Odd Man Out, Twenty Years Later

Twenty years ago today I began writing this blog with the following manifesto.  I'm sure if I were writing it now there'd be some edits, but it expresses pretty well my core beliefs. In those twenty years the blog has had 1,124,374 visitors and I have written over 3500 posts.

 So from way back in 2005 here is where we began...

_____________________ 

Lillian snapped this picture for me on a Sunday afternoon. I was still in my church clothes and climbed a ladder into the black walnut tree in our backyard so I could be "alone on a limb". 

November 23, 2005

Alone on A Limb

What I write below is very serious and important to me. I promise that all my blogs will not be political in nature, but I love my country and cannot ignore issues like those I discuss below. If this bothers you, my blog may not be for you. VACLAV HAVEL said: "You do not become a "dissident" just because you decide one day to take up this most unusual career. You are thrown into it by your personal sense of responsibility..." 

OK, I don't fear for my life at family reunions. But I am the family dissident. 

So, another quote, this time from EDWARD R. MURROW: 

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it." 

I am alone among my siblings. We are a big, loving, hugging, boisterous, generally strong-willed bunch. Five sisters, two brothers and my mother. We vacation together almost every year with our spouses and children and even grandchildren. We usually get along well. Like the rest of the country, though, we are split by politics. Unfortunately for me, however, our family is not split down the middle: all five sisters, my brother, and my mother have become very conservative Republicans. I am the the odd man out. 

I am a Democrat. 

I love the founding documents of our country. 

I revere the founding fathers. 

I believe in civil rights for all. 

I believe dissent is a responsibility of citizenship. 

I believe in the separation of church and state as being best for both. 

I believe our government should protect minority rights. 

I believe that we have a cultural heritage that should not be denied or ignored. The Christian faith is a huge part of that heritage. 

I believe also that we must be more sensitive than our fathers to the fact that many loyal Americans are not Christian. 

I believe in stringent environmental protection. 

I believe that the government should, for the public good, provide good roads, a strong national defense, effective emergency management, outstanding public schools, basic housing and food for the poorest among us, support for the arts, good public broadcasting, mass transit in cities, inter-city and cross-country passenger rail service, for starters. 

I believe the activities, associations, living arrangements, or lifestyles of adults should concern the government only if it interferes with the life, liberty, property or health of others. 

I believe no person, however stupid or misguided, should be forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. 

I believe in our right as a people to covenant together to provide universal health care to our citizens. 

I believe those of us who, through some combination of intelligence, hard work, learned skills, and good fortune, have been financially well-rewarded should pay the largest part of the expenses to provide the services and protections I have described. 

I believe torture is always wrong and incredibly stupid and any president or vice president or other official who advocates relaxing that rule cannot be trusted with the powers of his/her office. 

I believe all persons are created equal and endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

I believe we should go to war only when there is a clear national interest that can be protected no other way and when there is a strong consensus among the people to support the war. 

I believe that lying, exaggerating, or hyping information in order to take our country to war is a high crime. I therefore believe the current occupant of the White House is right out there with Richard Nixon and James Buchanan in the race for the most dangerous President of all time. 

With the right wing in total control of all three branches of government, a major "news" network, an intricate right-wing "religious" political consortium, and a huge talk-show echo chamber, it isn't likely to be practical to impeach him. He deserves it. 

A final quote, this time from a Nazi, HERMANN GOERING: 

"Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." 

Probably most of the folks who visit this blog (if anyone does) will be my family. Except for my wife and daughters, I expect my family will disagree with me. I'm sorry I'm alone out on this limb of our family tree. But I've been pushed out here by my "personal sense of responsibility". To abandon my limb while I have these beliefs would be cowardly and unpatriotic. I hope my wonderful family will at least understand me better for what I write here. 

I welcome brief polite comments in support or disagreement. Those who have long responses should post links to their own blogs in a brief comment. I will delete any impolite comments.

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Well there you are. In twenty years my basic beliefs are about the same. Of course, my feelings toward Bush and Cheney have mellowed somewhat now that we see how much worse things could get with the advent of the Magas. I think Bush actually saw some of the error of his ways, and has shown real grace in retirement. For all his flaws at least Cheney, who died a few days ago, was willing to stand up for our republic against a wannabe authoritarian and actually indorse the Democratic candidate in 2024.

