Category: Current Events

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Contacting My Representatives

It couldn't be easier. Text RESIST to 50409 (details at Resistbot) and follow the prompts.

This is what I sent:

As you are quite aware someone has announced that Transgender persons are no longer welcome to serve our country. Then, while the media is having a firestorm over that sudden announcement and as the senate GOP are dramatically playing out their "take the healthcare away from the poor and give the money to the rich" scheme, it seems the Department of Justice decides to submit an amicus brief stating that all LGBT Americans simply aren't covered under the 1964 civil rights act because of who we are and who we love. I know that you and all of this nation's governors, senators and representatives want to be on the right side of history. For that reason I urge you all to put party politics aside and work towards a just, fair and equal society for all of us. I ask that you stand up and fight for all of our rights as equal citizens no matter our sex, religion, race, sexual orientation, skin color, beliefs, age, pre-existing condition, income, or social status. Please do this for us, for yourselves, for our children and for our country. We need you.

Thanks to Fearsome Beard for providing the majority of the text. He very eloquently put into words what I wanted to say.

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Shower Thoughts

It takes more balls for a trans person to enlist than it does for a businessman to dodge the draft.

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#Truth

I know this isn't going to be doing anything for my karma, but I hope McCain goes out in the most lingering, excruciatingly painful way possible, fully aware that the cancer is eating away at his brain.

And I will piss on his grave. I will.

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Some Days I Do Miss Denver

I knew it was hot the minute I walked out of work yesterday afternoon. The car thermometer registered 119 for most of the commute, topping out at 121 as I turned onto our street. The temperature probe on this thermometer had been in the shade all day, so that was the actual air temperature.

On days like this, -8℉ and 10" of snow in the middle of May doesn't sound so bad. But then I think about the other aspects of life that caused us to flee Denver and realize it's just the heat (and a bit of nostalgia) talking to me.

I fear these temps are becoming the new normal and their onset and duration will only get earlier and last longer. (But according to Glorious Leader and his minions, global warming is just a myth perpetrated by Liberals and the Chinese to sell more us air conditioners and take away our guns, force us to have abortions and get gay married…or something.)

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Quote Of The Day

Always ahead of his time.

The far right cannot discount the fact that sitting in their parlor is the Ku Klux Klan, the American Nazi Party, every racist group in the United States and not a few of some Fascist orders that have scrambled their way up from the sewers to a position of new respectability." ~ Rod Serling, 1960

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Quote of the Day

There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." ~ Isaac Asimov

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Pre-Existing

A short list of pre-existing conditions not covered under #Trumpcare:

• AIDS/HIV
• acid reflux
• acne
• ADD
• addiction
• Alzheimer's/dementia
• anemia
• aneurysm
• angioplasty
• anorexia
• anxiety
• arrhythmia
• arthritis
• asthma
• atrial fibrillation
• autism
• bariatric surgery
• basal cell carcinoma
• bipolar disorder
• blood clot
• breast cancer
• bulimia
• bypass surgery
• celiac disease
• cerebral aneurysm
• cerebral embolism
• cerebral palsy
• cerebral thrombosis
• cervical cancer
• colon cancer
• colon polyps
• congestive heart failure
• COPD
• Crohn's disease
• cystic fibrosis
• DMD
• depression
• diabetes
• disabilities
• Down syndrome
• eating disorder
• enlarged prostate
• epilepsy
• glaucoma
• gout
• heart disease
• heart murmur
• heartburn
• hemophilia
• hepatitis C
• herpes
• high cholesterol
• hypertension
• hysterectomy
• kidney disease
• kidney stones
• kidney transplant
• leukemia
• lung cancer
• lupus
• lymphoma
• mental health issues
• migraines
• MS
• muscular dystrophy
• narcolepsy
• nasal polyps
• obesity
• OCD
• organ transplant
• osteoporosis
• pacemaker
• panic disorder
• paralysis
• paraplegia
• Parkinson's disease
• pregnancy
• restless leg syndrome
• schizophrenia
• seasonal affective disorder
• seizures
• sickle cell disease
• skin cancer
• sleep apnea
• sleep disorders
• stent
• stroke
• thyroid issues
• tooth disease
• tuberculosis
• ulcers

So in other words, pretty much everything, and what Congress has just said is, GO FUCK YOURSELVES!

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Cautiously Optimistic

From The Palmer Report:

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has never backed away from a fight with Donald Trump – and he's tended to win those battles. Schneiderman has succeeded in taking down the phony Trump University and the fraudulent Trump Foundation. He's also reportedly bringing state level RICO indictments against the Trump organization (link). And today, Schneiderman is also going after Trump over the AHCA.

