, along with our great constitution and our free press, we, the people, will save our country. And we'll come out stronger and better.
#RESIST
Saturday, June 30, 2018
June 30, 2018: Time to Hit the Streets and Get Loud, Resisters!
Good morning. Since I can't attend the Families Belong Together event today, due to, of all things, being on an antibiotic (for last week's injury) on which I've been told in no uncertain terms by the pharmacist to stay out of the sun, I will be participating by posting up a major storm on social media. Be braced if you are on Facebook today, as I hope to have time to post at an intensity y'all haven't seen from me since Bernie was running for President.
Why I care so much about this is that 2,500 babies and children were ripped away from their parents at the border, shipped far away in many cases, and put in child internment camps. Just let that last phrase sink in: child internment camps. In the United States of America. The staff at the facilities are not allowed to hug the babies or children. Remember, years ago, what happened to the babies and children in Romanian orphanages during the Ceausescu regime? They were deeply psychologically/emotionally wounded and profoundly scarred for life. Do we want this happening to children on our watch, in our name, IN OUR COUNTRY?
I beg of you all, if you can, show up today. And if you can't go in person, talk about it on social media. Call your senators and congresspeople (202) 224-3121. Talk to your children, your parents, your spouse/partner, your friends. Do not be silent.
This is important because, with this policy of family separation and child internment camps, Trump has gone from wannabe fascist to fascist. And if we do not stop him, our country will be a fascist country. So do it for America, and do it for each and every voiceless little baby and child who, right now as I compose and type this post, is all alone, scared, and missing their parents
Why I care so much about this is that 2,500 babies and children were ripped away from their parents at the border, shipped far away in many cases, and put in child internment camps. Just let that last phrase sink in: child internment camps. In the United States of America. The staff at the facilities are not allowed to hug the babies or children. Remember, years ago, what happened to the babies and children in Romanian orphanages during the Ceausescu regime? They were deeply psychologically/emotionally wounded and profoundly scarred for life. Do we want this happening to children on our watch, in our name, IN OUR COUNTRY?
I beg of you all, if you can, show up today. And if you can't go in person, talk about it on social media. Call your senators and congresspeople (202) 224-3121. Talk to your children, your parents, your spouse/partner, your friends. Do not be silent.
This is important because, with this policy of family separation and child internment camps, Trump has gone from wannabe fascist to fascist. And if we do not stop him, our country will be a fascist country. So do it for America, and do it for each and every voiceless little baby and child who, right now as I compose and type this post, is all alone, scared, and missing their parents
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Trump has gone from Wannabe Fascist to Actual Fascist: Now we, the people, must choose sides.
This blog entry is sort of a sister piece to the one I just posted (entitled "Vicious"), though I actually wrote this one earlier tonight, and wrote "Vicious" later. Yeah, I'm on a tear. Here we go:
The Trump administration is tearing people apart in more ways than one. In America, family and loved ones are parting ways, depending what side of the line they are on. With the policy of separating babies and children from their parents at the border, sending the kids away, sometimes hundreds of miles, with no paper trail of who they belong to and no plan or way to ever return them, Trump has moved from wannabe fascist to actual fascist. He's a fascist. We have child internment camps, right now, in the United States of America. He's doing this in our country, in our names.
So here's where I very sadly find myself, as in, here's how I see it. It's very black and white. It's crystal clear at this point. There are no longer any simply "misguided" Trump supporters. If you support Trump, particularly if you defend him vocally and consistently, you are complicit.
I don't make comparisons with Nazi Germany lightly. In fact, I usually don't make them at all. But I today see many comparisons with where we find ourselves in what I call Trumpocalyptic America. No, we don't have gas chambers just yet. But we have camps. Camps full of BABIES and children. We have parents told their children are being taken "for a shower", and then they don't see them again. Does that sound familiar to any of my friends with a Jewish heritage, like mine, or anyone who knows anything about the Holocaust? This is not okay. Not on my watch as an American citizen. The way I see it, there are two choices, because the situation is this, my friends:
Just as in Nazi Germany, you can be complicit, or you can RESIST. At least we still have a lot of beautiful laws on our side here. We still have the constitution. And we have television and the internet, which German citizens did not. So we have even less of an excuse than German citizens did to turn a blind eye when the trains pass by at night, so to speak. Some Germans claimed "We didn't know." But we Americans, we KNOW. So here is the reality: just as in Nazi Germany, there are two sides: right and wrong. Good and evil. It could not be clearer. And, if you know what is going on in our country, in our names, by our President, you are either a resister or you are complicit.
