Tag: Hillary

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THANK YOU, SCOTT; LIBERAL SLACKTIVISM

Last night on Saturday Night Live, Lewis CK performed the following skit, called, “Thank you, Scott.”

The skit hit close to home for many liberals today, myself included. After the election, an election where the majority of Americans did NOT vote for Trump, many liberals were left dumbfounded. How did Trump get elected? Was it the “forgotten” men and women in rural central America that elected him and why did they feel “forgotten”? Was the Democratic party out of touch with America? Was social liberalism declining in the face of nationalism? —–Nope, not really. Those things may have been variables, but they were not reason enough for an electoral win. I believe the real reason Hillary lost is that liberals became complacent. We had a lovely 8 years with a President who was educated, intelligent, who understood social service and foreign policy and we thought the 8 years with Bush were long behind us. We never thought it possible that a schmuck like Trump could be elected…and then the unthinkable happened.

We had grown complacent. I mean after all, we had seen the acceptance of gay marriage, “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell” was repealed,  affordable healthcare for all, economic growth at an all time high and unemployment at an all time low (especially significant post Bush administration), Osama bin laden was killed, Sonya Sotomayer was confirmed to the Supreme Court and countless other accomplishments. All of these accomplished without the assistance and support of the Republican Congress, who bad-mouthed and fought Obama tooth and nail. For many of us liberals, the hatred towards Obama felt racist which only further divided us from our right-leaning friends. We lived through an era where SCIENCE WAS REAL, facts mattered, black lives mattered, police mattered, climate mattered—-so this, this $hit show we now find ourselves in was unimaginable and most of us would gladly welcome Bush back into office. Well, if it meant we could get rid of Trump.

The majority of Americans, including Trump, thought his Presidential bid would never amount to a win. Everyday on the campaign trail as Trump displayed his severe character flaws for all the world to see, we became more secure with the idea that this buffoon could never be elected. A pussy grabbing, misogynistic, racist, incompetent businessman, adulterer, and narcissistic liar could never be President. We were firm in our belief that no one was dumb enough to vote for this shyster.

—Boy were we, was I, wrong. I actually had champagne chilling election night. I went to work that day early to vote. I left my house high on emotions, wearing my pantsuit, screaming, “I am off to vote for the FIRST female President” to my family as I headed out the door. I was excited and could not wait to watch the results. That night I must have asked my husband a hundred times as we started watching the results roll in, “There is no way, right, no way he can win.” As the night wore on, it became obvious that many Americans did not feel the same way I did. I went to bed early, champagne undrunk, only to wake at 2:30 am to check my phone. I remember waking my husband saying, “She conceded, she conceded; it is over.” He moaned and cried out in frustration and then rolled over and went to sleep. I did not sleep.

I know my conservative “friends” joke about us snowflakes crying about how Trump won, but I am not ashamed to admit it. I cried, I sobbed. I honestly don’t know how I made it through work the next day. I just wanted to go home and drink that champagne and get bloto. I am in the service industry, I am a nurse and my career is based on helping and supporting others, but my actions felt superficial, mundane and surreal that day. I found solace on Pantsuit Nation on Facebook. I had only found that group a few days before the election and I wish I had found it sooner. The day of election the posts from Americans going off to vote with their children, mothers, grandmothers, families—-made me “happy cry”. I was moved to tears by the thought of our older generation being able to vote for the first female President. I kept thinking about how much this must have meant to them. The photos and posts were my therapy after the election. Living in a Republican strong-hold in Monmouth County, NJ, I felt like I had no one to talk to, other than my husband. My husband is a banker and identified as a soft Republican when I met him but twenty years together has changed this man. His perspectives have changed. He always jokes that I would have divorced him if he voted for George W. Bush but thankfully we never had to test his theory out. As his views broadened, his empathy and willingness to fight for others grew. The narrow paradigm he grew up in changed; we changed together. He switched his affiliation from Independent to Democrat to vote in the 2008 Democratic Primary, as did I. I was always registered as an Independent prior to 2008, even though my policies and beliefs lean far left, as a young adult and even now, I believed I would always vote for the best, most qualified applicant. I guess in this election I was hoping others felt that way too regardless of their political affiliation but alas the most qualified, experienced candidate did not win.

