503 Comments

"We need to step into the calm eye of the storm, and steer by the stars, to imagine in rich detail, the biggest, most delicious, satisfying, inclusive future that we can, a great flowering of human potential and wellbeing, project our hearts and minds into that future, and then spend our lives walking toward it, and each time the weather buffets us, wait for a glimpse of sky, find that bright point of light, and adjust our course.

"Don’t waver. Don’t let despair sink its sharp teeth Into the throat with which you sing. Escalate your dreams. Make them burn so fiercely that you can follow them down any dark alleyway of history and not lose your way. Make them burn clear as a starry drinking gourd Over the grim fog of exhaustion, and keep walking."

Aurrora Levins Morales (via Dahlia Lithwick)

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I am in charge of a polling place on Tuesday, one I’ve never been to, across town. That means up at 5 a.m. and after polls close at 8, tally, record, break down equipment, drive it to Election Commission, return my coworker (must be one of each party) back across town, then drive home. All this to say I’ll miss the minute-by-minute play calling, thank God, and even the early coverage. I’ll hope my minuscule efforts in the grand scheme of Election Day, along with those of all other ppl of good will, sway the universe.

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I too am a poll worker. I've never been nervous about working elections, but this time, I am a little. One thing our group does is when a first time voter comes in, we clap and cheer and let them know that what they are doing is something wonderful! That generally gets everyone to smile! Here's to a happy ending on Tuesday!

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Thank You for Your Service LCT!!

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Thank you so much for your service to your community and our country. God be your shield and grant you peace of mind.

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You are like a firefighter, police officer, or member of the armed forces. And I thank you for your service to our democratic republic.

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Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! It is an effort, and service you are stepping up to that is appreciated. My deep wish is that it goes smoothly and without incident for you.

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Thank you. You and other poll workers will be in my thoughts as I hang out outside polls.

Peace.

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I had not idea! Should we be running cookies and coffee to you folks???

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I’m sure they would be grateful for that gesture. Sometimes ppl just say “thank you for what you are doing” and even that goes a long way. But treats! In the afternoon slump! 💙

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MLMinet, MAJOR blessings and prayers going out for you and all poll workers. You are our patriotic neighbors, risking it all. Not evil conspirators....Thank You!

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❤️💙

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Thank you for doing that!

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That’s not a minuscule effort! Thank you.

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Thank you for your community service. Poll workers are so important to our democracy.

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Thank You For Your Service ML!!

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Wow, TC. That is truly perfect for my state of mind adjustment this morning. Am printing this out as a daily reminder in how to navigate each day, each moment. Much gratitude to wake up and read this before starting my day, my week.

It is also something I will pass to a few friends who are facing dealing with cancer surgeries. "Steering by the stars" is the inward journey of not losing our way, no matter what happens.

May we all "escalate our dreams and find that bright point of light." Millions of "points of light," if shown together as One, can pierce through the dark ones' alleys and constant chaos. Shine your lights very brightly! We are forging ahead on a new path, a new wave, undergirded by all who shone their lights ahead of us. We just might be participating in one of America's greatest moments of finding her internal powers. I counted on that when I kissed and released my Ballot of Fierce Love off at the Town Hall last week. Cowabunga! Surf's up!

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Morning, Pensa. You have got to watch this one. Politics Girl, Leigh McGowan, is posting almost every day.

This one I call Gremlins and the Arizona election. I’ve kept my eye on who I believe is Trump’s choice for heir apparent. At very least….a call girl for VP.

https://youtu.be/f_kR3EwZtY0

Unita ! 🗽

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As always, Thank You Christine for posting Politics Girl. I’m especially impressed by Leigh’s succinct take on the political character of Kari Lake. She is a replicant of maga body fluid: slick, sassy, reality-tv-ready, big-time-wrestling preening. While Hobbs is a dedicated public servant with a resume of unsexy, hard-work, public-good accomplishments. The citizens of AZ are being offered a choice: The Show, or The Worker?

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Oh, that was great, Christine! Thanks. Some mornings it is hard to listen to Leigh because she speaks so fast and I cannot keep up with her. Had my coffee at 3:30 and I was right with her this morning!! Thanks so much for drawing my attention to her. Unita!

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Thanks for this Politics Girl episode speech on Kari Lake - a vital message that nails it on the head. I wish I could donate to a fund that would put that video on air in Arizona for every sports event in the next few days... because without its reasoning, actually, for the very reason it warns us about, Kari will win on her looks and acting skills...

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Christine, I watched it last night when it popped into my FB feed and it was a good one! Leigh has been on fire lately.

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I love Politics Girl.

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Hoo boy that was good! Does Politics Girl live in AZ?

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Thanks Christine for this link. She is fantastic. Too bad not enough people hear what she has to say.

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She's always ALWAYS a shot in the arm.

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Christine, that PG was sizzlin'. I hope that Arizona does not go for Lake.

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She's brilliant.

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Nails it, once again.

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Right On!!! Thanks Christine! Shared.

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TC, Until I reached your comment this morning there was darkness, darkness, darkness. The sky above me was filled with thick bands of dark clouds. Today's Letter opened with House Republicans 1050-page “report” promising us endless investigations and ended with Musk's 'mass layoffs ' cutting teams '.., dedicated to fighting election disinformation and communicating with campaign staff..'. MORE DARKNESS! Then there was you, emitting a shaft of LIGHT with a quote by Aurrora Levins Morales. Thank you, TC. I am following your lead:

'Only people who understand and practice interdependence are capable of making good ecological decisions, therefore, anything that threatens human interdependence is also an ecological threat...We have the creativity and intelligence to solve the problems we face, but the vast majority of human ingenuity is tied up in fighting to survive oppression. That creativity is the single most essential natural resource on earth. The work of social justice is to free it.'

'MY NAME IS AURORA LEVINS MORALES'

'I'm a writer, an artist, a historian, a teacher and mentor. I'm a also an activist, a healer, a revolutionary. I tell stories with medicinal powers. Herbalists who collect wild plants to make medicine call it wildcrafting. I wildcraft the details of the world, of history, of people's lives, and concentrate them through art in order to shift consciousness, to change how we think about ourselves, each other and the world. The stories we tell about our lives shape what we're able to imagine, and what we can imagine determines what we can do. My job is to change the stories we tell and help us imagine a world where greed has no power, the earth is cherished and all people get to live safe and satisfying lives. Because once we truly imagine it, the pull to create it becomes irresistible. '

http://www.auroralevinsmorales.com/

http://www.auroralevinsmorales.com/about-me.html

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TY, Fern. One of the things I love about LFAA is the resourceful community, members who bring along fascinating and creative people, ideas and actions. You and TC "teamed up" today!!!

