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#damn Biden and may he burn in hell
jageshemashftw · 10 months
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I…. would love to vote third party. Oh, sweet Jesus in heaven, you guys have no idea how much I would love to vote third party.
But the Electoral College still exists.
And as long as the Electoral College still exists, in ANY campaign where Trump is running, I am very much in the ‘Vote Blue No Matter Who’ camp.
I want a Third Party president so much. But the Electoral College are the one’s in charge of who gets to be in the big chair, and they will never, ever, ever allow a Third Party president. It’s just not going to happen.
At least, at the very fucking least, if I keep voting Democrat, that allows for a bigger Democratic base to build up for the next election and the next election, which would in turn give the people who actually want to abolish the Electoral College a larger platform.
Democrats may not be for abolishing the Electoral College, but they at least don’t try to suppress voter advocacy for abolishment. Unlike Republicans who will do everything in their power to keep the Electoral College around for as long as possible.
I’m not happy about it. Matter of fact, I’m pretty damned pissed about it, and you can be damned sure that I am going to do everything in my power to make sure Congress knows how pissed I am. This ‘lesser of two evils’ bullshit will never go away unless we get the fuck rid of the Electoral College.
But, as of right now, that is a fight for another day.
I can’t do another four years of Trump. I can’t.
I can’t.
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the-firebird69 · 2 years
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There's a whole new deal going on and has to do with how our son's treated no, has to do with them having a plan and right now they're saying he's abused and angry and you people responsible and you won't stop so you think you're getting us by doing it and we seem to hear you thinking stupid s*** too and I do weird things too some of you and you think that you can get the AI by getting rid of yourselves stuff were hearing. I'm not going to cut him loose tomorrow and if you're talking about billing it's about the girls that do their job so I don't understand that he be in trouble if I would ask for it all I stopped asking for co-pays cuz of COVID. I thought it was appropriate that was my decision and I don't know why she called them like that and said those things it's kind of ridiculous I'm there I'm there just to tell you to go away and not ask for a copay and he says that's actually true like once I was three times or something that's true. And she didn't say anything about it when she verify the appointment. Sorta get something these people are full of s*** too. They actually were putting him in the mental hospital to extort us.
I want that to change I don't want him in the mental hospital he's not supposed to be mental how the hell is he was to figure anything out if he doesn't have a solid belief system I don't understand these people they're so damn dumb he's like you you're done you idiots
Mac
It's very truly they're sitting there extorting you by having us in here I know about you but I'm tired of this treatment
Big joe
I can't stand anymore the threatening us right now and see that's right now has to get to you Max problem is they're not stopping at any of us and you're hurting his clans to like the fruition almost to the last one and her grandfather saved her and then he's trying to save dee and find her. I don't know what to say what they're doing so bad. Jesus and Mary trying to rile them up as Giants it looks like they hit him within an emmitter somehow they get put back in time. I want these people gone should charged with murder all the time. I kinda get what's going on, I'm trying to figure out who that guy is the Gaga video he says it looks like two in common just because of the right leg and that's what it looks like when I look at all the rest of it the same carcass their face different and their head might be different looking, I looked at the head and I wondered what the hell that thing was on it it looks like a piece of metal I look closer and I looked in person with equipment they had to study it once the phone was so it looks like some kind of cloth is giggling because it ain't polyester event may have been sent back he's saying oh no that's what happened to Uncle Phil he has polyester pants.. is saying oh Chris be quiet it's probably uncle Biden. It says no how could it be I look like him just like the dalai lama it's all the one I look like and said oh no that's him it's the dalek I see this is horrible so what do you want to retarded in charge tell me if I see that
Preston
Man are you weird
Big joe
Yeah my trip like that little it's probably from me he says, so I'm trying to think things through and yeah it's me helping them and I think it's true but why is his head bulbous
Hera
I dunno
Zues
Then be quiet ok
Hera
Hmph
Zues
Haha don't hmph me ok
Hera
Ok.
Zues mb just skin lk an egg shell
Ok
Hera
No this is bound and it was bound with metal, to be bigger and odd shaped. They took it to thier video, it Cooks Trump and then they put him there for a picture you can see that the burn marks don't match and they covered it up that way and sent Jason to Biden circuitously
Thor Freya
Gross. They burn me. Then what. You said she was there your fooling around with vodka there's these weird openings and like A Nazi Germany they used to shoot people through them and or gas you. I suspected the crew is right there and people verify that you were surrounded by clones and I think women clones too.
And he said that it looks like it and it looks like they might burn my exterior little to make me unrecognizable and what is saying now is making me sick yeah it's better to do that I think those women are men and I might have been screwing around them and they put me in jail because the other women were taken by Tommy f put him in jail they did it on purpose
Trump
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beardedmrbean · 2 years
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After the U.S. government started the largest wildfire in New Mexico's recorded history in April, it is asking victims to share recovery costs on private land, jeopardizing relief efforts, according to residents and state officials.
The blaze was sparked by U.S. Forest Service (USFS) prescribed fires to reduce wildfire risk. The burns went out of control after a series of missteps, torching 432 residences and over 530 square miles (1373 square km) of mostly privately owned forests and meadows, much of it held by members of centuries-old Indo-Hispano ranching communities.
"Today I'm announcing the federal government's covering 100% of the cost," President Joe Biden said during a visit to New Mexico in June. Biden was announcing a disaster declaration that covered debris removal and emergency protective measures.
But federal cost-sharing statutes on other federal relief programs are limiting Biden's authority and exposing holes in the government safety net meant to help survivors and restore landscapes.
It is a system more Americans will turn to as extreme fires and flooding become the climate change norm.
"I DIDN'T CAUSE THIS DAMN FIRE"
Biden's measure was meant to bridge FEMA relief and a congressional bill that may pass in the fall to provide 100% federal compensation for losses from the so-called Hermit's Peak Calf Canyon fire.
Daniel Encinias was among survivors who met Biden and was told by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials he would get timely support at little or no cost.
He, his wife Lori, three teenage children, four dogs and eight cats are living in a camping trailer next to the ashes of their home in Tierra Monte, 35 miles northeast of Santa Fe.
Encinias submitted an application to the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/nm/newsroom/releases/?cid=NRCSEPRD1923027 to fix his well, but was told to share 25% of costs based on a federal statute that could not be waived as it did not fall under Biden's declaration.
Encinias said he was told by NRCS officials his application would be considered in September and recovery work would begin six to 12 months thereafter if he was accepted
So like many fire survivors in this low-income area who have no insurance, the rancher and retired electrician did the work himself.
"Why the hell am I going to pay anything when I didn't cause this damn fire?" said Encinias, 55, as he fed his cattle hay he was forced to buy after his baler was torched.
An official for the NRCS' local office in Las Vegas, New Mexico, where Encinias applied for support directed questions to the national office. Officials there did not respond to requests for comment.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
UNCERTAIN TIMELINE FOR RECOVERY RELIEF
Many fire-hit families cannot afford sharing at least 25% of costs on the USDA's Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP) https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Assets/USDA-FSA-Public/usdafiles/FactSheets/emergency_forest_restoration_program-fact_sheet.pdfwhich offers relief such as stabilization of burn areas prone to flash flooding, according to New Mexico State Forester Laura McCarthy. Residents sometimes own large areas of land passed down from 1800s Spanish-Mexican land grants while working blue-collar jobs.
"They're really struggling," said McCarthy.
That has left locals, state officials and federal agencies counting on cost shares to be dropped and passage of the congressional bill.
Democratic Representative Teresa Leger Fernandez sponsored the legislation which passed the House and will probably need help from Republicans in the Senate. The office of Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell did not immediately respond to a request for comment
Leger Fernandez is in talks with the USDA and White House on dropping cost shares and helped negotiate a waiver with the NRCS for flood mitigation work on private lands.
"The federal government burns your house down so they are responsible in my mind to pay 100% of the cost of rebuilding," said Leger Fernandez
Support cannot get to the 45-mile-long disaster https://www.yahoo.com/video/mountains-gone-grief-sacred-mexico-004919599.html area fast enough.
The blaze burned around 170 acres (68.8 hectares) of rancher Kenny Zamora's forest. His pastures in El Turquillo are covered with up to 2 feet of sludge after monsoon rains triggered debris flows on hillsides that no longer absorb water. The torrents have twice knocked down fences.
A retired employee of the USDA's Rural Development agency, Zamora applied for support from the USDA's Farms Service Agency (FSA) to feed his livestock.
The FSA office in Las Vegas told him he was not eligible. USDA officials told him the EFRP for the area has yet to be funded. He is paying for recovery work himself.
"If you don't have insurance you're pretty much on your own," said Zamora, 59, who like Encinias is considering joining a massive civil case that may be filed against the USFS.
The FSA Las Vegas office directed questions to State Executive Director Jonas Moya, who did not respond to a request for comment. The FSA's national office did not respond to requests for comment.
Climate change is worsening wildfires as ecosystems no longer have natural protections such as cooler nights to slow their spread. The destroyed landscapes are also less able to handle other disasters, such as floods https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_flood-after-fire_factsheet_nov20.pdf.
Two women and a man died after a flash flood swept through the burn scar northeast of Las Vegas on July 21.
In Tierra Monte, ash flows sent boulders tumbling below Encinias' trailer and drowned livestock.
FEMA has so far granted $4.2 million to 1,164 fire survivors, marking an average payout of $3,600. New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham on Thursday said FEMA granted her request to extend Biden's declaration to residents who have suffered damage from flooding and debris flows in wildfire burn scars.