Note: All the blog posts that predate November 23, 2005 are "historical posts" written after the fact.

Mixed Election Results

It has been a very disappointing night in local politics. 

And a very encouraging night nationwide.

Here in Rome, two fine folks whom I am privileged to call friends, Bonny Askew and Sundai Stevenson have lost re-election. I am happy that two other incumbents that I support have been re-elected. I am very happy that we will have Mark Cochran and Bill Collins still on the commission to be voices for our children and grandchildren and a greater, greener, healthier, safer, friendlier Rome of the future. I had also supported one challenger, Charles Love. Charles has been an outstanding leader for north Rome for several years now. I got to know him through our One Community United group.

Across the United States it was a very good night for small-r republicanism. 

• voted down the MAGA crowd by putting a guarantee of abortion rights into the Ohio constitution.
• Voters in bright red Kentucky voted down the MAGA candidate and sent Andy Beshear back to Frankfurt for another term as Governor
• Voters in Virginia turned against their MAGA governor and gave Democrats control of both houses of the state legislature.
• Even in Mississippi the MAGA governor is in a close race with his democratic challenger

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Now, about the so-called "Better Rome" slate of candidates here in Rome who...

• were supported by the extremist national embarrassment that is Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene
• ran as a lily-white-one-race slate in a very diverse city
• accepted huge donations of money and political aid from a statewide real-estate political group

These four white men now have a big job to do. If they are to really be commissioners for ALL of Rome they need to show that they are not MAGA extremists like their Congressional benefactor and not pawns for a statewide political machine that put iunprec dented amounts of money into their city commission races. One is a real estate man, one a developer, one a real-estate appraiser — they need to make SURE and PLAIN to citizens that our city’s future is put above their own business interests?

I taught the son of one of these fellows and have always had a positive view if him; I worked to get one of them elected eight years ago and like him personally; I know one is very interested in trails and the environment as I am. So I have hope and I wish them all well. BUT — they ran a sadly divisive campaign. To urge folks to vote ONLY for their WHITE MALE ticket in our diverse city?!! That is just so divisive and on the surface at least looks racist and misogynous, especially with its MAGA supporters!  They all four have some major fences to mend. 

The people have spoken either by their votes or by staying at home, so these our OUR commissioners. I will support them when I can and I will do my best to hold their feet to the fire when that is what is needed.

A Challenge to the Defendant's Supporters

I usually avoid quoting the kind of language that the world's most famous rapist uses, but I think it important occasionally to remind his supporters of what a truly deplorable choice they have made. Everyone who reads this knows that no reputable business leader in the country would employ such a cad. Not only has a jury judged him a rapist, but he is currently under indictment for a total of 78 felonies -- and more indictments are expected any day. 

Shame, I repeat, shame on any American who would support such a man for the seat of George Washington, et al.

America at a Crossroads

 America is on the mend! Thank you Mr. President for your principled patriotic leadership.

Graduating to Phone Canvassing

This is what my kitchen table looks like after many hours of phone canvassing.

When the rains set in -- goodness it has rained -- I decided to give up on door-knocking and move to telephone canvassing. I soon realized that I was contacting people a lot quicker, AND believe it or not they were, by and large, receptive. Out of over 155 phone calls yesterday and today I only had one hang-up! And I could not count the "Thank you"s and even "Thank you for what you are doing"s. 

My process is to make the call. If a real person answers I introduce myself, ask if they have voted, ask if they support Sen. Warnock.

If they have voted I thank them and ask them to find two more voters.

If they have not I give them the basic information about voting, and all but three have said they would vote for Raphael Warnock. (There were two maybes and one hang-up). 

If no one answers I leave a voicemail if possible. If not I send a text. If that's not possible I try to find them on Facebook and send a Facebook message. There were only a few that I had to just give up on.

If they are open to it, I try to give at least one positive reason that I support the senator --there are MANY! They often bring up the incompetence of his opposition, and I of course agree, but I never bring that up myself.

