Ballots Against Bullets

Merriam Webster online defines genocide as:

: the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.

The definition of destruction:

: ruin.

I might be the only one using the term genocide to describe what’s going on in our country today.

History is shady too.

I was reading at the library information in an online video course on Art in American History.

One of the hosts got away with talking about how Mr. Toupee hung a portrait of Andrew Jackson on his wall at the White House.

The video host said that Jackson was the architect of the worst American genocide. During his term Native Americans were run off their tribal lands. Thousands were killed along the infamous Trail of Tears.

It tells you something that Mr. Toupee venerates Jackson.

At the library new books have been published praising Mr. Toupee and denouncing “Trump’s Enemies.” Other new books trumpet that the Donald is trashing American democracy.

Whose side of the story is the truth?

Stacey Abrams when interviewed said that we can’t expect any president we vote into office to be our savior.

We can though hold them accountable for doing the right thing once elected.

In two months we vote for the president.

People are being denied the right to vote.

If you are registered to vote I say walk into the polling site with your own two feet–or wheel yourself in if you use a wheelchair–and go vote.

Send in an absentee ballot before the deadline if you cannot show up in person.

One year I walked around the corner to the polling site and voted at 6:15 a.m.

If you haven’t been denied the right to vote–Just Do It–go out and vote.

No excuses.

Moving Forward

Writing an ode to a mascara wand seems out of place today.

The blogs require an effort I will do my best to meet under the circumstances.

Only I think that if I cannot be honest in any blog than how can I make a difference?

As I wrote in here circa June last year my goal is to spread joy love peace and understanding in this world.

Does it offend our President and his ilk that caring committed conscious citizens that he calls terrorists are protesting in the streets?

The injustice predates the current White House.

Yet for his stance on human rights issues alone Mr. Toupee should be dethroned.

In response to the outrage our President has Tweeted against FAKE news and lamestream media coverage.

We must elect Joe Biden whether any of us like Biden or not.

I’m not a fan of any candidate that does not endorse giving every citizen a Universal Basic Income.

Yet still–we cannot go on the way things were before.

I’m been reaching out to friends to talk to them.

I recommend that blog readers reach out to ask their friends and loved ones how they’re doing. To tell your comrades how you’re doing and get support.

I have been swiping on my sheer metallic raspberry lipstick.

No one else can see it. Yet I know it’s there.

Will the sun come out tomorrow?

Only when Americans band together to do the right thing.

When each of us is not afraid to stand up and shout:

“What’s going on is not right.”

We cannot sit idly by watching as Mr. Toupee fiddles while the U.S. burns.

In the coming blog entries I’ll talk about my experiences.

The facts tell a different story than the narrative being sold to us by lawmakers.

Rock the Vote

MTV decades ago had the slogan: Rock the Vote.

Years ago a mental health advocate started the “I Vote – I Count” drive to register people with mental illnesses to vote.

Does it really matter if you vote?

I say: go out and vote for the candidate that you think best represents you.

Really, I don’t see myself reflected in government or even in media like entertainment. Except maybe for Arianna Grande who I profiled in here a couple of months ago.

I would go so far as to say it’s a Democrap versus Republicon choice.

Neither of those two parties I think has ordinary Americans’ best interests at heart.

In reality I align with the Green Party.

Dan Donovan is running for Congress on Staten Island, where the cop killed Eric Garner in a choke hold.

People on Staten Island only vote Republicon.

The last Congressman there was convicted of fraud.

The long-term Congressman before him was caught driving home drunk from his mistress, who he fathered a child with.

Who’s kidding who about Hillary Clinton being unethical?

As usual, it’s the woman who’s vilified while men with the right plumbing down below get to do whatever they want.

I kept telling people over and over that Mr. Toupee would win the election.

No one believed me. They thought I was out of my mind to say that. Who’s sorry now.

My contention is that if you want to change things you should run for office.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez coasted to victory in the primary against a long-time incumbent.

I’ll end here with this: hate has overtaken our country.

Fighting against each other just means we have no energy to fight against those in power who are taking away our rights as we speak.

Do you want your rights taken away?

Go out and vote for the person you think is best qualified to represent your needs.

I didn’t think a guy who called Mexicans rapists was fit to run this country.

Yet I knew he would win.

Remembering Political History

We cannot argue as GOP leaders in today’s news articles claim that “the Dems” are resisting Mr. Toupee’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

For those who forget history, 2 years ago the GOP refused to even consider President Obama’s duty to appoint a Supreme Court judge when a vacancy occurred.

American blog readers, you and I who forget history are condemned to watching the dangerous partisanship bickering and badmouthing over and over again.

Can I ask you a question I asked in the last blog entry? Have you ever spoken with a rape victim? It’s upsetting.

The taxi driver who often picks me up blasts alt-right radio jock commentary. Yesterday the talk show host vilified women who speak out about having been sexually assaulted.

This [white] [male] alt-right talk show radio show host in his own words called the victims “psychologically disturbed” “liars, liars, liars.”

