Today's Political Post

 A few more thoughts:

--Thinking of the family and friends of Capitol officer Brian Sicknick. May they be comforted. (And lower the flag even if #45 doesn't order it!)

--Impeachment! In fact, I can't believe it takes a second impeachment to implement the loss of his benefits and ability to be elected again.

--And charge all those who spoke at the rally to incite violence and insurrection.

--While many of the images I've seen of the attack are of costumed white men acting up--carrying podiums, sitting at desks, taking selfies, wearing horns--and some of the stories have been infantile (smearing feces everywhere), make no mistake that the real intent of many of the rioters was deadly. Reports indicate they were looking to execute VP Pence and the threats to Democratic lawmakers like Pelosi and AOC were real. So were the bombs and molotov cocktails discovered elsewhere. Some of the terrorists now claim that they merely walked through an open door at the Capitol, just to look around, and the Capitol Police should have done a better job of keeping them out then! Don't let them gaslight us with what we know many were there to do. That some people just followed along is no defense. Arrest and charge them. I'm not a lawyer, but it has to be criminal trespass or something, even if they weren't armed. And for those caught on video chanting threats within the building, press the more serious charges. And find who killed Officer Sickkick.

--I'm glad to see that there are other consequences, namely losing employment, for those captured on video or TV interviews. And I support those who are working to recognize the terrorists. For people who cite the First Amendment, it is surprising they don't know it--free speech is ONLY protected from government oppression, not private or commercial enterprises. This has been supported at the highest judicial levels numerous times (again, not a lawyer and can't quote precedents.) Breaking into a public building and threatening violence and wrecking destruction are not free speech. Yes, they can be fired for such terrorist activities. Yes, I think they should be.

--Same for #45. I think it was about time that social media blocked him. He has a whole fucking press corps who could carry his messages. But the platforms weren't going to do it because it made money for them by attracting followers and they wanted the cover from his and his followers' retribution. I'm glad he's off Twitter, etc.

--I won't even dignify all those "It was Antifa" excuses. Nope.

--And, yes, this is "who we are"--racist, violent, narcissistic, close-minded, stubborn. We are also those who decry such activities. But many of those opposed to #45 and broader white supremacy etc have not been active or loud enough in opposition, myself included. This must change. It's never to late to stand up and so "no more."

--Those "Jesus saves" signs surprise some Christians. It is very little surprise to those of us outside of Christianity. Christian identity has long been in lock-step with American exceptionalism and nationalism. We need to strengthen the separation between church and state and go after the protected, non-profit status of congregations whose pulpits brazenly preach politics.

--I am grateful for Heather Cox Richardson. She is light in the darkness with her explanations of events and historical precedents, even if oftentimes her news is still awful.

Political Musings

 

Some thoughts on Thursday, January 7:

--White privilege was on full display at the Capitol yesterday. BIPOC protesters would have been slaughtered.

--This was clearly another battle of the Civil War, which has not ended in the minds of so many. I hated seeing the Texas flag along side the Confederate one, but not surprised. I was actually surprised there wasn't more Neo-Nazi insignia (though, there was the Camp Auschwitz shirt.) And the Vikings were there, too. It was a free-for-all for any white Christian Nationalist identity that appeals to 20-40 yo white males (and yes, some women.)

--25th Amendment for #45 and sedition charges for terrorists.

--Yes, terrorists.

--It's too little too late, Mitch McConnell. You get no points.

--Why are there videos of Capitol police opening the barricades to these terrorists? Were there some sympathizers? I'd like to see more about what happened. But clearly the Capitol police were outmanned and most did a courageous thing in trying to protect our Capitol.

--I imagine the win of the two GA senators and the idea of Garland for AG were fuel to the fire.

--It could have been so much worse and I expect we will see more violence around the country in the months ahead. Part of me believes that as a nation we are at or approaching rock bottom and that this violence will have turned some away from #45 and his ilk (and not just his wife's social secretary!) In many ways, I think the terrorists will have defeated their own cause.

