Oh, it's a long story about my sister which I shall write about in my memoir - whenever I get around to writing it after I catch up on old newspapers, New Yorkers and learning Esperanto - but to put it succinctly, she's a 'piece of work'. My first wasband nailed her as a cross between Dracula and Auntie Mame. She's a woman so full of judgement, she knows, with certainty, her shit don't stink.
Anyway, she's a rabid right-winger - surprise surprise - and I'm left of progressive so perhaps we will close the circle one day. The day Trump announced he was running for President, she sent him a hundred bucks. At that point, he bragged that he was going to self-fund so I asked my sister why she sent him money when he announced he wasn't soliciting money and didn't want any (ha). "Oh, she said, "I just want him to know I'm supporting him!" in a tone that suggested The Donald would be touched to know that she, ML, wished him well.
Without going into a psychological profile of my sister (remember, I'm saving it for my memoir), she has always been attracted to slimy greaseballs. She married one - the smarmiest greasiest Greek fisherman, eleven years her junior she found on the island of Mykonos. Another story for later. In fact, just today, she reminded me how much she loved smarmy men when she told me she had fallen in love with Paul Manafort, late of the Trump campaign, pal of the "world's nastiest tyrants". Even though he was dumped by Trump, you *know* he's still 'consulting' for the campaign because who wouldn't want this slimmy sonofabitch on their team.
Knowing a bit about where my sister finds her jollies, it should come as no surprise that she was a friend of Roy Cohn. He was made of sleaze. I remember when she was palling around with him and their crew of lowlifes (she would dispute that), how much she admired him and how much she loved the down and dirty. That was just all so exciting. So, it follows that Cohn being Trump's mentor as extolled in every Trump bio, my sister held Trump up as a shining example - of what? I don't know. She did know Trump and Ivana when she lived in New York so I suppose you could say she's supporting 'a friend'. She just sent him a second hundred bucks a few weeks ago, you know, to solidify the bond.
BUT, shock of shocks, just today, my sister informed me that she has abandoned Trump! I asked her if she wanted her money back? What despicable thing could possibly have turned this devotee away? Was it that she couldn't take one more lie? She didn't want to be lumped in with all the deplorables? I was dismayed but tried to remain cool, "What was the final straw?" She was completely turned off when she concluded that Trump didn't really want the job, "He's not acting like he wants it." That was it. His lack of ambition did him in. Not his racism, not his misogyny, not his pathological lying, not his sheer ignorance of foreign affairs, not his hair! Nope, he was lazy.
Me: "So, who're you going to vote for?" Sister: "I don't know. I just can't vote for Hillary." She'll probably just not vote for President and certainly not for Johnson or Stein. End of story.
One less vote for Trump, one vote (by omission) for humankind.
Showing posts with label voter mentality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label voter mentality. Show all posts
Monday, September 26, 2016
Saturday, May 28, 2016
The Trump Hillary Faceoff: What Did We Do To Deserve This?
C'mon. This really isn't a surprise, is it? Oh, it is? Really? So, how do you think we got here, stuck with the incomprehensible choice of two of the most unpopular people in the country? It sucks, right? Do we deserve this? Maybe.
How on earth did we get a Trump? Here's how. Forget his orange face and teeny, pudgy fingers, his ill-fitting suits (What's up with that? He can certainly afford better), his cotton candy hair. That's window dressing. Have you ever heard of 'perfect timing'? Somehow Trump emerged and tapped in to the somnolent, apathetic, undercard of the American populace. They've been simmering - seething in fact - with discontent as their world was crumbling. They're pissed, just like we are(!), at government bloat and dysfunction, corruption and laziness, the inability of Congress to get anything done aside from keeping their cushy jobs. And maybe because there was a black man in the White House who was really the one responsible for every conceivable shitty thing that was going on in their lives. Trump came along and woke them with his gutter mentality and spoke their language. Suddenly, they had a voice and became political activists, going to rallies, trolling on the internet, listening with a deaf ear to Trump's hate speech. Alarmingly, we watch them, dissidents of the establishment, morph from passive to aggressive with their ugly newfound voice.
And people have fallen asleep at the wheel. Well-meaning people think that cleverly complaining about politics and reposting opinion articles (I do that) on Facebook is being an activist. No it's not.Yeah, everyone's busy. So busy, in fact, they forgot to vote. Tell the truth, you know you don't vote in down-ticket or mid-term elections. It makes you want to cry. By being too busy to vote for your school board candidates, your council people, your Supervisor, your State Senator, your judges, you relinquish your voice and your power to effect who is elected to represent you. Every one of those people make up the foundation of our governing system. We build from the bottom up and whoever wends their way through that system to emerge at the top becomes our top tier candidates. They started somewhere and someone had to vote for them to get to the next level. Except for Donald J. Trump who busted into our lives through reality tv and the tabloids. An aberration because he's not a politician who went through the electoral process. He is just a total aberration.