At this point I think we have done what can be done. It is now time to relax a little and get ready for the nervous wait tonight. I pray that the people of Georgia will re-elect a very effective, articulate, and principled Senator Raphael Warnock. And I hope Steve Kornacki calls it that way early!

If you have not yet voted there is still time. If you are registered and if you are in line by seven you can vote today. Don't leave our republic in the hands of others. Be a citizen. You are part of "We the People."

Canvassing is Tiring, a Bit Stressful, But Actually Fun

I have spent a lot of time canvassing for Democratic candidates in my life and especially the last few years. The process has greatly improved since the days when we blindly walked door to door, rarely knowing the politics of the folks who would answer our knocks. Nowadays canvassing is carefully targeted to those whom we believe will support our candidates at the polls. We are not out trying to change minds, though occasionally that happens, we are trying to get our voters out to the polls. 

New canvassers are usually surprised at the warm reception we receive. Nearly everyone I have encountered during canvassing has been very polite and most have been downright welcoming. They are glad to see that even in this ruby red section of Georgia they have neighbors who share their Democratic principles and are willing to get out and work to promote them.

Yesterday there was the 90-year-old lady in Garden Lakes who insisted I come in to see some things. She had the newspaper open to the huge misleading ad that the so-called "Right to Work" political group had paid for in the Rome News. And she showed me the Hershel Walker flyer she'd received in the mail which asked if she'd support Walker. She'd written on it "No" about a dozen times.

There was the mother who had voted herself but had not managed to get her two twenty-something sons to vote yet. She called them from their rooms and I agreed to just drive them to the early voting site right then. They did as their mother insisted.

At another house a young man said, "let me show you something!" He invited me in white he retrieved his phone and showed me a video of people pulling Warnock signs out of the ground. He wanted me to put one in his yard, and of course I did.

I feel certain that my canvassing this time around has spurred a few handful of folks who support Senator Warnock, but might have otherwise neglected to vote, to actually make a plan and do what I consider their civic duty. When ever that happens I just hope that those few voters represent many other folks around the state who have been similarly spurred by other canvassers.

So come join the canvassing. Or share some persuasive posts on social media. Or post a sign in your yard. Or call a few friends. Or send a donation to the Democratic Party. Or attend a Democratic Party meeting.

Our nation and our state and our city need citizens who take the Declaration and the Preamble and the Gettysburg Address seriously. Who realize that our republic is always only one generation from extinction if its citizens don't continue to take their part in "We the People" seriously. 

Principle and Pragmatism... and just plain competence.

This new-to-me iPhone photos feature is kinda interesting. Of course it did mangle the back Senator Warnock's had a bit.

Yours Truly with the Senator this morning.

Senator Raphael Warnock visited Rome this morning and I got to hear him. His stump speech is dynamic. He is clear-eyed and principled. He is also pragmatic. He realizes that America was built on tough compromises, so he is willing to work across the aisle always toward progressive ideals but respecting those who disagree and working with them to forge compromises that bend the arc of history toward justice.

Now, he has an opponent. As painful as it is to speak the truths that must be spoken about this opponent we all cheered for on the football field, we must compare the two. They are our binary choice in this campaign to represent Georgia for the next 6 years. 

Can you imagine that the opponent who has lied about almost every aspect of his life during and before the campaign with be an honest face of Georgia in the Senate?

Can you imagine that the opponent who spends his time on the campaign trail talking about werewolves and vampires can understand and negotiate the intricacies of the legislation he will asked to debate in the world's most deliberative body?

Listen to the stump speech of Senator Warnock. Can you imagine that his opponent could put his thoughts together so cogently?

Raphael Warnock has made himself a leader in the US Senate in only two years. He proposed, negotiated, and helped write legislation that has brought millions of federal dollars to Floyd County, Georgia for critical infrastructure and services and that has helped to reduce prescription drug prices, especially the prices for diabetes treatments. He worked to bring computer chip manufacturing back to the United States -- that's a big economic victory but is also important to our national security. 

Please join me at the polls. 