For now, Encinias' family is getting by on a $37,000 maximum payout from FEMA for the loss of their 5-bedroom home. They also lost eight acres of forest, farm machinery and cars.
"I'm hoping that finally something works out where it helps the people," said Encinias.
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kainumbernine009 · 4 years
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I literally cannot do anything else until I get this out.
I’m... really not okay.
And when I say that, I’m not mentally unstable. I say that because I’m tired of waiting on empty promises, I’m tired of never having money in our account, I’m tired of living in a fucking city where half of the white people fucking worship the ground Trump walks on, and where most of the gay community has so much messy drama that it’s worse than middle school. And I went to a rough middle school.
I never talk about my past, because I don’t like to. It sucked. HARD. Being and only child in my family was nothing less than torture, especially as a closeted queer person. We grew up in the white Christian part of Nashville that dominated Music Row in the 90′s and early 2000′s. I played basketball with Alan Jackson’s daughter, and being around famous people was just no big deal. But, my parents decided to leave Nashville after my dad lost his job at TPAC, and we moved down south an hour to the town where the KKK got started (Pulaski, TN).
I had maybe two non-white people in my private Christian school growing up. I was never afraid of Black people, but my parents showed their racist asses quick when we moved there. The KKK has never left America, guys, no matter how many articles you read or studies you do. From 2005 to 2009 I saw a white town show its very worst to the Black community. I’ll never forget the first time I saw a march for “White Christians for Purity” the summer before Obama got elected. The disgust I felt inside was palpable. I had all kinds of friends in school, and I didn’t give TWO SHITS who they were or what they looked like... but I saw children my age, being brainwashed by their parents, that “white” is “right.”
Ever since then, I have been learning and growing about the issues of race. I remember my white classmates using the N word and getting away with it. I remember hearing about the principal at the high school punishing all the Black kids but not the white kids. I remember being invited to a church south of town that was a historically Black church, and how nice the ladies were to me for coming.
But I’ll never forget the racism that the religious groups promoted there, especially First Baptist Church and the 12 Tribes. I’ll never forget how FBC told me that my friend was going to Hell because she killed herself. I’ll never forget my mom telling me not to marry a Black man because of “impure genes.” I WILL NEVER FORGET THE INJUSTICES I SAW WHITE PEOPLE DOING TO BLACK PEOPLE THERE. NEVER.
And thank God, I have shaken the burden of religious guilt, but I still fight against this mentality. I live in a place that’s usually not even 10 minutes away from Trump-humping, sister-fucking, meth-addicted Confederate cunts in any direction. And we’re even closer to the rich white people who silently supported him, upset that their taxes would go up because of Biden.
And in the past four years since Trump got elected, I’ve gotten married, graduated college with honors, started my own photography business, and was making more than my husband there for a minute. I did my own taxes, marketing, editing, and everything. And then I came out as trans.
I lost everything.
I lost my studio. I lost friends. I had rumors started about me. I had people post hate messages on my wall. I had people at my drag shows tell others not to tip me, for whatever fucking reasons. I’ve had bosses give cis people jobs over me, and I’ve had government workers give me second looks when I hand them my license.
It. Fucking. Sucks. To. Live. Here. Like. This.
Oh yeah, did I mention I’m also a witch/medium? I’ve talked to dead people before and have told their relatives things I shouldn’t have known otherwise about their grandparents. Like, this information doesn’t even exist on Google. And I’m attuned to reiki. I’m always aware of what’s happening on at least SOME metaphysical level. This is a gift that I’ve had to go through life developing and learning about myself, with no one’s help but me.
I didn’t even know until I was an adult that I have autism and ADHD.
I’ve taken bullets from people who were about to kill themselves. I’ve yelled at 5th grade music classrooms for doing racist dance moves and appropriating Native Americans (I have a degree in Music Education K-12). I’ve consoled kids in classrooms who suddenly have panic attacks. AND I’ve told horny teenagers to stay in their fucking lane and respect the girls around them. I’ve apparently been an inspiration to those around me, but inspiration NOR exposure pays the bills. I’ve already had COVID, and so has my husband, but I knew that after graduating college that I would never have a fulfilling life being a music teacher in Tennessee’s public schools.
And now that we have COVID, and an orange, small-dicked, pedophilic, rape apologizing, dirty, crusty white president who STILL REFUSES TO CONCEDE, who is DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR HAVING HIS FOLLOWERS SEND DEATH THREATS TO MY FAMILY, I really don’t know what the fuck else to do other than go burn down all the houses I know of in North Georgia that belong to these Christian sex cult pedophiles and call it a day. My girlfriend unfortunately was born into one of those families, and I know just how bad it can get. In fact, her dad’s lawyer threatened me with blackmail earlier in November, so that was fun!
And now, on December 11, 2020, I’m still sitting here in the same fucking house, doing the same fucking things I’ve been doing all year - trying to get a job and failing horribly. I’M SICK AND TIRED OF THIS COVID BULLSHIT AND OUR INCOMPOTENT CUNT OF A PRESIDENT! And there’s only ever one other person I’ve ever called a cunt... my own mother.
I’ve lived in many places. I’ve met many different people. I’ve made mistakes, and have grown, but there’s one thing for damn sure that I always make sure to do, every single fucking day.
I ALWAYS try to do better.
In addition to this, I treat everyone with the same amount of respect, unless they have done something directly to me to negate that. If I know that someone believes in something that directly harms me or my family, I don’t even associate with them. I don’t spend my energy on things that don’t need it. And everyone else should, too.
The problem with some of y’all is that you care about the wrong things. Like will Becky text me back or did I get front row seats to that concert, or did I slave my life away to capitalism just so that I can own a Mercedes and have my friends jealous. I’ve had way too many dear death experiences to know that EVERY single fucking day is a gift. EVERY day.
I don’t want to be remembered first for the art I create. I want to be remembered for my character. I want to be remembered as the courageous person who never backed down in the face of adversity. But when you live in a place that already hates you and that is against you, that’s really fucking hard. Trust me. My marriage went from a cis straight passing couple to a white gay passing couple. I’ve seen how people’s attitudes changed around me as I transitioned. I know what it feels like to slowly lose a piece of your privilege you were born with.
So yeah, I kinda get a little fucking upset when I see people saying All Lives Matter, or when I see doctors refusing to treat trans patients in pandemics, or when I see cops YET AGAIN harassing Black people only a few blocks away from my house for no other reason than racism. And at this point, anyone who thinks they know me but only knows what people think they know about me can suck my entire ass and eat ten dicks. I don’t give a FUCK about who you are or what you’ve done. If you treat me or other people with no respect for no reason other than to be an asshole, you’re just plain shit. If you SERIOUSLY believe every little rumor and lie that someone tells about me before meeting me, fuck you AND the horse you rode in on.
What I can’t stand is people doing or saying things just to get a rise out of me or others. I thought we left petty shit in high school. Some of the people that “know” me really need to fucking grow up and grow a pair and either say what they want to my face, or stay mad. I’m tired of playing fucking petty games with y’all. We have a whole ass pandemic to solve.
So here’s the ultimatum... if you agree that Black Lives Matter and that queer people deserve basic human rights, EVEN THE ONES YOU HATE, then that’s the bare minimum to even be a decent person. If you can’t even do those things, then I don’t fucking know what else to say to you.
So NBC, maybe not have John Mulaney joke about my license debacle with my gold van on SNL, and Seth Meyers... maybe HIRE ME INSTEAD of Mulaney because clearly y’all don’t know about the south as much as I do? Oh, and that gazeebo joke with Lee University... I caught that. I may have autism, but I’m not a fucking idiot. I mean. I’m funny when I’m given the chance. And yeah, I’m on a watchlist, but who the fuck isn’t these days? At least all my secrets are out for the world to see, and I have a bangin’ tattoo.
I’m tired of everyone being like “omg, I’ve seen what he can do, it’s fantastic!” or “omg you’re so funny haha” and bragging on me and then NOT FUCKING HIRING ME. I’m TIRED of waiting on something that’s clearly at this point never coming.
I don’t even have testicles, and my balls are bigger than most of the cis men I have EVER met.
So, if you want to help me, or hire me, or get me out to an audition... I’ll be there. But until then, I’m so fucking MAD at some of these producers. Yeah, my mom is a cunt, but she worked in various forms of digital production from the 1980′s until she retired this year. She taught me SO MUCH about directing, writing, shooting, and more. I know how these things are supposed to run behind the scenes. I know what the fuck I’m doing, and I don’t take constructive criticism like a bitch. I actually WANT to be criticized, so I can do even better.
So PLEASE, for the love of Christ... y’all need to get your priorities together AND PLEASE STOP LEAVING ME OUT OF THE LOOP WITH THIS BULLSHIT. Grow a fucking pair and either call me, email me, or leave me alone. It’s really not that fucking hard. Looking at you, Lorne Michaels.
Oh and someone tell my husband what the fuck’s been going on because I’m tired of him gaslighting me about it.
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Catatonic
Well, surely, there are more important things to write about. OK?
I mean, we are living in the time of COVID. There’s a presidential election about to take place in my home country. There’s a US baseball world series (Go Dodgers!)… there’s civil unrest, Black Lives Matter, there’s starvation... and of course, there’s this...
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Look. Let me begin by saying that Cats are not front page news. For the record, I don’t even own a cat.  But my neighbour’s cat, DAHLI seems to prefer life at the Hollywood Blonde estate (ok, cottage) -and she spends most of her time, here….vying  for my affection. She’s adorable. Nothing wrong with that.
