Until yesterday, I had no reason to worry that my county’s elected Clerk and Recorder, Mark Lunn, might not be as non-partisan as I’d want that office holder to be. That he has chosen to exploit the tragedy of this little boy’s murder in this manner is either deceitful or incredibly disingenuous. I no longer have any faith in this man’s impartiality or his ability to be fair.
May God bless Cannon’s family and carry them through their grief. All lives matter-don’t be shamed into not saying that because it’s not “politically correct.” Every life, without qualification is precious, #all lives matter! https://t.co/B4fRc5J471
As has been pointed out by hundreds of people, the man who shot and killed young Cannon was immediately apprehended and is sitting in jail without bail. OTOH – The three police officers who murdered Breonna Taylor in her sleep five months ago are still walking free. This is just another instance of people minimizing the effects of racism in this country. It’s despicable and I expect we’ll be taking Mr. Lunn to task for it.
I have been asked by a dear friend of mine to share the following blog post. Here is what she said about it:
“My friend’s father has become an activist. At age 80+, he is FIRED UP to get the word out and effect positive change in the upcoming election. Can you help him make this message go viral? He doesn’t use social media, but knows about its reach and power. I’m inspired by his activism! And am helping by lending my blog page. Here’s his message:”
Friends & Family, In this November election, more than ever before, we must prevail. To do this we need to counter “faith based” (1) voting and voting by people who have short attention spans & respond well to rhetorical fear/hate campaign ads. Looking forward, if we let these people win, we could very well look up and find we have “dictatorship,” a bought-and-paid-for senate and an uncontrollable US “oligarchy” (2). Think Germany in the 1930’s when millions of innocent people died during the rise of the Nazis.
This time, we must stop Trump & we must break the GOP deadlock in the US Senate. This means electing at least 5 of the below listed senators.
With all the candidates now in place, we are left with making a concerted effort to influence the election outcomes. And the best tool we have is to contribute to the war chests of the “good people”.
Please consider making contribution to the following campaigns (click on the website, then on “Donate”).
Biden/Harris for president/VP joebiden.com (vs. Trump)
Candidates for federal (& state) offices in your state
Candidates for US Senate in other states. None of these accept corporate PAC money; any amount would be appreciated-even $5:
MAKE IT REALLY EASY: When you go to make your first contribution, the website will ask if you want to contribute. If you click “Donate,” it will ask if you want to sign-up to use Act Blue. This is really a good idea, because for all contributions thereafter, when you click “donate” & the “amount”, ActBlue sends your contribution to appropriate candidate & bills your credit card.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE help to multiply our efforts by sharing this message with your friends and family…. And, ask them to also share it with as many people as they can. Just copy and paste the blog link and share it via email, or post it on Facebook, Twitter, or your platform of choice. The link is https://rickladd.wordpress.com/2020/08/17/gotv-and-give/
Thank you for your help!
Notes:
(1) Faith based voting: My grandparents always voted Republican, my parents always voted Republican therefore I must vote Republican. Or my club president said vote Republican or my minister said vote Republican therefore… No data or other proof needed.
(2) Oligarchy: A small group of people having control of a country, organization (the 1-percenters)
I posted my thoughts yesterday about what I perceive to be a need to re-examine how we view voting. I’m glad there seem to be quite a few Republicans who are dead set against returning Trump to the White House, and this is one of them, but we need to send an overwhelming message to Trump and his supporters. A message that can’t be denied; one that won’t allow Trump to cast credible doubt on the outcome, and that’s going to require getting turnout above its historical average (since 1948) of 58%.
Think of how pathetic that actually is. I, like all of us, seem to have been lulled into thinking as long as we still had voting we were somehow still a constitutional republic with a reasonably democratic methodology of choosing our leaders and representatives in government. How can we do that when well over four out of ten people don’t bother to vote; considerably less during mid-terms?
So . . . the issue seems to me that we have precious little time remaining to convince a quarter of those who generally don’t vote to do so this time around. That could make a huge difference in having the landslide we need to (hopefully) avoid some of the harsher unpleasantries I’m sure Trump will attempt.
After that, we need to keep the pedal to the medal. We need to push for greater civic engagement and greater educational opportunities to clearly demonstrate the value of voting, which should be recognized as nothing more than engaging with the people who make decisions affecting your life, your health, and your children’s future.
Perhaps it’s increasing PSAs that explain and educate on issues of import to most Americans, e.g. what the real differences are between capitalism and socialism and how the distribution of wealth is affected by each, or how the stock market really works and what sectors of the economy benefit from its ups and downs. We also need to teach civics far more thoroughly and accurately than we do now, starting in elementary school.
I don’t think we can just sit by and only vote once every two years any longer. While I’ve voted in every election I was eligible for, I haven’t always remained engaged politically, other than to pay attention and, sometimes, not even do that for chunks of time. We need to build civic engagement into our culture. Without it, the forces of reaction will chip away at our freedoms and our franchise until there’s precious little left. Look around. It’s just about what’s already happened under our noses. We can’t, as a nation, endure this way. We, the people, must once again take charge of our own destinies. Most of today’s politicians not only don’t, but aren’t capable of understanding our needs, rather than the needs of their donors. That must change!
We’ve taken voting a little too much for granted, methinks. That would include yours truly, though I have never missed a vote since June 4, 1968, my 21st birthday. I think I made the mistake of believing all that mattered was that I voted and I encouraged those close to me to vote as well. I’m pretty certain that’s no longer good enough; probably was never good enough, but it took the tender ministrations of the tangerine shitgibbon to make it clear we need to take the franchise a bit more seriously.
