Tag: politics
Voting
I try not to write about politics on here. Because that would be all I write about if I did.
I find it insanely disgusting that Donald Trump doesn’t want Americans for have easy access to voting. He explicitly railed against Democratic provisions in a round of stimulus talks that would have increased the ability to vote by mail and early voting timetables:
“I will tell you this, when you look at the before and after, the things they had in there were crazy,” Trump said. “They had levels of voting, that if you ever agreed to it you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again, they had things in there about election days, and what you do…and it was totally crazy.”
So there it is. Increased voter turnout is not something Republicans want. They would prefer low voter turnout, at least according to the President and head of their party.
How can anyone defend that statement?
Instead of defending all of his supporters and other Republican senators and representatives just ignore it. I know mine do.
I live in Ohio’s 16th District. It’s a pretty disgustingly drawn district.
I live in the top part of this. That small Minnesota shaped puzzle piece connected by a very thin strip of land. Before it was redrawn by Republicans after the 2010 census it actually looked like a sane person drew it, instead of a heavily data influenced algorithm that had a goal of making a safe republican seat. See for yourself:
Look at that district. Totally makes sense in the fact that it is a small, normal shaped area.
My current representative is Anthony Gonzalez. I’m sure he’s a real nice man, but I’m not sure why he is qualified to be a Representative. Judging by his bio, his sole accomplishments in life is playing football in the NFL.
I’m maybe an annoying constituent. When I worked at Summit and had early mornings, I called my Representatives and Senators on a weekly basis to let them know how I was feeling about issues. I was frustrated with Gonzalez because like most politicians his public tweets and statements don’t align with his votes.
The one time I actually got a response to him was last summer when immigrant adults and children were being held in horrid conditions all across the United States. I had written him an email and stated two lingering concerns: 1. That John Kelley, former chief of staff sat on the board of one of the largest private organizations housing immigrants in a massive conflict of interest, and 2. That these private organizations, including the one John Kelley sat on, were being paid more than triple the amount a school is paid to educate an average student on a day to day basis. Essentially they turned a massive profit by housing as many immigrants as possible in unsanitary conditions with many, many reported abuses.
His response to me didn’t touch upon either of those concerns, rather stated that he was proud congress passed the H.R. 3401 two months earlier and he was proud of that. Oh, and there has to be more discussions on immigration. Which is wonderful, I acknowledged both of those in my email to him, but my concerns were more narrow in the corruption and conflict of interest being ignored in the pursuit of profits, something he just didn’t seem to understand.
But he does state on his House website:
I can only speak for myself, but I’m a little disgusted that the non-response response I got from him is counted among those 20,000 responses. Other topics I’ve called and left messages with him on are budget votes (particularly when he says one thing and votes another way), oversight of the congressionally appropriated funds, and many, many of the president’s statements and actions that overshadow everything else in the world. Nothing else has gotten a response. And not all my calls are about concerns. There are times I’ve given him credit for his statements, but also called him out on his walk-backs of those statements and conflicting votes.
In Ohio we have one Republican Senator – Rob Portman, and one Democratic Senator – Sherrod Brown. I’ve probably left close to a hundred messages for Senator Portman over the years, and not one response. Which I guess when you represent a whole state could be expected. Although in everyone of his answering service messages he states he will get back to each person. Maybe it’ll be like Ringo Starr in the Simpsons and I’ll get a response decades from now:
Sherrod Brown hasn’t replied to anything either. But at least he gives the appearance of replying. And to be honest I’ve left much less messages for him than the other two. I used ResistBot to fax all of my congressional representatives about the USPS, asking what action they would take on the issue and its importance to me.
(Honestly, ResistBot is amazing and I encourage everyone – whatever your views are – to check it out.)
Since having Marceline, I’ve written more mail than any other time in my life. It would be ridiculous to think that such a service would be allowed to go bankrupt and fail when it benefits and serves every single person in the United States. How does the president, and republicans in Congress, justify bailing out airlines and other industries, but not fund the USPS fully?
Hell, (that’s right, Hell), more than half of all of the stimulus checks to Americans will be mailed to them. I wonder if the USPS was going to go bankrupt before those checks are going to be delivered, that Trump would have a different attitude towards them. If USPS having no funding left disrupted delivery of the stimulus checks Trump is so proud of, I bet he would find it in his heart to fund it.
