Weird, Creepy Bullies VS. Joy

Trump has always been weird - really weird. 

Trump has always been creepy - really creepy.

When Mike Pence became Trump’s running mate, Pence added a veneer of authenticity; a mask of seriousness; a gloss of legitimacy.

But Trump was still weird and creepy.

Think about it.

If Trump showed up at your house selling solar panels for your roof, you’d slam the door on him.

If Trump sat down next to you on a stool in your favorite bar, droning on about sharks and electric boats and saying Putin is a hero, you’d tell him to shut up.

If Trump wanted to date your daughter, Holy Moly, that would not be happening.

But like those inflatable clown punching bags, you’d shove him away and he’d bounce back up again. No, not as a sign of resiliency. It was that false mantle of power, coupled with the weight of his new Republican Party and Mike Pence.  They became his ballast - cowed and kept in place by his unrelenting bullying and name calling.

Then 2024 arrived and Trump chose J.D. Vance to be his running mate.

Many had become inured to Trump’s insults.  Now Vance was echoing Trump in his misogyny, authoritarianism and bigotry.  But Vance’s statements landed with additional inelegant, brutish force.

Mike Pence had camouflaged Trump’s true nature.  J.D. Vance amplified Trump’s true nature.

Enter Tim Walz.

High school teacher, football coach, lunchroom supervisor and Dad, Tim Walz sized up the situation. In Trump and Vance he recognized a pair of weird, creepy, bullies. And he called them out as such.

Suddenly, what people had felt was named. Permission was granted. 

Tim Walz had walked over to those two relentless, inflatable clowns and popped open the valves. Feeling the rush of hot air whistling out of those oversized ballon buffoons was a turning point.

Joe Biden handed the baton to Kamala Harris.  Harris chose Walz to be her running mate.

The actions of all three of them have ignited a wave of energy, enthusiasm, fierce determination and, yes, joy.

We’ve got a long 90 days ahead of us.  

Trump, Vance and the Project 2025 engineers are still hellbent on winning and then dismantling our Democracy.

But we are not going back.

We won’t let a couple of weird, creepy bullies and their puppeteers take power.

We will do this together.

Because when we all vote, we win!

Election Night 2016

We knew this would be a tough election and a rough night. And we knew that no matter the outcome, the work to move us forward would continue tomorrow; wounds would need to healed; new - perhaps fragile - bridges built.

If things continue to go pear shaped, we will all need to be even more committed in our support of the organizations and elected officials who share our values. We will not abandon our beliefs nor our deep and lasting love for our country.

Peace...

"Blue Marble" photograph via NASA
Transliterated languages via Columbia University

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Pope Francis & A Clerk From Kentucky

Kim Davis is the elected civil employee in Kentucky who disobeyed Federal law and refused to issue civil marriage licenses to same sex couples in her jurisdiction. Davis, the daughter of Roman Catholics who currently identifies herself as an Apostolic Christian, has said her religious beliefs preclude her from issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples. Professor Katherine Davis of Columbia University has stated: "Kim Davis has all sorts of religious liberty rights secured under the First Amendment and under other laws, but they are not at stake in this case. All she's asked to do with couples that come before her is certify that they've met the state requirements for marriage, so her religious opposition to same-sex marriage is absolutely irrelevant."

News reports say that Kim Davis, along with her fourth husband (who was also her second husband), had a private audience with Pope Francis. Kim Davis spoke with ABC News saying of the meeting: "Just knowing the pope is on track with what we're doing, and agreeing, you know, kind of validates everything." She had previously stated the Pope told her to “Stay strong”.

Vatican spokesman Father Frederico Lombardi said (in Italian) yesterday: "I cannot not deny the meeting took place but I have no comments to add.”

I normally link to all the sites where I found information and quotes. But a quick Google search will flood your screen with news reports and opinion pieces about this meeting. I will leave you to it.

I keep thinking of all the people Pope Francis could have chosen to have a private audience with:

The Richard Family whose son, Martin was killed in the Boston Marathon bombing; the same Roman Catholics - parents Denise and Richard; their surviving children Jane and Henry - who spoke out against the death penalty for the man who murdered their son.

Any of the survivors or family members of the victims of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church shooting in South Carolina. They were targeted in their church as they prayed.

These just a few of the people Pope Francis could have spent time with and said to them “Stay strong...”

