Thank you Heather for your steadfast and perceptive reading of America's state of being, the early morning chronicler, deeply appreciated by this community and beyond.
The gray scene at the water's edge, brightened a bit by snow and birds, yet, still looking forlorn to me.
A timely poem:
Winter Trees
BY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS
All the complicated details
of the attiring and
the disattiring are completed!
A liquid moon
moves gently among
the long branches.
Thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter
the wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.
William Carlos Williams was born the first of two sons of an English father and a Puerto Rican mother of French, Dutch, Spanish, and Jewish ancestry, …an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pediatrics and general medicine. (Poetry Foundation and Wikipedia)
The series features some of the most notable African American educators, authors, and activists presenting the cultural and social contributions of enslaved Africans and their descendants.
There was one important piece of news today. It wasn’t exactly breaking news for anyone who has been paying attention, but it was news that’s part of an increasingly sad aspect to American life.
“Two years into the pandemic,” the NYTimes writes, “the coronavirus is killing Americans at far higher rates than people in other wealthy nations, a sobering distinction to bear as the country charts a course through the next stages of the pandemic.”
I honestly don’t care much about the politics of the moment, tending to be a confirmed middle-of the-roader (and, as such ignored by both sides of the political spectrum). But too many people I know have suffered as a result of this pandemic. You want to make America great again? Get vaccinated, get boosted, wear a mask in close public spaces, support your kids wearing masks at school. Trump has let loose the worst aspects of our country in the absolute worst ways, and this is the just one result of how our great country has suffered as a result.
Sadly, I can see him being re-elected again. If so, I expect the greatness of America to fall increasingly into disrepair as a result.
You work so very hard! I will NEVER begrudge any time you need to take for yourself. Besides, in my family, Ground Hog’s Day is an important, National Holiday, the origin tales I won’t burden you or your kind correspondents except to say it came about because a very ridged, uncompromising father was trying his best to limit the number of days his 17-year-old could go out on a date. I finally got a concession for National Holidays. To which I immediately said that includes Ground Hogs Day. That amused my father to giggles and so became Ground Hog Day, February 2, our newest National Holiday! I proudly celebrate this wisely chosen holiday so it is never forgotten to the wisps of time! We should all give this important holiday it’s proper due!
I can't rest...our democracy is under attack by very rich, very evil, very crazy, very greedy creepy people.
Wouldn’t today be a good day to begin maximum effort to save American democracy…here might be one of the many efforts we, as a determined group of sincere patriots, might consider doing today to insure our votes will be accounted for in every election in which we choose to participate:
(1). PROVEN TO BE THE VERY MOST EFFECTIVE METHODS:
I use exclusively my ACTBLUE to donate to any and every candidate, incumbent or legislative issue I choose to support.
Simply select the candidate or incumbent or issue of your choice and push three buttons on the ACTBLUE web site without referring to any of your financial reference numbers after completing your first donation (e. g. credit card numbers, address, etc. etc. etc.), then receive almost instantaneously their emailed receipt to you acknowledging your donation.
A record of every donation you will have ever donated is posted in a permanent ACTBLUE web page account that you can reference at any time you want too. So far 13,892,727 Democratic donors have saved their payment information with an ACTBLUE personal account.
DURING 2021:
4.5 million unique donors gave 35.3 million contributions to 17,876 incumbents or candidates or legislative issue campaigns and organizations, totaling $1.3 billion.
(2). THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the independent regulatory agency charged with administering and enforcing the federal campaign finance law. The FEC has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House, Senate, Presidency and the Vice Presidency.
A message I sent you in December hit a nerve with Fox News and the Republican Party. Last week, I found out that Fox News officials had read my message—and that it sent Fox News and the Republican Party scrambling, starting with writing a hit piece about it.
1 You see, MoveOn is doing something it's never done in its 23-year history. The powerhouse grassroots organization has launched a multimillion-dollar campaign to protect our elections by stopping Donald Trump from replacing the top election officials in battleground states with his own loyalists.
2 You may remember from my message in December that Trump is focusing on a previously obscure elected state official: the secretary of state, who in most states oversees vote counting and certifies—or decertifies—election results.
3 At his first rally of the year, Trump stated outright: "There's a famous statement: 'Sometimes the vote counter is more important than the candidate.'"
4 Trump has already endorsed candidates for secretary of state in multiple battleground states, and the candidates all spout the Big Lie of a stolen election.
5 As disturbing as it is, you need to know that candidates endorsed by Trump nearly always win the GOP nomination—98% of the time.
6 That's why MoveOn's campaign meets the moment and why our message last month hit a nerve over at Fox News. A GOP spokesperson responded to MoveOn's campaign by saying the GOP will "accelerate our fundraising efforts so we can stop them."
7 That's what is concerning, and it's why I'm writing to you again today. Because if we allow Republicans, their billionaire donors, and dark-money groups to steamroll our efforts with their fundraising, Trump's plot to use secretaries of state to install him to another term as president might just work.
Will you join me in rushing an emergency donation of $20 to MoveOn to power their campaign to defeat Trump-backed secretaries of state? On top of fueling this critical effort, your donation will show the GOP and Fox News that their tactics won't intimidate us.
Let me tell you a little bit about just two of the candidates that Trump is working overtime to elect to these positions.
In Arizona, Trump has endorsed an extremist named Mark Finchem, a GOP state lawmaker who attended the January 6 insurrection; continues to work to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Arizona; and is linked to the Oath Keepers, the white supremacist extremist group whose leaders were charged earlier this month with "seditious conspiracy" related to their involvement in the insurrection.
Finchem spoke at a Trump rally this month in Arizona, parroting Trump's lies about a stolen election and saying, "With all the evidence we have, the Arizona election should be decertified with cause...."
And in Georgia, where Trump famously asked then-Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find 11,780 votes" for him in 2020, Trump has endorsed Jody Hice, a member of Congress who attempted to stop the certification of Georgia's election in 2020, has supported the blatantly racist voter suppression laws being passed in the state, and claimed that Raffensperger "compromised" the 2020 election by refusing to bow to Trump's attempted coup.
Imagine how different the 2020 election could have ended if Jody Hice had been secretary of state in Georgia and agreed to "find" those votes for Trump, or if Mark Finchem refused to certify President Biden's victory in Arizona?
That is what is at stake in these midterm elections, and why—for the first time in its 23-year history—MoveOn is dedicating millions of dollars to help elect secretaries of state who will put our democracy first and stand up to wannabe tyrants like Trump.
Please, if you are able, will you chip in $20—or whatever you can—to take down Trump's plot to put his loyalists in charge of overseeing elections? Thanks for all you do. –Robert Reich Sources:
Donald Trump's preparations for being able to steal the presidency in 2024 are well underway and include working to replace top election officials in battleground states with his own loyalists.
Which is why MoveOn is doing something we've never done in our 23-year history: We're launching a powerful, multimillion-dollar effort to defeat Trump-backed secretaries of state across the country and elect individuals who will count every vote and ensure fair elections. Will you chip in to power our campaign to defeat Trump and protect our elections in 2022? https://front.moveon.org/
What i like is that Act Blue allows me to donate directly to candidates that espouse what i believe to be curtail issues. Too often, political hierarchies listen only to big donors — not what their constituents want.
While we are regrouping, let's keep the people of Ukraine in our hearts and minds. I've been following a threat on Twitter tonight and Russia is bring in a lot of very heavy equipment on the north and west borders of Ukraine (Belarus and Russian borders). And Putin is playing cat and mouse. Biden appears to be cool.
Thank you Heather for your steadfast and perceptive reading of America's state of being, the early morning chronicler, deeply appreciated by this community and beyond.
