politics

Election Connection – This Week

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Let’s start with the obvious:

Is Mitch McConnell dead? Alive? Somewhere in the middle? I spoke to him for 20 minutes and he said to me, and I quote, “As a doornail.”

Should Thomas Massie be appointed as interim Senator? SPOILERS: NO FUCKING WAY

Being against pedophiles doesn’t make anyone a progressive. Thomas Massie is a ridiculously conservative Republican who likes raw milk and taking governmental services away from the people who need it, and let’s not get into his views on the second amendment.

Not to mention that Kentucky changed the law to prohibit the Democratic governor from appointing anyone. He should call a special election and force TPTB to prove that McConnell is living and recovering. Am I the only one who feels as though Tom Kean of New Jersey was a trial balloon for something like this?

Graham Platner – Misunderstood or Nazi Rapist? Our panel of experts from a diner in Iowa weighs in on Maine’s disaster of a progressive

Vote blue no matter who is null and void when the candidate is a rapist with a Nazi tattoo, neither of which he apologizes for, not that an apology wipes away the heinous actions. We are Democrats. We don’t vote for rapists or Nazis. Ever. If that means Susan Collins gets another term, so be it. Fuck Nazis is the minimum.

The DSA is not a friend of the Democratic party. They don’t even claim to be Democrats. Stop giving them our money.

Did an Olympian athlete vandalize the reflecting pool at the Washington Mall or is Trump the fool that drove his motorcade over the national monument and then hired substandard contractors to fix something that wasn’t broken before the POTUS broke it himself? CNN investigates. Ha! No, they’re not.

If they can’t blame it on Joe Biden, they don’t report it.

Is Jew-hate the new summer trend or have we seen this before?

And how do we protect ourselves and our kids?

Also see previous DSA comments.

A group of friends spends the day on an island. The one Black man doesn’t come home. Am I the only white person seeing this? It sure feels like it.

Tragic and heartbreaking doesn’t begin to cover it.

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Mark Elias and Democracy Docket – he and his team is the only one keeping our voting rights afloat – the Supreme Court certainly isn’t.

Heather Cox Richardson

Brian Tyler Cohen

Election Connection – Senators, Stand Your Ground, Stand Our Ground

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Note: This didn’t even get a chance to age poorly.
I hate this timeline.

We are one week beyond the historic Election Day. We reached Presidential year numbers in voters and we made our position clear:

Do NOT give in. Do NOT cave.

Anything the Republicans say – we know from experience is a lie.

They’ve made these promises and commitments before. They will say anything. And then they will laugh at us, and take the credit for ending the shutdown. They know we are the better people and that we trust our better angels. They have NO better angels. I don’t care if John Thune used to be a decent person. (I actually question that.) He is part of the Trump Administration – rubber-stamping ALL of Trump’s crazy and illegal executive orders, not standing in the way of Trump’s murder of foreign nationals in the Caribbean, not putting a stop to the illegal and extrajudicial ICE tactics as they tear gas children on Halloween in Illinois, and commit perjury in court.

They will say and do anything and then when we let them kick the can down the road, they block the road and “forget” their “promise to address the needs of the people.” Their people are the rich, the wealthy, and the connected.

They will never return to the table if we let them walk away from this.

And why should they?

They’re Lucy and Charlie Brown with the football, and they know it.

And just yesterday, Trump pardoned Rudy Giuliani and many of the other election deniers. What happens to the compensation they were supposed to pay? What happens to the jail time? What happens in the next election?

We are on the brink of the failure of democracy.

Senators would do well to stand their ground. No ACA extension through all of 2026; NO VOTES to end the shutdown.

Stand firm.

We, the people are with you.

Are you with us?

November Inspired

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(c)2025
(c)2025

These leaves, the first before I voted, and the second, after stuck with me throughout the day. I ignored pundits. I ignored mainstream media. I ignored social media. And in the end, for the most part the inspiration held.

Blue.

Blue.

Blue.

From Pennsylvania to Mississippi to Georgia, even to Florida.

