breathe

I feel like I can breathe again.

The inauguration is over, we once again have sane adults leading the government of the United States, and it's time to look forward to positive change. I'm so relieved!

appalled

Even a full day after the insurrection at the Capitol I remain appalled. How did we allow the disturbed individual in the White House to retain power for this long? Will Congress or the Cabinet remove him from office?

It's past time; remove him, NOW!

hoping

It's a hard day today. Yesterday's election brought the expected "still counting" result to the race for president. My poor sleep pattern was clearly caused by worries over what could happen; I woke every hour between 2 and 4 AM and finally decided it was time to stop trying to sleep at 4:30.

I am trying to hold onto hope that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will win.

I know I'm not alone as I continue to hope.

hope

I don't think we have lived through a presidential race in our past with the significance of this year's race. It scares me to think of the continued destruction of our democracy if the current inhabitant of the White House wins again this year.

The convictions held by speakers at the Democratic National Convention left me with a sense of hope.

We must continue fighting, we all need to vote, and all of us who are voting absentee either need to mail our ballots very early (as in the day we receive them) or we need to drop them in ballot boxes in our communities. I delivered my primary ballot to the drop box in front of our town hall, and I will do the same with the ballot for presidential election on November 3rd.

Eleven Films published a short video following the DNC, with this announcement:

BREAKING: The #BlueWave2020 Trailer
Coming November 3rd, America will take back our democracy!

Click here to watch #BlueWave2020.

an essay on hope

I came across an essay today written by Connie Schultz, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and professional in residence at Kent State University's school of journalism. It's a statement on hope rising after the last four years of living in a mismanaged country.

Click here to read Connie Schultz's words "Finding Hope in Her Ambition".

What do you think?

an artist's take

A quick video on Twitter caught my eye this afternoon. It shows President Trump in moving water surrounded by COVID-19; the White House is visible in the background.

The video was created from Time Magazine's cover image for the August 17 / August 24 2020 double edition.

This amazing work was created by Tim O’Brien as part of an award-winning series of covers. You can read about it in the article The Story Behind TIME's 'Plague Election' Donald Trump Cover.

courtesy Time Magazine

To see the cover as a video, click to Time's tweet here and click the play button.

isolating

Are you longing for permission to wander wherever you'd like?

While I'm fully in support of the stay-at-home advisory and I understand the reasoning behind it, some days I find it wearing to know I can't visit some of my favorite places. I'm walking outside almost every day for exercise, and I'm trying to sandwich in visits to favorite nearby state parks as part of my walking routine. Even so, I miss grabbing my camera and searching out interesting things in places far and near (without thinking about whether I should be there).

Reading continues to be a favorite pastime, one that encompasses both pleasure and news. My pleasure reading is a combination of mysteries (for escaping reality) and subjects that range from biographies to books about the environment, conservation, and yes, politics too. My news reading spans newspapers online (Boston Globe and Washington Press plus a few New York Times articles), plus my recent addiction to The Atlantic.

I am avoiding the daily COVID-19 press conferences at the White House. If I could listen to the medical experts without seeing and hearing the idiocy of the current resident of the White House I would listen but I can't stand the hypocrisy, non-answers, and rude behavior of the president.

I thought that Nancy Pelosi's comment on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” as shown in the Washington Post this morning was perfect:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that President Trump has been “an agent of distraction” during the response to the coronavirus pandemic and questioned his commitment to testing for the disease in a blistering assessment of his performance. “The fact is the president refuses to accept evidence, data, truth and the rest. We must insist on the truth,” Pelosi said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program. “He doesn’t want to test, because he doesn’t want to know the numbers, probably. Or he just doesn’t accept the science of it.” Credit: Washington Post

Back to reading...

The article "We Are Living in a Failed State" in The Atlantic caught my eye this morning. I find it frightening and true. We need big change; please vote for the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, Joe Biden.

Click HERE to read the article.

promises unfulfilled

I continue to read the news, to listen, to try to hold onto hope.

I have been impressed by the policies put in place by governors and by their quick response to changes in needs. I continue to be appalled by the lack of response by the current resident of the White House.

NPR's Morning Edition today presented an interesting timeline, "A Month After Emergency Declaration, Trump's Promises Largely Unfulfilled".

Click HERE to read the article.

Or click the start arrow to listen:

she has a plan

An article on Vox caught my eye today. It is a transcript of a discussion on The Ezra Klein Show that focuses on Elizabeth Warren's plans, starting with her thoughts on what the federal government should be doing as we face the coronavirus.

I found the discussion to be very interesting. Click HERE to read the Vox article "Elizabeth Warren has a plan for this, too".

Update on 4/7/2020: This morning a related article popped into my feed, immediately drawing my attention. Click HERE to read the article "Obama touts Elizabeth Warren's coronavirus recovery proposals".

words matter

I believe that the words Elizabeth Warren used during her campaign for president apply equally to the battle against COVID-19.

I choose hope over fear. I choose courage over cynicism.

I'm finding that it is easy to sink into depressing thoughts and that it is very important to find ways to lift myself back to optimism.

Getting outside helps. I plan to continue to feed my walking habit and to visit local parks as much as possible, always practicing social distancing.

