To my neighbors & other former friends

Shout out to the neighbors who stood in my backyard in December 2016 and insulted me and said I was being hysterical and that Trump and Hillary Clinton were the same and none of my predictions about the Supreme Court, abortion, immigration and more would EVER come true, as well to the people on Facebook who said I was too political and absolutely ridiculous to be SO worried about any of this. 

And ALSO to all the "we need to come together with the other side" people. 

F*ck you, sincerely & completely. You did this. This is you:

Of course, you'll never admit it. You'll never apologize. That's also why you are .

Embrace the words that describe you

I embrace words that accurately describe me, even if they may not be said in a way that is complimentary. These words include activist, dissenter, feminist and cantankerous. I cannot deny that they are accurate, because I know what words mean.

Am I a socialist? Well, if socialism is passionately supporting public education, social security, affordable health care access for all people, taxing the rich at rates greater than the poor are taxed, public lands (city parks, national parks, national monuments, etc.), and taxes paying for social and public services then, yes, I am part socialist, because there are aspects of socialism I want in the USA. However, I also want people to be free to invest money and make money, to own their own houses and their own property, to become wealthy, to buy luxury items, to buy things they want but may not need - and a socialist, nor a communist, would be down with any of that. Karl Marx said, "The theory of Communism may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property." And I own a house and I love my house and it's mine, and I love my motorcycle and really don't want anyone else riding it EVER...

But, still, if I'm willing to accept the word socialism as a word that accurately describes of some of my beliefs, no matter how incendiary it is to some people, then why do people who are racists refuse to accept the description that they are racists? Racism is the belief that members of a category of people - a category based on their ancestry, their ethnicity - possess behavioral characteristics and intellectual abilities specific to that category, that race, especially so as to distinguish people of that race as inferior or superior to people of another race or races.

That means that if you think most people who are Latino, because of their biology, have a predisposition to rape and kill greater than people who are of European descent, you are a racist. If you believe that the biology of people from Asia makes them predisposed to be smarter than people who are black from Sub-Sahara Africa, you are a racist. If you think black Americans are predisposed to commit crimes at a much greater rate than whites because of their brain makeup, you are a racist. If you believe culture comes not from external factors and history but, rather, a person's biological makeup, then you are a racist.

By this accurate definition, Donald Trump is a racist, as are his supporters. There's no getting around that. based on his frequently stated beliefs and the crowds that cheer those statements. By calling Trump supporters racists, yes, I am insulting Trump supporters - but I'm also being accurate.

The list of Trump's racist remarks is too long for this blog. But here are just some highlights:

Trump characterizes cities with a large black population as dystopian war zones. In a 2016 debate with Hillary Clinton, Trump said, “Our inner cities, African Americans, Hispanics are living in hell because it’s so dangerous. You walk down the street, you get shot.” Trump also said to black voters: “You’re living in poverty; your schools are no good; you have no jobs.” Trump frequently offers false crime statistics to exaggerate urban crime in cities with large black populations, including about Oakland, Philadelphia and Ferguson, Missouri. This comes from his racist belief that black people are more violent than people of other races.

Trump frequently talks about crimes committed by dark-skinned people, sometimes exaggerating or lying about them (such as a claim about growing crime from “radical Islamic terror” in Britain). Again, this comes from his racist belief that people who are identified as not white are more prone to violence.

Trump is very slow to decry hate crimes committed by whites against dark-skinned people (such as the killing of an Indian man in Kansas last year). Trump called some of those who marched alongside white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., last August “very fine people.” This comes from his racist belief that white violence against other races is somehow justified, or not as bad as violence by people from other races.

Trump said a federal judge hearing a case about Trump University was biased because of the judge’s Mexican heritage. This illustrates his racist belief that people of Hispanic or Latino descent are inferior in their abilities to white people.

In June 2017, Trump said 15,000 recent immigrants from Haiti “all have AIDS” and that 40,000 Nigerians, once seeing the United States, would never “go back to their huts” in Africa. Do I even have to explain what makes this racist?

At the White House, Trump vulgarly called for less immigration from Haiti and Africa and more from Norway, because he believes people from Scandinavia - white people - are superior to other races because of their biology.