Odd that President Trump is ok with that, but doesn’t think expanded access to vote by mail is a good thing. Of course it’s OK for him to vote by mail. That’s different, obviously.
Sherrod Brown’s office immediately replied to my fax with an email:
I suppose it is not much more than the answering service message from Senator Portman, but it was an actual response which is more than I was expecting.
All of this rant came from getting my Vote By Mail ballot yesterday. Ohio has easy access to vote by mail, meaning you don’t have to have a reason to vote by mail, you can just request a vote by mail ballot and they will send you one.
But not really. You see to get a vote by mail ballot, you have to first send a request to you county office to request a request for a vote by mail ballot.
Don’t go back and read again, you read it right. You have to request to have a request to vote by mail ballot mailed to you.
Then you can fill out the request to vote by mail, mail it back to the county office and they will send a ballot to you.
It seems absurd to have that extra step. It means from the day you submit a request for a request for a vote by mail ballot, it will take two weeks for an actual vote by mail ballot to arrive at your door. I suppose that not bad for three pieces of mail traveling 30 miles ( Me: online request for request for vote by mail ballot. Them: Mail vote request for vote by mail ballot. Me: Receive, open and fill out request for vote by mail ballot and put in next day’s mail. Them: Receive request for vote by mail ballot, process, and mail vote by mail ballot. Me: Receive vote by mail ballot).
When Ohio cancelled it’s primary election on March 17th (literally was cancelled March 16 in the evening – but even then a court challenge hadn’t been finished) it took just over a week for an agreement on what would be acceptable to happen. Instead of in person voting, vote by mail deadlines would be expanded until April 27th. That gave an extra 6 weeks to vote by mail, which when you think of how long it takes to actually get a vote by mail ballot it isn’t a lot.
With no physical voting occurring, and how many steps there are to get a vote by mail ballot, voter participation in the primary is going to be way down. Which is a shame. But as Trump clearly said, that’s good for republicans.
Still what it comes down to is that I am lucky enough to live in a state where I can vote by mail simply by requesting a request for a vote by mail ballot and filling it out. I suppose the multiple step process reduces the chances that voter fraud by mail would happen (even if it is extremely rare, just as any voter fraud is – the last big case of mail voter fraud, or any voter fraud, was a republican operative in North Carolina).
I know, again, this is a long rambling post. It is why I try not to write about politics often.
A politics free summer
Well not summer, but July.
As a progressive, as someone who kind of despises the current political direction of our government, someone who can’t stand the inane, confusing, misleading, factually incorrect and outright lies made by our president on a daily basis, someone who leaves messages for my senators and representatives Congress (which – despite asking for letters and other communication about their votes, thinking on topics I care about, and other issues – I have received none communication back – I’m looking at you Senator Porter – thanks for writing me off as a constituent), and someone who reads a ton of news each day, its been a frustrating couple of months.
So what do I do? Well July is my month off from work. I’m also taking a month off from politics. I’ll still read headlines, and read local news, but I’m taking July off from engaging in political news or discussion. At least as much as I can.
Think of it as a mental health break. I’ll spend July reading books, maybe (hopefully) hiring a few teachers – which is ironic since it is my month off of work, fixing things around our house (bathroom sink – fixed!), maybe drawing again, and exercising. And take a cue from my cats and just relax.
I’ll re-engage in August.
I will say this political climate of the last two years has made me re-think how I get my news. I’ve gone from only consuming free news (CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Politico, etc) to paying for my chief news sources. From reading websites, to reading actual newspapers and dailies.
I subscribe to the Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, Skeptical Inquirer and PBS. I also listen to NPR and the BBC. I know the Washington Post definitely has a left leaning slant, but is factually accurate. The Christian Science Monitor is centrist, and has a global view. Same with BBC. Skeptical Inquirer and PBS are not necessarily news (at least in how I consume them), but rather for science discussions and documentaries.
Surprisingly not jumping to immediate reactions, and reading articles written at a later time, with thought, is way easier to digest than ’emerging stories’. These newspaper sources, non-biased sources like the BBC, and dailies like the Christian Science Monitor, are also way more factually accurate than quick reporting stations and sites like CNN, Fox, and MSNBC.