New Drinking Game

If not Bernie Sanders

I would suggest Martin O’Malley

Or perhaps Hillary Clinton


Thanks to Alana Is Alive for the original post.

DT Fans and Followers

So what are we calling them?

Trumpsters?

Trumpets and Trumpettes?

Trumplodytes?

Hmm… That last one does have a certain ring to it...

Love Wins!

Headline:
Supreme Court Declares Same-Sex Marriage Legal In All 50 States
Just one of many articles, this one from NPR

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion. Here is the closing paragraph:

“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed.
It is so ordered.”


As I wrote six years ago:
“Perhaps the most transformative aspect of living in a state where same sex marriage was legalized May 17, 2004 is that the sky did not fall. None of the dire predictions and specious arguments made by the opponents came to pass - in particular the idea that allowing same sex couples to marry would undermine “traditional” marriage between a man and a woman. It didn’t happen. And that wonderful, ho hum normalcy has been one of the most powerful arguments in favor of marriage equality.”

I am proud of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and so grateful that the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of justice and equality and love.

As President Barack Obama said this morning:
“Today, we can say in no uncertain terms that we have made our union a little more perfect.”


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Liberté

Bigger Than Ferguson

Tonight's protests are not just about Mike Brown, Darren Wilson, the grand jury, Robert McCulloch and Ferguson, Missouri.
The roots of this distress are old; they run deep and wide.

I feel the echoes of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, the protests against the Vietnam War.

I also feel the rumblings of the more recent Citizens United and Voting Rights Act decisions in the Supreme Court.

As Michael Brown's parents wrote: "We respectfully ask that you please keep your protests peaceful. Answering violence with violence is not the appropriate reaction. Let's not just make noise, let's make a difference."

May these protests be peaceful.

May good come from these actions.

With the internet there is the opportunity to communicate and organize. The Ferguson National Response Network is just one example.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963

May he always be an inspiration; may he always spur us to action.

Election Day! What To Wear...

We can wear an evening gown or PJs with Bunny Slippers! Voting is what matters!

Live your values.
Love your country.
VOTE!

You Had ONE Job...

So, the Federal Government of The United States of America has been shutdown.

Thank you Republicans.

The members of the US House of Representatives get paid $174,000 a year. (Some have argued that they aren’t paid enough. The theory being that if they were paid even more, then they would be less vulnerable to big-money, deep-pocketed lobbyists and corporations.) So there they are, getting paid handsomely for their time, as members of an extremely elite group, who have the power to make things better for not only their constituents but for all the citizens of our country and, often, for the whole world.

Did the Republicans do that one job? No. They worked very hard and very steadily to shut down the government. They started working on that job ages ago. Sorry guys (and it really is mostly older, white guys) that wasn’t the job description. That wasn’t what the Founding Fathers you claim to revere had in mind and it sure as hell wasn’t what the voters had in mind when they went to the polls last November.

Now that you Republicans have had your hissy fit, your temper tantrum, your break with reality, your frat-boy kegger at our expense, do what Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern of Massachusetts said: Put on your big boy pants.

You have one job fellas. Do it.

Paul Sinks Ever Lower

Ron Paul lies - repeatedly - this time about Boston.
Lawrence O’Donnell calls him out.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Shameful

The four Democrats who voted against common sense background checks were Senators Max Baucus, Montana, Mark Begich, Alaska, Heidi Heitkamp, North Dakota and Mark Pryor, Arkansas.

Image courtesy of the National Council of Jewish Women

Wealth - It Ain’t About The Law of Attraction

Oh how I wish this excellent - and deeply disturbing - video had been available during the zenith of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. I have read the statistics but have never seen such clear and visceral graphs. Well, we have it now. Let us share the wealth - of knowledge that is.

I Still Wish...

I first wrote and posted this piece in 2007. My feelings have not changed. In fact I believe it bears repeating even more so this year after extensive and intense political wrangling and manipulation to get not just abortion, but most forms of contraception outlawed in this country. The re-election of President Obama is certainly important, but it has little bearing on the individual state legislatures.

It also must be clearly stated that abortion existed long before Roe v. Wade. Abortions have been performed for thousands of years. Abortion was legal in this country before we were even a country. Abortion did not begin to become illegal in this country until the mid-1800s. Ironically, abortion became illegal at the point that the medical profession began to understand and practice safer surgical procedures. Because of this criminalization, in the century leading up to Roe v. Wade in 1973, women regularly died of illegal “back alley” abortions. Now, such a death is rare.

