My message to Senator Manchin this noon time. My next step is to look into who bought him, perhaps Moscow Mitch's Putin oligarchs friends? Manchin making his announcement on Fox News without warning President Biden is quite suspicious. Hopefully the cracks showing in the GOP will create a new math for the Senate sooner hopefully than later. Yes, I've always been an optimist. It's a lot more fun than being a pessimist.
Dear Senator Manchin,
Because of the power you hold in your hands, you have an impact that goes far beyond West Virginia. You need to explain yourself not just to West Virginians but to women like me in Texas and Americans as a whole. First, I do agree with you that it would be better to fund fewer programs like the child tax credit for ten years and make them permanent rather than throw smaller, less permanent dollars at too many programs. However, the alternative of doing nothing is unacceptable. Your statements on Fox News this morning are quite frankly horrifying to me and so many Americans. You are making sure the women in this country work for half the wages a man does when childcare is taken out of our wages. You are making sure children starve because all the entitlements have been going to the rich and corporate big money interests because our politicians have been bought by the legalized bribery of Citizens United. You are making sure that income disparity increases and further makes life miserable for the working people that deserve a share in the profits their work made possible. The climate conflagration is already making us spend billions on weather disasters and so we save money by going to sustainable energy sources. Remember tornado alley is moving Eastward right into West Virginia! Your job should be to make West Virginia the state the leader in promoting sustainable energy production and retrain its workers for those jobs. By not saving America by not tweaking the filibuster and making sure the right to vote remains a right for ALL, you are assuring that United States back-slides into total authoritarianism and minority rule. My opinion on the filibuster is to go to 41 Senators to keep the debate going rather than 60 to stop it. We even have the Supreme Court dismantling democracy by making rulings based on a future ruling of the Court to take away Roe v. Wade putting all the women of Texas into subservient roles like the Hand Maidens Tale nightmare. Along with their rulings on Citizens United making bribery of our elected officials legal resulting in them voting with their donors while ignoring the will of the People and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act allowing states to go back to confederacy minority rule and autocracy, the Supreme Court has become anti-democratic and in Contempt of the Constitution. I would reduce the number of Justices to seven and get rid of the last two who are illegitimate because of then Majority Leader McConnell's Contempt of the Constitution. Those kind of games are unfair and abhorrent to me.
Please become a statesman and save America as a constitutional democratic republic! Get $1.75 B passed for 10 year programs like childcare which is keeping women working below minimum wage and our children starving. Make the filibuster work as tool for the minority to be heard but not give them a total veto over the majority. Pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Then go home an tell West Virginians that they get their share of the entitlements the rich have been squandering and their voice will now be heard. It isn't now. I don't care whether you are a Democrat or a Republican because neither party represents me because of their extreme positions on everything. Actually the Republican Party seems to have no positions on anything except preserving their power and suppressing women along with many others that do not deserve such unfair treatment in a country that still tries to call itself a democratic republic.
Please don't delay. You know there isn't much time before gerrymandering and voter suppression will take away democracy forever. It is already gone in Texas and many other states. I don't live in a democracy and my constitutional rights are being stripped away. For what? So rich are entitled to get richer and we become a state of indentured servants to the oligarchic kleptocracy. No, we are better than that. You have the ability to become a statesman and save the very foundation of American democracy. Please do the right thing before it is too late. NEVER give up the fight for democracy and economic well-being FOR ALL THE PEOPLE this time!
Stressed out in Texas. Catherine Learoyd
P.S. No, I do not want a canned reply. I want ACTION!
What would I do without the inspiration of your optimism? You can tell a guy like Manchin to go to hell in such a nice way that he will look forward to the trip, as the saying goes. Yes, it is time to let the mainstream media go on its own for a while until it figures out that bad attitudes sink motivation. The sources of evil in Congress are beyond my job description as a citizen to identify, and it is not my job to discern all of its causes, only to vote out the instigators. I must protect myself from the laziness of depression and despair, and Today’s Edition helps me to do that. No, I’m not Little Mary Sunshine, only a human who wants healing.
