Earlier this week, New York Times columnist Farhad Manjoo warned that American democracy is ending. He pointed to political violence on the streets, the pandemic, unemployment, racial polarization, and natural disasters, all of which are destabilizing the country, and noted that Republicans appear to have abandoned democracy in favor of a cult-like support for Donald Trump. They are wedded to a narrative based in lies, as the president dismantles our non-partisan civil service and replaces it with a gang of cronies loyal only to him.
While voting and getting others to vote is our primary means of defending democracy at this critical juncture, we must also support those behind the scenes who are working day in and day out in the courtrooms of America to blunt Trump's demolition derby. Here are four efforts that merit your money right this instant:
One well-known defender of our Constitution, our rights, and our cherished traditions is the American Civil Liberties Union: https://www.aclu.org/. You will find a dozen or more areas where they could use your active support and involvement.
The same is true for The Brennan Center for Justice: https://www.brennancenter.org/. It was founded by legendary civil rights attorney Burt Neuborne who previously served as chief counsel for ACLU. A few minutes on the Brennan Center website will stir your soul and bolster your confidence that help is on the way…if you help them do it.
Michelle Obama is a founder and leading light of “When We All Vote” which is doing powerful work to enroll voters and ensure that they have a fair chance to cast a ballot. People say that working with this organization is very rewarding: https://www.whenweallvote.org/
A seasoned champion of election-integrity, Marc Elias, demonstrates ways for you, too, to help protect this most vital of all the pillars of “democracy”. His work is immediate, vital, crucial to rebut Trump’s demolition of voting. Join up with him here: https://www.democracydocket.com
Writing checks is better than wringing our hands. 😎
Former Republican here (don’t hate on me 😉)... I have auto-contributed to ACLU and ActBlue every month since Trump hijacked our country. Thanks for the other links.
These are great suggestions - I so agree that taking action, writing checks in support of candidates and organizations like these, or volunteering at the polls is so much better than hand wringing. My first stint as an election officer at my local polling place was November 2016 - I'll be back at it this year
I volunteered as a poll worker after the 2016 election and have worked every election since, including town ones -- most recently the MA primary on September 1. My town clerk loves me because (1) I don't need to be reminded, and (2) I don't mind showing up at 6:45 in the morning. ;-)
As far as why sending money is so important, I suspect it had something to do with the Citizens United SCOTUS decision. The cost of running a contested campaign, even for way-down-ballot races, has gone through the roof. Btw, what do you mean by "Consumer Voters"? How is donating to a campaign "consuming" it?
I am being increasingly treated as consumer. I can't step out my door in Manhattan without paying for most things. Daily life has been monetized. Notice what has happened to museums, as an example.
Now I repeatedly contribute for political candidates and causes, but vote only once. Which is becoming more important?
I still don't understand how this makes you a consumer -- or how contributing to candidates and causes is the same as paying to get into a museum. Maybe you have two separate questions going here? IMO, contributing to candidates and causes is like volunteering for candidates and causes: it makes you a participant in the electoral process and/or, more generally, civic life.
My God. I love your commentary and how you put everything in perspective. However, this one really wore me out and saddened me. I can only hope that enough of us can reach out to others and make enough of a difference to keep him from again stealing an election. Thanks for keeping up the good
I read this post last night just before I went to bed and found it to be the scariest post I'd seen. It led to a restless night, but in my insomnia-addled brain, I came up with a new approach, a new way to win against this evil. Laughter. Think Harry Potter's Riddikulus!
I hope you will be patient with me. This is long and I haven't slept much, but hear me out.
In my in insomnia-hazy state, I thought about Michael Moore and Bill Bryson. Two creators who can present facts to us in an engaging and humorous manner.
I thought about collecting all of the videos and tweets of the tRUMPus in which he says something so ridiculous it would be laughable if it weren't so horrible. Nothing in which he insults anyone. Nothing containing derogatory or inflammatory statements. I realize that cuts out the majority of them but we still have a good selection.
Here are a few: I welcome any suggestions.
--when he told us all that Mexico was going to pay for the wall.
--during the 2016 debates, when he told Hillary that he didn't pay any taxes and then soon after followed that with a statement that the first thing he would do as President would be to give the wealthy a tax break (Why, oh why, didn't she at that time say "Donald, if you already pay zero taxes, why would you need a tax break?" She might have nipped this all in the bud right then. Sorry, I digress.)
--his boasting about the number of people at his inauguration
--KellyAnne Conway inventing the term "alternate facts"
-- him telling us to inject disinfectant and drink bleach
--masks make him look bad
--coronavirus will go away soon “[infections are] going to be down to close to zero. One day, it’s like a miracle. It will disappear.”
--when referring to his daily corona test,he said he tested postively negatively
I would name this campaign "Donnie, sometimes the TRUTH HURTS."
---
My thought is to find someone who knows how to collect these, and could contact Moore and Bryson to ask them to add their genius and wit in combining them with other important factual information (Perhaps, for instance, comparing the actual Mexican and American dollars spent on the wall. ) And have them create about a 15- or 20-minute video.
My idea is on some night in October have this video projected onto walls and buildings around the country. And on YouTube of course.
The following advertisement arose in my brain:
Stressed from stay-at-home orders?
Depressed over losing your job?
Too angry to watch the news?
We have an answer:
LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE!
The protests aren't working so well, what about a Laugh-Fest!
Admission cost: One mask on your face.
No pitchforks allowed.
---
And we all go and we bring all of our friends and we LAUGH AT HIM! And then the next night we show the video somewhere else and go and laugh at him again. And the next night and the next.
October could be a happier time than now for those now being driven insane.
I think I week of news clips of people laughing at him might be his undoing.
Anyway, if you don't like this idea, no worries. It is all just midnight-mushed-brain-addled-musings.
Thanks for reading. And I hope you find something to laugh about today.
A "Laugh Out" as political strategy!! Love it. He hates even the thought that he is being laughed at. Not a shred of a self -deprecating sense of humor in him. It is too bad he has so dangerously conflated himself with the role of President, which role we will have to claw our way back to re-fill with respect after this great Hollowing Out. One of my great learnings in this time is that character in a President does matter. No President is perfect but this one has put us way out on the negative end of that spectrum.
Some of you may have noticed that I like the use of 'pins' to pop balloons. I kept thinking he was overfilling his balloon, and surely it just Had to pop soon! I'm afraid we've let it grow too big, and when it finally pops, it'll frighten the horses! No matter what, we need to soldier on, laugh when we're able, calm the horses, and help Joe and Kamala keep the horses from a runaway!
Over the last 4 years I have become aware of how falsely safe I have felt In the security of our democracy. Never could I have imagined that it could be ripped to shreds the way it has been, even though I saw early in 2016 that this psychopath was a danger to us. My confidence was falsely placed in our citizenship. I did not foresee the darkness within us on this scale. Seem like it’s pretty much 40% of us?