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She visits daily. For most of the day. Maybe it’s because the Hollywood Blonde at Large kitchen is always serving up mouthwatering delights and she follows the intoxicating aromas that waft through my open garden door.
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Or perhaps she just hates her owners. 
OK, OK, I hate her owners. They look angry. They don’t say good morning. They play the worst music on the planet.  They make fires. They are always burning their rubbish. What IS that? And more importantly, they are constantly emptying heavy, stinky items into their ginormous wheelie bin outside …in the middle of the night. We hear pounding thuds… and we are convinced that they are heaving dead bodies into the bin - ones that they have somehow carved up during the wee hours. Passers by, mailmen, delivery guys... who knows.
We also think Dahli is on to them …and appears at our door because it smells a helluva lot better in here.
Dahli wears a red collar that reads “please don’t feed me.” 
C’mon, now, you know you can’t say that to a Jewish mother… 
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“DAHLInk! Eat, Bubbalach! You’re too thin! You’re falling out of that coat!!” 
And Dahli is actually Little Shops of Horror’s Audrey reincarnated …she wants me to feed her alllllll night long.
She enters the house with that desperate, wide-eyed, ‘feed the children’ look…“PUHLEEEEEEZE, it only costs a dollar a day to save these precious little lives…!”
There are cats starving in Biafra. How can I ignore such a look?
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So I feed her a lil’ gefilte fish. Then, maybe a lil’ lox, some seaweed snacks… 
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I brush her so she doesn’t leave her farcarcta hair all over the place, thank you.   I make soft, squishy little places for her to nap and I pet her up the wazzoo (no, not literally…that’s just gross)
… She has a constant need for “the hand…” She will jump up just to be “under my hand” so that IT can pet her. 
The hand is separate from me. It could be mine. But it doesn’t have to be.      The hand has a purpose. It is to serve Dahli. She focuses on my hand like it has a life of its own. She follows it with her gaze. She contemplates it.  The hand is EVERYTHING. Simply put, she worships the hand.   
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“I just need the hand, Gimme the hand… Under Her Hand…”
She also talks to me. We have deep conversations. Usually about what I’m cooking.  think she may speak yiddish because I don’t understand most of the words. But I know the look. And she sure knows guilt. Huh! she’s Jewish!
Dahli often lies down next to me in the studio when I’m recording animation. She must like that quiet lull of crazy children’s character voices...
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Dahli also likes to meditate by the Buddha in my garden. She poses in front of him every morning in her “downward cat” position -stretching out every limb in homage while she listens to the wind chimes in the tree above -and focuses her gaze every now and then on one of a variety of birds that flock to my little garden sanctuary.  Aaaaaaah, so peaceful.
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 Such a gentle creature she is. Such an affectionate little lover of people, nature and stone statues. 
Peace in the garden. Such enchanting quiet in the Shires, among the sheep, the cows, the goats, the early morning bird chorus, the church chimes, and yet- this morning, just as the sun was on the rise, ... wait for it...
I awoke to the most insane screaming I have ever heard...right outside my window. It sounded like a cat fight.. Ooooh! maybe the two weird women next door :-)   Popcorn ready!
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Maybe one of them chopped up the other one’s lover!!
OK, maybe not. Perhaps it was a real cat fight since there are plenty of cats in our little Shires neighbourhood. Yet, I could see nothing when I looked out my window. So, down the stairs I go to open the front door. 
In a flash, Dahli races in with some poor forshimmelled bird hanging upside down out of her mouth. Dahli is carrying on like a happy madwoman as she parades it in front of me… the poor little bird looks like Francis Farmer after her electro shock therapy. 
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This may have been the point when I passed out.
From what I understand -what happened next was Terry, my husband, went chasing Dahli around the lounge until he released the manic bird from her mouth and sent her flying outside…. Where… she crashed into the fence and landed on the ground flailing - - just in time for Dahli to capture her once again.
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The next thing I remember -Dahli was standing at our sliding glass door, screaming at me - yet again -- with the helpless bird hanging out of her mouth… She was begging to be noticed and perhaps even applauded. She clawed at the window, she gave me the million dollar guilt look. “Open the damn door!”
“Hey! Hollywood Blonde!  PSSST! Over here! Look!!! Look what I’ve got!  See this farcarcta bird? I killed her for you!!!”
“No, no, no, this is just soooo wrong!” I yelled at her- (through the glass of course.)  “You killed a helpless bird, LADY! What the hell are you thinking?”
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Desperate, I asked my cat-whisperer pal, Vinnie, across the pond, “what do I do now? She brought me a dead bird???!” 
He told me to preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
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Bata boom. 
She has been pleading to come inside all day and I’m pissed. Suddenly, she does not understand the Yiddish expressions I’m throwing out at her.
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I’m more than pissed. I’m horrified. I’m nauseated. I try not to but I’m extremely judgmental of her behaviour.  My friend says  “this means she loves you!’ And… “what an honour! She is sharing with you!”
And I’m thinking, “Lady, you love me so you kill for me?”   We’ve watched those episodes on the telly ... ya know like “Snapped” and “Couples Who Kill.”  
"Kitty Assassins....”
She loves me -and so she has to kill for me.  I ponder this for a moment. 
How can I possibly apply this to my life?
Hmmm, do I  knock off Trump for the sake of mankind?  
Out of love, of course.
Don’t answer that.
If I showed up at a Biden rally with my Trump trophy hanging upside down out of my mouth, might I be fed, petted, admired?
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 Don’t answer that either.
I just don’t understand how a being so beautiful, so extraordinary, mysterious, soft, cuddly and majestic can turn into a killer overnight?
Clearly I grew up in the city. I know nothing about animal behaviour.  Unless of course you ask me about my exes…  
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Can we tawk?
Hollywood life had not properly prepared me for the likes of this. I had an indoor cat called “Stevens.”  I liked to say, this is my Cat, “Stevens.”
LA cool cat, ya know. She spent her days working on her tan - lazing on the carpet in the sun that streamed in through my patio doors. She ate my left over sushi and munched on seaweed. She had regular manicures and pedicures. She wore a bandana. She never went out. Hey, nobody walks in LA… She didn’t chase dogs or birds. But she liked to watch them on the telly.
Aah, those were innocent times. 
Life in the country sure is different. I’m afraid to think of what Dahli might bring me next?
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Hmmm, maybe I can entice her to bring me ...“45…?” 
Remember, they have a giant wheelie bin next door… 
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Hollywood Blonde at Large signing off. 
Who’s catatonic?
And thank you, Leslie, for forshimmelled...
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missrosienorris · 5 years
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Everything and everyone sucks
CW: depression, the fash, leftist despair, enbyphobia
Yeah, I’m still here, even though it’s been over a year since I posted anything. The reason for that is that I am severely depressed, like really bad, and I’m losing hope that there will ever be a time when I won’t be depressed. It’s not easy to be hopeful when it’s been 10+ years and you’re just not snapping out of it despite doing both therapy and meds. It’s just an extremely dark place to be in.
I have several theories as to why my depression appears to be incurable, and the truth is probably a mix of all of them and perhaps something else that I haven’t thought of yet. I believe part of it is genetic, as my parents (my mom in particular) have both suffered from decades of depression as well, so thanks for those shit genes you dickheads. They also never sought help for their issues and never taught me how to deal with negative emotions appropriately, so nurture is likely a big part of why I can’t cope as well. A third issue is that my temperament is just fucking crap, I’m sensitive like a mushy potato, everything scares me and I have an extremely short fuse. A fourth is that I am utterly confused and dysphoric about my gender and my sexuality, I just have no fucking idea who I am or what I want in that regard and it’s just a big ol’ mess. And then there’s the fifth thing, which is the one I would like to discuss today: partially, I’m depressed because so much about the world just genuinely sucks.
Looking at the world right now is fucking heartbreaking for a bleeding heart leftie like myself. Capitalism (and no, I don’t mean crony capitalism or late stage capitalism, I mean the entire economic system and I’ll fight you to the death on that) has brought us to a point where money always matters more than people, large corporations can do whatever they want and parts of the world are literally on fire, and instead of tackling these issues we have fascists plopping up everywhere and making everything so much worse by blaming all our white people problems on the brown people from countries that we ourselves fucked up for (what else) monetary gain. It’s just messed up beyond belief. I’m not even going to get into Trump, let’s just say that if I was religious or spiritual in any sense I would take him as a sign that the world is ending. He, and the fact that he won’t be impeached because republicans have no morals and no spines, is a perfect symbol for how utterly we’ve failed as a species. I may not live in the US, but damn you fuckheads are dragging us all to hell in a hand basket. (Note: by “you fuckheads”, I’m not referring to sensible Americans, just Trumpers, Republicans and those who think that Joe Biden is an acceptable presidential candidate. You need Sanders. The others are trash.)
Then again, the left fucking sucks too. NOT AS BAD AS THE RIGHT, so don’t get any ideas about my political allegiances here, but hot damn we suck. The world is burning around us, and we’re way too focused on our own in-fighting to get anything meaningful done. And I’m not going to be cute about it, of course I’m talking about Contrapoints since that’s what we’ve currently chosen to focus on instead of, idk, the bush fires that are burning up half of Australia or the impending Iran war or the fact that people still think Joe Biden is an acceptable presidential candidate. And now I’m doing it too, because I suck as well, but also because I think it highlights a bigger issue that we definitely have on the left. Call it cancel culture or wokescolding or purity testing or gatekeeping or whatever you feel like, I’m not really here to argue semantics. I just find that we suffer from a lack of nuance and, what is worse, a lack of basic human empathy in certain situations, and it’s extremely off putting to me.