His favorite insult of black Americans seems to be that they have a "low I.Q." or are not "smart": he's used this insult for Don Lemon, LeBron James, Maxine Waters. By contrast, he likes to use sexist remarks to insult white women, and insults about character and appearance for white men.

In the 1990s, Trump took out advertisements alleging that the “Mohawk Indian record of criminal activity is well documented.”

Trump once referred to a Hispanic Miss Universe as “Miss Housekeeping.”

Those are just some of the racist remarks he's made. If words have meaning, then Donald Trump is a racist. Why doesn't he embrace the title? He almost has: he's now admitted to being a nationalist, which is an extremist form of patriotism and is a term beloved among fascists. And fascism is inextricably tied with racism - the two cannot be separated.

Trump's domestic and foreign policies are based on two things: increasing his family's wealth and promoting his racist ideology. So, if you support him, there is only one thing to call you: racist. Why not embrace it? The description CANNOT be wrong unless you also believe your ideology about race is wrong. Period.

There is no denying that the US, like most countries on Earth, was built on racist ideologies. It is my choice every day, not just on election day, to embrace that or to fight against that continuing. Regardless of the election results, I'm going to continue to fight. I won't be "coming together" with racists. I won't be "looking for common ground" with racists. If it makes you uncomfortable when I speak out or walk out - it should, and that's your problem, not mine.

Not ready to make nice, not ready to back down...

Living the consequences of Nov 2016 elections, dreading Nov 2018

In December 2016, I was told, "It doesn't matter to the average person who is President. It doesn't really affect everyday people."

In response, I said parents would be ripped away from their children because of the election. I said people would start losing their health care and some would die as a consequence. I said public lands would start shrinking and environmental protections would be radically rolled back.

As I said in a blog back in 2016 after that night, that smirking person said:

I was being "alarmist" and "overly-dramatic" regarding Trump and his supporters, that it's not "that bad", that I should be more tolerant and caring regarding his supporters, some of whom are my neighbors, that they aren't "bad" people, that being polite and listening to them would be good for me...

My pushback against this person made observers uncomfortable. I ended up losing some people I considered friends because I dared to talk openly after that night about the horror show that quickly unfolded after January: the ban on Muslim immigrants, the canceling of green card status for people who have lived and worked here for many years, the scaling back of the affordable care act and the taking away of health care coverage from thousands (soon millions), the flat wages while prices rise, the layoffs of thousands of people and closing of businesses, the scaling back of public lands, the elimination of various environmental protections, the elimination of protections for home buyers and people with student debt, Nazis proudly marching in the streets of the USA, emboldened and empowered by the President, the President's open adoration of violent regimes (Russia, Saudi Arabia, North Korean, etc.), the separation of children and their families at the borders, the internment camps for immigrants, and, of course, the rich getting oh-so-richer while critically-needed safety net programs were eliminated.

So, yeah, I was right about the consequences of election night - in fact, I underestimated the consequences. But I take no pleasure in being right about it. None. I would have loved to have been wrong.

I didn't really think about then was how the Presidency would affect me, personally, so quickly: two much-needed jobs in the pipeline completely disappeared within weeks of the election because of anticipated federal budget cuts. Former clients have greatly scaled back because of federal cuts. We're holding our breath over a quickly-approaching green card renewal as we read horror stories of denials.

When I say elections are going to have dire consequences and affect real people, I'm not imagining things nor exaggerating. All of this affects real people, and if it hasn't affected you, then you are privileged.

It's not enough to vote in November - ask neighbors if they are registered. Ask them if they need a voter guide from the League of Women Voters (your state has them online). Ask them if they know where their polling place is. Ask your college-student sons and daughters' friends the same.

Also see Silence means approval

Live in a Blue State? Write your Reps NOW

For the entire tenure of President Obama, Congressional Republicans worked to block or undo every action he undertook. In response, instead of pushing back hard, President Obama and Congressional Democrats worked to compromise on every issue, watering down positions and bills to please the GOP.

If you still have a US Representative or Senator that's a member of the Democratic Party, it's time for you to write them and tell them what you expect them to do in the face of the coming onslaught of legislation and rollbacks.  