Heather’s quote from Honest Abe: “Ordinary Americans “rose each fighting, grasping whatever he could first reach---a scythe---a pitchfork-- a chopping axe, or a butcher's cleaver,” he said.” scares the crap out of me. Trump has sent out emails offering camo hats for sale (remember “his hats symbolize hoods”) to his exclusive “Trump army” to fight against the liberal mob. They are masters of symbolism, which in part is the hook they set for people’s emotions and loyalty. What percentage of “Trump’s army” is in possession of multiple assault rifles and endless ammunition? Military leaders have reassured us that if Biden is duly elected he will assume power Jan. 20 despite whether Trump wants to relinquish it or not. I’m concerned for Nov. and Dec. and much of January. If Trump loses, his “army” will be the ones grabbing what they have (assault rifles). He’s made it very clear that laws and accountability do not apply to him and his. He will still legally hold power over our military during those months. Will they keep citizens safe from his own personal armed militia? There are reports that the militias have infiltrated police forces around the country and we have certainly seen some of the results of that in real time lately. Someone else suggested the national guard could be called upon to protect citizens from Trump’s personal militia forces.
I am not bringing this up to frighten people. This is not drama for the sake of drama. I ask this because I do not want to continue to be unprepared for what is in front of us. Too many of us have denied the evil psychopathy and capability of trump and his goons. I think we need to broaden our mind to just what their intentions are (after all, just because they are broadcasting it in the light of day, we have learned the hard way they are not joking). I want to be prepared for what lies ahead and I want our leaders to be prepared for multiple different pathological actions by this group of proven wannabe tyrants. What will our country look like if Trump loses Nov. 3rd and then puts out a dog whistle to his personal, already recruited, “army” (militia) during the lame duck period?
Christy, I am 68 and am paralyzed with fear! I live in a Red, rural county where everyone has guns. It IS a small town, so I hope people will behave like good neighbors. However, It's not Mayberry, RFD and our Peninsula cannot hold out forever.
I keep taking up air with the Repub friends I talk to and remind them we really want the same things. And the thing standing between us is just propaganda. Fear stoked to divide us. I actually had one try to give me a hug but I said I’m good mask denier! And tell me she loves me! Wow! Once you can let them see you’re not out to get them, it starts to crack the shell. A friend I’ve had since I was three I told him his propaganda post only set us all up for failure. His friends attacked me! I rebutted, notice he didn’t attack me! Why? Because he’s like a brother and would indeed protect me! He took the post down. Get out! Take up air! Take up space! Remind them who you are! A friend! It feels good to do something instead of living in fear!
I’m trying to do the same. Thankful that my brother could see the light 🙏 I can’t say we want the same things to a Trump supporter. Maybe could pick a single issue and say I want that too, though.
That’s a place to start! We all want security, a home, a meal on the table, good schools for our kids. They definitely go after it in a more aggressive way! Just trying to undo the brainwashing.
Any of us who don't want oligarchy at everyone's expense, can agree on feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, healing the sick. If that's too biblical, we also agree on educating the children, repairing the roads, taking care of the old. Most of the country agrees on most of what we need to do, although not on exactly how to do it.
I just had an FB acquaintance defriend me because I told her in a private message that her post about Joe Biden being a child molester was bogus and was a prominent part of the QAnon conspiracy theory.
She told me I was a bleeding-heart liberal, QAnon was real, and that my adherence to mask-wearing and social distancing was helping to destroy the economy. I did not know what to say back other than I disagreed with her and that she should fact check her posts. It did not matter, she defriended me.
I have an ultra-conservative next-door neighbor that is a retired policeman. I go out to water my Red Tip Photinia early in the morning, hoping to avoid him. He opens his garage door and voila! I endure an hour of Biden-shaming: Biden will increase taxes, open the borders, and destroy America. I do not know where to begin. If anyone should worry about another Trump term, it is my neighbor, a person collecting a pension.
Mitch McConnell would love it if our Democratic state would collapse but it would take massive changes in legislation for a state to go into bankruptcy because currently, they cannot. With a second Trump term, who knows? But if it came to it, the consequences would be most dramatic for state pensioners and bondholders. Union contracts could be rewritten, and a state than might re-negotiate its existing pension benefits. My neighbor’s pension and other pensions would go the way of the dodo and Social Security.
I have found that I cannot tell Republican acquaintances/neighbors anything remotely progressive. They do not want to hear a contrary opinion. So I keep my mouth shut. I am thankful for being able to make comments here, read others’ comments, and know that I am not alone in my experiences.
oy. Some people are operating in an imaginary world. The worst thing that could happen, for them as well as for us, would be for TrumpBarr and the QAnoners to continue on their present course. You are definitely not alone.
Unfortunately, I share your view of America should the current administration( I can’t bring myself to even give his name a presence here) be voted out. It terrifies me, and is beginning to cause me an almost paralyzing anxiety.
If we become paralyzed with fear we lose. That is exactly what they are hoping for. This is why I say we should mentally prepare ourselves and be ready and understand what our resources are and can be now and not be left standing there with our jaws around our knees or cowering in our homes
Sobering commentary tonight, Heather. And I think more and more that we are NOT in for a smooth transition if Trump loses. The Republican machinery will kick into gear (and the militias will appear---accidental rhyme :-) ) and the post election confrontation will begin. I hope that the Democrats are assembling a LARGE army of lawyers across the country (and many assistants) to challenge aggressively the Republican dirty tricks at every turn---during voting and during vote counts. Read Greg Palast, everyone, and realize that past elections have been stolen, and we are careening into another crisis point (I feel like I'm writing on the edge of conspiracy theories but the stolen votes/elections are real.) The last great hope is the American people and what checks and balances we have left. Our government at the present is falling apart (or rather being taken apart) before our eyes. One last comment----one has finally got to realize that Trump's tweets are words detached from reality; he is selling himself as the product; there is nothing else; he has no programs (when he says a vaccine is coming soon, that has no basis in fact---it is his verbal fantasy; when he says there will be "great reports" and other things, it is again mere verbiage). Heather has quoted many in the post tonight. We are living in an alternate universe conjured up by Republican turncoats and circus barkers.
I'm reminded of a period in history I just wrote a book about: the six months between the attack on Pearl Harbor and the US victory at Midway. Most people, when they think of that time, think "unrelieved defeat and darkness." And yes, there was a lot of defeat and darkness, but every day of that time, people who would never before have believed themselves capable of what they did, did things that in the end changed things around. Even in defeat, their example was - as FDR said it to General Wainwright on receiving his message that he was forced to surrender in the Philippines - "the guarantee of victory." Which they were. But the whole thing depended on people just putting their heads down and pushing on, regardless of the way things looked, regardless of the news, regardless of the evidence of their own eyes. And in the end, they stopped the unstoppable force. When I re-read the book this past February to write an author's forward, I realized that two years ago I had tapped into today's zeitgeist - if we follow their example, we've got a good chance of achieving a similar result. So, as I used to have on my coffeecup in the Navy, on one side "Bastardi non attritari" and on the other "Illegitimi non carborundum." It's still good advice.