Rummaging Around

It was chilly out on on Saturday and while Sheila had bundled up pretty well, I'd only donned a light jacket. By the time we got down to Fifth Avenue I was eager to duck into Nedra Manner's wonderful little shop, Yellow Door Antiques, more to warm up than to shop. But I do enjoy poking around there, always on the lookout for political items for my collection. These are not the sorts of things I usually collect so I wasn't interested in purchasing them, but I had to take a picture.

 

Last Minute Canvassing

 

Well I spent most of my Election Day canvassing those Democratic voters who had not yet voted as of yesterday. 
At one house, about 2:30 this afternoon, I found two twenty-something brothers who were registered voters but had no transportation today. I offered to just drive them over right then. While they voted, I waited at the side of the precinct room where I was directed by the poll workers. 
Sheila had done some poll watching during early vote and mentioned how much she enjoyed watching faces as people fed their ballots to the scanner. The poll worker at the scanner would tell them to watch for the counter to advance by one when the scan was complete and how almost universally the voters would smile as they realized their vote had been scanned. 
So I tested that observation and found it still true: every voter I watched smiled when they saw that counter advance by one. I couldn't help but smile too.
But my greatest joy today was when I realized that one of those smiles was very familiar. It was a young woman I'd only met an hour or so earlier when I went by her house to urge her to vote. Now I know: she did! I'll bet my face was beaming. 

The Putin/Covid inflation may do us in. The polls don't look great. But canvassing always lifts my spirits. I know I am doing my part for what I believe in. And people, mostly, actually appreciate sincere, in person, canvassing.

Voting in the 2022 General Election in Georgia ends in less than fifteen minutes.

I'm praying the opinion polls are wrong and that the poll that actually counts will give us some victories for my grandchildren tonight. 

From The West Wing: Liberal

Laurence O'Donnell wrote this bit for the TV show "The West Wing"

What did liberals do that was so offensive to the Republican party? 

I’ll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. 

Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. 

Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. 

Liberals ended segregation. 

Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. 

Liberals created Medicare. 

Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. 

What did conservatives do? 

They opposed them on every one of those things -- every one. 

So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, Senator. Because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.”

Here's the clip:

In 2022 some in the MAGA party wants to end Social Security and Medicare. Their politicized Supreme Court has already greatly weakened the Civil Rights Act and even taken away the right of women to control over their own bodies.

Our environment is in crisis and the MAGA Republicans are doing nothing about it. 

Racism and fascism are rampant within the MAGA party. Look at the Q-Anon congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene who blatantly uses fascist slogans from the thirties and forties and supports the unAmerican lies of Donald Trump.

The basic values of our republic are on the ballot. We must defeat those who do not respect those values.

I voted today for patriotic Americans who DO respect those values. 

I voted for --

Raphael Warnock to serve us in the United States Senate.

Marcus Flowers to serve us in the US House of Representatives.

Stacey Abrams to lead our state as governor.

Charlie Bailey to serve us as Lieutenant Governor

Jen Jordan to serve us as Attorney General

Bee Nguyen to serve us as Secretary of State

William Boddie, Jr. to serve us as Georgia Labor Commissioner

Alisha Thomas Searcy to serve us as State School Superintendent

Janice Laws Robinson to serve us as Insurance Commissioner

Nakita Hemingway to serve us as Agriculture Commissioner

Goodbye to Ryan

During the last two weeks we have served as hosts to Ryan Hill, a talented young veteran of many political campaigns who came in to assist Wendy Davis's effort at election to Congress. We enjoyed having Ryan with us even though the final two weeks of a Congressional campaign does not allow much social life for its workers. We usually saw Ryan very briefly during breakfast in the mornings and sometimes for a few minutes at bedtime -- providing that bed time came around midnight.

Our longest visit with Ryan was today, after yesterday's painful ending of our beloved candidate's 2022 political quest. Ryan rode with us to Acworth's legendary Henry's Louisiana Grill where we met Wendy for a delicious lunch before he left to visit Atlanta friends for a couple of days. He will fly home to South Bend, Indiana on Friday. 

