tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46996307248981702512024-02-07T20:52:29.401-05:00The Mean ProgressiveThe world is full of kind Progressives. They are beautiful and the world needs many more. I am not one of them. I have completely had it with watching my party be abused every cycle by egomaniacs and sociopaths. I will be a bitch. And I will not apologize. I'm a true patriot who cannot sit back quietly as my country plummets into a dark chasm full of hate and intolerance. And I will not abide those who mean to take her there. Otherwise, I'm a lovely human being.Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.comBlogger136125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-21748134632720985302018-06-26T16:10:00.002-04:002018-06-26T16:10:54.018-04:00Who Are You?"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time." -Maya Angelou<br />
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3 years ago Donald Trump rode down an escalator and told us that he is racist trash.<br />
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I believed him.<br />
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2 years ago we heard Trump on a bus bragging about being a sexual assailant.<br />
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I believed him.<br />
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1 year ago a woman was murdered protesting racism. Trump said he thinks White Trashionalists are good people.<br />
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I believe he thinks that way.<br />
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Today Trump is showing us that he doesn't care about families seeking amnesty from violence. He sees these people as criminals instead of victims. He can ignore the cries of babies being ripped from their mothers. He doesn't think they're human beings.<br />
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That is how he thinks.<br />
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At this point, there really is no question about WHO Donald Trump is.<br />
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The only question is: Who are his supporters?<br />
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#BeBest<br />
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Kiss Kiss.<br />
Mean ProgressiveMean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-39179207457840478742017-12-31T19:07:00.002-05:002017-12-31T19:07:56.711-05:00#MeToo (delayed)<br />
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When the #MeToo movement started in October I was in the hospital where I spent the better part of a month. When I got home and heard about it I knew I had something to write. But dealing with the collapse of so many of the remaining pieces of my life, I was distracted and not sure I even wanted to allow my brain to go there. To be honest, I've been writing the piece for over a year now in my head; trying to find the words and the strength. As we painfully crawl into 2018, I want to get it out and seek the closure I deserve.<br />
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As is common, I blamed myself for a lot of what happened. As is also common, I had blocked a lot of it, as well. Last year when the Trump video was released, allowing us to all hear him proudly proclaim himself as a sexual assailant, I was physically ill. As the media felt it necessary to play the video ad nauseam, I started having flashbacks. I feel confident hundreds of thousands of women and men had similar experiences of being retraumatized.<br />
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I was 16 when I was assaulted. I came home drunk from what my parents expected to have been a night out with one of my friends. They were not shocked that I was drunk, all of their kids partied to the extreme. The were certainly surprised, however, to find that my underwear had been left on the gate going into our back yard. I wasn't even going to tell them what happened until my dad brought them in. I was always shy about sex and my parents weren't the type of people you could talk to about important things. For fucks sake, when I got my first period I came home from school to find a box of pads and a book about my body on my bed. That was as much as either of them could try to talk about my period. How could I possibly tell them I was raped? I wasn't even sure that I was raped. I had chosen to drink so it was probably my fault. I'm pretty good at taking the responsibility for others' actions. It feels safer to do that in my mind. Then I can be responsible for fixing it. Of course, rape isn't something you can fix.<br />
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I was wrecked when my dad showed me my underwear. I snotty face cried before I could even get the words out to explain the evening. I HAD gone out with one of my girlfriends. Her boyfriend was driving and we ended up at a bonfire where this other dude came out with us. He rode in the back seat with me and was hitting on me. I was not remotely interested in him. I had a type and preppie jock was the exact opposite of the kind of man I would've wanted to hang out with. I remember finally realizing he was hitting on me (it always takes me a ridiculous amount of time to piece that together). I chose just to ignore him and carry on a conversation with my friend and her boyfriend in the front seat. We continued to get drunk and he continued to hit on me. He became more aggressive and I gave him the traditional Angie-style response to bullshit. I shut him down with plenty of profanity and was quite proud of myself for using words he obviously didn't understand. Yeah. I'm a snob. I'm okay with that. At least I'm not a rapist.<br />
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As the evening progressed and we both got more drunk, he randomly tried different approaches. He said he was sorry for being a dick (great you're a creep and still not my type). He tried inching closer to me in the back seat as if I was too stupid to realize he was doing it. He eventually just made his move. I was stunned and horrified. I was still a virgin. The year prior I broke up with my boyfriend for going up my shirt. I didn't even let him just be sorry and promise not to do it again or until I was ready. I just broke up with him.<br />
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I pushed him away and called him names for a while, but in my horror and feeling powerless because he was stronger than I was, I caved. I didn't actually participate. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't even have known how to. But I didn't end up stopping him anyway. When you're a 16 year old virgin in a society that doesn't educate young women and men about rape, its your fault.<br />
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Of course I didn't go to the police. I didn't know it was illegal, exactly. I didn't even know what happened or how to put it into words. It was awful. I knew that. I felt gross. I felt shame. I felt ruined. My inability to even get a look of acknowledgement from my parents left me in a place where I wasn't even able to feel what I should have - anger. The following Monday I finally graduated to anger. When we got to school the rumors were all over that he had fucked me. I didn't know what rape was but I knew that wasn't "sex." Whatever that was wasn't what happens in the movies. That wasn't sweet. That wasn't romantic. That was aggressive and mildly violent. For the next 2 years I didn't pass him at a party or in the hallway without saying, loudly enough for anyone to hear, that he did not have sex with me. He always countered by saying we did. Asshole.<br />
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I finally felt vindicated when he showed up at my graduation party (right?) and I screamed at him for even showing up and demanding he tell people the truth. He said we didn't have sex in that tone that basically says "here - let me say words to appease you and shut you up." That was enough for me, sadly. I had spent the last 2 years trying to get him to admit we hadn't had sex because the truth of what happened, which I should've been compelling him to admit, was too much for me to even admit to myself.<br />
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I googled him last year when the Access Hollywood video was released. He is a judge now. A fucking judge. The statute of limitations is far exceeded or I would want to sue him and force the jurisdiction he presides in to review every case he has ever heard about rape, domestic violence, etc.<br />
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Had I not had to witness the video of that grotesque monster repeatedly bragging about being a sexual assailant last year, I might still not have ever put it into context. Its easier to not think about it. Its easier not to deal with it. Besides, what good does it do me to dredge up even more pain from my childhood when I haven't been able to find a way to deal with any of the rest of it? Answer: Every good. It does good to add my voice to the countless women and men who have come forward to demand better of our society. It does good to allow myself to be a victim/survivor rather than mired in guilt and blame. It does good because I am now able to say, "fuck my parents and their complacent, willful ignorance of the human being I was." And THAT helps me to embrace the human being I was and love her, and myself today, a little more.<br />
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<b><br /></b>Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-35657673626763381072017-03-04T17:01:00.000-05:002017-03-04T17:01:34.558-05:00Donald Trump Wire Tapped My Phones<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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During the 2016 election season I wrote a lot of pieces outlining the ridiculousness of the Donald Trump candidacy. I pointed out that he is a <b><a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2015/07/rape.html" target="_blank">rapist</a></b>, <b><a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2016/09/rape2.html" target="_blank">a child molester</a></b>, and a <b><a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2015/06/and-clowns-now-have-ringleader.html" target="_blank">fucking clown</a></b>. I addressed the fact that <a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2016/10/one-question-for-trump-supporters.html" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">his supporters are fucking idiots</a>, that his entire platform was based on a series of <b><a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2015/08/PPP.html" target="_blank">pinkie promises</a></b> no one could ever keep in a democracy,<b> </b>and that his <b><a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2016/09/ExtremeVetting.html" target="_blank">stump speeches sounded eerily like Hitler's</a></b>.<br />
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I have heard from very credible sources that Donald Trump was very angry about my accusations and he determined to have my phones tapped. I will not cite those sources because, as our 'president' makes clear, that is not necessary.<br />
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I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that a racist, misogynistic, xenophobic fake billionaire was tapping my phones last year prior to the election.<br />
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Of course, I might just be a big fat liar who makes up nonsense to stir up my base and distract them from my Russian connections. (I used to work with a guy named Igor and we flirted sometimes).<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Fuck You BLOTUS</span></div>
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Kiss Kiss...<br />
Mean Progressive<br />
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<br />Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-82004527505141056092017-02-19T12:57:00.002-05:002017-02-19T13:39:17.581-05:00Let's Rein In The Women<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Jehmu/status/832043110381342720" target="_blank"><img alt=" See Tweet Here" border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRe6EhV8Dhm_6D30ehGvUkiTWgv00X9d1EHuHRNFVnkigpgEKmeAb5nW4DaoFepmV86gWUHtOSKpIBwkII8viuKbLiGZVHFjJuXBXw_s0XBi1G0oWHumYyzs9hTmlQR35sEfdAZDwfuWY/s320/Screenshot+%25281347%2529.png" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Jehmu/status/832043110381342720" target="_blank">See Tweet Here</a></td></tr>
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Today on A.M. Joy, Jehmu Greene said that the man who said he wants to 'rein women in' was Sam Ronan, who is running to lead the DNC. His entire narrative is a tiresome rehashing of the fauxgressive talking points during and after the primaries. He believes the left can be reformed if it determines that Sanders' entire mantra be embraced. The poor forgotten white man is still a central poin<span style="background-color: white;">t. No, he never ment</span>ions the white man, he just says the failure of the left is having forgotten the working class. This, of course, was the same talking point Sanders used to draw the same misguided correlation.<br />
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The bullshit projected there and adopted by the media on the left is painful. I remember vividly last summer when Hillary Clinton was holding <b><a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/presidential/20160731_Clinton__Kaine_campaign_at_wire_manufacturer_in_Johnstown.html" target="_blank">rallies in Pennsylvania</a> </b>about her jobs plans and MSNBC broke into her speech to see if she was replying to the fact that Trump had started a fight with Khizr Khan on Twitter. When they determined that what she was talking about wasn't remotely tabloidesque, they cut away from her rally speech and went back to the punditry banter over all manner of nonsense wholly unimportant to the working class voters, and everyone else.<br />
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Hillary Clinton had an amazing platform for the working class to <b><a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/jobs/" target="_blank">raise wages</a></b>, <b><a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/a-fair-tax-system/" target="_blank">lower taxes</a></b>, <b><a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/labor/" target="_blank">protect our unions</a></b>, <b><a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/small-business/" target="_blank">strengthen small businesses</a></b>, and every other damned thing you would expect from a <b><a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/" target="_blank">REAL Progressive platform</a></b>. Thoughtfully compare that to <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/income-and-wealth-inequality/" target="_blank"><b>Sanders' platform</b></a> which was focused more on outlining the issues American workers face than defining any actual plans (or means of funding them) for progress.<br />
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Clinton traveled the country giving Americans her vision for our future and how to move forward. The fact that every American didn't make it to a rally to hear that vision is not her failing, nor theirs. It is the failure of both the media who found ad buys more enticing than our democracy, and the fauxgressives who spent their time demanding both sides were rotten and only Saint Bernard could save the world. Don't fucking get me started ... there is little chance I will ever stop.<br />
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ANYWAY .... Back to my point.<br />
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The same people who project the image of the forgotten working class white man are the same people who remind us that 53% of white women voted for Trump. Pause and reflect. If a majority of white women aren't voting as Democrats, isn't it just slightly indicative of an issue speaking to women? And why might that be? I would say if a fauxgressive who is seeking to lead the party spends time thinking out loud that women need to be reined in, we have found a good place to start our reflection.<br />
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Of course real Progressives want to move women forward. Of course real Progressives believe in income equality. Of course real Progressives believe a woman should have the ONLY say in her reproductive and family planning choices. But if our party can be hijacked by a group proudly led by a man who writes rape fantasies and can dismiss them as being satirical while ignoring women during the entire campaign, maybe the party has a lot more work to do for the women who are being condemned for not hearing the message. It sounds to me like they probably have. The message they hear is the message our society projects - women need to shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down. Women have all of the rights they need. And of course, women have destroyed the Democratic party. Do you think that's a stretch? Name me one Democrat who was maligned over the last two years who also has a cock. Thanks.<br />
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I will conclude my tirade by reminding you that most women on the left are what I call 'universal mothers.' You don't have to be a mother to be a universal mother. I sincerely believe it is inherent. Universal mothers are those of us who see every issue as a personal issue because they hit all of our children. We demand that the myriad concerns of true Progressives (those which the fauxgressives demand have been too distracting and alienated the white men) are all personal to us. We are fighting for LGBTQ, Black Lives Matter, immigrants, Muslims, campus rape victims, education, disability rights, gun control, mental health coverage, climate change, health care reform, criminal justice reform, etc. These are the issues that America's children face. And America's children are all our children.<br />
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If someone wants to lead the Democratic party to a place where 53% of white women aren't voting against their own interests, it would be in the interest of the Democratic leadership to remind themselves, so they can project that reminder to American women, that ALL OF THESE ISSUES are a sincere and beloved facet of our party. If our leadership can spend time denouncing them, they can hardly spend their time reminding American women why these issues are so important.<br />
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Trust me, the white man will be just fine. I'm sure having had unchecked privilege throughout our entire history is very comforting and the idea of allowing others to move into the foreground is unsettling. The objective of a REAL Progressive movement would consider it their responsibility to better explain the genuine necessity of inclusion instead of finding ways to counter it. No single aspect of our platform should be hindered to make anyone else more comfortable. And this woman is here to tell you, any motherfucker who believes women need to be reined in needs to exit stage right. Immediately.<br />
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Kiss Kiss...<br />
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Mean Progressive<br />
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<br />Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-37902538599228608902016-12-30T13:53:00.000-05:002017-02-15T09:51:45.567-05:00The Truth About Progressives<br />
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I have had my progressive ideals called into question countless times over the last two years. First it was from nutters on the right who determined lefties weren't allowed to have shitty attitudes (?). Then it came from the left (or those pretending to be from the left hidden behind avatars and fake names) by those demanding that only a true progressive would support the Sanders, then Stein, candidacies. The ignorance encapsulated in both assertions should be clear to any thinking person. I can, then, only assume the reason we find ourselves in this absolute clusterfuck is because we have so few thinking people left. Glorious.<br />
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To the first: I can't be bothered to explain to you why I don't fit inside your narrow stereotype any more than you can explain to me why you need to hold on to it. Fuck you. I have a shitty attitude. I'll keep it until I leave this wretched planet.<br />
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The second seems to be profoundly missed in every nonsensical piece I've read since the 'election' where they say the Democrats didn't speak to the Progressive wing of the left. Honestly, I send you a pretty healthy 'Fuck You,' as well.<br />
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The true Progressives are the ones who stood with Hillary Clinton from the beginning, or those who had their awakening sometime during the campaign and moved to offer her their support. The ridiculously narrow message of the Sanders campaign (and Jesus Christ - Stein didn't even really have a message) offered acknowledgement of about a third of any respectable Progressive platform. Every once in a while he could be bothered to respond to a question asking about the myriad inequalities true Progressives insist be remedied. Even then he managed to fucker that conversation up and bring it back to his fixed presentation of income inequality.<br />
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Quietly reflect on this (I'm serious. Take this moment): If the response to a capitalist society gone amok only acknowledges the aspects of that society which affect people financially, haven't you just become the goddamned problem? You've allowed the response to every facet of that society to acknowledge its premise - The only thing that matters is money and power.<br />
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True Progressivism moves everyone forward. It is about genuine <u style="font-weight: bold;">progress</u> (get it?). When you deny or ignore the marginalized groups of that society, you are the fucking problem. Your message is the fucking problem. Your goddamned messenger is the fucking problem. And when the left loses you insist the reason we lost was because we didn't speak out more for those you determine to be marginalized (the poor forgotten white man), you perpetuate the problem to the place we find ourselves today. Well done, assholes. I've seen the Democrats called Republicans repeatedly. The only Republican mentality I saw on the left this cycle was from fauxgressives demanding the white man was being abused. Check yourselves or embrace what you really are: Libertarian - selfish to the core.<br />
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So women were supposed to first embrace a man who wrote rape fantasies in the 70s and had them written off as 'satire' during the campaign? And because you didn't like the candidate on the ticket for the left you now mock us because we have to somehow come to terms with the fact that a proud sexual assailant will lead the country? That's progressive to you?<br />
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Sanders took random opportunities to condemn Trump's hate speech, but he never offered anything in his platform to address the inequalities Trump was projecting. Why? Because his message was all too similar:<br />
-The Democrats have ruined the country and only he can save us from ruin. <br />
-The poor forgotten white man must be coddled and made to feel superior again.<br />
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Sure, Sanders used completely different language to get that message out, but he did it nonetheless.<br />