I am staying in touch with the news but staying away from presentations by the current inhabitant of the White House. Hearing reality is good; listening to falsehoods and twisted facts is not. I am reading and sometimes participating in conversations on Cake with thoughtful people, sometimes talking about the current crisis, sometimes sharing photos and other fun things.

What helps you in these difficult times?

food for thought

I spent some time this afternoon reading the article "How the Pandemic Will End" in The Atlantic. The article is part of the magazine's free Coronavirus coverage and is well worth a read. I found it to be thought-provoking.

Click HERE to read the article.

incompetent

Each time I see him speak I am more convinced of his incompetence. It appears that COVID-19 will be with us for a while yet everything this president says convinces me that he not only doesn't understand, he insists on using it as a platform to attempt to make himself seem important. He is not succeeding; he is totally incompetent.

I was appalled at his response to NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander who asked the following question during a press conference yesterday:

"What do you say to the Americans who are scared? Nearly 200 dead, 14,000 who are sick. Millions, as you witnessed, who are scared right now. What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?"

Trump's response:

"I'd say that you're a terrible reporter. That’s what I'd say. I think it's a very nasty question and I think it's a very bad signal that you're putting out to the American people."

This was an unacceptable response. This individual doesn't seem to understand that he should be calming the country and speaking truth. That seems to be well beyond his capabilities.

I thought Rachel Maddow's comment toward the end of her show last night was perfect. It was directed to all news organizations:

"If Trump is going to keep lying like he has been every day on stuff this important, we should, all of us, stop broadcasting it. Honestly, it's going to cost lives."

Click HERE to watch the short segment of The Rachel Maddow Show that presented this comment.

Help to elect a new president in November; vote for the Democratic nominee!

BREAKING: The American Virus

I just watched the 2-minute film "BREAKING: The American Virus: We Will Prevail".

Eleven Films created this masterpiece, tying together our president's incorrect statements about COVID-19 with statements of truth from sane, smart individuals.

Watch it HERE.

taking responsibility

Like many other people I am following the news of the Coronovirus outbreak with concern.

I watched and was disgusted by the president's press conference yesterday afternoon. Refusing to take responsibility for anything should be a strong sign to everyone that this individual should not be in office.

There were two articles published yesterday that I found very interesting.

Click here to read Politico article 'I don't take responsibility at all': Trump deflects blame for coronavirus testing fumble.

Click here to read The Atlantic article The Trump Presidency Is Over.

a woman in the White House

Did you watch Rachel Maddow's interview with Elizabeth Warren last night? It left me even more impressed by Elizabeth than I was before; she remains up beat in spite of suspending her campaign for president.

I especially loved the segment where Elizabeth stated "I know that we will one day elect a woman to the White House".

You can listen to that short segment by clicking here.

Click here if you'd like to listen to the full interview with Elizabeth Warren on "The Rachel Maddow Show" on March 5, 2020.

sad

It was a sad day today, the day that Elizabeth Warren suspended her campaign for president.

I have been volunteering and working for her for the last five months.
Supporting Elizabeth gave me hope.

Elizabeth's words from her thank you email are powerful.

"Choose to fight only righteous fights, because then when things get tough — and they will — you will know that there is only option ahead of you: nevertheless, you must persist. You should be so proud of what we’ve done together — what you have done over this past year. Our work continues, the fight goes on, and big dreams never die." < Elizabeth Warren >

dream big

Supporting a political candidate can have ups and downs.

Elizabeth Warren's campaign slogan "Dream Big Fight Hard" is very fitting; her speech tonight as the polls closed on the primary in New Hampshire was very moving.

Click here for a quick intro. (Don't forget to click to turn the sound on!)

Click the play button here to listen to the full speech.

powerful

I just watched "BREAKING: Midnight In Washington - Impeachment Zero Hour". Eleven Films created the video using Adam Schiff's words from the closing statements of the impeachment trial paired with pictures of events that support his words.

The video is very powerful.

Watch it HERE.

---

Update at 6:25 pm

Yes, I know, he was acquitted in the Senate. He is still impeached, and the video is still worth watching and believing.

endorsements

I was surprised to see that the New York Times has broken with tradition and endorsed two democratic presidential candidates, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar. I'm volunteering for Elizabeth Warren's campaign but I will happily vote for Amy Klobuchar if she wins the nomination. I believe they are both strong candidates.

"In a break with convention, the editorial board has chosen to endorse two separate Democratic candidates for president, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren" is the introduction to the editorial, The Democrats’ Best Choices for President.

image courtesy of the New York Times

a definition

I saw a reference to an article titled The Patterns of High-Conflict People today.

The article was (to me) a good description of the current inhabitant of the White House, an individual who doesn't behave in a manner that fits with the office of president of the United States.

Does the introductory paragraph from the article drawn you in as it did me?

Did you ever meet someone who seemed pleasant enough, until one day they suddenly turned on you and started raging at you for some minor disagreement, blaming you for things you didn’t do, threatening you with public humiliation or demanding that you assist them in criticizing someone else? Such people are often considered to have “high-conflict personalities.”

I encourage you to read the article published on the Thrive-Global web site on February 6, 2018.

Click to The Patterns of High-Conflict People.