The Reasons Stimulus goes to working people too

The Reasons Stimulus goes to working people too

So some are mad about stimulus money going to working people still able to collect a paycheck. It's actually not the problem you think it is.

The costs of filtering out the people still working has been proven to cost just as much (or more) than just paying them. So it doesn't pass the "cost/benefit analyses" test. The word for that is referred to as Means Testing. Studies show that although it makes great hyperbolic headlines, the math doesn't work out.

You also need to remember that this is a stimulus. It's main purpose is to stimulate the economy.

Poor people tend to spend money given to them. So it helps people all the way up. This also makes that money move. Money circulation is the goal. It circulates more when fed to poor people than rich people.

Rich people tend to horde money, invest money, and send it to offshore accounts. Now even if you feel that there is nothing wrong with that, it does nothing to stimulate the economy. Poor people spend, rich people save. So feed it to poor people if you want that money to circulate. Feed it to rich people if you want the money to stagnate.

So it really doesn't matter if the people are working or not. That extra money has a purpose. It serves that purpose by getting it to the people who will circulate it.

Can we also talk about hazard pay? If you are still working, the chances are pretty high that you are in a job where your life is being put at risk by going to work. People who clean, people who fix things, people who prepare food, people who deliver things, etc. They are what we call essential workers. So let's show them how essential they really are by letting them have a little extra for a month or two without a bunch of Karen's throwing tantrums, ok?

Understanding socialism: Part One

Understanding socialism: Part One

Social ownership is the one common theme of all versions of socialism. If you asked 100 socialists what that means, how far that social ownership should go, or what should stay private, you would get 100 different answers. But the basic concept is that the people own the means of 'production.'

So if one only cared about themselves, they would do the exact opposite. They would fight to keep all forms of power and control to less people. A socialist wants that power and control spread out.

Now a capitalist wants that power and control to be under private ownership. Meaning that everyone looks out for themselves.

So I think you are talking about a capitalist.

However, both of these terms are very general and vague. There are many forms of both. Although I lean pretty far to the left, I believe in a balance of capitalism and socialism. We need business to thrive to have a strong economy, but if business is allowed to go unchecked it turns sour. It turns to what we have now, which is crony capitalism. It's an unhealthy form of capitalism.

But if we put regulations in place to make sure that the workers get a fair piece of the proverbial pie, we have a more stable economy.

We have tried trickle down economics for most of my life. It has failed. But more and more economists are pushing for trickle up economics. Meaning that you feed money to the people at the bottom, then let it trickle up to the people at the top.

Imagine if every hourly worker that you know is given $10,000.00 to deal with any way they want. What do they do? They spend it. They pay off debt. They travel. Maybe they even party it up a little. But that causes a great thing to happen. Money is moving. That is what you want for an economy. For money to move!

Now imagine if we give that $10,000.00 to the 1%. What do they do? They save it. They invest it. They put it in offshore accounts. It doesn't cause the money to move at all. That's bad for the economy.

That is the difference between what Bernie is pushing for, and what many in the GOP have been fighting for. Crazy Bernie wants to help those at the bottom because he knows that will get money moving. But that is because Bernie is not a 100% socialist. He's a Democratic Socialist. He wants balance to return.

But yeah. In short, a socialist wants to spread out the power, control, and wealth. A Capitalist wants to privatize everything. You are thinking of capitalism.

When Facebook Blocks that you voted?

So what goes against Facebook standards? Is letting people know you voted against their policies? How about encouraging people to get their ballots in?

There are some conservative media outlets that are working hard to convince people that social media is out to get them. That websites like Facebook are working hard to bury their conservative message. Although I am proudly a very left leaning liberal, my message was neither conservative or liberal.

My message was simply that I had voted, and that I was encouraging people to get their ballots in as early as possible.

Was it true? Well, this is what I find most frustrating. What part of that message could even be disputed? What part of my message could be controversial? My ballot is in, it has been accepted, and I encourage others to do the same as early as possible.