We all, and each, have to choose. And Trump is tearing families (and friends) apart in this way, too. Because, as fa as I'm concerned, if you know, and you choose Trump? You also just chose the wrong side of history, in a huge way. In a "good German citizen" way. Google that phrase if you don't know what it means.
So you, me, and all of us, have two choices. You can resist fascism, or you can know what Trump is doing and turn a blind eye, or worse, actually defend him. If you do the latter, we're done. Because we all have to chose, and I know which side of history I'm on. Had I lived in Nazi Germany times (thank God I didn't), I would not have friends who were Nazi sympathizers. I'm alive now. And I know a fair amount about history--particularly the Holocaust. And I know what Trump is doing now, today, in our own country. And I know that, as the saying goes, those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it. I know that I can't in good conscience have friends who are Trump sympathizers and defenders. I can't have friends who are complicit, because that would make me complicit. And I will not be complicit. So if you defend Trump, we have to be done.
The Trump administration is tearing people apart in more ways than one. In America, family and loved ones are parting ways, depending what side of the line they are on. With the policy of separating babies and children from their parents at the border, sending the kids away, sometimes hundreds of miles, with no paper trail of who they belong to and no plan or way to ever return them, Trump has moved from wannabe fascist to actual fascist. He's a fascist. We have child internment camps, right now, in the United States of America. He's doing this in our country, in our names.
So here's where I very sadly find myself, as in, here's how I see it. It's very black and white. It's crystal clear at this point. There are no longer any simply "misguided" Trump supporters. If you support Trump, particularly if you defend him vocally and consistently, you are complicit.
I don't make comparisons with Nazi Germany lightly. In fact, I usually don't make them at all. But I today see many comparisons with where we find ourselves in what I call Trumpocalyptic America. No, we don't have gas chambers just yet. But we have camps. Camps full of BABIES and children. We have parents told their children are being taken "for a shower", and then they don't see them again. Does that sound familiar to any of my friends with a Jewish heritage, like mine, or anyone who knows anything about the Holocaust? This is not okay. Not on my watch as an American citizen. The way I see it, there are two choices, because the situation is this, my friends:
Just as in Nazi Germany, you can be complicit, or you can RESIST. At least we still have a lot of beautiful laws on our side here. We still have the constitution. And we have television and the internet, which German citizens did not. So we have even less of an excuse than German citizens did to turn a blind eye when the trains pass by at night, so to speak. Some Germans claimed "We didn't know." But we Americans, we KNOW. So here is the reality: just as in Nazi Germany, there are two sides: right and wrong. Good and evil. It could not be clearer. And, if you know what is going on in our country, in our names, by our President, you are either a resister or you are complicit.
We all, and each, have to choose. And Trump is tearing families (and friends) apart in this way, too. Because, as fa as I'm concerned, if you know, and you choose Trump? You also just chose the wrong side of history, in a huge way. In a "good German citizen" way. Google that phrase if you don't know what it means.
So you, me, and all of us, have two choices. You can resist fascism, or you can know what Trump is doing and turn a blind eye, or worse, actually defend him. If you do the latter, we're done. Because we all have to chose, and I know which side of history I'm on. Had I lived in Nazi Germany times (thank God I didn't), I would not have friends who were Nazi sympathizers. I'm alive now. And I know a fair amount about history--particularly the Holocaust. And I know what Trump is doing now, today, in our own country. And I know that, as the saying goes, those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it. I know that I can't in good conscience have friends who are Trump sympathizers and defenders. I can't have friends who are complicit, because that would make me complicit. And I will not be complicit. So if you defend Trump, we have to be done.
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