Ransom Rideout, I wrote that one down. Because the other day, the "Bastards" tried. I volunteered to do "text banking" for the Michigan Democratic party. The polls have been good for Biden in Michigan, however you would never know from my sample. The text was trying to determine if they were going to vote absentee. It appeared many of the names on my list were from the area. I recognized many of the names. Well, between a third to half were "stop", not surprising. However, a majority of remaining responses were f--k you, f--k off, and Trump 2020. Well, that took the wind out of my sails😢. Now my community is rather conservative, so I am trying not to let the Bastards grind me down. Maybe responses from the rest of the state reflects the polling. The minority of positive responses also gave me a glimmer of hope along with a "buck up" from a friend who is a veteran phone and text banker. She said responses like that are not uncommon in the beginning. Now, I was getting close to the grinder last night when I talked to a member of the Michigan Democratic party. He called to confirm I planned to text bank Tuesday night. I said I was, however I expressed my concern that my responses from the other night did not reflect the polls. He said we needed to find that one Democratic voter. My thought was we need to find a lot of Democratic voters. That said I am glad Biden is coming to Michigan this week 😊
Sharon, I did over 900 texts in that campaign in the last few days. Only got one F..k you, a number of Trump 2020, but not that many. Keep volunteering and thank you.
I have been writing get out the vote letters through votefwd.org. Dependent on the letters arriving during the right time window, which will be tricky this year, they expect these letters to make a 3% difference. That means that the 360 letters my 96 yr old mom and I have taken on so far, investing lots of time and over $150 postage, would get another 11 people to vote. Doesn't look like much. But if you look at the 5.36 million letters being written so far by all the people involved, that is potentially 160,800 additional votes in swing states - more than enough to have changed the result in 2016. Keep going. Judy Small sang it very well years ago, we need every voice in the crowd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nvbYlmdYS0
God, as they say, takes care of those who take care of themselves. :-)
Amazingly enough, for a book that started life as a background chapter in a different book (Under The Southern Cross, coming next May), this book has gained unexpected recognition, getting an "a must read" starred review from Kirkus Reviews (which my publisher immediately plastered on the cover).
Zeitgeist of the time from my dad’s recollection after Pearl Harbor was a lot of men enlisting to “go over and kick the Japs’ butts before breakfast.” Seemed it took a lot longer, but we were also united back then.
"I Will Run Wild: the Pacific War from Pearl Harbor to Midway" is officially released on September 17, and is available for pre-order (at the "best seller" price, a good bargain) at Amazon now.
Thank you. I do hope most of those here will order the very nice book-book hardbound edition, since the author's royalties are better on those than on the e-books.
Oh now, don't worry. I'm happy for every sale. Writers are luddites by nature. And yeah, I've come to the realization its time to box up some more books. Too bad with the Covid that I can't take them over to the local library for their used book sales. :-)
I'll get your book Thomas, the hard bound version. I recently watched Midway (2019 version) and Grey Hound (2020). Out of curiously how closely does it hem to actual reality of what really happened ?
The movie "Midway" has very little to do with the actual battle in terms of what really happened. The real character of Dick Best (my good friend the last 10 years of his life) is the polar opposite of the "Joisey boy rebel" created for the movie. In fact, my book is the movie you wanted to see (as a former screenwriter, my books are frequently reviewed as "reading a good movie"). To put it bluntly, the movie is crap, and I told Roland Emmerich as much when I had a meeting with him and heard what story he wanted to tell.
Greyhound is an adaptation of the C.S. Forrester novel "The Good Shepherd" (Forester is the novelist who did all the Horatio Hornblower tales of the Napoleonic naval wars). As such, it does not relate to any specific convoy event, but it is a very accurate presentation of what life would be like as a destroyer escorting a convoy. The one drawback, to me, is that the computerized effects look like computerized effects. If you want to see a more realistic take on a destroyer vs U-boat battle, I strongly recommend "The Enemy Below" (1957), written by my screenwriting mentor, the late Wendell Mayes. Wendell served in the Navy in combat in WW2, and it shows in the underlying realism and verisimilitude (also done on a real destroyer at sea, not one tied up to a dock). Greyhound is probably as good as a movie on that topic can be nowadays, since none of those ships can go to sea anymore and have to be done with computers.
If you want to see a movie that accurately shows what a naval surface battle of WW2 was really like, I hihgly recommend "The Battle of the River Plate" (1952) (which you can now find on YouTube) the story of three British cruisers up against the German pocket battleship "Graf Spee." Real warships are used, no special effects. One of the ships was actually one of the combatants in the real battle. It stars an unrecognizable Peter Finch in his first film role as the German Captain, Ludendorf. It's highly accurate historically and technically (as were most British war movies of the 1950s).
I’m Naval Academy class of 1971 and Raymond Spruance was a friend of my father. I spent a wonderful day with the Admiral while on leave and he went through the genesis of the battle and it’s planning. He was a military genius but understated unlike Halsey and Nimitz. The movie made him look like an errand boy. Disgusting.
If you read my other two books on the Pacific War, "Pacific Thunder" and "Tidal Wave," you will find I am a fellow "Spruance Man." His ability to keep the Big Picture in mind and keep his ego under control, was why he won Midway, where Halsey would have dashed on west that night and run right into Yamamoto's ambush. "The Battle of Bull's Run," where Halsey dropped the ball at Leyte and exposed the invasion to potential destruction to go sink the Japanese carriers (that were a sacrifice) demonstrates the difference. I always liked the story about the kamikaze hitting Spruance's flagship at Okinawa and he couldn't be found. The Flag Lieutenant looked everywhere and found him manning a hose line to fight the fires on the boat deck, just another crew member. I would have loved to be you and to have met him. Nimitz was pretty understated too - he had to be to negotiate all the egos at PacFleet HQ.
My 94 yo father has seen a lot in his years but he said he won’t survive another trump term. He currently scours the news and sends news articles to his group about this tyranny. I get about 5 emails a day and smile when I see them as I know he is hanging in there.
Democracy in Ancient Greece required every citizen to participate actively all of the time. Their definition of citizenship was not ours of course but we do have, and need to protect from Trump's predations, ours. Being a citizen of any country bestows rights...and OBLIGATIONS! Our system has, in recent years been marked by either complacency and the feeling that all is well and others will take care of it... OR... disgust and frustration as voting didn't seem to change anything. The result has been lower and lower participation making election buying, influencing, disrupting,skulduggery and discounting all the more easier....and cheaper than it should be.
Either through lack of confidence or overconfidence in our democratic system we let our guard down, big money and foreign interests siezed the chance and are exploiting it in full to impose their interests over the people's needs. We let it happen, watched it progress and bemoaned its symptomes. Trump was a catastrophy that has been trying to happen for 175 years.