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True Progressivism makes a lot of demands of society. The reason the Democratic platform is so huge is because it is all-encompassing. There is room in there for all genders. All races. All religions. All income levels. The platform seeks equality for absolutely everyone, without exception. We demand that our children be safe and well educated. That our tax rates be fair. That our water and air are clean. That our workforce be strong and protected. That diplomacy is relevant. That we protect those our society has continued to assault. We insist on thoughtful resolutions to complex issues that won't fit on a meme. This entire election cycle we had one candidate who responded to all of those needs. ONE. And those who demanded she wasn't progressive enough certainly never bothered to read her platform. Here, jackass, <b><a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/" target="_blank">take a look</a></b> - its all still there. And its all still a million times more progressive than the shit Sanders ever tried to address.<br />
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I've been told repeatedly that I need to make nice with those who stalk my pages and tell me Trump 'won' the election because we didn't give them the candidate they demanded. I'm not that kind of girl. It's not my place to passively condone the hijacking of my party and bow to the will of the bullies in my midst. Its your job to grow up and take accountability for your own ignorance and arrogance. I'll be here when you get over yourselves.<br />
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Until then ...<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">FUCK YOU AND YOUR GODDAMNED BIRD.</span></b></div>
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Kiss Kiss...<br />
Mean Progressive<br />
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<br />Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-85165699234157353842016-11-09T09:16:00.000-05:002016-11-09T11:45:57.296-05:00It Was Just A Dream<br />
I have to admit, I've worn myself ragged over the last year and a half. The future of our country has been the only thing I've been able to think about. So it's not surprising that on election night, of all nights, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep before the returns started coming in. I just couldn't keep my eyes open. My poor brain was so hyper-focused on the desperate need of the American psyche for this election to end that it ended up doing some pretty crazy shit to me in my sleep. I had a terrible nightmare. I woke up in a sweat thinking America had elected an openly racist, misogynistic, xenophobic monster as president and given all three branches of government to the farthest right wing we have seen since our country's inception. What it would be like if it had been real ... but thankfully, it was just a nightmare.<br />
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Our next commander in chief is not the candidate who insulted Gold Star families and POWs.<br />
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Our president-elect didn't promise to meet with Vladmir Putin before getting the keys to the White House.<br />
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The next leader of the free world hasn't openly dismissed NATO and decided it should be a thuggish pay-for-play operation.<br />
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America's beloved President Obama won't be followed by the racist trash who started and perpetuated the birther movement.<br />
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America did not just pass the nuclear football to the candidate who reasons that the use of nuclear weapons is logical, because they exist.<br />
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America didn't just decide that they didn't want to have affordable healthcare covering pre-existing conditions and their children until they got out of college.<br />
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America didn't just decide to empower the extreme right wing with the educations of our babies.<br />
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America didn't just ensure decades of having the 2nd Amendment being interpreted to mean that anyone should be allowed to own an arsenal and carry it openly.<br />
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America didn't just hand our economy to the candidate who has been responsibile for it's recent historic drop just by potentially being elected.<br />
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The candidate who said that climate change is a hoax won't get to decide on the health of our planet just a year after the Paris climate deal.<br />
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The candidate who bragged about being a sexual assailant because of his status wasn't just given the highest status position on the planet.<br />
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The fate of marriage equality and abortion rights and voting rights and campaign finance reform hasn't just been upended by handing Congress the gift they were waiting for so they could continue to deny a moderate SCOTUS appointee and wait for the next president to nominate the most vile creature in a robe they can find.<br />
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Well, I'm awake now. And I'm ready to go into the future all of the pollsters assured us of. I'm ready for the next President who has been voted the most respected woman in the world 20 times. I'm ready to read about the futures of the small business owners who have a real champion on their side. I'm ready to have our new President and new blue Senate work on gun control measures like background checks and keeping guns out of the hands of abusers. I'm ready to see today's college students who are going to make our world a better place get help with their college debt. I'm ready to finally see the Equal Rights Amendment get passed. I'm ready for our new President with the new blue Senate get started on taking Obamacare to the next level so it can work for everyone. I'm ready to see what compassionate immigration reform does to open the hearts and minds of my American brothers and sisters who love the story of our melting pot. I'm ready to finally get a fair tax structure where the rich pay their share and those of us in the middle and at the bottom get a break. I'm ready to see so many Americans get put back to work rebuilding our infrastructure. I'm ready to see the green jobs of tomorrow. I'm ready to see criminal justice reform.<br />
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Wait. I just checked the news. That wasn't a nightmare? That really just happened?<br />
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You know what America? Go fuck yourself. Hard.<br />
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<br />Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-75589550622006211932016-11-07T14:12:00.001-05:002016-11-07T14:12:29.346-05:00Dear Media: Think Of Your Mothers<br />
This election season has been more detrimental to the American psyche than any in history. The women, especially, have had to suffer in ways that should be unimaginable in 2016. We have had to endure repeated reminders that one of the candidates running for the top office in the land feels entitled to sexually assault women because of his status. We have, of course, then had to witness the media allow his surrogates to repeatedly tell us that it was just 'locker room banter.' #GrabEmByThePussy is now a thing. It's become a joke. The women in America who have been sexually assaulted now live in a country where our discourse has embraced the mentality of 50 years ago. You did that.<br />
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American women have endured a media acceptance of a candidate who rates us from 1 to 10 and dismisses our accomplishments. He has told us that breastfeeding is gross. And said if we are sexually harassed we should find another career. He has said sexual assault against women in the military is the fault of the women who wanted to serve. He said women who seek abortions should be punished.<br />
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We have heard him call us dogs, fat pigs and disgusting animals. We have waited patiently for you to bother to tell America about his rape accusations (still waiting ...). We have waited for you to report on his fantastically inappropriate comments about many young girls, 10-17, and how he wanted to date them. We have had to contend with the idea that pedophilia is being discussed, but not discussed, when an aside is offered about his various comments about his own daughters, back to the time when Tiffany was a baby. American women have suffered this election season in countless ways from this 'man' and the coverage you've afforded him. Your mothers endured this normalization, thanks to you.<br />
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We have heard you tell America that we, the millions of women so excitedly cheering on, volunteering for and celebrating our candidate, don't exist. It made for a more sensational story, I suppose, to ignore us and have hours of discussion about why Hillary Clinton didn't have much support with women. But our absence on your news coverage didn't negate our existence. I'll bet many of your mothers were with us on this journey and have told you privately everything I am telling you today.<br />
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So I implore all members of our failing media to consider your mothers if Hillary Clinton wins the election tomorrow. I understand that you have executives in your ears telling you about ratings. I understand that you believe those ratings are contingent upon tabloidesque conversations. I understand that you have conditioned yourselves to not have meaningful dialogue. But tomorrow night, think of your mothers sitting at home watching your coverage of the election of the first woman president. Think about whether or not they would like to be asked to consider all of the disenfranchised white men who will exist after a Clinton win. Think of your mother who will be sitting at home crying, both in celebration of this monumental achievement for women, and for the fact that she raised you and your focus on her night is on the white men who have run our country since its inception.<br />
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A Hillary Clinton win is not about ratings. A Hillary Clinton win is not about the people who supported the other candidate. You will have 4-8 years to report on their supposed lots in life. A Hillary Clinton win is about the accomplishments of a woman who never stopped fighting to do the right thing. A Hillary Clinton win is about a woman who pushed forward while you participated in degrading her by spreading rumors like teenagers about scandals that always turned out to be baseless. A Hillary Clinton win is about a woman with a history of civil service that you haven't managed to highlight over the last year and a half because supposition about emails was more likely to get you ad buys. And, most importantly, a Hillary Clinton win is about every woman who is sitting at home watching your coverage waiting for a beautiful embrace of this moment in our grueling history where, after enduring universal abuse by our media who allowed misogyny to permeate our airwaves for the last year and a half, our hard work has merited this moment.<br />
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Give us our night. If you can't do it for ratings, if you can't do it for your audience, if you can't do it because it is newsworthy, if you can't do it because it's the right thing to do ...<br />
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">DO IT FOR YOUR MOTHERS!</span></b></div>
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Kiss Kiss ... Mean Progressive<br />
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<br />Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-88373941828715032242016-10-09T16:35:00.000-04:002016-10-13T18:22:01.765-04:00One Question For Trump Supporters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've been 'Libtard!'ed more times in the last year or so than I could ever count. The condemnation always comes from someone wholly invested in their own intellectual superiority, who is convinced that I know nothing about what is going on. Today I bow to all of those accusations and humbly ask them all for an answer to one, simple question. Because those who demand their knowledge (and, more often than not, their morality) is so much greater than mine, I will take for granted that we are all starting with the same set of easily verifiable of facts (I added links to each in bold print, just as a reminder for you):<br />
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You have read all of <b><a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/" target="_blank">Hillary Clinton's proposals</a> </b>on issues from national security to Social Security to taxes. And you have read <b><a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/" target="_blank">Donald Trump's</a></b>. After having compared and contrasted the two, you are confident that the Trump proposals, which don't actually offer plans for improvement or explain how they will be paid for, are the best options for American progress.<br />
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You believe that Hillary Clinton calling half of Trump supporters a 'Basket of Deplorables' makes her unqualified to lead the country. You believe this, even though you have been on Twitter and researched the supporters who've proudly changed their names to '<b><a href="https://twitter.com/search?f=users&vertical=news&q=deplorable&src=typd" target="_blank">Deplorable</a></b>' and you feel comfortable with their sending pictures of nooses to black people or ovens to Jews and harassing people for their religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin. Where most decent human beings think Clinton's phraseology was off because it was too generous, as that basket is certainly overflowing, you find it insulting.<br />
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You know the reason that presidential candidates disclose their tax returns and embrace that <b><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/how-to-force-donald-trump-to-release-his-tax-returns/490271/" target="_blank">Trump refuses</a></b> to do so, even while refusing to even give evidence of his supposed audit by the IRS (an easy feat ... they just send a letter). You understand that Trump's entire premise of creating jobs is based on his contention that he is a good businessman, even though he disproves that theory by losing <b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html" target="_blank">$916M in a single year</a></b> during an economic boom in America. You know that this business 'genius' filed corporate <b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-08-07/trump-i-have-taken-advantage-of-u-s-bankruptcy-laws" target="_blank">bankruptcy four times</a></b>. You know that when his father was alive, the senior Trump bailed junior out every time he ran a business into the ground. You know that in 1978 his father got him a <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-federal-income-tax-records-506713" target="_blank"><b>$35M line of credit</b></a> that he managed to squander in the same year and had to get it raised another $3M. You know that Trump has been sued many hundreds of times because he <b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/09/donald-trump-unpaid-bills-republican-president-laswuits/85297274/" target="_blank">refuses to pay</a></b> small business owners/contractors once their work for him is complete.<br />
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You've seen the video of him <b><a href="https://youtu.be/HGAqmaBjQxg" target="_blank">mocking a disabled reporter</a></b>. You know all about <b><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/trump-university-its-worse-than-you-think">Trump University</a></b>. And that Trump <b><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all" target="_blank">doesn't read</a></b> books. (Except he did keep a book of <b><a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2015/07/donald-ivana-trump-divorce-prenup-marie-brenner" target="_blank">Hitler's speeches</a></b> at his bedside ... I'm not sure that's comforting, however). You're well aware that Trump made a 'joke' about <b><a href="https://youtu.be/EcxkkrNSv-4" target="_blank">killing</a></b> Hillary Clinton and her judicial appointees. You know that he lied about donating <b><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/30/tomorrow-trump-will-give-more-details-about-his-donations-to-vets-heres-what-we-still-dont-know/" target="_blank">money to veterans</a></b> charities to get out of a GOP primary debate.<br />
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You're comfortable with the idea that Trump named himself his <b><a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/trump-foreign-policy-adviser-220853">top adviser</a></b> on foreign policy, even though he didn't know what <b><a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/donald-trump-conversation-politics-dark-898465" target="_blank">Brexit</a></b> was, he thinks we should disavow the <b><a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2011/04/donald-trumps-solution-on-gas-prices-get-tough-with-saudi-arabia-seize-oil-fields-in-libya-and-iraq.html" target="_blank">Geneva Conventions</a></b>, and he didn't know what the <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq6UtGcGPLM" target="_blank">nuclear triad</a></b> was. You are well aware of his idea to make our commitments to <b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/22/us/politics/donald-trump-foreign-policy-interview.html" target="_blank">NATO</a> </b>contingent on payment. But maybe you were comforted by his <b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/magazine/how-donald-trump-picked-his-running-mate.html" target="_blank">promise to Kasich</a></b> that, if he would take the VP spot, he would let him take charge of foreign policy. And domestic policy. (Leaving the making of America great solely up to Trump).<br />
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You know that he said the world would be better off if Saddam Hussein and Moammar Gadhafi (who he tried to set up a <b><a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/danielwagner/how-trump-tried-to-get-qaddafis-cash?utm_term=.csG7zKGB57#.td1PVjkbyP" target="_blank">partnership</a></b> with) were still in power. He now denies saying it. But <b><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/25/politics/donald-trump-moammar-gadhafi-saddam-hussein/" target="_blank">he totally did</a></b>. You know that he encouraged Russia to commit <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GM7wLno_pk" target="_blank">cyber espionage</a></b> for his benefit. And that he proposed having US citizens tried in <b><a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/donald-trump/article95144337.html" target="_blank">Guantanamo Bay</a></b>. You know that Trump has praised <b><a href="https://youtu.be/TFp4EHbXrNA" target="_blank">Kim Jong-un</a></b>. And <b><a href="https://youtu.be/IjlorYteUsA" target="_blank">Vladimir Putin</a></b>. And <b><a href="http://saddam%20hussein/" target="_blank">Saddam Hussein</a></b>. But that seems presidential. And patriotic, I'm sure.<br />
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You know that Donald Trump has been accused of <b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-undeniable-rape-culture-of-donald-trump_us_57ee5879e4b0c2407cdd4c92" target="_blank">rape</a></b> three times (that we know of). You know that he is getting ready to go to court for the rape of a <b><a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/316341058/Donald-Trump-Jeffrey-Epstein-Rape-Lawsuit-and-Affidavits#fullscreen" target="_blank">13 year old</a></b> who has 2 written witness affidavits, one of them from the person who was hired to find underage girls for the 'parties' where Trump repeatedly raped the person filing charges.<br />
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You are aware that Trump's new policy for offering child care credits only works <b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/us/how-the-trump-and-clinton-child-care-plans-stack-up.html" target="_blank">for the wealthy</a></b>. You know that Trump's leave plan <b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/us/how-the-trump-and-clinton-child-care-plans-stack-up.html" target="_blank">only</a></b> works for women and does not guarantee leave for a sick family member. This, of course, does not upset you because you know that he is the kind of person who thinks men who change diapers '<b><a href="http://fortune.com/2016/04/24/trump-act-like-wife/" target="_blank">act like the wife</a></b>,' and that breast-feeding is <b><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/29/politics/trump-breast-pump-statement/" target="_blank">'disgusting</a></b>.' But none of this is surprising, because you know that he said maybe his employees should feel they have to return quickly from maternity leave or <b><a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2016/05/27/donald_trump_called_pregnancy_an_inconvenience_for_business_owners.html" target="_blank">risk being replaced</a></b>.<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "raleway"; font-size: 17.25px;"><br /></span>You watched his <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jqn3V8EJVPg" target="_blank">announcement</a></b> when he entered the presidential campaign. You know that he said Mexicans are 'bringing drugs, bringing crime, they're rapists and some, I assume, are good people.' That sweeping generalization and conspiratorial language was not offensive to you. You know that he promised to <b><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/18/opinions/cevallos-trump-14th-amendment/" target="_blank">violate the 14th Amendment</a></b> and deport U.S. Citizens, in a mass deportation of all families where only the parents immigrated illegally. You watched when Trump managed to get into a <b><a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/9/1/12757530/trump-pena-nieto-tweet" target="_blank">Twitter war</a></b> with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto while trying to show how diplomatic and presidential he can be.<br />
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You've heard all of Trump's <b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/right-wing/58-donald-trump-conspiracy-theories-and-counting-definitive-trump-conspiracy-guide" target="_blank">conspiracy theories</a></b> from Ted Cruz' father being involved in the <b><a href="https://youtu.be/u1ND2VS8q08" target="_blank">JFK assassination</a> </b>(Cruz, who Trump called a <b><a href="https://youtu.be/UHcD5-TGHvY" target="_blank">pussy</a></b>), to the time (only) he saw <b><a href="https://youtu.be/HUweW3iTCIo" target="_blank">footage</a></b> of money being airlifted to Iran, that <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/238717783007977473" target="_blank">vaccines</a></b> cause autism, and <b><a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/donald-trump-justice-antonin-scalia-murdered-pillow-conspiracy-theory" target="_blank">Scalia</a></b> was murdered. And, of course, he is the father of the <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/207897542971752448" target="_blank">birther</a></b> movement and the idea that President Obama didn't go to <b><a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/feb/14/donald-trump/donald-trump-says-people-who-went-school-obama-nev/" target="_blank">Columbia </a></b>University. But it's all good.<br />
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There are young women in your life: children, grandchildren, nieces, friends. But the idea of having a president who clearly objectifies women doesn't give you pause. And neither does this commercial.<br />
