Above It All

As we sit on our porch with our adult beverages, watching the fading light below us, it's easy, at times, to feel removed from it all--from the hustle and bustle of daily life, and especially from the ideological and political battles raging out there.

But I know that it affects us--we still buy groceries and gas and fuel oil for our heater. And our current regime is dragging our nation's reputation in the mud (or worse.)

Still, there's reason to be hopeful. Bolsonaro's defeat in Brazil, the weakening of Netanyahu in Israel, as well the defeat of a Trump ally in Serbia may just possibly show which way the wind is blowing.

May it be a strong and cleansing wind here in the USA that sweeps away the corruption and incompetence of this hateful regime.

I'm cautiously hopeful--but also wary of the regime's potential for overturning the will of the people.

Interesting times . . .

 

Dear Sirs

                                         

Though one of my senators (Tillis) at last seems to have found a spine, and my representative (Edwards) is on his way out, I still feel the need to keep after them all--

 As your party's flailing candidates shriek of the perils of socialism and communism, your president is openly allying with Putin, the oligarch's friend and the invader of Ukraine. Your president is doing his best to hamper Ukraine's efforts to defend itself against Russian aggression, lifting sanctions and tampering with StarLink and StarShield.

And as your candidates fixate on drag queens and lie about schools providing transgender surgeries, children continue to die in real school shootings, enabled by lack of any real gun control legislation.

The GOP is presiding over the decline of the USA--its economy, its probity, its importance on the international stage, and its standing in the court of human opinion. 

I would like to know how you personally have profited from this corrupt regime. Has your net worth increased? Do you sleep well at night?

Have you no shame? At long last, have you no shame?

Three Amendments--Yes or No

                                                          

 Early voting begins today! John and I will be there--voting a straight Democratic ticket. As far as I'm concerned, the GOP has lost all credibility with their blind allegiance to the deteriorating DJT, the war in Iran, their support for the ICE thugs, their disregard for affordability, and oh, so many more things.

The three proposed amendments to the state institution sound good--at first. But a closer examination reveals problems. The first two mainly benefit the wealthy. And the third works to disenfranchise many. This below is from the League of Women Voters of NC -- a traditionally non-partisan organization.

I'll be voting against these amendments.

Why the League Opposes the Amendments

The League of Women Voters of North Carolina believes constitutional amendments deserve particularly careful scrutiny because they establish durable limits and requirements that are more difficult to change than ordinary laws. These policy decisions are better addressed through legislation, where elected officials can respond to changing circumstances and voters can hold them accountable.

LWVNC opposes the income-tax amendment because current law already keeps the individual income-tax rate below the proposed 3.5% cap, and the amendment itself would not lower current taxes. Placing the cap in the Constitution would limit the ability of future elected leaders to respond to changing economic conditions and state needs.

LWVNC opposes the property-tax levy amendment because it would shift greater authority over local funding decisions to the state while leaving the actual limits, formulas and possible exceptions to future legislation. The League is concerned that restricting local property-tax revenue could affect funding for public education, elections and other local services and/or increase reliance on fees.

LWVNC opposes the photo ID amendment because state law already requires identification for absentee voting and provides for voters who cannot reasonably provide ID. The proposed amendment would place the requirement that all voters present photo identification into the State Constitution without protecting those existing safeguards. The League is concerned that this could create additional barriers for military, student, rural, and older voters.

How Low Can We Go?

 Pretty low, apparently. The news that the Pentagon plans to livestream an execution puts us in the company of North Korea and Iran and brings to mind archival photos of folks turning out for a hanging (bring the kids!) not all that long ago.

When this disgusting regime is finally gone, it's going to take more than bleach to rid us of the stain on our country.

Dear Sirs

What has your party done to my beloved country? Your president is wreaking havoc on some of our treasured institutions. He is threatening journalists and endangering the freedom of the press. He attempts to bribe voters. He is visibly mentally and physically impaired. (He has always been morally impaired.) And now he is using TAXPAYER DOLLARS (yes, I'm screaming) to pay for propaganda style ads praising his regime. How is this even legal--how is any of it legal?

Meanwhile, children as young as 3 sit alone in court, being asked if they would choose to self deport. The thugs of ICE continue to terrorize our neighborhoods. The Trump criminal organization  family continues to enrich itself through self dealing disguised as diplomacy and investment in weaponry for a war of choice.

No, we are not great. Your president has turned his back on our historic allies to embrace dictators like Putin and Kim Jong Un. His war and his tariffs have hurt our farmers, our builders, and, in the long run, all of us.

I am past hoping that you will do anything to rein in this obnoxious regime. I can only hope that the coming midterms will send a very strong message.

I can't wait to see the back of you.

 

A Drop in the Ocean

As I did for the last election cycle, I participated in the Moms Rising postcard effort to get mothers out to vote--without endorsing a party but in the hope that they will realize which candidates are most likely to improve their lives--more affordable healthcare and childcare are issues they should be concerned with. 