Forward ho. I'm not giving Manchin any more power over my thoughts, my happiness. He will be the toad that he is and there is much work to do.
Heather's letter today inspires. Robert puts into perspective. He and Jessica give us paths for action. Have a funeral for Manchin and BBB today, but then lets' get back on the train of counter-revolution. Reagan's ME FIRST began the revolution of selfish nativism and disdain for the less fortunate. It's going to be a long slog. We might turn the tide next year...or not. Do we just roll over and quit? Not me.
My letters to Senators right now are to recommend putting bills up for a vote - don't count the votes until after the vote. Then use those votes in the bloody campaigns ahead. Much of the BBB elements are enormously popular. Let the "cultists" filibuster and vote against our children and the elderly.
That could be enough ammunition to tip some key races our way. Let's channel our anger into action. BTW, Jessica's "Resistbot" system works! And it is easy. Saves you time for typing other missives.
Democrats are better at whining than winning lately. We can switch that up.
I have been reluctant to join the comments as I am a bit intimidated by how articulate and knowledgeable all of you are. But I do want to say that where I grew up we never quit. Not a team or a play or any commitment we made. So I have my fight up. I don’t care who the Rs have. I have all of you. Many thanks and happy holidays.
A word on optimism: twenty-two years ago, my lovely wife, Martha, received a horrible diagnosis: an inoperable brain-stem tumor that would likely eventually kill her. For those who don't know, this is not a "typical" brain tumor, but one which affects inputs from nerves to the brain, resulting in a situation where every sign of bodily distress, say a stomach ache, might be coming from the stomach or just be a false signal from the nerve. You might get double vision or hearing loss rather than seizures and other typical brain tumor problems.
The only treatment available was radiation of the tumor, and this was difficult but ultimately gave great relief, for a time. Martha was able to drive, to return to work, and live close to a normal life for many years, and yet the tumor remained, hanging like a sword of Damocles over her, ready to spring back later, when radiation treatments would no longer be possible as it's a once-per-lifetime therapy, after which it does more harm than good.
The question became how to view this. Martha, understandably, went into a depressed funk, imagining the worst that could happen and that it would happen soon. I felt it necessary to try to talk her out of this. I said, "Suppose you're right. Suppose your death is around the corner. Your pessimism will enable you to say 'I told you so.' But on the other hand, suppose you have many years of life left. You will have spent them being miserable, worrying about something that will happen to all of us, eventually. Please, try to be optimistic, try not to glom onto the worst thing you can think of." Did I persuade her? I'd like to think I helped.
Martha had 13 years of life with the tumor. The first six were relatively good. She could work, drive, live a life, and maybe engage in denial of the tumor. Denial can be a good thing. The last six were more nightmarish, as one faculty after another left her, and she passed away, at home, in 2012 with loved ones present.
Sometimes denial is a good thing and fear is a bad thing.
Worth thinking about. Other people are or have been in much more dire straits than we are now.
For me, and for, I suspect, a good many of your readers, your suggestions on activity may sound a bit thin, particularly the "call your congresspeople" idea. My congressperson is a staunch progressive and does not need bucking up from me, though the occasional pat on the back would be a nice thing to do. This is similar to the first incarnation of the Indivisible handbook which stressed pressuring one's own reps, and not those in other districts. That left little for the many progressive people in solid progressive districts to do. And so, the ideas of finding potentially close races in other states to donate to, either financially or with effort, physical canvassing, phone-banking, texting, come into play. The important thing, for which I agree with you, is not to give up.
We are all in this together. We truly are. I just fired off a letter to Manchin through the excellent "Moms Rising" group I have been part of for years. I'm seventy years old and still remember how hard it was to find childcare when I needed it. That's now fifty years ago and the fight for "quality, affordable childcare" had been going on for years before that. We need a healthy, educated populace now more than ever before. Why we are being held hostage by wealthy and unethical people is hard to understand. We need to make our voices heard again and again and again. As the writer said last week, "This is a moral injury." Just for the record, with the resignation of Chris Wallace, Fox News has lost whatever credibility it might have had. Onward.