But, it's Presidential season and because, for years, we didn't exercise our vote up and down the ticket, this is what we got. Often the weakest candidates win in mid-term elections simply because of low voter turnout and those are the people who become incumbents who then are hard to get rid of and who often rise to the top (The Peter Principle) to become weak Presidential candidates. So, we do get what we deserve. That is unless, miracle of miracles, one honest, authentic, progressive (no flip flopper here!) politician manages to rise like a phoenix and upset this entire election miasma to save us all. No, the rest of this is not a paean to Bernie. You can safely read on.
The Trumpians are really pissed at the government because they feel they haven't been heard. You know who they should be mad as hell at? They should be mad as hell at their ineffective Tea Party! They have been led them down a fantastical path where the promise to live in a deranged Utopia of hate and guns and hegemony was dangled before their myopic eyes and what have they got to show for it? Somehow all the anti-abortion legislation and the NRA making sure no one got their hands on their precious guns - well, aside from little Johnnie who shot his father - all that hasn't done shit for their bottom line. Incomes are down 6.5% since the start of the recession. The fear that drove them to embrace the Tea Party and their fundamentalist, neo-libertarian promises hasn't worked out too well. Right-wingers have not seen much accomplished even in their Fascistic universe. Yes, we (the good guys!) are beyond frustrated by those obstructionist right-wing politicians because they have been at the forefront of an astonishing do-nothing Congress. But they haven't done anything for their supporters either. Tea Partiers probably don't realize why they're pissed but the people they've elected have done zippo for them and they are sick of it - sick of government and sick of their pathetic representatives...although they would never say that. And now the asylum inmates think they have finally found their Messiah. Donald J. Trump. Well, at least now, they're involved in the political process.
The Democratic Party should use their millions to support a PR campaign to educate people about what voting means leading them through the process from the bottom to the top, how it affects electoral outcomes and how precious each vote is. And let's throw in a national day off to vote. Please vote every election...
How on earth did we get a Trump? Here's how. Forget his orange face and teeny, pudgy fingers, his ill-fitting suits (What's up with that? He can certainly afford better), his cotton candy hair. That's window dressing. Have you ever heard of 'perfect timing'? Somehow Trump emerged and tapped in to the somnolent, apathetic, undercard of the American populace. They've been simmering - seething in fact - with discontent as their world was crumbling. They're pissed, just like we are(!), at government bloat and dysfunction, corruption and laziness, the inability of Congress to get anything done aside from keeping their cushy jobs. And maybe because there was a black man in the White House who was really the one responsible for every conceivable shitty thing that was going on in their lives. Trump came along and woke them with his gutter mentality and spoke their language. Suddenly, they had a voice and became political activists, going to rallies, trolling on the internet, listening with a deaf ear to Trump's hate speech. Alarmingly, we watch them, dissidents of the establishment, morph from passive to aggressive with their ugly newfound voice.
And people have fallen asleep at the wheel. Well-meaning people think that cleverly complaining about politics and reposting opinion articles (I do that) on Facebook is being an activist. No it's not.Yeah, everyone's busy. So busy, in fact, they forgot to vote. Tell the truth, you know you don't vote in down-ticket or mid-term elections. It makes you want to cry. By being too busy to vote for your school board candidates, your council people, your Supervisor, your State Senator, your judges, you relinquish your voice and your power to effect who is elected to represent you. Every one of those people make up the foundation of our governing system. We build from the bottom up and whoever wends their way through that system to emerge at the top becomes our top tier candidates. They started somewhere and someone had to vote for them to get to the next level. Except for Donald J. Trump who busted into our lives through reality tv and the tabloids. An aberration because he's not a politician who went through the electoral process. He is just a total aberration.
But, it's Presidential season and because, for years, we didn't exercise our vote up and down the ticket, this is what we got. Often the weakest candidates win in mid-term elections simply because of low voter turnout and those are the people who become incumbents who then are hard to get rid of and who often rise to the top (The Peter Principle) to become weak Presidential candidates. So, we do get what we deserve. That is unless, miracle of miracles, one honest, authentic, progressive (no flip flopper here!) politician manages to rise like a phoenix and upset this entire election miasma to save us all. No, the rest of this is not a paean to Bernie. You can safely read on.