The link was from my own state government. So how could it be disputed?

What other posts have been taken down that are as benign as mine? What caused them to be taken down? Was it an automated bot? Did someone turn me in? Was it a human that looked at it as offensive? I may never know. That is what bothers me the most.

A Simple Explanation of Antifa

Q: I'm against fascism, but don't support Anti-fa.

A: That's like saying "I am a fan of ice cream, but I will not support Ice Cream because of their use of sprinkles." Antifa is not an organization. It's an idea. A very basic idea. So you either believe in that idea, or you do not. You are either against fascism, or you are not.

Antifa is not an organization. 

Now that being said, there are organizations that claim to be under the antifa belief. But they are not in any way a governing body. They have less say in the antifa cause than the KKK have in being a Republican. The KKK may use atrocious tactics, but do Republican's think it is fair when people talk about the KKK and the Republican being the same thing? A great majority of them do not. 

You can't freeze the bank account of Antifa anymore than you can freeze the bank accounts of people who are against pineapple on pizza. Both are just a belief.

When you have just a basic idea, many will claim they support that idea. Many of those people passionately disagree. If one dismissed an entire idea simply because others that support that idea say and do things they disagree with, no one would support (aka believe in) anything.

I challenge you to think about the difference between support and belief. How does one claim a simple idea, but not support that simple idea? 

Remember when being against Nazi's was so common that we all assumed everyone was against fascism? I miss those times. 

So can we both agree that the Nazi Punks can fuck off? Fuck fascism! I'm 100% against it.

https://youtu.be/-MkRuV0aCcI

Why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Will Be President in 2024

I actually think she has a great chance in 2024. I am actually working on a very detailed blog post on why, but here is the extremely short version. 

1. The push for a female president gets stronger and stronger every election.

2. The push for another President of color gets stronger every election as well.

3. The push against old people running gets stronger and stronger every election. She barely makes the cut age wise.

4. She's sharp as it gets and takes no BS better than anyone I have seen in 30 years of seriously paying attention to politics.

5. She should be able to get the majority of the Bernie Sanders supporters, and it is strongly rumored that this was his plan the entire time. So he will campaign like hell for her.

It should also be noted that there is no one that has a bigger chance of healing the Democratic party than her. The 'We must have a female president' faction will be seriously tempted and pressured to join in with the 'Bernie Bro' faction. Get both of those together and you will have a force stronger than ever.

The Democratic party is leaning further left all the time. Although I am not at all a fan of Biden, his platform is more progressive than any post primary Democratic candidate in history. No matter if we get Trump again, or Biden, the country will be very ready for her style of leadership.

Thank You Pete Buttigieg

Yes, it seems that Pete Butigieg has dropped out of the race for president. He has done very well for coming from nowhere. I believe we have not seen the last of him. He will be back. I believe that he will be an even better candidate the next time. There were times when he seemed too green, but other times shocked at the progressive movement that made this all possible. He has lived his entire life planning for this, but under the old ways. I hope when he comes back he is less reserved, and more willing to let his progressive beliefs loose! We love you Pete. Don’t stay away too long.

Things to keep in mind:
1. Statistically speaking, a second campaign always goes better than the first.
2. An LGBTQIA+ president will happen. Probably in our lifetime.
3. Winning over the senate, and keeping a Democratic congress, is more important for LGBTQIA+ rights than who is president.
4. Mayor Pete's campaign is still a great moment in history (even if he never fights this fight again).
5. The fact that his sexuality was so seldom mentioned shows how far we have all come. No one who brought it up was taken seriously, but they did get shamed for doing so.

I hope that all you supporters still keep fighting for the candidates you feel will do the most good. Even if your're not as passionate about the presidential campaign, please stay in the fight. Find out who will make LGBTQIA+ rights the biggest priority, then back that senatorial (or congressional) candidate.