Henry's was a real treat. I had the Louisiana Ooh La La which was chicken, oysters, and crawdads in a delicious sauce over pasta. Sheila had gumbo. We also shared  some hush puppies. All the dishes came with a salad and a sweet/peppery cornbread and small slices of a sourdough bread. It was all delicious.

A passerby agreed to take our picture afterwards in front of Henry's as we said goodbye.

L-R: Ryan Hill, Wendy Davis, Terrell Shaw, Sheila Shaw. 

Vote (for Wendy!) Today

Today, May 24, 2022 is Primary Election Day!

Sheila and I are proud to spend our day today volunteering as poll watchers. If you haven't voted yet, please get out and vote. Never has your vote been more important. And rarely will your vote be more powerful tahn in a midterm election. 

We have been proud to lend our support this year to the campaign to elect Rome's own Wendy Davis to Congress. How wonderful it would be to have a member of Congress from our own hometown! Wendy will be ready on day one to work for ALL northwest Georgians.  NOW, I know they all SAY that, but Wendy has a long service record of working with people of all stripes in our community to GET THINGS DONE!  She has the necessary experience experience from her days working for Max Cleland, through the campaign to bring the Braves to Rome, to her eight years as our Rome City Commissioner. 

We have watched her work with... 

• liberals and conservatives, 
• business folks and union folks, 
• Republicans and Democrats and Libertarians, 
• folks of all faiths, races, and heritages,
• and anyone and everyone willing.

And through that cooperative spirit she has helped to...

• greatly improve the openness and responsiveness of city commission,
• encourage citizen participation in our city affairs,
• bring professional babeball to Rome, 
• preserve our greenspace and build our trail system, 
• bring businesses to Rome, 
• build bridges between black, white and Hispanic communities. 

As our Member of Congress she will...

• open and streamline the services of our Congressional office
• listen to any and all her constituents on any issue
• work to improve Veteran Administration services
• work to make sure Georgians have equal access to healthcare services with those in other states
• work to make sure our elections are open and honest
• work to secure equal rights for everyone
• work to bring Americans together rather than to divide them.

Wendy is not only our friend, she is also the absolute best person available to restore dignity, honor, and fairness to our Congressional office. She will be a true Representative of the 14th District from Powder Springs to Rossville, from Spring Place to Fish Creek, from Plum Nelly to Booger Hollow, from the  Chattanooga suburbs that spill over into Georgia to the Atlanta suburbs of South Cobb County.

Please plan now to vote --- 

• before work at 7 a.m. or 
• after work before 7 p.m. or 
• during lunch or 
• ... you decide. 

When can you get to your precinct today? 

... and I have to ask, please, vote for Wendy Davis.

Our republic is in real danger.

Sports celebration (Yay Braves!) is tempered tonight by the sad news that racism and authoritarianism have won the day in a squeaker in Virginia. This should be a wake up call to those of us who are small-r republicans, who love the principles of the Declaration and the Constitution, who believe We the People must safeguard our republican institutions. The truth is, of course, that complacency and ignorance are enemies of democracy. When prejudice and fear is played upon by sophisticated computerized "social media" we must care enough to work, give, speak out, and VOTE. The two or three percent of Virginians-who-know-better who stayed home have given the Trumpist Lie new life.

Those hot-under-the-collar about "Critical Race Theory" are ignorant of what it is and have fallen into a sad trap. The Trumpists in Virginia won votes of just enough well-meaning ignoramuses to tip the balance.

Democracy is under attack worldwide, and in my seventies I am watching republicanism crumble dramatically in the land I love. I pray I can live long enough to see this repaired. We MUST fight as hard or harder than we did from 2017-2020 to defeat the authoritarians and their enablers in the (so-called) Republican Party.

Every other issue MUST come second to the one primary issue: Save our republic from the Trumpists.

We have one more year of a VERY scant, VERY philosophically diverse, majority in Congress. We must repair and strengthen the republic's institutions first. That is really all we have majority agreement on. Without Sen. Joe Manchin, who at least agrees that Trump is a traitor and that elections should matter, the Trumpists would have a complete veto on legislation. I sincerely wish he were more open to altering the filibuster and passing more of the Build Back Better agenda that the people voted for in 2020, but politics is the art of the possible.