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Carol, have you sold your house and about to take a longed for trip? I got the drift of the sliver you noted on TC's, TAFM newsletter. Please elaborate. Your headline called for more.

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LOL....don't I wish, though we are working toward a plan to split our time between FL ( my roots), Boston ( John's roots) and Ireland (my doctorate home for 10 years)!! No, I was just saying that I have been so discouraged about the prospect of tfg running again that I was mentally preparing for our becoming political refugees and had discussed it with my hubby. I simply cannot do another four years of tfg and even wonder whether I can stomach his campaigning. It is visceral with me! (But don`t want to leave the grandboys either!) TC's uncharacteristically upbeat post jolted me out of it. Hope he is right!!

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i do believe we all share your position, Carol . TC said what we all needed to read. just listened to Bernie address students in Ann Arbor... we can do this!!

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Thanks, Suz-an. This LFAA is a lifeboat group!!!

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Nov 5, 2022·edited Nov 5, 2022

We recognized that TC was moved to the degree that he shared a section of AURORA LEVINS MORALES' poem without any further comment. I was also grateful because he prompted me to know more about her.

So many of us share your feelings. All the more reason to do what enriches us and find the wisdom here and beyond our borders. Salud, Carol.

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WOW! Thanks Fern.

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MaryPat, You're shining with the sun that finally came out. I am grateful to TC this morning. He and aurora levins morales brought the light.

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P.S. My daughter-in-law is from Puerto Rico, and speaks so lovingly of her grandparent's farm there. She is also a poet. She works for a farm foundation here in the states. I will share this with her, and I expect she will have more insights for me. Thank You.

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MaryPat, please share her poetry if she agrees -- maybe for a post when Heather has a short greeting and a photograph. 🌱 Planting 'interdependence'!

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TCinLA, we need to be aware of the similarity of our current white “Christian” nationalism to this: “German Christians (German: Deutsche Christen) were a pressure group and a movement within the German Evangelical Church that existed between 1932 and 1945, aligned towards the antisemitic, racist and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles. Their advocacy of these principles led to a schism within 23 of the initially 28 regional church bodies (Landeskirchen) in Germany and the attendant foundation of the opposing Confessing Church in 1934.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Christians_(movement)

This was the response: “The Barmen Declaration or the Theological Declaration of Barmen 1934 (German: Die Barmer Theologische Erklärung) was a document adopted by Christians in Nazi Germany who opposed the German Christian movement. In the view of the delegates to the Synod that met in the city of Wuppertal-Barmen in May 1934, the German Christians had corrupted church government by making it subservient to the state and had introduced Nazi ideology into the German Protestant churches that contradicted the Christian gospel.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barmen_Declaration

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Please check out the life and death of a true Christian:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The Cost of Disipleship by

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Yes, I just order a biography of Bonhoeffer, by Metaxas. My husband was in a church group eight years ago that studied the Barmen Declaration, but he is a solid supporter of tfg. I’m hoping that having the Bonhoeffer book around will start a discussion, tho he is very defensive (I read him the last two paragraphs of this newsletter and he got upset that I was attacking Musk, and he doesn’t even use Twitter. I do.). I was a good GOP wife until I went to work at a high-poverty (95% FRL) K-5 school as their librarian. I could see that all the claims of the GOP had done nothing for my 500 kids and their hard working parents. And when dt came down that brass escalator, I was done with the GOPigs.

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Sounds like you had the best kind of epiphany—a powerful, right-in-front-of-you one.

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for sure!!!!!!!!!!

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except please don't insult pigs... thanks!

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You’re right - mea culpa…

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Even when HCR's piece for the day contains daunting news, it still comforts me to read her; I am really grateful for her intellect, research, knowledge, and writing. And, today, TCinLA, I am grateful for the quote you have shared.

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Or, as Abraham Lincoln said in his First Inaugural Address during another ominous period in our history, 'The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.'

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For complete poem, go to: http://www.auroralevinsmorales.com/blog/vahavta

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"Another world is possible.

imagine winning. This is your sacred task.

This is your power. Imagine

every detail of winning, the exact smell of the summer streets

in which no one has been shot, the muscles you have never

unclenched from worry, gone soft as newborn skin,

the sparkling taste of food when we know

that no one on earth is hungry, that the beggars are fed,

that the old man under the bridge and the woman

wrapping herself in thin sheets in the back seat of a car,

and the children who suck on stones,

nest under a flock of roofs that keep multiplying their shelter.

Lean with all your being towards that day

when the poor of the world shake down a rain of good fortune

out of the heavy clouds, and justice rolls down like waters.

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Love and the Light have no opposite.

Unita! Hold hands! 🗽

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Sort of speechless, what a vision…

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Pretty powerful, hunh!

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I’ve read through the comments and there are many good ones. But I’m going with TC’s visualization. Don’t waiver. GOOD will prevail. I’ve done what I can do. Now it’s time to believe. Michael Moore insists it will be a blue tsunami. He predicted tfg would win in 2016 when no one else could imagine how that could happen. “We need to step into the calm eye of the storm, and steer by the stars...” Thank you, TC.

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and Michael Moore

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I find this conversation nourishing. Thank you all.

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Nourishing. Exactly the right word.

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Yes! Nourishing--such a good word!

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I needed this. I woke up dreaming of the possibility of all those bills created by the House, which have been languishing in the Senate, finally being approved and sent to President Biden. Just think: the voting rights bill, the protection of women's reproductive rights...all sorts of "good stuff" for AMERICANS.

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Wow TC 🤩 such positivity from you this morning! I immediately feel more hopeful and energized. Thank you for sharing! 🙏🙏

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It is after all the truth that will set us free from the cancer that eats at our democracy and humanity. Currently Diogenes with his lamp is still looking for an honest man among the politicians, dare I say it, on the Extreme right.

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"...burn clear as a starry drinking gourd..."

Amazing quote. Thank you.

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Amazing, beautiful quote. Inspiring and hope building! Who is Aurora Levins Morales?