Here is the text of my November 13, 2016 letter now on its way via postal mail to the Honorable Jeff Merkley, the Honorable Ron Wyden, and the Honorable Suzanne Bonamici, my Congressional representatives as a voter and citizen of Washington County, Oregon. I encourage you to write a similar letter to your reps if you, too, live in a Blue State:

Representative Bonamici and Senators Merkley and Wyden,

I hope that, by now, you have realized that voters for Donald Trump were not voting for more jobs. They were not voting for more employment opportunities for people that pay fair, living wages. If you didn't already, I hope you realize these people were, in fact voting

• for the elimination of civil rights gained by LGBTQ people over the last five years
• in support of a ban the entry of Muslims into the USA and of aggressively surveilling any Muslim already here
• to stop women from accessing abortion and birth control services and to punish women for accessing abortion services
• to fully militarize and otherwise empower police to enforce “law and order” regarding Black and Latino Americans and other racial minorities
• against science, including climate change, evolutionary biology and human reproductive health
• to support anti-science myths about vaccine safety, such as that it causes autism
• for the elimination of the Affordable Health Care act, which they believe will make insurance premiums cheaper
• and against all foreign aid.

These are the policies that got the loudest, wildest cheers at Trump's rallies. These are the policies that got his voters out to the polls, despite the Trump campaign having such a pitifully, shockingly small grass roots/on-the-ground get-out-the-vote operation compared to the Clinton campaign or any campaign of the last 20 years. These are the policies that got Trump elected and the ones that a majority in Congress now feel emboldened to pursue.

A majority of Americans may support this man, but a majority of Oregonians do not. So long as you represent this majority in Oregon, you have an obligation and a mandate to stand against these policies. Oregonians, including myself, elected you for this role. We do not want you to “come together” or “unite” with people who openly support or try to downplay nativism, authoritarianism, misogyny and racism. We do not want to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with deplorables nor with apologists for such. This is the time to stand tall and to stand firm, to say no to bigotry and the rolling back of hard-won civil rights gains. History is watching. We are watching. The members of Congress from blue states like Oregon are our country's only hope. Please don't let us down.

Hillary as President

So, I'm back to saying, yes, I'm going to vote for Hillary Clinton. No, I don't feel enthusiastic about the vote. And, no, I am not going to stop criticizing her for her positions and actions that are counter to the progressive values and future of the Democratic Party - like her choice of Vice President. I'm not going to stop during the election, and if she's elected, I'm not going to stop while she's President. And don't you dare accuse me of picking on her because she's a woman. I judge people by actions far more than words, so quit sending me her campaign quotes - look at her record. The truth is always in actions.

And I stand by my belief that you do not HAVE to vote for her. You don't.

But I can't vote for any of the smaller party candidates: I'm not at all a Libertarian, Dr. Jill Stein's comments about vaccines are deeply disturbing, aand if the Socialist Party USA makes an unusable web site, they can hardly be expected to run a country.

I'm not going to say Hillary Clinton is the lesser of two evils and that's why I'm voting for her. Because it's not why I'm voting for her. I'm voting for her because, of every person running for office, including the smaller parties, she's by far the most-qualified and has the most in common with me in terms of political beliefs. She's pro-choice enough for me, I don't think she's going to flip flop on gay marriage or any LBGT issues again, and I don't think she's going to be fooled by Putin. I think she will appoint qualified people for most positions. I believe I'll agree with at least 70% of her environmental and economic policies. I believe she's got the credentials, the understanding, the temperament and the knowledge to be President. For the record, while I did NOT support him, I felt the same about Mitt Romney and the first George Bush. But not the second George Bush. And I do NOT feel this way about Donald Trump AT ALL.

But I say again: quit demanding people vote for her. If she wants people's vote, let her work for them. Respect and votes are something you earn. Emphasize the vision from the Democratic Party Convention, not just fear-mongering about Trump. LEAD.

No argument: Hillary Clinton does not, will not listen to Sanders supporters

Hillary Clinton's pick for Vice President says to Bernie Sanders supporters and other progressives in the Democratic Party: I want your vote, but not your ideas.

The facts speak for themselves: Tim Kaine is not a progressive.

Just before being named her running mate, Kaine signed two letters on Monday urging federal regulators to go easy on banks ― one to help big banks dodge risk management rules, and another to help small banks avoid consumer protection standards. That alone is enough to make me outraged. But there's more.