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You're down with having a president of America who hates the female half. Its not even a question. You know he said in <b><a href="http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/reports/news/a42442/12-things-donald-trump-has-actually-said-about-women/" target="_blank">1992</a></b>, "Women, you have to treat them like shit." He hates women who <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/753354905897668608" target="_blank">have more power</a></b> than he does. He hates women who <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/680153902952615936" target="_blank">report the truth</a></b> about his <b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/24/us/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-women-isis.html?_r=0" target="_blank">misogyny</a></b>. He hates women who <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/781785509639118848" target="_blank">stand up to him</a> </b>when he bullies them. He hates women who can literally <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/666045638245810176" target="_blank">kick his ass</a></b>. He hates women who <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M28z9y4yT6Y" target="_blank">ask him questions</a></b> he'd really rather not answer. He hates women who report on his <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/619191996142501888" target="_blank">business failures</a></b>. He hates women who are <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/666045638245810176" target="_blank">unafraid of him</a></b>. He hates women who are compassionate, well respected <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/674587800835092480" target="_blank">world leaders</a></b>. He just hates women. But that's okay. No worries.<br />
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It doesn't give you pause to reflect on his immediate answer that women who have abortions should be <b><a href="https://youtu.be/h1Jpoecf0xY" target="_blank">punished</a></b>. Or that if women face <b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/08/01/ailes-trump-sexual-harassment-fox-news-women-gretchen-kelly-greta-news-column/87915454/" target="_blank">sexual harassment</a></b> at work they should, 'find another career.' You are completely comfortable with his having said, "<a href="https://youtu.be/DP7yf8-Lk80" target="_blank"><b>I've said if Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her</b></a>." You've seen the <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urReg9O6MwA" target="_blank">video</a></b> where he said, "That must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees," and that's okay.<br />
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You know that Trump is a <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/342187903511834624" target="_blank">racist</a></b>. He might not understand how <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/728297587418247168" target="_blank">racist</a></b> he is, but he's totally a <b><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/11/most-fascinating-thing-about-donald-trumps-racist-tweet" target="_blank">racist</a></b>. He's a <b><a href="http://www.salon.com/2011/04/28/donald_trump_discrimination_suit/" target="_blank">racist</a></b> from way back in the day. He is a <b><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/07/the-death-and-life-of-atlantic-city" target="_blank">racist</a></b> when it suits his business dealings. He is a <b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-was-also-a-dirtbag-to-native-americans_us_55cb9290e4b0923c12bf0688" target="_blank">racist</a></b> when he thinks it can make him money. He is a <b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-central-park-five_us_56c78713e4b041136f16fd4e" target="_blank">racist</a></b> when he thinks young men of color raped a woman. And he remains a <b><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/donald-trump-central-park-settlement-disgrace-article-1.1838467" target="_blank">racist</a></b> when it turns out they didn't. He is definitely a <b><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-father-fallen-soldier-ive-made-lot/story?id=41015051" target="_blank">racist</a></b>. He is unquestionably a <b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-mexicans_us_5751e972e4b0c3752dcda87f" target="_blank">racist</a></b>. There really is no doubt that Trump is a <b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-black-lives-matter-protester_us_5651ea96e4b0258edb31dd7e" target="_blank">racist</a></b>. Just a fucking <b><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-courtship-of-black-voters-hampered-by-decades-of-race-controversies/2016/07/19/d9822250-4d2e-11e6-aa14-e0c1087f7583_story.html" target="_blank">racist</a></b>. But that's okay with you. Fine.<br />
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You are fully aware of the fact that on the morning of 9/11, after the towers of the World Trade Center fell, he <b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-9-11-bragged-towers_us_57d58b91e4b03d2d459aee98" target="_blank">called a radio station</a></b> and bragged that his building was now the tallest in downtown Manhattan. And you know that the building he was so proud of, Trump Tower, was literally built on the backs of <b><a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/08/trump-tower-was-built-on-undocumented-immigrants-backs.html" target="_blank">undocumented immigrants</a>. </b>You know all about how Donald Trump <b><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/donald-trump-model-management-illegal-immigration" target="_blank">violated immigration laws</a></b> to run his modeling agency so that he could avoid paying the models if they didn't end up making him money.<br />
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You know that he said that global warming is a hoax created by the Chinese. And then he said he didn't. But <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/265895292191248385" target="_blank">he totally did.</a> </b>You know that he tried to spread a conspiracy theory saying that President Obama was supporting <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/posts/10157171263350725" target="_blank"><b>al-Qaeda</b></a> in Iraq. And that he started another conspiracy theory that President Obama and Secretary Clinton were the<b><a href="https://youtu.be/IjlorYteUsA" target="_blank"> founders of ISIS</a></b>. He later took it back. And then went back to it. And then took it back again.<br />
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You know that during (inter)national tragedies he has repeatedly congratulated himself for knowing such things would happen: The <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/742034549232766976" target="_blank">Pulse</a></b> nightclub in Orlando, when <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/769571710924263424" target="_blank">Dwyane Wade</a></b>'s cousin was killed in Chicago, the <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/712300954775887876" target="_blank">Brusse</a></b><b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/712300954775887876" target="_blank">ls</a></b> bombings, the Paris <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/665282108861083648" target="_blank">Bataclan</a></b> nightclub attacks, and the <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/552955167533174785" target="_blank">Charlie Hebdo</a></b> attack in Paris.<br />
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You know that Trump vowed to force our service men and women to <b><a href="https://youtu.be/u3LszO-YLa8" target="_blank">commit war crimes</a></b>. And that he said the families of terrorists should be <b><a href="https://youtu.be/I1eXRXL0nkk" target="_blank">assassinated</a></b>. And that we need a national <b><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-says-he-would-certainly-implement-muslim-database-n466716" target="_blank">database </a></b>to track Muslims. And that he advocated for <b><a href="https://youtu.be/nMndxpFf0dc" target="_blank">shutting down all Mosques</a></b> in America.<br />
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You're a patriotic American, but also cool with Trump saying that John McCain <b><a href="https://youtu.be/tSxwR9kCbZ0" target="_blank">isn't a war hero</a></b> because he was caught, even though you know that McCain was held for 5 1/2 years and tortured unimaginably and never betrayed America. You also know, of course, that Donald Trump <b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/us/politics/donald-trump-draft-record.html" target="_blank">dodged the draft</a> </b>and later jokingly accepted a Purple Heart from a veteran by saying, "I've always wanted to get the real <b><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-jokes-he-always-wanted-purple-heart-n621661" target="_blank">Purple Heart</a></b>. This was much easier." You also know that Trump thinks that women who enter the military and are raped were asking for it, because the <b><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/331907383771148288" target="_blank">military shouldn't be integrated</a></b>.<br />
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I submit that you are working from the same set of facts as I am. I assume that you have found justifications for all of the issues most Americans (who are aware) consider disqualifying. I accept that we just disagree and you are totally way smarter than I am about this and all other subjects. So I leave you with my question:</div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-large;">If Donald Trump shot you in the middle of 5th Avenue<b> </b>and he got away with it,<b> </b>but you survived, would he lose your vote?</span></div>
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<br />Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-18423321819729597252016-09-27T17:23:00.000-04:002016-09-27T19:13:36.146-04:00Who Love's Ya, Baby?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I live in a small Ohio suburb. We get a monthly Money Saver magazine in the mail with advertisements and coupons for local businesses. I got mine today. Imagine my profound surprise when I found a two page ad from the Trump campaign. I've marveled at the commercials they have been putting up here. It is Ohio, after all. You would expect them to be creating some thoughtful, persuasive ads. Instead we get urgent requests to call an 800 number and press 1 to show our support. I completely expect to hear "At The Airport Marriot! - Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!" every time the commercial ends. They're garbage. Honestly. This 'master businessman' only proves his penchant for tacky wordplay and conman ploys.</div>
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I suppose I wasn't completely surprised by the first page of the ad. The entire thing was full of verifiable lies about Hillary Clinton's record countered by a laughable list of Trump's 'accomplishments' and a vision for America that would actually fit on a bumper sticker. </div>
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Then I got to page 2 showing some of the 'millions' who support Trump. Just Jesus Christ! The first thing I noticed was that his wife's name was misspelled. Yeah. I'm sure Melanie supports him. That was important, I suppose. Americans need to know that your wife (whatever her name is) supports you. His VP pick Mike Pence supports him, too. Go figure. And the kids - they all got prominent spots in this ad. </div>
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And then you have the rest. Take time with the list of people the Official Trump Campaign told us support him.</div>
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<ol>
<li><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/27/former-mexican-president-trumps-debate-performance-should-alarm-world-leaders/" target="_blank">Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/27/politics/donald-trump-debate-rosie-odonnell-feud/" target="_blank">Rosie O'Donnell</a></li>
<li>Rev Run</li>
<li><a href="http://globalgrind.com/2015/12/08/donald-trump-open-letter-by-russell-simmons/" target="_blank">Russell Simmons</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/eva-longoria-schools-donald-trump-in-powerfully-personal-dnc-speech_us_57975df6e4b01180b5302903" target="_blank">Eva Longoria</a></li>
<li>Muslims (generally, I suppose)</li>
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So sure, this entire 2 page ad is bullshit. Its a nonsensical bit of nothing put together at the last minute by someone who didn't even try. They couldn't find prominent, respectful Americans who supported his candidacy so they gave us people that should support him by default and people who refuse to come out and actually endorse him, regardless of their friendship, like Tom Brady. But it's pretty disgusting that, in attempts to find credibility in the black community or with immigrants or with decent human beings, he would peddle endorsements that have never come and WILL NEVER COME. If I were Rosie O'Donnell, I'd sue. Just sayin' ...</div>
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Kiss Kiss ... Mean Progressive</div>
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<br />Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-21363340881103074672016-09-04T14:10:00.000-04:002016-09-04T18:28:25.694-04:00Dear Media: Rape Is Still A Thing<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Indeed</span></td></tr>
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Last summer we were <a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2015/07/rape.html" target="_blank">forced to suffer Mika Brzezinski</a> feigning disgust over a Trump rape allegation and that was about the extent to which our network media wanted to cover the story. Of course, Brzezinski's disgust was over the idea of an allegation having been made at all, not at the rape, itself. She pretty much told the whole wide world that Trump was above it and refused to cover it beyond her outrage.<br />
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As we roll into the final months of a campaign that has lowered the discourse of our society, maybe forever, we have watched our media spend the last few weeks trying desperately to convince themselves and their audience that Trump isn't a racist. The definition has been rehashed more times than the theory of evolution. Here. Let me help you. TRUMP IS A FUCKING RACIST. <br />
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While trying to redefine the word 'racist' you have not informed your audience about the Central Park Five case and his part in it. Most Americans would be absolutely horrified to know that anyone would spend money to put full page ads in 4 New York newspapers calling for the death penalty for five black and Latino teenagers (age 14-16) who, as it turned out, were completely innocent.<br />
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But if that isn't recent enough for you - This was actually reported in the 7am hour yesterday, when he was getting ready to pander to a black church and no mention was made of it, thereafter. K? There. Racist defined. Move on.<br />
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You have wasted an entire year not exploring the Republican nominee. You have spent MONTHS on supposition about what very well might be a scandal (which has, to date, still failed to be) in emails of Secretary Clinton (heads up - thats her goddamned title - no need to address her with Mrs). You have completely neglected the stories about Trump that are reported and Americans have a right to know before we go to the polls in November. </div>
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You have yet to find the time to go over thousands (THOUSANDS!) of lawsuits filed against Trump and explain to the American people exactly what he has been sued for and what he has been found guilty of in his business dealings while he is on the stump trying to convince America that he gives a single shit about working people. </div>
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You have completely let him get away with not giving us his tax returns but congratulate yourselves for asking his surrogates the question every now and again. It is a tenet of American politics that any nominee give their returns and he gets by with absolutely nonsensical retorts and you just let them go. No candidate would get away with that. If this were Secretary Clinton, every channel would cover that and nothing else 24/7. That's just a fact. And you would have explained ad nauseum exactly WHY it is so important for the voters to see what is in their tax returns. No one has even bothered to ask him, 'Hey ... If you are really being audited, how about you show us a copy of the letter you received from the IRS informing you of the audit?' </div>
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Of the countless things you refuse to cover, the most offensive to me are his rape allegations. Let us not pretend that decorum has kept anyone from talking about such topics, because decorum hasn't been an issue in our media ever since the Clinton #42 years. Trump's divorce papers identified him as a rapist. <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/300193678/1997-Jill-Harth-Lawsuit" target="_blank">He was sued in 1997 </a>for sexual harassment and attempted rape. But no one wants to touch it. </div>
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And now, RIGHT NOW Trump is getting ready to go to court for <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/316341058/Donald-Trump-Jeffrey-Epstein-Rape-Lawsuit-and-Affidavits#fullscreen" target="_blank">rape of a THIRTEEN YEAR OLD </a>and no one in the media is informing American voters of this fact. I will acknowledge that this case is hard to discuss. After having read the complaint, I am, quite literally, a changed woman. I will never unsee the visual images depicted therein. Because of the detail, however, and the corroborating witness affidavit, the story is one that voters must hear. </div>
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Any thinking person can tell that Donald Trump holds nothing but contempt for women. Likewise, any thinking person would attest that he is, quite obviously, a bully. You need only show his performance in previous debates or one of several hundred tweets that a teenager would be above sending. He has the personality traits of a rapist. But he gets a pass. I sincerely believe his lawsuit-happy ass is getting away with everything because the media is afraid of being sued. Do your jobs or you will end up in a country where freedom of the press really will be in question.</div>
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You allowed the term 'legitimate rape' to become part of our lexicon. How about taking a little time exploring 'legitimate rape allegations' so the progress American women have made isn't countered by sending a fucking rapist to the White House. </div>
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Kiss Kiss ... Mean Progressive </div>
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Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-66114570770370513892016-09-01T18:15:00.001-04:002016-09-02T11:45:21.087-04:00Dear Media: It's Time For Extreme Vetting<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BREAKING NEWS >>> This isn't breaking news.</td></tr>
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Media, you have failed us. Again. You have spent 16 months trying to normalize a campaign that is toxic, at best. You have asked yourselves, your pundits and the American people to explore the Trump candidacy to the depths of a puddle after a 5 minute rain. You have made it clear that your only objective is to report on that which creates the best spin and ignore all else. In the case of CNN, you have literally hired Corey Lewandowski, Trumps 'former' campaign manager, and then ask him daily to tell us just what Trump would like us to hear. Is America being punked right now? Is Ashton Kutcher going to pop out one of these mornings from behind Steve Kornacki's big board and tell us all of this was a complete joke? That would be more settling than the place we presently find ourselves.<br />
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The spin is the only thing that matters. Why, then, aren't Trumps rape charges tabloidesque enough for you? Are you afraid of him filing a lawsuit? You opened the week telling us about a sexting scandal of the husband of a Clinton staffer but have yet to find the time to tell Americans that the 'man' on the top of the Republican ticket has been accused of rape. Repeatedly. <br />
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You keep bringing up the fact that he is polling miserably with college educated voters. Wanna know why? We saw last night's speech in college. In the original German. <a href="https://www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/1939-1941/hitler-speech-to-german-parliament" target="_blank">(see here)</a> We are able to see his campaign for what it is. Is the whole of our media too naive to see what is coming or are you too interested in ad buys to educate those Americans who can't see it coming?<br />
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It is (well beyond) time that you do some extreme vetting of your own. Go find footage of Hitlers old speeches. I found them myself but was only able to find them in Neo Nazi youtube channels and I don't want to give them more clicks. Why not do some pieces and explore what history has shown us about demagogues who rise to power. Trump is known to have kept a book of Hitler's speeches at his bedside. Maybe explore that a bit. The comparisions are terrifying. Here are a few hints of the things to look up:<br />
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* Promised 'Peace through strength' (Trump said TODAY)<br />
* Condemnation of entire religion.<br />
* Proposal of mass deportation of 'undesirables.'<br />
* Promise to break treaties with foreign nations.<br />
* Assertion that all government is corrupt and only he could be trusted to fix it.<br />
* Promise to rebuild the military to the greatest force in history.<br />
* Use of quick catch phrases to outline policies with little/no detail (read Mein Kampf).<br />
* Called for IDs to distinguish all of a single religion he deemed 'dangerous.'<br />
* Teach nationalism in schools (he said this today - you ALL missed it).<br />
* Condemn the media for lying about the candidate <a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2016/08/Godwin.html" target="_blank">(heads up - some of them were killed)</a>.<br />
* His supporters like him because he was 'telling it like it is.'<br />
* Demanded that all of the problems of the country were caused by the outsiders.<br />
* Encouraged beatings of protesters (later murder) who spoke out against him.<br />
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This is a quick list off the top of my head. I know many learned people would be able to add to it with ease.<br />
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Yes. There is a good reason we shouldn't blindly just toss Hitler/Nazis into a discussion. It distills the conversation for the next time it would be relevant. Thanks to assholes like Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Rick Perry, Ben Carson and others on the right, we have had to suffer ridiculous correlations to President Obama and Hitler. Of course, those were exciting to cover SO YOU DID.<br />
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It is your job to chronicle what we will leave to history. After having studied the journalists who witnessed and documented the 20th century, take your responsibility more seriously. Read and watch what they left you about the rise of the monstrous leaders who tried to annihilate all that was good in the world. Offer the American people the important comparisons they need to make educated decisions in November.<br />
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Kiss Kiss ... Mean Progressive<br />
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For any who missed the Arizona 'immigration' speech last night (8/31/16) where many of the comparisons are drawn:<br />
