Thursday Thoughts

A few random thoughts on a Thursday....

So...tomorrow is basically the end of the world as we know it.
Are you going to watch the ringmaster take the oath of office?
I'm not.
I'll be working. And trying to avoid social media for a while.
And maybe day drinking.

Anyway...today is one of 'those' days - I feel like the week is catching up with me.
I've been waking up every night in a lot of pain.
And I've been fighting brain fog all week.
Today might be the day where it all catches up with me.

I'm all tingly from head to toe (not in a good way).
My shoulders ache. My elbows hurt to touch.
Oh and I have the concentration of a gnat right now.
It is taking all my energy to actually write semi-coherent sentences.

I think I need a nap.
Or a vacation.
Or both.
A nap on a beach.
That would be idea.

OK.
Enough blathering on and on.
I better get some work done before the fog takes over.

Love Trumps Hate

Back in November, after the election was over and I was feeling rather distraught and angry, I decided to hang a sign in my office window. It was a sign that we picked up at the Hillary Clinton office here in town and I decided I would leave it up for as long as was necessary (at least four year at this point, right?)

So now it's January and I don't often think about the sign, except when I happen to drive by my house and see it. I also never gave much thought to whether or not anyone else saw the sign.

Then...

Today I received a note in the mail.
It was from a person I've never met.

The note read:

Traci - 
We've never met before - unless we have passed each other on Halloween, but I live in your neighborhood and drive past your house daily. I wanted to Thank You for your sign in your window. When the days are horrific and I read again and again of the awful things happening in our current governmental leadership, the racism and hate crimes and just the uphill battle of it all, your window makes me smile. It lets me know that you are there and we have an ally close by. Thank you for your presence. 

Always stronger together,
(there was a name but I'm not publishing the name)

You guys.
I was standing in my kitchen crying after I read this.
To know that someone saw this sign and feels better and safer because of it?
All the feels. 

After watching the slightly terrifying (OK, really terrifying) "press conference" from He Who Shall Not Be Named (on this blog) and feeling very angry and defeated it was amazing to read something like this from a complete stranger.

Because honestly, we're going to need to meet those strangers and become friends and allies in person and fight the good fight. Stronger together is the ONLY way we're going to get through the next four years.

Love trumps hate.
Never forget that.

Tuesday Thoughts: A Week Later

So here we are, one week after Election Day 2016 (aka: The End of Days).

Am I still angry about the outcome?
Yep.
Am I still posting political stuff on Facebook and Twitter?
Yep. (And I'll get to that more in a bit)

But, here's the thing: in the midst of my anger and (yes, really) despair about what happened last week I am finding resolve and positive thoughts. Do I still think we, as a country, are headed down a path that is equal parts terrifying and uncharted? Damn right. But I am convinced that there is a huge group of folks out there who are willing to fight back.

And for my part I'm involved in another campaign for 2017 and that is likely just the start of my part of the fight.

I'm also trying to remain positive and do things that make me happy.

Like, decorating for Christmas.
On November 14.

Yes, really.

Last night Kevin said "we should decorate" and the girls were really excited about it ... so who was I to say no? [I did say 'no' to Walt the Elf on the Shelf coming back. It's way too soon for that nonsense].

And to be honest sitting next to the tree last night, sipping a cuppa tea, was very relaxing. It was happiness in the midst of impending darkness.

So yeah.
I decorated for Christmas.
On November 14.
Deal with it.

Which brings me to my other thought for today. I've seen several people posting on FB about how THEY THINK we should all stop posting about politics and how we should "unlike" sites like MSNBC, Vox, The Daily Kos, etc. Basically telling people that they're tired of hearing about it and therefore we should all shut up.

Well guess what?
That's not going to happen any time soon on my FB page.
So, if you're tired of seeing political posts you best unfollow or unfriend me now.

Because in case you aren't aware there is a revolution starting and that means this is NOT the time to sit back and shut up.

This is the time to speak up, speak out, be heard, and let those who think they're going to silence entire religions or groups of people know that we will not be silent. I will continue to speak up and speak out because that is MY right. And if we stop speaking up and speaking out then THEY win. Again. And that is not OK.

So there you have it.
I decorated for Christmas
And I'm going to keep posting political stuff.
Because I can.
;)

Happy Tuesday.

Bernie!

So yesterday afternoon I was scrolling through my Facebook news feed as I'm wont to do on any given afternoon and that's when I saw it.

One of our local news stations posted that BERNIE IS COMING TO TOLEDO!

Today.

That's right. They announced on a Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. that Bernie Sanders is coming to Toledo on Friday afternoon for 'A Future to Believe in Rally."

Nothing like almost last-minute, ya know.

I quickly emailed my husband and asked him to take half a day off work so that I could go. He of course said yes. (He had an ulterior motive - he wants to go to the driving range and hit golf balls).

And so ... I'm going to see Bernie today!

And I'm seriously excited about it. Yes, the doors open at 1:30 and the rally starts at 4:30 (WTH?) but it'll be just fine.

#FeelTheBern people.

Politics on a Wednesday

So, last night was YUUUUUGE for Bernie Sanders.

He won the Michigan primary. This is a big deal. Unless you listen to every news network out there. Then you might not think it's a big deal because according to them, Bernie is still "down in the delegate count" and blah, blah, blah.

People. Seriously.
Bernie was supposed to lose Michigan.
All the polls said so - and we all know how the polls are always right (insert sarcasm here).

But he didn't lose. He won by more than 20,000 votes.
YUUUUUUGE.
Feel. The. Bern.

This morning I thought that maybe, JUST MAYBE, the morning "news" shows (like Good Morning America) would actually LEAD WITH BERNIE. You know, since it's a big frickin' story and all.

But no.

They led with freaking Donald Drumpf.
WHY?
Because he has all the media eating out of his tiny hands and giving him FREE earned media.
His wins last night weren't newsworthy.

[As an aside: I made the mistake of actually watching Drumpf's "speech"  last night and I literally wanted to throw things at my television. Or punch someone. Or both. He said NOTHING OF SUBSTANCE. Absolutely nothing but garbage came out of his loud mouth. He had no policy points, nothing. Essentially it was "Ted is a liar, Marco is a little man, Lindsay Graham is a nasty person, people are attacking me, I own a lot of buildings, I watched the golf tournament at MY golf course on Sunday (WTF?), oh and I brought my own brand of water, wine, and steak (WTF? again) to this "press conference."]

But newsworthy or not GMA decided to lead with Drumpf. Their second story was about John Kasich who is barely holding on in the primary but hey he might win Ohio...but even if he does there's no hope.

And then...THREE STORIES into the broadcast they talked about Bernie and his "unlikely" victory.

I have a very strong feeling that had Hillary won that would have been a lead story "Hillary's nomination a done deal" or something like that. But Bernie? Nope. He gets relegated to the third news story of the day.

It irks me so very much that the media refuses to report on Bernie. He's not some flash-in-the-pan. He is a real candidate who is really winning and it's about damn time the media started giving him equal (and positive) air time and column inches.

And don't even get me started on how all the polls and pundits and talking heads are counting the super delegates NOW rather than waiting until the convention which is when they should/will be counted. The ONLY delegates that matter right freaking now are the "regular" (non-super) delegates. The super delegates can vote for either candidate at the convention which is why they don't count right now.

#RantOver
#FeelTheBern