So, Contrapoints did a bad. She had Buck Angel in a video and tweeted some shit about enbies that wasn’t great (full disclosure though, to my personal sensibilities the tweets weren’t all that offensive, but your mileage may vary and I’m not here to police what you’re allowed to be offended by). As someone whose gender is, as I stated above, a mess, and is certainly somewhere on the enby spectrum, I think being hurt by this behaviour is understandable and acceptable, as is criticizing her for it. But that ain’t what happened is it. What happened was straight up harassment no matter how you slice it. A short association with a problematic person and a couple of problematic tweets are just not grounds for driving someone back into alcoholism and hounding their friends to denounce them entirely, that shit is ridiculous and anyone who participated in that should be ashamed of themselves. If you don’t want to support her anymore because of her actions, that’s fine. I, for example, don’t support Vaush because to me, he’s just another white guy who’s way too enamored with himself to recognize his privileges and he’s way too cool with slurs and other questionable shit like telling people to kill themselves. So I don’t like him and I avoid him. I suggest you do the same with Natalie if you can’t phrase your criticism like a grownup. Call that tone policing if you want, I think there is a difference to be made between tone policing and not condoning outright harassment. And above all, the world is burning. I wish we could focus more on that than the fact that Contrapoints did a dumb.
See, the right don’t have this issue. Partially, this is to be expected since the right doesn’t really give a rat’s ass about human rights anyway, so why would they take offense with one of their own saying some crap. The left is better at holding our own accountable, which is not a bad thing UNLESS we do it like this. We’re no match for the right if we keep eating each other. Now obviously your mileage may vary on what you find acceptable, but could we at least agree that harassment is bad and save our punches for the Nazis? No? Ok. We’re doomed anyway, so why even bother anymore. We’ve already lost.
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docsamurai · 5 years
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Where I say something nice about the Democratic candidates.
I know my last few posts about politics have been furious and relentlessly negative, so I'm going to try and say at least one nice thing about each person who was running for president, past and present. Keep in mind I'm not going to mention bad things about these people, so yeah I know that guy supported awful things or that other guy has utterly toxic followers. That's not what this is about.
My feelings about Liz are well known so I'll just cry about the fact that we lost yet another absurdly talented female candidate, and one who had the power to fucking atomize a billionaire from 30 feet with only her death glare.
I'll actually start though with the people still in the race.
Bernie Sanders: Dude is a progressive powerhouse and has been consistently on the right side of history for decades. He's got energy, he's got plans, he's got a passionate following of young people who, if their candidate actually wins will almost assuredly lead the charge in a new progressive wave in politics. And I'm sure that many of them will be passionate enough to support progressive candidates and fight for real change even when their guy isn't on the ballot.
Joe Biden: This guy is a charisma powerhouse, and honestly even if he himself may be more moderate, with as charged up as the democratic voters are right now we could practically hand him a gift wrapped congress. It frankly doesn't matter that much if he's moderate if Congress keeps sending him progressive legislation to sign. Do you think he wouldn't jump at the chance to do M4A or climate change initiatives or even a green new deal if we just put a stack of paper on his desk to sign? He'd get to go down in history as one of the greatest presidents ever without having to do any of the hard work. And even if we can't take Congress for him, he *is* actually charismatic enough to negotiate deals across the aisle. I'll frankly take a small amount of progress over literally burning the planet down.
Tulsi Gabbard: Forgot she was still in this didn't you? Well that's the nice thing I'm saying, she's tenacious. If we can just get her to fight for the right things then she can be a real asset...
Alright now the people who have dropped out.
Pete Buttigieg: it's not nothing for someone to be openly gay and to have gotten as far as he did in American politics. Like yeah, he wasn't the guy to win but for a long time he was a frontrunner and whether you agree with him or not, every bit of representation matters.
Michael Bloomberg: (yes I'm going to say something nice about Bloomberg). Disregard his policies and track record for a moment. Also ignore the disastrous consequences of what it would have meant to allow someone to effectively buy the nomination of a major political party. If he *had* secured the nomination this guy had literally billions of his own personal wealth to throw at down ballot races. If he were president he would have wanted a cooperative Congress and he would have thrown as much money as he could at making that a reality. And while that probably wouldn't have addressed some very important issues, he probably would have at least addressed climate change which any reasonable person will agree is an existential threat to all mankind.
Amy Klobuchar: She was basically Hillary but with fewer scandals and meaner. And honestly the meaner part is kinda important in modern politics. We need someone who can basically turn Senate Republicans into scolded children on a daily basis.
Tom Steyer: He's been taking out ad space to tell us to impeach and remove Trump since January of 2017. Yeah, he's another billionaire but he's the only one I've heard openly talking about how billionaires need to be taxed more.
Andrew Yang: Yeah another billionaire but he got us to have a national conversation about UBI and that's not nothing. Plus I'll admit that he was pretty fun in a genuine way.
Corey Booker: look there's a reason a lot of people were talking about him back in 2018 like he was the next Obama. Smart, charismatic, well versed in policy and procedure but willing to break the rules when the rules were blatantly unfair. Also as a side note could you imagine First Lady Rosario Dawson? Could you imagine a White House wedding?! Between brilliant, talented, hilarious, literal film and theater star Rosario Dawson and President Corey Booker? It would be an event filled with actual class and glamor happening in Washington DC that would have nothing to do with politics that would rival a royal wedding for sheer opulence and spectacle.
Julian Castro: he endorsed Warren so he's automatically getting points for me, he was fairly progressive in his own right and as someone with a Latinx heritage it's pretty damn likely that we could at least start to undo some of the damage of the last few years.
Marianne Williamson: Not gonna lie, I'd be mildly terrified of what her presidency would actually look like, but you have to admit that seeing her campaign against Trump in the general would have been absurd and hilarious. Plus, let's face it she *would* hold cleansing rituals to purge the White House of evil and who knows, it might work.
Deval Patrick, Rob Delaney & Michael Bennett: I'm lumping them in together because I have the same thing to say about all 3 of them. They're boring without standout policy proposals. Remember back when we had boring presidents? No you don't because even the most boring President we've had in a generation (Carter) was still going out and building homes for Habitat for Humanity at the age of 90. But I'm just saying, if we get some bland, inoffensive white guy in office it's not the worst thing in the world so long as we can shift Congress to a more progressive stance.
So yeah. That's the takeaway from this. It's ok to be disappointed that your candidate didn't win. It's ok to not be enthusiastic about the choices you're left with. What it's not ok to do is to refuse to vote. We are literally up against a fascist regime who is hell bent on kicking everyone out of the government who doesn't agree with them and removing voting rights altogether.
In 2016 we underestimated how dangerous his administration would be and how many people in America would be fine with a failed Reality Show Dictator in office. Think of all the things he's been able to do in the last 3 years alone and realize that he keeps "joking" about running for a third term.
Put a stop to this. Now. Vote in your primary for your preferred candidate and then regardless of who wins, vote a straight Democratic ticket in November. We won't get another chance at this.