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Ned L - "Who is Aurora Levins Morales?"

http://www.auroralevinsmorales.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_Levins_Morales

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"Rematriation" That is a hell of a concept!

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Entranced by that word and the meaning behind it. It's perfect. I have been pondering my own version of it, and how I might be able to make it happen. Now, at least, I have the perfect name for it, though my version will, of necessity be different from Auroras. She will be my guide as I feel my way toward this.

In one month I will be 80 years old. I am rather surprised by that, and baffled about how it comes about without one really noticing. But here I am. At the beginning of another adventure, about which I have no idea yet. But it will come.

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"This will break the dam," said the brilliant Laurence Tribe of Kash Patel's testimony to the federal grand jury investigating Trump's theft of top secret documents.

Makes me picture Trump caught in a roiling, powerful rush of filthy water, struggling to stay afloat. This torrent empties into prison.

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Nov 5, 2022·edited Nov 5, 2022

I like that visual Of course the filthy water is from the swamp.

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When have we heard this before? Access Hollywood, Mueller Report, 2 Impeachments. Not holding my breath.

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sadly agree tho i am very hopeful that i'm wrong...!!!

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How often have I heard that… waiting

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We'll see. Patel said he is a hostile witness.

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Patel has agreed to a limited form of immunity because he knows the DOJ will charge him for his role in the document theft unless he cooperates. Will he sing like a canary? No. But he has to answer questions — and truthfully, or he's going to prison. Is this arrangement a slam dunk? No. But now there's a witness to Trump's crimes who in a real bind.

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I will go to my grave without ever understanding how so many people can be enthralled with an utterly failed human being like IQ45.

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Income inequality and the constriction of the Middle Class has led many otherwise reasonable people to decide democracy does not work so burn it all down. A large segment of the population did their part but society failed them. Rick Scott and GOP privatize Social Security and then Wall St. blows up the only source of income for 65% retirees, telling youngsters working their butts off that $8hr is their wage with little prospects for improvement in the future (Switzerland is $23.89), that is incendiary. That is when societies see revolutions.

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Exhibit A: Have you ever met a happy MAGA? Not me. They are all froffing at the mouth angry about the cause de jure.

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My bro, who is not a stupid man, but is dead behind his eyes…

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in Chinese medicine, that 'light' is called Shen... and you look for it to be bright and healthy. when it's not... when it's dead or otherwise unhealthy... believe what you're seeing

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What do the Chinese call the twinkle in the eyes? I love, love women with a twinkle in their eyes. It is so irresistible.

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depends! sometimes it's a good sign and sometimes not. .. it's still all 'Shen' which comes from the heart (in Chinese medicine). can spend a lifetime learning to read it!

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Dead behind their flashing eyes. Hate zombies.

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Perfect analogy. Hate Zombies!!

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MAGAts are losers - sore losers! They blame their miserable existence on everybody else but themselves. They think the world revolves around them and only they are deserving. Adults that are sore losers are people who never grew up. The biggest loser of them all is Trump.

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With those sad little red ball caps - - - MAGgots

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That tfg no doubt manufactures in a Chinese sweat shop and sells here for inflated prices. Can't make this stuff up. I feel sad for people that can be led by the nose by the crooks.

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I just use MAGAts. Pronounced the same way.

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Exhibit B: Financial Services was 3% of GDP in the 1960s, it is now 9%. We as a society are sending an extra 6% of GDP, 6% of $24T, to Wall St. to do what? What is better now than in 1960s. As Paul Volker said 'the ATM and drive thru lane were the peak of useful Wall St. innovation'. LOL, but it is sad.

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Their fuel is hate.

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Nope. They run on the stoked fear and hatred, responding with the mid-brain's "fight" mode, of "Flight, Fight, or Freeze"

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I agree with this comment. People are angry because they feel powerless. They followed the rules and keep losing more. I watched a TedTalk from a few years ago that explained it well by a rich capitalist I’ve never heard of whose seen what’s he’s helped create. Powerful message. https://youtu.be/th3KE_H27bs

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I, too, was very impressed with Nick Hanauer’s talk. Many people who played by the rules really did get screwed - by both parties. But I only see Dems willing to work to remedy the problems. Only Dem votes have passed Biden’s legislation to circulate money back down the body politic to nourish the feet, legs, and core of society and not just the fancy hairdo on top.

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well, Dems (especially establishment Ds) aren't totally innocent in this fiasco, either. they're a big part of the paralysis, too. it's why they don't really act in good faith to support. they give us half-efforts... which is way more than Rs, for sure.

Nick Hanauer is honest and wise and willing to say so.

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Another lovely analogy... "the fancy hairdo on top"

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Loved it also.

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I have been following Nick Hanauer for several years now. I think this is the article that 1st caught my attention:

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014/

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moi aussi

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Thanks for the link Janetr! I've been looking for this argument in our media for years. Finally, I found it! -saw-

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There cannot be a democratic republic with the income inequality currently enveloping this country.

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plain and simple - truth

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The society as republicans have made it, for the most part. Tearing down any progress made in 100 years

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yes, tho not completely without help from Dems... sorry to say

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truth

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So their answer is to vote for republicans who have never given them anything.

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it's just throw the bums out mentality... if they even think that far. many see no point in voting for anyone... which doesn't help

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Who promise to tear it down. As Trump said to Blacks, 'you've been screwed what do you have to lose'. Answer: 'your life with incompetent lying pandemic response and your democracy'.

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Nobody that I know does a better job of explaining the attraction to strongman political figures and authoritarianism than Ruth Ben-Ghiat. She has a Substack called Lucid that is well worth subscribing to. There are many others who read Letters from an American who subscribe to Lucid. Knowing who your enemy is and how they operate is key to beating them or at least avoid being swept under.

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thank you, Chip!

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i can... however it IS bizarre... no question

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Baffling.

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Janet, and he is SO sick, and SO dangerous, that none of them will ever come close....

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that's what we thought in 2016... and he's still kicking

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Sort of like the Nazis, but where is our Ike

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Sadly, Ike was forged in the furnace of war, with the responsibility of the free world upon his shoulders. I am not sure we have such a forge today; rather, I see a blazing wildfire that devours everything in its path. (Yes, I'm from the west coast, which seems to be burning up one summer at a time.)

