Encounter with an immigrant 🌞

I just had a lovely experience that I would like to share. I just got a ClearCaptions* phone, and the technician came today to set it up and show me how to use it. He was a young black man with a noticeable foreign accent (possibly Haitian, although I couldn't swear to it).

While he was working on the phone, I decided there was something I wanted to say to him. When he finished and was heading for the door, after thanking him for his help, I added (paraphrasing), "I can tell you're not originally from this country, and I just want to say welcome, and let you know that there are many of us who are deeply ashamed of the man who is running for president and is saying so many terrible things about immigrants."

I could tell he knew exactly what I was talking about, and when I finished, he held out his arms, and we shared a big hug! I could tell he was genuinely moved by what I said, and I was deeply moved by his response.

After he left, I was thinking about the whole thing, and it dawned on me that I had actually made that little speech partially for selfish reasons. I really am ashamed of the things Trump says about immigrants, and I wanted to disassociate myself from him and the bile he is spewing.

I also wanted that man to know that many, many Americans feel as I do and are NOT like Trump. I definitely succeeded in that respect, but I was (perhaps foolishly) not prepared for such a heartfelt reaction. I feel like I may have made a real difference in the life of another human being today, and that realization makes me feel both proud and humbled.

I just wanted to share this, NOT to blow my own horn, but because this experience has made me appreciate how a small action or a kind word can make much more of a difference than we might imagine. I'm really grateful to have had this opportunity, and I'm going to try to be alert for more opportunities like this from now on.

It would be lovely if that man goes home tonight to his family and tells them about the nice white lady who welcomed him to this country instead of treating him like an interloper, but whether he does or not, I know I made a difference in his day, and that, my friends, is an amazing feeling!

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*You may have see the commercials on TV; it's a phone for hearing impaired people that provides captions of what is being said. I encourage anyone with a hearing loss that makes it hard to understand what people are saying to look into it. It's 100% free, paid for by a fund that the telecommunication companies are all required to pay into. You can find all the information here: https://clearcaptions.com/

Hubby and I voted today!

Chalk up 2 more ballots, blue all the way down. This state always goes blue in presidential elections, but the more popular votes there are for Harris-Walz, the better!

Early voting started in our state on September 21st, but until today there was just one location, and it was very inconvenient for us. We waited till today, so that we could go to a location closer to home.

It felt great to vote for Kamala and Tim, as as our Democratic congresswoman, our Democratic state rep, and the Democratic candidates for our county board. 😀

New film returns to Trump's sexual assault trial and E. Jean Carroll

New ad from George Conway's PsychoPac

George is doing good work with this PAC!

I agree.

In addition to all the reasons you laid out, I have to question the idea that exiling himself to another country would even be a viable option.

First of all, I've never bought into the trope about him fleeing to Russia. It's based on the assumption that Pootie would welcome him with open arms, and I don't see any reason why that would happen. As long as he has a chance of getting back into the White House, he's a useful idiot. Without that, his usefulness to Putin ends.

There are other places he could go, of course, but the same principle would apply in the majority of cases. Nobody really likes him, and with all his criminal convictions and pending indictments, I think he'll be an international pariah.

The only reason I can think of for Russia or any other country to shelter him would be to send a great big🖕to the most powerful country in the world, and that would be a stupid thing to do. Send the U.S a🖕and the U.S. and all of our allies would send it right back.

Putin's already in the doghouse with us and the rest of NATO (not to mention the entire Eurooean Union) over his invasion of Ukraine. Why on earth would he or anyone else be willing to stick their neck out for TSF?

I don't think even Jared's Saudi buddies would touch him with a 10 foot pole. It's in their best interests to maintain good relations with this country, and they're not stupid enough to jeopardize that.

As you said, Trump's not going to want to leave this country, and I don't think anyone else would want him anyway.

Absolutely.

I'm in a "safe" blue state, and we don't get many visits from presidential candidates, either. Our primary is just late enough that things are pretty well decided by the time it comes around, so we don't get any attention during the primary season, and later on it's just assumed that we'll go blue.