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<br />Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-69494655980847782442016-08-14T17:29:00.001-04:002016-08-16T19:03:47.573-04:00Dismissing Godwin<br />
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Trump supporters have a new rallying cry when he goes on his rambling tirades: "Lock Them Up!" Them who? The media. It's not funny. It's absolutely fucking ridiculous. But it is not funny. The reason they want to lock up the media isn't for some profound universal infraction. Their ire is drawn by repeated condemnations from Donald Trump demanding that the media is out to get him. And the initial response, instead of asking for retractions or correcting any records, is to forfeit journalists' Constitutional rights and toss them in jail. Again, this isn't funny. And this is not an issue to be taken lightly.<br />
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I preface to all who automatically cry "Godwin's Law" when someone mentions Hitler - Shut Up. It could be argued that Godwin's Law has become a victim of that which the rule, itself, was meant to address: hyperbolic comparisons (to Hitler/Nazis). Now, of course, it is used hyperbolically to dismiss meaningful conversations where those comparisons are drawn.<br />
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In December 2015 Mike Godwin wrote in an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/12/14/sure-call-trump-a-nazi-just-make-sure-you-know-what-youre-talking-about/?utm_term=.747eaf496289" target="_blank">Op-Ed for the Washington Post</a>, "If you're thoughtful about it, and show some real awareness of history, go ahead and refer to Hitler or Nazis when you talk about Trump." Ok. Thanks.<br />
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Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.4px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Propaganda must always address itself to the broad masses of the people. (...) All propaganda must be presented in a popular form and must fix its intellectual level so as not to be above the heads of the least intellectual of those to whom it is directed. (...) The art of propaganda consists precisely in being able to awaken the imagination of the public through an appeal to their feelings, in finding the appropriate psychological form that will arrest the attention and appeal to the hearts of the national masses. The broad masses of the people are not made up of diplomats or professors of public jurisprudence nor simply of persons who are able to form reasoned judgment in given cases, but a vacillating crowd of human children who are constantly wavering between one idea and another. (...) The great majority of a nation is so feminine in its character and outlook that its thought and conduct are ruled by sentiment rather than by sober reasoning. This sentiment, however, is not complex, but simple and consistent. It is not highly differentiated, but has only the negative and positive notions of love and hatred, right and wrong, truth and falsehood.</span></span></blockquote>
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Trump seems to understand the value of crowds of 'human children,' as well. He offers constant reminders of building his wall, banning Muslims, and demanding our leaders use terminology to dismiss billions of 'others' when talking about terrorism. He even insists that our current president is one of those 'others,' and implies that President Obama is in league with the terrorists we are all supposed to fear - that only Trump can save us from. This is all rounded out by telling us, "I love the poorly educated." Yeah. No shit.<br />
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Hitler had a very powerful propaganda machine. It was built and perfected over a decade. Trump had little to do with the machine he is using today, but he is exploiting its existence nonetheless.<br />
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In Hitler's time, radio and print journalism were the dominant media used to inform the masses. Hitler said of his message, "I will provide a propagandistic casus belli. Its credibility doesn't matter. The victor will not be asked whether he told the truth." As with Trump's messages of blaming immigrants for rapes and murders, and blaming Muslims for all terrorist acts in America, Hitler used his propaganda to elevate the Aryans by correlating all evil acts in society to having been perpetrated by the Jews. And Communists (the left).<br />
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The first objective of propaganda is to dismiss those who the public is used to getting their information from. In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote of his propaganda, "It must not investigate the truth objectively and, in so far as it is favorable to the other side, present it according to the theoretical rules of justice; it must present only that aspect of the truth which is favorable to its own side." Donald Trump has certainly made the same assessment. So consider that every time you hear him whining about his media coverage or see him tweeting about his supposed vilification. These were just from today:<br />
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He has defined his victimhood-by-the-press for over a year now. His rallies have a penned area where the media are kept, and he regularly points them out to the crazed audience for their condemnations. The hysteria has even bled over into the pen where MSNBCs Katy Tur was once afforded a Secret Service escort for her own safety after a particulary nasty tirade against her by Trump.<br />
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It might seem like a stretch to suggest that he would round up the press who reported unfavorably about him if he were elected. There really is no telling what he would do, to be honest. He has given us some hints about his own opinions on killing journalists, however.<br />
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So there's that.<br />
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In 1933, when the Nazi's were rising to power, one of the first acts was to create concentration camps for Hitler's political opposition. Many of those who opposed him were the journalists who had written about him and warned of his rise.<br />
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Fritz Gerlich was a German who wrote against the Hitler regime. Early in his career, he was a conservative nationalist until the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. He saw the Nazi movement for what it was, and reported accordingly. In 1929, he started a newspaper to expose the lies the propagandists were beginning to feed the public. By 1932, the paper had a circulation of 40,000 and was renamed Der Gerade Weg (The Straight Path), where he wrote "National Socialism means: Enmity with neighboring nations, tyranny internally, civil war, world war, lies, hatred, fratricide and boundless want." After taking power in 1933, Gerlich was one of the first arrests made. He was transported to Dachau and died a year later during the Night of the Long Knives.<br />
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Otto Felix Kanitz, who was prominent in the Austrian anti-authoritarianism movement, wrote a pamphlet, <i style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">Kämpfer der Zukunft, </i>which was banned by the Nazis and included in the first book burnings in 1933. In 1934, he went into exile but returned to Austria in 1938. He was then captured and sent to Buchenwald where he was executed.<br />
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Henry Wilhelm Kristiansen was a Norwegian newspaper editor for a Communist newspaper. In 1940, Norway was occupied by Germany and the newspaper was shut down by the Nazis. Kristiansen was arrested, and later released. He continued his work underground and was arrested again in 1941 when he and his wife, Mirjam, were deported. She died in Auschwitz and he in Neuengamme.<br />
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Arne Jostein Ingebrethsen was a Norwegian newspaper writer who was determined to write against the German occupation of Norway. He was imprisoned for an article in 1940 and, upon release, continued his work to denounce the occupation. In 1943, he was arrested again and moved to different concentration camps until he died in Melk, just months before the camps were liberated.</div>
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I don't spend any of my time imagining that Donald Trump has the intellectual curiosity required to research Hitler's rise to make use of his successess. I believe Trump's methodology comes from having learned through his own career, and secondarily from subconsciously witnessing the rise of the Tea Party, about how to manipulate facts and appeal to the least among us.<br />
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Books will certainly be written in the future to chronicle, and compare, Hitler and the Nazis to the rise of the Tea Party and Trump's capacity to hijack their very limited message of nationalism and hating the 'others' to rise to the point where he has. They will compare their prominent egos, questionable sanity and demagoguery. They will note Trump's taking dog whistles to the next level at a time when those who needed to hear them most were at their apex. One of Hitler's greatest draws was his promise to disavow the Treaty of Versailles and rebuild the nations military. Trump has a similar message. Of course, he manages to twist-turn it into a dismissal of our own military greatness and paints his patriotism as dubious, at best.<br />
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Historians will show how neither Trump nor Hitler were remotely religious, but espoused Christian 'values' in attempts to build up the simple-minded and define their superiority. Trump's bullshit nationalistic dialogue depicting a country very few can identify will be covered. Trump's nonsensical rhetoric about caring for the nation's poor mirrors a lot of what Hitler said. Of course, to be honest, Hitler actually did see to social welfare of the working class. Trump's tax plan, and long history of only looking out for himself, would surely offer more than a little supposition about who would benefit from any policies he might want to enact.<br />
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The good news? The myriad commonalities between Hitler and Trump can be countered with numerous differences. Hitler was an amazing orator and used his skills to rally many people beyond his base. Trump can either stand in front of a teleprompTer and mangle the very words in front of him, or ad-lib an entire speech and leave any thoughtful audience to seriously question his mental stability, but be certain: he thinks of little more than inflating his own ego.<br />
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Hitler worked very hard for many years to build his movement. He was passionate in his attempt. Trump is lazy and expects to just hijack a fading movement and take it to the White House. As utterly disgusting and inhuman as Hitler's entire rule was, he completely believed in it. He was a genuine zealot of his own movement. Donald Trump could obviously care less about nearly every issue in the GOP (or any other) platform. Hitler had a large team of people who understood his mission and worked tirelessly for him (many out of fear). Trump doesn't know what he's doing from one minute to the next, and his own 'team' are wholly confused about his end game. Those in the GOP who would gladly kiss his ass and embrace his platform of hate are even being dismissed by the candidate. Hitler had the foresight to make use of the willing parasites around him.<br />
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Let me be plain ... Just because he is a goddamned clown, it doesn't mean that, if given the opportunity, he wouldn't absolutely destroy our country. Evidence is found in countless answers he's offered from quickly determining that women who seek abortions should be punished, to his absolute dismissal of the killings of journalists shown above where he says of Putin, "At least he's running his country."<br />
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Because we are a democracy, the likelihood of his ascension can be diminished by our own passion and drive to continue moving America forward. Of course, that means all of us have to continue to speak out. Even to those who would really rather not talk about it. And, as hard as the media often makes it for us, we must rally behind their attempts to communicate the truths about the vile self-serving creature who is trying to follow MY President into the White House.<br />
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Kiss Kiss.... Mean Progressive<br />
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<br />Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-57244191301889839102016-05-31T12:35:00.001-04:002016-06-02T09:28:59.484-04:00The (Profound) Difference Between Anxiety and Depression<br />
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I am fortunate enough to live with both anxiety and depression. They create different obstacles in life and those obstacles create myriad opportunities to be misdiagnosed and/or ignored. That is always lovely. Always.<br />
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On Mothers Day weekend this year I had terrible stomach pain. It started in my belly button area and I went to the pharmacy because I refused to go to the Urgent Care as the predominant feature of my anxiety is agoraphobia and being in places that are new to me or crowded or lack windows with clear views of escape are triggers I avoid like the plague. I might prefer plague, to be honest. Anyway, my pharmacy is in my grocery store and that is one of 3 places I've become comfortable being outside of my home or car. The pharmacist said I should go to the ER. I said that's not a choice and determined the ulcer I'd been treated for a couple of months earlier was probably the culprit. I explained my nausea and pain and she recommended Tums and Tylenol (the only pain killer I'm allowed to take because of previous surgery). I bought them and went home. The pain gradually moved lower and to the right and I could actually see a swollen area by my hip bone when I was laying down in the tub and thought whatever was there in my body was the problem. It looked like a sausage link. I just kept taking the Tylenol and hoped for the best.<br />
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The best happened. The pain was finally gone but the nausea persisted. I went to see my doctor that following week and she ordered a CT scan. I'd already googled and determined it was my appendix but figured if I wasn't dead I must be fine. I'd read that 'chronic appendicits' was a thing and felt sure this was my issue. My appointment for the CT scan was the following week on Wednesday. The doctor called me Thursday morning and said I have appendicitis and need to go get it taken out. Again rationalizing that if it had been an issue for 2 weeks now and I was not dead, it must not be a big deal and I told my doctor that my daughter's bachelorette party was this weekend and her sister was flying in from Florida especially for the event. I was not willing to ruin that with her having to worry about my having surgery. My doctor called a surgeon and an appointment was made for next Thursday to see him in his office.<br />
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On Memorial Day the nausea and vomiting into my plate whenever I tried to eat became more of a pain in the ass than I wanted to deal with any longer so I called the on call surgeon at the hospital who read my CT scan and she asked why no one did my blood work to count the white blood cells. I, of course, had no idea. Because I was so sick she determined I may very well have a blockage as the swollen appendix was putting pressure on other organs. Her encouragement that I go to the ER registered and I had my daughter drop me off.<br />
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Upon registration into the ER, I answered all of the usual questions. One of them was 'Are you suicidal?' to which I explained 'I have clinical depression and always want to be dead but I'm not doing anything about it'. She asked me several more questions about depression and I told her, 'Look, if I was trying to be dead today I wouldn't have come here for you to remove my appendix, I'd just let it go and not tell anyone.' That logic was lost on her and she informed me that she was going to flag my admission as needing to be watched by the Psychiatric department. Whatever. That's fine. Do what you want to do. Just get this stupid appendix out, thanks.<br />
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Of course, what she failed to explain to me was just what the 'watch' would entail. What it meant was that I was going to be taken to the ER ward specifically for psychiatric patients and, because I said I always want to be dead they would list my issue as being depression. My depression had nothing to do with my visit or my unwillingness to go to the hospital. My depression would not have had any problems in that space. My anxiety, however (which they knew all about as evidenced by the electronic record and instructions they gave me upon release shown below), was going to make my visit a complete and almost unexplainable nightmare.<br />
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When I left for the hospital I took 3 anxiety pills that don't actually do anything but are the only ones I had and took the maximum my doctor said I could take in one time. I also packed a bag with my iPad and headphones so I could avoid looking around and experiencing the uncomfortable and unfamiliar place that I was in. I brought my laptop so that I could write or design and keep my brain busy as I knew it would certainly be a long day and my anxiety was going to get the better of me if I didn't try to stay on top of it. I was as prepared as I could be to go to a regular ER and have the regular ER experience. I was woefully unprepared for the experience they would offer me, however.<br />
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When I was taken to the special ward I was not actually aware that it was no longer part of the ER. They gave me a purple gown to get into and told me I had to give them my clothes. They questioned whether or not I had any weapons or hard objects in my shorts. I said, 'just my cell phone'. The nurse said he needed me to give that to him. I was pretty uncomfortable with the idea and let him know it. He said I wasn't allowed to have electronic devices because of a hospital regulation about not having your 'treatment' recorded. I then told him that I also had my iPad and laptop and assured him that I was going to need to keep them. He told me that was not a choice. As I recall that moment to write it for you now the fear comes back and my anxiety and tears are just as real as they were in that moment. That is anxiety. But they didn't want to hear about my anxiety. I was there because the fucking woman at registration asked about the depression on my chart with no note or concern of the anxiety/agoraphobia listed directly below it.<br />
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After all of my tools to deal with my anxiety were taken away, I tried very hard to calm myself the only way that works for me. I count back from 73. I have no idea why 73 is my number, but that's what I do. Over and over. Sitting in front of a television that wasn't on, I put my ball cap down low and counted inside of my head. After a couple of hours of being in this room and having little attention aside from giving a urine sample and having my blood drawn, a very angry and large man was brought in by the police. He was very forceful and demanded that he was neither drunk nor on drugs and he refused to do the things all who entered that room were told to do. He was not going to change his clothes and he was not giving them his stuff. As he was screaming he used words and a tone that, as it turns out, were a trigger for me. They were reminiscent of <a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2015/06/DomViol.html" target="_blank">the words my former abuser was screaming the day I got a police escort out of my home</a>. I began having a panic attack. The police had left and this room was now, for this moment, occupied by the intimidating man and myself (a 43 year old woman with a shitty attitude but who honestly poses no threat to anyone), a 4 foot something 70ish year old woman who weighed 75 lbs (I know this because when a nurse came in to give her meds she questioned her weight for fear the dosage would be too much) and a 23 year old nurse who had a sweet heart but I doubt would be much of a counter to anything this man may want to unload.<br />
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My panic attack started slowly, as it always does. I couldn't count backward any longer. It was not working because my brain was too preoccupied with the memories of my former abuser and the worry that something might happen to my young nurse. I made my own anxiety worse by shaming myself because I was allowing this attack to create a limitation if I needed to take action to protect her. My breathing became more difficult and my body began shaking uncontrollably. This attack lasted about 20-30 minutes. Eventually the security guards took care of that man and another nurse who'd seen what I was dealing with asked if she could give me something for anxiety. 'Yes, please.' I don't really take anti-anxiety meds so when she asked if I had ever had the one she was going to give me I honestly replied, 'I don't know. I doubt it.' It started with an A. It worked. Eventually I fell asleep sitting up in the chair.<br />
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When I woke up that man was sitting next to me. I had had a panic attack that they witnessed and worked to cure. They told me they assessed that it was the loud and angry man that had set me off and I assured them that is what caused my anxiety and recounted my flashback of my abuser to them. They were good enough to set me to sleep and then allow me to wake to the same fucking man sitting next to me.<br />
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No worries... This story gets much worse.<br />
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At this point, several hours in, I still didn't quite understand why I was being given so much psychiatric attention and so little medical attention. I was sent for a new CT scan and after two more hours of waiting, I was told that the antibiotics I'd been given last week when the appendicitis was diagnosed were working and the infection was dying. They were concerned because there was a blockage due to the inflammation and they wanted to take care of that, as well.<br />
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After 6 hours of sitting in the psych waiting room they found a bed for me. At this time, I still believed I was there to get my appendix out. They put me in a room with no door, no windows, white walls and a television on Nick Jr showing some goddamned show I wouldn't have suffered well if my toddler was a fan (and I can take a lot - I <i>still</i> know every word to every Barney song), but I certainly couldn't watch it that night. The remote was broken and that show was my only choice. I turned off the TV.<br />
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When the TV was off I realized just where I was. I was in a mini version of the awful psych wards you see in movies. There was a catatonic woman walking up and down the hall. There was a faceless woman in another room moaning and crying and there was the angry man from earlier that afternoon who seemed to be well drugged up and harmless by this point but with a booming voice talking all nonsense echoing through the halls for actual hours. His nonsense was eventually countered, however, by an even louder and more offensive newcomer. Her name was Mary. I know this because I was out in the hall demanding for the *nth time that I be removed from this ward when three police officers came down the hall escorting a tall (at least 6 foot) and rather large woman to our happy group and she was cheering her own entrance with arms raised announcing, 'Mary's back. Is Curtis working tonight?'<br />