--There's more swirling in my head but this will do for now.

Here, this morning, I am saddened but not shocked. I am angry and somewhat desirous of punitive, retributive justice. As a family, we had solemn discussions of white supremacy and racists systems, treason and terrorism, and my kids know more about government than I ever did. But day before yesterday, Bud spoke truth to power when one of his teachers used a slur for the virus and the teacher apologized. I have faith in the younger generation, but I'm sorry we've created so much mess and chaos and division for them.

My thoughts this morning, Friday, January 8, 2021:

--In the 21st century, we do not need 2 months between election and inauguration so people can travel by horse or rail to get to DC. Shorten the time! It was shortened before.

--All those resigning cabinet members who have been complicit in #45's misdeeds are only leaving so they don't have to invoke the 25th Amendment and betray their master. They are not having an attack of morals but the need to protect their own skins. No points for you, Elaine Chao. And buh-bye Betsy.

--Where are all of the arrests?

--You go, Nancy Pelosi. Impeach #45 again and disqualify him from further office or we will be facing his return in 4 years. And hearing about it everyday until then.

--Too little too late, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Especially Twitter letting him back on in 12 hours. Still, so far, these are the only repercussions he's faced for sedition.

--What to say about the terrorist who was killed? I am sorry for her family and friends. But, she was knowingly invading a government building in order to interrupt and prevent a Constitutionally required certification, which goes against her oath as a member of the armed forces to uphold the Constitution; this wasn't a question of first amendment protection here. And then she did not comply with orders from law enforcement. Isn't that what white supremacists always say about black people who are shot, suffocated, etc for driving, sleeping, walking, shopping while black? I don't know where it comes from, but I'm hearing a lot about "play stupid games, get stupid prizes." But you can't bring guns and bombs and Molotov cocktails to a protest and expect impunity . . . unless you're white, which is the only reason she was the only terrorist killed. I'm sorry there was any loss of life--particularly now that we are hearing that a police officer has died from injuries.

--I want #45 and all his bullies arrested and tried. And no self-pardons. I think he shouldn't be able to pre-emptively pardon everybody, much less himself. (In fact, the whole presidential pardon thing needs to be re-evaluated.) And I don't want Biden issuing a pardon to heal the nation like Ford did. Nope. I want hearings and I want justice. It's not on the same order of the Nazis, but the Nuremberg trials were important for justice being seen to be done, from the top officials all the way down to the guards. So, from the administration all the way down to complicit Capitol police and that newly-elected WV lawmaker.

Okay, that's my mental purge for this morning. And I haven't really even read the papers yet this morning.

Week One

It's been quite a week.

• The immediate ban on refugees from seven Muslim countries
• Bannon on National Security Council, Chairman of Joint Chiefs out
• The gag order for the EPA, USDA, National Park Service
• The ban on funding for international health programs that offer abortion
• Pulling out of the Pacific Trade partnership
• Building the wall
• Restarting DAPL
• Gutting "Obamacare"/ACA
• Government hiring freeze
• Deleting the LGBT page and climate change page from wh.gov
• Going after the NEA/NEH, Corporation for Public Broadcasting
• Also the Endangered Species Act
• Obsession with size of his inaugural crowds and voter fraud
• Ignoring the Women's March
• Not divesting from his companies
• Not releasing his taxes
• "Alternative facts"

And those are just the ones I'm coming up with right off the top.

I know that dear old Mr. Rogers said, in times of emergency, to look to the helpers.  Here are just a few:

• Dan Rather's News and Guts
• The 2.9 million people at various Women's Marches in the U.S. (and on all seven continents!), including numerous people I know
• Plans for marches by scientists, LGBT pride, and more.
• The alt nps twitter feed
• New Yorkers rushing to JFK to help detained Muslim travelers
• #cuteanimaltweetoff

And so, the first week is over.  I wonder if all of his announcements and executive orders are a strategy to overwhelm and exhaust democrats, liberals, the opposition.   And I am overwhelmed and exhausted by the election and the new presidency.