So to the progressive wing of my party:

Yes, speak out for the fullest possible implementation of the 2020 platform,

BUT do NOT let the perfect stand in the way of the good. The Senate is the Senate. A three vote margin in the House is tiny. Don't let America fall into Trumpist hands again just because we cannot have all we want right now.

And quit being a circular firing squad. 

Joe Biden has been a very bold president. He has actually lived up to his promises despite the disappointment of the narrowed majority in the house and the 50-50 split in the senate. No president with such a slim margin has fought so hard for such a transformational set of legislation. It is not President Biden's job right now (nor ours) to go out and publicly scream against those who support democracy but disagree with us on policy. The president DOES speak out on policy BUT his persuasion must be aimed at a very small group, maybe only two senators, who must be negotiated with, not harassed, to find what part of the program they can support. Then we need to take that for 2021, claim victory -- as we very legitimately can -- and work like hell to elect MORE Democratic senators and congressfolk in 2022!

Gleaning Facebook: Warnock-Ossoff Button

 Look what came to me out of the blue (pun intended) from Gordon County today. Thanks to my friend Ruth Demeter and a new friend in Calhoun, Jeff Adair. They’ll be pinned to my shirt or jacket often between now and January 5... then join my Georgia political items collection.

Ruth Demeter

Jeff Adair I knew Terrell would love these . Thanks for your help!

Gleaning Facebook: We've Voted!

 Sheila and I voted today... she deposited her home-completed paper ballot in the official dropbox at our Elections Office. I cast my vote at the same time and place in-person. Two more votes for a Senate that works. Two more votes for Senators who will work for Georgia rather than themselves. Two votes for senators who are NOT gazillionaires. Two votes for a Public Service Commission candidate who will actually represent the interests of Georgia consumers rather than just the interests of Georgia Power and other utilities. Two votes for:

Jon Ossoff

Raphael Warnock

Daniel Blackman

Please get out and vote for Ossoff, Warnock, and Blackman. They are patriots; they are reasonable; they are pragmatists; they are not the cartoons that are being portrayed in the dishonest ads of the their opponents.

Please get out and vote early. There are two safe and convenient ways to vote "absentee" 1) by paper ballot at home then delivered in person to a drop box (like Sheila) or by mail, or 2) in person at an early voting site (like me). Sheila and I spent many days observing the voting and vote processing process and we can assure you that you can trust the elections folks to do their very best to count every vote correctly.

Vote to give us a 50-50 Senate. Vote for a strong but workable legislative branch. Vote to give our new president a fighting chance to have his proposals and appointments fairly considered. Vote for a Senate that is willing to hammer out legislation with the house.

Joe Biden Buttons

 Y'all know I collect political items. My earliest items were from my work in the 1964 presidential campaign and the 1966 gubernatorial campaign. I first joined the American Political Items Collectors group in the 1970s. I'm a cheapskate so the few relatively valuable pins I have kinda fell into my lap in one way or another. But I have hundreds of pins dating from an 1840 William Henry Harrison metal "log cabin" clothing button (pretty common) to the Joe Biden buttons I added today.

My favorites are the ones I actually wore or collected during campaigns... LBJ, Ellis Arnall, RFK, Maynard Jackson, HHH, Carter, etc. and ones given me by great friends, neighbors, or family who worked campaigns or attended conventions like Mike Bock, Charles Graves, Audley Tucker, Mildred Knight, Joan Ledbetter, and Wendy Davis (I'll stop there -I'm leaving out bunches!)-- even one of my Republican sisters. And a couple of items I inherited from my grandfather who was a delegate to a Georgia Democratic Convention in the forties.

.

I enjoy arranging and displaying the ordinary little evidences of the most essential of our national patriotic duties in our republic: politics. Even in the midst of the Civil War and World War II We the People held elections and debated politics. As an old civics teacher I am so disappointed to hear folks, many of whom get teary eyed to hear the Anthem, talk about "hating" politics. No! Politics is what a republic is all about. Hate bad leadership, hate greed and corruption, hate hatred and racism and sexism and homophobia and xenophobia, hate apathetic citizenship, but seize your franchise, claim your part in We the People, donate/work/vote for the good guys, make republican ideals work the way they should.

