We put our cat to sleep

We had to put our cat, Sharkie, to sleep on Monday (6/19/23). He had mouth cancer and was 15+ years old. We was our light and joy. He was with was for over 10 years. We love him so much. It is still very raw for us. We miss our special kitty. I wanted people to know he existed.
https://www.lapoflove.com/pet-memorial/25434

BuzzFeed: Difference Between Protesting While White Vs. Protesting For Black Lives

From BuzzFeed:These Pictures Show The Huge Difference Between Protesting While White Vs. Protesting For Black Lives
Spread far and wide!

[link:https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/protest-pictures-at-black-lives-matter?origin=tuh|]

Goldman Sachs Cuts Employee Pay By 20% To Avoid Profit Loss

So I guess the tax cuts scam are not having their intended effect?
https://www.ibtimes.com/goldman-sachs-cuts-employee-pay-20-avoid-profit-loss-2785693

Time Zero

Well, today marks the beginning of the Trump era. As of today, conservatives have nearly complete control of the country. Not only the Presidency and Congress but half of the states have all three branches of state government under Republican control. Plus, several of the remaining states have 2 out of 3 branches of government under Republican control. Eventually SCOTUS will be majority Republican. Thanks to Republican obstructionism under Obama, there are about 80 federal judgeships unfilled that are sure to be rapidly filled now. So the federal courts and likely most state courts will be dominated by conservatives. Of course the business sector is dominated by conservatives. So where does that leave us? In a very weak position! There is currently vigorous debate among progressives/liberals about how to resist the oncoming conservative onslaught. No doubt there will be a variety of ideas and plans proposed and tried. However, one thing is for certain. Given nearly complete conservative control of the country, whatever happens going forward they own it. They’re in charge, they’re in control. It will be their policies and management that we will have to live with. During this time there is one that I think each of us can do. Starting now we all follow closely the various metrics and statistics available that cover all aspects of our society. The numbers and trends for the economy, employment, education, crime, energy, environment, financial numbers. There is a myriad number of things that data is collected and reported on by government agencies, university researchers, companies, and a variety of organizations and industries. I think we should follow and track as many of these as possible starting today and going forward. Today is Time Zero. My prediction is that the trends and indicators for a whole host of things will move in a direction that is not good for the country, especially the middle class, workers and the poor. I think that we should refer to these trends in blog posts, comment threads, social media, conversations and letters to the editor. Continuously keep at it over and over again, pointing out the data and trends and how bad things are and that it’s due to conservative rule. Keep reminding people that conservatives are in charge, they own it. Repetition is the only hope of reaching people. In every debate and argument keep referring back to the numbers and trends. Over and over again. The only way to fight back against snarky talking points is with the data.

Here are a few sources that I found to refer to during the Trump era:
https://www.usa.gov/statistics Data and Statistics about the United States
https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.us.htm U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/ economic and financial data site.
http://www.economagic.com/ an economic data site.
http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/ an excellent blog with a lot of data and good discussion, I highly recommend it!

My request to you:
Of course there are many more sources. I request you to add to this list sources of statistics and data you know of. Let’s make this a reference that people can use in the future. At least we will have sources to point to that provide proof of the disaster of conservative rule.

If it's 80 degrees in mid-October then global warming is true, right?

Is it just me? Sometimes I just feel that progressives, liberals, the left in general just really suck at memes, propaganda, or messaging. Take this October warm spell for example. Just two weeks before Halloween, and it’s hitting 80 degrees, in NY. It hit 100 degrees in Dodge City, KS today. Warm temperature records are breaking throughout the country. So where are all the snarky tweets, posts, comments from liberals about how “Global Warming must be true!”. Yet you can bet your bottom dollar that the first big snowfall we have this winter in January or February or earlier will bring out all the right wing trolls exclaiming how Global Warming is a hoax! Just look at all the snow and cold temperatures! Here we have a big opportunity, a gift, to promote the meme that this Global Warming thing, is well, a thing. Yet, there’s nothing. So, we wonder why so many people believe right wing myths. It’s partly because we fail to take advantage of opportunities like this. We need to do better at beating the right at their own game to spread the truth more effectively.

Modern Conservatism in a nutshell in the form of 36 tweets

Over at Grist (grist.org), David Roberts explains postmodern conservatism in 36 tweets. The most important to me are:

<snip>
4. It’s like pointing to an apple and saying, "this is an orange." It takes practice to train your mind to be able to do it.
(easy to to do when you willingly want to escape or deny reality and wrap yourself in an echo chamber cocoon.)