And I haven't yet figured what to do exactly, besides petitions and phone calls and donations.  But I'm still paying attention.

And I won't be silent.

Stay woke, as they say, people.

Stuck

Thanksgiving is next week and, while I know I have so much to be grateful for, I'm just not feeling it yet.  I'm irksome.  I'm rather disillusioned and disgusted with the whole shebang right now.  I can barely get through my FB feed.  Or the newspaper.  (Though, as a side note, I'm loving all the mischievous  Biden memes.) All the talk of coming together and love on FB is annoying me.  "Love always wins"--yeah, except, you know, the election.  Sometime shit does actually happen and I think we do ourselves a disservice to pretend otherwise.  Random acts of kindness do not erase the real effects of racism, sexism, intolerance, violence, income inequality, environmental collapse, and the like.  For now, I feel like they are pablum to make us feel better that we're not doing more.  And frankly, they make liberal white women (because that's where it seems to be coming from) look silly.  Now, I'm not saying go be an asshole like the President-Elect.  And buying a stranger's cup of coffee is good.  And I do like the safety pin movement because, as a lesbian with biracial children, I appreciate knowing who would support me in the event of conflict.  But I'm looking for a little more practicality and realism than "love."  Especially because that is NOT the game the other team is playing.

I've given this some thought ever since I read an article about why Martin Luther King, Jr and later Barack Obama both looked at Unitarian Universalism and rejected it--its embrace of inherent worth and the search for truth and justice was too positive and didn't address the real losses and real suffering of many communities, particularly African American, both urban and Southern.  The UU focus on the goodness of humans can leave followers at a loss when faced with people who behave dishonestly, selfishly, immorally, violently, illegally, etc.  There have been discussions of why UU kids have trouble when they realize not everyone believes in inherent worth, the interdependent web, and acknowledging the importance of various sources of knowledge, etc.   I think it might be the reason so many UUs now embrace Buddhism--myself included--because it acknowledges suffering and how to address it skillfully.  I think that's one of the reasons I'm frustrated with all the "stronger together" talk now.  I'm sure I'll find a middle ground.

Still, I haven't decided what I want to do about it all.

Well, I have--I'm planning my Thanksgiving menu.

Stand Up for the Lookout

The hateful rhetoric and violent actions in the US these last few weeks and months disturbs me.  More than that: infuriates, disgusts, frightens me.  

I have Martin Niemoller's quotation* in mind:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— 
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— 
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Except, today, with Trump spewing vile, you could substitute Muslims, Mexicans, African Americans, people with disabilities.  Include the vitriol of his followers and add LGBT folk, women, and more.

I don't talk much about it to the kids, except in the most general terms regarding San Bernardino, Planned Parenthood, even Paris.  They know there is hate and violence; we encourage them to look for the good, for the helpers, as the meme about Mr. Rogers encourages. 

It's hard to have hope.  I'd love to turn away from the news, but somehow I feel called to witness what is going on--I am so fortunate not to deal with violence or hatred directly so I don't want to ignore it just because I can.  Even if I don't think it helps much.

Last week, I saw a swastika painted on a lamppost in a local parking lot.  I was horrified.  So hateful, so close to home.  I talked to the store manager; I called the local police.  I called again.  And I went to the precinct.  And I called the management company of the shopping center.  I posted a lot of it on FB to enlist the help and support of my friends to help me get it painted over.  We had plans to paint it ourselves before the first night of Hanukkah.  I had my minister's cell phone number on speed dial in case we got arrested while vandalizing vandalism!  And in 48 hours, it was gone.  The police must have gotten through to the management company who put on a fresh coat of paint.

But town feels a little tainted for me now, just like the country does, with Trump resurrecting horrific ideas reminiscent of the Holocaust and Japanese internment.  It turns my stomach and so, in my own way, I will not be quiet.  Because, sooner rather than later, I belong to one of the groups that the extremists would wipe off the face of the earth.

How will you stand with me?