What, perzackly, that entails is unclear to me, but I’m sure a lot of us have ideas and many are already working on it. That’s what VR and GOTV are all about, no? But I am thinking a little beyond those two things, which we’ve been doing for a long time. We need to talk more about what it means to be an informed citizen. We need to find ways to present it that aren’t tres wonky. Therein may lie the greatest challenge.
The number and quality of videos being produced to educate the public about Trump’s many abuses and violations of the law is astounding. Between The Lincoln Project, Meidus Touch, and this one from Indivisible, he’s being hammered regularly. Only time will tell if it’s enough to ensure he is resoundingly repudiated this November 3, but I’m glad to see all the energy working for his political demise. This is my feeble attempt to spread the word as well. Please consider sharing. It doesn’t have to be my post; get the URL from YouTube and share that . . . on Twitter, FB, and wherever else your little ol’ pea-pickin’ heart desires. Thank you kindly.
If you’ve not read anything I’ve written before, you likely don’t know much about me, especially that I’m 73-years-old and, therefore, am most decidedly a senior. When this pandemic first came to our attention, I realized that I was not only well into the age bracket this virus creates the most havoc with, but I also have mild versions of just about all the comorbidities that were listed as problematic. Needless to say, I was (and still am) quite cautious about going out. For the most part, I only go out to grocery shop and for gas, though I occasionally have to take my youngest to school to return or pick things up. I always wear a mask in public and when I get gas, I thoroughly wipe my hands with sanitizer after handling the pump. This is a pretty good ad, among many (all of which I may end up sharing) that are being produced by The Lincoln Project, Don Winslow, and The Meidas Touch.
This is a fascinating interview with one of the players in The Lincoln Project. It is satisfying to hear the words of a conservative, a Republican, who at least respects some of the most basic norms of our government and society. I have no doubt I will have numerous differences with these folks in the future, but I welcome them as useful allies in the effort to deny Trump a second term, which would clearly be disastrous for us and the world. It’s not a quick read (not too long, either) but it’s well worth your while to read.
The longtime Republican strategist discusses his opposition to Donald Trump, his involvement in the Lincoln Project ad campaign, and why he thinks Mitt Romney would have made a great President.
I just had to share what may be one of the finest videos created in the battle to NOT re-elect Donald Trump. It came to my attention via The Lincoln Project who, to their credit, posted a link to the original and asked people to like it and subscribe to the author’s YouTube account. The author is not affiliated with the Lincoln Project and I don’t think he even expected his work to reach the number of folks it’s reached. It’s pure genius.
If you don’t recognize where this is from, it was put together from the interview Jonathan Swan did for Axios, which was a mind-blower. For the record, Trump truly is a fucking moron . . . and an idiot . . . and a fool . . . and a dangerously sociopathic criminal. Vote him out!
Yesterday, an article in PoliticusUSA was published under the headline, “Trump Wasted An Entire White House Meeting Trying To Convince His Aides That He’s Mentally Fit.” I’m of the opinion anyone who studies Trump carefully will have no problem seeing this as a predominant feature of his personality. After all, he really is a malignant narcissist, a sociopath, a man with a complete and total lack of humility, humanity, and empathy . . . among other things. I shared the article on Facebook with the following comments:
This serves to highlight the main problem I have (and most of us have) with him as President. How can he serve the interests of the nation when he’s far more interested in how he looks, the optics, than he is on any accomplishment that benefits the American people . . . and I don’t mean corporate America? Kinda reminds me of the concept I’ve held dear since I first became politically active in the sixties: some people are more interested in “being” right, than in “doing” right. These people, who are intent on winning regardless of the cost, need to be avoided.
This also reminds me of something one of my first year law professors said to me. I’m working on a blog post about it and, recently, I hunted him down. His name is Kenneth Cloke and he’s still living and working in Santa Monica, where he’s a mediator and conflicts resolution systems designer. Lately, I’ve tried to articulate the saying and I have yet to convince myself I’m getting it right. There seems to be some nuance missing that I can’t put my finger on, but I’m going to attempt it here.
During a conversation we were having about leftist politics, Ken said “If I had to choose between someone who had the right politics, but was lacking in humanity, and someone who had the wrong politics, but was a humane person, I would choose the latter.” I suppose this is why, despite my being a Marxist, I am always looking for ways to work with people who don’t share my political philosophy. It’s how I’m able to vote as a Democrat. Everything about the Democratic Party, in my estimation, is far more humane than anything about the Republican Party. Also, I think it’s much easier to find compromise with someone who respects your humanity and hard-ass ideologues generally aren’t inhabiting that space.
I still believe we are misusing the words “racism” and “racist.”
Racism is institutional, systemic, and structural. It’s insidious and buried deep in every aspect of our society and economy. Bigotry is right out in the open.
And this isn’t whitesplaining on my part. This is what I was taught by members of the Black Panther Party and the Brown Berets in 1973. I was, along with 49 of my closest friends, required to go through about 20 hours of cultural and racial sensitivity training before being allowed to travel to Cuba with the sixth contingent of the Venceremos Brigade.
I keep bringing this up because the public now conflates racism with bigotry and, by doing so, gives people an excuse for not looking closer at how they’ve unknowingly embraced or benefited from racism, by merely pointing out their lack of anger or visible anger/hatred toward people of color. “I don’t see color,” or “I have black friends/relatives.” All that means, at the most, is you’re not a bigot. It doesn’t change the centuries of economic and social injustice deeply baked into every aspect of our society.
We need to understand the differences if we’re going to erase racism and its insidious effects.
One other thing I learned from that education, and that has been reinforced in the intervening years, is that white people need to shut the fuck up and listen to people of color when it comes to understanding their lived reality. Because of racism, you don’t know squat about their experiences. Try it. You might be surprised.
Systems Savvy 