Here's my collection of Joe Biden 2020 pins so far. All are fairly common I think.

Y'all BOLO for pins and posters for me the next six months.

Gleaning FaceBook: Awful Offal

There is no bottom to the cesspool. Donald John Trump is by far the most disgusting dung-dwelling creature ever to occupy our unitary executive and digs deeper into the sludge every day. When will this national outhouse be shoveled out? It will take a long train of honey wagons to haul off the awful offal.

In my faith tradition everyone is redeemable, but in his case it is very hard to imagine "whiter than snow" or the "foulest clean". When he is removed the entire executive mansion will need fumigation. Shame on any reasonably aware person who still tries to Febreze his filth with rosy posts. The stench cannot be stanched.

Gleaning Facebook: Bitter Losses But Take Heart

Moderates and progressives take heart! We may have lost another round of senate seats and governor races in the south in 2018, but it was mighty close and the trend is in our direction. Let's keep registering voters and lets vote EVERY time the polls open.

Comments

Thomas Bavis

And my goodness, so much work to do to counter the - there's no more appropriate word than cheating - in the form of gerrymandering, voter suppression, outright fraud (N.C.), and lame-duck evisceration of the incoming Executives' authority. I'm a lifelong GOTV guy, but it may not be enough without addressing these as well!

Lynne Crothers Williams

Gerrymandering is not unique to either party and with early and advanced voting inGeorgia, voter access is easier than ever.

Terrell Shaw

But computer mapping has greatly intensified partisan Gerrymandering. Both parties have been guilty. the GOP has perfected it, and in 2018 are the primary beneficiaries of it. In Wisconsin, for example, the Democratic party has only 36% of the legislative seats despite winning a healthy majority of the votes. That is just plain obscene.

Gleaning Facebook: 2018 Democratic Nominees

 I am so proud of our Democratic candidates -- Lindy Miller is one -- for statewide office this year. They were a great group and Georgia missed an opportunity for reform-minded, progressive leaders who would have moderated the hard-right legislature that has so damaged our state over the last two decades.

The fact that we ended up shut-out entirely is very disappointing, of course, but please keep up the fight! We have made tremendous gains. All of our races were close. We made gains in the legislature.

2022 may be the year that we break back into to a statewide office or two or more. And we should make more gains in the legislature in 2020. If the Trump administration continues to trash the environment, stifle the economy, and stain the nation's reputation in the world we may be ready to elect a US Senator in 2020.

Click the picture to watch video.

Comments

Sandra Pride It was an honor to work for such exceptional people.
Paula Dickinson Stifle the economy? If you keep telling untruths, some people will believe them. Amazing
Terrell Shaw Ask the soybean farmers, the auto workers, or even the coal miners. Although the Obama recovery has continued, it has slowed during the brinkmanship and uncertainty of the Trump madness.
Sandra Pride It looks like you have no trouble believing Tiny's lies.
ML McCorkle At some point Georgia will join the 21st century

Gleaning Facebook: Little Post; Big Comments

Click on this video to see one example of the evil Donald Trump has inspired. I do not know what the digital equivalent of upsetting the tables of the moneychangers might be, but were Jesus here in the flesh I am pretty sure Jim Bakker and his buddies would find out.

George Barton
He went to jail for a time share scam. Looks like people would learn.

Clare Lacey Gilliland
Hilary had it right, deplorables.

Dan Ledford
Crooked pastor, false prophet.

Jane Baird Lathem
Oh. Come. On!!!! Jim Baker is nuts! Even Obama had supporters who were nuts, all people in public office do. The person in office has no control over that. Terry, this is really beneath you. You have made it abundantly clear you don’t like Trump but you don’t have to be petty and mean.