5. You have to convince yourself, not so much that an apple is an orange, but that there is no such thing as what the object "really" is.
(once you escape to your alter reality that is not hard to do)

6. Or rather, that on the question of what the object is, there are *only* competing answers — no objective fact of the matter.
(conservatives excel at this)

7. As you get used to thinking this way, you get more bold, moving from highly contestable interpretations to flat matters of fact.
</snip>

<snip>
9. The key is just to brazen it out, to be unaffected by social disapprobation or scolding.

10. The right has realized that if you just brazen it out, there’s no authority that can "settle the argument." No ref to make the call.

11. In this way every dispute, even over matters of fact, becomes a contest of power — loudest, best funded, most persistent voices win.
</snip>

These tweets capture clearly and succinctly current conservative thought. Especially among the ignorant rank & file and propagandist pundit and think tank class.

Read the rest: http://grist.org/politics/david-roberts-explains-postmodern-conservatism-in-36-tweets/

Call Me Unreasonable

This from over at Crooks and Liars:

Call me unreasonable.

I will happily wrap myself in the mantle of being an unreasonable person as long as Washington DC elites with six- and seven-figure portfolios dare to tell me that I need to be "reasonable," while

Lifting the FICA cap is off the table;
The idea of lowering the minimum age for SSI qualification is not even discussed;
Refusing to acknowledge that austerity does not work, ever;
Not admitting that Social Security itself does not impact the deficit;
Negotiating Medicare drug prices is not part of a cost-saving package;
Cutting corporate subsidies is a non-starter;
Our top marginal tax rate is the lowest it's been since the '30s; and
Beltway denizens who cheered off-the-book wars and tax cuts, insisting that deficits don't matter, are now screaming that the deficit is the *MOST* important thing this country, over jobs, poverty, income inequality, discrimination, gun safety, and the sad fact that they are relegating more than a few grandmothers to eating catfood.

Yup, if that is what's considered "reasonable" thinking about the problems this country faces, then damn it, call me unreasonable.

How We Can All Make Money Like the Billionaires - Thom Hartmann

Thom Hartmann has a good idea that I like:

Hey Mitt where's the tax returns?

Remember when there was a sort of a to do about Mittens not releasing his tax returns? What happened to that? That's no longer an issue? WTF? Meanwhile the teabaggers and their ilk go on and on and on and on and on and on and on about the GDF birth certificate! Wouldn't it be a whole lot more legitimate to still be going on about Mitt's tax returns? How come I'm not hearing about that anymore? This is what pisses me off about Liberals.

Hey Mitt! Show us your tax returns!

Why the Republicans could win big this year

Why? Through cheating of course. Conservatives could never win in a free and fair election. They know that. So they will cheat. A lot. Here's how:

1. Voter ID Laws. These are being pursued by many states which are designed specifically to disenfranchise students, elderly, minorities, and the poor. See http://www.propublica.org/article/everything-youve-ever-wanted-to-know-about-voter-id-laws

2. Purging Voter Rolls. Theses activities being pursued by such states as Florida, Texas, and Pennsylvania are using bad data and faulty pretexts to throw hundreds of thousands of legitimate voters off the voter rolls. See http://www.brennancenter.org/content/section/category/voter_purges_and_challenges and http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/08/02/629311/new-analysis-by-list-company-voter-purges/

3. Partisan Election Officials. Too many election officials in charge of the day to day running of the election are republican operatives and party supporters. Their actions include reducing early voting and reducing hours the polls are open. They are an obstruction to free and fair elections. See http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/08/elections_in_the_hands_of_the_partisan_and_incompe.php and http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/06/22/504616/partisan-republicans-aggressively-seeking-to-become-election-officials-in-florida/

4. Direct Voter Suppression. Right wing tea bagger groups like True the Vote will be sending poll watchers to minority and poor dominated precincts with the specific aim to intimidate and interfere with voting by minorities and the poor. Other actions that will occur, especially in swing states, that have been done in the past include illegal police road blocks on roads leading to polling places, too few voting machines in democratic districts, a preponderance of broken and malfunctioning voting machines located at democratic districts. See http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/25/1124196/-True-the-Vote-s-effort-to-steal-the-election

5. Electronic Voting Machines. Easily hacked and manipulated proprietary electronic voting machines are owned and maintained by companies with known support for republican candidates. These machines have been proven multiple times to be easily hacked and have provided unusual and unexpected results in many races. The companies have resisted investigation by claiming their machines are proprietary, which is a problem for fair and free elections. See http://www.salon.com/2011/09/27/votinghack/ and http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/empire/2012/may/09/reports-find-machine-errors-led-uncounted-votes-2010/ and http://www.blackboxvoting.org/

6. Unregulated and unlimited propaganda in campaigns through so called social welfare super pacs thanks to Citizens United.

This means even greater effort on our part to get out the vote and register new voters. Do not underestimate the other side. They are motivated, disciplined, and are cheating!