Agreed. I'm in a red state, sitting in the wake of an election where the re-elected incumbent called his opponent a groomer and possibly a pedophile. Why? Because his opponent is a teacher who has said that he would not work to overturn Title IX law requiring teachers to call children by their chosen name and gender pronouns. The incumbent is bad enough that the former head of the Republicans here in my district endorsed the challenger.
Thank you Eli. Right on, and totally agree. I think you're right that we need to press the advantage, and anchor it, and build on and expand it. We're in a slight post-election re-tooling; and then going after doing exactly that. -Vanessa
The country remains in a kind of limbo land until we know which party will control the House. I think a lot of people are exhausted by everything that led up to the election. Some are breathing huge sighs of relief about the Senate--and hoping Warnock can notch up one more win. But the House. It's problematic. If the Republicans win it, there will be chaos. We need to brace ourselves. Initially there may be a lot of chaos around who will become the speaker; my bet is that it will be McCarthy--but the MAGAs will extract a pound of flesh in the process. And then the "fun and games" will begin. The fact that they will be stymied in actually getting any ridiculous legislation passed will not deter them from introducing it--an ugly, ugly path. And then there are the investigations...and perhaps even impeachments. Talk about a circus. And all of this will be accompanied by the return of daily outpourings from trump--who just cannot ever remain on the sidelines; let's hope Musk figures out it's best not to allow him to return to Twitter, but I'm not banking on it. So anything that Shift the Country can do to help shine a light on the shenanigans, cut through the noise of disinformation and help change the narrative in the media will be incredibly important in focusing attention and action on saving our democracy.
Sometimes I think if people responded as well as you write, we'd have this thing over with by now. Or are you just stealing my thoughts? 8-)
Trying to help friends deal with UVA trauma today. A shooting "hoax" or two in Maine. Just another day... I'm wondering how they'll identify, how will we celebrate, the birth of the 8 billionth human on the planet. Supposed to happen today.
@Fred Pierce thank you so very much for the lovely compliment on the writing. That is really helpful in an array of ways. I hope your friends are okay after the UVA thing - and the hoax things. We are definitely in the middle of some intense stuff. Take care and be well. -- Vanessa
Turns out there were 10 "swattings." New to Maine but I now know that they're a thing nationally. FBI is getting involved. Oh, but they'll be under investigation soon too.
Agreed. I'm in a red state, sitting in the wake of an election where the re-elected incumbent called his opponent a groomer and possibly a pedophile. Why? Because his opponent is a teacher who has said that he would not work to overturn Title IX law requiring teachers to call children by their chosen name and gender pronouns. The incumbent is bad enough that the former head of the Republicans here in my district endorsed the challenger.
Things are not okay. Not even remotely.
There is no time for complacency. We need to press press press press press the advantage.  PRESS HARD.
Thank you Eli. Right on, and totally agree. I think you're right that we need to press the advantage, and anchor it, and build on and expand it. We're in a slight post-election re-tooling; and then going after doing exactly that. -Vanessa
The country remains in a kind of limbo land until we know which party will control the House. I think a lot of people are exhausted by everything that led up to the election. Some are breathing huge sighs of relief about the Senate--and hoping Warnock can notch up one more win. But the House. It's problematic. If the Republicans win it, there will be chaos. We need to brace ourselves. Initially there may be a lot of chaos around who will become the speaker; my bet is that it will be McCarthy--but the MAGAs will extract a pound of flesh in the process. And then the "fun and games" will begin. The fact that they will be stymied in actually getting any ridiculous legislation passed will not deter them from introducing it--an ugly, ugly path. And then there are the investigations...and perhaps even impeachments. Talk about a circus. And all of this will be accompanied by the return of daily outpourings from trump--who just cannot ever remain on the sidelines; let's hope Musk figures out it's best not to allow him to return to Twitter, but I'm not banking on it. So anything that Shift the Country can do to help shine a light on the shenanigans, cut through the noise of disinformation and help change the narrative in the media will be incredibly important in focusing attention and action on saving our democracy.
Sometimes I think if people responded as well as you write, we'd have this thing over with by now. Or are you just stealing my thoughts? 8-)
Trying to help friends deal with UVA trauma today. A shooting "hoax" or two in Maine. Just another day... I'm wondering how they'll identify, how will we celebrate, the birth of the 8 billionth human on the planet. Supposed to happen today.
Ok - I'm done whining.
for now
@Fred Pierce thank you so very much for the lovely compliment on the writing. That is really helpful in an array of ways. I hope your friends are okay after the UVA thing - and the hoax things. We are definitely in the middle of some intense stuff. Take care and be well. -- Vanessa
Happy to do *something*
Turns out there were 10 "swattings." New to Maine but I now know that they're a thing nationally. FBI is getting involved. Oh, but they'll be under investigation soon too.
Life is not boring.