I love the passion you have all shown. I hope we don't lose that. We still need you all in this fight! \m/('_')\m/

Because Rome wasn't built in a day

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Most change happens through evolution, not revolution. This is a very important thing for my fellow liberals to remember. We have had a record breaking number of minorities in the Democratic Primary this election. That my friends is a damn beautiful thing. That is progress. That is something to celebrate. That is something to be proud of. But where do we go from here? 

How about we complain and throw temper tantrums? 

When I was in school, we were taught about the term W.A.S.P. No, not the extremely controversial 80’s metal band that switched to Christian rock half a decade ago. I mean White Anglo Saxon Protestant. No one ever talks about that term anymore. The reason is that it has been obliterated. We haven’t had a true W.A.S.P. president in well over a decade. 

Progress is slow. Progress demands patience, but I think that’s why Bernie is the wise choice. He’s been patient with his mission for longer than I’ve been alive.

But he is also the only candidate that has put such a great effort into putting things in place for progress after his term. 

It would be silly to dismiss his part in getting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez elected. She’s not old enough to run yet, but she will be no matter how long his run is. Who else has prepared us for progress as much as he has? 

Yes we should have a female president, but it has to be the right one. It can’t be just anyone. Clinton has shown even more why she was the wrong choice. She lost her bid for president 3 times (including the 2008 primary run), and it is more clear now than ever why. 

I adore Elisabeth Warren, but she too is showing why she may not be the best choice. 

But how many times has AOC shut down attacks on her better than any political leader (male or female)? 

Progress takes time, but I strongly feel that a vote for Bernie is actually a vote for our first female president. 

Rome wasn’t built in a day after all.

Photo Credits: https://unsplash.com/@midwestiscool?utm_source=squarespace&medium=referral https://unsplash.com/@willianwest?utm_source=squarespace&medium=referral

The problem with call out culture

Our corporate overlords have tentacles that reach everywhere, so boycotts no longer work. So often I have seen people defiantly announce they are boycotting _____ evil corp.

Then I ask them what brand they are buying instead. Their response often is another brand owned by the same company. Other than that it's another company just as evil. So what do we do?

There is no way for call out culture to work, but there is a way for regulations to work.

This is why we have regulations. Calling out Amazon because they have been successful and weaving between current laws creates a game of wack-o-mole. Sure you could get them to stop doing that evil thing that you hate, but every other company is still doing it. So you've created unfair competition. Another evil company then rises to where they were, and you target them. The cycle continues.

In the old days farmers would put a yolk on an ox to plow a field. Let that ox run wild through town? You end up with dead villagers that have big holes through them. The ox isn't evil. Getting rid of all ox wouldn't have done anyone any good. But put that yolk on the ox and suddenly that ox is serving the village in a wonderful way.

A regulation (when done well) creates a more fair competition. If everyone is prevented from doing that evil thing you hate, they all must find a way to succeed without being evil in that specific way.

Are there examples one could give where a regulation wasn't well thought out? Sure. But it's not the concept of regulations that is the problem.

We need to push for better regulations, more regulations, and stop call out culture.

The Squad To Endorse Bernie Sanders

Or… “Why We Should All Say #IEndorseBernieSanders”

So The Squad has made it clear that they are on the road to a full endorsement of Senator Bernie Sanders. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota will announce their endorsement just days from now. 

Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib has said she will hold back, but with Senator Sanders coming to her district on Oct 27th, it's a good bet she will join in at that time. 

The only hold out right now is Rep. Ayanna Pressley, but this could be part of a larger strategy. 

If they all announced their support of Senator Bernie Sanders on the same day, it would generate one day of news stories. 

Having their announcements separated by almost a week each keeps endorsements in the air.

Because of this extremely smart strategy, they have a bigger chance of encouraging others to endorse him as well.  

All four of these women are sharp as fresh new tacks and know how to strategize like few others can. 

It's their precision in this skill that got them all into office. 