As noted in Mother Jones, Kaine has supported offshore drilling in the Atlantic and supported a bill to fast-track the construction of natural gas terminals. Fossil fuel interests have taken a liking to him. "We're encouraged by the reasonable approach he's taken on oil and natural gas, that he hasn't been swayed by politics and ideology," Miles Morin, executive director of the Virginia Petroleum Council, told Politico. What is he swayed by regarding our environment?

A die-hard Catholic, he says his religion guides him in his governing, and that while he is personally opposed to abortion, he's Pro-Choice - yet, he supports abortion restrictions, like on third trimester abortions - something sought by only the most desperate of women - and legally requiring under age girls to get permission from a parent to terminate a pregnancy - but not to carry such to term. He has been all over the place regarding teen pregnancy, first saying he believes in fighting teen pregnancy “through abstinence-focused education”, which is the version of abstinence-only education where they DO mention birth control, but emphasize its failure rate, then, two years later, under a mountain of political pressure, he defunded abstinence-only education in the schools. What will he do as VP? We just don't know.

The young people of the Democrat Party - and many of us 50 and over - have said we want a new party, a progressive party. And the establishment has answered with a not-at-all progressive, very establishment, bank-loving, corporate-loving old-school Democrat.

But we're not supposed to complain! We're supposed to be good little Democrats and not question and just swallow all of our criticisms, however legitimate, and not say anything negative and vote for the Party's nominee. If we don't, we hate America and want the other party's pick to be President! Which, of course, is exactly what Trump is telling Republicans they have to do too. Remember, if you criticize Hillary Clinton, you are being sexist!

Will I vote for Hillary Clinton in the Fall? Now, at this moment, I'm not sure. I said previously I would, because I was convinced that she would appoint staunchly pro-choice people to the Supreme Court, and that the incredible success of the Bernie Sanders campaign in attracting massive numbers of supporters, far more than anyone ever dreamed, would wake her up to the progressive direction the party needs to go in. With this appointment, I am not convinced of that at all of any of that.

I had planned on getting involved with the Democratic Party in the county where I live, volunteering to help with get-out-the-vote efforts for November 2016. I'm not doing that now, even if I do end up voting for Hillary Clinton. I have absolutely nothing to say to someone to convince them to vote for Hillary Clinton, other than that she's not Donald Trump. And that's just not enough to motivate me to work for her.

But I'm not quitting the Democratic Party. Not yet. If I quit the party, I leave it to people who are determined to keep it the way people like Debbie Wasserman Schultz want it. No, I want to change the party - that's a hell of a lot easier than starting another one. We are the people that elected Barack Obama TWICE to the presidency, NOT the party establishment. It's time to use that energy again, this time to permanently change our party.

In January 2017, when the election is long over, I will start attending local Democratic Party meetings, and I hope my fellow progressives will too, all over the USA. I hope you will run to be one of your local party precinct captains. Bring your friends to join too and run for leadership positions - chair, secretary, treasurer, a committee chair, whatever. Read the web site for your local party chapter carefully, and think about what you want to do locally to start steering your party in the direction that is its future: on a progressive path. It can be surprisingly easy to do all this: in many communities, many leadership positions are empty due to lack of volunteers, and many people currently in positions are in their 60s, or older, and oh-so-ready to retire.

Look at your city's web site and look for all the citizen's committees, and find those that are interesting to you, that you want to be a part of, and volunteer for such if there is an opening. City's often have parks commissions, safety commissions, public engagement commissions (dealing with land issues), planning commissions, library commissions and more. Get on one. Get on two. Start making your progressive voice heard and your progressive vote count.

Write your elected representatives regularly - local, state and national - especially the Democrats, and let them know what you think of their voting record. Be polite but firm: you want progressive action, and you will call them out when they avoid such. You want votes for legislation that curbs the power of banks, that promotes paid family leave, that promotes a living wage and worker protections, that protects our environment, that protects women's reproductive choices and medical services, that protects LBGT people, and that restores tax levels on corporations to at least what they were under Ronald Reagan (the 1950s rates would be better, of course). Reward them with a donation, however small, when they do what's right. We're not asking for ideological purity, we're not asking for absolute uniformity in every belief, but we are asking for a foundation of progressive beliefs in every candidate. I'm a lot more forgiving of a policy or stand I don't at all agree with if the candidate espousing such has dozens more that I do agree with (such as Bernie Sanders' lackluster record regarding gun control versus his stands on most everything else).