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dog-day-morning · 3 years
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WHAT THE HELL YOU SAY?? If you ascribe to the Lord's precept upon the precept's way of interpreting scripture livelihood you can conquer that 3 headed demon. 1 John 2:16 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. Not too many of us have overcome these stalagmite sized thorn's so it gives reason to say that no one has truly overcome the world except those who've made it to the Kingdome. You gotta die in order to live. That's what they've been telling us since they enslaved us while they lived off of the fat of the lamb right here on Earth. It doesn't pain me to witness learned men of the Bible speak improbable things that aren't in accordance with the calling to be entrusted as a shepherd. Esau has found it upon himself to place his doctrine before God’s word. When your spiritual leaders become lovers of money it doesn't bode well for the parishioners of your Church that looks more like a cult whom Reverend No Good is playing with their financial contributions like it was 3 card monte every Sunday. I've not been corrupted with wealth by way of Mammon which has corrupted many in the Black clergy that in due time will make some believe they're God. That's cray cray. The Evangelical Rights vision of an all white Christian, Denomination Nation is being subjected to the scrutiny of every Black man who historically followed the teachings of their overseers. The people who have misled, and hated us no longer have a cover for their miscalculated deception to fall back on. In the eyes of God it was good for men to be revealed for their love of things that are temporal which have no worth, or meaningful value in the order of things. If the Kingdome has streets paved with gold, and we walk on them with our feet, what meaning taken from this premise that God has spelled out for Israel, and the gentile can you determine? 1 John 4:1-6 4 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. The Spirit of Truth isn't what or who you believe it to be. God uses men to speak to His lost people yea though this Prophet’s in need of psychotherapy. I bear the burden of Israel's hatred, and frustration towards the God of Israel assuredly. But you as well as I must stand before the Lord God on the Day of Judgment to see if heaven will become our new address? This Nation has hated God's people much longer than the date of my birth, way before the mystery of God was revealed 3-4 generations ago in this day and time. The people of Edom have been trying to eliminate God's people off the Earth for the past 3 thousand years without actually thinking to themselves how can they maintain this planet without God behind this for we are not His people? Does the colloquial term biting off your nose to spite your face mean anything to you? If so, apply it right here. They’ve tried to destroy God's people, and they’re not wholly convinced that a man of questionable intelligence who's a case for Milledgeville; “Beyond the Tuskegee Experiment,” is the one chosen for such a hefty task? Have you seen pix of 45 walking through the white House with feces dripping from his Depends as though that crap was normal? I rest my case. I've questioned everything under the sun. The answer always goes
back to the Father. Esau, and his children have destroyed more Civilizations than they've built PERIOD!!! The Egyptians, and the Sumerians gave you astronomy, math, and languages, you still can't figure out how the Egyptians constructed the Pyramids of Giza. My God's people (Indigenous Blacks) invented the cotton gin which was a blessing to us in building, and establishing this global economy for your people. We invented the automobile, the telephone, the major component for the illuminating light bulb, the modern computer, including the internet. We invented the first Central Air and Heating unit. You stole everything from us, and after these brilliant men, and women passed, you kept all rights, and patents to their ingenuity, even if some of them were slaves this should've stayed in their family as generational wealth, and you refuse to even make us an offer of reparations which would be a slap in our face. trump did succeed in his greatest accomplishment. The destruction of Western Civilization as we all know it. I pity you not. Jeremiah 14:14 14 Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart. 1 Timothy 6:17-19 17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; 18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; 19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. You had Evangelical pastors losing it over the presidential election of 2020 who went out on a limb for a man whose broken all ten of the Ten Commandments including murder. Whattup Jeffrey Epstein?!! They openly supported an orange hobbit who brought down the house of Esau with their support. Paula white beat her hands so hard that night calling on the god of aboo daboo to bring the fallen angels from Africa on Mount Hermon to fight the battle to prolong WS; WTF?!! I saw a bevy of false prophets ministering in the name of white Jesus who lied saying God spoke to them in a dream Himself personally, declaring that trump would serve a 2nd term, and sit in the oval office again with his cronies while Rome finished burning to the ground. Biden who's just as racist as Bull Connor, but for the sake of political correctness we’ll call him a left wing, conservative moderate. Add it all up, and these people are gonna hate us forever. Yeshua is coming back for Israel; let us get that point across. You will have some of those who will cleave unto the house of Judah that's Israel who will enter New Jerusalem. But, this doesn't bode well for the majority of Edom or Israel. Only a remnant of the remnant shall enter into His glory that is Israel. All of those people who look like us, you know, they're our skinfolk, but they wouldn't accept an invitation to a family reunion unless the Grand Dragon of the kkk showed up dripping with the blood of twelve Black servicemen after your first cousin who's about 6 feet 2 damn B i i i i i G beat him to within an ounce of Jack Daniels proving that a retarded 9yr old with a degree in I hate Bubba can do all things through my doctor who prescribes me 200 grams of Crack. The high profile, low down political pundits, and elected officials who sell us out when the opportunity presents itself, are not Israel. These are the people who are getting paid filthy lucre to walk confederate with those that seek our blood. Some people have trouble sleeping because their job calls for them to prosecute their people unfairly as District Attorney’s. You have a conundrum to deal with, call on Maaco. You can be as Daniel Cameron desires, hoping to become what Kamala Harris has become with even higher aspirations or walk away from your white bread world, and your white zaddy, saving your soul in the process. Believe it or
not God gave me a conscience that's why He has told me to GET OUT!!! Or else. For those who heed these words which are straight interpretations from the Bible, walking with God beats running with the devil of which the remnant will see a reward. Isaiah 28:5 5 In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people. If Yeshua wasn't full of grace and mercy, willing to sacrifice Himself for a greater reward that is His Father’s inheritance; the Jew, and the other gentiles would suffer more so had He not been ransom for Israel, and their souls. As I mentioned, Esau, and Jacob are forever at odds. Jacob's not the problem. God has seen fit for some of Esau who are not of Edom, but walk in line with the Fathers people that will enter into His good graces along with Jacob who's the beginning, Esau’s the end. 2 Esdras 6:9 9 Now Esau is the end of this age, and Jacob is the beginning of the age that follows. If the minority who are the people of the caucasus mountains cant get along with this amount of Black people on Earth today, you're not Kingdome ready. Jacob's future is bright, and the angels in heaven are Dark Black. Balsamic Black. You must question yourselves, and be truthful. do you believe you're of the chosen elect? Forget I even asked. Romans 11:1-5 11 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying, 3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. 4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. 5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Life's cruelties has taught me not to trust anyone, almost giving up on humanity save the Son of man who is my Savior, and even He has led me into stony, dry places because of my hardened heart that cannot keep thoughts to itself or maintain a compassionate level of human kindness. If this were 1961, and God chose someone with a sane mind he would've been dead before they blew out the 13th candle on his birthday cake. That's the psychosis of Edomites. The remnant doesn’t consist of Israel only, they happen to be the major portion. God will bless those who pass the test that is Tribulation with a robe of white, and a diadem of gold. Don't expect your favorite tele evangelical pastor who supported trump to walk into the Kingdome unless he has an epiphany of the truth that is Yeshua. Many men of Jacob will teach you whereas you've taught us about our history while revising its truth, and reinventing yourselves based on your fallacies which denigrates you because it's based on our legacy, and heritage. Everything we've done here on Earth is chronicled in the heavens, with no stone left unturned. To the detriment of a baseless people who seek to exalt themselves over God's truths this is what the truth has boiled down to. It ain't in ya. Yet some of the gentiles will enter the Kingdome of heaven without ever having to face abuse, persecution, death, pain, fear, or sickness and disease ever again. When God told Abraham that all nations and families of the Earth would be blessed through his loins this was one of the blessings in the case of the gentiles he made conclusive because Abraham was faithful though Sarah's womb was barren, and he had not the strength to conceive a child in his old age, so he thought. Romans 11:21-26 21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God
is able to graft them in again. 24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into
their own olive tree? 25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. The comforters in need of some Alka-Seltzer or Maalox. If you heed the teachings of Jesse Duplantis who teaches a Christian doctrine, that's a man made religion, based on a Hebrew Bible about Israelite people that the world refuses to acknowledge we are God's people not the squatters over in the Middle East which geographically is another fabrication like the size of Alkebulan that dwarfs all other land masses. Ain't nothing changed. Pat Robertson, Joyce Meyer, Rick Warren, Franklin Graham who supports Africa, and its people who are in need, yet is a staunch supporter of trump, and his all but dead lawless administration that's brought about the collapse of the Western hierarchy; makes him look schizophrenic. He could have a stake in the Motherland, and he's watching after his, our investment you tell me, but something's not adding up. I have an Apostle who I trust to a degree more so than members of my natural family which isn't a good look for Gomez, and the rest of the Adams Family. Israel is a forgiving people, because God is in them. I didn't include myself for reasons you'll find out by this time tomorrow as soon as I find the reasoning behind this façade of illusive illusions the world's trying to catch, and I'm trying to outrun called reality. Chase me down with a bag full of Bacon Cheeseburgers, and blow me a kiss before I eat from Frechelle’s goody bag. This is where I leave my computer. My senility is showing, and it looks like the ugliest dog in the pound entered in the Ms. America contest. Good morning. 10/1/2021
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jewrocker · 4 years
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Biden’s “Impossible Dream”
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Along with the other eighty-million Americans with an IQ over five, I too am doing backflips at the prospect we’re just weeks away from flushing this unprecedentedly corrupt and incomprehensibly cruel administration into the cesspool of infamy where they belong.  However, as ecstatic as I am at the thought of an actual human being once again occupying the Oval Office, one must still be realistic as to what to expect going forward.  Sadly, it seems, to the contrary of our president-elect.
President Biden’s statement that he intends to be a president ‘...to all Americans’, while admirable and more than a welcome change from the incoherent ramblings of the Mad King, seems to be more than a bit out of touch with what’s actually going on in this country in 2020, and beyond.  While he may indeed devote every ounce of energy to this seemingly insurmountable task, unity is still a two-way street.  Last we checked, there’s a massive concrete divider in the middle of this one.  A concept that the president-elect inexplicably doesn’t seem to fully have grasped.  Especially, considering, as a former vice-president, he lived through eight years of Senate Republicans sticking it to his boss every chance they got.  I mean, “Hello, McFly?”  Do you really believe Congressional Republicans are just going to snap out of their near twenty-year trance because you’re friends with them? 
Exhibit One: Leader McConnell.
If you’re old enough to remember the Obama years, you’ll have no trouble recalling the now-infamous line uttered by that bastion of Honor and Ethics, Mitch McConnell.  That being, “My only goal for the next four years is to make Obama a one-term president.”  Aside from being borderline treason for a Senator to openly admit he’s going to spend every waking moment betraying his oath in order to achieve his despicably anti-American goal, “Moscow Mitch,” as he’s now affectionately known, hasn’t changed a bit.  In fact, he’s gotten worse, and, thanks to his miraculous re-election in a state that had him at just an 18% approval rating, more emboldened. 
After shamelessly defending our Russian-asset POTUS at every opportunity, including predicting the outcome of an impeachment hearing before it actually took place, the worst leader in the history of the United States Senate spent the past four years doing NOTHING, but filling an unprecedented number of conservative judgeships; including, surprise, the Supreme Court, where the louse seemed to actually revel in reneging on his own call to wait until after the election to choose a replacement for Justice Ginsberg.  No policy.  No compromise.  No nothing.  Nothing, that is, but increasing the deficit by trillions and making sure his corporate cronies are exempt from responsibility due to their shameful response to the pandemic.  I guess that’s something. 