Absenteeism on election day and not making oneself stand up and be counted is very positively correlated with increasing income inequality around the world. Treating corporations as people and corporate money as free speech was the opening of the door to the stable....the horse that has bolted has names such as Koch, Bradley, Olin, Scaife.....and of course Trump, DeVos, Putin and many others. Off-loading the Fairness Doctrine in Media gave them the voice to sell their lies and propaganda. Gun ownership and the propagation of Bush's DHS' s "circle-the-wagons" mentality has given them the foot soldiers to enchain the people. We need now to take a leaf out of the book that is being written by the Byelorussian people and before them the Ukrainians and metaphoricaly "take to the streets" in defiance of the traiterous dictators guns. The people will have to go out and defend the mail-in ballots, the polling stations, the vote counting process and the declaration of TRUE results and there afterward the swearing-in of a truly elected President. Trump can only win if people sit back, moan, grumble and regret that he's got away with it. Get out there!
Analysis of the fall of the Roman Republic cites increasing political disengagement by the Roman citizens as a major cause of the eventual failure. With both Rome and Greece, things become perilous when a democracy becomes an empire and rules autocratically outside its borders overseas while trying to maintain the old ways within the "republic." Gresham's Law of Money (bad money drives out good) works in politics also, and empires tend to bring their authoritarian ways overseas back home.
I somehow didn't think that we would sink to the level of peplum. Our current "Nero" can't even play the fiddle! But we are getting the same oscillation between "republic" and "empire" that characterized their decline and fall. I hate to think who will play the role of Attila and whether we can hope for a new Justinian !
This letter was very difficult to read. So much reason to feel anxious and worried about the future of this country. On the other hand, I was heartened this morning that the organization for which I volunteer, Postcards to Voters, has begun a writing campaign for Amy McGrath. I couldn't grab a handful of addresses fast enough. That is the one campaign I will watch more carefully than most. As important as the presidential election is, we must also fight/vote for those down the ballot who can help bring some calm to the shit storm that is currently being played out.
The person I’m charge of our group buys them in bulk, so maybe google search blank postcards. I also buy them pre-paid directly from the post office. Either way you have to pay postage!
"...And, in what was perhaps an accident, in South Carolina, voters’ sample ballots did not include Democratic candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris..."
Dear Heather: RE "perhaps an accident," I often wish I could see you as you write each carefully-phrased, non-incendiary letter, even as your hair burns. I wish I possessed your helpful self-control. Seriously.
Man I know the feeling! Helping a new teacher write a letter to her first angry parent! The need to tell it like it is- your child is no angel! Replaced with I’m so confused as to how this could happen since your child doesn’t sit anywhere near little Johnny! I told the newbie teacher just end by reminding a parent we’re on the same side caring for the child! And blind copy admin! Like I tell my Repub friends, we’re all still Americans. Long term we’re on the same side!
I dined w two friend acquaintances yesterday who became convinced that the black family in front of us were trying to undermine our interests in getting a table. I tried to explain that there was nothing in their behavior to indicate that to which one of them got very angry at me and told me to face reality and that the blacks were out to get us and people were letting them do so. Later one commented about “your Democratic leaders” as if I was somehow at fault for the state of the country because I was a Democrat. These people were demeaning and self-righteous. Something I had never seen in them before. That will be the last get together with them for sure. I saw ugly defensive uninformed misinformed people and it shook me as I gave them more credit. I live in the northeast and I’m scared I’ve become the minority.
This has been my experience on several occasions. You’re experience is an example of why I answered HCR’s question about how I think I will look back on 2020. Here was my response: Here’s how I think I will look back on 2020. It is the year that relationships, friendships and the standards of trust were refined.
I live in Texas, so I’ve felt that sting many times of a friend’s true colors! A family member bought a swastika! A co worker suggested a family get an American name. Someone told me go home if I’m afraid of the covid hoax. I found a group and some friends that are like minded to sustain me. I figure I’ve lived 58 years before I knew some of them, I’ll be fine another 58 without them!
Same here. I argued with misguided friends who supported this disgusting asswipe in 2016, but on Nov. 9th I did a purge. They are not friends and I cut off all contact with them.
I’m seeing this too. The propaganda is so effective it’s just shocking! How many times I have thought surely this is the last straw and people will see thru the crazy only to find someone else I could never have imagined doing so succumbed to it.
I had a conversation with a friend the other day about how to prepare for the possibility of a (greater) crisis post-election: stock up on necessities? Cash? Be ready for mass protests? How would we have wanted to be prepared if it were France in the summer of 1939?
I actually put myself through a thought exercise that I told a conservative Republican friend who doesn't think she could vote for Biden because her taxes would increase. I told her I would vote for Hitler before I would vote for DT. She was shocked.
Remind your friend that historically the stock market does much better under Democratic than Republican presidents. If she is not well off enough for that to more than offset tax increases, then she wouldn't have them.
The Maginot line was totally useless! The German army just went round it by going through Belgium. That is what happens when you rely on good intentions, kind thoughts and pious trust in our dear leaders.
Be carefull, In times of chaos, prudence and forethought are obviously essential ....but mass buying of "essential stores" tends to create the very shortage you're afraid of ....when everybody tries to do it at the same time.
I have already started, but I was thinking of a spike in covid as fall/winter and flu season arrives. Hadn’t yet been able to bring myself to think about the lived reality of a post-election crisis. Guess it’s time to face it.
I am in tears first thing this morning reading today's "Letters", but it is not your fault to bring this to us. We together can alter the course that seems inevitable, but, yes, it is frightening. Thank you.
While voting and getting others to vote is our primary means of defending democracy at this critical juncture, we must also support those behind the scenes who are working day in and day out in the courtrooms of America to blunt Trump's demolition derby. Here are four efforts that merit your money right this instant:
One well-known defender of our Constitution, our rights, and our cherished traditions is the American Civil Liberties Union: https://www.aclu.org/. You will find a dozen or more areas where they could use your active support and involvement.
The same is true for The Brennan Center for Justice: https://www.brennancenter.org/. It was founded by legendary civil rights attorney Burt Neuborne who previously served as chief counsel for ACLU. A few minutes on the Brennan Center website will stir your soul and bolster your confidence that help is on the way…if you help them do it.
Michelle Obama is a founder and leading light of “When We All Vote” which is doing powerful work to enroll voters and ensure that they have a fair chance to cast a ballot. People say that working with this organization is very rewarding: https://www.whenweallvote.org/
A seasoned champion of election-integrity, Marc Elias, demonstrates ways for you, too, to help protect this most vital of all the pillars of “democracy”. His work is immediate, vital, crucial to rebut Trump’s demolition of voting. Join up with him here: https://www.democracydocket.com
Writing checks is better than wringing our hands. 😎
Former Republican here (don’t hate on me 😉)... I have auto-contributed to ACLU and ActBlue every month since Trump hijacked our country. Thanks for the other links.
