This Just In: Texas GOP caught talking to constituents.

 As we get into Town Hall Meeting season...

Your Daily Meme

 The last day of March!  

 Thank you, Wiley.

 As Women's History Month concludes, let's remember for as much progress has been made, the shit-brained, ignorant fuckers in the GOP are determined to kick women back into the kitchen.  

 

Fuck them all.  

Sunday Morning Sip

 The final Sunday of March! 

Indivisible: Light Up The Nation - Candle Signal

Let's light up the nation!   

Sadly, I still have some Christmas electric window candles that have not been stowed away... Ya know... something told me to leave them out!  

 

Saturday Morning Sip

 Happy Saturday, everyone!  Pour a mug and enjoy.

Over 10,000 visitors!!!

To think I started this blog on January 9 of this year as an alternative to Facebook, as a place to post my collection of memes, observations and commentary!  it has certainly morphed from those humble, stumble beginnings to, what I hope, is maybe an outlet for primal screaming, perhaps some hope and sometimes optimism about our current world.  

Thank you! 

With sincere gratitude,

Rade 

Your Daily Meme

 The Friday Meme... and music!

Danny DeVito for Tesla Cybertruck

 Spot on.

 

Your Daily Meme

 

In The Light

Gathered around various family tables over the years, I was privy to many conversations about my fathers family. In 1904, his parents fled Yugoslavia as authoritarian rule was becoming more prominent and the Serbian Orthodox church came under fire. As was common, the church and it’s community was the center of their lives; the fear of persecution drove them to leave. They settled on the small community on the southern outskirts of Pittsburgh, PA. My grandfather established a farm to sustain the family while also working as a laborer in one of the many Pittsburgh steel works. Over the course of their lives there, they raised twelve children. My grandmother, as the story goes, decided to help the Serbian Orthodox church with frequent trips back to the old country, and took money to support the church by sewing the cash into the hem of her skirts to get it through customs; the money went to support their church and surrounding community. From what was told, this went on up to the onset of World War I.  I found it interesting that Bubbie was part of the underground at the turn of the LAST century.

When World War II broke out, of the 12 siblings in my fathers family, all that could volunteer did so. They had no idea what was in store; how long the war was going to last, if they were going to survive or die in combat, but they all felt it was part of their duty as United States citizens to participate; to defend America and stand up against authoritarian regimes (and to kick Nazi ass). My father served during “The Battle of the Bulge”, and spent two years in Belgium as a Corporal in the Army. Several of his brothers were stationed likewise, and there and at least one stationed with the Marines in the Pacific. My aunts served in the Woman’s Auxiliary both in Europe and the Pacific. Of all those who went, all came home. 

 

In my childhood, I witnessed the horror of the Kent State shootings (also known as the Kent State massacre or May 4 massacre) where the killing of four and wounding of nine unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard happened on the Kent State University campus. The shootings took place on May 4, 1970. It happened during a rally opposing the expanding involvement of the Vietnam War into Cambodia by United States military forces as well as protesting the National Guard presence on campus and the draft. Twenty-eight National Guard soldiers fired about 67 rounds over 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.

The shootings triggered immediate and massive outrage on campuses around the country. It increased participation in the student strike that ultimately grew to more than 4 million students participating in organized walk-outs at hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools.

Welcome to the 21^st Century. For a second time in one generation, we have someone who is just mentally unfit and inept to be Commander in Chief. I think (as did many of us) I anticipated him to be a “one-term” interloper whose graft and corruption would surely send him to prison. But horror of horrors, no one (in the GOP) could fathom an Ex-president being a convict! So the twice-impeached, (now) convicted felon played his cards, played the media, and the sycophants gorged themselves on his lies and regurgitated them enough to drown out any actual facts about the con artist. Lo and behold, we now have Dictator Don living his best life as the "So Called Ruler Of The United States" (or SCROTUS); Hell bent on revenge and total control. I spend the first month after the election, as most of us did, just taking stock of my life, my family. Then ventured further out of a shell to consider my community and the general public. I watched; observed – what was fact, what was subterfuge. The now systemic destruction the US Government at the hands of a Billionaire Nazi who bought his way as side-kick to SCROTUS. Identifying what dangers were looming ahead and to understand where my mindset came from:

• My Bubbie supported her community on a continent away. 
• My father fought to restore democracy over authoritarian rule. 
• Witnessing the slaughter of American protesters opposing government actions abroad, my reaction to where this American dictatorship is heading tempered my involvement. 

