Can i say something when my head is clear from myself? Can I use that soapbox for a sec?
Thanks DU for the venue/forum to have a place to vent and comment and riff on daily news stories.
I've only been here a year but, actually SPEAKING in the postings instead of just reading them for so many years, has been cathartic.
I'm far far from perfect, and I have said things sometimes that, like text messages, read different than what I'm trying to say, but, know this...even to the folks that would love to beat Cuibono w his Crutchez,....I'm just getting by like all of us until we can recover the sanity and honor of America, and I'm really grateful to have a place for news and news commentary that is educated and enlightened. I hope in the coming year I can do better to be informed and contribute in a more meaningful way. Regardless of my age and life choices, and the realities that come w it mentally.
It's the holiday season, and to those I've had 'side-ways' words with, I hope you forgive a guy who really just wants a better life for all of us. I feel I do good, but, everyone always can do better, and I hope to endeavor to meet that end by starting w the man in the mirror. I forgive you. If I've hurt your feelings or said something that chapped your ass...I'm sorry. (And this isn't a Sunday morning mea culpa. It's just something I wanted to say for a piece now.) The double scoop of Folgers crystals helps too.
(Hey, who ate the last glazed donut??)
When I see posts from folks I feel I know, having a bad day, it reminds me that we ALL have bad days. This IS a sort of family. Families aren't perfect, but, they love and forgive and heal and move on. I hope to unblock ALL the folks I blocked this year (every one, just not to fight w them. That's the truth) and try to understand others the way I hope folks would try to see The Crutch, as a human being. Those same friends/folks have good days too, and after a while you/I/we can see them having those good days, and inspirations as well. The kindness and support shown to me in DU Mail has at times made my sick stomach (often from something said), recover and I have been pleasantly surprised, and relieved so many times by the same. Thanks to you...you know who you are. But, that's fundamentally what makes us different as Democrats isn't it? Understanding our human condition and then acting/reacting in that sense to make our short time on Earth better for us, and the guy next door. Being good and making the right choices isn't hard. Especially when we make it habit.
Things are going to get better for us. The worst HOPEFULLY is behind us and it'll give DU a little breathing room to be more light-hearted and hopeful and safe. The last two years have been just politically "white-knuckling" it. We all knew this was coming in November 2016. It's hard NOT to get angry...almost daily, when it's trum-tv as far as the eye can see. We had HRC snatched from us, and, we'd be so much further ahead as a result of the same. Dirty tricks have been legitimized by the right. Informed Democrats can feel it when it may be happening and I think the vast majority of 'angst'(?) shown here now is out of mistrust for the next...unbelievable unashamed, transgression purveyed by the gop. Those folks who think winning at any cost is ok, bc, they won. ESPECIALLY when they win...on being so wrong and uneducated regards ALL elements of political science. By now we know what gop dirty tricks look and feel like, hopefully with this new Congress, we won't pitch 'good' in lieu of 'perfect' until we get this ship turned around and steaming for a better horizon. Being old enough to literally have seen the emergence of repub cheating, right up to this day, i get a little 'birdy' when something smells like a set-up, and it's easy to witness others knee jerk reacting to the same, usually out of an innate survival mode, and a sense of protectiveness for our gains. Unfortunate that we have to LIVE politics everyday...used to be we lived OUR lives, not our elected officials...anyway, i digress.
End of the day, we-Liberals- are the Americans folks overseas adore as intelligent, generous, caring and above all honorable and true to our school...The American Ideal. The adults in the room that can be trusted to think through things and come up w answers that-like the incoming tide-raises ALL boats. The now-living Americans who wrap ourselves in the mantle of the United States we were handed, and hopefully the folks who will come through in the end, and give our progenitor a better world when we go.
Just wanted to say that after the first of our three big holidays. Especially the holiday meant to trigger feelings of what we are grateful for. I feel clear headed this morning and thought it was a good time to say this. Hopefully it doesn't come off as anything other than what I've said. I'm just one soul hoping to be the change I envision.
Thanks for indulging me in this OP.
CC
= new reply since forum marked as read
Don't apologize for ranting! We all need to vent sometimes, especially during these Twilight Zone years of being ruled by such a despicable shit wad!
Sometimes when you listen to the news, you wonder if black is now white and up is now down.
I, too, am grateful that I can log on here and chat with so many like minded folks who "get" what's going on and feel the exact same way! I live in a little blue corner of a red state and need to talk with like - minded people for my own sanity.
I feel as though I've met some really smart, astute, compassionate, and wonderful people here. It's so encouraging to know there are so many of us out there!
And when it all gets to be too much, the Lounge and the humor on this site is second to none!
Hope you have a great weekend! And I hope you can find that last donut! 