Today is the 40th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court Decision known as Roe v. Wade.

In light of this anniversary I have a few wishes to state:

- I wish, that from this moment on, no woman would ever have to make the decision to have an abortion.
- I wish all contraceptives, including the morning after pill, would always be readily available to all women.
- I wish that all young people would be taught age appropriate sex and health education.
- I wish that all young people would be taught that abstinence is a legitimate choice, at the same time they get clear information about all forms of contraception.
- And I wish that abortion would always be safe and legal and available to all women.

We Do

This is beautiful, powerful and courageous - and it shouldn't be necessary...



For more information go to The Campaign For Southern Equality.

Then What Happened?

I had a Tweet ReTweeted on Twitter.

That happens from time to time. It’s always nice because it means someone felt what I wrote was worth sharing. But today was different. Today I was ReTweeted by President Barack Obama!

OK, I know. President Obama wasn’t sitting around the Oval Office before he had lunch with Mitt Romney just checking his Twitter feed. I know the President wasn’t searching to see how his #My2K hashtag was trending. I know it was his staff. But it was his staff, you know, President Barack Obama’s staff, that ReTweeted me! I took screenshots. Oh yes I did! Heck, they’re in contention to become our holiday cards!

#My2K is a hashtag created by the Obama administration that folks on Twitter can use to talk about the impact of the expiration of the middle class tax cuts. Here is how they posted it: “If Congress fails to act, the typical middle-class family will have about $2,000 less to spend or save next year.” Should you so desire, you can Tweet what that $2,000 means to you and what you do with the money, including #My2K in the Tweet.

So I Tweeted:
#My2k goes directly into the local economy: shopping at local grocery store and farm stands, meals in local restaurants, tips to waitstaff.

Since the President ReTweeted it, it has been ReTweeted 138 141 153 times.

Cool, right? Well, in addition to the solidarity of the ReTweets, I got responses. It wasn’t long before the rude people emerged from the Twitter shadows. One of them joined Twitter and out of their first seven Tweets, two were just expletives directed at me. Classy. Fortunately, I counted to ten and realized I needed to not engage with them. All their smut and snark has been going up in word bubbles above their heads; their misspelled and condescending Tweets going off into the ether.

If I ever had a question about whether or not I should run for public office, this experience answered that. I do not have a thick enough hide. It also caused me to have even more respect for the people who are willing to stand for office. Politics has always been rough and tumble. In these fast paced days of proliferating social media platforms, it is even tougher. Sure, there are plenty of chuckleheads who get elected, but I give them their due as well for being willing to suffer the slings and arrows; spam-bombs and swear words lobbed their way.

Call Your Zeyde!

Another great video!
This one is definitely inspired by Sarah Silverman’s “The Great Schlep” from 2008. But this one does not include expletives and it’s done to “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen. The singer is Michelle Citrin. If you need help with the words, you can go to the Call Your Zeyde website and click on the link for the lyrics.



Live your values.
Love your country.
VOTE!

Sex Sells

Now that I have your attention...

Today is National Voter Registration Day!

Are you registered to vote?

Yes?
Excellent!
Well done!

Will you be voting in the upcoming presidential election on Tuesday, November 6, 2012?
Yes?
Excellent!
I’m really proud of you!

Wait - you’re NOT registered yet?

Take a deep breath. There’s still time.

Here are the deadlines for a few states where friends and family live:

Here in Massachusetts you have until Wednesday, October 17, 2012!.

In Georgia you only have until Tuesday, October 9, 2012!.

In Rhode Island you have just until Sunday, October 7, 2012!.

In Maine you have until Tuesday, October 16, 2012!.

In Arizona you have until Tuesday, October 9, 2012!.

In Washington you only have until Saturday, October 6, 2012!.

In California you have until Monday, October 22, 2012!.

Do you live in another state and need information on how to register?
Here you go:

National Voter Registration Day
RockTheVote’s voter registration
The United States Election Assistance Commission
HeadCount
TurboVote

And last, but not least, Huffington Post has Registration And Voting Instructions For All 50 States

psssst... Do Something!
Register To VOTE!

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