-=-=-=-=-

*The origins of this poem first have been traced to a speech given by Niemöller on January 6, 1946, to the representatives of the Confessing Church in Frankfurt. There are numerous versions.

Election Day

The only thing I remember about Election Day from my childhood was that we ate our lunches at our desks while the cafeteria was being used for polling.  Sometimes, this meant fetching your cafeteria train and returning to your desk and then taking it back.

I missed voting in Bush v Dukakis by about a month and so cast my first presidential ballot for Bill Clinton.

And I've voted pretty much straight-ticket Democrat since then.

I know, I know, vote for the person, not the party.  But I find that by aligning themselves with a party instead of being independent, politicians are making very clear statements about who they are.  And they eventually support that party, especially in important party-line votes. And when Republicans do it, they vote against my interests--women's rights, gay rights,gun control, higher minimum wage, maternity leave, national healthcare, education, environmental protections (against coal, fracking, Keystone, emissions), voting rights, regulations for banks and financial institutions, separation of church and state . . . . I could go on and on and on.  Anyway, I don't mind voting for a Democratic ticket because I can't ever, ever vote for a Republican.

So, I woke up several times in the night to check the returns for Connecticut's gubernatorial race, but it was too close to call until lunchtime (when the Republican finally conceded.)  Bud, who has asked a lot of questions about elections and politics, asked me this morning, "Mom, will a Republican governor say you can't be married anymore?"   ( He also asked if Mama's job or our lives would be affected if there was a change in minimum wage or healthcare laws.  Gratefully, no.)  Despite all of our assurances, he worries about such things (and so maybe I should quit raging about politics in front of them.)  Thankfully, such things are probably unlikely here in Connecticut.  But the same can't be said for other places, like my home state of Texas.

And so, politics is very personal.  And I will always vote for Democrats.

(But I will say, as such, this election cycle was pretty hard to take.)

An Election Reflection

Okay, so I haven't really gloated about the election.  No high-fives, no I-told-you-so.

Well, except with other Democrats.  

But there are so many of us up here that we just all walked around smiling and nodding to strangers.  

Well, until about 12 hours later when the hurricane hit.

Besides, we're a kinder, gentler electorate and didn't want to pain the disappointed Republicans up here.  

All six of them.

But enough is enough. I've now read article after article about how Karl Rove was surprised, how Linda McMahon was surprised, how even Mitt Romney was surprised.

Don't they read Nate Silver??

No, it seems the GOP had their proverbial heads in the sand this year.  

Or glued to Fox News.

And still do.  Because everything I read tries to guess at why they lost--urban vote?  minorities?  young people?  gays?   Were they too conservative?  Or not conservative enough?  But they had all that red space on the map!  How come they still lost by 126 electoral college and approximately 2 million popular votes?  Apparently, Romney told his backers this week that Obama won because he bought the vote of special interest groups like gays and young people and minorities with his stances on same-sex marriage, college debt, and the Dream Act.  

Can 10% of the population be a niche special interest group?

Are white, conservative, Christians a single special interest group?  And wasn't the GOP trying to buy their votes?  With all of Sheldon Adelson's money?  

See, the thing is, the fact that the GOP doesn't understand how and why they lost is exactly how the Democrats won.  The Republicans are out of touch.  And apparently, based on all the reactions, more so than we Democrats could have possibly dreamt.

For some wonderful reflections on this, see (I'm sure there are more, but these are my recent faves):

• Maureen Dowd on for whom Romney is President 
• Christian Right failure to sway voters
• The best titled article on the election, "Cry Babies and Sore Losers." 
• On Rove out of touch