I'm not that sure that my postcards will convince a busy mother to get to the polls---but there is so little that I am physically able to do to support the candidates that I desperately want to prevail and take down this corrupt, incompetent regime. So I write my little message and and sign it with a heart and my first name. 

And somehow, I feel a brief connection with Tiffany and Alexia and Shanika and Autumn and Cierra and all those others. It's not praying--I don't do that--but it's wishing these women--my sisters-- well--and hoping they pay attention to what's at stake in this election.

Go HERE for information about Moms Rising and about the post cars project.

 

Dear Sirs

                                       

Head Start has long been a valued presence in my rural county. I’m asking you to oppose proposed regulatory changes to Head Start that could undermine access to educational support and health screenings, especially impacting children with disabilities and rural communities. Head Start fosters stable home environments, improving health, educational status, and well-being. Please oppose these changes to early education to serve the families that need it most.

Father of Our Country . . .

                                         

P

When the colonies broke from England to form a country free of a monarchy, it was up to George Washington, as the first president to set the tone for the new republic.

He rejected the suggestion that he be addressed as Your Highness or Your Excellency and strove to maintain the dignity of the office while rejecting the trappings of kingship.

He also set the precedent of a two-term presidency, turning down the almost certain possibility of a third term.

And this is the man the Current Occupant wants to memorialize with a colossal statue, (gilded, no doubt) while using his AI engendered likeness in nauseating videos in which the two are shown as buddies.

What, I wonder, would George W. think of DJT, the con-man and grifter who has dragged our country's reputation into the mud, alienating allies while sucking up to autocrats like Putin and Kim Jong Un?

Dear Sirs

When will you call the madman in the Oval Office to account, rather than sitting by as he takes a wrecking ball to our government, our armed forces, our national monuments, our environment, our voting system, our economy, and our national prestige?

His many tweets and AI fantasies reveal a mind that is deeply disturbed and in no way fit to be POTUS--indeed, beyond being an embarrassment to the USA, he is a growing danger to the world.

It should be obvious to the meanest intelligence that DJT needs to be removed from office at once, before he can bring his nuclear dreams to fruition.

Will yours be the legacy of an enabler and co-conspirator? Or will you stand on the side of reason and true (not AI) patriotism?

I'd love to hear your answer.

 

Dear Sirs'

Me again. Although I know not to expect more than a form letter (if that) from your intern, now, more than ever, it seems necessary to register my protest against this lawless regime that is pursuing a war of choice and building monuments to itself, while ordinary people suffer. 

My Representative (Chuck Edwards) and one of my Senators (Thom Tillis) say they will not run again. How nice if they sought to redeem themselves just a bit by taking a stand against DJT (and his minions) and supporting impeachment.

My other Senator, Ted Budd, appears to be firmly in the camp of the GOP who can't see corruption and senility, no matter how obvious.

Someday we'll have our own version of the Nuremburg Trials. Where will you stand when you and your legacy are in the court of public opinion?

 

Dear Sirs

 And here we are, in the bread and  circuses stage of this flailing, failing regime. Money to shut down the nation's capital for a race, to finance a massive flyover, to build more and more monuments to your demented president's insatiable ego while our military suffers, our ordinary citizens face ever higher prices at the gas pump and grocery, our closest traditional allies can no longer trust us, and the president's war of choice in Iran drags on.

The rich, especially the Trump family, are getting richer every day while the national debt has ballooned to an unprecedented high.

And my senators and representatives are silent.

May you reap what you have sown.

             A thoroughly fed up constituent 

Dear Sirs

 Once again I urge you to pay attention to what is going on  under your watch. 

Your president, not content with taking a wrecking ball to the White House and expending billions of taxpayer dollars on unneeded vanity projects, luxury jets, and the useless wall in Big Bend National Park, has decided that he knows more about jet launch systems and childhood vaccines than the experts. Meanwhile he and his family continue to rake in billions.

While the sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln continue to suffer inhumane conditions, leading to mental health problems--all of which Trump and Hegseth deny despite testimony of family members.

I am also appalled to learn that the thugs of ICE are being issued electric shock gloves, despite their proven track record of reckless endangerment (and murder) of civilians and mistreatment of perceived undocumented immigrants.

It seems that the cruelty, capriciousness, and greed of this administration have no limits. When will you be moved to try to rein it in?

Dear Sirs

                                                              

 to my senators, Tillis and Budd

I urge you to vote against confirming Blanche, no matter what he signs. He is so totally Trump's creature that, like his boss, he will lie whenever it suits him. The weaponization of the Justice Department is a deplorable fact.

This regime is built on lies--the necessity of a war with Iran, the threat of communism, transgender surgeries in schools, massive voter fraud, vandals destroying the Reflecting Pool, fear of Muslims, fear of immigrants, fear of the other.

Meanwhile, Trump and his wealthy donors grow richer daily, DC is being turned into a gaudy Las Vegas, and social services--anything to help the ordinary guy--are being gutted.

I urge you to vote NO on Blanche and Yes on articles of impeachment.