They also understand the long tail strategy, and I believe that this is all part of a much larger plan. 

Imagine if you will that the Senator wins and they get him into office. 

If he bows out for a second term, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be old enough to run for president herself. 

If he stays for eight years, these ladies could be planning to have a full eight years of true progressive leadership in this country. 

That might be enough to fix most of the damage that the current occupant of the White House has done to this country. 

Never forget for a second what Bernie Sanders’ mantra has been from the beginning. 

"It's not me, but us."

Share this story if you agree. 

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen

Why Jimmy Hoffa Jr Is Wrong About Medicare For All

I have been a proud member of Teamsters Local 252 for over two decades now. I have seen our union get more and more cozy in bed with industry as the time has passed. Never has this been more clear than when our weak and feckless leader made a stand against Medicare For All. 

"The Teamsters have health care for all. And I just think we have to educate (the candidates) on that issue. I can't believe they would say that we're going to give up our insurance."

Either he’s just plain stupid, or he’s been paid off by the medical insurance companies. I have medical insurance. I’m one of the lucky citizens of the U.S.A. But with every claim denied I am reminded that we need Medicare For All. With every sick person I have serving me food at a restaurant, I am reminded why we need Medicare For All. With every Teamster member that ends up with cancer, and has to continue to work even through their last days of life, just so that they can continue medical care until they are dead, I am reminded why we need Medicare For All. 

You see, Mr. Hoffa, the insurance companies have totally failed at their job to take care of us. People who fail that badly at their job need to be fired. It seems that you are one of those people, because you are failing your members by not pushing for Medicare For All. You have failed at your job by not endorsing the most consistently Pro-Union candidate in my lifetime. Senator Bernie Sanders has always been on the correct side of history. Senator Bernie Sanders has consistently been very vocal about his support for unions. He doesn’t just support the unions during an election. His voting record speaks louder than anything could. If you ever paid attention to what will help your members, you would know this. 

I implore you to prove me wrong. I beg you to show everyone that you indeed do have a backbone. Show us long standing members that you give a rat’s ass about us. Because right now most of us consider you a corporate sellout, and a disgrace to the name Hoffa. 

This opinion piece was inspired by and references the following sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/11/politics/teamsters-endorsement-process-2020/index.html

https://teamster.org/news

https://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/27110/bernie-sanders/43/labor-unions#.XaDq2UZKiUk

https://wholewashington.org/

Photo by Piron Guillaume

Fundraising total for 2020 Presidential Campaign

The following are fundraising totals for the 2020 presidential campaign so far:

Current Leaders

The Underdogs

We will try to add candidates as we find current data. Make sure to vote on our poll by CLICKING HERE.

10 Rules Of A campaign website!

We have a ton of people running for office that have never even thought they had a chance. We have minorities, women, LGBTQIA, and young people flooding the ballots. I love this trend and want to support it with everything I have. So this old, white, male has zero plans to ever run for office. It's not my place. I feel my place is to help and support those minorities, women, LGBTQIA, and young people flooding the ballots. So I will be posting tech related articles to help them not make the mistakes I have seen others make. Tech is where I feel that I may be able to help. Feel free to ask questions. It may inspire an article that helps others.

Today's article is ten rules of a campaign website:

1. Stick with Dot Com!

There are seemingly endless options for your domain suffix. However, there has always been one that has had better results. This means better results on search engines, better results with people going there, and a better chance of things going viral. Your chances of success are just better with a .dom website.

2. The shorter the better!

The longer the domain, the worse it does. Think of every character as a brick stacked against you. Work really hard at keeping it as short as you can. Don’t spend a ton of money buying a domain from a squatter or anything, but keep it simple.

3. Can people spell it with little thought?

I would never put my last name in a campaign website domain. There are too many people who may not spell it correctly. Have websites with hard to spell names still done well? Sure, but you want every advantage you can get. Don't make pride for your name keep you from all the great work you can do for those with hard to spell names. Feel free to consult with NEXT UPRISING if you need help with this. I don’t charge if I feel your campaign will move this country in a positive direction.