How could anyone ever hate on what the so-called-“Christian” evangelicals might refer to as a repentant sinner? 🙏❤️😎
ActBlue has gotten a lot of my money
Lol. I don't dare look at my ActBlue contribution history very often. What a brilliant organizing tool ActBlue is!
Yep! I look at it this way, though: If we don't prevail, at least I have less money for "them" to get from me!
me too!
These are great suggestions - I so agree that taking action, writing checks in support of candidates and organizations like these, or volunteering at the polls is so much better than hand wringing. My first stint as an election officer at my local polling place was November 2016 - I'll be back at it this year
I volunteered as a poll worker after the 2016 election and have worked every election since, including town ones -- most recently the MA primary on September 1. My town clerk loves me because (1) I don't need to be reminded, and (2) I don't mind showing up at 6:45 in the morning. ;-)
In the context of my donations. I am wondering how and when we became Consumer Voters, where sending money is so important?
An absolutely brilliant question. I could make guesses, but let me throw this to some of my better informed friends.
As far as why sending money is so important, I suspect it had something to do with the Citizens United SCOTUS decision. The cost of running a contested campaign, even for way-down-ballot races, has gone through the roof. Btw, what do you mean by "Consumer Voters"? How is donating to a campaign "consuming" it?
I am being increasingly treated as consumer. I can't step out my door in Manhattan without paying for most things. Daily life has been monetized. Notice what has happened to museums, as an example.
Now I repeatedly contribute for political candidates and causes, but vote only once. Which is becoming more important?
I still don't understand how this makes you a consumer -- or how contributing to candidates and causes is the same as paying to get into a museum. Maybe you have two separate questions going here? IMO, contributing to candidates and causes is like volunteering for candidates and causes: it makes you a participant in the electoral process and/or, more generally, civic life.
Thanks for these concrete suggestions.
This empowered me:
“ So we should definitely worry.
But should we despair? Absolutely not.
Convincing people the game is over is one of the key ways dictators take power. . . .”
Me, too. Thanks, Heather.
That caught my eye too.
My God. I love your commentary and how you put everything in perspective. However, this one really wore me out and saddened me. I can only hope that enough of us can reach out to others and make enough of a difference to keep him from again stealing an election. Thanks for keeping up the good
fight.
I read this post last night just before I went to bed and found it to be the scariest post I'd seen. It led to a restless night, but in my insomnia-addled brain, I came up with a new approach, a new way to win against this evil. Laughter. Think Harry Potter's Riddikulus!
I hope you will be patient with me. This is long and I haven't slept much, but hear me out.
In my in insomnia-hazy state, I thought about Michael Moore and Bill Bryson. Two creators who can present facts to us in an engaging and humorous manner.
I thought about collecting all of the videos and tweets of the tRUMPus in which he says something so ridiculous it would be laughable if it weren't so horrible. Nothing in which he insults anyone. Nothing containing derogatory or inflammatory statements. I realize that cuts out the majority of them but we still have a good selection.
Here are a few: I welcome any suggestions.
--when he told us all that Mexico was going to pay for the wall.
--during the 2016 debates, when he told Hillary that he didn't pay any taxes and then soon after followed that with a statement that the first thing he would do as President would be to give the wealthy a tax break (Why, oh why, didn't she at that time say "Donald, if you already pay zero taxes, why would you need a tax break?" She might have nipped this all in the bud right then. Sorry, I digress.)
--his boasting about the number of people at his inauguration
--KellyAnne Conway inventing the term "alternate facts"
-- him telling us to inject disinfectant and drink bleach
--masks make him look bad
--coronavirus will go away soon “[infections are] going to be down to close to zero. One day, it’s like a miracle. It will disappear.”
--when referring to his daily corona test,he said he tested postively negatively
--when everyone laughed at him at the UN
--here is a list of more: https://www.shortlist.com/news/most-ridiculous-trump-quotes-ever
I would name this campaign "Donnie, sometimes the TRUTH HURTS."
---
My thought is to find someone who knows how to collect these, and could contact Moore and Bryson to ask them to add their genius and wit in combining them with other important factual information (Perhaps, for instance, comparing the actual Mexican and American dollars spent on the wall. ) And have them create about a 15- or 20-minute video.
My idea is on some night in October have this video projected onto walls and buildings around the country. And on YouTube of course.
The following advertisement arose in my brain:
Stressed from stay-at-home orders?
Depressed over losing your job?
Too angry to watch the news?
We have an answer:
LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE!
The protests aren't working so well, what about a Laugh-Fest!
Admission cost: One mask on your face.
No pitchforks allowed.
---
And we all go and we bring all of our friends and we LAUGH AT HIM! And then the next night we show the video somewhere else and go and laugh at him again. And the next night and the next.
October could be a happier time than now for those now being driven insane.
I think I week of news clips of people laughing at him might be his undoing.
Anyway, if you don't like this idea, no worries. It is all just midnight-mushed-brain-addled-musings.
Thanks for reading. And I hope you find something to laugh about today.
A "Laugh Out" as political strategy!! Love it. He hates even the thought that he is being laughed at. Not a shred of a self -deprecating sense of humor in him. It is too bad he has so dangerously conflated himself with the role of President, which role we will have to claw our way back to re-fill with respect after this great Hollowing Out. One of my great learnings in this time is that character in a President does matter. No President is perfect but this one has put us way out on the negative end of that spectrum.
This is a GREAT idea!!!!!
Here are a couple of collections assembled by others to add to the list of tRump's gaffs, lies, and outrageous moments:
https://youtu.be/xecEV4dSAXE
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlaeirHJpns
Thanks for those links. Made my day!
Some of you may have noticed that I like the use of 'pins' to pop balloons. I kept thinking he was overfilling his balloon, and surely it just Had to pop soon! I'm afraid we've let it grow too big, and when it finally pops, it'll frighten the horses! No matter what, we need to soldier on, laugh when we're able, calm the horses, and help Joe and Kamala keep the horses from a runaway!
Over the last 4 years I have become aware of how falsely safe I have felt In the security of our democracy. Never could I have imagined that it could be ripped to shreds the way it has been, even though I saw early in 2016 that this psychopath was a danger to us. My confidence was falsely placed in our citizenship. I did not foresee the darkness within us on this scale. Seem like it’s pretty much 40% of us?
Heather’s quote from Honest Abe: “Ordinary Americans “rose each fighting, grasping whatever he could first reach---a scythe---a pitchfork-- a chopping axe, or a butcher's cleaver,” he said.” scares the crap out of me. Trump has sent out emails offering camo hats for sale (remember “his hats symbolize hoods”) to his exclusive “Trump army” to fight against the liberal mob. They are masters of symbolism, which in part is the hook they set for people’s emotions and loyalty. What percentage of “Trump’s army” is in possession of multiple assault rifles and endless ammunition? Military leaders have reassured us that if Biden is duly elected he will assume power Jan. 20 despite whether Trump wants to relinquish it or not. I’m concerned for Nov. and Dec. and much of January. If Trump loses, his “army” will be the ones grabbing what they have (assault rifles). He’s made it very clear that laws and accountability do not apply to him and his. He will still legally hold power over our military during those months. Will they keep citizens safe from his own personal armed militia? There are reports that the militias have infiltrated police forces around the country and we have certainly seen some of the results of that in real time lately. Someone else suggested the national guard could be called upon to protect citizens from Trump’s personal militia forces.