Thus, unless our incoming president is suffering from severe amnesia, he should have no illusions that, following the Georgia runoffs (should Republicans maintain the stranglehold they currently enjoy), there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell McConnell, the demonic amphibian he is, will allow any dissenters to side with the president, on anything. Not a bill to curtail the amount of robocalls one gets on a daily basis, nor a motion to change the ketchup dispenser in the congressional cafeteria.
Exhibit Two:  Trump’s Minions 
If, after witnessing 126 House Republicans sign onto what is nothing short of a statement supporting the overthrowing of our Democracy, as well as several Republican Senators coming out in support of objecting to the States’ already-certified electors, anyone who thinks president Biden will somehow get these cockroaches to join hands singing Kumbaya, is living on another planet.  In fact, from what we’ve seen in the last six weeks, alone, it’s fair to say Congressional Republicans are now more of a threat to our nation than ISIS.  Yes, that ISIS.  At least, the Islamic State have the decency to tell you to your face exactly what their objective is: The total destruction of American Democracy.  Period.  Modern day Republicans have proven they have the same exact goal; they just do it from within, disguised as “patriots.”
Exhibit Three:  Seventy-Million Idiots
In spite of the Deplorables on The Hill, the biggest hurdle the president, and vice-president, have in front of them may very well be the American People, themselves.  While there’s got to be a few million in the human Chernobyl’s base of seventy-million-plus who aren’t full-blown, racist psychopaths, there are still way too many who’ve shown they’re fully committed to the cult of Trump.  Even now.  Even though their government led them into a year-long nightmare of misery and misinformation: even as their apathetic leaders choose to bail out their billionaire buddies, while sending them a $600 slap in the face, they continue to support them. Unmoved.
Even though Benedict Donald has spent the past two months proving he has zero interest in/reverence for this Democracy and in a peaceful transference of power, truth is, outside of maybe a handful of ‘awoke’ individuals who’ve finally seen enough, he’s most likely not lost a single one of his hardcore supporters.  In fact, many of them have doubled down in their support of the village idiot - going as far as to organize a “parallel inauguration” on Universe Two - the fantasy world where Trump will still be president (Most pundits refer to Trump supporters as living on ‘Earth 2,’ but their thinking is so alien to facts/common sense, IMO, they deserve their own universe.).   These sad, sorry fools fell hook, line and sinker for the president’s claims of “fraud”, to the tune of stocking his post-election war chest with a cool quarter-billion dollars.  Translation: you’re looking at an entire sect of people who have no basis in reality.  So, who’s worse?  The Trump supporter?  Or the one who tries to reason with the Trump supporter? 
These Trump-described “suckers,” who, in spite of everything they’ve seen, in spite of the fact we have a president who’s golfing while millions can’t even put food on their table during the holidays (those still alive that is) are still so consumed with hate for the other side, they’d rather see their nation brought to the brink of civil war than be governed by a Democrat.  They’d rather elect a corrupt, bottom-dwelling QAnon conspirator to Congress, than an honest, sane liberal whose major crime is refusing to believe Tom Hanks and Bill Gates are partners in a global kiddie porn empire.  Case in point, the more than dozen House seats that flipped red this past November, and, with them, some who actually believe the above.  This kind of unhinged, spiteful, masochistic thinking suggests the hate modern day Republicans have towards liberals is greater than the love they have for their own children.   Good luck overcoming that type of home-grown martyr, Mr. President.  
Exhibit Four: Biden, Himself:
The welcome, sorely needed public comments seeking to reunite a hopelessly divided nation, notwithstanding, by stating what the New York Times calls “no interest” in pursuing any type of retribution/Justice, re: the myriad of crimes committed by this horrific administration, IMO, the president-elect has already stepped in it.  Especially after the Georgia phone call. 
It’s never a good idea to address your supporters, many of whom feel they’re owed some form of payback after being forced to watch helplessly as their Constitution was consistently used as toilet paper by a mob boss POTUS for four, long years, and, right out of the gate, say you’re just going to forget the whole thing.  After all, this isn’t Nixon we’re talking about here. This is a thousand Nixons... on steroids.  This is treason in all its forms.  The attempt to “find” 11,780 votes, just one more than Biden, is the most egregious crime ever committed by a U.S. President. Yet, the president-elect continues to spew this type of disappointing, non-confrontational rhetoric. While hopefully just said for the cameras, it definitely gives many of the incoming president’s supporters, including Yours Truly, night sweats.  
In fact, IMO, SDNY aside, letting these, spineless, racist, anti-American miscreants sail off into the sunset, with free health care for life and full pensions, on us, would be worse than all their crimes put together.  As it will not only show the next corrupt bunch of lawless idiots to come down the pike they can do whatever they want and they’re guaranteed a free pass from the next guy, it will end our experiment in Democracy as we know it; as it will have all-but-proved the president is, in fact, above the law.  I really hope I’m wrong.  Fingers crossed Biden is just doing his job and saying all the right things, while privately working to nominate Sally Yates for A.G.  IMO, should Ms. Yates get the nod, she will see to it Justice is served on all fronts.  If not, you can bet there’s a damn good reason.
Mueller made the fatal mistake of playing fair with Trump and Barr, and their legion of sycophantic sheep in Congress, and wound up looking like a timid, outmatched eunuch. After living through the Obama years, after living through The Trump years, after seeing the literal definition of treason on a daily basis, it appears Biden is choosing to ignore these screaming red sirens and walk down that path, as well, at least with his words.   
How much more proof does the president-elect need to know these individuals on the other side of the aisle are only interested in one thing? Total Dominance, by any means necessary.  Even if it’s a flagrant violation of their oaths to defend The Constitution.  Every single low-life choosing to join a wanna-be fascist in his reprehensible attempt to overturn our national election are only Americans by birth.  That’s where it ends. 
In Alan Parker’s classic film, Mississippi Burning, there’s a great line in the scene where the two FBI agents, played by Willem Dafoe and Gene Hackman, realize playing by the rules with these racist bastards will never get them the Justice they seek.  Straight-laced Dafoe says, “Don’t drag me into your gutter, Mr. Anderson.”   To which, no-nonsense Hackman replies, “These people crawled out of a sewer, Mr. Ward!  Maybe the gutter’s where we outta be!”  Here’s hoping there’s more of Anderson than Ward in our next president. 
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dallasareaopinion · 4 years
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No one is singing just yet
At least in the Republican party
Still way too much going on, too many votes to recount, fraud to uncover, prime time hosts to make money, the disconnect of what people want to hear and what people are actually seeing with their eyes, the pretentious left feeding the machine and inciting even more madness, because after four years of Trump being ridiculed the Trump team is going to get their turn, so we sit through four more years of hate and animosity coming from both sides all trying to make their side feel good. 
Biden might hold himself up above the fray, but he won’t get anything done. McConnell will make sure of that, unless some miracle happens and the Democrats win two Senate seats in Georgia. Last time miracles actually happened was around 2000 years ago, so McConnell is maybe slightly concerned, but overall will keep any legislation that will change anything tightly wrapped up in whatever committee hell or maybe not even that far along in the process hell so the Republicans can come storming back in 2024. And that election is already underway whether Trump throws his hat in the ring or not. 
So what is next. Even a Stimulus package is a far flung pipe dream right now. Trump won’t negotiate, McConnell will gloat, Pelosi will pontificate, and people will die, starve, become disenchanted, alt right conspiracies will only grow in number, content and scope and Don McLean’s song American Pie will take on a new haunting meaning. So yeah, try and have a good day, but...
Many of us will go back to work, pay our taxes, complain about our taxes and the light bill, complain about government, complain about socialists, complain about Qanon, complain about media figures, complain about alt right madness, and generally be the same as they were two weeks ago, but with no election to complain about and still not make enough, still not have decent healthcare, still not have retirement planned, still worry about social security, still worry about potholes, still worry about computers in the classroom, still worry about their kids going to the classroom, still trying to decide if they should cook at home since restaurants aren’t safe, but actually deciding what drive through they can stomach now and burn gasoline like it isn’t polluting the atmosphere waiting in the double line now, and generally wanting a sense of normalcy to return to their lives. 
Too bad 2020 happened. We aren’t going back, some may hopefully get to move forward, others will still fight against hate, there are changes that have occurred that affects our daily lives, some productive some just as wasteful as what we did in 2019, and all in all most of us will live with the changes and what didn’t change hoping  to find that infamous “meaning” to our lives.
Am I a bit melancholy tonight, depressed, realistic, pessimistic, tired, downtrodden, definitely not jovial, upbeat, optimistic, dreaming, energized, or maybe I am buried beneath a velour cloth too frazzled to shed something soft for the moment and deal with the reality that 2020 is coming to an end, and yet that won’t mean a damn thing because Trump and this pandemic ain’t going away anytime soon. 
We still need change. And like it or not we didn’t get it.
If there was ever a year we didn’t need to elect a Democrat or Republican this was the year.
And yet, I am proud of this country. Highest voter turn out in over a hundred years and maybe even more. For as much as I rail against the duopoly the duopoly showed up this election season. It does say something. There is still a third of eligible voters that didn’t vote so who knows why, but maybe someone could have received that vote and changed us. For good or bad, that is not something we will know. Or at least for now.
Both parties will go back to failing us, but for right now, that is what this country wants. One day maybe enough of us will realize that change ain’t so bad. 
Stay safe, stay home, keep cooking, and if you have to go to work, keep your head up and your mask on.
Cheers
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go-redgirl · 4 years
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***Live Updates*** Trump Holds Minnesota Rally
President Donald Trump will hold a Friday evening rally in Bemidji, Minnesota.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for live updates.