Yes!  I have fear!  I don’t particularly care to be shot or carted off to a foreign prison, but I will be heard, and I will be visible fort as long as this takes.

Let's find our voices. Let's make some noise.  Let's be seen.  

In the light. 

Onward! 

Rade

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings

A PSA - Be a harder target.

It's a shame that under this current administration, someone sporting a Nazi swastika or adjacent tattoo is now considered "an American patriot" and deserving of a pardon and given even a position in the White House, and everyone else can go and fuck off while the US Government is systematically weaponized against its citizens.  

That said; members of our Indivisible group shared these images / memes.  

We're here.  We're at this point where it is happening to us.  It's not paranoia or hyperbole, we have to be pragmatic of our personal public image; about what we post or comment on social media, what is in our profiles, what is on our mobile devices, how we move about, etc.  

Start with your cyber footprint. 

1. There is no law that states you MUST put your actual, personal data in an online Email or social media profile.  
1. Remove your home address
2. Change your birth date
3. Change your profile name.  
4. Change your profile photo if is it is your face.
5. Turn on multi-factor authentication
6. Change your password(s)
   
7. Delete anything in your profile that can directly link to the real you   
2. If you are using a social media platform like Facebook for activism, certainly change your profile as in the first bullet point.
1. Systematically go through your posts, your photos, etc.  Delete anything with your face, your home, your family.  
2. If you decided to delete your account, way 48 hours.  Facebook has a global trove of back-up servers. Waiting 48 hours will ensure whatever you delete will be propagated globally to be deleted off the back-ups. 
3. Likewise, scrub your Google account(s).
3. Remove social media apps from your phone.  
1. Install a browser like Firefox or the like.
2. Connect to the social media platforms using the browser.
3. This removes any back-doors that these apps install on your mobile device.   
4. Unsubscribe
1. Unsubscribe from protest-adjacent Email servers that fill your inbox
2. Same for political party spam.  
   
5. Make a Protest Plan
1. Even for small events, make a point to inform trusted contacts of what your are going to do
2. Where you will be doing it
3. How long you expect to participate. 
4. If there is trouble at a rally, use your smart phone to record the conflict
   
6. Travel smart
1. If you have visibly protested and are planning to travel that requires a government check-in (TSA, US Customs, etc), let your trusted contacts know you when are going to be traveling
2. By what means (plane, train, boat, car).  
3. Make a point to check in with them upon arrival and prior to return, and when you have returned.
4. Clean your phone of incriminating information before you leave or obtain a "burner phone" before your go. (I am going to obtain a "dumb" phone in the future to use when I go to long-distance rallies and protests, and for extended travel.)  
5. If you use your smart phone, evaluate and clean your password files.  Anything no longer relevant, delete! 
   

This is horrible, I know.  But we're here.  It's work. Yes. And time consuming. Yes. But do a little each day to clean your footprint and in no time, you can rest easier knowing that you made yourself a harder target for this administration burgeoning dictatorship of morons to find absentmindedly stumble upon you down the road.

Tom Nichol's words continue to proof out - He wrote in the Atlantic the day after the election - "Paradoxically, however, Trump’s reckless venality is a reason for hope. Trump has the soul of a fascist but the mind of a disordered child. He will likely be surrounded by terrible but incompetent people. All of them can be beaten: in court, in Congress, in statehouses around the nation, and in the public arena. America is a federal republic, and the states—at least those in the union that will still care about democracy—have ways to protect their citizens from a rogue president. Nothing is inevitable, and democracy will not fall overnight." 