The gray scene at the water's edge, brightened a bit by snow and birds, yet, still looking forlorn to me.
A timely poem:
Winter Trees
BY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS
All the complicated details
of the attiring and
the disattiring are completed!
A liquid moon
moves gently among
the long branches.
Thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter
the wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.
William Carlos Williams was born the first of two sons of an English father and a Puerto Rican mother of French, Dutch, Spanish, and Jewish ancestry, …an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pediatrics and general medicine. (Poetry Foundation and Wikipedia)
The groundhog woke up early this morning.
Saw the shadow of the January 06 insurrection.
Dove back into its burrow. Paused.
Came back out, rose up on its hind legs, and shouted, “Nevermore!!!”
The nearby raven nodded.
And the people said, “Amen!”
Good! I need the rest too. Had a partial knee replacement today! Pain is weakness leaving the body. Best wishes to Heather’s Crew!
I'm hoping for an early spring...and an arrest of TFG. 🙂
Knowing when to rest, and when to let things rest, is a kind of wisdom that winter brings…
Here’s a great way to get Black History Month off to a roaring start:
https://newsone.com/4283427/masterclass-black-history-black-freedom-black-love-course-free-black-history-month/
The series features some of the most notable African American educators, authors, and activists presenting the cultural and social contributions of enslaved Africans and their descendants.
A “must see!”
There was one important piece of news today. It wasn’t exactly breaking news for anyone who has been paying attention, but it was news that’s part of an increasingly sad aspect to American life.
“Two years into the pandemic,” the NYTimes writes, “the coronavirus is killing Americans at far higher rates than people in other wealthy nations, a sobering distinction to bear as the country charts a course through the next stages of the pandemic.”
I honestly don’t care much about the politics of the moment, tending to be a confirmed middle-of the-roader (and, as such ignored by both sides of the political spectrum). But too many people I know have suffered as a result of this pandemic. You want to make America great again? Get vaccinated, get boosted, wear a mask in close public spaces, support your kids wearing masks at school. Trump has let loose the worst aspects of our country in the absolute worst ways, and this is the just one result of how our great country has suffered as a result.
Sadly, I can see him being re-elected again. If so, I expect the greatness of America to fall increasingly into disrepair as a result.
You work so very hard! I will NEVER begrudge any time you need to take for yourself. Besides, in my family, Ground Hog’s Day is an important, National Holiday, the origin tales I won’t burden you or your kind correspondents except to say it came about because a very ridged, uncompromising father was trying his best to limit the number of days his 17-year-old could go out on a date. I finally got a concession for National Holidays. To which I immediately said that includes Ground Hogs Day. That amused my father to giggles and so became Ground Hog Day, February 2, our newest National Holiday! I proudly celebrate this wisely chosen holiday so it is never forgotten to the wisps of time! We should all give this important holiday it’s proper due!
I can't rest...our democracy is under attack by very rich, very evil, very crazy, very greedy creepy people.
Wouldn’t today be a good day to begin maximum effort to save American democracy…here might be one of the many efforts we, as a determined group of sincere patriots, might consider doing today to insure our votes will be accounted for in every election in which we choose to participate:
(1). PROVEN TO BE THE VERY MOST EFFECTIVE METHODS:
ACTBLUE — Billions raised online since 2004
https://secure.actblue.com
https://support.actblue.com
I use exclusively my ACTBLUE to donate to any and every candidate, incumbent or legislative issue I choose to support.
Simply select the candidate or incumbent or issue of your choice and push three buttons on the ACTBLUE web site without referring to any of your financial reference numbers after completing your first donation (e. g. credit card numbers, address, etc. etc. etc.), then receive almost instantaneously their emailed receipt to you acknowledging your donation.
A record of every donation you will have ever donated is posted in a permanent ACTBLUE web page account that you can reference at any time you want too. So far 13,892,727 Democratic donors have saved their payment information with an ACTBLUE personal account.