4. Does it have a ring to it?

If you can think of a name that has an easy message to it, a message you can always get behind, go for it! Notice this website doesn't have my name? If I did ever run for office (I seriously do not ever see it happening), I would use this domain. Feel free to consult with NEXT UPRISING if you need help with this. I don’t charge if I feel your campaign will move this country in a positive direction.

5. Prove you are thinking of the future!

Do not ever put the year into your domain name. You will fight for a place on Google like crazy over the next year. Why waste that just because you lose this time? What if you win the election? Do you know how much a candidates chances improve the second time around? Grab a name that you can campaign with for several campaigns. Keep that momentum going! Google juice is a very important thing. Don't waste it!

6. Reserve your domain with the biggest company possible.

Being a nerd, I have heard a ton of horror stories about people who reserved their domain through a company that went under, got purchased by a scummy company, and then had insane fees charged to them to keep it. Sure the law says you can switch, but I have heard even more horror stories about people fighting to switch their domain. Don't set yourself up for a nightmare. No matter what your issues with Google are, you know that they will be around for many years to come. Reserve with them.

7. Grab your social networks before you go public!

Just like with domain squatters, there are endless examples of people grabbing a social network account just to mess with a campaign. It can go on for months before the campaign even finds out, then months more to shut it down. So grab the social media accounts, then use a service to blast to all of them.

8. Hire a photographer!

Nothing is more frustrating than trying to do an article on a brand, and you can’t find any quality images to use. Keep them high resolution, don’t put a barrier to get to them, and make sure they are extremely easy to find. Otherwise they might use a photo that your campaign didn’t have control over. Most importantly… hire someone! Just anyone with a mobile phone won’t do. Even if you get a friend, make sure they know what a DSLR is. If they have a passionate opinion about mirrorless camera vs DSLR, pay them well!

9. Get that online store up!

Imagine someone is extremely short of time, has to get up for work at 3:00 am, so they would never be able to attend one of your events. But they really believe in you, want to support your campaign, but can’t seem to get a yard sign, t-shirt, or even a hat. What if they could just order them from your website?! They donate to the campaign, as well as being able to promote for you. I have lost count how often I wanted a yard sign, but the campaign told me they couldn’t afford to send me one. If they charged for one, they don’t need to worry about fitting it in the budget.

10. Contact me if you have any questions

Seriously, I am here to help. Feel free to post any questions in the comments. Do not ask me in messenger. I prefer to have everything out in the open. You may ask a question that several others are afraid to ask, don’t have time to ask, or haven’t thought of yet.

If You Support Vote Blue No Matter Who...

So I am seeing a bigger push than ever from the “Vote blue no matter who” movement. In principle I agree and support that fully. In fact, this article is written with the hope that it helps that movement. We need to do whatever we can to get rid of the toxic Cheeto. So please know that I write this BECAUSE I support “Vote Blue no matter who”.

But there is a serious marketing problem the movement is having. Not one single meme promoting “Vote blue no matter who” even mentions Bernie Sanders. Why is that? I have seen floods of articles and video that do not mention him either. This is despite him being the current front runner! This article will be posted on the Next Uprising Facebook page, so please feel free to prove me wrong. Post those “Vote blue no matter who” memes that actually recognize Bernie Sanders.

Now why is this such a problem? You want those Bernie Sanders supporters to vote for whoever wins the Democratic nomination! Remember what happened last time? Bernie made it clear that he was throwing his support behind Hillary Clinton, because he knew she was better than the petulant child we have in the White House right now.

The problem however was that Bernie supporters were not all Democrats. There was also a good amount of Green party members, people who never voted before, and even lifelong Republicans that were ready to vote for Bernie Sanders. How do you get them to support your Democratic nomination after you work so hard to sabotage their candidate? How do you get them to be “Vote blue no matter who” when they see 4 top DNC officials step down due to corruption?