I am not bringing this up to frighten people. This is not drama for the sake of drama. I ask this because I do not want to continue to be unprepared for what is in front of us. Too many of us have denied the evil psychopathy and capability of trump and his goons. I think we need to broaden our mind to just what their intentions are (after all, just because they are broadcasting it in the light of day, we have learned the hard way they are not joking). I want to be prepared for what lies ahead and I want our leaders to be prepared for multiple different pathological actions by this group of proven wannabe tyrants. What will our country look like if Trump loses Nov. 3rd and then puts out a dog whistle to his personal, already recruited, “army” (militia) during the lame duck period?
I’m very worried about the lame duck period.
Yes! It keeps me up at night. What may be more dangerous than Trump winning, is Trump losing. 😳
Christy, I am 68 and am paralyzed with fear! I live in a Red, rural county where everyone has guns. It IS a small town, so I hope people will behave like good neighbors. However, It's not Mayberry, RFD and our Peninsula cannot hold out forever.
I keep taking up air with the Repub friends I talk to and remind them we really want the same things. And the thing standing between us is just propaganda. Fear stoked to divide us. I actually had one try to give me a hug but I said I’m good mask denier! And tell me she loves me! Wow! Once you can let them see you’re not out to get them, it starts to crack the shell. A friend I’ve had since I was three I told him his propaganda post only set us all up for failure. His friends attacked me! I rebutted, notice he didn’t attack me! Why? Because he’s like a brother and would indeed protect me! He took the post down. Get out! Take up air! Take up space! Remind them who you are! A friend! It feels good to do something instead of living in fear!
I’m trying to do the same. Thankful that my brother could see the light 🙏 I can’t say we want the same things to a Trump supporter. Maybe could pick a single issue and say I want that too, though.
That’s a place to start! We all want security, a home, a meal on the table, good schools for our kids. They definitely go after it in a more aggressive way! Just trying to undo the brainwashing.
Any of us who don't want oligarchy at everyone's expense, can agree on feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, healing the sick. If that's too biblical, we also agree on educating the children, repairing the roads, taking care of the old. Most of the country agrees on most of what we need to do, although not on exactly how to do it.
I just had an FB acquaintance defriend me because I told her in a private message that her post about Joe Biden being a child molester was bogus and was a prominent part of the QAnon conspiracy theory.
She told me I was a bleeding-heart liberal, QAnon was real, and that my adherence to mask-wearing and social distancing was helping to destroy the economy. I did not know what to say back other than I disagreed with her and that she should fact check her posts. It did not matter, she defriended me.
I have an ultra-conservative next-door neighbor that is a retired policeman. I go out to water my Red Tip Photinia early in the morning, hoping to avoid him. He opens his garage door and voila! I endure an hour of Biden-shaming: Biden will increase taxes, open the borders, and destroy America. I do not know where to begin. If anyone should worry about another Trump term, it is my neighbor, a person collecting a pension.
Mitch McConnell would love it if our Democratic state would collapse but it would take massive changes in legislation for a state to go into bankruptcy because currently, they cannot. With a second Trump term, who knows? But if it came to it, the consequences would be most dramatic for state pensioners and bondholders. Union contracts could be rewritten, and a state than might re-negotiate its existing pension benefits. My neighbor’s pension and other pensions would go the way of the dodo and Social Security.
I have found that I cannot tell Republican acquaintances/neighbors anything remotely progressive. They do not want to hear a contrary opinion. So I keep my mouth shut. I am thankful for being able to make comments here, read others’ comments, and know that I am not alone in my experiences.
oy. Some people are operating in an imaginary world. The worst thing that could happen, for them as well as for us, would be for TrumpBarr and the QAnoners to continue on their present course. You are definitely not alone.
Unfortunately, I share your view of America should the current administration( I can’t bring myself to even give his name a presence here) be voted out. It terrifies me, and is beginning to cause me an almost paralyzing anxiety.
HOW HAVE WE COME TO THIS?!?!
If we become paralyzed with fear we lose. That is exactly what they are hoping for. This is why I say we should mentally prepare ourselves and be ready and understand what our resources are and can be now and not be left standing there with our jaws around our knees or cowering in our homes
Sobering commentary tonight, Heather. And I think more and more that we are NOT in for a smooth transition if Trump loses. The Republican machinery will kick into gear (and the militias will appear---accidental rhyme :-) ) and the post election confrontation will begin. I hope that the Democrats are assembling a LARGE army of lawyers across the country (and many assistants) to challenge aggressively the Republican dirty tricks at every turn---during voting and during vote counts. Read Greg Palast, everyone, and realize that past elections have been stolen, and we are careening into another crisis point (I feel like I'm writing on the edge of conspiracy theories but the stolen votes/elections are real.) The last great hope is the American people and what checks and balances we have left. Our government at the present is falling apart (or rather being taken apart) before our eyes. One last comment----one has finally got to realize that Trump's tweets are words detached from reality; he is selling himself as the product; there is nothing else; he has no programs (when he says a vaccine is coming soon, that has no basis in fact---it is his verbal fantasy; when he says there will be "great reports" and other things, it is again mere verbiage). Heather has quoted many in the post tonight. We are living in an alternate universe conjured up by Republican turncoats and circus barkers.
I'm reminded of a period in history I just wrote a book about: the six months between the attack on Pearl Harbor and the US victory at Midway. Most people, when they think of that time, think "unrelieved defeat and darkness." And yes, there was a lot of defeat and darkness, but every day of that time, people who would never before have believed themselves capable of what they did, did things that in the end changed things around. Even in defeat, their example was - as FDR said it to General Wainwright on receiving his message that he was forced to surrender in the Philippines - "the guarantee of victory." Which they were. But the whole thing depended on people just putting their heads down and pushing on, regardless of the way things looked, regardless of the news, regardless of the evidence of their own eyes. And in the end, they stopped the unstoppable force. When I re-read the book this past February to write an author's forward, I realized that two years ago I had tapped into today's zeitgeist - if we follow their example, we've got a good chance of achieving a similar result. So, as I used to have on my coffeecup in the Navy, on one side "Bastardi non attritari" and on the other "Illegitimi non carborundum." It's still good advice.
Don't let the Bastards Grind You Down! My watch word...