After the election, I got more vocal. I realized in my own complacency that I had not stood up for Hillary. Sure, I voted for her but I did not scream it from the roof top. I did not talk about why I supported her or why I thought she was the better candidate? I did not want to discuss with the crazy person or my father (love ya, Dad, but not your politics) that Hillary did nothing illegal and we did not have to worry about “locking her up”? I did not want to confront my ignorant friend who believes climate change is a hoax, or that person I went to high school with that posted offensive memes that included things like, “Trump that Bitch” or rants that made no logical sense? I did not want to debate anyone and in the same sense, I did not want to offend anyone. I kept quite about my politics. When did talking politics become rude?

It was not like after the election, “the gloves came off” and I was willing to bring everyone to the mats. I would like to believe the awakening was more organic and less retaliatory. I knew that becoming vocal was not going to change the outcome of the election, but I was not willing to stay silent anymore. Silence is why I think Trump was elected, silence and complacency.

After the election I warned my Facebook friends that I was going to speak my mind, I would call out injustices, I would share stories I felt relevant, I would call out Trump on his bad behavior but I also protested, marched in DC and started making phone calls and sending postcards to my congressional representatives and Trump. I got active but as I hold the mirror up to myself, as Lewis CK suggested in his skit, I could do more—and I will continue to #RESIST.

I am Scott but I am also a resister.

Mother of 3

Nurse

Colts Neck, NJ

 

Resource:

Watch S.N.L. and Louis C.K. Tear Into Meaningless Liberal Slacktivism, http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/04/snl-video-slacktivism-thank-you-steve-louis-ck

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#15 THINGS I HATE ABOUT TRUMP: TRUMP, NUNES, RUSSIAN SCANDAL

As the TrumpRussia story heats up day by day, Trump attempts to use his old game plays: doubling down on lies, declare it fake news, the blame game, and divert. More and more Americans have caught on to his offensive maneuvers and tricks and have grown weary of his attempts to MANipulate the situation and reality.

Remember when our President publicly accused our last President of illegally wiretapping him via a tweet…

Last week the $hit was starting to hit the fan on Trump’s lie which backfired on him BIG time in two ways:

  1. First, it drew further attention to how unhinged he is. More and more Americans are recognizing in Trump’s POST TRUTH era, pathological lies, ridiculous claims, and MANipulation of the public via tweets are the new norm. The WH tried to put a spin on the accusation. Spicy even said wiretapping was in quotes and suggested we should not take Trump literally or at his word…really? I think we are all coming to that conclusion on our own.
  2. After FBI director Comey’s testimony last week it became clear that Trump and his team have been under FEDERAL surveillance since last Summer. Yes, our President is caught up in a REAL Federal investigation involving RUSSIA.

Next thing we know, Nunes, head of the House Intelligence Committee is holding a press conference….yes, that alone was SUPER strange. Nunes claims that the TrumpRussia ties are coincidental and that Trump and his cronies just got caught up in a bigger investigation and Trump is innocent and better yet,  vindicated because now his claim of actually being wiretapped was true (OK, well, partially but I suggest Obama does not hold his breath for an apology cause’ I don’t think the Don is capable). Talk about a SPIN. If it were not for the fact that Russia interfered with our election and has possible strong ties to the Trump campaign and Presidency, I would almost be impressed with the calculated deception attempted here. Thank goodness for Adam Schiff whose grasp of logic and common sense seems to be in direct odds with the Trump administration. Schiff called Nunes out for his inappropriate behavior.

“But Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said that Nunes could not conduct a credible investigation in this manner.

“As to the substance of what the Chairman has alleged, if the information was lawfully gathered intelligence on foreign officials, that would mean that U.S. persons would not have been the subject of surveillance. In my conversation late this afternoon, the Chairman informed me that most of the names in the intercepted communications were in fact masked, but that he could still figure out the probable identity of the parties.” Schiff said in a statement (4).”

Today we learn that Trump’s administration has attempted to block Sally Yates, former Attorney General fired for not supporting Don the Cons immigration ban and now a leading American SheHero, from testifying in the House congressional investigation (1). The letters published by the Washington Post today shows the Trump administration claimed her testimony is inadmissible due to presidential communication privilege (1). No need to worry about that though, because Nunes cancelled the hearing where Yates and others were scheduled to speak. You can almost hear him saying, “Nothing to see here, folks.” —Yup, does not look suspicious at all.

Do you think Trump is afraid of what Yates has to say? I am thinking that is a great BIG, YES!

“Yates and another witness at the planned hearing, former CIA director John Brennan, had made clear to government officials by Thursday that their testimony to the committee probably would contradict some statements that White House officials had made…(1)”

Did I mention that Nunes cancelled the testimony only after Yates’ lawyer sent a response to the “presidential communication privilege” claim basically stating, that communication is no longer privileged because the WH has been talking about it publicly. Will this be another instance where the Trump administrations’ own words come back to haunt them (here is looking at you Stephen Miller, for whom we have to thank for the second “travel ban” being blocked. Miller went on FOX news and reassured the FOX FANATICS that the new plan was just as discriminatory as the original muslim ban, “fundamentally, you’re still going to have the same basic policy outcome”, giving the judge the ammunition needed to shut that ban down [2].)