It wasn't just DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz that had to step down (after it was shown that the DNC had a clear bias against Bernie Sanders). There was also DNC CEO Amy Dacey, CFO Brad Marshall, and Communications Director Luis Miranda.

Then to top it all off, Hillary Clinton hired Debbie Wasserman Shultz for her campaign! I know this is all water under the bridge now,  and the DNC has made changes to hopefully prevent that level of corrupt behavior this election, but we must learn from our mistakes. Otherwise we are doomed to revisit the repercussions. Those repercussions are four more years of the liar in chief. We need to do all we can to prevent that.

This is not a plea for equal time. This is not me trying to get more recognition for Senator Sanders. This is me trying to make sure that whoever wins this upcoming primary, gets as much support as possible!

So please stop sharing that meme, article, bar chart, or video if it doesn’t give equal time to all candidates. If Bernie doesn’t win this, we need his supporters to vote for them. Don’t we? Let’s make sure everyone embraces “Vote blue no matter who!”

Background of image by Donald Tong

Providence Region Medical Center fails at taking care staff

For those that don't know, this website is run by a loud and proud member of the Teamsters union (local 252). It is a personal blog (for the most part), so things on here are things I care about.

Right now we have a union sister asking for help. I support all unions, but this situation really irritates me. As we progressives are fighting for Medicare For All, Providence Region Medical Center is not taking care of their staff. They rake in millions, but can't take care of the people who work for them? Isn't that supposed to be their 'wheelhouse?' If they can't take care of their staff, how can we expect their staff to take care of us.

Please leave Kim Williams - CEO of Providence Region Medical Center a voicemail asking that their union contracts be settled fairly and quickly. They're attempting to take away their sick time and offer a .5% (Point Five!) wage increase after the cost of living has gone up over 12%. Please share and call Kim Williams at 425-261-4288!

Momentum is all that matters to me

So Bernie Sanders has entered the race. Although I was passionately behind him the first time, I questioned if he could get the momentum again. It's pretty difficult to catch lightening in a bottle twice.

Now before you Hillary Clinton fans get too excited, let me point out that Hillary Clinton is only 6 years younger than Bernie. So any jokes about his age only come off as nothing more than sour grapes. Please don't forget that she was the one who got the official nomination. She received his endorsement. She was the "IT" girl for the DNC from the beginning. They made it clear that they didn't care about the primary, and were going to do everything they could to make sure she won that nomination. She still lost to Trump. So chill. There are many amazing female candidates out there for you to get excited about. I ask you to put your energy into promoting them instead of bashing any candidate. You don't like him. Great! Use that. This is what the primary is about. If you don't want him to win in the primary, work like crazy to lift up one of the many great women running. They are pretty amazing and deserve your passion.

Let's keep it as positive as possible. Let's keep it about a person's voting record. Let's keep it about their chances at beating the bloated Cheeto we currently have for a president. But most importantly let's keep it about who has the most momentum.

So this primary I am not going to get too excited about anyone just yet. I am going to see who has the most momentum. Momentum is all that matters to me.

How can I have such a calloused attitude about this primary? Because I only care about beating Trump. That's first. Second, please look at our Congress. It's full of amazing women, minorities, and young people. It's full of the future! No matter what Democrat we get in the White House, they will be pressured to get behind the things that congress wants to get behind. So even if we get some sell out liberal who's corporate backers want them to vote against (for example) Medicare For All wins, they will be put in their place by that congress.

If we can get more minorities, women, and young people to win over the senate too? It's all over for the corporate backed Democrats.

So can we just make sure the DNC doesn't start looking to extinguish any flames? If someone is burning hot, fuel that fire! Let's get behind that person!

I will end with this. I am going to start posting more often, but every post will end with the following hashtag. #SavagelyUnited Because when this primary is over, we need to be Savagely United. Who's with me at least on that?

