February 14, 2024

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the hearts

I truly feel blessed!!!! Thank you all so much.

August 1, 2023

Please excuse my ignornance on this, but at what point does this apply?

https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/amdt14-S3-1/ALDE_00000848/

Amdt14.S3.1 Overview of Disqualification Clause
Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

July 31, 2023

Where do retired Americans Abroad live, or want to move to?

My husband and I are retired; he has dual citizenship (US and Irish). We've spent a year in Spain, time Portugal, England and have traveled throughout several countries in Eastern Europe and a few scandanavian countries. At the moment we live in Central Oregon (a lovely place!), where our oldest daughter (28) and son-in-law (29) live.

We have talked a lot about moving abroad -- maybe to Portugal, Spain, or should it be Costa Rica? Mexico? The why's are primarily political (duh) but what holds us back is that we truly love our daughter(s) and SIL and want to be a part of their lives. So, we've thought about spending several months abroad and having a place to land here in Oregon...

So my question(s) are this?
1)Where do DU Americans Abroad live, or want to/plan to move to?
2) Where do DU Americans Abroad recommend folks who are retired (but with plenty of spunk) live?
3) For DU Americans Abroad who are abroad, how do you deal with your family/friends back in the US that you DO want to be a part of your lives?

Thank you so much!

March 29, 2021

Helping my daughter and friends get their 2nd vaccine

My college age daughter and friends are driving across the country. They started in VT and are now on Colorado. They managed to get their first dose of Moderna today in Arizona. While they did make their 2nd dose appointment before they left, they will be heading to Oregon in. Few weeks, then winding their way back to NH by June. They would have to make a special trip to AZ from Oregon for their second dose and would prefer to do it locally, while in Oregon ( they plan on being in Oregon from Apr 18 til early May.

At the moment they are not eligible to sign up in Oregon; not til May 1. Trying to help them out and wondering if anyone has some good advice on this matter.

Thanks!

December 24, 2020

Dr. Anthony Fauci 80th birthday surprise - COVID style

Dr Anthony Fauci turns 80 – and even his birthday surprise obeyed Covid rules. The wife of America’s top public health official, herself a National Institutes of Health bioethicist, had to get creative this year

--snip--

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/24/dr-anthony-fauci-birthday-80-surprise-covid

December 11, 2020

Do you think the founders of TLP will try to forge a party?

Now mind you, I'm the furthest thing from the ideological principles of the Republican Party, that is when they supposedly had principles. But in the current Republican party is the Trumplican party of thuggery, I'm wondering whether the founders of TLP will actually try to form a new Republican Party to try to combat the ideological zealotry? At the moment, we only have one functioning party and the Democratic Party has been opening up its umbrella larger and larger to try to accommodate those that have left...but it can't be the all encompassing party as it will lose its one ideological principles.

November 6, 2020

Let's start a Red (Trump out) count down, Blue (Biden win) count up for PA!

Last check (5:32 pm PST) shows Trump's lead in PA at 53,221.

September 21, 2020

I'm thinking it's time for a 1960's style march on Washington

Watching Ken Burns series on National Parks. Our voices need to be heard.

September 19, 2020

How do you grieve the loss of an icon?

In trying to formulate my own thoughts about the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, I kept asking myself this question: "How do you grieve the loss of an icon?" And here are some of my musings.


How do you grieve the loss of an icon?
Our collective grief is palpable.

How do we mourn when fear besets our collective being?
Our fears of one another or what will become of our institutionalized democratic principles prevent civil discourse and collective healing.

How do we move forward when we feel such despair?
Our hopelessness for a bright, fair and safe future permeates our everyday existence, tearing us down and further apart from one another.

How do you grieve the loss of an icon?
I’ll tell you how. You carry on her torch. You carry on her mission. You carry on her fight. You never, ever give up, even if it feels like we are living in the darkest times of our lives.

September 17, 2020

White House Axed USPS Plan To Send 5 Masks To Every American Household: Report

The postal service was reportedly going to distribute 560 million reusable face masks across the U.S. before White House officials expressed concern that the move would cause “panic.”

The United States Postal Service drafted an ambitious proposal in April to send a pack of five face masks to every residential address in the U.S. before top White House officials killed the idea, according to an analysis by the Washington Post of documents acquired by the watchdog organization American Oversight.

American Oversight, which obtained over 9,000 pages related to the USPS via the Freedom of Information Act, released the documents in late August. One of the records, entitled “U.S. Postal Service to Deliver Face Coverings to Every American Household,” is a draft of a press release indicating that USPS planned to “distribute 560 million reusable cotton face masks on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to every residential delivery point in America, beginning in areas which HHS has identified as experiencing high transmission rates of COVID-19 and to workers providing essential services throughout the nation during this pandemic.”

--snip--

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/usps-plan-5-face-masks-to-every-american-white-house_n_5f6389cbc5b6ba9eb6eb1214