Also, as an interesting end-note, my hometown newspaper, The Post Star, is apparently one of the least biased newspapers in the country. Yeah… That’s an odd statement.
WTF
I don’t want to rant about politics for the next four years…. but that may just happen anyways.
KellyAnne Conway and Sean Spicer just blew my mind with their weekend logic. Or lack of.
To see Spicer’s press conference, which wasn’t a conference because he took no questions, but rather ranted and flat out lied, was pretty appalling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G4xjNiUn3o
He just flat out lies. First off, that reporter corrected his mistake about the bust in under ten minutes. Which is quicker than Trump corrects his posts. He also is lying about the white tarps, and, well pretty much everything in the rest of the briefing. Even the numbers, the only facts he cites, are wrong. The comments about the CIA speech, well Trump on twitter compared the CIA to Nazis. That was Trump, not the press. And his message wasn’t about support of the CIA, it was patting himself on the back and rambling. With one line about supporting the CIA. Oh, and Trump tried to say god made the rain stop as soon as he spoke at the inauguration, when in fact it continue the whole time. Which is weird to lie about the weather, when the speech was broadcast, but Trump felt the need to.
KellyAnne Conway later went on Chuck Todd to say Spicer wasn’t lying, he had “alternative facts”. Which are just lies. Facts are Facts, not negotiable, not false. She said that we should be talking about a whole slew of other things. What Chuck Todd didn’t point out was that the President didn’t send out Sean Spicer to talk about those things, rather just sent him out to lie and rant about the mediocre size of his crowds.
Look, its hard to give Trump the benefit of the doubt, to believe he will be a good president fighting for all Americans, when he sends his team out there to lie for him, when he lies, even little ones, as president. I don’t want a president that lies, or is upset at the size of his crowds. I want a president that will reach out to the other side, have a conversation with them and try to find some middle ground. That’s what I want out of democratic president, republican president, or independent president. That is what should be expected out of any American President, because they are not beholden to just their base, they should be beholden to all of the American people.
Until Trump at least attempts that, I can’t respect him. So far in his 48 hours he has shown he is thin skinned, willing to lie to members of our intelligence agency, and pretty much lives in his own world where something called “alternative facts” exist.
And just like that…
I’m concerned about Jeff Sessions.
Not that there weren’t things to be concerned about before. In fact for the majority of his confirmation hearing he answered how I expected him to answer. Yes I’ll uphold the law. If states laws conflict with Federal laws something needs to change. The AG will uphold Federal laws. Back peddle away from any race questions or questions about his past. Acknowledged that he would uphold laws that he doesn’t agree with as is the responsibility of the AG (Roe vs. Wade).
Sen. Whitehouse: “And a secular person has just as good a claim to understanding the truth as a person who is religious, correct?”
Sen. Sessions: “Well, I’m not sure.”
Sessions went on to say “We’re going to treat anybody with different views fairly and objectively” but that doesn’t negate his previous comment.
As an atheist this really concerns me. Change the words secular and religious around, or to different religions.
“And a Christian person has just as good a claim to understanding the truth as a person who is Muslim, correct?”
“Well, I’m not sure.”
————-
“And a Muslim person has just as good a claim to understanding the truth as a person who is Christian, correct?”
“Well, I’m not sure.”
————
“And a Jewish person has just as good a claim to understanding the truth as a person who is Christian, correct?”
“Well, I’m not sure.”
————
“And a Buddhist Monk has just as good a claim to understanding the truth as a person who is Christian, correct?”
“Well, I’m not sure.”
————
“And a Hindu has just as good a claim to understanding the truth as a person who is Christian, correct?”
“Well, I’m not sure.”
————
Instant Outrage for any of these. At least their should be.
Part of Congressional Hearings is that we should take these people spoken at their word. What they say is what they believe to be the truth. So we should believe Senator Sessions when he says he’s not sure a secular person can understand the truth like a religious person, but he’s sure gonna try hard to believe them anyways. It is particularly worrying when you discover that in 2001 Senator Session rebuked Senator Leahy for swearing in a witness without requiring them to use the phrase “So help me God.” When questioned on it Senator Sessions said “95% of people believe in God.” Even if that is true, swearing on the Bible isn’t a constitutional mandate.