All times Eastern.
8:13 PM: Trump says if Biden wins, China wins and then claims he saved the Iron Range.  Trump says he is only in the White House because the O’Biden administration did “such a crappy job.”
Trump says Kamala Harris tried to “Me-Too” Biden and tried to call him a “racist.” He says Biden’s campaign appearances are “pathetic.” Trump says he has an obligation to watch Biden’s town hall events because Biden is his competition.
8:10 PM: Trump says after they saved the Jackson statue, nobody has showed up in four months because they don’t want to go to jail for 10 years. Trump says, like ISIS, they are ripping down history and destroying greatness.
8:08 PM: Trump now mocks Fox for  hiring Donna Brazile. He wonders how he beat Hillary in the debates even though she had all of the questions in advance.
Trump praises the DC police. He claims they “charged” when his chief of staff said so and prevented the Andrew Jackson statue from being ripped down. He says they “beat the hell out of these guys.”
Now he’s back to talking about jailing people who take down statues for 10 years and how that stopped the rioters from targeting statutes.
8:07 PM: Trump says the only thing the “anarchists” understand is “strength.”
8:05 PM: Trump rips the agitators for “not having any idea what they are doing” and for being a “bunch of thugs” for ripping down statues of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and even Gandhi.
Trump talks up Robert E. Lee, saying the South would have won the Civil War had it not been for Gettysburg. He says there weren’t cell phones back then to tell the troops to never fight uphill.
8:00 PM: Trump says he was in DC 17 times before he became president and never slept over. He then says on his inauguration day he had everything walking down Pennsylvania Avenue–he had police, he had military, he had soldiers, so much power and strength….
He keeps reminiscing about going in the White House to live for the first time and then jabs the Clintons for leasing out the Lincoln Bedroom.
Trump says people have said the only person who got worse press than Trump was Lincoln. Trump thinks Lincoln may have gotten bad press but he has gotten the worst.
7:58 PM: Trump says “Concast” and “MSDNC” are “sick people” who don’t want to report the news. Trump says CNN is “one of the greatest jokes of all time.” Trump wonders how they are using public airwaves for free without getting licenses. Trump says they have to report the truth when using airwaves. He says Comcast spends a fortune in public relations and he ruins it by calling them “Concast.”
Trump says “we’re trying to be a terrible group of deep-state people.”
7:56 PM: Trump says today Biden delivered remarks, “barely,” to unions after spending 47 years sending their jobs overseas.
Trump now wonders if Ilhan Omar married her brother and says the writer of that story should be given the Pulitzer.
7:52 PM: Trump, obviously unaware of Ruth Ginsburg’s passing, floats nominating Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to the Supreme Court. He says he’d get 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats who want to get him out of the Senate. Trump then stresses the importance of the Supreme Court in the election.
Trump now says the enthusiasm gap in 2020 is the greatest they have ever polled.
Trump says Biden’s supporters are only excited about beating Trump, and he says historically those candidates don’t win.
Trump says Hannity says you wouldn’t want Biden to run a McDonalds stand so you can’t vote for him to run the country.
He says he ended Jeb’s career by saying he was low-energy, but Joe is “off the scale. Joe’s got nothing going.”
7:49 PM: Trump says AOC “controls Pelosi” and Pelosi would love to get rid of her. Now he’s mocking Pelosi for going to a beauty salon without a mask and getting caught.
7:46 PM: Trump going off on Russia Collusion and Hillary Clinton’s emails. Acid-washing. Getting rid of phones with hammers. Trump says Hillary claimed the emails were for yoga lessons. Trump says if they were indeed for yoga lessons, Hillary wasn’t getting her money’s worth.
Trump says think about how angry it makes him when he thinks about this because Democrats are held to a different standard. Trump still going off on Jeff Sessions for recusing himself and allowing Hillary “to get away with that.” Trump says “maybe there is something they can do.” Trump says he guarantees her emails are in the State Department and they should find them.
7:40 PM: Trump says if Biden is elected, people like Ilhan Omar, who has done “so many criminal acts,” will influence him. Trump says it’s a “damn disgrace” that Omar is able to get away with it.
Trump claims AOC spent “$2 million on bullshit” and if Republicans did that they’d be in jail.
7:38 PM: Trump says Biden doesn’t even know what “science” is and mock Biden for drawing circles on the ground because he can’t draw crowds and Biden has to save face. Trump says now they are doing roundtables with Biden because they are embarrassed by the circles.
7:37 PM: Trump says he just saw a poll that showed him down nine in Minnesota.
“I don’t think so,” Trump says. “It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.”
7:36 PM: Trump says “we’re rounding the turn on Covid” and says a vaccine is coming. Trump says this is an “amazing country” and “we’re not going to let radical left socialist/communists take over our country.”
7:35 PM: Trump rips “Democrat-run disasters” and says all that was needed was the National Guard to come in and stop the rioting. Trump says if they have any more flare ups, they’ll send them in again.
7:31 PM: Trump talks about Ali Velishi saying the protesters were peaceful while a city was burning behind him wonders if he should shave his head like Velishi.  Crowd says “no” and Trump says he would go down 21 points in the polls if he shaved his head.
7:29 PM: Trump talks about rioters rampaging across Minnesota and says the good police officers are “not allowed to do their job.” Trump says they were told to leave the precinct and the “rioters” knocked the place down.
Trump this would have never happened under New York Mayors Fiorello La Guardia and Rudy Giuliani.
7:28 PM: Trump says he was motivated to get Big Ten football back after Biden ran a commercial blaming him for football not starting on time.
7:27 PM: Trump says he is “your wall between the American Dream and chaos.”
“I’m your wall,” Trump says.
Trump says he once asked a Senator who is the dumbest Senator and the Senator answered “Joe Biden.” Trump says this was 25 years ago.
7:25 PM: Trump says “Sleepy Joe” will turn Minnesota into a “refugee camp” and overwhelm your childrens’ schools, overcrowd their schools, and inundate their hospitals. Trump also says Biden will get rid of the jihadist travel ban and open the floodgates to terrorists.
Trump says his administration deported numerous illegal alien Somalies today and “your children are much safer as a result. Thank you President Trump.”
7:22 PM: Trump tells Minnesotans one of the most important issues is refugees. Trump then ask how the hell did Ilhan Omar win re-election.
“It’s unbelievable,” Trump says.
Trump says everyone needs to know Sleepy Joe’s plan to flood the state with Somali refugees. He says Biden has promised a 700 percent increase in the importation of refugees from the most dangerous places in the world, including Yemen, Syria, and Somalia.
Trump says Minnesota will be “overrun and destroyed” if Biden and and the radical left wins.
Trump says they allow people to blow up things and loot while they are protesting and says he decided to call his rallies “protests against stupidity.”
7:17 PM: An energetic Trump thanks the audience for attending the rally on “fast notice.” Trump says he’s going to win Minnesota because Democrats did nothing for Minnesota except close up the state. Trump says a lot of people “weren’t treated right” until he came along.
7:16 PM: Trump exits the airplane and is ready to start the rally. This is the first time a U.S. president has visited Bemidji.
7:02 PM: Air Force One is landing and the rally should get started soon. Another high-energy crowd.
6:55 PM: Biden says he’s confident as he follows Trump around the Midwest after the president called out “Hidin’ Biden” for staying in his “basement.”
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bountyofbeads · 5 years
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Biden-Graham friendship, forged in war zones, fractures under the pressures of impeachment and Trump(May Lindsay Graham BURN IN HELL)
By Greg Jaffe and Matt Viser | Published December 21 at 4:44 PM ET |
Washington Post | Posted Dec 23, 2019
Joe Biden and Lindsey O. Graham were hurtling over the Hindu Kush mountains, bound for Kabul and a war that both men knew was veering badly off track.
Biden was two weeks away from being sworn in as vice president and had chosen Graham, who he said had the “best instincts in the Senate,” to accompany him on the trip. Graham, eager to carve out a new role in a changing Washington, jumped at the invitation.
Both men wanted to send a message to then-Afghan President Hamid Karzai — and to their fellow Americans — that the 2008 election was behind them, and that Republicans and Democrats were now united in their resolve to arrest the long-neglected Afghanistan war’s decline.
“The campaign is over,” Graham said, “but the war is not.”
Nearly 11 years, two presidential elections and a historic presidential impeachment hearing have passed since Biden and the Republican senator from South Carolina flew off together to Kabul. Today their friendship, their war zone trip and its bitter aftermath offers a view into how two of the most prominent politicians of their era have tried to adapt to a changing Washington, a norm-breaking presidency and the country’s rancorous politics. The pressures have tested their ideals, their friendship and, at times, their faith in their country.
As impeachment shifts to the Senate, the two men seem to be on a collision course.
Graham’s attacks threaten not only their friendship but also the very rationale of Biden’s Democratic presidential campaign, one that promises to return the country to a less partisan time — an era when Biden could work with Republicans as partners and friends. It’s a vision that even some in his own party dismiss as naive. If Biden can’t break through with Graham, critics wondered, what chance does he have with other Republicans?
Last month, in an attempt to shift attention away from President Trump’s alleged misdeeds in Ukraine, Graham asked the State Department for materials related to Hunter Biden’s work for a Ukrainian energy company. He also demanded the declassification of transcripts of calls between the elder Biden and Ukrainian officials.
Only a few weeks earlier, Graham said he had no intention of investigating the Bidens. “I’m not going to turn the Senate into a circus,” he vowed.