In all of this we cannot equate seeking justice for victims with being an attack on the agenda of the GOP.

Remember, this same GOP wouldn’t even allow President Obama to do his duty to appoint a Supreme when there was a vacancy under his watch.

The GOP conveniently forgets that no mention of sexual misconduct was made against Neil Gorsuch and he was voted onto the Supreme Court under Mr. Toupee’s rule.

I’m not saying that Brett Kavanaugh is guilty. I simply find it curious that this guy who was allegedly the patron saint of beer pong or otherwise beery and is now teary-eyed over the accusations–I’m saying that something doesn’t add up.

“I’m done” with the sense of entitlement that well-off Americans have been and continue to be endowed with.

It costs something like $200,000 to obtain a 4-year Yale degree. Those students most likely didn’t ever work in a fast food joint or retail a day in their lives.

My first job ever was as a cashier in Mickey D’s–McDonald’s. I wore a horrible brown uniform for 13 months while I attended [a local public] university.

People who claim Kavanaugh won’t repeal Roe V. Wade are mistaken. He will–because he can’t be trusted not to seek revenge for what happened to him.

Okay-go ahead. Vote for the guy or gal who is against birth control, who is against trusting a woman to make the choices that are right for her.

Vote Republican if you want. That is your choice.

I, for one, have lost total faith in the battering rams of our elected officials.

The Brett Kavanaugh affair was the last straw for me.

I have no hope that women, People of Color, and individuals with disabilities will ever get a fair shake in America.

Our government has become a blood sport, with elected officials getting Americans worked up over false issues that mask the reality that citizens’ rights are being taken away elsewhere while we’re not looking.

Mr. Toupee is set to repeal the Affordable Care Act provision that stopped people with preexisting conditions from being denied treatment or charged higher premiums.

Yes, the president is set to roll back this protection for those of us with preexisting conditions like mental illnesses.

President Obama was not without faults. Yet he accomplished some good things, like signing into law The ABLE Act.

Pay attention to what’s really going on behind the scenes: Stripping away the rights of the many disadvantaged Americans while the few in power partake in unrivaled access to success.

Elected officials are deciding our fate whether we like or not.

We can’t give up without a fight.

Using Our Voices

You have a voice so use it.

You might feel that you’re different. You might feel that our president is a miracle worker doing the greatest good for our country.

Either way I stand by my assertion that each of us should use our voice to champion what we think is right.

Yes–I take such pride in knowing that a superstar like Ariana Grande tells it like it is. She’s not afraid to lose either fans or money by speaking her mind.

Grande’s fearlessness should instill in everyone the courage to make a difference.

I know that having read the Elle interview I was inspired to join the singer in taking a stand against how those in power use divide-and-conquer tactics to keep Americans from banding together to fight common injustices.

I was motivated to pick up Grande’s baton of bravado and pass it on to readers.

This after the interview revealed that the pop singer aligns with the Black Lives Matter voices.

One day after I wrote in here recently about Eric Garner a news report was published stating his family was still seeking justice four years later for his homicide.

I seem to do the opposite of what other people do.

In a New York Times article last week analyzing the composition of the electorate at the polls in 2016 it was stated that 53 percent of white women voted for the president.

Where did that statistic come from?

I’m convinced along with a friend that Mr. Toupee will win a second term.

For the truth about why his reign is disastrous I will refer you to the Democracy Now news articles.

To remain silent on the things that effect us is to be complicit in the erosion of the human rights and liberties of American citizens.

I’m still obsessed with the latest mascara wand. Yet there comes a time to talk about other things besides my current Diorshow haul.

My goal is to tell readers to join me and Ariana Grande–two proud Italians–in refusing to be silent about the things that matter to you.

It matters to me that real wages are still stagnant even with a booming economy. That workers aren’t getting their fair share of the billion-dollar profits of their employers.

That women are being denied the right to obtain and use birth control.

That Mr. Toupee and his ilk are rolling back efforts to curb climate change.

The View from Flyover Country

Today I find myself veering into writing about topics I hadn’t wanted to cover.

The stakes are higher for one thing. To remain silent on things that matter is something I cannot do for another.

I installed on my iPad The View from Flyover Country: Dispatches from a Forgotten America by Sarah Kendzior.

I recommend that everyone reads this book whether in print or electronic form. You can check it out of the library should you not be able to buy it.

It’s sad that I’ve given up on our government officials as being agents of change.

Now I only hope that others will join me in reading books like Flyover Country.

I hope that readers will write to your elected representatives on issues that matter to you.

In my own life I won’t take part in a protest in the streets. This is because I have a medical condition. Sent to jail I wouldn’t have access to medication that would keep me healthy.

Instead throughout the years I have used this blog on and off to talk about what goes on. A couple of years ago I stole from a newspaper and listed here the names of over 30 people cops have killed.

Here too I also wrote that when one of our rights is taken away (like access to birth control) the dominoes of other rights will fall down one after the other.