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Mary was good enough to rant for the remainder of my stay. She was a good Christian. And she hated gay people. And she shouldn't be expected to abide gay people. Apparently a man showed up at a Memorial Day cookout she was attending (who the fuck would invite Mary to their cookout, honestly!?) and she got in a fight with his new boyfriend. I imagine that is what precipitated this night's lodgings. I was beyond pissed about her homophobic rant and went to the hall to ask a nurse if they could just at least give her some drugs and put her to sleep. I said, 'You have no idea whether or not you have someone here who is depressed and gay and this is going to make it worse.' The woman who had been pacing the halls for hours looked at me with tears streaming down her face and said, 'Like me?' My heart broke for her. No one did anything to quiet Mary but they did escort the other young woman to the showers so she could get out of the area and cool down.<br />
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Once that young woman was taken care of I, again, went to the nurses station and said I needed to talk to my surgeon and figure out what was going on. I told them I would rather just be released and take care of this with my own surgeon on Thursday and reminded them I had an appointment. I was told that I did not have a choice to discharge myself because I was on suicide watch. Fabulous. Nevermind the fact that I never said I was going to kill myself and I came to the hospital today because a surgeon said I needed to get my appendix out. Finally a surgery student came in to tell me that my new CT scan showed that my appendix was going down and that I could get it out later. 'Great', I told her. 'Then I need discharged immediately.' She encouraged me to stay so they could work on the blockage. I asked how they did that and she told me that they would give me the meds I'd taken for the recent colonoscopy that found my ulcer. I showed her around my surroundings, explained my agoraphobia and anxiety and told her I should not be expected to stay there. They were literally perpetuating my own fears and making my mental health less stable with this 'treatment.' She agreed and went off to see what she could do for me.<br />
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An hour or so later the surgical student returned and said she had cleared it for me to be admitted into the regular part of the hospital but said they would need to have someone 'watch' me 24/7. This watch meant that someone was going to sit by my bed and watch me the entire time I was there to make sure I wasn't going to kill myself. I told her, again, that I had no intention of killing myself. She explained that she was bound by hospital liability policy. It appears their liability superseded my care. I told her that I was unwilling to stay and that I wanted to be discharged. I assured her that I was quite capable of taking the meds as I had several months earlier all by myself and <u>make it to the bathroom without supervision</u> whenever the meds kicked in. I demanded that I be released at once. This demand was as effective as all of the rest.<br />
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At midnight, it turns out, I was standing in the hallway being a bitch to the nurse at exactly the right time when a psych doc came down the hall and I explained my situation. He heard me. He said he would place a request to the doctor everyone else said I was waiting to see (I was there for 12 hours being promised to see the chief psych doctor who could clear me). Another hour or so later a young woman came in who was lovely. She asked me lots of questions. I answered her questions respectfully because she treated me with respect. She, too, agreed that I was not a danger to myself or anyone else (at this point, I'm not sure that I was not a danger to some of the nurses, not gonna lie). She called this phantom chief psych doc 'on call' and asked that I be allowed to be discharged. It turned out, after all of this, the man I was waiting to see was NEVER in the building. He was not tending to anyone. He was just 'on call' and, apparently, not taking his calls. I got to go home at 2am.<br />
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Upon release I was given all of the documents one would expect. I was informed that I should still get my appendix taken care of. I was given 'care' documents, as well. They literally gave me paperwork about depression even though they never witnessed or treated my depression. They did, however, witness and treat profound anxiety and agoraphobia. This fact was not even given a secondary nod on my way out.<br />
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These were my discharge instructions:<br />
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Dehydrated, you say? Interesting. It is important to note that the only way they could've determined I was dehydrated was the blood work done early in my visit. No one ever told me I was dehydrated. No IV was ever put in to hydrate me. Toward the end of the evening I asked them if they ever actually feed the patients and reminded them (what paperwork surely would have told them if my care were being documented properly) that I had not been given any food or water the entire day. I was given a plate of food and an 8oz solo cup of water.<br />
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My discharge did not mention my appendicitis. It had been (re)confirmed during my visit. At this point, however, I can not even confirm that it was noted in my chart. My online chart was updated to say I was seen and treated (treated? really?) for abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting on 5/30/16. I was given something that started with a Z for nausea. That is as far as I will support a single line of the bullshit in my chart.<br />
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I still should have my appendix tended to once the infection is gone. I can honestly say that there is little chance of my doing it. If I have been flagged as needing to be in a psych ward whenever I have a medical emergency, I feel confident that I will never seek medical attention again.<br />
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<div class="graf--p" name="5ee1">
My anxiety makes situations like this more than a simple challenge. You would have to live inside my head to realize what a fucking rock star I was yesterday in getting through it at all. My anxiety is something a psych ward should be well equipped to handle. No one dealt with any depression. I wasn't given anti-depressants. I was, however, given anti-anxiety meds. Twice. My anxiety was the only thing that was treated yesterday. It was created and perpetuated by the psychiatric ‘care’ I was afforded when I went to get my appendix out. My appendix and I are still quite attached.<br />
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The truth is, after having lived with anxiety for a minute now, I’m not even surprised. I’m Just Pissed. Please share with anyone who has a voice in creating models meant to sincerely care for those who suffer with mental health issues.</div>
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<div class="graf--p" name="5ee1">
Kiss Kiss ... Mean Progressive</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Absolutely NEVER Again</td></tr>
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<br />Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-66560990500398172512016-05-10T17:57:00.002-04:002016-05-16T15:06:44.494-04:00Dear Media: Patriarchy Is Not A Necessity<br />
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You know what? When I started my <a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2015/05/dear-media.html" target="_blank"><b>Dear Media</b>:</a> series last year I never thought it would be a series. I just figured I would write that one piece to shine the light on the missteps of you, our media, and you would have a revelation. I'm adorable, it's true. I can hardly help it - I came this way.<br />
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Over the last two days all media have covered, to one extent or another, Donald Trumps assault on Secretary Clinton because her husband cheated on her. It wasn't enough, apparently, to cover the story. You all needed to harry Clinton to try to get a response from her. After having realized she is above such nonsense, you just determined to discuss it among yourselves. Fucking INCREDIBLE.<br />
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Once again, you are asking Trump to drive your narrative. How embarrassing.<br />
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Meanwhile, Donald Trump is a rapist. When that was added to the public discourse last summer, no one wanted to touch it. I wrote about your complete dismissal of the topic <b><a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2015/07/rape.html" target="_blank">here</a></b> but I'm not anyone the general public is going to find and read. It was your responsibility to tell the American voters about how he treats women. If he won the election, he would be in quite a unique position to steer the rights of women. Wouldn't that be an important element of the vetting expected of our media?<br />
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And today, instead of taking the opportunity to question the motives of an obvious misogynist and inform about his own treatment of women, you further victimize a woman by asking her to comment on her husbands infidelity. Repeatedly. Are you comfortable with the patriarchy you perpetuate? It is your choice, after all. You could aspire to better. I'm sure your mothers would appreciate it if you tried harder. Right now they're probably all pretty disgusted. I sure as hell would be.<br />
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Shame on YOU! ... Mean ProgressiveMean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-45028990657976563202016-05-09T19:03:00.000-04:002016-05-10T07:01:28.285-04:00Candy Gram<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Don't Fall for It !!!</span></i></b></td></tr>
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For the most part, the people I interact with online are strangers. An avi of some political affiliation is enough to start a conversation. But I do have the intellectual curiosity to consider what that person is saying and question their intent. To be certain, all people with Sanders avatars are not really interested in his campaign or his agenda. They have another agenda. The fact that more people don't question the message and the messenger is beyond disturbing. I'd like to think the left is smarter than that. I am naive. It's true. Some people just don't wonder about the things others are saying because they say they support Sanders, too. I am here to tell you ... Some of them are literally paid by the right to stir up shit on the left. Really. I researched and proved that the Bernie or Bust movement is a right wing distraction last year, <a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2015/12/Welcome.html" target="_blank">READ HERE</a> if you're interested.<br />
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Does radicalism need a political affiliation? Or does it exist merely to satisfy its own needs? I researched the Tea Party for a while last year and find amazing commonalities between that movement and the extremists now supporting Sanders. I am convinced that many of the participants are the same people whose ideologies were irrelevant. They need to be involved in drama. Or hate. I believe a lot of other people are just too weak to think for themselves and get caught up in the wake. But for the most part, the radicalism is led by personalities that thrive on hate and disorder.<br />
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It often occurs to me when drawn into arguments with these new sandbaggers that if they were not teabaggers at this time last year, they were not paying attention because some element of that message wasn't speaking to them. They do, however, toss out the same rhetoric. And it doesn't occur to them that we would pick up on it. I've read countless posts by 'progressives' about how stupid people of color are if they don't support Sanders. Similarly, all women and LGBTQ voters are disinterested in their own futures if they support Clinton. Not kidding, 'the blacks' and 'the gays' have been offered to me in narrative that was supposed to be thoughtful. Narrow-mindedness, I suppose, is not an attribute reserved to the right, but I don't think it will ever stop surprising me when confronted by someone who dismisses my progressive values.<br />
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The teabaggers were prone to violence and extremism in the face of not getting their elected leaders into office. The blatant disrespect and horror that the Sanders supporters project onto Clinton is just as bad. I recently wrote an article that proved many Facebook groups were shut down because they were talking about the need for Clinton's assassination and they started a petition (now has thousands of signatories) to have a violent overthrow of the Democratic Convention this summer where it concluded that they would 'lie down their lives, if necessary.' It also tossed around the word 'patriot' more than a few times. Remember Gabby Giffords? Enough Said.<br />
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The teabaggers had a term they used to demean the Republicans that didn't hold their extremist views: RINOs (Republicans In Name Only). You see, they were not <i>true</i> conservatives. Now the sandbaggers have picked up on the same narrative. Every day I am told dozens of times that I am not a true progressive because I support Clinton. Its petty. Its small. Its ridiculous. Ive proven my progressivism right here. Who the fuck are you? You're an avatar with a profile showing you have no friends, no family and no job. And I'm supposed to not question your intent and walk out of a conversation where you're literally pushing right wing narrative that those of us who have been paying attention since before Sanders found a following (and, more importantly, became a serious contender against Clinton) already managed to reason through the rhetoric? We grown ups know the TRUTH about Hillary Clinton. And more importantly, we've vetted the candidates and we know the lies, as well.<br />
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As a woman, there is little more disgusting than the entire teabagger narrative about women. Lately, however, sandbaggers have given me pause. I am repeatedly told that my support of Clinton proves that I vote with my vagina. Really? My vagina only gets a vote on who I sleep with. She's let me down a time or two, but my head and my heart never have. And my head and heart have made this choice. Thanks. Any woman who supports Clinton is condemned to hysteria because they support another woman. Should similar attributions be made to men supporting Sanders or Trump? Am I supposed to be ignoring the fact that she is profoundly more qualified than any other candidate this season? The sandbagger rhetoric now mirrors the shit coming out of Trump. We are meant to ignore her entire documented history of progressive fights, being the first FLOTUS who made it a job where making change was a sincere objective, having been a two term Senator and Secretary of State and deem her unqualified. THAT rhetoric is because she is a woman. Kindly fuck off.<br />
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Another favorite pastime of the teabaggers, and now the sandbaggers, is to rewrite history. Its a good time, apparently. The talking points are different, but the manipulation of facts to make points that would otherwise be moot are played with the same zeal. I haven't had a single day go by since I announced my support for Clinton that someone hasn't told me about her support for Goldwater. It is not news to anyone (again, anyone who bothers to vet their candidates) that she supported him when she was in high school. She wrote about it in her book <i>Living History</i>. What of the ideals of youth supporting the most radical candidate of a generation? He accepted the Republican nomination saying, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." Well, shit. That sounds as if it could be Sanders' mantra. Kind of funny when a young kid is drawn in by a radical demagogue, huh? May history leave them with similar legacies.<br />
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The fact that people are allowing such narrative to flood their social media and don't question its source is astounding. Often they literally forward memes or links with right wing attribution. Regardless of which campaign you support, when you see someone condemn another for their progressivism, pause. Consider their intent. Question the user id (that's all it is - a stranger with an avatar) that is trying to dismiss another person's ideological leanings. Why would anyone behave like a teabagger? Do you want to associate with people who condemn women, people of color and LGBTQ to idiocy because they don't support the same left-leaning campaign that you do?<br />
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Quietly reflect on yourself a year ago. Were you were pissed off about POC being murdered by police officers? Were you were pissed off about white trash demanding that they shouldn't have to make wedding cakes for gay weddings? Were you were pissed off that Planned Parenthood was under a daily barrage of bullshit? Were you pissed off that states demanded the right to project racism on statehouse grounds? Were you pissed off that the media refused to cover the Republican candidates for the soul-sucking parasites that their platforms and stump speeches defined?<br />
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Really? Guess what ... POC are still being murdered by the police. States are now fighting the federal government to be allowed to discriminate against transgender citizens using the fucking bathroom. Planned Parenthood has lost funding in more places. States are still promoting racism on flags and in whatever other means they can come up with. And Donald Trump is now the Republican nominee and is being covered as an actual candidate. The only difference is that the left is so hyper-focused on divisions among ourselves created and perpetuated by the right, that many fewer people are paying attention. Of course, that means the right is winning. Again.<br />
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We should ALL be together on the left fighting to make sure that we get a down-ticket win in November. It is a sick kind of ignorant privilege that allows anyone to take the next 4-8 years for granted. What kind of life must one live to not need to reflect on upcoming SCOTUS decisions protecting every single demand of a true Progressive platform? How could anyone scoff at the dismissal of important women's rights, possibly <i>finally</i> ensuring the ratification of the <a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2015/11/Sisterhood.html" target="_blank">Equal Rights Amendment</a>? Who in their right mind would ignore our desperate need for a Congress focused on sensible gun reforms, the Affordable Care Act, voting rights, actually contending with Citizens United and humane immigration reform? I don't ever want to understand the mindset of a person who can join a movement meant to dismantle the left and allow Trump to enter the White House to prove a point and start a 'revolution.' I don't think I have the prerequisites to be that person, though. I imagine you have to be a straight, white male with all privileges attributed to that sector of the population.<br />
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For all people who, 24/7, spend their time trying to cut down the Democratic Party and their candidates, your objectives and motives are clear. And my progressivism trumps yours. Period. For all who read those posts and don't pause to consider the intentions of such toxic rhetoric, please ask more of yourself from now on. True Progressives need your thoughtful participation.<br />
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Kiss Kiss ... Mean Progressive<br />
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Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-52972691392238030362016-05-06T18:31:00.000-04:002016-07-11T15:24:01.125-04:00Take A Moment to Quiet A Racist Voice<br />
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Please Take A Single Moment to Sign This Petition and Share With Others.<br />
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If we are meant to have thoughtful discourse across the country when people of color are murdered by 'autority,' we have to get rid of the vitriol given by the 'experts' offered a voice in our media.<br />
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If you have never heard of Harry Houck, you are fortunate. A quick google search will show why there is so much outrage over his comments. He has condemned every victim murdered by the police. His continued voice in such desperate and necessary narrative for America will only lessen our potential for progress. Please sign and send a message that his hate is not welcome on CNN (maybe the Fox cable channel with the word 'news' in its title).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.change.org/p/cnn-remove-harry-houck-s-racist-rhetoric-from-cnn-permanently?recruiter=6196985&utm_source=share_for_starters&utm_medium=copyLink" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZU6QJLzCsNV287WmpAQHsQkw8oaihe5AqrJeDHfBes1eml1GaRhbQvK7Nsb68nLNucSf4xdUYRJ-digCZgLcoA8mzsykCNTNtk-jlsu5n9sAcja_lPnx_nVDX_ZCDTxZhrhBIPCqEy5A/s320/Screenshot+%2528343%2529.png" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.change.org/p/cnn-remove-harry-houck-s-racist-rhetoric-from-cnn-permanently?recruiter=6196985&utm_source=share_for_starters&utm_medium=copyLink" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION</span></a></td></tr>
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Thank you so much.<br />
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Kiss Kiss ...</div>
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Mean Progressive<br />
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Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-88138808045437370522016-04-30T14:04:00.004-04:002016-05-04T20:00:51.481-04:00Deadline Schmeadline<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="83n9r" data-offset-key="fm4cm-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">In A Perfect World, SOMEONE Would Vet Sanders</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisBgNeyIsftaCnPdYOLNPWP4MpIZj8eEIgK2rvKHzXifHnExRt-q-fVr7QMY9w8FJ4i3y2NCn6GR7yT01Md1wQyikZG3cxhKWSnzbe9wkftptIMcbTj_0L4fh5qmvpBD138Cdn924Qq98/s1600/Screenshot+%2528258%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisBgNeyIsftaCnPdYOLNPWP4MpIZj8eEIgK2rvKHzXifHnExRt-q-fVr7QMY9w8FJ4i3y2NCn6GR7yT01Md1wQyikZG3cxhKWSnzbe9wkftptIMcbTj_0L4fh5qmvpBD138Cdn924Qq98/s400/Screenshot+%2528258%2529.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span data-offset-key="fm4cm-0-0">Yep. That email went out from the Sanders campaign this morning. He wants all of his supporters to send him some more money in light of the FEC deadline tonight. My question ... WHY? They've already told the FEC they would not be filing any additional information until after the campaign is over.</span></div>
