March 2, 2022

A Prayer

Couldn't help wanting to share this here. Poignant, blunt, heartbreaking. Written by someone familiar with war, the taste and smell of it, the terrible anger and loss.

prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven
of the full moon
and the hollow sun

shield from death my parents
whose house stands in the line of fire
and who won’t abandon it
like a tomb

shield my husband
on the other side of war
as if on the other side of a river
pointing his gun at a breast
he used to kiss

I carry on me this bulletproof vest
and cannot take it off
it clings to me like a skin

I carry inside me his child
and cannot force it out
for he owns my body through it

I carry within me a Motherland
and cannot puke it out
for it circulates like blood
through my heart

Our daily bread give to the hungry
and let them stop devouring one another

our light give to the deceived
and let them gain clarity

and forgive us our destroyed cities
even though we do not forgive for them our enemies

and lead us not into temptation
to go down with this rotting world
but deliver us from an evil
to get rid of the burden of a Motherland—
heavy and hardly useful

shield from me
my husband, my parents
my child and my Motherland

From “Apricots of Donbas,” by Lyuba Yakimchuk, translated by Oksana Maksymchuk, Max Rosochinsky and Svetlana Lavochkina (Lost Horse Press, 202

February 24, 2022

Let's pray this trend continues

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1496949071810027532?s=20&t=TVwgzHoKEvR2q_0MFVeg7w

Also read another tweet that some of the Russian soldiers are surrendering. They didn't come to kill their brothers. Presumably, they were collecting information.

Just tidbits at the moment. This was a retweet from Malcolm Nance.

February 22, 2022

Tell me this looks like a Peacekeeper

https://twitter.com/TheRealHoarse/status/1495871259669897216?s=20&t=iJTe2JUqHAxAkvP5PmhVlw

This thug is invading Ukraine NOW. Time for the press to call it out for what it is and callout Republican supporters including Fox News cheerleaders, Tucker Carlson.

Disgusting.

Malcolm Nance now reporting from Ukraine. This could be the largest land invasion since WWII, he says, and yet a fifth column within the US is excitedly celebrating, ready to undo post-WWII security agreements.

Insane. Seditious.

December 9, 2021

The World is a Very Noisy Place! LOL

Finally took the plunge and bought my first hearing aids. Eargo, to be specific. Cannot believe the difference and now wonder why I've been so hesitant. I've had several hearing tests over the years, so I knew there was a profound problem--all that straining to hear speech, TV, whatever. Also had a MRI taken several years back and knew I had considerable scar tissue behind each ear. I have moderate loss in my left ear and severe loss in my right. My family was constantly on my back to do something bc I was always having them repeat themselves and/or screwing up conversations.

But today, I went to CVS for a flu shot. I could hear my name being called. I could hear the technician without difficulty, in addition to the swishing of my coat and tapping of my shoelaces and heels. The background noise will start to level out from what I've read as my brain adjusts to all the sounds and pitches I wasn't formerly able to hear.

These are tiny, in the-ear-appliances with bluetooth capability. Setting the volume and programs is easy-peasy on my iPhone and the aids are rechargeable, no tiny batteries to mess with.

The shipment came yesterday, so this is Day 1 of full usage. So far? I am surprisingly impressed.

Anyone else have the Eargo experience? I'd love to read your feedback. I actually talked to someone at the company about 5 years ago. But I just wasn't ready then (stupid vanity, really). On the other hand, the product is far more sophisticated than it was then and I've gown accustomed to my bluetooth Apple ear buds. Think that helps in accepting the in-the-ear design.

Anyway, I have now rejoined the hearing Universe. Even though,

The World is a Very Noisy Place.

November 11, 2021

The Bonfires Are Coming

Anyone thinking the race to a new Dark Age is hyperbole should scan the Washington Post's article about a new cry in Virginia: Toss all objectionable books into the fire.

This isn't a new phenomenon. What's new is the sentiment has gained purchase in the MAGA-infused world where all critical thinking is a threat; where racial and gender discussions are forbidden; where myths about the Golden Age of the past are elevated; and noble, lost cause narratives continue unscarred, uncriticized and worshipped. Here's a taste, bitter as it is:

As the Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star reported Tuesday:

Two board members, Courtland representative Rabih Abuismail and Livingston representative Kirk Twigg, said they would like to see the removed books burned.
“I think we should throw those books in a fire,” Abuismail said, and Twigg said he wants to “see the books before we burn them so we can identify within our community that we are eradicating this bad stuff.”


If there isn't a long, shrieking howl over this, we are on our way to ruin. Burning books, starting with the suggestion that somehow these subjects are not worthy of teaching and/or crowd out the teaching of Christian values, cannot be normalized or ignored. We pretend this sentiment is fringe, irrelevant at our own peril.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/11/10/i-think-we-should-throw-those-books-fire-movement-builds-right-target-books/

September 15, 2021

Right approach, too

Call these suckers out for what they are: seditionists, traitors. The press won't do it; they'd rather wrap everything in their 'objective' gauze and/or slide into bothsiderism.