How I wish I didn’t have psychic ability.

Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled against unions, thus weakening their power to advocate for the rights of their workers. Now employees will not have to pay union dues even though they’re members of a union.

Recently Mr. Toupee has also said that migrants shouldn’t be given due process under the law. In case you don’t remember the U.S. constitution guarantees due process to all people within the U.S.

For the life of me I don’t understand how the rights of so-called “unborn babies” are deemed greater than the rights of those already living. Thus causing people to vote into power a person who is taking away the rights of you and me every day.

The View from Flyover Country tells the unvarnished truth.

I’ve decided to write in here about these topics because I’m interested in getting the word out to people who might not ordinarily think about these things.

I had predicted that Mr. Toupee would win the election and nobody believed me. How could they not see what I saw?

Sarah Kendzior in Flyover Country predicted his rise long before I did in the book essays that were originally written from 2012-2014.

As ordinary citizens, we cannot blame each other for our misfortunes. The root cause is the decades-long deprivation of rights by our elected officials.

At a time when adjunct professors as well as service workers are sinking into poverty–as documented in Flyover no one is immune from earning cheap wages–it’s time to get real and take action.

I’ll end here with this: you know something’s not right when Kendzior writes in her book that U.S. veterans aren’t paid living salaries when they return from war.

They wind up on food stamps.

Think Globally Act Locally

The slogan think globally act locally was popular years ago.

In all truth I align with the Green Party.

I urged readers to vote Democratic as the lesser of two evils simply because of the human rights crisis in America going on with the children at the detention centers.

Yet the truth is no one in power held the Republicans accountable for their actions while we had a Democrat for president in those last eight years.

If you ask me there should’ve been a path to citizenship given for people already here illegally. A solution should have been enacted that prevented new people from entering illegally.

As the expression goes: “The horse is out of the barn.” There’s no closing the door now.

Instead of a human response and a reasoned and reasonable response we have Mr. Toupee or #45 awarding contracts to businesses to create detention centers where children are caged and injected with drugs.

In America the government can’t get away with killing thousands of people like Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge did in Cambodia.

Yet today our government is getting away with human rights violations.

More locally, there’s no mental health treatment given for Americans who actually need psychiatric drugs to function in society.

Whether you’re a child in a cage–or an adult trapped in disability because your illness is allowed to worsen–each of these events is a human rights abuse.

We need to frame the lack of mental healthcare and the dismal care found when it’s given as a human rights violation.

Today we see images of children being caged.

What we’re not seeing I guarantee you is happening: the congress house of representatives and president are taking action to sign into law policies that take away more of our rights and pad the pockets of big business.

Trust me I’m no fan of the Democrats at this point either.

As a person who has the freedom to come and go as she pleases I’m not willing to remain silent on things that matter.

I realize the Green Party isn’t popular in America–yet it’s the only political party I can endorse at this time.

People Have the Power

“People Have the Power” is my favorite Patti Smith song.

Yes I believe it’s true people in America have the power to change the the direction our country has been going in.

This starts when we challenge the hateful rhetoric in the media. It continues when we speak out against the drastic policies being enacted. The dialog can’t end it can only change its focus.

Why just fight for our rights? Why not figure out new rights we haven’t had that we can champion for everyone?

Instead of merely reacting to what goes on. We can be proactive in helping each other. We can treat each other with dignity.

Responding to hate with hate solves nothing. To love bomb the haters is the solution.

I read somewhere that if America wanted to convert other nations to our democratic ideals we shouldn’t bomb them. We should drop TVs on them.

I doubt anyone who needs to read what I’m writing will chance upon this blog. Yet here goes for those of you aren’t loyal readers. Here goes too for the ones who tune in every week. Here goes for everyone:

See who a person is not who you think they are. Labeling other people and judging them and stereotyping them is not the way to go.

I’ve listed in here the names of the over 30 people cops killed as well as written about Kate Spade.

Having been bullied early in life and having a diagnosis I’m no stranger to being viewed as the Other.

Yet it seems that before a person meets me or you or someone else that person sees fit to judge us and stereotype us and label us with a name.

Those of us with this kind of psychic ability to figure out a person’s life story just by looking at them: should set up a table on Venice Beach telling fortunes.

This aim might not be accurate so then again that would be a lousy way to make money.

Only our elected officials are making hundreds of thousands of dollars by daring to judge the needs of ordinary Americans as subservient to corporate greed.

Our elected officials are daring to think that the lives of ordinary Americans–lost to poverty, disability, lack of education, imprisonment, etc.–aren’t worth saving.

Sadly, I have given up on our government as being an agent of change.

The latest measure I’ve heard coming from Mr. Toupee is to stop funding public libraries.

No kidding.

Bombs away? I think not.

Let’s band together to treat each other with the respect, dignity, and compassion that seems to be lacking in media editorials and congressional fiats.

This blog will always be a hate-free and stigma-free forum.