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Thoughtfully ask yourself ... What does Sanders' busy schedule have to do with a paid treasurers time constraints? Does the treasurer have to go to all of the events? Shouldn't the job of treasurer limit one's time on the campaign trail so as to ensure their ability to maintain the finances of this 'revolutionary' fundraising apparatus? Apparently not.</div>
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The campaign has blatantly ingonred FEC guidelines, thus far. When asked for answers to quite pertinent questions, his treasurer, Susan Jackson, has replied with absolute NONSENSE. For instance, they have been asked every filing for correction on their filings of 'unitemized individual contributions.' Here they have disclosed $116,917,592. That amount has yet to be explained.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fec.gov/fecviewer/CandidateCommitteeDetail.do?candidateCommitteeId=C00577130&tabIndex=1" target="_blank">FEC Link Here</a></td></tr>
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These questions of unitemized individual contributions began in June 2015, the same month Hillary Clinton kicked off her campaign. On filings every combined personal contribution above $200 has to show the name/address of the donor. The Sanders campaign, instead, offered this:</div>
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They have had similar entries every filing since. And that is how they have over $116M in donations they have not had to answer to. Keep in mind that the FEC has specific<b> fines</b> for each violation and their calculations are based on repeated offenses. How many donors are merely contributing to a pot that will be used to pay off the myriad violations and refusal to submit proper documentation to prove where their donations came from? I have seen many people write about this (not any MSM, of course) so I will leave it there and go into the things I found questionable in a single morning of looking through his FEC filing.</div>
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#1 February 29 was the day before Super Tuesday. He sent out emails and was all over Twitter and Facebook with pleas for donations with a really great video that got a lot of attention on social media. Sanders, however, has reported to the FEC that on that day, the day before Super Tuesday - the day all of his supporters had been waiting for, he managed to raise $650.50 in donations. If that isn't questionable enough, refer to every other day.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pres/2016/Q1/C00577130/A_DATE_C00577130.html" target="_blank">FEC Link Here</a></td></tr>
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#2 All campaigns must disclose where their money is coming from. Some have reported on the fact that he was caught having a lot of donations from outside the US and he was supposed to have refunded that money. As of the last time they bothered to reply to the FEC, some of those had been refunded and they promised to have the rest completed for the April filing. (Yes, the filing they just extended til after the campaign is over). <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/dcdev/fectxt/1056008.txt" target="_blank">(See formal reply here from Sanders campaign)</a>.What I found interesting was the zip codes. As soon as I opened the link, something struck me. Those zip codes are not real. Lest anyone doubt my intentions ... <a href="https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction_input" target="_blank">this is the link to the USPS.com to search zip codes</a>.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pres/2016/Q1/C00577130/A_ZIP_C00577130.html" target="_blank">FEC Link Here</a></td></tr>
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#3 In the summary of expenditures the campaign showed two that were questionable to me because they are the names of Superdelegates that have vowed to support him at the convention. First Keelan Sanders received $5,265.25. This is a superdelegate from Mississippi. If Sanders were sincere about his contention that Superdelegates should support the nominees their states voted for, his 18% should probably not warrant him the support. The second notable name on the list of payees is Troy Jackson who received $4,849.89. This is the name of a Superdelegate pledged to Sanders from Maine, but as this is a more common name, I will have to do more research before I make a full assessment. <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pres/2016/Q1/C00577130/B_PAYEE_C00577130.html" target="_blank">THIS LINK </a>will take you to the payees. If you hit ctrl+f and type the names you can find them and do research beyond my own. (I swear to Christ if anyone decides to harrass either of these people after reading this I will do my best to shame and embarrass you online - let Sanders supporters be the assholes)</div>
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#4 Finally last week I had had enough of how questionable his campaign was in regard to their finances (refusing to release 8 years of tax returns, not correcting/explaining FEC violations, not addressing the $116M unitemized donations) and I wanted to do a little research myself. Knowing that my bank would never let a $5000 charge go through, I tried to donate to his campaign from his website. When you donate more than $2700, the system should stop you and tell you that you are exceeding the legal limit for donation. It did not. It sent it to my bank. My bank said, 'Yeah. Right.' And it STILL did not tell me I was exceeding a limit, it just suggested I try another credit card.</div>
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As if his campaign hasn't been toxic enough lately, he has had Sainte Jane all over MSM this week explaining that they were going to release their 2015 tax returns soon. She, of course, then changed the subject whenever anyone reminded her that they were supposed to be releasing many more than 2 years to the fact that Secretary Clinton had not released transcripts of speeches given while being a private citizen. So they're <a href="http://blackpearl.wcax.com/documents/TOENSING.pdf" target="_blank">under fraud investigations</a> from 2011 and America is supposed to take a pinkie promise on their finances and, instead, reflect on a demand made of no candidate in history? </div>
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America, really. Its time to be done with this bullshit candidacy. Its time to get back to reminding the country who are really jeopardizing our futures. Its time to tell Sanders and his embarrassing campaign to step aside and behave like adults. And I think its really time that Sanders be held accountable for his shady (at best) fund raising.</div>
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Kiss Kiss ... Mean Progressive</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple; font-size: small;">Wonder about that $889M they promised?</span></td></tr>
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Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-87947930550172311322016-04-27T01:59:00.002-04:002016-05-18T21:38:09.910-04:00Dear Media: Get Your Shit Straight<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yesterday, incompetent media outlets reported that Facebook pages supporting Bernie Sanders were duped by Hillary Clinton supporters by adding posts of child pornography and then reporting the sites for having them up. This, supposedly, precipitated the immediate shut down of several sites. Every story mentioned having had eyewitness accounts to the pornographic material, but none of them documented or cited these accounts.<br />
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I happened to have actually witnessed what happend and it had NOTHING to do with any Hillary Clinton supporters. In fact, I know that the person who reported them was offended and wholly mortified by the material on the pages. What they reported having seen were suggestions of assassinating Secretary Clinton and posts suggesting a violent overthrow of the Democratic Convention this summer. The 'revolutionary' idea of overtaking the convention also had a petition ending with a suggestion that they would gladly lie down their lives and, at present (2am EDT 4/27/16), has had 1,429 signatures added.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">This is the ACTUAL reply from Facebook after having read the incitement to violence (no mention of pornography, because .. duh).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLHP9Qu32SPG08sRNrKXkGjewmCbe7XNObXwYL0hbGxhVgvhgpFR3l0ZHLa7GRK2Jy3hBd0_BvqVVP8IhEl-Z0IkEUdk6138bcnH4sznd02vi3TkGHdgYC53_eZSs4I_R95izTddx66Gw/s1600/Because+they+said+they+were+going+to+commit+VIOLENCE+at+the+Dem+Convention.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLHP9Qu32SPG08sRNrKXkGjewmCbe7XNObXwYL0hbGxhVgvhgpFR3l0ZHLa7GRK2Jy3hBd0_BvqVVP8IhEl-Z0IkEUdk6138bcnH4sznd02vi3TkGHdgYC53_eZSs4I_R95izTddx66Gw/s320/Because+they+said+they+were+going+to+commit+VIOLENCE+at+the+Dem+Convention.jpg" width="234" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">And this is the petition that started the discussions about how to have a violent overthrow at the convention.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiup7wZCf0pXNtcFNGc9XTtXnwSvBq7UUG72QHPNkEoLzVMDGHnL-1MAjpiDNqFISADlF3VRESar05XQiAZcb5K9O4pgBrBHnAK9SgYxXE3E6Uf_zcMO0vCPL9C71vlKQAFfzNVjS6UpDU/s1600/REVOLT+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiup7wZCf0pXNtcFNGc9XTtXnwSvBq7UUG72QHPNkEoLzVMDGHnL-1MAjpiDNqFISADlF3VRESar05XQiAZcb5K9O4pgBrBHnAK9SgYxXE3E6Uf_zcMO0vCPL9C71vlKQAFfzNVjS6UpDU/s320/REVOLT+1.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">And here is part of a discussion where they were talking about rioting and assassinating Secretary Clinton.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY9Tt7SLS75AS5yO8gbenNylcVJ2VLrTBYRcnSrqwKgWJLoYQjrQQ4pPaVQTU96c7W5LqPqvAkpKwLxC9V8dA2DpangzgAfz5DQNrb3a1Ay8VkvmfUA0zyw9fDPRsEX_l4FJrYlww1J_A/s1600/Murder+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY9Tt7SLS75AS5yO8gbenNylcVJ2VLrTBYRcnSrqwKgWJLoYQjrQQ4pPaVQTU96c7W5LqPqvAkpKwLxC9V8dA2DpangzgAfz5DQNrb3a1Ay8VkvmfUA0zyw9fDPRsEX_l4FJrYlww1J_A/s320/Murder+1.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Kindly get your shit straight before trying to add to an already toxic environment created and perpetuated by the radicals of the world, motherfuckers.</div>
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Kiss Kiss... Mean Progressive</div>
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<br />Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-49211107351758824232016-04-20T21:14:00.001-04:002016-04-20T21:19:57.624-04:00American Progression<br />
I was so tickled today when the US Treasury announced that Harriet Tubman was going to replace Jackson on the front of the $20 bill. She is such a beautiful choice for her lifetime of unbelievable accomplishments that I didn't spend a single moment remembering the long talks of countless women we could celebrate when the question was initially posed last year about the $10. I was just so pleased that Harriet Tubman was the choice. I got chills. I had tears in my eyes. I paused and reflected on all of the things I'd learned about her over the years and genuinely rejoiced.<br />
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This evening I wanted to read whatever the Treasury put out about their decision and I found out something absolutely lovely: Ms. Tubman is not the only person we will be celebrating. The back of the $10 will have Elizabeth Cady Stanton (who Im pretty sure I really was in another life, just sayin'), Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Alice Paul and Lucretia Mott.<br />
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And the back of the $5 bill will have Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt and Marian Anderson.<br />
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Can you stand it??? !!! ??? We are finally really celebrating AMERICA!<br />
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Yeah. Its just money. But it's the money that our society runs on. It is the money that has been the basis for nearly every choice our country has ever made. And, finally, its the money that has been graced with the faces of old white men for way too long.<br />
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<a href="https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl0436.aspx" target="_blank">This is the letter released by Secretary Lew about why and how they made their decisions. It's pretty cool if you want to check it out.</a><br />
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I compel all women (especially those who are promsing to "Bust" this November if they don't get to vote for their chosen candidate) to <b><u><span style="color: red;"><a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2015/11/Sisterhood.html" target="_blank">read this piece</a></span></u></b> and consider the fact that the women and leaders above fought hard for us to get the right to vote. None of them meant for us to stop at the place where that accomplishment was won. But we have. You literally have only that one right, per the Constitution. So take it seriously. Because they did.<br />
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Kiss Kiss... Mean Progressive Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-1996552457393175802016-04-19T16:31:00.000-04:002016-04-30T14:05:20.907-04:00Just Me. Thanks.I started writing in January 2015 on a completely personal journey. It was solely reflective about my own life and I didn't write anything political. I wrote a few pieces that got a lot of attention from other writers who encouraged me to start posting my work on Twitter. It took me less than an hour to understand why people hate Twitter. I have been politically aware all of my adult life. I had known what the leaders of the Tea Party sect of the Regressive party had been saying, but I had never really had to experience their followers. Just. Jesus. Christ. They were fascinating to me and I researched and wrote about them for several months.<br />
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My interest in the teabaggers began to wane last summer, however. I was excited about our own movement on the left. I looked forward to hearing about the candidates who wanted to follow My President and their ideas. I was anxious for Secretary Clinton to announce and was also very excited about Bernie Sanders. When he entered the race I was sincerley energized because someone so far left was entering the arena. I encouraged my readers to learn more about him and spread the word.<br />
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I believed in everything Sanders talked about. Passionately. I soon realized that Bernie Sanders did not believe in everything I believe in, however. He gave the same speech every time he spoke. He hit the same notes every time. And then when he was asked questions about issues beyond his narrow purview, his answers went back to the same thing: billionaires. Don't get me wrong, money, power and influence are an obvious obstacle in our present democracy. But I understand human elements to the issues my progressive heart is passionate about. It does not seem that Sanders has any connection with the human element whatsoever, beyond its direct tie to his agenda.<br />
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Any response to the Black Lives Matter movement should not mention Wall Street. The answer to gun violence is not Wall Street. The answer to the Equal Rights Amendment is not Wall Street. The answer to our environmental crisis is not Wall Street. The answer to women's autonomy in health care is not Wall Street. The answer to immigration reform is not Wall Street. The answer to LGBTQ rights and marriage equality is not Wall Street. The answer to education is not Wall Street. The answer to veterans care is not Wall Street. The answer to voting rights is not Wall Street. The answer to national security is not Wall Street. The answer to energy independence is not Wall Street.<br />
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Somehow Sanders manages to bring every conversation back to the evils of money. Human beings don't even seem to get a secondary nod in his equation. Having studied the Tea Party movement, I noticed the commonalities of the messages: Good v. Evil, Right v. Wrong, Love v. Hate. Each very skewed conversation has the same foe and, more importantly, the same champion. I feel ugly typing the next sentence, so I won't. But I feel confident the bulk of my readers know where and when this technique was mastered. I will leave it right there.<br />
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Because of his inability to connect to progressive issues on a personal level, I was unable to connect to him on a personal level. Because I have known Secretary Clinton (not personally, of course) for decades now and cheered her myriad goals and accomplishments for progressive ideals, I connect with her on a personal level. It is sincerely personal to her. As it is to me.<br />
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In the beginning of the campaign there were pro-Hillary and pro-Sanders supporters who followed my writing and cheered me on because, for the most part, my pieces celebrated Progressivism. In November, however, I wrote a piece (<a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2015/11/revolution.html" target="_blank">read here</a>) compelling the left to remain a united front against the right. I didn't say which group were being bullies but I insisted that we all be more mindful about where we direct our rage. I got a lot of shit for it. I ended up researching it more in December and found that one of the groups so many of my brothers and sisters from the left were joining was actually a right wing group. Yep. You read that right. They were taking their talking points and their (mis)information from people who would really rather have the left fighting among themselves than direct America toward an awakening about what was going on in the Regressive Party. Of course, I took quite a lot of shit for that piece, too (<a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2015/12/Welcome.html" target="_blank">read here</a>).<br />
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Here we are these many months later and it really seems to have been getting worse every week. Last week, however, was my final straw. I really wanted to keep my mouth shut (a Herculean feat, to be sure) and try to offer rational, conciliatory dialogue when we made it down to one candidate. I wanted to welcome those who had lost their chosen candidate and remind them of the reasons to celebrate the candidate we would need to support for the general. Sanders' campaign, however, has made that an impossibility for me.<br />
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The tragedy of the Sanders campaign is that he is taking the youth of the left and turning them against the only hope they will have for a true revolution. He is telling them that both sides are corrupt. Only he can take them to the promised land. Its kind of funny, really. Right? Here in our democracy, his "Not Me. Us" is embraced by those who seem to have no idea about the 'us' in that equation. The 'us' need to vote for many like-minded representatives so "Not Me" can be united with them working toward progressive goals. That "Not Me" is presently dismissing attempts to raise money for the other people from the left who might follow him to DC to pass laws and confirm judges to direct the nation to the left. Quite plainly, his message is "Just Me. Thanks." Even more plainly, this is not a dictatorship. And this is where his idealized version of Democratic Socialism gets really, really uncomfortable...<br />
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Socialism has a bad name. The ideology is lovely, to be sure. Its practice never has been, though. Ever. Socialism is offered to high-minded people with big hearts who want equality to prevail. Once the overwhelming power and money are given to the few who are meant to lead with it, however, the principled folk with the high ideals are fucked. Period.<br />
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A couple of weeks ago Susan Sarandon was defining Sanders' post-Trump election 'revolution' and Chris Hayes countered with, "You're saying the Leninist model of..." and she interrupted with a dreamy, "Yeah. Yeah. Yeah yeah yeah...". I'm convinced, after having heard her speak on political issues many times, that her response was to her having heard him ask about a "Lennonist model" where all hippies unite and give peace a chance. No thoughtful human being living in a DEMOCRACY would have understood that question to have been referencing Lenin, whose revolution meant to overthrow the State and create a historical clusterfuck, and then fantasize about that pending reality. The fact that Chris Hayes allowed her to go there and then didn't ask her to define the supposed rise after the fall of our State only advances my own belief that he and most at MSNBC have a very short leash when it comes to delivering information to their audience that could actually be useful.<br />
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Sanders is well aware of what he is doing. Much in the same way that Trump is presently hijacking the Regressive party (the one already hijacked by the Tea Party), Sanders plopped down onto the D so he could have a seat at the table without having to take the time to build a party of his own. He's had decades to create this movement and promote like-minded candidates across the country who wanted to join and move the country to the idealized (and as yet undefined) Democratic Socialism he seems so attached to. He doesn't care that he is destroying the only chance America has at this pivotal moment where the legacy of President Obama must be continued. He doesn't take into account that the Supreme Court is literally on the line. He doesn't seem remotely bothered by the fact that global diplomacy is a necessity and could end up in the hands of a reality TV star. Nope. His "Just Me. Thanks." movement is more important to him than anything else.<br />
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I have been relieved over the last few weeks by the countless Sanders supporters who've confided that they had become disgusted by the Sanders campaign and were moving their support to Secretary Clinton. The fact that most of those revelations came with a sincere plea that I not tell anyone for fear of their being ostracized online sums up his entire movement. I cannot have a rational discussion with his followers about issues. I cannot have a rational discussion about the misogynist tone of the Sanders campaign without having feminism mansplained to me. I cannot counter the lies that his campaign projects with actual facts because, like the Tea Party I grew so tired of battling, they don't want facts. His most fervent supporters are now comfortably settled into a movement with no message beyond short quips and condmenations of the 'others.' He and his surrogates have created and perpetuated narrative meant to disqualify our entire political structure and any who mean to preserve it and advance it to the left. The next generation of the Democratic Party is being poisoned by a petulant man-child in a suit whose only objective is to keep receiving adulation by those he is poisoning and take their money. Twenty seven dollars at a time.<br />
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Senator Sanders, my country deserves better. If you hate America so much, move to one of the countries you laud for their socialism. Maybe they'll make you king.<br />
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Kiss Kiss ... Mean Progressive<br />
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<br />Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com55tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-47602189731386466762015-12-13T13:06:00.000-05:002015-12-15T07:06:58.574-05:00An Open Letter to Bill and Melinda Gates<br />