In today's column, you write: "First, engage in a daily action to make your voice heard."
I must have heard you in my head, when I wrote this on Sustack yesterday.
Steven Spielberg Got Me Thinking . . .
In 1957, 18 years old, a sophomore at Ohio State University, I boarded my first airplane. I flew to New York with a sorority sister to meet my boyfriend’s parents. A landmark moment. During that visit, I attended my first Broadway show, “West Side Story,” with no idea until then of the thrills such a performance would bring. Nothin’ like it in Akron!
In the 64 years since, I have had the good fortune to experience Broadway numerous times, and in 1961, excited to see how the story would morph from stage to screen, I was not disappointed. Natalie was all a star could be, as was Rita, that adaptation’s Anita.
Yesterday, I viewed Steven’s Spielberg’s $100,000,000 project, a copy down to re-starring Rita. Robbins, Bernstein and Sondheim were honored, very much with us, though, sadly, gone. I didn’t recall 1957 this time. I left the theater with another thought, a question. How do the Jets and the Sharks of the mid 50’s differ from Democrats and Republicans of December, 2021?
It took the slaying of Riff, Bernardo and Tony for the factions to come together. It took funerals for the gangs to get it, to realize that they share a neighborhood, with shared problems, shared potential. Audience members. some shedding happy tears. are left to imagine what these teens will do together. Three murders to bring union. Calm now. Perhaps, peace later.
Will it take three of our Senators and/or Representatives to lay slain for this pathetic bunch of would-be professional politicians to get it? For their gangs to carry, not Tony’s coffin on their shoulders; rather, the hopes and dreams of those of us who elected them, who voted for them with prospects of their doing their job for the good of us all. Doing their jobs, together.
Voltaire wrote: “Common sense is not so common. ”Four hundred years later American citizens with elected officials in both gangs know that the common good is also not so common.
Thank you for your suggestion to urge Schumer to call for a vote and get everyone on record for voting either FOR or AGAINST the American people. Thank you for everything, really.
Thank you for keeping us inspired. I would like to let your readers know that there is a wonderful group, Movement Voter Project and can be found here at https://movement.vote/ . This organization finds and vets and then helps all of us support really great grassroots organizations that are in the trenches for the long haul. They know they need to register new voters, keep registered voters coming to the polls, and make sure that the messaging is specific to the communities they work in. The grassroots groups are filled with young hopeful organizers who continue to inspire me to work. Check this group out and it will help keep you engaged and inspired: and for those of you with some extra cash this season, consider giving "the GIFT OF DEMOCRACY" by adding to the donation button.
It was inspiring to listen to your first podcast. I read you every morning & have been getting Jessica Craven's emails that help me be involved. I’m so impressed with what she is doing. It was a pleasure to hear you all this morning. Thanks for the link as it was a good way to start the week in Wisconsin!
This weekend even the indefatigable optimist (me) faltered. But, of course, we cannot do that. We cannot give up. We may not be able to see the mountaintop, we may not even see the path ahead, but we must stumble forward. Somehow, we must find the way.
This weekend Manchin simply confirmed who he is—a self serving politician bought and paid for by coal and big pharma. He is right about one thing. We ought to elect more progressive senators. Manchin needs to become irrelevant, as does Sinema.
It occurs to me that people on the left get bombarded with negativity on a daily basis, as does the right. The right is lied to on a daily basis. The end result is the same—both sides are up in arms that the other side is destroying the country. Please know that I am not trying to set up a false equivalency. I take my news in very small doses these days. I simply cannot take all the gloom, which tends to skew my perspective and make me feel dispirited and paralyzed. So I limit my exposure to maintain my sanity.