The Trumpians are really pissed at the government because they feel they haven't been heard. You know who they should be mad as hell at? They should be mad as hell at their ineffective Tea Party! They have been led them down a fantastical path where the promise to live in a deranged Utopia of hate and guns and hegemony was dangled before their myopic eyes and what have they got to show for it? Somehow all the anti-abortion legislation and the NRA making sure no one got their hands on their precious guns - well, aside from little Johnnie who shot his father - all that hasn't done shit for their bottom line. Incomes are down 6.5% since the start of the recession. The fear that drove them to embrace the Tea Party and their fundamentalist, neo-libertarian promises hasn't worked out too well. Right-wingers have not seen much accomplished even in their Fascistic universe. Yes, we (the good guys!) are beyond frustrated by those obstructionist right-wing politicians because they have been at the forefront of an astonishing do-nothing Congress. But they haven't done anything for their supporters either. Tea Partiers probably don't realize why they're pissed but the people they've elected have done zippo for them and they are sick of it - sick of government and sick of their pathetic representatives...although they would never say that. And now the asylum inmates think they have finally found their Messiah. Donald J. Trump. Well, at least now, they're involved in the political process.
The Democratic Party should use their millions to support a PR campaign to educate people about what voting means leading them through the process from the bottom to the top, how it affects electoral outcomes and how precious each vote is. And let's throw in a national day off to vote. Please vote every election...
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Hillary Clinton's 'Smart Power' Devastating For Lack Of Judgment
Reading today's New York Times front page, eye-opening article, "Clinton, 'Smart Power' and a Dictator's Fall" reminded me of how exasperated and angry I felt when I was marching against going to war in Iraq and how sickened I felt when I listened to the vote to authorize military action. I heard Hillary Clinton's vote with a feeling of confusion and betrayal. If all the people I was marching with understood the 'unintended consequences', and we were by no means privvy to CIA intelligence or secret meetings with questionable emissaries, then how could Hillary Clinton and her colleagues in Congress, with all the information they had, misjudge this authorization of going to war?
Well, the answer, my friends, is in this New York Times article for those who prefer to deny the glaring reality that Hillary is a died-in-the-wool war hawk. A war hawk whose lack of judgment is downright scary as summed up in this quote: "Mrs. Clinton understood the hazards, but also weighed the costs of not acting, aides said. They described her as comfortable with feeling her way through a problem without being certain of the outcome." Of course, no one can be certain of an outcome, but this quote may as well have said, "Let's wing it!" and signals a rush to making decisions without serious and deep consideration of what is to come afterward. Vice President Biden was correctly concerned with "not the day after, but the decade after." You can't just 'feel your way' through such a monumental decision.
As for intelligence about Iraq, Derek Chollet, a State Department aide, said that "We, the U.S., did not have a particularly good handle on what was going on inside Libya." "American officials were relying largely on news reports." Comforting.
And disturbingly, "Mr. Ross, speaking generally, said she had frequently consulted her husband: "I'd say, 'Here's what I think we should do.' She'd say, 'That's what Bill said, too." I don't think Hillary Clinton has had an original idea in thirty years - currently, witness her appropriation of Bernie Sander's ideas as they morph into Hillary Clinton's ideas. And I most definitely do not want Bill Clinton as co-President. It's been interesting to watch the hashtag #whichHillary take on a life of its own. I would also ask #whoisHillary.
Hillary supporters will undeniably view this post as 'hating on Hillary' when my concern about Hillary has always been a question of character...nothing else.
Read the Times article. Perhaps you will see it differently but facts cannot be ignored. Unless you are a denier.
Well, the answer, my friends, is in this New York Times article for those who prefer to deny the glaring reality that Hillary is a died-in-the-wool war hawk. A war hawk whose lack of judgment is downright scary as summed up in this quote: "Mrs. Clinton understood the hazards, but also weighed the costs of not acting, aides said. They described her as comfortable with feeling her way through a problem without being certain of the outcome." Of course, no one can be certain of an outcome, but this quote may as well have said, "Let's wing it!" and signals a rush to making decisions without serious and deep consideration of what is to come afterward. Vice President Biden was correctly concerned with "not the day after, but the decade after." You can't just 'feel your way' through such a monumental decision.
As for intelligence about Iraq, Derek Chollet, a State Department aide, said that "We, the U.S., did not have a particularly good handle on what was going on inside Libya." "American officials were relying largely on news reports." Comforting.
And disturbingly, "Mr. Ross, speaking generally, said she had frequently consulted her husband: "I'd say, 'Here's what I think we should do.' She'd say, 'That's what Bill said, too." I don't think Hillary Clinton has had an original idea in thirty years - currently, witness her appropriation of Bernie Sander's ideas as they morph into Hillary Clinton's ideas. And I most definitely do not want Bill Clinton as co-President. It's been interesting to watch the hashtag #whichHillary take on a life of its own. I would also ask #whoisHillary.