Dear Sirs

 Where even to begin? My concerns are legion.

  First of all, the SAVE act is not only unnecessary as the number of illegal voters is vanishingly low and the act would encumber many citizens, mostly women whose married names differ from their birth certificates. This act is yet another blatant attempt by this regime and your president to remove legitimate voters from the rolls.

Secondly, it is deplorable that this corrupt regime panders to big business and big oil by erasing environmental protections for endangered species.

Thirdly, the weaponization of the (so-called) Justice Department against journalists is the mark of a dictatorship. 

The ongoing abuses by ICE must be stopped and the murderers brought to trial.

The Epstein Files are still not released in un-redacted form.

The mind-boggling corruption and self-dealing of this administration are a stain on our country. 

The same administration that pardoned the violent rioters of January 6 has had people arrested for touching the Reflecting Pool. 

And the on-going destruction of the White House and the Mao-style banners in DC are a disgrace.

How blind/corrupt/self-interested must a Congressperson be to condone all these things?

And Another Thing or Two

 I had meant yesterday's post to be a shout-out to some folks who make me hopeful for the future of our nation, but started with Major Watson and then got sidetracked by the Declaration of Independence.

So here, in no particular order and by no means complete, is my list.

Major Jason Waters

Jack Smith

Heather Cox Richardson

Heather Delaney Reese

The Obamas 

Zohran Mamdani

Pope Leo

The Mount Olive Pickle company

And all the folks who continue to speak out, in whatever way, large or small, against hate and injustice.

Dear Sirs

 Your president appears to have become bored with the war he started so now he's turning his attention to vanity projects. It wasn't enough that he destroyed part of the White House, shut down the Kennedy Center, and made the Reflecting Pool an ongoing joke--he has to turn his attention to a public golf course, an ill-conceived statuary garden, and now he wants 47 trees planted in honor of his presidency.

The laughable "Great American State Fair" is a perfect symbol of his failed presidency--quickly erected structures covered with wrinkling vinyl and attendance numbers that he inflates automatically "45,000 happy attendees" when those of us with eyes can see fewer than 2,ooo bored patriots wandering aimlessly through the lackluster exhibits.

When will you admit that your president is failing, mentally and physically? The moral failings have been with him from the beginning.

Meanwhile, he squanders the taxpayers' money on his unneeded war and ridiculous vanity projects.  Meanwhile the problem of homeless Americans is growing. As is the problem of unaffordable groceries, healthcare, and housing.

People are arrested for touching the water of the Reflecting Pool while the rioters of January 6 walk free and the Epstein files still haven't been released in unredacted totality.

Kinda makes it hard to celebrate our nation's 250th.

Dear Sirs

                                                              

As your president continues to obsess over the disaster that was the Reflecting Pool, he has deployed the National Guard to protect it from the vandals that apparently exist only in his mind--anything to blame the botched and expensive job on someone other than himself. It's worth noting that he delayed for hours, refusing to call out the Guard during the January 6 riot that saw the Capitol itself damaged and defaced.

Meanwhile, he sabotages the diplomatic efforts to end the war he began and lowers the USA even more in the eyes of its one-time allies.

And STILL, the Epstein files are not released.

The damage this man and his enablers are inflicting on our country continues unabated. It is time for Congress to call him and them to account.

There will be a reckoning.

Bread and Circuses

                    

'

That was how the Roman emperors kept the population happy--free bread and gladiatorial contests. It worked for a while.

And here we are, a couple of thousand years later and our Toddler-in-Chief is throwing himself a birthday party with lightly clothed sweaty men, fighting on the White House lawn.

Because nothing says real class like a cage match. 

An odd fact is that service members are invited to attend--as long as they meet certain physical standards--and pay for their own transportation.

The general public is pretty much excluded from the event--they can watch if they have a streaming service.

And there is no free bread.

 

Dear Sirs

                              

So the iniquitous plan for the 1776 slush fund has been shelved, at least for the moment. That's good. But the Get Out of Jail Free card--added by Trump's "Justice" Department, mandating that the government be "FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing" pending tax claims against the president, his family, or his businesses still stands.

How can this be justice?

Your president continues to milk his office for untold sums. Unlike recent presidents who have avoided trading stocks in companies whose bottom line they could influence, according to the Associate Press, during the first quarter of the year, Donald Trump ignored that precedent with more than 3,600 buy and sell orders, "many of them involving companies whose profits have been directly impacted by his decisions as head of the government."

Two more reasons this corrupt man should be removed from office.

Dear Sirs

                                                           

While you're enjoying your Memorial Day weekend, give a thought to what you and your party will be remembered for: an unprovoked war on Iran, leading to soaring prices and shortages worldwide; a 1.7 billion dollars slush fund that could reward those who attacked the Capitol; garish unwanted and expensive additions to the Capitol; threats against Cuba and Greenland; and possibly the most egregious act of all--a Get Out Of Jail Free card for the president and his family in the form of immunity for tax crimes, past, present, and future.

This is your legacy. Are you proud of it?