My message to Senator Manchin this noon time. My next step is to look into who bought him, perhaps Moscow Mitch's Putin oligarchs friends? Manchin making his announcement on Fox News without warning President Biden is quite suspicious. Hopefully the cracks showing in the GOP will create a new math for the Senate sooner hopefully than later. Yes, I've always been an optimist. It's a lot more fun than being a pessimist.
Dear Senator Manchin,
Because of the power you hold in your hands, you have an impact that goes far beyond West Virginia. You need to explain yourself not just to West Virginians but to women like me in Texas and Americans as a whole. First, I do agree with you that it would be better to fund fewer programs like the child tax credit for ten years and make them permanent rather than throw smaller, less permanent dollars at too many programs. However, the alternative of doing nothing is unacceptable. Your statements on Fox News this morning are quite frankly horrifying to me and so many Americans. You are making sure the women in this country work for half the wages a man does when childcare is taken out of our wages. You are making sure children starve because all the entitlements have been going to the rich and corporate big money interests because our politicians have been bought by the legalized bribery of Citizens United. You are making sure that income disparity increases and further makes life miserable for the working people that deserve a share in the profits their work made possible. The climate conflagration is already making us spend billions on weather disasters and so we save money by going to sustainable energy sources. Remember tornado alley is moving Eastward right into West Virginia! Your job should be to make West Virginia the state the leader in promoting sustainable energy production and retrain its workers for those jobs. By not saving America by not tweaking the filibuster and making sure the right to vote remains a right for ALL, you are assuring that United States back-slides into total authoritarianism and minority rule. My opinion on the filibuster is to go to 41 Senators to keep the debate going rather than 60 to stop it. We even have the Supreme Court dismantling democracy by making rulings based on a future ruling of the Court to take away Roe v. Wade putting all the women of Texas into subservient roles like the Hand Maidens Tale nightmare. Along with their rulings on Citizens United making bribery of our elected officials legal resulting in them voting with their donors while ignoring the will of the People and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act allowing states to go back to confederacy minority rule and autocracy, the Supreme Court has become anti-democratic and in Contempt of the Constitution. I would reduce the number of Justices to seven and get rid of the last two who are illegitimate because of then Majority Leader McConnell's Contempt of the Constitution. Those kind of games are unfair and abhorrent to me.
Please become a statesman and save America as a constitutional democratic republic! Get $1.75 B passed for 10 year programs like childcare which is keeping women working below minimum wage and our children starving. Make the filibuster work as tool for the minority to be heard but not give them a total veto over the majority. Pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Then go home an tell West Virginians that they get their share of the entitlements the rich have been squandering and their voice will now be heard. It isn't now. I don't care whether you are a Democrat or a Republican because neither party represents me because of their extreme positions on everything. Actually the Republican Party seems to have no positions on anything except preserving their power and suppressing women along with many others that do not deserve such unfair treatment in a country that still tries to call itself a democratic republic.
Please don't delay. You know there isn't much time before gerrymandering and voter suppression will take away democracy forever. It is already gone in Texas and many other states. I don't live in a democracy and my constitutional rights are being stripped away. For what? So rich are entitled to get richer and we become a state of indentured servants to the oligarchic kleptocracy. No, we are better than that. You have the ability to become a statesman and save the very foundation of American democracy. Please do the right thing before it is too late. NEVER give up the fight for democracy and economic well-being FOR ALL THE PEOPLE this time!
Stressed out in Texas. Catherine Learoyd
P.S. No, I do not want a canned reply. I want ACTION!
What would I do without the inspiration of your optimism? You can tell a guy like Manchin to go to hell in such a nice way that he will look forward to the trip, as the saying goes. Yes, it is time to let the mainstream media go on its own for a while until it figures out that bad attitudes sink motivation. The sources of evil in Congress are beyond my job description as a citizen to identify, and it is not my job to discern all of its causes, only to vote out the instigators. I must protect myself from the laziness of depression and despair, and Today’s Edition helps me to do that. No, I’m not Little Mary Sunshine, only a human who wants healing.