Do all of that and think about running for office yourself!

Ignore the people who say that you aren't being a team player, that the party needs to "unify", that you are helping the opposition win, that you aren't willing to compromise, and on and on and on. They do not have the future of this party, nor of this country, at heart. They'll say yes in the future to the progressives as they take power, because they've shown they'll say yes to whatever the Democrats do.

And you vote for whomever YOU want to in November 2016. Please, please vote for someone - you aren't seen unless you vote. If you vote Green or Socialist or whatever, and Hillary loses, it's not because you didn't "get on board" - it's because she didn't.

If, come the Spring or Summer, Hillary Clinton proves me wrong by appointing staunchly pro-Choice Supreme Court justices and an ethnically-diverse, progressive cabinet and by not sending our troops to Syria and escalating other conflicts, then, hurrah, I'll issue a hearty mea culpa. And I hope I'm wrong. But nothing she's done in the last 10 years gives me any hope at all that I'm wrong.

My submission to the Democratic Party platform

The Democratic Party has requested that Democratic Party members submit testimony for the Democratic Party platform. Members can submit it in writing or in a video. 

I went with text. 

Here's what I submitted:

I want the Democratic Party to commit to:

— creating legislation that completely, utterly undoes the Supreme Court ruling Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, and prevents unregulated super PACS from ever happening again. Citizens should always know who is funding any advertising

— creating legislation that requires more transparent reporting for ALL campaign contributions, including to all 501 c 4 entities

— supporting EVERY provision of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and NOT repeal any of it

— asking all Presidential candidates to release the text of ALL speeches they have ever been paid to do, particularly in the last 10 years

— never voting for legislation that favors lending agencies over the rights and needs of consumers

— working to increase taxes on those in the top 1% income bracket, restoring the tax rates for that group that existed under Ronald Reagan

— working on legislation to apply the same payroll tax already paid by more than 9 out of 10 Americans to those with incomes over $250,000 a year, thereby making social security sustainable

— closing the loophole in President Obama’s ban on lobbyists that is still allowing people to leave the government and immediately become high-paid lobbyists, and allows former industry lobbyists to write legislation meant to regulate their industries

— continuously educating local Democratic Party offices on how to better welcome and involve people under 50, low-income people, and people who are not of mostly European ancestry, and asking these local party offices to regularly collect and report demographic information of their meeting attendees

— continuously educating Democratic Party members on the local level on how to run for local offices

— dumping Super Delegates, as it could be used for the Party to defy the will of Party members

— get rid of caucuses and replacing them with voting. Caucuses are poisonous for participation, rewarding people with lots of time on their hands and rewarding intensity, and excluding people without such

— get rid of the Electoral College and making the election of the President direct democracy

— actively supporting automatic voter registration for everyone starting at age 18.

— making election day a federal holiday OR require early voting on weekends in all states

— outlawing gerrymandering

— restore the voting rights act and take aggressive action against laws meant to prevent citizens from voting

— pushing hard on the state level for a far shorter primary, one that starts later in an election year (April would be good)

— creating and regularly updating a 50-state strategy for the Party. As Bernie Sanders said, “We need to plant the flag of progressive politics in every state of this country.”

— reforming or getting rid of the law that requires the Postal Service to pre-fund its benefit obligations, as this is bankrupting the Post Office and forcing them into financial obligations that no corporation is required to do

— supporting the US Postal Service and not supporting privatization of the US Postal Service

— recognizing that volunteer engagement by government programs, nonprofits, schools and others is a way to demonstrate community support and transparency in work, that volunteers, while unpaid, are not free, per the resources needed to support volunteers during their service, that the value of volunteers is best expressed in terms of their impact, not in terms of a dollar value for their hours of service, and that volunteer engagement should never be used primarily, chiefly, to replace paid workers

— making an ambitious plan to take care of the crumbling infrastructure of the USA. Be as ambitious as FDR was regarding the work of the CCC, and Eisenhower was regarding the interstate roadways.