Month of Gratitude: Voting

Election Day, November, 1884 

by Walt Whitman

If I should need to name, O Western World, your 

   powerfulest scene and show,
'Twould not be you, Niagara--nor you, ye limitless 

   prairies--nor your huge rifts of canyons, Colorado,
Nor you, Yosemite--nor Yellowstone, with all its 

   spasmic geyser-loops ascending to the skies, 

   appearing and disappearing,
Nor Oregon's white cones--nor Huron's belt of mighty 

   lakes--nor Mississippi's stream:
--This seething hemisphere's humanity, as now, 

   I'd name--the still small voice vibrating--America's 

   choosing day,
(The heart of it not in the chosen--the act itself the 

   main, the quadriennial choosing,)
The stretch of North and South arous'd--sea-board 

   and inland--Texas to Maine--the Prairie States--

   Vermont, Virginia, California,
The final ballot-shower from East to West--the 

   paradox and conflict,
The countless snow-flakes falling--(a swordless 

   conflict,
Yet more than all Rome's wars of old, or modern 

   Napoleon's:) the peaceful choice of all,
Or good or ill humanity--welcoming the darker 

   odds, the dross:
--Foams and ferments the wine? it serves to 

   purify--while the heart pants, life glows:
These stormy gusts and winds waft precious ships,
Swell'd Washington's, Jefferson's, Lincoln's sails.

I voted today, taking part in "America's choosing day" with Sis and Bud, who were as excited about the bake sale as the ballot!  They know we support President Obama, but they kept asking why.  And I tried to explain . . . .

I voted for President Obama and the Democratic Party because I am a woman, a mother, a mother of a girl, a mother of children who might be LGBTQ, a lesbian, a married lesbian, a lesbian with a Chinese wife, a member of a bi-racial family, a person with health problems, the wife of a person with health problems, the daughter of parents on Medicare, a sister to healthcare workers, a person outside of mainstream Christian  religion, a person who supports public schools and higher education, a person in the arts not corporate America, a person who believes in federal funding for the arts and museums, a vegetarian, a mother worried about the foods and medicines she gives her family, a person worried about the environment, a person who doesn't believe in the exceptionalism of the United States, a person who believes in the responsibility of government in supporting and protecting those least able to help themselves be it because of natural disaster/ age/illness/disability/hardship, a person who believes in the government's responsibility to regulate business including agribusiness/military-industrial complex/Wall Street/Big Pharma/etc, a person who believes in national healthcare and childcare subsidies and maternity leave, and for so many other reasons . . . .

Sis and Bud, one day you'll understand . . . and one day you'll vote, too.

And I am grateful for that right to vote, which didn't exist for women when my grandmother was born in 1902.

Six Languages

No, I'm not hexalingual.


I was reading Nicholas Kristoff's recent "Politics, Odors and Soap:"

“The Righteous Mind,” by Jonathan Haidt, a University of Virginia psychology professor, argues that, for liberals, morality is largely a matter of three values: caring for the weak, fairness and liberty. Conservatives share those concerns (although they think of fairness and liberty differently) and add three others: loyalty, respect for authority and sanctity. . . . Another way of putting it is this: Americans speak about values in six languages, from care to sanctity. Conservatives speak all six, but liberals are fluent in only three. And some (me included) mostly use just one, care for victims."

No wonder we don't communicate well or understand each other sometimes.


I can't do the whole article justice, without just quoting it all here, so check it out.  It's a quick and thought-provoking read, as is, I imagine, Haidt's book.

Things That Make Me Go Ugh

Lots of items in the news have made me groan (or worse) outloud recently.