I want to take people on their word. That they will say what they believe. However, that doesn’t seem to be the outlook of this administration. Kelly Anne Conway admitted that herself this weekend. We need to look at people’s hearts, not the words that come out of their mouth. Just ignore those please.
Struggle
I think struggle the is right word.
That’s how I feel right now. Donald Trump is our presidential elect. I understand and support the outcome of the election, just as much as the right of people to protest this election. It was divisive and the popular vote shows that. I don’t agree with any of the violence or property destruction at the protests. That’s not called for.
I hope Donald Trump is a good president. I hope what I thought when he entered the crowed republican field over a year ago is what comes to pass. My initial thoughts were that I’d rather have a business man who knows that with any bill, law or legislation there has to be give and take, just like in dealings in the business world than any of the other hard line evangelical religious who don’t seem to understand that a government is not a religious institution, and who think their religion based values should be imposed on everyone, even those who are completely abstain from religion.
Of course that was crushed by all of the hard line rhetoric that came out of Trump on the campaign trail. Also maybe the racist, xenophobic and sexist comments made.
I’ve seen a lot of Facebook posts from Trump supporters saying things similar to this blog post here (some even just post a link to that blog). Essentially saying I’m a Republican, not racist or sexist, but then never acknowledging that the candidate they voted for has made those racist, xenophobic or sexist comments. In Cassie’s blog linked above she never acknowledges why a Trump presidency scares some people. Why his comments, not words twisted but actual comments he has made lead people to think they will be belittled, shunned, marginalized or attacked because of their looks. If you can’t acknowledge another’s point of view, and acknowledge that your candidate has said many repulsive things then you will never be able to have any sort of frank and honest discussion.
The easiest way to get around this for Trump supporters would be “I support some of Trump’s policies such as this and this and this. But I absolutely don’t agree with his racist, xenophobic and sexist comments. That said, I think that Trump is a better candidate for these reasons and hope he backs off or even denounces some of his earlier statements.”
Look, I didn’t agree with every about Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Having an e-mail server at home that she used for government business was idiotic. But I also read some of the leaked e-mails. She not very technology literate. She clearly didn’t think that through nor understood what later implications would fall out from it. It doesn’t excuse it, but it happened. There will be books written about that mistake I’m sure. The FBI investigated. Twice now. And found nothing to be prosecuted aside from poor judgement. I think that the Clinton Foundation should have been run by other hands than the Clinton’s during her tenure as Secretary of State. But again, there was nothing in the e-mails that actually show collusion or pay for play. Just smoke with no fire per say.
We haven’t seen any of Trump’s e-mails. We haven’t seen his taxes. We don’t know about foreign entanglements in his businesses. But what we do know about him and what we do know about Clinton led me to vote for her in this last election. All of her flaws included. Which I acknowledged and called out when speaking with friends.
If you are a Trump supporter and feel like you are still feel like you are being shunned and can’t talk about it around your peers or friends, go ahead and acknowledge his racist and sexist comments, and then denounce them. From there you can move the conversation onto why despite those comments Trump was the better candidate in your view. If you can denounce those comments, and empathize with people feeling attacked and concerned by them, and maybe, even, say if time comes where your rights are infringed by my candidate, by our president, I will stand along side you – you will come looking a lot better than Cassie does above, who essentially says “I grew up near the city – I’m not racist!” That statement does nothing to alleviate or acknowledge others fears or concerns.
There were reasons to vote for Trump. Even reasons I disagree with wholehearted that I can accept other may find worth voting for.
I am disappointed with the outcome of the election. I didn’t vote for Trump. His words used to describe women, ethnic Americans and Muslims disgusted me. Those words, can’t be separated from the candidate himself, and while I’m not immediately called out by any of those statements, people I know and associate with are affected by those statements.
I sincerely hope that anyone who reads this blog supported Trump despite his racist, xenophobic and sexist comments, not because of them, and is not afraid to say so.
I’m not saying this will allow you to ‘win’ discussions with peers, with Hillary supporters, with anyone. But it will allow you to be part of the discussion – not on the outside of it – and that’s how we move forward past this divisive election.
In other news – remember that time Trump ran on the slogan “Drain the Swamp” and then went ahead and had lobbyists, political insiders, and administration from previous candidates in his transition team and as potential cabinet members?
Draining the swamp indeed.