Terrell Shaw
I am so petty and mean, dear cousin, that I am tempted to append a series of familiar recordings of our always serious and profound and oh-so-kind statesman-president -- ridiculing a handicapped man, dinigrating an American hero because he was "captured", insulting the parents of an American martyr, condemning the free press, equating white supremacists and Nazis with principled protesters, lying blatantly (choose any day in which he has made public statements and I will point out a blatant lie), groveling at the feet of a murderer/despot/enemy-of-America, --- shall I go on? Eventually we will hear his voice on the Cohen tapes. Won't that be inspiring to the youth of America?
The "nuts" of the "prosperity gospel" are virtually all on the side of our despicable, loathsome, immoral president and he loves it.
I watched the lies (often, we now know, originating in Russian offices) on the Facebook pages of some friends and relatives in 2016. Benghazi! E-mails! Pizzagate! The above is an actual video of an actual supporter of Donald John Trump.

Jane Baird Lathem
You are just relishing in your criticism and it is childish, in my humble and correct opinion. I am not a die hard supporter of this President and I wasn’t a supporter of Obama but I didn’t spend all my energy looking for ways to denigrate and ridicule him. If it makes you feel superior somehow to those of us who do not hold your views to tell us how uninformed and deplorable we are then I guess there is nothing else to say.

Terrell Shaw
Jane Baird Lathem I am 71 years old. I love my country and revere its founders and its wonderful history of "bending toward justice". I pray the dark history of 2017 and 2018 will be behind us soon and America will regain its standing as a bulwark of republican values in the world. BUT I fear for the future for my children and my grandchild.
Childish? Read your own words, please.
Your father and mine, men beloved by both of us, risked their lives to fight the forces of authoritarianism that I believe with my whole heart I fight now and with the only tools at my disposal -- my vote, my feet, my voice, and the keys of this laptop computer.

George Barton
Terrell Shaw


Jane Baird Lathem
Yes, please use those tools but use them in a way that does not demean those who have a different view which what I feel you do.

Terrell Shaw
Was I the one posted an insult on your oage, Jane? A good look in the mirror is good for all of us regularly. Motes and beams and all that.

George Barton
Jane Baird Lathem you don't have to look very far, remember when Trump said President Obama was born in Africa? When you run out of arguments, attack the messenger.

Jane Baird Lathem
Thank you, I was not aware I insulted you personally. I was just disagreeing with your opinion. But, if that is insulting then I am sorry. Won’t happen again because I will not be back.

Terrell Shaw
You don't find publicly calling your first cousin "childish" insulting. Imagine that I had come to your page and evaluated your motives and maturity.

George Barton
Jane Baird Lathem bye

Jane Baird Lathem
George Barton I don’t know you nor you me so I don’t appreciate your comment. I am not attacking anyone, just TRYING to express a differing viewpoint to my cousin Terry, but he doesn’t want to hear any other opinions but his on.

Terrell Shaw
"I am not attacking anyone, just TRYING to express a differing viewpoint"
Jane can you please let go of your anger for a moment and go read your OWN comments?

Jane Baird Lathem
Terrell Shaw Again, I apologize. I was not intending to insulting but you need not worry because I will not make any further comments on your page. Oh, and I assure you, I am not angry...Bye.

George Barton
Jane Baird Lathem when you accuse someone of being petty and mean that does not agree with you, it's you that have the problem.

Jackson Williamson
Jane, President Trump needs no ridicule. His words are ridiculous enough.

Howard Smith
Jim Baker is far from the only religious "leader" on "team Trump or supporting a far right political agenda. In my opinion, Christianity has become much more of a political movement than a religious one. It came out of the closet years ago when Pat Robertson formed the tax exempt Christian Coalition as a force in politics. Today, one needs to think no further than Liberty University's president or Billy Graham's son or Trump's "spiritual advisor" to see how Christianity has "evolved".

Tony Pope
Is this the same Jim Bakker from Jim and Tammy Faye???

Terrell Shaw
In all his slimy glory.

Tony Pope
Terrell Shaw would have never recognized him.

Delene Gray Buffington

Michael Bryan
This man is horrible! Doesn't the bible say there is a severe punishment for leading people away from God? What this man preaches has nothing to do with what Jesus taught!

Jim Geist
I guess his time in prison did not put him on the straight path.

Deanne E Daniell
Once a CROOK, ALWAYS A CROOK! 

Sandy Doughty