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Ever since Donald Trump has been investigated he has called every investigation a “ Witchhunt“. He has been correct all occasions, the only thing that he didn’t realize is that there is a witch and his name is Donald Trump.

His insistence that he is going to declare his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election will serve to further split and already shredded Republican party. Shredded because Donald Trump is a criminal and he’s made everyone and everything that he has touched into criminals and criminal activities. From his attempts to pressure the Georgia Secretary of State into “finding” enough votes to give him the election, to “Stealing” documents of a highly sensitive nature that were intended to go only to the national archives, he has continued to commit criminal activities unfettered.

Now, his co-conspirators in Congress have put out an egregious document that does nothing more than regurgitate all of the garbage that has come out of these treasonous Republicans over the last five years and is attempting to create doubt as to the credibility of the FBI, Department of Justice, Merrick Garland and every other legitimate federal agency that is pursuing charges against the former president.

What Mr. Trump now sees as a light at the end of the tunnel is merely the train that is headed his way. Donald Trump does not belong in any federal office, where he belongs is in federal prison for his numerous crimes against the American people and the United States of America.

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“ What Mr. Trump now sees as a light at the end of the tunnel is merely the train that is headed his way.”. Hope that train is running on time…

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Love the humor that you found in the “Light at the end of the tunnel remark”.

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right?? no time to waste...

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Leonard, I hope some of those splits from the shredded party (I absolutely agree with you about that probabiity) will vote Dem or stay home in disgust....

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deletedNov 5, 2022·edited Nov 5, 2022
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she's still a Cheney... even if she's on the side of our democratic republic

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The newspaper out of Phoenix has huge huge headlines yesterday: Hostile Takeover. Of the GOP by Trump backers.

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It’s so interesting that trump, -a life long dem leaning con-man-, chose to execute his greatest con through the gop. DEMS would have never supported this shit. But we pay the price anyway.

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I hope the dems would not have supported tfg had he run on dem ticket. I have wondered the answer for this for years. Money and power are powerful tools to corrupt. It is a slippery slope.

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I don't think so. Even as a con man, he is only able to speak the truths that he holds; misogyny chief among them.

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yes. not a clear cut answer to that question.

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I had feared that our nation could be turned into a banana republic in my lifetime. It turned out that it could be done in 7 years, not 80. I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I am getting a sense of the darkness that resides in this tunnel that is America. Sigh.

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Hopefully in person voters read or see this news and vote D. Hopefully wavering voters cut through the propaganda stoking anger and resentment

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Living in this mess of gerrymandering here in Wisconsin, I feel the urge to learn the Canadian national anthem...

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Hopefully, our son will know that anthem soon. He submitted three applications yesterday and today to Canadian universities. One more to go. And then the agonizing wait begins for acceptance or rejection.

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As a Canadian, I welcome your son, Michael. And I wish him luck! Canada benefited from the last brain drain north.

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Thank you. I will tell him. His mom is Canadian. To her great credit, she applied for him to get Canadian citizenship a week after Trump was elected. Atticus has always loved Vancouver and its international flavor. He's also long recognized that Canada, unlike home, has a civil society.

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Atticus! A hero's name!

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Allen!! Wherefore art thou these days? I have been thinking about you and your family and dear Ukrainians who are fighting such an incredible fight with a fricking monster who should be smashed. We have monsters here as well. We send love and strength to the Ukrainian people, the better Angels who, with support, shall rise above Putin the horrible.

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Here in Florida we are plagued by all the GOPigs who moved here during the pandemic. Canada sounds better to me all the time.

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I haven't heard this kind of talk since the Viet Nam war. My parents planned their move to Canada in order to shield my brother from the draft. As it turned out, Canada was keenly interested in my father's PhD field, and the draft was ended before my brother was old enough to be called up.

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Good point Ruth. That was also the end of Democrats and their Liberal Era. My father was also a PhD professor and parked some money in Europe so us kids could 'go to college in Europe'-LOL. War ended, Nixon elected before any of us were of age.

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And Canada is beautiful.

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and cold

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My daughter graduated from McGill and is staying thanks to the generous work permit afforded to foreigners who graduate and remain in Canada. Attract the best and the brightest. Maybe we could learn a few things from them.

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I recommend After The Ivory Tower Falls by Will Bunch about how publicly supported college educations became a public good after the successful GI bill but have now become a point of great resentment by repubs and their legislatures. It doesn’t look good. And that’s why runaway student debt that ppl are struggling to repay.

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heard some excellent interviews with him on this book... on my long reading list

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I wish your son well, but I pray he returns. We need brains, youthful imagination, and persons of strong character in this fight. I’m grateful for all that Canada is and offers. Yet I wish mostly, that the youth of today will desire to imagine their better world here. And that we give them reason to hope there’s a chance in hell of it coming to fruition.

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Great idea, but moving to Canada is a long process.....start today ! My relatives that live in Toronto are extremely happy people. They don't have that despair that we have here in America. Health care and education are both very decent and heavily subsidized. Immigrants are very welcome, as the NYTimes reported this past week. " Oh Canada, our home and native land!, True patriot love in all of us command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The Tru North strong and free!, From Far and Wide......"

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On the other hand...."It looks like the Canadian Government, with its target of 500,000 immigrants in 2025 (1.3% of the current population) is envious of population densities observed around the world."

Not a good look for a country with so much unspoiled natural environment.

https://twitter.com/FutureModelTO/status/1580181497646129152

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I don’t think Trumps wall will keep us from moving to Mexico to get out of this shit hole country if MAGA takes over.

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Real estate is very expensive and there’s a housing shortage in Toronto and Vancouver. Canadians want immigrants in New Brunswick and rural areas

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" ...we see thee rise, The True North strong & free!"

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Nov 5, 2022·edited Nov 5, 2022

No, you should not... You should not leave. All of us must fight till the bitter end. My dad's side for some odd reason left Canada decades ago..... I love Canada, but the last thing I want to be doing is pledging to some king/queen that they should have gotten rid of centuries ago...!

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I totally 'get' that feeling Marcie.. I belong to several international fellowship organizations and the many dear friends I've got in New Zealand are looking pretty good to me.

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The South Island is fantastic, westside, southern tip or eastside. Dunedin area has many teachers. Auckland is much like the Bay Area. Take a jet from Auckland to the South island as the channel ferry from Wellington to the south island can be rough.