Spicy Spicer, of course, denied any attempt to prevent Yates from speaking in a press conference. How does this man sleep at night? Day after day of lies on top of lies. I used to feel sorry for him, but now… is this job really worth selling your soul?

Democrat Adam Schiff is still publicly calling for a full independent investigation and wants Yates’ testimony to be included.  Schiff is another hero emerging in the TrumpRussia scandal. You would think Russian interference would be a bipartisan issue; however, Nunes is destroying the reputation the House Intelligence Committee has on being impartial, fair and just.

House Democrats called for Nunes to recuse himself yesterday from all TrumpRussia investigations, claiming he was not an impartial investigator and may be too far up Trump’s a$$. This request came after it was revealed that Nunes, prior to holding his press conference last week, met with a source IN THE WHITE HOUSE that provided him with “proof” that the TrumpRussia thing was all just a matter of coincidence (3). There are a few BIG problems with this:

    1. Why Nunes? What is his role, why is he ignoring his responsibility and obligation as the head of the House Intelligence Committee to protect Trump? What does he have to gain/lose?
    2. Nunes, party of one, decides that what he hears from his “anonymous source in the WH” is so convincing he holds a press conference and surprises EVERYONE except Trump and his administration–nothing fishy about that…
    3. An anonymous source at the WH and we are to believe it was NOT the TRUMP administration…come on, how dumb do you think the American people are?
    4. Let’s assume the information is just a silly coincidence—then why? Why, would you obstruct an investigation that could clear everything up.
    This morning Trump’s response to the growing TrumpRussian scandal; his call for an investigation into Russia….

Yup, Russia and Hillary–he also names Bill and Podesta. DIVERSION, folks. Don’t let this MANipulator fool you. The story is TrumpRussia and I want to hear all about it.

Please call your Congressional representatives and ask them to support an independent investigation into Russian interference in our election and the relationships between Russia and Trump’s campaign and administration.

You can find contact information for your House representatives HERE

 

Resources:

1 Trump administration sought to block Sally Yates from testifying to Congress on Russia, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-sought-to-block-sally-yates-from-testifying-to-congress-on-russia/2017/03/28/82b73e18-13b4-11e7-9e4f-09aa75d3ec57_story.html?utm_term=.aa402c68d325

2 Comments by Stephen Miller and Rudy Giuliani Cited in Judge’s Decision to Block Trump’s Travel Ban, http://time.com/4703232/trump-travel-ban-stephen-miller-rudy-giuliani/

3 House Democrats Ask Devin Nunes to Recuse Himself From Russia Inquiry, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/27/us/politics/devin-nunes-house-intelligence-committee-white-house-wiretap.html?_r=0

4 Key Republican Lawmaker Says Intelligence Was Collected on Members of Trump Transition, http://time.com/4709443/devin-nunes-trump-transition-intelligence/

 

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PIZZA GATE RE-EXPLORED

What do Alex Jones (FOX fanatic and propaganda pusher aka unhinged screamer), Mike Flynn (Trump’s ex-National Security Advisor, and Russia have in common? A pizza parlor and a ridiculous conspiracy theory.

Alex Jones and Fake News Site Info Wars (a conservative site used to push conspiracy theories and a favorite of Trumpsters along with FOX and Brietbart); please watch and try to imagine people believing this ridiculous garbage. Their emotions and tears are even more offensive knowing that they must really be acting. They push fake news and don’t expect them to fact check it. What was their reward? More followers? Accolades? Don’t for one second think this unhinged character has a heart since he also supports conspiracy theories that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax/not real  and 9/11 was an inside job:

Don’t know who Mike Flynn is? Well he was DT’s National Security Advisor. Yup, the same guy who coined “Lock Her Up” at the RNC convention last summer (the irony is thick here as his may be facing treason charges). He was also responsible for Pizzagate, a lovely little twitter/defamation of character/business slander/public safety issue, type of tweet.