Ransom Rideout, I wrote that one down. Because the other day, the "Bastards" tried. I volunteered to do "text banking" for the Michigan Democratic party. The polls have been good for Biden in Michigan, however you would never know from my sample. The text was trying to determine if they were going to vote absentee. It appeared many of the names on my list were from the area. I recognized many of the names. Well, between a third to half were "stop", not surprising. However, a majority of remaining responses were f--k you, f--k off, and Trump 2020. Well, that took the wind out of my sails😢. Now my community is rather conservative, so I am trying not to let the Bastards grind me down. Maybe responses from the rest of the state reflects the polling. The minority of positive responses also gave me a glimmer of hope along with a "buck up" from a friend who is a veteran phone and text banker. She said responses like that are not uncommon in the beginning. Now, I was getting close to the grinder last night when I talked to a member of the Michigan Democratic party. He called to confirm I planned to text bank Tuesday night. I said I was, however I expressed my concern that my responses from the other night did not reflect the polls. He said we needed to find that one Democratic voter. My thought was we need to find a lot of Democratic voters. That said I am glad Biden is coming to Michigan this week 😊
Sharon, I did over 900 texts in that campaign in the last few days. Only got one F..k you, a number of Trump 2020, but not that many. Keep volunteering and thank you.
Carole, Today was another bad day, but I don't care the a$$hole has to go
Sharon, I am sending you positive energy and warm support.
Carole, thanks so much it is appreciated ❤️ I am text banking later today. Let the games begin
I have been writing get out the vote letters through votefwd.org. Dependent on the letters arriving during the right time window, which will be tricky this year, they expect these letters to make a 3% difference. That means that the 360 letters my 96 yr old mom and I have taken on so far, investing lots of time and over $150 postage, would get another 11 people to vote. Doesn't look like much. But if you look at the 5.36 million letters being written so far by all the people involved, that is potentially 160,800 additional votes in swing states - more than enough to have changed the result in 2016. Keep going. Judy Small sang it very well years ago, we need every voice in the crowd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nvbYlmdYS0
Good for you and your mom
Mine, too.
Gotta love authors who don't remember to advertise their books! (I'm guilty of this, too.) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084JP7242/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1
The cover didn't populate here. It's called I Will Run Wild: The Pacific War from Pearl Harbor to Midway. :)
God, as they say, takes care of those who take care of themselves. :-)
Amazingly enough, for a book that started life as a background chapter in a different book (Under The Southern Cross, coming next May), this book has gained unexpected recognition, getting an "a must read" starred review from Kirkus Reviews (which my publisher immediately plastered on the cover).
Zeitgeist of the time from my dad’s recollection after Pearl Harbor was a lot of men enlisting to “go over and kick the Japs’ butts before breakfast.” Seemed it took a lot longer, but we were also united back then.
Thomas M Cleaver, has your book been published yet. If not, when!
"I Will Run Wild: the Pacific War from Pearl Harbor to Midway" is officially released on September 17, and is available for pre-order (at the "best seller" price, a good bargain) at Amazon now.
Ah. Here you go. I'll stop teasing you! :)
I just pre-ordered the Kindle version. Looking forward to reading it.
Thank you. I do hope most of those here will order the very nice book-book hardbound edition, since the author's royalties are better on those than on the e-books.
Sorry, I am a Kindle person. I don't like books piled around the house.
Oh now, don't worry. I'm happy for every sale. Writers are luddites by nature. And yeah, I've come to the realization its time to box up some more books. Too bad with the Covid that I can't take them over to the local library for their used book sales. :-)
I'll get your book Thomas, the hard bound version. I recently watched Midway (2019 version) and Grey Hound (2020). Out of curiously how closely does it hem to actual reality of what really happened ?
The movie "Midway" has very little to do with the actual battle in terms of what really happened. The real character of Dick Best (my good friend the last 10 years of his life) is the polar opposite of the "Joisey boy rebel" created for the movie. In fact, my book is the movie you wanted to see (as a former screenwriter, my books are frequently reviewed as "reading a good movie"). To put it bluntly, the movie is crap, and I told Roland Emmerich as much when I had a meeting with him and heard what story he wanted to tell.
Greyhound is an adaptation of the C.S. Forrester novel "The Good Shepherd" (Forester is the novelist who did all the Horatio Hornblower tales of the Napoleonic naval wars). As such, it does not relate to any specific convoy event, but it is a very accurate presentation of what life would be like as a destroyer escorting a convoy. The one drawback, to me, is that the computerized effects look like computerized effects. If you want to see a more realistic take on a destroyer vs U-boat battle, I strongly recommend "The Enemy Below" (1957), written by my screenwriting mentor, the late Wendell Mayes. Wendell served in the Navy in combat in WW2, and it shows in the underlying realism and verisimilitude (also done on a real destroyer at sea, not one tied up to a dock). Greyhound is probably as good as a movie on that topic can be nowadays, since none of those ships can go to sea anymore and have to be done with computers.
If you want to see a movie that accurately shows what a naval surface battle of WW2 was really like, I hihgly recommend "The Battle of the River Plate" (1952) (which you can now find on YouTube) the story of three British cruisers up against the German pocket battleship "Graf Spee." Real warships are used, no special effects. One of the ships was actually one of the combatants in the real battle. It stars an unrecognizable Peter Finch in his first film role as the German Captain, Ludendorf. It's highly accurate historically and technically (as were most British war movies of the 1950s).
I’m Naval Academy class of 1971 and Raymond Spruance was a friend of my father. I spent a wonderful day with the Admiral while on leave and he went through the genesis of the battle and it’s planning. He was a military genius but understated unlike Halsey and Nimitz. The movie made him look like an errand boy. Disgusting.
If you read my other two books on the Pacific War, "Pacific Thunder" and "Tidal Wave," you will find I am a fellow "Spruance Man." His ability to keep the Big Picture in mind and keep his ego under control, was why he won Midway, where Halsey would have dashed on west that night and run right into Yamamoto's ambush. "The Battle of Bull's Run," where Halsey dropped the ball at Leyte and exposed the invasion to potential destruction to go sink the Japanese carriers (that were a sacrifice) demonstrates the difference. I always liked the story about the kamikaze hitting Spruance's flagship at Okinawa and he couldn't be found. The Flag Lieutenant looked everywhere and found him manning a hose line to fight the fires on the boat deck, just another crew member. I would have loved to be you and to have met him. Nimitz was pretty understated too - he had to be to negotiate all the egos at PacFleet HQ.
My 94 yo father has seen a lot in his years but he said he won’t survive another trump term. He currently scours the news and sends news articles to his group about this tyranny. I get about 5 emails a day and smile when I see them as I know he is hanging in there.
Democracy in Ancient Greece required every citizen to participate actively all of the time. Their definition of citizenship was not ours of course but we do have, and need to protect from Trump's predations, ours. Being a citizen of any country bestows rights...and OBLIGATIONS! Our system has, in recent years been marked by either complacency and the feeling that all is well and others will take care of it... OR... disgust and frustration as voting didn't seem to change anything. The result has been lower and lower participation making election buying, influencing, disrupting,skulduggery and discounting all the more easier....and cheaper than it should be.