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Since the mid-60’s this is a place I’ve yearned to visit. My grandmother liked to travel by ship (NOT the Las Vegas mega-monstrosities currently afloat) and went to NZ—she sang its praises. Then a high school compatriot traveled there and taught math for several years before coming back with slides (Kodachrome!) and stories about the country. My then husband and I were visiting his parents in Carpenteria, CA and we picked up a couple of hitchhikers and brought them to their house to stay for a bit (shower/eat/rest) & they were from NZ and also told many stories….and said that foreigners were (at least at the time) prohibited from buying land/property along the coast. Anyway….it’s a place for the last 50+ years I’ve wanted to experience. Probably unlikely to happen at my age despite the desire, but have read/learned a lot about the country and applaud their progress (and this is not being ignorant of indigenous peoples issues….work in progress).

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I took a direct flight from LA to Auckland on the latest model jetliner & it was stll 13 hours flight time. I think Air New Zealand flies several times a week now out of New York nonstop.

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would also love to go there... and like you, it seems unlikely now

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Yeah, kinda hard to hitchhike at an airport! LOL…the only way I’d be able to afford it. Would love love love to take a small-ish ship there & kayak up some of the fiords & hike the trails…. Fortunately I am blooming where I am planted—a place that many folks visit for its beauty. Maybe in another life I’ll get there (and the Greek isles, and the Seychelles, and Europe, etc., and travel my home country & visit all the states…and and and…sigh, an armchair traveler!).

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i get it!

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Yet I hope you choose to stay here and fight with US no matter what may come next week. I also wonder when Canada will start building their own Wall?

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Last night I heard on MSNBC that people who answer poll calls is less than 2%. i.e. people screen calls/read caller ID #'s and don't respond to the call . If that's the case, polls are useless.

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I agree. Unfortunately, while polls may be statistically useless, the MSM quotes them as though they are the Holy Grail and those who can only digest tiny soundbites, completely fall for the nonsense.

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They serve the purpose of dimming prospects

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Yes! No one I know answers those calls. How do you get an accurate picture of America right now in our tumultuous communication evolution? The old ways don’t give an accurate picture, but we still listen to them. We need a better, more accurate, more honest tool.

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We have yet to see the bottom of how far the Republicans will go to be in power, and stay in power.

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I am both a) terrified and b) making popcorn.

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I get that! I’m heavier on side a.

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You haven't started eating side b, then.

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Nov 5, 2022·edited Nov 5, 2022

No. It feels like a bystander activity but I do love it.

Maybe after results of my two ultrasounds next week come back and tell me it’s all just pain of these last 6-7 years I can have popcorn….before it’s outlawed!!!

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I was scanning through your linked website and its Additional Information about the cookie kit, and found their “Paper is not edible” comment reminiscent of tfg’s tendency (according to his aide) to consume torn up documents in the oval office. Thank you for the hearty laugh!

Good morning, Lynell!

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Thanks for the highlight, Rose! I missed that comment on first reading the additional info.

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Oooo. A cookie conspiracy. You are on to something, Sister.

Good morning, my friend.

🗽

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Tonight my daughter stated that she can’t wait for next week when the political ads will mercifully stop running on tv. I told her to be careful what she wishes for, because next week is when the shitstorm begins, and it aint gonna be pretty.

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There is no bottom. The unknown is what they have planned if/when they lose elections.

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May see it next week ...

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Not even close. Next week is when the real shitstorm starts,

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I am afraid you are correct

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Agreed. When someone says; “It can’t get worse / lower/ crazier/ more insane / more cruel/ dumber/ more obstructionist / egregious / looney than THIS!….” I realize that somewhere there’s a gop saying “Hold my beer!”

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But it will continue. I don’t think we will have seen the bottom next week.

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Worth watching and sharing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtYXAxWuC3k

"I'm here to tell you, that once political violence starts, it is very difficult to contain." We are at a crossroads. Will it be democracy and freedom to live in peace, or hatred and chaos? Before you vote, please look into your hearts and ask yourselves, What do I really want for my loved ones and for my country?" -Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghiat

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I’ve been asking the same question, Ted.

It’s the economy?

Stupid!

It’s our nation’s future that is at stake, our democracy, our environment, our integrity as a world leader, our daughters’ freedom to choose what’s right for their bodies… so much more that money alone can’t buy!

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Nov 5, 2022·edited Nov 5, 2022

The economy? Americans are encouraged to blame and scapegoat. Not to ask Republicans what they will do to fix it if they are in power. Media interviewers do not ask them what they plan to do that is not being tried already. If our 8% inflation is Biden’s fault, why is it 10% in the UK, 20% in Hungary, 80% in Turkey? How will investigating Dr. Fauci, the FBI, etc., bring down inflation?

The Kari Lake impersonator on Saturday Night Live said Republicans will make it easy for you. “If the people of Arizona elect me, I’ll make sure they never have to vote ever again.”

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My reference to “It’s the economy, stupid” is a take from the slogan Carville designed for Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign; with the changed punctuation, I hope to suggest that it is stupid to use the economy as justification for voting for MAGAs.

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Exactly!

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I agree with Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghiat that this vote is about democracy’s existence, but “freedom to live in peace”? That’s gone girl. We are in an ideological war: People vs Property. Which is most important? Power comes down hard fighting to secure that Property trumps People. And their money to buy - an inspire crazies to deploy - the hammers and guns necessary to intimidate the People wanting the Common Good is real, and won’t vanish on Nov. 8th with a dem win. The Freedom to Live in Peace is still a shining light on a hill we are trudging toward.

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The 1,000 page report according to MSNBC’s Alex Wagner is another trumped of Trump con of super stretched word processor thin print expanded by the high school trick of exploding type face and wider margined pages, thus 1,000 is much less. And the 50 pages of original content is much, much less. In truth, there’s nothing that’s news but the threat of running - and that’s undoubtedly not true, either, for grifting Trump is rolling in dough by taking his con for a walk, not running! Money, Honey, is running in not out, and Trump the Con is not going to get more by running. He will be shut down by running. He runs to stop prosecution, as he himself states. So, AG Garland can hide his department from public scrutiny and prosecution by refusing to charge Trump. It’s a circle jerk, to use a Wall Street phrase that describes talk not walk.

Michael Dean Cohen was clear on MSNBC: Trump isn’t going to run. He’s going to talk about running, not run - not ever.