I understand why the candidates don't come here, and I'm glad they feel like they can count on us. They can't go everywhere, and they have to concentrate on the states that could go either way. I absolutely get it.

But sometimes I feel like it would be really exciting to live in a state that was in the middle of the "action," where my vote was being actively vied for rather than taken for granted.

It's all down to the electoral college, of course. They can't afford to spend a lot of time in stares where they have little chance of winning electoral votes OR states where a win is pretty well assured. They have to go knock themselves out in states Iike MI, WI, PA, AZ, GA, and NC, in the hope of being able to scoop up all the electoral votes from as many of those states as possible.

The electoral college is one of the dumbest ideas the framers of our Constitution came up with, afaic. I'd love to see it abolished for a number of reasons, not just how it affects presidential elections. But we're stuck with it for now, and that means those of us in states that consistently go the same way every time have to put up with being ignored a lot. It sucks, no matter which side you're on.

The only real solution is getting rid of the electoral college. Then and only then will each of our votes count exactly the same in presidential elections. Some don't think it can be done, and I agree that it's going to be a heavy lift, but I don't think it's impossible. It's not going to happen any time soon, but I am hopeful that one day it will.

Boo fucking hoo! 😭

I see a lot of comments expressing disbelief that Roberts is actually upset, but I believe he is indeed perturbed, in the sense of being shocked to realize that he miscalculated so badly.

He strikes me as being quite sure of his own brilliance, and I can easily believe that he's quite miffed to learn that there are so many people who are not impressed by his "brilliance" at all.

Also, if he's read any of the commentary I've read about the damage that all of these bull pucky decisions like Dobbs and that immunity garbage have done to his precious "legacy," I can well believe that his tighty whiteys are in a bit of a knot about that. Which is peachy keen and hunky dory, as far as I'm concerned, because he RICHLY deserves it, after screwing with people's lives the way he's done.

Cry your eyes out, Johnny Boy. And while you're crying for yourself, maybe consider thinking, just for a nanosecond, about all the lives that you and your 5 little buddies have caused to be upended and in some cases even ENDED-ended. Their blood snd their heartbreak are on YOUR hands, you selfish prick!

i just found out today that I'm going to be a poll worker.

Actually, I'm going to be an election judge, which is what poll workers in my state (Illinois) are called. I have done this work in the past but had taken a few years off, because I was struggling with the hours. (You have to be there by 5 am on election day, and I am NOT a morning person, plus it's a VERY long day.)

This year I decided to give it another go but had just about given up on being assigned to a polling place, Until I got a letter in the mail today telling me where I'm going to be working. Fortunately, the location is very close to where I live.

This is such an incredibly important election, and I'm glad to be part of it. I'm not expecting any real drama, because this is too blue of a state to be in the MAGA crosshairs (thank whatever gods may be), but I'm happy to serve in this way and be a part of history.

I went to the bathroom the other day and was greeted with this.

Oh, for the love of dogs and cats and little green lizards!

Leaving aside the issue of how inappropriate it is to require that the Bible be taught in public schools, this is a laughably transparent political stunt.

The reason so few Bibles fit the "requirements" that Walters pulled out of his posterior is that the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution are not part of the Bible, and have nothing to do with the contents of that book. These are gratuitously unnecessary extras that have no part in teaching anyone about the Bible, and have only been added to a few editions by publishers hoping to cash in on the "patriotism" of unsuspecting suckers who are willing to pay a premium for them.

Not only is this a blatantly obvious attempt to pander to TSF and politicize the selection of textbooks for Oklahoma schools, it adds a significant extra expense to the cost of carrying out this ridiculous mandate. I took a quick look at Amazon just now and was able, with minimal effort, to pull up multiple editions of the KJV Bible available for under $20. The only purpose of spending 3 times that much (or more) would be to curry favor with and fatten the wallets of people named Trump.

Even IF I didn't disagree with the Bible mandate in the first place, I'd be mightily pissed off by this stupid stunt. As it is, I'm only vicariously pissed off, because I don't live in Oklahoma and the tax dollars being wasted on this aren't coming out of my bank account. If I did live there, this would be me: