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Mersky

Mersky's Journal
Mersky's Journal
July 14, 2019

I agree with you, Rufus

I'm in my forties, so there's one difference in our views. I've spent my adult life watching the republicans get away with breaking rules and stacking the deck, again and again. All the while, wondering when there's been enough of it? When is it no longer the time for politics as usual?

I appreciate MM's opinion, and ensuing discussions, whether or not I agree with him. I have a great deal of uncertainty in regards to when to pursue impeachment, but little doubt as to whether Dems should initiate the inquiries.

How is Helsinki and the Mueller Report not enough? I mean, there's video and a book. tRump may have his base and fox news, et al, but they don't represent majority opinion across a number of key issues. And, so what if it doesn't make it thru McConnell's senate, then call on him to answer, either officially or thru the media, for his dereliction of duty.

Now, all that said, I respect Pelosi, and I'm willing to wait until the timing is right. It's not like I'm going to leave the Democratic party or not fight like hell for us to win in 2020.

(I laughed at the apt comparisons of the Acosta family photo to the Shining, but I didn't recommend the thread, so I'm not sure how much I need to adjust my moral compass, yet. Images of powerful people's children have been newsworthy forever, and this one was so, eh, pointed as to require at least acknowledging the likeness to a very popular movie against the backdrop of what the two men in the photo represent. I think a side by side of the Acosta photo to one of an overcrowded cell of detainees would have triggered a mostly serious thread. My brain made the association regardless, and I ultimately felt chilled and saddened. One of the best values instilled in me by my elders is the importance of respecting children as you would any fellow human being. I don't think people were mocking the kids, as there's really so much to that particular photo. Sooo, I'll take on half a smiting from you, MM, and thank you for trying to elevate the conversation even if I think your charges were a little harsh.)

July 13, 2019

Hundreds in Austin. Saw a 2018 hero of mine and heard hard truths

Was so tired, but I made it to the vigil in time to hear Lloyd Doggett speak. You know, I forget how important it is to see other shining faces listening, nodding, chanting, and wiping away tears as you do the same. You can be heard as you listen, as you just stand there not saying a thing.

I darn near went and asked Mike Seigel, who sounded great at the podium, for an autograph. He successfully took on Waller County for their student voter suppression shell game operation. Would go on to give Michael McCaul a run for his money in a district that runs from Houston to Austin thru mostly rural, small towns known for smoked meats, speed traps, and more.

Here's the moment my heart stopped and tears flowed: an immigration attorney (apologies, I don't recall her name) spoke of something I never thought would need to be uttered in this country of ours.

I must paraphrase:


If you know of people living in fear over their immigration status, you can help them by going grocery shopping for them, run errands for them. Employers can help by letting them stay home, and still pay them.


I couldn't control my tears. The raids and draconian treatment are causing terror in people's lives.

DUers, my worst day is nothing compared to the oppression that families across the nation are living under right now. It's time to resist, peacefully, in whatever way you can.




July 10, 2019

Whoa. Is the first I've heard of TV Marti.

I'm completely disturbed by this. Radio station went on the air in 1985, TV station in 1990??!?!! All these years broadcasting ... And has been spewing all manner of tRump era hate and propaganda

June 29, 2019

How in the world is this important news missing from the DU homepage?

I would repost it in LBN, but because so many members are ignoring me, it would just drop into the ether,... again.

Would some acceptable, long term member post this anew?

ACLU doggedly paddling the tRump admin into following the law, again, is news no matter who posted the original breaking story... Which was extremely easy to verify by going to ACLU's press release page.

They deserve our awareness, support, and dollars!

June 9, 2019

I'd bet money that he's wearing a girdle...

Or perhaps it's a spanx-type underpinning recommended by Chris Christie.

Cinched his, eh, vest down over his sucked-in belly/brain. Can see his waistband budging thru. He looked in the mirror, and saw perfection despite the drooping pants. And then, no one in his entourage dared say he looked like a buffoon.

(Tooo, Pence would have gone into fits if 'Mother' had a man's silhoulette cast upon her ivory, buzzsaw dress.)

May 19, 2019

Eye opening stuff...

Wow, this is a big post! I find it very readable, and I don't mind the scrolling.

I definitely come away from this with a new perspective on how in the hell we're gonna possibly meet the demand for electricity with the current piecemeal scheme of a relatively few more wind turbines and solar panels compared to the shocking number of power plants globally (62,500!!!). Rather appreciate your emphasis that redundant power plants are needed for existing 'renewables'.

And, I've noted that plutonium power plants don't need any, eh, backup power generation. I'll go seek more info about the ins and outs of nuclear efficiencies of cost and waste/storage/reprocessing (although, any recommendations are appreciated). If it's just a question of engineering, the value may become evident and relatable. I will ponder this.

After another read through, I might be able to follow new developments in hydrogen generation. And, I didn't know how much I needed a refresher on the particulars of coking coal. Basically, I'm floored anew by the scale of the problem of efficiently using materials for steel consuming wind turbines, etc.

I've bookmarked this, and will check out your detailed thermodynamic acc...

May 12, 2019

Kermit, not the frog, received 9 million opioid pills for its 400 residents

Over two years... That's 30 pills a day, per person, everyday, for two years at one pharmacy. That is insane.

Even if you more than double the number of people shopping at that one store to 1,000 people, that comes to roughly 12 pills per person daily for two years. Bananas for numbers.

Was floored when I first heard of this on Chris Hayes, then later watched an episode of Vice regarding the flood of opioids into West Virginia.

I think it's real brilliance that Warren went there, because from what I've seen, people in rural areas hold a lot of resentment towards feeling left out of all the excitement and options that cities provide going into the modern era. In this case, government at all levels has failed the people of West Virginia. Including them in the conversation of how democrat ideas apply to them is part of how to diffuse the power of the vacuum of real ideas that is trumpism. I'm betting this can be done without compromising egalitarian, economic, and environmental principles. Is just my perspective from being blue in a purple family in Texas.

https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/9-million-painkillers-shipped-to-tiny-west-virginia-town

May 10, 2019

Before I went unconscious, I knew I couldn't be pregnant.

But if I had been pregnant, I would not have wanted to have it re-implanted. I couldn't have given consent to an experimental procedure either way, as I went into shock on the way to the hospital. I was serious in my studies at the time, was too young to care for a baby, and the human body can only take so much trauma at once.

When I awoke, I had one less ovary due to an ovarian torsion. The gynecologist who performed the surgery was extremely nice to me. Odd, because she looked like the same the doctor that yelled accusations that I must be lying about my nonexistent sex life and that it must be an ectopic pregnancy. Why did she wait for my blood pressure to drop to send me to imaging, more than 24 hours after being admitted? Some explanation about watchful waiting is all I got from her. Delay and doubt can be deadly in these emergencies.

Luckily, I survived the bleeding out into my ovary, and her judgment, as she ultimately saved my life.

These types of events are complex, and I am unnerved that any legislator thinks it is appropriate to interject his false morality and junk science into decisions made between patient and doctor.




May 7, 2019

"From the standpoint of the Constitution, ...

their laws are not my laws. My laws are not their laws, unless the attorney general does say so when I ask him to. Which is how it works, lot of people don't actually know that. You can't learn this stuff from law books, but I know my laws are better than theirs."

May 3, 2019

OIC

Ha. Hehehe. Oof. Got it.

Well, that's one heckuva starter caption to get at the gut punch in her bio.

Going forward, I'll be sure to adjust how I swing at the captions.

I adore these posts, as I use humor to process thru the daily horrors. Will choose seriousness when it hits me, but likely will continue mostly lobbing jokes.

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Gender: Do not display
Current location: Texas
Member since: Fri Oct 19, 2018, 12:32 AM
Number of posts: 4,980
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