Either through lack of confidence or overconfidence in our democratic system we let our guard down, big money and foreign interests siezed the chance and are exploiting it in full to impose their interests over the people's needs. We let it happen, watched it progress and bemoaned its symptomes. Trump was a catastrophy that has been trying to happen for 175 years.
Absenteeism on election day and not making oneself stand up and be counted is very positively correlated with increasing income inequality around the world. Treating corporations as people and corporate money as free speech was the opening of the door to the stable....the horse that has bolted has names such as Koch, Bradley, Olin, Scaife.....and of course Trump, DeVos, Putin and many others. Off-loading the Fairness Doctrine in Media gave them the voice to sell their lies and propaganda. Gun ownership and the propagation of Bush's DHS' s "circle-the-wagons" mentality has given them the foot soldiers to enchain the people. We need now to take a leaf out of the book that is being written by the Byelorussian people and before them the Ukrainians and metaphoricaly "take to the streets" in defiance of the traiterous dictators guns. The people will have to go out and defend the mail-in ballots, the polling stations, the vote counting process and the declaration of TRUE results and there afterward the swearing-in of a truly elected President. Trump can only win if people sit back, moan, grumble and regret that he's got away with it. Get out there!
Analysis of the fall of the Roman Republic cites increasing political disengagement by the Roman citizens as a major cause of the eventual failure. With both Rome and Greece, things become perilous when a democracy becomes an empire and rules autocratically outside its borders overseas while trying to maintain the old ways within the "republic." Gresham's Law of Money (bad money drives out good) works in politics also, and empires tend to bring their authoritarian ways overseas back home.
I somehow didn't think that we would sink to the level of peplum. Our current "Nero" can't even play the fiddle! But we are getting the same oscillation between "republic" and "empire" that characterized their decline and fall. I hate to think who will play the role of Attila and whether we can hope for a new Justinian !
💙
This letter was very difficult to read. So much reason to feel anxious and worried about the future of this country. On the other hand, I was heartened this morning that the organization for which I volunteer, Postcards to Voters, has begun a writing campaign for Amy McGrath. I couldn't grab a handful of addresses fast enough. That is the one campaign I will watch more carefully than most. As important as the presidential election is, we must also fight/vote for those down the ballot who can help bring some calm to the shit storm that is currently being played out.
BTW, I sent a donation to Amy McGrath yesterday
Pam Peterson, I signed to write letters to people about voting. I got twenty names from Texas. I hope to sign up to do more.
I’m in a postcard therapy group! We zoom while we write! I only got about a hundred done but it felt good to do something positive!
Denise, I would love to do postcards too. Where do you get the cards
http://www.grandmothersforabrighterfuture.com/ (postcards)
votefwd.com (letter templates)
The person I’m charge of our group buys them in bulk, so maybe google search blank postcards. I also buy them pre-paid directly from the post office. Either way you have to pay postage!
I already did 20 for GA. Stamped and ready to go. Hope the voters are still on the state’s registry. 🤨
Marcy Meldahl, I saw that reporting where hundreds of thousands voters were taken off the roles in Georgia. Unbelievable
"...And, in what was perhaps an accident, in South Carolina, voters’ sample ballots did not include Democratic candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris..."
Dear Heather: RE "perhaps an accident," I often wish I could see you as you write each carefully-phrased, non-incendiary letter, even as your hair burns. I wish I possessed your helpful self-control. Seriously.
Man I know the feeling! Helping a new teacher write a letter to her first angry parent! The need to tell it like it is- your child is no angel! Replaced with I’m so confused as to how this could happen since your child doesn’t sit anywhere near little Johnny! I told the newbie teacher just end by reminding a parent we’re on the same side caring for the child! And blind copy admin! Like I tell my Repub friends, we’re all still Americans. Long term we’re on the same side!
I dined w two friend acquaintances yesterday who became convinced that the black family in front of us were trying to undermine our interests in getting a table. I tried to explain that there was nothing in their behavior to indicate that to which one of them got very angry at me and told me to face reality and that the blacks were out to get us and people were letting them do so. Later one commented about “your Democratic leaders” as if I was somehow at fault for the state of the country because I was a Democrat. These people were demeaning and self-righteous. Something I had never seen in them before. That will be the last get together with them for sure. I saw ugly defensive uninformed misinformed people and it shook me as I gave them more credit. I live in the northeast and I’m scared I’ve become the minority.
This has been my experience on several occasions. You’re experience is an example of why I answered HCR’s question about how I think I will look back on 2020. Here was my response: Here’s how I think I will look back on 2020. It is the year that relationships, friendships and the standards of trust were refined.
I live in Texas, so I’ve felt that sting many times of a friend’s true colors! A family member bought a swastika! A co worker suggested a family get an American name. Someone told me go home if I’m afraid of the covid hoax. I found a group and some friends that are like minded to sustain me. I figure I’ve lived 58 years before I knew some of them, I’ll be fine another 58 without them!
Same here. I argued with misguided friends who supported this disgusting asswipe in 2016, but on Nov. 9th I did a purge. They are not friends and I cut off all contact with them.
I’m seeing this too. The propaganda is so effective it’s just shocking! How many times I have thought surely this is the last straw and people will see thru the crazy only to find someone else I could never have imagined doing so succumbed to it.
I encourage readers to check out indivisible.org and get involved in efforts to encourage voting and protecting the vote.
I had a conversation with a friend the other day about how to prepare for the possibility of a (greater) crisis post-election: stock up on necessities? Cash? Be ready for mass protests? How would we have wanted to be prepared if it were France in the summer of 1939?
I actually put myself through a thought exercise that I told a conservative Republican friend who doesn't think she could vote for Biden because her taxes would increase. I told her I would vote for Hitler before I would vote for DT. She was shocked.
Remind your friend that historically the stock market does much better under Democratic than Republican presidents. If she is not well off enough for that to more than offset tax increases, then she wouldn't have them.
Nice point. I'll give it a try. Just don't understand why character doesn't matter.
Same emergency supplies as always (especially remember the pets); reimagine a better Maginot Line...
The Maginot line was totally useless! The German army just went round it by going through Belgium. That is what happens when you rely on good intentions, kind thoughts and pious trust in our dear leaders.
Be carefull, In times of chaos, prudence and forethought are obviously essential ....but mass buying of "essential stores" tends to create the very shortage you're afraid of ....when everybody tries to do it at the same time.
Indeed, that's why it can only be re-imagined!
Prolly best to stock up on toilet paper NOW, just in case we have to go through THAT again.
🤣😂
Please don't. That just creates contention.
I have already started, but I was thinking of a spike in covid as fall/winter and flu season arrives. Hadn’t yet been able to bring myself to think about the lived reality of a post-election crisis. Guess it’s time to face it.
Great summary, Heather. As inspiring as your final note is, I think I’m going to breakfast on Tums this morning....
That’s what I should stock won! Tums! 😊
I meant stock up on
I am in tears first thing this morning reading today's "Letters", but it is not your fault to bring this to us. We together can alter the course that seems inevitable, but, yes, it is frightening. Thank you.