Hillary supporters will undeniably view this post as 'hating on Hillary' when my concern about Hillary has always been a question of character...nothing else.
Read the Times article. Perhaps you will see it differently but facts cannot be ignored. Unless you are a denier.
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Vaginistas Not Ruling My Ladyparts Insisting I Vote For Hillary
Women's Support of Hillary Clinton From 8 Years Ago A Flip-Flop?
If you're a newsjunkie like I am, then you are well aware of the feminist war between 'voting with your vagina' dissidents and Hillary loyalists who want to send those dissidents to hell for not supporting a woman because of her anatomy. The argument for being able to think for yourself, despite your gender, is one that is mysteriously overruled by the Vaginistas as they believe a woman's duty is to blindly support other women. Kind of ironic for people who call themselves feminists.
Having been an Obama supporter from Day One when he announced in January '07, I volunteered for two years along with the most remarkable grassroots organization - grown from seed - and amazing people who dedicated all their free time volunteering to elect Barack Obama. In our group, Obamawood(!), we spent every single primary election together, cheering and crying with joy when our candidate won and spent election night together getting seriously drunk with happiness.
The women volunteering for Obama were perhaps not all Hillary Haters but were squarely opposed to her candidacy because of all the reasons people are opposed to her now: untrustworthy, truth-bending, flip-flopping, elitism, 'inevitableness', hawkishness and not being in sync with her policies. I know first-hand. I was in the trenches with these women. We discussed why we wouldn't vote for Hillary. So, where along the way did those women suddenly switch-up and become fierce Hillary defenders? Did they just forget what they thought of her eight years ago? Did Hillary change that much that now all those shifty character traits have reversed course? Some say they've gotten worse. But what explains this change in perspective? Have those supporters values changed so much that they now think all those negatives, they so strongly believed in eight years ago, are acceptable? This totally baffles me.
I understand the power of personality. Obama was then, and now, an incredibly compelling, charismatic force of nature. He is irresistible and that could explain some of his support but that still doesn't clarify the 180 degree turn to now admiring Hillary, a woman these women previously scorned. It's true, "It's a women's prerogative to change her mind." and so it may be as simple as that. In this case, quite disheartening.
Here is a post of mine from the past...like 2009...about how the women I was volunteering with felt about Hillary: From Naïve to Nobel
Once again, please tell me how women who couldn't stand Hillary when she ran for President now practically worship her. Ack, I'll leave it at that. Women. Sometimes I just don't understand them.
If you're a newsjunkie like I am, then you are well aware of the feminist war between 'voting with your vagina' dissidents and Hillary loyalists who want to send those dissidents to hell for not supporting a woman because of her anatomy. The argument for being able to think for yourself, despite your gender, is one that is mysteriously overruled by the Vaginistas as they believe a woman's duty is to blindly support other women. Kind of ironic for people who call themselves feminists.
Having been an Obama supporter from Day One when he announced in January '07, I volunteered for two years along with the most remarkable grassroots organization - grown from seed - and amazing people who dedicated all their free time volunteering to elect Barack Obama. In our group, Obamawood(!), we spent every single primary election together, cheering and crying with joy when our candidate won and spent election night together getting seriously drunk with happiness.
The women volunteering for Obama were perhaps not all Hillary Haters but were squarely opposed to her candidacy because of all the reasons people are opposed to her now: untrustworthy, truth-bending, flip-flopping, elitism, 'inevitableness', hawkishness and not being in sync with her policies. I know first-hand. I was in the trenches with these women. We discussed why we wouldn't vote for Hillary. So, where along the way did those women suddenly switch-up and become fierce Hillary defenders? Did they just forget what they thought of her eight years ago? Did Hillary change that much that now all those shifty character traits have reversed course? Some say they've gotten worse. But what explains this change in perspective? Have those supporters values changed so much that they now think all those negatives, they so strongly believed in eight years ago, are acceptable? This totally baffles me.
I understand the power of personality. Obama was then, and now, an incredibly compelling, charismatic force of nature. He is irresistible and that could explain some of his support but that still doesn't clarify the 180 degree turn to now admiring Hillary, a woman these women previously scorned. It's true, "It's a women's prerogative to change her mind." and so it may be as simple as that. In this case, quite disheartening.
Here is a post of mine from the past...like 2009...about how the women I was volunteering with felt about Hillary: From Naïve to Nobel
Once again, please tell me how women who couldn't stand Hillary when she ran for President now practically worship her. Ack, I'll leave it at that. Women. Sometimes I just don't understand them.
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