In 364 days, change is coming, and there is nothing the corrupt, the sychophant, the traitorous, the racist can do about it.

We will take back our democracy.

Tomorrow, I’ll share with you some of those people doing the work for democracy, for our future, and for our children.

See you tomorrow.

Inspire…October

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Third time’s the charm, right?

I’ve been writing this for about a week now, and social media made me scream.

Then screech.

Then scream again.

I tried to write about the inspiration that was my writing retreat at the end of last month.

I tried to write about our road trip to Ticonderoga to bring our friends to visit the Star Trek Original Series Set Tour.

I tried to write about the hostages being released this weekend (truly, thank G-d; I’m full of gratitude).

I tried to write about my surgical recovery (which is going well).

And all I got out was rants.

Rants about fascism.

Rants about antisemitism.

Rants about mental blocks.

Rants about why do we need to eat dinner EVERY NIGHT?!

Rants. And more rants.

I decided my October inspiration would be some of the photos I have on my phone. I hope they bring you some joy and some inspiration.

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Election Connection – Opinion

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Should military honors be given to traitors?

What about settlement money? What if we call it reparations?

Ashlii Babbitt was a traitor. Full stop. No question. She was killed after she didn’t comply with officers’ instructions to stand down while breaking into the Capitol building. She was attempting to overthrow the government, and she (and her fellow traitors) nearly succeeded.

In the video of her death, she pauses at the broken window, then proceeds to go through. She briefly hesitated, and then followed through on her attempts at overthrow. She knew exactly what she was doing, and after the warnings, she knew the risks.

Was she an Air Force veteran? In her past, yes. But at the time of her death, she was an insurrectionist. She was trying to stop the legitimate certification of our elections. She was impeding the work of the government. Had she lived, she’d be in jail after her arrest and due process.

She absolutely does NOT deserve reburial with full military honors any more than Nathan Bedford Forrest, Robert E. Lee, or Benedict Arnold deserves it. Let her family bury her with respect; that’s their job.

A $5 million handout to her family for her death is outrageous! Where is the compensation for the families of the Capitol police who died that day?!

I could go on with a rant, but there isn’t anything else to say – traitors do not deserve compensation. It goes against everything this country used to stand for, and should stand for.

Election Connection – Trump Fiddles While Democracy Burns

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Up to about four minutes is excellent commentary on what is going on in the US. The rest is also worth watching, although its focus is more on where France should be heading.

There are English subtitles.

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

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(with apologies to Al Franken.)

Does anyone remember Joe Wilson? He called President Obama a liar in the middle of a speech he was giving to a Joint Session of Congress. He wasn’t escorted out. The Sergeant at Arms didn’t go to his seat and remove him.

Vice President Biden didn’t gesture with his thumb, cartoonishly directing, “Get him out of here.”

That’s because Democrats value free speech, even if it’s rude. Even if it’s wrong. Even if Joe Wilson, was himself lying about what President Obama was saying.

Democrats, we, believe in free speech. No matter who is speaking.

However, we also believe in truth telling. In calling out lies. In calling out hypocrisy. Real hypocrisy. Real lies. Not the fake news crowd’s misinterpretations, misleading, and misinformation.

I can almost guarantee that anyone reading this will NOT be receiving a tax cut. In fact, your services will be cut even if you do not receive social services. I mean, they fired the folks who watch over and take care of our nuclear arsenal, why wouldn’t they take away the things that we need. They fired the air traffic controllers and then wonder why planes are falling out of the sky.

They’re canceling contracts (great business decision, amirite?) left and right, which in turn has people who will lose their jobs and benefits. It’s called the domino effect.

This morning, the fake agency DOGE cancelled the contract for the land that President Obama’s Presidential Library is going to be built.

And in case you missed it, the classified documents that Trump stole in his last term and stored on stage and in a bathroom at his Florida resort were just stolen back by him and flown on Air Force One because they’re “his.” Kind of like when my son cried out that the Batman his sister took was his. Except they’re not his. They belong to the American people. They belong to us. They’re classified for a reason.

From Alt National Parks Services on Facebook:

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