"Bernie or Bust" Peeps ... Let's Win The War

I just read a really insightful article pointing out the fact that ... in essence... Bernie DID win. Certainly not in the way the Bernie or Bust peeps wanted, but there is a silver lining to all this. 

Yes, Bernie lost the battle, but his passion and ideals, will help us win the war. To coin a Drumpf-ism.... that's HUuuGE! 

Bernie made history. His base ... made history. Together, you influenced an entire party and made such great arguments for truly progressive ideals, that it's now the very foundation for our current platform. That's a Victory folks!

Here's the problem we face though ... if you can not let go and get past the fact that a battle was lost and move forward on this, you are now nothing more than an obstructionist, maybe even to the point that the war will be lost. How does that kind of defiant mind set, honor the battle you fought if you prevent us from winning the war?

The troops need to move forward. There are more battles to fight before its all over. If you are stuck in the field infighting over something you can't change, you are putting all of the troops at risk. We need to regroup and work as one if we are going to win the war. 

You did NOT fight in vein. 

The good news is that Bernie is now free to be the most effective, passionate, vocal and influential activist he can be! 

That is the silver lining to all of this. 

That's how we will win the war.

"Bernie or Bust" Peeps ... We Need Your Help!

Bernie or Bust folks... I have really tried to respect you and your passion, really I have. But what was once a passion full of good intent ...  has now turned into childish behavior. 

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I LOVE Bernie! I have loved his views since way before he ran for the Presidency.

~ I believe that the country needs to supply it's people with fundamental rights and also provide a safety net for folks who need our collective help. 

~ I believe that big money has to be removed from the table when it comes to politics. You should never be able to buy an election or politician.

~ I believe the care of our planet should never be a political football, but something we all take part in caring and fighting for. 

I am totally with Bernie on those points.

I was torn for a long time over Hillary or Bernie, but I voted for Hillary in the primaries because even though I love Bernie, I felt that she had the experience and skills and strength to run our country more so then Bernie. Not that he couldn't, but that she was better suited. I am NOT anti Bernie, I want to be clear about that. 

Also note that I am not exactly in love with Hillary, but that's okay. It's okay because I firmly believe that she is the kind of human being that can change her position if she feels there is a good reason to do so. When you know better, you do better and she gets that.

I also feel confident that her entire LIFE is based on doing things for the greater good. 

So Bernie didn't win. That's life... you can either have a temper tantrum over it or do the next best thing. 

If you don't Vote Blue in November or don't even bother to vote in protest that is 100% your right... but... keep in mind you are playing right into the hands of the GOP who are absolutely laughing at us over this whole mess.

The right wants to divide us. 

It's a PLOY. 

Don't fall for it.

Just because Bernie didn't win, doesn't mean you have to stop loving him. 

So let's use an analogy. Pretend you are going some place to eat a nice juicy steak, that you have been totally craving for months, only to find out they are don't offer that as a choice anymore!

Instead of staying and ordering something else... you have a melt down and flip the table over, knock trays of food out of the hands of the waiters, set fire to the curtains and storm out like a 3 year old brat.

Or....... you get the chicken and deal with it. You aren't happy but you don't take it out on anyone for not getting what you wanted. 

In keeping with the same restaurant theme, now we move on to apathy (not voting at all). 

Because they don't offer what you want any longer, you decide to just not eat there at all (which is fine) but on the way out, you notice that they don't let Blacks, Muslims, Gays or Mexicans in at all. 

You have a choice, you can ignore it, or you can help by speaking up or making sure you support someone who will fight for them. 

If you are a good person, you don't ignore people who need help with any form of injustice or enable the offenders.

Well guess what... the Democratic party needs your help fighting injustice! 

We need your help to win against those who would gladly deny people, based on some form of bigotry!

This is bigger then YOU.

If you are all about doing the right thing for the greater good, then morally, you should vote for Hillary this November. 

She may not be your first love or first choice and you may not even like her, but the thing is, she will fight the kind of injustice the other side perpetuates. 
  