• Rush Limbaugh:  I don't think I need to do more than quote him to get my point across here:  "What does it say about the college coed Susan Fluke who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex, what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex.  She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex. What does that make us? We’re the pimps. The johns. . . .  So Miss Fluke, and the rest of you Feminazis, here’s the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex. We want something for it. We want you post the videos online so we can all watch." (source here)  I've decided that the GOP obsession with contraception is actually not a distraction from their lack of workable economic policy but is their economic policy (well, besides protecting the boardroom; see here for great post on private vs. public morality):  if more women are pregnant and have children and leave the work force (because of lack of national healthcare, maternity leave, and/or childcare, which is why these aren't on the GOP platform), more unemployed white men can have jobs, thereby improving the economy.  
• Catholic Church:  Dictating politics to the nation, the Pope has stressed that clergy should increase their opposition to same-sex marriage.  Similarly, the bishops, one of whom has recently be arrested for pedophilia, in this country aren't going to "be altar boys" anymore and are attacking SNAP, the organization supporting survivors of clerical childhood sexual abuse, in a last-ditch effort to avoid legal consequences.  Finally, as you know, bishops have made great waves against contraception and supported the Blunt amendment to resist supporting women's control over their own bodies.  Aren't these celibate priests just a little too obsessed with sex, marriage, and women's bodies?  
• GOP Primaries:  I don't even know where to start here.  Santorum wanting to vomit over the idea of the separation of church and state?  Romney's tepid response to Limbaugh's slut rant?  Support of the personhood movement and the Blunt amendment?  See Dowd or Collins for hilarious takes on these and more . . . particularly Seamus the dog.

I think the only saving grace of these frightening insanities is that I truly believe these are the last gasps of a dying power:  middle-aged, white Christian men of a conservative ilk, and the women who draw their identities, status, and power from them, who realize that they are no longer in control--with a black president in the White House, a female Secretary of State, liberal female Supreme Court Justices, decreasing church membership,and the increased acceptance of same-sex marriage in several states and political polls, not to mention the increasing racial, religious, sexual/gender-identity, and ethnic diversity of the nation.  (I should in the interest of balance, point out that this is not all men, whites, Christians, or conservatives.)  Why else would they contort themselves into such paroxysms of hate and oppression (see here and here for more lucid discussions of this idea)?  They're like preschoolers who don't get their way, who aren't in charge, and throw themselves on the ground kicking and screeching their ridiculous demands.  Except what they aren't fully in charge of any more is women's bodies, civil rights, the definition of morality, the country.  That's a lot to lose.

Of course, with hysterical preschoolers, it's best to ignore the tantrum until they calm down.  But we can't just let these men scream and control everything until they figure out they are no longer in charge (because they won't).  It's our responsibility to put them in time out and contain their damage . . . because trying to reason with them just doesn't work.

Whew, needed to rant incoherently myself just then before the incredulity and anger became overwhelming (so, in that way, I guess I actually understand the far right!).

VOTE

Okay, so the polls are closed everywhere in CT but Bridgeport where they purchased something like 48,000 ballots less than needed. Bridgeport. A heavily Democratic city. Was a Republican in charge of placing the ballot order? (No, for the record, it was one of each. But the Republican chair did try to stop the polling extension, thereby threatening the disenfranchisement of all those Democratic voters. Of course.)

We took the kids with us to the polls on our way home from the city, explaining to them how it is our right and responsibility to vote. As our "we voted" sticker read, "I made freedom count."

The kids were intrigued, not least because we let them feed the ballot into the machine, "Did you vote for Obama? Did you vote for Obama's people?"

Of course, because we agree with what the NYTimes editorial board says here.

It's a wonderful freedom to live in a dark blue state. It's our right and responsibility to vote to keep it that way.

Bless the USA

What a wonderful day it is: the end of an awful era, the beginning of a hopeful new one.

We've just elected a African-American/bi-racial president.

I haven't been proud to be an American in a long time; I am right now.

It's a beautiful day.

But we have a lot of hard work ahead of us. We can do it. Yes, we can!

Hallefuckinglujah!

Here We Go

The kiddos and I went to vote this morning before preschool because Mama had called to let us know the lines were very short. Indeed, we didn't even have to wait in line to check off our names! Much quicker than when we voted for governor a few years ago. And there were so many more booths that we didn't have to wait for a spot to vote either, mainly because we were using Scantron-like ballots, not machines. The kiddos don't quite understand voting or the concept of "president", who they are confusing with a king and asked if we were going to vote at the queen's castle. But even so, the election officials won't let them touch my ballot, which I then fed into the little machine. We got stickers for each of us and bought a treat for them at the bake sale outside and off we went to preschool. Early. With the kids chanting "GoBama" in the back.