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Self-image is, indeed, a profound component in one's ability to learn. This revelation can create an entire narrative about our American identity and the means by which so many of our children are afforded an education. I ask you to reflect on the fact that a justice of our Supreme Court posed the narrowest and most unimaginable questions this week. And once the <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/14-981_p8k0.pdf" target="_blank">transcripts</a> were made available, our media lauded him for not having made any assumptions, but merely posing questions about what had been deemed a thoughtful academic critique of affirmative action. I ask any white parent to spend time reflecting on having to explain that critique to their children and attributing it to them for their whiteness. I then ask those same parents to have a moment where they can explain to their children (after having found a way to explain it to themselves) why this argument is considered thoughtful and where, in 2015, this would have a place in a Supreme Court proceeding to determine if we are giving an equal chance at education to all of our children.</div>
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I could write a book about America's history and only focus on the myriad failings of 'reconstruction' after the Civil War, but its been done. And those who are intelligent can see that it has failed repeatedly and the very least among us with the loudest voices have been those to keep us from ever having found success. Those who take a reasoned look at our history realize that the failings were deliberate and targeted. No one with the capacity for critical thought would accept the stereotypes our society has allowed to permeate our collective psyche. But they are there. As a collective. And their maintenance are an imperative for those who use them to wield power, to the destruction of us all.</div>
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I applaud and genuinely respect your global initiative and I ask you to consider the role of America in that initiative. Regardless of whether or not it is warranted, America is seen as a world leader. Possibly the world leader. As such, what progress do you expect to see in the world when its chosen (or at least self-appointed) leader negates the histories and rights of its own citizens? If we cannot bring ourselves to finally offer a sincere Reconstruction 150 years after its initial attempt, what hope does the rest of the world have? One needs only look at the present GOP Presidential campaign field to realize we are regressing. We find the media and the citizens who are given leadership roles are celebrating condemnations of those with no means of defending themselves. We are witnessing expressions of hate with an acceptance of violence and terrorism against people of a specific religion and women who visit health clinics. We are allowing all conversations to end with an insistence that we should be building personal arsenals to defend against those monsters our own society has created. I, too, believe in global citizenship. But I am living in the country that you are compelling toward that understanding which lacks civility, while <u><a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2015/05/we-must-be-civilized-before-we-can-be.html" target="_blank">demanding its exceptionalism</a></u>.</div>
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As you wrote this month regarding <u><a href="http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Mindset-The-New-Psychology-of-Success?WT.mc_id=20151211155435_End-of-Year-Books-2015_BG-TW&WT.tsrc=BGTW&linkId=19504541" target="_blank">the fixed mindset</a></u> and questioning your own, I ask you to expand that question to that of our nation. What have we accepted as truths about our capacity to move ourselves forward and, thus, determined unattainable? At present, we have inner cities that are falling apart. The children growing in those cities have few opportunities for education, much less advancement. If we allow a fixed mindset to embrace that as a truth, we disavow our own capacity for growth. We have a Supreme Court Justice who does not find it remotely outlandish to question the lesser capacity of those children. If society can accept that as truth, what hope do those children have? If society will dismiss and ridicule those children who march to demand that their lives matter when they come of age, what chance does our society have? I compel you to finance the movement forward that America must have before a global initiative can ever find success. I ask you to fund and expand on the grants you have been given to build our inner cities and make them a priority. I ask you to consider how the rest of your initiative will be successful if, once they find meaningful progress, the world is still led by a backward nation celebrating those who mean to denounce its own citizens and fray the very bootstraps they're meant to be pulling themselves up by.</div>
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I have no position in this or any community. I have no agenda beyond that of offering thoughtful discussion to those who hear too many irrational conversations. I have no platform or grant for you to fund. I do, however, have a voice. And I hope that my voice will reach enough people as to raise this idea to you:</div>
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(I ask that you allow my own acknowledged naivete and the simplicity in which I offer this plea to be part of my charm and spend no more time on them. Instead, I ask you to spend quiet reflection on the truth I am offering and your own capacity to grant our nation the only chance it will ever have at reparations and genuine progress).</div>
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The only way that a society, finding itself content with ignoring its own atrocities and blaming the victims of its arrogance and ignorance, can move forward is for a profound action outside of its own will. No community is going to vote to raise taxes to an extreme so as to correct the failings of a nation blind to its own hypocrisy since its inception. Your foundation can afford to get schools built in neighborhoods with little opportunity. Your foundation can have them peopled with incredible educators and give them otherwise unattainable resources. Your foundation has the voice to compel those surrounding communities to contribute time, wealth and energy to these efforts. You have the voice to remind the country that our only chance for true exceptionalism begins with embracing and lifting up our own children. All of our children. </div>
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Also, if you could fund an initiative to get the word out to the country about the fact that the <u><a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2015/11/Sisterhood.html" target="_blank">Equal Rights Amendment was never passed</a></u>, it'd be great. I feel confident that if women understood this simple truth, we could take it from there.</div>
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Thank you. Most sincerely.</div>
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Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-50475035520517888142015-12-03T16:15:00.001-05:002016-04-01T17:42:48.520-04:00Welcome to the Left<br />
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In November, <a href="http://www.meanprogressive.com/2015/11/revolution.html" target="_blank">I wrote a piece</a> compelling the left to consider where they point their outrage at this moment when the Regressives give us so much fodder. My only mission in writing for you all is to offer rational, if not always dispassionate, reflections and opportunities for consideration. Having still not determined which of the Democratic nominees I will support for the primaries, it is curious that I received the backlash that I did from a few after writing that article.<br />
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Facebook has repeatedly put me on 'probation' because people are reporting me for being abusive. I was interested to find out this morning that there is literally a group of people who are reporting the voices they want silenced. Of course, they are too ignorant about my personality to understand that in doing this they're not creating limitations for me, they're creating determination. And when I am given a challenge, I persevere. Period. So, I will preface with a hefty 'fuck you' to those who determined it would be a good idea to shut me up. You are barking up the wrong bitch. I promise.<br />
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I ripped those from a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/us/politics/the-right-aims-at-democrats-on-social-media-to-hit-clinton.html?_r=0" target="_blank">NYTimes article</a> written in May. Its a fascinating read for those of us who are always curious about why people say and do they things they do. I hope if you read it, any fascination will eventually also give way to a quiet moments pause about anyone who compels you to promise not to vote for any Democrat next fall. And then, of course, have a longer (much longer) quiet pause to reflect on what that would do to our country.<br />
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Last month I was unaware that the person who commented on my site was Victor Tiffany, a person I had naively friended on Facebook who had started a 'Bernie Or Bust' movement online and managed to get a lot of followers that were starting to creep me out. The comment was from someone who identified themselves as 'The Glenn Beck Review,' and who referred me to his own blog to learn more about myself in an article he'd written. The title graciously determined that the bulk of us on the left are sheep. I put him in his place and refused to read the article because I like to spend my time thinking for myself and seeking insight, not hate. But that's just me.<br />
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So I found out this morning (take your time there, Ang) that this guy put the word out about me in November after I wrote that piece compelling Democrats to be a united front against the Regressive Party and he told the admins of left-leaning groups that I am a troll. Anyone who knows what internet trolls are is laughing right now. No worries, I'll give you a minute .......... <br />
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Yeah. If I were a troll I would not spend all of my time writing thoughtful pieces and trying to create conversations around all of the shit that the Regressives are doing. I might, however, be creating groups and petitions to stir up shit on the left and perpetuate divisions in my own party. That would make me a troll.<br />
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With that little bit of a 'duh' out of the way, I offer you perspectives on the leader of this 'revolution' called Revolt Against Plutocracy and ask you for simple reflections:<br />
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Here he admits he was a Regressive until just recently.<br />
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Funny that this new convert to the left is calling us 'neo-liberals.' Don't you think? I've been over here on the far left for as long as I have been politically aware. Really, its been decades. There is nothing new about my mission or my passion.<br />
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Okay. Their big focus is to get 1,000,000 people to pledge to write-in a vote against Clinton next fall. So if you are a big Bernie supporter, why is your mission to focus on a write in campaign next November? Shouldn't the objective assume his viability and work for him to win the primary?<br />
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Good news! Instead of making a donation to your chosen candidate, you can give your money (and credit card information?) to this guy and he will use it to encourage Americans to vote against Democrats. I will generously assume that his motives are sincere and that is what he will be using the money for.<br />
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One of their main objectives is to get trending topics on Twitter like this one: #SheepNoMore. Since they just got here, the 'no more' is for you, not them. They are basically above it, right? They are the ones who just popped left to inform you of your ignorance and lead you to the wisdom they've determined you were living without. Backbone, please. This Is Your Party.<br />
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This group is literally trying to start negative trending topics about Secretary Clinton. If you don't like her and you don't want to vote for her, fine. If you are a Bernie supporter and you want to say that on Twitter or on Facebook, fine. That is what a campaign is all about: candidates have positions and their constituents either agree or dissent. But I ask you to quietly reflect on what this does to every single left-leaning candidate in any race anywhere if the Twitter feeds of all constituents who are looking for information or opinions are littered with negative information (much I have reviewed here today has actually been proven false or come directly from the right wing talking heads). Because people associate party, this is poisoning their minds. Do you want to be a part of that? Honestly!?<br />
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In the last couple of weeks the media has covered these new converts from the right who are anxious to support Sanders. This migration will be very important for the left to win down ticket and it is actually part of my personal mission to find reasonable conversations for those on the right that are presently having a rude awakening about their own party. But ask yourself: How does a Regressive determine that (s)he is going to now not just move left, but move to the FAR left and work tirelessly for a far left agenda? The far left is where we, the most passionate and ardent liberals, live. The far left is where we fight for the environment. And Black Lives Matter. And LGBT rights. And women's rights. And education. And building a middle class. And voting rights. And sensible, compassionate immigration reform. I can see a handful of people having such a profound awakening. But it is more than a little curious to consider a rapid movement of an entire subsection of the Regressive Party into that realm. No?<br />
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I ask all of you who are in these groups, again, to spend time reflecting on the message you are receiving and what in the holy fuck will be gained from spending hours a day going back and forth with people who are only telling you to hate the candidates of your own party. If you want to vote for Bernie, I'm with you 100%. I love him, too. Vote for him! But if you are going to sign a petition to say that you will refuse to vote for Hillary if she ends up winning in the primaries, I am here to tell you that you have absolutely NO INTEREST in a revolution. Because there is nothing revolutionary about pouting on election day. Is there?<br />
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We are presently battling to have health care. And exercise our Constitutional rights to get a goddamned medical procedure at Planned Parenthood (or anywhere else, for that matter). And create meaningful legislation around gun rights. And ensure no more Regressive nominees find their way to the Supreme Court. And build an inclusive society. Jesus Christ this list can go on for hours. My point is, ask these 'revolutionaries' about these topics. If you are a true Progressive, Liberal, Socialist, Democrat (I truly don't care what you call yourself as long as you comfortably sit here on the far left with me) I guarantee an introspective moment on the things they talk about will show you that their revolution will not do anything but hinder the things you have been passionate about and fighting for as long as you have been paying attention.<br />
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This movement can only create hardships for every candidate on the left next fall. How revolutionary! Are all of the things these signatories have been passionate about for so long and changes they know the country needs to have happen less important than a single candidate? The Supreme Court is not more important? Global diplomacy is not more important?<br />
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If you are already planning your temper tantrum on election day, that's on you. Remove me from your friends list. Kick me out of your group. And get the fuck out of my way because I have a lot to do and spending time trying to compel you to understand the importance of this election cycle is obviously just a waste of my time.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">For any revolution, it will be an imperative for us to graciously welcome those from the center and the right over to the left. </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">It will be equally important that we <u>do not</u> invite them to direct our narrative. </span></b><br />
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If you can really #FeelTheBern then read the Revolt Against Plutocracy's first FAQ answer and reflect on what you are doing to HIS movement. Bernie is too nice to point out how destructive this campaign is or how questionable their motives are. I'm not.<br />
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Kiss Kiss...<br />
The Mean Progressive<br />
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UPDATE: Within moments of my having posted this article I received this little gem on Twitter (notice that it was also sent to @berniesanders & @senWarren). Is this the type of person you want leading your revolution and taking your credit card information?<br />
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UPDATE: 3/29/16 I feel confident that Sanders is very much aware of this type of movement and he is taking it upon himself to exploit these bullies' motives. He seems to even be taking some of their moves. I am disheartened and disgusted by his childishness and if I end up having to support him in November, it will be with the least excitement I have worked for a campaign. And I worked for Kerry.</div>
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Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-25861276794165336332015-11-28T08:33:00.001-05:002016-04-20T06:05:11.995-04:00Dear Media: It's Called Terrorism<br />
The Planned Parenthood shooting yesterday is creating a source of confusion for the media; at least for those who are afraid to discuss a terrorist event by an American and call it by its name. The media seems to sincerely not understand the meaning of the word. And their confusion is severely hampered by their own inability to understand that a terrorist act can, in fact, be committed by a person who has white skin or is not a Muslim.<br />
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This morning I was not surprised to hear their all too familiar narrative while they compel the audience to believe that our most recent terrorist suffers from mental health issues, the same diagnosis members of the American media are happy to attribute to all white men with guns. I ask my thoughtful readership to spend a single moment understanding that this supposition only supports the exact distraction the NRA offers as contradiction to any reasoned discourse about gun violence for each of our countless mass shootings every month. One would think a liberal media would want to counter their nonsensical talking points. Of course, one would have to first be ignorant enough to believe that a liberal media exists.<br />
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The other gift the media are offering the least among us is the question of motive in yesterdays terrorist act. Every channel I watched this morning asked me to believe that the police were still investigating motive. Huh. Well, considering the fact that even the Regressive Party leaders are allowed to make up completely wild and baseless claims about Planned Parenthood during Presidential debates without being countered, any rational human being would not need to spend time on what motivated the terrorism.<br />
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For those incapable of rational thinking: The terrorist was motivated by a media which allows false and hateful narrative to permeate our air. The terrorist was motivated by a society which allows the truths about abortion rights and providers to be completely countered by narrow and meaningless distractions. The terrorist was motivated by Regressive Party 'leaders' who perpetuate the lies they need to put into the community in order to stir up mindless and hateful pieces of shit to vote for them.<br />
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2015 has seen an unparalleled assault on Planned Parenthood by the Regressive Party. A group hired by the least among us (with the most money) to find and create negative stories about their opponents made videos to compel those who can't be bothered to think for themselves to believe that Planned Parenthood exists to murder babies and sell baby parts. The media has been quite eager to cover these videos because of their tabloidesque value, but they have not been remotely interested in offering their audience thoughtful discourse about the obviously ridiculous contentions.<br />
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Because our media is unwilling to report to Americans the truths behind terrorist acts in our country, it has become the job of intelligent citizens to inform them. I compel you, please do not take this responsibility lightly. It is an overwhelming request, I realize this. But the only way people are going to reason through rhetoric is for us to create the meaningful conversations those around us are not finding elsewhere. Imagine how many people heard Uncle Cletus rail against Planned Parenthood this week at the Thanksgiving dinner table. His audience was held captive by a fear of ruining grandma's day. Think of the countless people who hear the hate the RWNJs project in their workplaces but are not corrected because decorum dictates rational human beings not discuss such matters in that environment. Those within earshot will then only hear what the Regressive Party wants them to hear. Every opportunity missed to create thoughtful dialogue strengthens the objectives of those who mean to destroy our country.<br />
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If anyone bothers to ever report it to us, it is imperative that we remind all around us about the victims of yesterday's terrorist act. There were certainly women there who were seeking pre-natal care. Or looking to get birth control. Or a pap smear. Or a breast exam. Or treatment for countless maladies that are exclusive to women. It is important for us to then remind everyone that Planned Parenthood is an essential part of every community <i>because</i> of the services it provides to women.<br />
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Lawmakers and dissenters pretend as if we can go anywhere at all to get these services. Ohio Regressive leaders, after having killed Planned Parenthood funding in the state, have offered women a list of places we can get our care instead: School nurses, food banks, dentists, and senior centers. It is as if they believe a woman goes for gynecological care to receive a tickle and a slap on the ass. Women's health care is complex. And the recommendations of our lawmakers proves that they have no understanding of that fact. Their need to maintain dominance and dictate the means by which a woman plans her family is enough reason for them to work tirelessly to take away the services Planned Parenthood provides. It is your job to make those around you understand that. I beg you to take it seriously. I promise those on the right do little else with their time.<br />