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Well, one can hope Mr. Cohen is right. The longer the rest of the GOP presidential hopefuls can be held at bay by TFG's threats of running, the less time they will have to pollute the atmosphere with untold millions in purchased media coverage between now and '24. The world's atmosphere certainly can't tolerate the amount of political intestinal gas we're likely to experience in the next 2 years.

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Nathan I have too much intestinal gas about this already. I am pretty sure that Cohen has been right on the mark about everything so far--and I find that I'm a fan of his.

It could just be my gas....

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I feel your pain, Gus!

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Declaring means he is subject to oversight of his fundraising. Let’s hope his “announcement” amounts to the same as his soon to be announced healthcare plan.

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I dunno. I have a feeling Trump will "play" with the media and Republicans about running for as long as he can, make one of his famous "you'll know in 2 weeks" announcements (via Tweet, of course). Trump wants to shut down all the other Republicans being talked about as Republican presidential candidates. But I think he'll run if the donations taper off.

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I'd forgotten about those announcements. (Mercifully: something at least is fading, of those years). He used to say "We'll see," which enraged me, with its inference of I-alone-will-decide.

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Agree that Trump will talk but not run. He’s afraid of being a 2-time loser, which I honestly think he would be.

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No way does Trump declare. He will talk about running for as long as he can for one reason - he's an inveterate grifter. Trump is always, always about the money to the exclusion of everybody else. i.e. he doesn't even think about the harm he causes in his pursuit for money.

Democrats should still run against him if they are willing to take the gloves off, come down off the high road and call out Trump for the grifting charlatan that he is. If Trump crashes and burns, so does the Republican Party who at this point is 'all in' with no escape hatch.

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Wait, you mean to say that any sane person still has a Twitter account? Let it die the overdue fiery death it deserves, while the rats eat the mutinous new captain of the ship instead of jumping. Poetic justice, if ever.

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I was delighted to hear that there's a class action suit underway. The mass firing at Twitter violated the CA WARN act requiring notice of mass layoffs (50 or more).

Foot, meet firearm.

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“An employer who fails to give notice as required by paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 1401 before ordering a mass layoff, relocation, or termination is liable to each employee entitled to notice who lost his or her employment” for back pay and the value of the cost of any benefits the employee may have been entitled to up to a maximum of 60 days or one-half the number of days that the employee was employed by the employer, whichever is smaller. An employer’s liability may be reduced by specific payments made. (Labor Code section 1402(a)-(c)) https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/Cal-WARNAct.html

What I’ve read is that the employees impacted are being paid through February so they get bonuses and such. I don’t have a citation for this, but that would make this an unnecessary lawsuit so why file it and so fast?

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I agree with you Maigen, in the end lawsuit gets dismissed as no harm. (You been sneaking into some classes at Berkeley Law on the side-LOL?) BUT the chronology here is important. Chronology as I read it is 1-Musk plans firing which leaks out 2-Musk announces firings 3-lawsuit for failure to give notice 4-amended firing giving pay benefits ala statute (guessing after his lawyers told him he will lose lawsuit why spend money fighting it). Musk could have given 60-day notice and had everyone work for their money. Not well planned out.

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It was not a matter of poor planning; it was a matter of timing. Musk had to get rid of the election information teams before the midterm election.

And, of course with an army of lawyers and compliant judges, rich and well-protected Republican agents can get out of any scrape. Good recent example: "Prosecutors said Thomas Barrack and another defendant used their access to President Donald Trump to promote the agenda of the United Arab Emirates government and to enrich themselves by using their favor in the UAE to make money." Barrack was found not guilty! Then think about son-in-law Kushner.

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Usually the company gives the required notice, but the employee is walked out of the building the same day and paid for the 30-60 days.

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Why file now? Most of them have stock options that have to be exercised within 90 days of the date of separation, and cannot afford to do that without damages -- either cash pay-out (which is what I got in a separation in Silicon Valley) so I could exercise my stock options; or a conversion of the options to grants (which requires Board approval--which is now only Elon Musk).

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What will the authorities do, fine Musk?

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How do mere mortals penalize Zeus?

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Ugh, that seems like a nothing punishment. I wish I knew there was something punitive but I suspect there isn’t.

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Loss of his investment in twitter company will do the trick!

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His metaphor of carrying a heavy "sink, in" might be more accurate about his fortune sinking because he is out of his "domain" so to speak. People with Asperger's often have a harder time understanding social cues and interactions. So, purchasing a social media biz is...well...going to be Elon's greatest challenge.

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Statute has no penalties it merely allows for recovery of benefits. Usually such a statute has an Attorney Fees provision such that 'win a dollar you can get millions of dollars in attorney fees' so that the meek are not roadkill to the rich. No such provision in this law but I think I heard once there might be an applicable one codified elsewhere in CA law.

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I believe there’s s a federal WARN act also.

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He could have easily killed it without firing a single employee, simply by continuing to make his own ambiguous tweets about fact versus fiction, letting the trolls back in and watching the advertisers and large sections of the user public abandon the platform. Instead, he is dropping bombs and apparently enjoying the fireworks, in addition to all of the aforementioned.

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No psychopathology there. No sir.

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Revenge?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byazeV3gfis

worth the listen

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Oh that's easy. Musk doesn't "get it" because he's too close to the problem. Well actually, he is the problem, and to realize that would require self-awareness. So why do "good" people still have Twitter accounts on a racist-led platform?

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I love my twitter handle @yourself so I will stay for the debacle. I only use it now to troll Elon quote Wordsworth and tell chicken jokes. It’s a public service.

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But I follow Professors Richardson & Freeman, and others. News people, doctors etc. I don’t have cable TV. I would miss input from legitimate sources.

Now if they leave…I’m out.

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There ARE many legitimate sources outside of social media. Their effective brainwashing is to convince you there are not.

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Could you expand please. I watch PBS news. Listen to NPR, podcasts, etc. I don’t get the coverage of what’s offered on T. There are so many others on Substack too but T is easier for me. I’m not a big fan of social media so if there’s a better option I’m interested. But I want a place that has the variety from news, historians, medical, politics etc.

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Well, you've nailed it right there. It takes many sources, and more effort. Social media also intentionally cultivates a rabid FOMO.

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John: FOMO?

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Fear of missing out.

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Read.....books?