Here's the official statement which New York AG Eric Schneiderman released today: "The healthcare bill passed today by House Republicans is a threat to the health and wellbeing of all New Yorkers. In addition to the devastating impact this bill would have on every New Yorker's access to affordable healthcare, the legislation that passed the House today is unconstitutional in several critical respects—and I stand ready to challenge it in court."

It continues: "First, House Republicans' attempt to effectively deny women access to reproductive healthcare services is a cruel and unconstitutional attack on women's rights – especially the most vulnerable. Further, the Collins-Faso Amendment is a cynical ploy by House Republican leadership and President Trump that exceeds Congress's authority by interfering with how New York has long elected to fund its Medicaid program. This bill threatens to slash essential healthcare services for millions of New Yorkers who need them the most. For these reasons, if this disastrous and unconstitutional healthcare bill is ultimately signed into law, I will challenge it in court." (link)

If the Senate votes no on the AHCA, or if the Democrats are able to filibuster it, then it will fail, and Obamacare will remain intact. But even if it does pass, it's clear the battle will just be beginning. And if New York can get the AHCA ruled unconstitiutional, it would be nullified in all fifty states. If the Democrats then win the midterms, they could reinstate Obamacare. So the fight against the AHCA is just getting started. 

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This…

…is going to send some delicate snowflakes into a complete meltdown.

And it makes me very, very happy.

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Quote Of The Day

This is the strange way of the world, that people who simply want to love are instead forced to become warriors." ~ Lauren Oliver

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I Think My Anxiety Has Finally Caught Up With Me

I woke from a dream this morning that has left me both shaken and reassured.

A storm had blown into town. It was one of those once-in-a-century things (much like the storm that hit Phoenix a year ago in August). The sky was dark. I mean dark. It hadn't started raining yet, but the wind was whipping about, and that was pretty bad in and of itself. Ben and I were sitting in the living room when all of a sudden we heard a tremendous thud on the roof.

I went outside. The wind had died down and it was eerily quiet. The darkness was now punctuated by a ray of sunlight coming from a break in the clouds, hitting squarely on our yard, allowing me to clearly see survey what had happened. The first thing I noticed were the rivers of what at first thought was water pouring off the eaves of the house. It looked like rain, but on closer examination it was actually dirt. That's weird, I thought. I then stepped off the porch and looked around. The tree out front was stripped of its leaves and branches; there was debris everywhere. Then I looked up.

There were a lot of shingles missing from the roof. "Nothing that can't be repaired," I thought. But then as turned my head the source of the tremendous thud was apparent: there was now a huge, 15-foot side hole in middle of the roof, and the edge of a pallet full of rolled sod was now sitting where that part of the roof used to be.

It could only have been a tornado, I thought.

"Ben!" I yelled, "Come here!"

Ben came out and looked and the damage. I swear I'd never seen him so frightened in my life; the color completely drained from his face. At the same time my thought was, "Nothing inside was damaged. We and the dogs are all safe. The hole can be covered with a tarp until it can be repaired. And most importantly, our landlords (who live right next door but whose home seemed undamaged) have insurance on this place.

"We need to go next door," I said. Ben motioned for me to stay put, and as he started walking over there, he fell to the ground on all fours and started wretching.

I came away from this dream with several insights. Yes, a storm is coming. There will be damage, but Ben and I will survive. And most importantly, there are people out there who will have our backs.

 

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Also Timely

This is not America, (sha la la la la)

A little piece of you
The little peace in me
Will die (This is not a miracle)
For this is not America
Blossom fails to bloom this season
Promise not to stare
Too long (This is not America)
For this is not the miracle

There was a time
A storm that blew so pure
For this could be the biggest sky
And I could have the faintest idea

For this is not America
(Sha la la la la, sha la la la la, sha la la la la)
This is not America, no
This is not, (sha la la la la)

Snowman melting from the inside
Falcon spirals to the ground
(This could be the biggest sky)
So bloody red, tomorrow's clouds

A little piece of you
The little peace in me
Will die (This could be a miracle)
For this is not America

There was a time
A wind that blew so young
For this could be the biggest sky
And I could have the faintest idea

For this is not America
(Sha la la la la, sha la la la la, sha la la la la)
This is not America, no
This is not, (sha la la la)

This is not America, no
This is not
This is not America, no
This is not, (sha la la la)

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Perfection

Salon:
"Saturday Night Live" nailed the elegiac mood of the week last night when Kate McKinnon sidestepped any jokes about election night and Hillary Clinton's loss. Dressed in her Clinton white pantsuit and wig, she sat down at the piano and played "Hallelujah" in memory of the great Leonard Cohen, who died earlier this week. Watch the performance and try to keep your eyes dry. We dare you.

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You Call Me A Liberal?

Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Voting Rights Act, liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed every one of these programs. Every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'liberal' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work. Because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor." ~ Congressman Santos, The West Wing, 2005