‪#‎VoteBlue‬ 

‪#‎NeverTrump

‬ ‪#‎BernieSupportsHillary‬

To Be Black In America - From the view of a one old White Chick

I don't know what it is to be black. I don't know what it's like to wake up in utter dread each day and wonder what injustice will cross my path. 

I grew up in a mixed neighborhood. Jews, Blacks, Chinese, Latinos, Irish Catholic, Germans, Italians, Polish... you name it... we had one tucked in our area somewhere. I had no idea what racism even WAS until I got older. Even though I was born in the 60's and racism existed all around me, the community I grew up in, sheltered me from the reality of it because we just didn't treat each other that way. 

When I was in my teens and started to see racism first hand via my black friends, even though I knew it existed, I still didn't fully understand it. How could I? I wasn't Black.

All I know is that from the time I was about 5, when anyone experienced being treated unfairly, it made me mad and made me want to stand up for that person. I can't be 100% sure where that came from. Was it the neighborhood I grew up in that didn't see race? Is it something inside my DNA? What I think made me this way was because I was always around people who were full of compassion and were always respectful of others. 

That kind of compassion for your fellow human being, and having respect for others, has gone missing somewhere along the line. When did we stop teaching this? Did we stop acting like this? Did we think compassion and respect was instinctual? Did we think someone else would teach our kids these things? What ever the answer is, we need to step up and start making sure kids grow up knowing the requirements for being a good person.

There are a trillion examples of the lack of compassion and respect we have for others, especially if you are Black in America. I want to talk about one of those examples.

Leslie Jones, of SNL and the remake of Ghost Busters was attacked on her Twitter account ... for being BLACK.

Leslie Jones, star of Ghostbusters and Saturday Night Live cast member, exposed Twitter trolls on Monday for sending her racist, hateful, and even graphic messages. Some of the horrible messages included pictures of apes, with frequent comparisons of Jones to Harambe the gorilla killed at Cincinnati Zoo, and one message saying she was the source of AIDS. {full article} 

My heart breaks for her. But I know she is not alone. Because she is a celebrity, she is a public figure and that makes her the perfect target for racists. Sadly, this is just one of many stories of racism in America.

Each day, I am absolutely floored by all the hate in this country for Black people. I struggle to understand it. I thought we turned a corner when we elected Obama. I don't recall this level of racism back then. So what happened? 

Something occurred to me today and I wanted to share it. So here is my theory on one of the reasons for this renewed, overt bigotry in America.

It's Obama's Fault!!!! 

I am making a joke really, but sort of not. 

I really think this new fervor of racism is some giant backlash for Obama being such an incredible President and for being such a good human being. 

Bigots wanted NEEDED him to fail, they did everything they could to sabotage him, and when all of their dirty tricks didn't break him, it just made them even crazier and more desperate to undermine any black person. I think that is why we are seeing it more today then when he was elected. 

Because Obama was able to take what they dished out, with grace and class, I am convinced it left them so defeated that they are trying to "up their game" and go after people they think they can rattle or diminish in some sort of sore loser mode. You know the type, I lost, so I am going to take you down some other way. He did such a great job, even though he had more on his plate than any president in recent history, that it scared them that their days of white power... was OVER!

Here is the thing about the attack on Leslie Jones .... all the racists out there that think they can get away with this kind of thing, I've got news for you.... millions more... HAVE HER BACK. You didn't pull her down. All you did was inflict a tiny mosquito bite and the rest of us are going to squash you like the disease infected bugs you are.

This is a kind, beautiful, funny, talented human being who was attacked just for being Black in America. She did nothing to deserve this. Not one .....single thing... to incite this, except have the utter gall to be Black in America. 

The attack on her is only going to rally millions of people to her side. Even though it's only one story in the landscape of being Black in America, I hope it also becomes a sort of beacon for folks who are not public figures that go through this kind of experience too.

You racists didn't didn't knock anyone down, in fact, what you did, had the opposite effect. It's bringing people together in the fight against this kind of ugly, foul, idiotic behavior. Now go back into the cave you crawled out of.....

#LoveForLeslie