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I do! Not the same. I can gather more information on T than in the time it takes me to read a book. I just finished They Want to Kill Americans.

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Elon may have just removed that choice from the "list".

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They will leave if you leave. And won’t this inspire more platform innovation? Allow the rise of a new - dare we hope less fascist-abetting - platform?

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Check this site out: https://mstdn.social/explore

Toots instead of tweets.

Knock yourself out! 😁

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The project is called Bluesky and was commissioned by Jack Dorsey when he was still the CEO of Twitter. And with more than 30,000 signups for its waitlist in less than two days, the project is quickly being touted as an alternative and perhaps even a replacement for the Musk-owned Twitter.

But what is Bluesky?

Bluesky is a public benefit corporation trying to build a new "open and decentralised" form of social media. The platform aims to create a standard protocol for social media platforms. Once fully developed, it would allow separate social media networks to interact with each other via an open standard, despite each network having its own curation and moderation systems.

Bluesky was conceived as the solution to the failures of Twitter. It was announced at a time when social media networks were being accused of data misappropriation, misinformation and election interference. In fact, Jack Dorsey introduced the project in a Twitter thread that justified the ban of Donald Trump on the platform.

"We are trying to do our part by funding an initiative around an open decentralised standard for social media. Our goal is to be a client of that standard for the public conversation layer of the internet. We call it Bluesky," read Dorsey's tweet.

https://www.cnbctv18.com/cryptocurrency/twitter-bluesky-jack-dorsey-led-decentralised-social-network-rival-15063381.htm

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All who are on the bird support the advertising business-model it is built on. They can mean-mouth Elon all they want. It feeds his pockets because it says to advertisers that the bird is still relevant. The bird is the canary in our coal mine. People will complain about the rise of fascism but will aid and abet it because it’s just so darn entertaining. “Tweet Tweet Democracy! GoodBye!”

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Here’s one old Luddite who isn’t entertained.

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"From Twitter’s point of view, all of us who post on the site are unpaid employees—content generators whose interactions produce revenues that make the site a business. We’re more than “users” because we’re also participants and co-creators. That makes us in some way responsible parties for whatever Twitter becomes. So if Musk adapts Twitter in ways that serve the interests of antidemocratic forces, that implicates those of us who post on his site. We could end up as collaborators in the subversion of our highest ideals of self-government, individual dignity, and truth."

f only he could understand his own damning words. IMHO, this is not a game anyone should be playing. How does one know when the frog is adequately boiled?

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A lot has happened in two days and Frum has left the door open to make a fast exit. The problem he and other content creators face is where can they keep their content out there and seen by the public. All of them are working on that and until that come to fruition, Twitter is tenable. However, I repeat, a lot has happened in two days, imagine what could happen in a week.

I don't think Twitter is going anywhere. I'm a subscriber to Robert Hubbell's fine substack letter and I have offered my views on Twitter there. In a nutshell, Twitter is the largest and most influential social media site in history. It was apparently for sale. It could have sold to a person or persons who love this country, respect the Constitution, and believes in democracy. It could have but it didn't. It sold to a megalomaniac who wants to control the world and establish an economic system that completely benefits his insatiable greed. Like every other megalomaniac, he cares little about the cost to human life or the well-being of mankind. He will shape Twitter to his view of the world.

After the Republicans shocking attempt to overthrow the government on January 6th, contributors and advertisers deserted the party in droves (good for business and all that) but they slinked on back and they are now pouring billions into the mid-terms to get Republicans back in control. If Musk pushes Twitter to the right, and helps them stay in power, those people deserting Twitter now will be back.

Republicans represent the minority of voters but the majority of uber wealthy campaign donors and operators. In politics, the candidates with the biggest pile of money usually win.

John you might want to check some alternatives. There are new social media sites poised to absorb Twitter defectors which might be where you want to secure a footing. A girlfriend of mine recommended https://mstdn.social/about She is transitioning from Twitter to here.

I do understand it is not a game and that harm can come to people and to the country.

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Thank you Chip for your thoughtful reply. I've always thought of Frum as very bright, and definitely an influencer, and yet he didn't see the last two days coming?

As much as I think TwitterBorg should go away, I also don't think it will. Between the malcontents, the contrarians, the apathetic, the pollyannas, the numb, and the apologists, the only thing missing are the non-Fox News Advertisers. And My Pillow will not be sufficient. I suspect most of the funding will be dark money, as a very effective front.

Alas, there's only one person I occasionally control, and I cannot in good conscience partake. That's really the word of the moment - conscience. I do find it wholly inconvenient at times like these, but most are fortunately not so burdened.

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There are some ludicrous things that just can't be ignored in these surreal times we are experiencing. The first relates to the man who successfully launched the electric vehicle market, the non-governmental space industry, a novel means of boring tunnels under cities. As a set of engineering tasks, these efforts are signs of pure genius. So many others have failed miserably in similar efforts. The guy deserves to be fabulously wealthy on the basis of these achievements. BUT, in his personal life and his new foray into social media, he's a nutcase and a disaster. He stepped outside his sphere of competence and he'll hemorrhage billions and potentially destroy that on which he just spent 20% of his very impressive fortune. He clearly paid too much if this is what he really intended to do with the platform. From the prior history with industrial tech success, one would think he would have left everything exactly as it was, studied the details very carefully and then made incremental changes, all the while paying close attention to what made the company successful in the first place. That would be the engineer's approach. He's playing with Twitter like it's his latest toy, instead. go figure...

Then, there's the inscrutable fact that a sizeable fraction of our national political leadership has moved beyond the possibility of being constrained by embarrassment. "Report?". Countless 6th graders have tried that stunt with their geography or social science teachers; packing a "book report" with scads of unattributed previously published content in an attempt to impress others, forgetting that it's a teacher who's going to grade the original thinking of their effort. Shamefully, I did something similar once early in my education. I have never forgotten the effort I put into that scam and I still feel shame over it about 47 years later. I should have been mercilessly punished with a failing grade in the class. How it happened that I wasn't remains a mystery to this day. Why are these people who have become uncoupled from the truth so immune to embarrassment or shame?

What does one have to do to break free of that powerful inner brake on one's behavior? I don't get it, never have and never will...

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"BUT, in his personal life and his new foray into social media, he's a nutcase and a disaster. He stepped outside his sphere of competence and he'll hemorrhage billions and potentially destroy that on which he just spent 20% of his very impressive fortune. He clearly paid too much if this is what he really intended to do with the platform."