— supporting two years of fully-government-funded public university or public community college for every graduating high school senior

— supporting job training for people that have had careers in what are now dying industries: coal mining, coal processing, car manufacturing, etc., and supporting economic development in areas affected by this

— eschewing any welfare legislation that prevents parents from choosing to be full time, stay-at-home parents with children under 18, and that does not provide quality, affordable child care to any parents with children under 18

— helping Detroit and Flint Michigan, specifically, regarding their water, government corruption, their ongoing economic crisis, etc., and using your success there as a model for helping other severely-economically-depressed and marginalized communities throughout the USA

— beginning an aggressive program to give all American Indians the rights to water on their own lands

— beginning an aggressive program for job training, university education and other economic activities for American Indians, particularly those that spend at least 30% of their childhood on reservation lands

— fully funding and staff the IRS to do its work

— fully funding and staff ATF to do its work

— fully funding national parks, national forests, and facilities and programs in all national public lands, and eschew any corporate sponsorship/funding programs that take away ownership from people, that take away long-used names of such, etc.

— fully funding the National Endowment for the Arts

— addressing climate change from a scientific perspective

— supporting scientific research and education about science

— eliminating subsidies for fossil fuels, nuclear power, and biofuels

— building an efficient, comprehensive public transportation system for the top 100 metropolitan areas of the USA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_areas_of_the_United_States

— supporting public schools and eschewing any public funding for private schools

— supporting public school teachers and involving them in all conversations about education policies

— never, ever compromising whatsoever on the issue of a woman’s right to abortion services, and access to those services, here or abroad

— creating a strategy to expand health care insurance and health care services so that every citizen of the USA anywhere has affordable healthcare coverage and access to quality health care services, and create legislation so that only doctors make medical decisions for patients (not accountants and other non-medical staff) and legislation so that NO person will go bankrupt because of medical bills

— increasing funding for mental health services and affordable housing back up to the percentages of the Reagan administration

— fully funding the CDC to study, and talk about, injuries and deaths associated with guns

— using language that includes people who are NOT a part of any religion, who do NOT identify as “people of faith”

— creating strong regulation of guns, with licensing laws for guns and gun owners at least as strict as licensing laws for cars and car drivers, and with limits on how many guns can be in one household

— working to abolish the death penalty, because we cannot guarantee that innocent people have not died as a result of this

— mandating that all federal properties that were built or maintained by enslaved people, that housed enslaved people, must note such on prominent information boards and in all presentations about the history of such properties

— reforming the federal student loan program. It would be best to get rid of it entirely and work to create a way with nonprofit credit unions for people wanting loans to go to university to be able to receive such, with greatly-reduced interest rates. It would also be best to put a cap on how much money above the amount of a student loan that any institution could charge.

— support public colleges and public universities, but absolutely prevent government funding for for-profit colleges and universities

— create much more strict regulations on for-profit pay-day loan companies, rent-to-own companies, and big banks that engage in predatory lending

— committing to working with elected representatives of all political parties in local, state and national governing bodies, to seek areas of common ground and always pursuing what is best for the people of the USA

— listening to military leaders regarding the closure of military bases and weapons and training needed, rather than military contractors and lobbyists

— reducing the vast amount of financial waste in military spending

— increasing funding for mental health services for military members and their families, including after military service, and never in association with the type of discharge a military member has experienced (in other words, do not prevent someone who is dishonorably discharged from receiving government-funded mental health services)

— offering a list of reforms and timelines for the Veteran’s Administration’s health care services, and offering updates every six months on progress towards those improvements

— supporting family leave laws in line with those of other developed countries

— banning prisons run by private companies, thereby removing any financial incentive to keep people incarcerated

— banning governments from relying on fines as a primary way to fund local government services (as happened in Ferguson)

— supporting the Dream Act

— supporting a path to legal residency for people in the USA that are in the USA illegally but could meet several strict guidelines (regarding academics, police records, etc.) as well as creating a way for people outside the USA to apply for temporary work visas in the USA for work such as agricultural produce harvests and construction

— creating an aggressive plan to create affordable housing and reduce the number of homeless people in the USA, and through policy and action, recognizing there are multiple, related and individualized causes of homelessness

That’s a start… and in addition to the many other activities done on behalf of the party for women specifically, for various minority communities specifically, for the environment, for children, for immigrants, for people with disabilities, and more.