Forward ho. I'm not giving Manchin any more power over my thoughts, my happiness. He will be the toad that he is and there is much work to do.
Heather's letter today inspires. Robert puts into perspective. He and Jessica give us paths for action. Have a funeral for Manchin and BBB today, but then lets' get back on the train of counter-revolution. Reagan's ME FIRST began the revolution of selfish nativism and disdain for the less fortunate. It's going to be a long slog. We might turn the tide next year...or not. Do we just roll over and quit? Not me.
My letters to Senators right now are to recommend putting bills up for a vote - don't count the votes until after the vote. Then use those votes in the bloody campaigns ahead. Much of the BBB elements are enormously popular. Let the "cultists" filibuster and vote against our children and the elderly.
That could be enough ammunition to tip some key races our way. Let's channel our anger into action. BTW, Jessica's "Resistbot" system works! And it is easy. Saves you time for typing other missives.
Democrats are better at whining than winning lately. We can switch that up.
I have been reluctant to join the comments as I am a bit intimidated by how articulate and knowledgeable all of you are. But I do want to say that where I grew up we never quit. Not a team or a play or any commitment we made. So I have my fight up. I don’t care who the Rs have. I have all of you. Many thanks and happy holidays.
A word on optimism: twenty-two years ago, my lovely wife, Martha, received a horrible diagnosis: an inoperable brain-stem tumor that would likely eventually kill her. For those who don't know, this is not a "typical" brain tumor, but one which affects inputs from nerves to the brain, resulting in a situation where every sign of bodily distress, say a stomach ache, might be coming from the stomach or just be a false signal from the nerve. You might get double vision or hearing loss rather than seizures and other typical brain tumor problems.
The only treatment available was radiation of the tumor, and this was difficult but ultimately gave great relief, for a time. Martha was able to drive, to return to work, and live close to a normal life for many years, and yet the tumor remained, hanging like a sword of Damocles over her, ready to spring back later, when radiation treatments would no longer be possible as it's a once-per-lifetime therapy, after which it does more harm than good.
The question became how to view this. Martha, understandably, went into a depressed funk, imagining the worst that could happen and that it would happen soon. I felt it necessary to try to talk her out of this. I said, "Suppose you're right. Suppose your death is around the corner. Your pessimism will enable you to say 'I told you so.' But on the other hand, suppose you have many years of life left. You will have spent them being miserable, worrying about something that will happen to all of us, eventually. Please, try to be optimistic, try not to glom onto the worst thing you can think of." Did I persuade her? I'd like to think I helped.
Martha had 13 years of life with the tumor. The first six were relatively good. She could work, drive, live a life, and maybe engage in denial of the tumor. Denial can be a good thing. The last six were more nightmarish, as one faculty after another left her, and she passed away, at home, in 2012 with loved ones present.
Sometimes denial is a good thing and fear is a bad thing.
Worth thinking about. Other people are or have been in much more dire straits than we are now.
For me, and for, I suspect, a good many of your readers, your suggestions on activity may sound a bit thin, particularly the "call your congresspeople" idea. My congressperson is a staunch progressive and does not need bucking up from me, though the occasional pat on the back would be a nice thing to do. This is similar to the first incarnation of the Indivisible handbook which stressed pressuring one's own reps, and not those in other districts. That left little for the many progressive people in solid progressive districts to do. And so, the ideas of finding potentially close races in other states to donate to, either financially or with effort, physical canvassing, phone-banking, texting, come into play. The important thing, for which I agree with you, is not to give up.
Thank you so much for the clarity, the understanding, and the encouragement. Because of it, I commit to daily actions.
We are all in this together. We truly are. I just fired off a letter to Manchin through the excellent "Moms Rising" group I have been part of for years. I'm seventy years old and still remember how hard it was to find childcare when I needed it. That's now fifty years ago and the fight for "quality, affordable childcare" had been going on for years before that. We need a healthy, educated populace now more than ever before. Why we are being held hostage by wealthy and unethical people is hard to understand. We need to make our voices heard again and again and again. As the writer said last week, "This is a moral injury." Just for the record, with the resignation of Chris Wallace, Fox News has lost whatever credibility it might have had. Onward.