Can we relax now that the midterms are over?

So the midterms are over and we can relax, right? Well, you did have a few days, but it's time to get back to work!

However, I'm not going to ask much of you. I know you are all tired of fighting. Some of you are even fighting against other left leaning warriors, but that's for another blog post.

For this one I am going to ask just one simple request. Up your monthly donation to the ACLU just $5. There was an increase of more than 83 million voters than in the last mid-term in 2014. Let's say 50 million of those were liberals. Yes, this election motivated conservatives more than any I have seen in a long time. So some of that increase was indeed conservatives. So let's say that 50 million liberals donated $5 more a month to the ACLU.

Why would we do this? What purpose does this serve? Well, what was wrong with this election? Stacey Abrams went against someone who is also in charge of counting the votes. Native Americans where kept from voting by a last minute law change. Ballots are still being found with little investigation as to why (or how) they were lost. Voting machines ran out of batteries, with unused voting machines not even brought out! On top of it all, there seems to be a constant flow of information about how easy it is to hack the voting machines in the first place. Beto O'Rourke had ballots switching to Ted Cruz right in front of people as they were trying to vote.

In short, this election was messed with to historic proportions!

There is really only one thing you can do to actually improve this situation. No amount of protests are going to fix this. No amount of email or letter writing campaign is going to ensure that this doesn't happen again. We have the 2020 election to think about. So even if we can't get the hacked elections redone, recounted, or fixed some other way, we need things put in place to prevent this in the 2020 election.

Long term we need prevention to be a priority here. For that we need an army of lawyers. We need the ACLU to explode into an army like we have never seen before. We need them to attack like a swarm on every city where voters were turned away, had their vote changed, or had their vote lost. When 2020 comes, we need every vote counted. We need the elections to be as fair as we can get them. For that, the ACLU is our best strategic option.

If every liberal voter increased their monthly donation to the ACLU a mere $5, we would have that.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO THE ACLU!

Please share if you think we need a more fair election in 2020, and need to prepare NOW!

About the Jehovah's Witnesses Church Burnings In Olympia

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/09/us/jehovahs-witnesses-attacks-washington-state/index.html

So many think that I am anti-Religion. This is not totally true. I am anti-religion for myself. Or more accurately I just doubt the existence of a god or a Satan. So I amuse myself with parody religions like The Church Of The Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Anyone who knows anything about The Church Of The Flying Spaghetti Monster knows that "The Eight I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts" is rather clear about how you should treat other religions. In fact, all eight of them could be reduced to one command. "Don't be a jerk." But let's look closely at a few of them anyways.

The entire thing starts out with "I’d Really Rather You Didn’t act like a sanctimonious Holier-Than-Thou ass when describing my Noodly Goodness. If some people don’t believe in Me, that’s okay. Really, I’m not that vain. Besides, this isn’t about them so don’t change the subject."

It starts out bashing the concept of bashing people for not following the same religion. So in short, don't be a jerk.

So let this passionate agnostic be very clear about this. Burning down churches is wrong!

There is a popular quote that is often credited to Voltaire. "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him." I take that to mean that some people need religion. It gives them comfort. Going to their church on Sunday provides an important element in their quality of life. Taking away that thing that gives them comfort makes you the villain in this story. You're just being a jerk.

So my heart goes out to those that have had to suffer because of this jerk. Know that this has become a national story. It has hit national news. They have made a federal case out of it. There are some serious people that are now working on finding out who is behind this. So the chances of this jerk getting caught now increases each time it happens. I hope you can at least find comfort in that. I know it's not as much comfort as this jerk took from you, but I hope it's enough to get you through.

And if you need a hug, just ask. I have a few in stock.

Tracey Carlos Thurston County Voting Guide

The following voters guide was done by Progressive photographer Tracey Carlos. Tracey has become a voice that can be 100% trusted and has never let us down. This is re-posted by permission from her personal Facebook page.