There are not two sides to this fight.

You either support the continuation of our democratic Republic or you don't. You either demand accountability from the insurrectionists (and their supporters including Trump and his apologists) on January 6th or you don't. You're either on the side of science and rationality or you're not.

The list goes on and on. The choice is clear, stark.

Trump and his acolytes have poisoned the minds of what remains of the GOP. That poison needs to be fully acknowledged, then dealt with accordingly.

As in, they need to lose everywhere.

June 9, 2021

Strike Pac

Haven't seen this ad up at DU. This is Rachel Bitecofer's first Strike Pac ad with some powerful imagery and a strong reminder of what we're fighting for in 2022, 2024 and beyond. She's followed this one up with a Virginia state ad with the same nationalized punch--Glenn Youngkin=McConnell's obstructionism=voting suppression and Republican anti-democratic turns.

Pull no punches. Make them own it. Every single race.


https://twitter.com/i/status/1400532177943773187

June 1, 2021

Something to remember and repeat for the 2022 election

Interesting and pointed OP by Eric Boehlert, a message that should be the main argument for our 2022 elections. All this nonsense that the GOP is 'afraid' of Trump and his supporters should be thrown overboard. The embrace of the Big Lie and subsequent madness of January 6th conspiracies and voter suppression is not fueled by fear of Trumpers but by Republican choice.

These politicians are not children lead astray but men and women who have put power, influence and money ahead of the country's welfare and future. They have chosen anti-democratic, unAmerican choices to hang on and they don't give a hoot about the consequences as long as they win, even if it means burning the house down.

We lean into that, the true horror of it, we win. Getting our voters out will be essential as well as working around these odious ID requirements (making sure, for instance, that our voters obtain requisite ID) and providing adequate information well before Election Day.

But we need to make it clear that the Republican Party is not simply dysfunctional. They are actively, deliberately pursuing an anti-democratic construct, one which they will impose on all of us.

The time to shout this out, press it, push it is now. I'm convinced that 2022 will have local aspects but will ultimately be a national referendum on the Republican Party and its charge against all things American.

This is not the loyal opposition. These people are seditionists.



https://pressrun.media/p/its-not-trumps-grip-thats-driving

February 13, 2021

This Is What Still Keeps Me Up At Night

Though I can honestly say my sleep patterns have improved since Joe Biden's inauguration, I still find falling asleep a restless affair. The current impeachment proceedings now in summation haven't improved the situation. The review of the January 6th insurrection, the ugly shouts and violence of the crowd, the image of a gallows erected on Capitol grounds, the knowledge of how close we came to a true political, national nightmare is chilling. Though Donald Trump is a demented, almost cartoonish thug, his nihilistic supporters, white supremacists and QAnon sleepwalkers were/are deadly serious.

It's obvious that Republicans refuse to hold Trump responsible for inciting violence against our own government, all a response to a lost election. For Republican senators, it's all about retaining power, ensuring money from various donors to continue their anti-democratic screeds, voter intimidation and grift. Anything to hold on.

Which raises the question: was January 6th merely a prologue?

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who I've mentioned in other threads, has said that unsuccessful coups are frequently followed by additional attempts, many of which are successful. Here's a relevant clip:

". . . Looked at through the lens of the history of authoritarian leadership, January 6 could be viewed as a trial run, as failed coups often precede successful ones, as in Chile in 1973. "That's what we f**king need to have, 30,000 guns up here," said one man in the crowd, depicted in the video shown on the first day of proceedings, frustrated that the group was not entering the Capitol more rapidly. "Next trip," someone answered him."

Yeah, this thought and warning is what makes my nights less than peaceful. I sense I'm not the only one.

Vigilance!



https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/13/opinions/trump-impeachment-trial-video-and-visuals-ben-ghiat/index.html

December 21, 2020

The Coming Republican Whitewashing of Donald Trump

The Washington Post has an infuriating but absolutely accurate OP written by Greg Sergeant about the coming erasure of Trump's disastrous tenure. We're already hearing the initial strains of the attempt with familiar echoes: the debt, the deficit, the extremist Left. What is infuriating is that this ploy isn't new and has worked in the past. Think the Bush/Cheney lost years and the transferred accountability to Obama's Administration.

And just to get your blood pressure up, here's a quote from the odious Lindsey Graham:

“Our problem is tone, their problem is policy,” Mr. Graham said of the two parties. “We’ve both got to overcome problems, but I like our chances better because we can act better and it’s harder for them to legislate differently.”


And Cornyn:

“When Trump is no longer in office there’s going to be less focus on personality and ‘What did he tweet today, what did he say today?’” predicted Senator John Cornyn of Texas, adding, hopefully, that Democrats would soon struggle with internal divisions in a “Tea Party moment” akin to what Republicans faced a decade ago.

These fuckers are already mapping out the displacement of accountability, the mass amnesia they're hoping to conjure up.

We need to be prepared with an antidote in messaging because this is just as toxic and damaging as Trump. Maybe more so.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/21/gop-whitewashing-trump-stain-has-quietly-begun/