Then, under pressure from the White House, Graham insisted that his relationship with Biden shouldn’t preclude a proper Senate investigation.
The line of inquiry infuriated Biden. “Lindsey is about to go down in a way that I think he’s going to regret his whole life,” the former vice president said, shaking his head.
A few days later, Biden’s frustration spilled out in an exchange with an 83-year-old Iowa farmer who suggested that Biden and his son had acted improperly in Ukraine. “You’re a damn liar!” said Biden, striding toward the man, who held his ground. “That’s not true. No one has ever said that.”
It was, in fact, similar to what Graham had suggested.
In January 2009, such rancor between the two men seemed inconceivable. As Biden and Graham huddled on their plane, the senators pored over CIA reports that showed al-Qaeda was reestablishing training camps in Pakistan’s tribal areas, just outside the reach of U.S. forces. In Afghanistan, the U.S. military and CIA reports spoke to staggering levels of government corruption, mounting Afghan casualties and a resurgent Taliban that was rapidly advancing toward the capital.
Their military plane approached Kabul International Airport, ringed by snow-covered mountains. Down on the tarmac, a clutch of generals and Foreign Service officers waited in the cold. Soon their traveling party would board a Blackhawk helicopter that would whisk them to the presidential palace, where Karzai was waiting.
They agreed that they were going to push the Afghan leader to crack down on longtime political allies and family members who had been looting the country, according to contemporaneous interviews done for Bob Woodward’s 2010 book, “Obama’s Wars.” Neither had much faith that their pressure on Karzai would work.
“I dread this meeting,” Graham said.
“Me, too,” Biden replied.
POWER OF THE SENATE TO HEAL
Five days after their joint meeting with Karzai, Biden and Graham were back in Washington, where Biden took to the Senate floor to bid farewell to the place that shaped his view of the nation and its politics.
There were no female senators when Biden was elected. No computers. No fax machines. By the time he was leaving, there had been 1,900 senators in American history, and Biden had served with 320 of them. “The United States Senate has been my life, and that is not a hyperbole,” he said. “It literally has been my life.”
His speech that day focused on the power of the Senate — and friendships like the one he was building with Graham — to alter the course of American politics and heal the wounds of slavery and segregation.
Biden recalled his bonds in the Senate with three former segregationists: Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.). From his deathbed, Thurmond asked Biden to speak at his funeral. To many Democrats, Thurmond was an unrepentant racist. To Biden he was a man saved by his service in the Senate.
“Every good thing I have seen happen here, every bold step taken in the 36 years I have been here, came not from the application of pressure by interest groups, but through the maturation of personal relationships,” Biden said.
It was Thurmond’s retirement at age 100 that opened a pathway for Graham’s ascendance to the Senate. In the years that followed, Graham and Biden crisscrossed the globe together with their mutual friend Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
When the Iraq War looked lost in 2005, Biden and Graham traveled to Baghdad, returning home to warn President George W. Bush that the country was on the brink of civil war. Their 2009 trip to Afghanistan had been just as eventful. Over dinner, Biden and Graham hammered Karzai on his failings, the country’s growing heroin trade and his brother’s alleged corruption.
“We can’t come to Afghanistan without hearing about your brother,” Graham told Karzai. When the Afghan president accused the Americans of indifference to civilian deaths, Biden abruptly ended their meal. “This is beneath you, Mr. President,” Biden said. He and Graham stormed out together. Back in Washington, President-elect Barack Obama told reporters that he was drafting Graham as “one of our counselors in dealing with foreign policy.”
This was the kind of politics — collegial, bipartisan, conciliatory — that Biden wanted to celebrate. As he bid goodbye to the Senate, Biden recalled his relationship with one more reformed segregationist, former Democratic senator John Stennis of Mississippi.
In 1988, Stennis had given Biden a prized conference table from his office where he and his fellow Dixiecrats had gathered to plot the demise of the civil rights movement. Stennis had dubbed it “the flagship of the Confederacy.”
“It’s time this table passes from the man who was against civil rights into the hands of a man who was for civil rights,” Biden recalled Stennis telling him. By that point in his life, cancer had ravaged Stennis’s body and cost him a leg. From his wheelchair, Stennis told Biden of his late-in-life conversion and belief that the civil rights movement had done “more to free the white man than the black man.”
“It freed my soul,” Stennis said. “It freed my soul.”
To some, the table would have been a symbol of hatred, a reminder of the men who fought to perpetuate America’s original sin and the racism that still infected the nation’s politics. To Biden, it represented possibility and the transformative powers of the Senate.
SHAPED BY DIFFERENT ERAS
In a dark conference room at the National Guard Memorial Museum, Graham stood to Biden’s right, dressed in his crisp Air Force uniform. It was late June 2015. After 33 years as a lawyer in the reserves, he was retiring. Biden, just two weeks removed from his son Beau’s funeral, had come to help send him off.
A few days later, Graham was touring Iowa as part of his long-shot presidential run. In the back seat of a rental car, he grew emotional as he spoke about Biden. “If you can’t admire Joe Biden as a person, then you’ve got a problem,” he told HuffPost. “You need to do some self-evaluation, because what’s not to like?
“He’s the nicest person I think I’ve ever met in politics,” he continued. “He is as good a man as God ever created.”
Graham’s comments in the back of the rental car came just days after Trump glided down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, launching his presidential campaign with an unprecedented attack on Mexicans and McCain’s heroism in Vietnam.
Graham responded by calling Trump a “jackass” who was “appealing to the dark side of American politics” and had no place in the Republican Party. “He’s a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot,” Graham added later in the year. “I’d rather lose without Donald Trump than try to win with him.”
Graham voted for Evan McMullin, a long-shot independent, in 2016. By 2017, though, he was already acceding to the demands of Trump’s Washington. Graham dined with Trump at the White House and gave the president his new cellphone number. Trump had broadcast his old one from a campaign stage in a fit of pique. He became a regular Trump golf partner and, in what was becoming the most direct path to power and influence in the Trump White House, a cable news defender of the president.
Though they were friends, Graham and Biden had been shaped by different eras. Biden entered a Senate dominated by World War II veterans and the apocalyptic demands of the Cold War. Graham came to Washington in 1995, when American power was at its apex and lawmakers could spend months focused on President Bill Clinton’s infidelities with a White House intern. He was the floor manager during the Clinton impeachment hearings, where he tried and failed to persuade the Senate to call Monica Lewinsky to provide live testimony.
Before his death in 2018, McCain had asked both men to eulogize him. Their speeches captured their contrasting views of America and its politics.
Biden recalled a moment during the Clinton years when party leaders chastised him and McCain for sitting next to each other in the Senate chambers. “This is the mid-’90s,” Biden said. “It began to go downhill from there.”
But at an even stormier moment in American politics, Biden’s eulogy was unapologetically optimistic. “Many of you travel and see how the rest of the world looks at us. They look at us a little naive, so fair, so decent,” Biden said. “We’re the naive Americans. That’s who we are. That’s who John was.”
Graham also praised McCain’s courage and capacity for forgiveness in the wake of his captivity in Vietnam and his presidential defeats. But in eulogizing his old friend, Graham focused on his own and his country’s limits. Unlike McCain, Graham wasn’t a war hero or political maverick who could buck the president or his party on hot-button issues such as health care, immigration and climate change.
“The void to be filled by John’s passing is more than I can do,” Graham said on the floor of the Senate as he fought back tears. “Don’t look to me to replace this man.”
INEVITABLE CONFRONTATION
So far Biden has built his presidential campaign around many of the same “soul of America” sentiments that surfaced in his McCain eulogy. Graham, meanwhile, has moved ever closer to a full embrace of Trump, the president who McCain pointedly banned from attending his funeral.
Until recently, Graham and Biden had been able to avoid a direct confrontation. But Biden’s presidential aspirations and the increasingly contentious impeachment battle have made a confrontation inevitable.
Trump has put Biden at the center of his impeachment defense, insisting that Biden used his influence over U.S. foreign policy to engineer the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company that employed Hunter Biden. There’s no evidence that Biden acted to protect his son or that Hunter was ever a target of the probe. Even as he has described Biden as “a fine man,” Graham has defended Trump’s efforts to dig up dirt on his rival and suggested that Biden and his son might be guilty of wrongdoing.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Graham, has no clear oversight role regarding Ukraine, but Graham has asked for transcripts of Biden’s calls with Ukraine’s former president and records of Hunter Biden’s interactions with State Department officials. “I hope there’s nothing there. Reveal the transcripts. Trump released the transcripts,” Graham said in an interview with Fox News Radio last month. “All I’m asking is that somebody look at this line of inquiry. It does look very suspicious to me.”
Biden responded by trying to shame Graham. Asked by CNN if he had any words for his friend, Biden paused for several seconds to think, and replied: “Lindsey, I . . . I . . . I’m just embarrassed by what you’re doing, for you. I mean, my Lord.”
The two men have spent part of the past two weeks pondering the state of their relationship and what it says about the nation’s increasingly bitter politics. “My friendship with Joe Biden, if it can’t withstand me doing my job, it’s not the friendship I thought we had,” Graham said. “Everything I said about him in 2015 is true. I admire him as a person. I think he’s always trying to do right by the country. . . . But we’re not going to allow a system in America where only one side gets looked at.”
As Biden’s campaign bus rolled through Iowa recently, reporters asked what was driving Graham to investigate him and his son. Biden offered a simple explanation: “Donald Trump. Donald Trump. Donald Trump.”
🎄⛄🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄⛄🎄
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