It is election time! Here are my endorsements based on who is on my ballot in the order they are listed first then some local races near me but not in my district

Initiative 1631
Initiative 1639
Initiative 940
Maintain Advisory Vote 19
Maria Cantwell
Denny Heck
Laurie Dolan
Beth Doglio
Steven Drew
Mary Johnson Hall
Linda Enlow
Tye Menser
Gary Winlock
Victor M. Minjares
Jeff Gadman 
Susan Owens
Steve Gonzalez
Sheryl Gordon McCloud 
Rebecca Glasgow
(I need to ask people about the district court judges)
Linda Oosterman
Proposition No 1 - Intercity Transit

Not on my ballot
Irene Bowling
Anneliese Feld 
David Daggett
Brennan Bailey 
Christine Kilduff
Sarah Smith 
The Lacey and Tumwater Parks Propositions

Good luck to all those on this list!!!

How fast would you report your rape DUDE!?

Photo by Tamás Mészáros from Pexels:

Let me ask you men a question. We all sit around with our guy friends spewing 'guy talk,' thumping our chests, trying to keep from showing weakness, trying to show what manly men we are. What's one action that would take away all that macho image we have worked so hard to put forth? What if one day we are walking down the street alone, we get jumped by six other guys, and we get brutally raped. Right in the ass, they take their turns. One by one dropping their load.

Many of you have already wussed out on even reading this far. In fact, I would be shocked if any guy is still reading at all. But in case some are still following this, let me ask one question. How quickly would you start telling people about the smell of their cologne, how their sweat from their forehead dripped on your back while they pumped their seed into your ass? How quickly would you want to tell anyone about how fast you wanted to take the hottest shower you could stand? Oh wait, you shouldn't take that shower yet. You are expected to go straight to the police department to continue the poking and prodding so they can take samples. Otherwise your rapists can't be prosecuted.

So I ask you now, why wouldn't you race to report it?

Don't question women who are hesitant to report their rapists when you would do the exact same thing in that situation.

FTR- Yes I am a male. No, I've never been raped, molested, or sexually harassed in my life. I just try to not be a dick and consider others. I am a heterosexual, metal loving, whiskey drinking, card carrying member of the Teamsters Union. So don't think for a second you can dismiss my question because I'm some liberal cliché you want to imagine I am. Remember, this entire article is just one question. "How fast would you report it if you were brutally raped?"

Who Will Stand With The Custodians?

So things are about to get intense at work. I am a head custodian at a local high school. I have worked for the district for two decades. There are a few things I have learned about this job.

Most people are clueless about the difference between a janitor and a custodian. A janitor just cleans. A custodian wears three hats. Janitor, minor maintenance, and security. Unofficially we wear many more, but those three are what we are paid to do.

There has never been an army of angry parents at a school board meeting demanding more custodians be hired. No, I mean ever. I mean in the history of the United States Of America. I am talking about the entire country. Ever.

When cuts are made, custodians are always cut first when budgets are tight.

We are always asked to take one for the team and promised that they will make it up to us next time.

When things go wrong in any situation, the guy at the bottom of the proverbial ladder will be blamed. The people who control the money, and created this situation, and could stop the problem, will never be blamed or attacked.

Right before the blue collar workers are to enter into contract negotiations, the school district will start talking about how tight money is. This starts about a year before the contract ends. Money is never tight whenever the suits in the district office get their raises.

We are about to go into negotiations. It’s going to get intense for all the reasons I mentioned above. Teachers are in the same boat we are. We love you teachers and believe you deserve better than what you are getting.

I know you parents will stand with the teachers and you totally should. In fact, many of us custodians have talked about standing with our amazing teaching staff as well.

But I now ask you parents and teachers a very important question. Are you ready to make history? Are you ready to do something they never saw coming?

THE QUESTION:

How many of you will stand with us custodians?  

Please share this story and let everyone know. I can only offer my most sincere and humble thank you. We need you, seriously.