Seals the Twitter deal and starts destabilizing the company just before mid-term elections. Coincidence or deliberate actions. And he's just getting started. IQ45 (Thanks, Mark Proulx.) did the same thing with the country. Crazy like a fox. (My apologies to foxes.)

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Yes!! Thanks, Mark Proulx... and yes to apologies to foxes.

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Expertise, even genius, in one domain of knowledge does not automatically generalize to other aspects of life.

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For those who have social media accounts--other than Twitter, of course!!--this is worthy of being posted to your accounts, latest from Politics Girl:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKfeBT0LD4M

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Nov 5, 2022·edited Nov 5, 2022

Thanks. I'm checking out 3 new outlets (and I note that some of my faves have either already got accounts there, at least as place holders.

I'm presuming that Twitter will crash and go into receivership or be sold off at loss-leader prices, with bankruptcy papers and SEC violation prosecutions flapping in the wind like batwing doors on an old western movie saloon doorway.

Head 'em up, move 'em out. Twitterhide!

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Love the last line!

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Check this site out: https://mstdn.social/explore

Toots instead of tweets.

Let us know what you think. My good friend is big on Twitter and she tells me this has the makings of a new and better Twitter.

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So, if I may ask, what are the 3 new outlets, Kathy?

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Thanks for that link - will send it to my friends in the Yew Ess Eh? ! and hope they act on it

She's great!

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Yew Ess Eh? <--- love it!!

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Her best yet. Thanks for sharing, Miselle!

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And as she says "take ten people with you".

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thanks for that link, Miselle. I love Politics Girl. that podcast is worth listening to twice!

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A comment about Twitter: “People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." - Søren Kierkegaard

As an Aspergian, I got a laugh out of a pundit writing about Musk today: "Putting the ass in Asperger's."

We can no longer allow a psychologically damaged nitwit to have the power Musk has. He requires termination. However that happens. And the rest of the ultra rich need to be corralled.

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Saudi Arabia's large stake in Twitter is worrisome - now second to Musk.

https://www.axios.com/2022/11/01/elon-musk-twitter-saudi-arabia

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Well, Greta Thunberg also has Aspergers, so no need to go there. Just like I have bipolar disorder and The Electric Viking (I subscribe to his Youtube channel) keeps ripping on us.

Likely I'm also on the autism spectrum myself as I primarily relate via math and music.

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Matt, TC is also Aspergain. He's written a couple of really good assessments/insights for us more neuro-normal folks.

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Termination? I hope you mean "fired" as in "unemployed," not "fired" as in "firing squad."

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Unable to continue doing what he does.

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Hate to be contrarian here but perhaps, perhaps, the best hope is that the dog(s) catch the bumper. With two years to do damage (which will be limited) the best they can do is create a larger “no” environment and leave the country in even worse shape… right before the next national canvass… none of them (as usual) have any plan or strategy, just as it was with the tangerine dream, to do or fix anything… two years should be just enough to prove it…

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Hope the Republicans win because it may lead to a 2024 repudiation? That is too close to the unconscionable 2016 'let Trump win and come the revolution.' No what we got was 4 years for MAGA to take root and blossom as the Big Lie and Jan 6 .

What do you possibly mean in the real world by GOP damage "which will be limited" ?

Many of us may be privileged enough or lucky enough to endure 2 years of Republican control of government. Just as we've survived other disasters relatively unscathed - but our most vulnerable neighbors, fragile planet, and endangered democracy will be irreparably damaged.

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Fully agree, lin!

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And the 2024 election will definitely be affected by the outcome of the midterms. The Big Lie will live.

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The price is beyond my budget

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Thanks for the positive spin, Alan. I think. First positive spin (sorta) on the Repugs taking over that I've seen.

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The damage they could inflict on voting could result in no Democrat ever winning again.

Not a chance I'd like to take.

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An interesting thing about the Musk/Twitter situation is what happened at PayPal when Musk was kicked out by his buddies. He was insisting on converting the backend software to run on Microsoft's commercial grade stuff. This was long before Microsoft had acquired everything they needed to build their Azure platform. So while he left with a huge pile of money (i.e. PayPal stock), it was pretty clear that he did not understand all that was involved in scaling software to the size of the internet.

A better Twitter could be built by a not-for-profit foundation, with a good launch into the news reporting business. The nice thing about the not-for-profit foundation model is that it can be chartered with an altruistic purpose and held to that in its operations. As an aside, the term non-profit is a misnomer and implies something that just isn't true. Not-for-profits make lots of profit, it's just that their incorporation documents specify that their purpose is something else. Also, it is often the case that their CEO's are way overpaid just like they are in the private sector.

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If you can get the Smithsonian for July/August 2018, there is a well done article by Alex W. Palmer about the chronic pain in Spain following the fascist civil war and resultant reign of Franco. There are many parallels with us, and we pray that our future will not be like that. BUT the R in southwest Washington who beat Herrera Butler in the primary (she who was one of 8 R's to vote for Trump impeachment) says that the January 6 2021 riot and mob that attacked the Capitol was an FBI plot. Seattle Times headline and article November 4. If these sorts are going to be running the asylum, we will wind up like Spain.

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I honestly cannot understand a system where someone can be in possession of stolen government documents, classified and unclassified, and can still be flapping around a free citizen, bribing witnesses, destroying evidence, and on top of that can be permitted to run for president of the nation. If this is how our system works then I suppose we deserve what we’re getting!!??

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MMG,

I was terrified that DT was ever considered as a political candidate for any office in our US government. His life of immorality is an open book....that was before he became president. This was when I changed political parties....when I examed my former opinions regarding our political parties.....when I carefully studied who the candidates were being selected for office to lead our country. It was a late "wake up" call but at last, sadly I see more clearly and am working harder to examine the candidates for whom I cast my vote.

I am so grateful for President Joe Biden and for great men and women who are working to "Build Back Better!" I am so grateful for leaders who are working with leaders worldwide to promote freedom.....to encourage governments for the people, by the people.....for open and fair elections.

Freedom ia NOT free! Just ask the citizens of Ukraine whom we MUST CONTINUE TO SUPPORT!

This is a dangerous time throughout the world. We must lead by voting and supporting freedom in The United States of America!

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