DURING 2021:
4.5 million unique donors gave 35.3 million contributions to 17,876 incumbents or candidates or legislative issue campaigns and organizations, totaling $1.3 billion.
(2). THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the independent regulatory agency charged with administering and enforcing the federal campaign finance law. The FEC has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House, Senate, Presidency and the Vice Presidency.
AND:
(3). https://ballotpedia.org/Survey
HERE IS A SECURE PROVEN PRACTICAL METHOD TO RID AMERICA OF ALL OF THE CORRUPT R's IN CONGRESS
SEE LINK: https://front.moveon.org/
Dear MoveOn member,
A message I sent you in December hit a nerve with Fox News and the Republican Party. Last week, I found out that Fox News officials had read my message—and that it sent Fox News and the Republican Party scrambling, starting with writing a hit piece about it.
1 You see, MoveOn is doing something it's never done in its 23-year history. The powerhouse grassroots organization has launched a multimillion-dollar campaign to protect our elections by stopping Donald Trump from replacing the top election officials in battleground states with his own loyalists.
2 You may remember from my message in December that Trump is focusing on a previously obscure elected state official: the secretary of state, who in most states oversees vote counting and certifies—or decertifies—election results.
3 At his first rally of the year, Trump stated outright: "There's a famous statement: 'Sometimes the vote counter is more important than the candidate.'"
4 Trump has already endorsed candidates for secretary of state in multiple battleground states, and the candidates all spout the Big Lie of a stolen election.
5 As disturbing as it is, you need to know that candidates endorsed by Trump nearly always win the GOP nomination—98% of the time.
6 That's why MoveOn's campaign meets the moment and why our message last month hit a nerve over at Fox News. A GOP spokesperson responded to MoveOn's campaign by saying the GOP will "accelerate our fundraising efforts so we can stop them."
7 That's what is concerning, and it's why I'm writing to you again today. Because if we allow Republicans, their billionaire donors, and dark-money groups to steamroll our efforts with their fundraising, Trump's plot to use secretaries of state to install him to another term as president might just work.
Will you join me in rushing an emergency donation of $20 to MoveOn to power their campaign to defeat Trump-backed secretaries of state? On top of fueling this critical effort, your donation will show the GOP and Fox News that their tactics won't intimidate us.
Let me tell you a little bit about just two of the candidates that Trump is working overtime to elect to these positions.
In Arizona, Trump has endorsed an extremist named Mark Finchem, a GOP state lawmaker who attended the January 6 insurrection; continues to work to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Arizona; and is linked to the Oath Keepers, the white supremacist extremist group whose leaders were charged earlier this month with "seditious conspiracy" related to their involvement in the insurrection.
Finchem spoke at a Trump rally this month in Arizona, parroting Trump's lies about a stolen election and saying, "With all the evidence we have, the Arizona election should be decertified with cause...."
And in Georgia, where Trump famously asked then-Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find 11,780 votes" for him in 2020, Trump has endorsed Jody Hice, a member of Congress who attempted to stop the certification of Georgia's election in 2020, has supported the blatantly racist voter suppression laws being passed in the state, and claimed that Raffensperger "compromised" the 2020 election by refusing to bow to Trump's attempted coup.
Imagine how different the 2020 election could have ended if Jody Hice had been secretary of state in Georgia and agreed to "find" those votes for Trump, or if Mark Finchem refused to certify President Biden's victory in Arizona?
That is what is at stake in these midterm elections, and why—for the first time in its 23-year history—MoveOn is dedicating millions of dollars to help elect secretaries of state who will put our democracy first and stand up to wannabe tyrants like Trump.