Thank you for helping me to not sink into the depths of despair!!
In today's column, you write: "First, engage in a daily action to make your voice heard."
I must have heard you in my head, when I wrote this on Sustack yesterday.
Steven Spielberg Got Me Thinking . . .
In 1957, 18 years old, a sophomore at Ohio State University, I boarded my first airplane. I flew to New York with a sorority sister to meet my boyfriend’s parents. A landmark moment. During that visit, I attended my first Broadway show, “West Side Story,” with no idea until then of the thrills such a performance would bring. Nothin’ like it in Akron!
In the 64 years since, I have had the good fortune to experience Broadway numerous times, and in 1961, excited to see how the story would morph from stage to screen, I was not disappointed. Natalie was all a star could be, as was Rita, that adaptation’s Anita.
Yesterday, I viewed Steven’s Spielberg’s $100,000,000 project, a copy down to re-starring Rita. Robbins, Bernstein and Sondheim were honored, very much with us, though, sadly, gone. I didn’t recall 1957 this time. I left the theater with another thought, a question. How do the Jets and the Sharks of the mid 50’s differ from Democrats and Republicans of December, 2021?
It took the slaying of Riff, Bernardo and Tony for the factions to come together. It took funerals for the gangs to get it, to realize that they share a neighborhood, with shared problems, shared potential. Audience members. some shedding happy tears. are left to imagine what these teens will do together. Three murders to bring union. Calm now. Perhaps, peace later.
Will it take three of our Senators and/or Representatives to lay slain for this pathetic bunch of would-be professional politicians to get it? For their gangs to carry, not Tony’s coffin on their shoulders; rather, the hopes and dreams of those of us who elected them, who voted for them with prospects of their doing their job for the good of us all. Doing their jobs, together.
Voltaire wrote: “Common sense is not so common. ”Four hundred years later American citizens with elected officials in both gangs know that the common good is also not so common.
What will it take?
your words continue to be a beacon of hope in our troubling times: hallelujah!
Thank you for your suggestion to urge Schumer to call for a vote and get everyone on record for voting either FOR or AGAINST the American people. Thank you for everything, really.
Thank you for keeping us inspired. I would like to let your readers know that there is a wonderful group, Movement Voter Project and can be found here at https://movement.vote/ . This organization finds and vets and then helps all of us support really great grassroots organizations that are in the trenches for the long haul. They know they need to register new voters, keep registered voters coming to the polls, and make sure that the messaging is specific to the communities they work in. The grassroots groups are filled with young hopeful organizers who continue to inspire me to work. Check this group out and it will help keep you engaged and inspired: and for those of you with some extra cash this season, consider giving "the GIFT OF DEMOCRACY" by adding to the donation button.
It was inspiring to listen to your first podcast. I read you every morning & have been getting Jessica Craven's emails that help me be involved. I’m so impressed with what she is doing. It was a pleasure to hear you all this morning. Thanks for the link as it was a good way to start the week in Wisconsin!
This weekend even the indefatigable optimist (me) faltered. But, of course, we cannot do that. We cannot give up. We may not be able to see the mountaintop, we may not even see the path ahead, but we must stumble forward. Somehow, we must find the way.
This weekend Manchin simply confirmed who he is—a self serving politician bought and paid for by coal and big pharma. He is right about one thing. We ought to elect more progressive senators. Manchin needs to become irrelevant, as does Sinema.
It occurs to me that people on the left get bombarded with negativity on a daily basis, as does the right. The right is lied to on a daily basis. The end result is the same—both sides are up in arms that the other side is destroying the country. Please know that I am not trying to set up a false equivalency. I take my news in very small doses these days. I simply cannot take all the gloom, which tends to skew my perspective and make me feel dispirited and paralyzed. So I limit my exposure to maintain my sanity.