Let's make it hard on them to silence our voices!  Resist! 

Onward

R 

Your Daily Meme

 

Your Daily Meme

 Thank you, Wiley.

First Passenger Train since 1958! South Coast Rail opens in Fall River, ...

I have been watching the South Coast Rail YouTube channel since well before this project got started.  Finally!  The first passenger train from Fall River MA to Boston since 1958 has rolled out of the station first thing this morning!  Fantastic!

Your Daily Meme

 Into Monday we go! 

Thank you, Gary Trudeau.

Sunday Morning Sip

 Good Morning, folks!  Happy Sunday! 

Time For A Tarot Reading!

 

I have always embraced the spiritual energy received from my mothers side of the family. Premonitions, an understanding of energy, even the occasional Serbian curse. I had a coworker and friend back in the 1980’s who was a Wiccan.  She would do a periodic tarot reading on me as I navigated forward through that tumultuous period in my life. I appreciated the readings and looked at them sort of like channel markers along the bay; as a guide while I wended my way onward. When I left that company, she gifted me a gorgeous deck of Hanson Roberts tarot cards, of which I taught myself to read. 

 

 

My friend and co-blogger, Debra Who Seeks, host of the “She Who Seeks” blog posted “Time For A Tarot Reading!” on this mornings blog, and that got me to thinking that it has been DECADES since I did a reading! So I pulled out the deck, cleared my head, ruminated on the cards, gave them a good shuffle and arranged them in the traditional "Ten card spread". This is what I came up with (It has been a LONG time since I did a reading, if there are card interpreters out there please feel free to comment, if you are just going to bust my balls, your comment won't see the light of day). 

Interesting, no Major Arcana cards; I will take that as a sign of things are on an even keel.  

Card 1 - Present position - Inverted Two if Pentacles – Actually, why yes, I am having fun at the moment.

Card 2 - Immediate obstacle – Ten of Swords – The uncertainty of this world we are living in.

Card 3 - What is my goal? - Ten of Pentacles – Ensuring my families safety.

Card 4 - What was my foundation, my influence? – Inverted Queen of Rods – Been burned a lot over the years, by people close to me. Deceit.

Card 5 - How has that influenced recent events? - King of Cups. I still keep an open mind, carefully take responsibility.

Card 6 – Future influence – Inverted Nine of Cups – Being retired and in this current world, I have been contemplating long term financial loss; possible instability. That’s weighing heavy on me.

Card 7 – My present attitude – King of Rods – Pragmatic, honest, conscientious.

Card 8 – My influence on those around me – Nine of Swords – Are my actions raising concern with those in my life? Am I making people miserable? I may need to refer to the Lewis Black Magic Eight Ball for that answer.

Card 9 – What are my inner emotions? – Six of Rods – Positive. Upbeat. Good news.

Card 10 – The final result – Four of Rods – Peace. Stability. Stay the course. 

All in all, I honestly have to say – these are spot on! Thank you, Debra, for encouraging me to do a reading! 

Peace,

Rade

 

 

 

 

Saturday Morning Sip

 Happy Saturday, everyone! 

Spring is springing!  

 

Thank you, Wiley! 

 

Thank you, Leanne!  >I am not a dog person<, but this is the most adorable thing I've seen in ages! 

 

Nope, sure don't! 

Thank you, Nick Anderson, for the double header today.

 

And finally... catnip detente.  Peace across the lands, or at least the living room.

Your Daily Meme

Thank you, Wiley.

 

Captain Kirk, the early years. 

Yes!  William Shatner when he was just a lifeguard in his youth! 

 

 Got to meet him in person several years ago.  Just a nice guy!  Most Canadians genuinely are ...

 

 

Updated Kennedy Center 2025 schedule

 Thank you, New Yorker... spot on.  

Your Daily Meme

 Happy First Day Of Spring!!!