Please, if you are able, will you chip in $20—or whatever you can—to take down Trump's plot to put his loyalists in charge of overseeing elections? Thanks for all you do. –Robert Reich Sources:
"Trump helps thrust once-ignored secretary of state campaigns into big donor spotlight," Fox News, January 10, 2022 https://act.moveon.org/go/160149?t=4&akid=315558%2E34742813%2EgUT24r
2. "How Trump-backed secretary of state candidates would change elections in the United States," The Washington Post, December 1, 2021 https://act.moveon.org/go/159806?t=6&akid=315558%2E34742813%2EgUT24r
3. "After attacks on the 2020 election, secretary of state races take on new urgency," NPR, November 4, 2021 https://act.moveon.org/go/160153?t=8&akid=315558%2E34742813%2EgUT24r
4. "An Arizona Trump rally and voting rights march underscore the fight for democracy," CNN, January 17, 2022 https://act.moveon.org/go/160078?t=10&akid=315558%2E34742813%2EgUT24r
5. "How Republicans became the party of Trump’s election lie after Jan. 6," The Washington Post, January 5, 2022 https://act.moveon.org/go/160080?t=12&akid=315558%2E34742813%2EgUT24r
6. "Almost Everyone Trump Endorses Wins Their Primary … But Is He Padding His Record?" FiveThirtyEight, August 26, 2020 https://act.moveon.org/go/159840?t=14&akid=315558%2E34742813%2EgUT24r
7. "Trump helps thrust once-ignored secretary of state campaigns into big donor spotlight," Fox News, January 10, 2022 https://act.moveon.org/go/160149?t=16&akid=315558%2E34742813%2EgUT24r
8. "An Arizona Trump rally and voting rights march underscore the fight for democracy," CNN, January 17, 2022 https://act.moveon.org/go/160078?t=18&akid=315558%2E34742813%2EgUT24r
9. Trump gives endorsement in Arizona secretary of state race," Associated Press, September 13, 2021 https://act.moveon.org/go/160079?t=20&akid=315558%2E34742813%2EgUT24r
10. "An Arizona Trump rally and voting rights march underscore the fight for democracy," CNN, January 17, 2022 https://act.moveon.org/go/160078?t=22&akid=315558%2E34742813%2EgUT24r
11. "Jody Hice tried to overturn the 2020 election. Now he wants to be in charge of Georgia’s elections." Vox, March 22, 2021 https://act.moveon.org/go/160152?t=24&akid=315558%2E34742813%2EgUT24r
12. "After attacks on the 2020 election, secretary of state races take on new urgency," NPR, November 4, 2021 https://act.moveon.org/go/160153?t=26&akid=315558%2E34742813%2EgUT24r
Do you want to support MoveOn's work?
Donald Trump's preparations for being able to steal the presidency in 2024 are well underway and include working to replace top election officials in battleground states with his own loyalists.
Which is why MoveOn is doing something we've never done in our 23-year history: We're launching a powerful, multimillion-dollar effort to defeat Trump-backed secretaries of state across the country and elect individuals who will count every vote and ensure fair elections. Will you chip in to power our campaign to defeat Trump and protect our elections in 2022? https://front.moveon.org/
And regroup and regroup and regroup…Pleasant dreams
Read This. Now. Then do one thing to save democracy. Thank You.
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/portrait-of-an-american-strongman?r=7ygy0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
While Heather takes a break, we can chomp on the pithy newsletters of Robert Hubbell:
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/trumps-efforts-to-seize-voting-machines?r=6pp8t&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
and Jessica Craven:
https://chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com/p/chop-wood-carry-water-21
2/2/22
Gung hei fat Choi! No sweeping.
What i like is that Act Blue allows me to donate directly to candidates that espouse what i believe to be curtail issues. Too often, political hierarchies listen only to big donors — not what their constituents want.
While we are regrouping, let's keep the people of Ukraine in our hearts and minds. I've been following a threat on Twitter tonight and Russia is bring in a lot of very heavy equipment on the north and west borders of Ukraine (Belarus and Russian borders). And Putin is playing cat and mouse. Biden appears to be cool.