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My only resolution at this time is for thoughtful Americans to become the media. Speak the truths about terrorism and Planned Parenthood beyond those in the left-leaning groups you are members of. The people who agree with you don't need to be convinced of anything. Those who are not paying attention enough to discern causation or motivation are the people we need to be spending our time on. Become their media. Become the rational voice they need to hear the truths no one else seems to be interested in giving them. We might not have a billion dollars to create our own campaign like the Koch blockers, but we have truth. Don't let it go to waste, I implore you.<br />
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Kiss Kiss.<br />
Mean Progressive<br />
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Please donate to Planned Parenthood if you can. Their services are absolutely imperative.<br />
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<br />Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-42321129517553226942015-11-26T06:54:00.001-05:002016-04-09T11:02:13.551-04:00Incomplete Revolution<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Sometime in the last decade or so I graduated from being a mother of one to being the mother of all. I cannot remember the moment of the transformation, but I can tell you that my sentences now end with ', honey' when I meet people of younger generations. Regardless of how they receive it, and even if they don’t recognize it, I am their mother. When society tells my babies to accept their second-class citizenship where they are openly dismissed for the color of their skin, their gender identity, religion, country of origin or who they love, I ache. I physically ache. I get angry. I rally. I demand better of my country. There is a universal mother inside most of us. She fights for her babies, regardless of whose womb they came out of.<br />
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I honestly believe that it is our need to defend our babies that has allowed the women's movement to become all but ignored for as long as it has. We have been distracted by our need to champion, protect and lift up our children. Most women take the history of the movement for granted or don’t know about its struggles and accomplishments. Most tragically, many don't realize the battles that were never won and the rights we are presently living without because we have relegated our own needs to being a secondary cause (at best) for generations.<br />
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Its time for us all to realize that while we are making demands of a country that has refused to acknowledge our rights, we don't have the platform we need to make the changes we seek. Half of our children do not have the right to make those demands for themselves. What we leave for our daughters is an important reflection for every universal mother. They will become the mothers of the next generations. They, too, will have no platform. It is time that we all take pause and understand the profound legacy our foremothers have left us and what mantle we must carry for the mothers who follow.<br />
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Most Americans have no knowledge of the women’s movement. It has been condemned to hysteria for as long as it has existed. The history is quite important, however, to contextualize the place we find ourselves today. In 1923, exactly 75 years after the first Women’s Rights Convention, the movement went forward in compelling the country to understand that the right to vote we had finally attained a few years earlier was not enough. Alice Paul put forth the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) which was written to guarantee equal rights to women, as the Constitution had been deliberately framed to omit that half of society. Having been proposed in every session of Congress for 49 years, both houses passed the ERA in 1972. After making it through Washington, however, it had to go to the states for ratification. And that, it seems, was too much to ask.<br />
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This is the entire text of the Equal Rights Amendment:<br />
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<i> *Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States by any state on account of sex. </i><br />
<i> *Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. </i><br />
<i> *Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification. </i><br />
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This amendment was not ratified by ¾ of the United States. After years of trying to compel those states to ratify, in 1982 the deadline expired. The right turns every discussion into a distraction about ‘states rights.’ Whenever you hear this in the future, remind yourself that we could not even get the states to grant equality to women.<br />
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The decades between its proposal and its eventual demise were filled with debates from various feminist groups. Alice Paul defined equality as having no limits. Those who opposed the ERA countered that women needed to have protections. This distraction eventually killed the ERA.<br />
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The leader of the anti-women’s movement, Phyllis Schlafly, compelled American women to believe that the ERA would create hardships for housewives. Her conflated logic offered fear to women by telling them that they would no longer be able to win custody of their children in divorces, sexual assault would no longer be a crime and that unisex public restrooms would become the norm. As absurd as these contentions were, they found a fearful audience which managed to completely revert the overwhelming support the ERA had in America at the time. The anti-women’s movement is the one that took hold, found political backing and thrives to this day. Schlafly was honored this year in a Regressive forum with the Presidential candidates in attendance. She took the stage and bragged about the fact that the very room they were standing in was the one she was in when she killed the ERA. That is the woman the Regressive Party wanted to celebrate. In 2015.<br />
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Once that revelation has found a place in our minds, it is easy to understand why the entire Regressive field of Presidential candidates struggled to find an answer to which American woman they would commemorate on the $10 bill in their second debate this year. This was an opportunity to look at American history and tell their constituents about the women we should hold in esteem. These were their answers:<br />
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Rand Paul: Susan B Anthony – the only name history seems to recall, who has already been recognized on a silver dollar.<br />
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Mike Huckabee: his wife.<br />
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Sen. Marco Rubio: Rosa Parks<br />
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Ted Cruz: Rosa Parks (because that was a good answer Rubio!)<br />
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Ben Carson: his mother.<br />
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Donald Trump: his daughter.<br />
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Jeb Bush: Margaret Thatcher (apparently he couldn’t think of an American woman)<br />
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Scott Walker: Clara Barton<br />
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Carly Fiorina: Nobody – ‘We need to realize that women are not a special interest group’<br />
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John Kasich: Mother Theresa (again, not an American)<br />
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Chris Christie: Abigail Adams<br />
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They have either been well conditioned to believe that the question of celebrating women is irrelevant to everyone, or they think it is more important to project attitudes of the universal white man to make their brethren comfortable. Either way, the fact that only 3 of the 11 answers (no credit for repeats) were serious contenders speaks volumes about how diminished our voices and our movement are.<br />
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It is important to understand that Chris Christie determined Abigail Adams was a notable choice because, as he used that moment to point out, of the indebtedness America owes to her husband, John. Abigail Adams is an easy name to conjure in an instant. She is sometimes recognized in obligatory historical remembrances because of her letter to John in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was being authored where she compelled him to ‘remember the ladies’ in whatever codes of laws our new country would dictate. She wrote:<br />
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I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation. </blockquote>
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However, history seems to have all but forgotten John Adams’ rather poignant reply which clearly encapsulates the reason we find ourselves in this place nearly 250 years later:<br />
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As to your extraordinary Code of Laws, I cannot but laugh. We have been told that our Struggle has loosened the bands of Government every where. That Children and Apprentices were disobedient -- that schools and Colledges were grown turbulent -- that Indians slighted their Guardians and Negroes grew insolent to their Masters. But your Letter was the first Intimation that another Tribe more numerous and powerfull than all the rest were grown discontented. -- This is rather too coarse a Compliment but you are so saucy, I wont blot it out. Depend upon it, We know better than to repeal our Masculine systems. Altho they are in full Force, you know they are little more than Theory. We dare not exert our Power in its full Latitude. We are obliged to go fair, and softly, and in Practice you know We are the subjects. We have only the Name of Masters, and rather than give up this, which would compleatly subject Us to the Despotism of the Peticoat, I hope General Washington, and all our brave Heroes would fight. I am sure every good Politician would plot, as long as he would against Despotism, Empire, Monarchy, Aristocracy, Oligarchy, or Ochlocracy. </blockquote>
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Indeed. They knew better than to repeal their masculine systems. They have not unlearned that lesson.<br />
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Women won the right to vote in 1920 with the 19th Amendment to the Constitution removing the word "male" from the 15th Amendment, which offered voting rights to former slaves. This is its entire text:<br />
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The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. </blockquote>
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Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. </blockquote>
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That fight, alone, took 50 years.<br />
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Many give thoughtless dismissals to discussions of the ERA by saying that the Constitution was written for all Americans and condemn conversations about its intent to semantics. That could open thoughtful discourse, I suppose, if that were the way the Constitution was written. I have already evidenced the obvious exclusion of women’s rights by the framers of the Constitution and offered text to prove that exclusion when the 15th Amendment was enacted, but, lest anyone be confused about how that would be interpreted by our leaders in 2015, I offer you a stunning example of its application this year. In April, the States Attorney of South Carolina filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court which stated:<br />
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The Amendment’s framers certainly did not intend to dismantle, but fought to preserve, state marriage laws. Indeed, skeptical congressmen insisted that these remain unaffected by the Amendment. Many feared that state disabilities placed upon married women, such as property ownership, would be undermined by an earlier Amendment draft. </blockquote>
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This was ‘in support of respondents’: Bill Haslam, Governor of TN, Rick Snyder, Governor of MI, Steve Beshear, Governor of KY. The male Regressive leaders of the states of South Carolina, Tennessee, Michigan and Kentucky, in their attempts to disavow marriage equality, used the fact that women still had not found equality, per the Constitution, to denounce our children. And ourselves.<br />
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The truth of the adage, <i>No one can love you until you truly love yourself </i>lifts many upon revelation. Similarly, no one will respect us until we respect ourselves. At present, we are not demanding equality. We are allowing words like ‘feminazi’ to shut down important conversations. We are still trying to compel others to believe we are worthy of equal pay. That was part of the basis of the women’s movement over 150 years ago. Honestly, if we cannot demand more of ourselves and our movement, we can hardly expect anyone else to. They dismiss us because we allow them to. They condemn us with tired stereotypes because we don’t expose those who mean to counter our truths.<br />
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Every March, America congratulates itself for having allowed women to exist within its borders and designates a handful of our foremothers to levels of prominence. It would be lovely, I suppose, if it were sincere. We all know about Susan B. Anthony. Or we know her name, anyway, right? American history has maintained her name, if not her complete story. She was a tireless champion for women and deserves unending esteem. She was, however, half of a set. And history has forgotten her sister-in-arms, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Although they were best friends and united in the cause for over 50 years, they had very different personalities and approaches to their audiences. Cady Stanton, basically, had no use for diplomacy. She was the more outlandish of the two, she would not bend to the ideals of the more conservative voices of the movement, and she did not attempt to find a more delicate tone for a more needy audience. I assume that this is why her memory has been lost. She was a radical.<br />
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“Well-behaved women seldom make history.” Although its attribution has been given to several women, its truth is undeniable. Most accomplishments of the women’s movement were made by those history, itself, has determined unseemly and a society quite content with its male dominance has determined forgettable. Regardless of whether or not their stories are well-known, their efforts cannot be forgotten. And we cannot leave our movement in a stagnant state of disregard. Our universal willingness to behave has left us here in a place where we don’t even acknowledge an all-but ignored Equal Rights Amendment, nearly 100 years after its proposal. As long as we quietly submit to that truth, we are foolish to demand better of the society which has grown quite comfortable with our place in it.<br />
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I compel all universal mothers who are genuinely interested in the legacy we leave our daughters and the tools we leave them to win the myriad fights to come for our children’s children, to reflect on which rights we were meant to have. And I ask all to then take the only right we presently have, the vote, more seriously from now on. Elizabeth Cady Stanton once said of the vote, "The right is ours. Have it we must, use it we will." She was half right, at least. Thanks to the decades of relentless efforts by she, Susan B. Anthony and countless names all but lost to history, we have the right to vote. And within a century of having attained that right, we show as much regard for that right as we do for the right to participate in casual Fridays.<br />
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No woman who loves her country or her children can take her solitary right to vote for granted. And no woman who loves her country or her children can continue to accept their undefined rights to equal citizenship. We must now champion our own movement so that we can have a meaningful voice in our own futures and those of our daughters. It is an imperative. Do not allow yourself to believe otherwise.<br />
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Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4699630724898170251.post-45487694488567614032015-11-09T15:10:00.000-05:002015-12-15T15:14:07.143-05:00Legacy<div>
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My 2nd installment for Adoption Awareness month. Legacy.</div>
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My childhood home had a family room with no functional familial use beyond offering a great spot for hide and seek behind the couch. It was merely the room we walked through to get to the garage whenever we went anywhere. There was a large black and white portrait hanging predominately in the center of the room that always scared me when I was young. It was of a gentleman from the 1800s who didn't look the least bit friendly. Our home had black and white pictures everywhere. For a reason I have never quite ascertained, it was very important for the images of those who came before us to be displayed throughout the home.<br />
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I was so proud when I finally asked the story of the scary man in the family room. It turned out he owned a home that had a secret basement which was a stop on the Underground Railroad. My young mind was always trying to understand, and my tender heart was always trying to differentiate between, right and wrong. There was nothing more right to me than a person making personal sacrifices to save others from the evils of slavery. I was excited to tell people that I had such a cool ancestor in my family tree. At the same time, I was aware that it wasn't <i>really</i> my family tree.<br />
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Having been adopted, there were never times that either I felt 100% like a member of the family or that others went out of their way to make me feel 100% like a member of the family. Because of this, I was always careful to preface any recountings of my great-great-great grandfather's story with a reminder that I had been adopted. Its pretty sad just to type that. Imagine a child excitedly telling you something about their family but believing that you needed to know it wasn't really her family. Take that revelation one step further to acknowledge that she was comfortable in that place and those who should've taught her there was no variable didn't feel it was necessary to do so.<br />
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When I was in middle school, I remember being frustrated telling my friends about my family legacy because they didn't feel like it was as cool as I did. I was even more frustrated by the fact that my family didn't seem too incredibly impressed, either. It was more of a matter-of-fact and his picture was something my mother had basically won in a family lottery of items passed down when someone or other died. The portrait was added to the wall of the room that no one really used as many other pictures of people no one could recall had been throughout the house.<br />
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To this day I wonder if my brother and sister, who were not adopted and are related by blood to this man, would be able to tell you his story. I wonder if they even remember the amazing history we were given about our family and the strength of those who came before us. It feels as if they have no knowledge or care of actual legacy whatsoever.<br />
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I recently started creating my own family tree on ancestry.com. It was a journey to see how far I could go back with the very limited information I have about my natural family (my grandmother came from Italy and I have her Americanized name). But I was really excited to see if I could work on the tree of the family I grew up with and know as my family. I was hoping to eventually get back to a place where I could learn more about this house and its place on the Underground Railroad. During my search I got several hints from the website about family members that others had in their trees and I would open them to get the information they had already found. I got a hint last week that my sister had created a family tree and I excitedly went in there figuring she would have all of the same people I did and it would make my job pretty easy. Instead, I found a family tree quite devoid of very important information. Apparently, in the legacy she is willing to leave to future generations, she did not have a sister. She had a brother, my brother. She had parents, my parents. But she did not have me.<br />
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It is really hard to imagine that a human being would want to omit a person from their history who was the sister she had grown up with; who bought her a maternity wardrobe with her first pregnancy and then flew to Virginia on New Year's when that first niece was born; and who drove to Virginia when the second niece was born. I guess not having had an actual drop of blood in that bloodline overrides any actual remembrances of sisterhood, however.<br />
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The word legacy is powerful. It reminds us of all that has come before to create and enrich all that exists in this place. The lessons one generation determines necessary to pass on to the next are inside of that legacy. The traditions of community and interdependence come from that legacy. The stories of pride and remembrance come from that legacy. Even as a child I felt not quite entitled to the legacy of what came before me. But because it was the only one I had, I wanted to claim it nonetheless. I would certainly, at least, be thoughtful about the legacy I would leave future generations. The pain of realizing that my legacy will be quite irrelevant and forgotten to those whose lives I have shared is indescribable.<br />
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The saddest part about all of this is the fact that the very members of my family who have known me my entire life and should, by now, have found a way to empathize when I explain my feelings, refuse to hear this retelling beyond waiting for the pause so they can defend themselves. But many people who are completely removed from this story with no emotional connection to me whatsoever will come much closer to understanding my pain than those who can actually witness and lessen it.<br />
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Throughout my life I have gone through phases where I would remove myself from my family completely to dispel the pain of their carelessness and intolerance. I have always allowed criticisms, both internal and external, to counter my own better judgment and reenter my family out of commitment and dedication to the thing which it was meant to be. But the truth is: It is not what it was meant to be. It is never going to be what it was meant to be. The thing that it is creates pain. And alienation. The thing that it is expects acceptance of things I find unacceptable and ignorance of things I find to be imperatives.<br />
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Loneliness is the only substitute I've found for vulnerability. Neither are exemplar. Neither are healthy. But let no one question why those are the only two alternatives I have found after considering the legacy I have been afforded.<br />
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Mean Progressivehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16404266621394723255noreply@blogger.com0