Here’s Flynn’s tweet from Nov 2016, this is after FBI Director Comey’s interference and resurgence of Hillary email controversy (gosh, remember when people had their panties in a bunch about uninteresting emails) :

This tweet links to a blog post (that he used as a credible news source) from True Pundit with a catchy headline about “..New Hillary Emails: Money Laundering, Sex Crimes with Children, Child Exploitation, Pay to Play, Perjury”. Yup, it did not matter that it was not real or that it was just plain ridiculous—and don’t even get me started on the Hillary email scandal (while Trump continues to use his android phone, unsecured servers and post his rants and outright lies on his twitter account). The Pizza-gate issue was further complicated by the fact that a gunman did go into Comet Ping Pong Pizza, the site of the supposed child sex ring, in Washington, and opened fire claiming his actions were a result of a conspiracy theory he heard from watching Alex Jones.

Edgar M. Welch claimed that he heard the conspiracy theory from Jones, who made a calculated and what I consider insincere apology to the public for his lies and role in Pizza-Gate on Sunday, March 25th; perhaps to avoid being held culpable. Too late! Trumpsters cling to their conspiracy theories like a fly on fly paper. As of Sunday in a pro-Trump rally outside the US there were still some calling for an investigation into the Clinton child trafficking sex scandal, specifically looking to lock Hillary, Bill and John Podesta, Hillary’s campaign manager, up for their heinous fictitious crimes.

On a side note, Flynn’s son, his Chief of Staff, eventually lost his job–wait for it, because he tweeted after the event that there may be truth in the conspiracy theory. “Really, you can’t make this $*** up” is the common theme of this entire election and presidency.

What role does RUSSIA play? What do we know? Russia attempted to interfere with the US election. How and to what extent, well this is where the details available to the public become more sketchy. I hate to say it, but we are counting on you Comey, to bring some clarity to the issue. What most will agree on is:

  • Russia used botnets, teams of paid trolls and networks of websites and social media outlets to target Trump’s fanbase –alt right and fascist sites
  • Their goal was to “erode mainstream media” and get Trump elected
  • Conspiracy theories spread like wildfire in the alt-right world

What we do not know is:

  • What role did Trump play?
  • Did he or his campaign collude with Russia?
  • Did he or anyone in his campaign get paid for services for helping Russia?
  • How dirty is Manafort and Flynn (I am hoping to write more about this; I have a feeling more information will be released soon. Manafort agrees to testify in front of the House Intelligence Committee and Flynn seems to be under lock and key–so I am thinking these two men have something to say).

So who do we ultimately get to “thank” Pizza-gate and the other conspiracy theories for????  The people who made it up, the people who spread the propaganda, the ignorant who believed it?

Resources:

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#7 THINGS I HATE ABOUT TRUMP: THE DOUBLE STANDARD

 

During the campaign last year, a republican friend who was trying to justify her support of Trump explained that she could never vote for Hillary because of how she acted during Bill’s affair. I was a bit stunned and questioned her, “You can’t support Hillary because of how she acted over Bill’s affair? How she stood by him??” I was baffled. Yes, that is what she meant…I politely tried to point out:

 

  1. Don the Con had been married 3 times
  2. He had an extra marital affair with Marla when he was married to Ivana
  3. He was rumored to have numerous other affairs
  4. He talked about hitting on a married woman with Billy Bush on the viral video
  5. He talked about just kissing women, as if they can’t resist him (or his money)
  6. He talked about grabbing women by the pussy
  7. He is a misogynist
  8. He is a pig

I tried to point out that my friend was judging Hillary on the actions of her husband (this seemed to be a Yuuuuuuge problem for many Trumpsters; it was as if Bill was running and they could not judge Hillary as a independent candidate. No one seems to judge Trump on his wives’ actions). I tried to point out that not many women would have stood by their husband and since my friend was so conservative, how could she judge Hillary for staying with her husband. As you may have guessed, logic did not enter into the equation here.

The double standard really annoyed me. Hillary was the more experienced candidate, she was better qualified but she was a woman…

Resources:

A Look Back at Donald Trump’s Three Marriages, http://www.instyle.com/weddings/donald-trump-three-marriages-wives-photos

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#3 THINGS I HATE ABOUT TRUMP: CREEPY TRUMP

Day 3 Things I Hate About Trump – his creepy MANipulation stance during the October debate.

At the campaign debate on October 9, 2016 Trump loomed behind Hillary as she discussed the ACA. He stood behind her like a creepier and to women everywhere this was a classic MANipultaion move. He was showing his dominance. It was as if the world was watching animal planet. Look at his face and body language; this man is a misogynist a$$hole.

Mother of 3

Nurse

Colts Neck, NJ

Resources:

Trump looms behind Clinton at the debate, http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/09/politics/donald-trump-looming-hillary-clinton-presidential-debate/