Just sayin

An image is worth a thousand words

Oh me

Weirder and weirder

I'M WITH HER

Releasing tax returns

This would be true for a normal candidate, 

 but Donald Trump 

is not a normal can-didate. Or a normal person. Meaning one who stays within accept-ed societal norms of American politics.And I hope that the bulk of the American people choose for social norms, not this aberration. Democrats, centrists, even Republicans alike are coalescing around Hilary Clinton as the right - the only - candidate for us today. It is also clear that Bernie Sanders is right - we need a political revolution and I pray that the next generation of politicians coming up will solidify and clarify that.  

Just to be clear:

 Just to be clear:  

These are some of things you don’t joke about if you are running for President of the United States:

Having a foreign power - especially an hostile foreign power - hack into our computers.

Assassinating - even by insinuation - an opponent. 

Jailing your political opponent. In our system of government, it goes: charge, indict,  judge, convict FIRST.

And at no time do you undermine the foundation of our democracy which rests on the fairness of our elections and the impartiality of our judiciary. 

Thursday

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

In these days when dismay and outrage pervade the debate, it’s time to pause and get some perspective. I think this quote is a good one for that, and the graphic contextualizes .

Meet my Aunt Mildred, who was head of the Republican Women of Montana, my Mom and me in a bygone life....

An opinion in The Guardian

"Nothing pays off so well as restraint of pen and tongue"

     So, Donald J Trump, the Republican nominee who is endorsed by the Republican leadership in Congress, told his supporters that if he loses the election in November, it’ll be because the election is “rigged.” 

     This is a breathtakingly, outrageously irresponsible thing to say, proving yet again that he does not have the basic temperament 

to be president. 

     The fairness of our elections and the impartiality of the judiciary are two of our foundational principles and he’s attacked both. This kind of talk damages and weakens the Republic whether the wins or not.  It's hard to see how he would "make America great agin" while undermining it. 

      I knew a guy who’d tell his young children,“You don’t have to say everything that comes into your head.” I know because one day he said to me, “Louise, I tell my kids…." Point taken.  

     I have news for Donald Trump: Restraint is not the same thing as political correctness. And restraint holds a high rating in a responsible adult, much less a woubd-be in a leader, which makes someone with seemingly no impulse control at all a danger. This is one of the basic reasons I hope, and yes, pray, that he loses in November.

     Can you imagine the sitting President of the United Staes having to go on the record to say that the election will not be rigged? Point by point, he calmly went through the facts  - our elections are not federal, they’re local, state by stare and community by community. People like you and me run them. It’s part of being “We the people” and it is a critical concept.

      There was a phrase in World War Two, and being a baby boomer being, I have to reply on history here, that went: "Loose lips sink ships." And it was meant literally.  It sounds quaint to our ears,  but I would suggest that it be taken to heart. 

     Our “ship of state,” to be corny, is built on trust, and right wing talk radio which has stoked mistrust, fear and conspiracy for decades, joined  to the government-bashing Republicans (my Aunt Mildred would shiver!) have spawned a particularly virulent form a dis-ease that can easily result in violence and worse. It’s up to all of us to engage our brains and consider the results and  consequences of ur words as well as our actions.  A real leader does not stokes fear, but calms them.

       I have a friend who says that just because the Republic has survived so far doesn’t guarantee that  it will continue. It's a chilling thought. But freedom, as they say, is not free.  

Thursday

THE VOTE

So much for "the liberal press." 

Doesn't this seem like odd phraseology to you? They "agreed to weaken their laws." Hardly. What happened was that a court told them that their laws were unconstitutional and discriminatory at base.it's got nothing to do with weakening laws but with strengthening our democracy. Which is built on the right to vote. Which Republicans in many, many states have been infringing upon. And now the courts – the impartial justices appointed by Democrats and Republicans alike – are setting this right.

Remembering re-members

I before e. ALWAYS.

I got an email from my cousin Diane today. She said

          I especially enjoy your election observations. You should write a blog on politics!

And I wrote back: 

I  keep thinking JUST SHUT THE  F@*# UP, LOUISE.  But I can’t. I had taken to Facebook after finding that the UnionTribune will only post a Letter to the Edior from me once a month. And in the current election cycle that's not nearly enough. 

Remembering Michelle Obamas's advise: "When they go low, we go high” I am doing my best not to make rude ad hominem attacks, but trying to “use my words” as you say to kids… Don’t throw a tantrum, describe what is happening.  But "restraint of pen and tongue" is not easy. 

I heard another piece of advise at meeting of a fellowship that encourages one to deal with one’s own shit and only meddle if it “has your name on it.” It’s “‘ i before e’… intellect before emotion” It was not meant as advise in the political  realm, but  the personal and practical. But it is surely applicable in todays election  environment where emotion has taken over to the exclusion of intellect  or even rationality and I am terrified for the country…. Did you see those people  booing the mother of a soldier at a Pence rally?  BOOING?! Really?  

This is the political climate we are in. And it has been  carefully and cynically stoked. If Trump goes around shouting that the election is rigged, why won't there be violence? That’s the end result of spewing hate, fear, and intolerance at the expense of reason.  It's not like a spigot that you can just turn off. 

I don’t see how this all does not do damage to our political system. Not if, God forbid, Donald Trump  should become president, but NOW - what about the belief in the impartiality of our judicial system, and the fairness of our elections, concepts upon which our system is built? 

I remember saying something disparaging once about "the government”  when I was young and my Aunt Mildred pulled herself up to her full Head of the Republican Women of Montana stature and said:  “Never say “the  government”  Say “US. It’s always us." A different breed of Republican…  

Well, Diane. Here we go.