The love of animals...

 

Immanuel Kant feels that people can be judged by the way they treat animals. I worked for a guy once who was a complete jerk, but one day I learned how much he loved his cat, often discussing with me his care of the animal because he knew we had cats. After this I realized I couldn't fault the man altogether and our relationship improved measurably. But treatment of animals by some results in abuse, even cruelty, an area requiring new laws. 

But have you ever taken the time to see that lovin' look in your pet's eyes that says they adore you. And, of course, you adore them too. The connection to our animals has grown over the years to where they are now one of the family. And that's the way it should be as most of us consider them our children, most especially when you don't have human kids. These households treasure their pets and some families spend large sums on their animal for toys and miscellaneous things. 

The main thing is you must keep them healthy making regular trips to the vet. Find a caring doctor for your species, dog, cat, horse, etc. Depending where you live, housing is important. As an example, you should never leave a cat outside for the simple reason they are easy prey for predators. Dogs are better able to defend themselves but should be in a fenced yard high enough to keep out all other animals. Climate change has made some desperate and they are on the prowl.

Animal lover and vet, James Herriot, draws a comparison between animals and

humans, contrasting the souls of each, and animals come out on top. The traits Herriot emphasizes are love, loyalty and gratitude, three qualities that many humans are sorely missing. There is a saying that I use regularly in my blog: "All I Want is to Live." Animals don't ask for much but the least we can give them is a loving family and a forever home.

Just think about these stats from the ASPCA...

Approximately 6.3 million companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters nationwide every year. Of those, approximately 3.1 million are dogs and 3.2 million are cats.

Each year, approximately 920,000 shelter animals are euthanized (390,000 dogs and 530,000 cats).

Approximately 4.1 million shelter animals are adopted each year (2 million dogs and 2.1 million cats).

Why not go to your local animal rescue, shelter or humane society today and take one, or more of those statistics with you to your forever home.

White Nationalism/White Supremacy still rampant

 

Here it is word for word from RawStory...

"Conservative podcast host Steve Bannon defended former President Donald Trump's call for a 'termination' of the U.S. Constitution over his 2020 election loss."

Steve Bannon is a white nationalist, white supremacist, spreading his agenda around the White House during the Trump administration. It is thought John Kelly, Trump's Chief of Staff, was instrumental in the resignation of Bannon, after which Bannon dissed many on Trump's staff and went on with his anti-American program. Steve Bannon is supposed to be in jail but just a month ago...

"Former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon will be allowed to remain free as he appeals his conviction for defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot."

Bannon opposed most everything that opposed Donald Trump, but now that Trump

wants to abolish the Constitution, the expected of course, he supports the ex-White House maniac all the way. Steve Bannon even went to the extent of quoting Donald Trump's Truth Social post on his podcast...

"A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution."

The Trump organization was just found guilty on all counts of tax fraud by the N.Y. atty. general with more charges of Trump personally being investigated. Bannon barely got a reprieve from jail time and more of Donald Trump's minions are already serving time. As you can see from the visual, above, and also from a Republican, David Rockefeller, the government should be the servant of the people, not their master. The latter is what Steve Bannon and Donald Trump want.

George Carlin talks - Stop making stupid people famous

 

The headline is taken from an Internet quote and represents a great array of politicians today like Arizona's Kari Lake and Georgia's Herschel Walker. They came out of the woodwork with a mouth loud enough to get the attention of the stupid people George Carlin is talking about. The question is, how can we get rid of them?

A conservative on the Supreme Court we can be proud of...

 

Sandra Day O'Connor was the first female associate justice on the Supreme Court. She was appointed by Pres. Ronald Reagan and served from 1981 to 2006. From Arizona, and known for her dispassionate and meticulously researched opinions, often siding with liberals in election law. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court of today is a complete opposite of O'Connor.

Kari Lake salutes Trump/Hitler

 

We know what a loser Kari Lake is, brought down in part by her love and affection for Donald Trump. It is endless, as well as her passion for denying the fact that Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Lake is, of course, a lunatic who thought she could parlay her television exposure into a political career. She didn't, but she hasn't given up yet and goes on with a new strategy planned to unseat Arizona's elected governor, Katie Hobbs. Republicans never learn, especially Trumpsters.

Stephen King's latest horror story...Donald Trump

 

I cannot count the ways Stephen King has blasted Donald Trump for the idiot and buffoon he is. But why not write a new version of Cari with Trump on the stage under the bucket of blood. That could even outdo Kathy Griffin's Trump severed head.

George Orwell confirms the complicity of Trump supporters in Trump corruption

 

Abandoned After Seven Years, Jodi is Sad

 

Jodi is a little girl dog in Georgia living with what she thought was her forever family. She had been there for seven years when she was surrendered to The Little Guild. Staff says she was really scared and just wanted to go home. According to The DoDo, Jodi didn't know what was happening or where her family had gone. 

Here are some facts from the ASPCA...

Approximately 6.3 million companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters nationwide every year. Of those, approximately 3.1 million are dogs and 3.2 million are cats.

Each year, approximately 920,000 shelter animals are euthanized (390,000 dogs and 530,000 cats).

If those numbers don't make you think twice about abandoning your pet, then you need to look deep inside for more compassion. As ardent animal lovers we have considered our gang of eleven rescued cats as part of the family. Eating, sleeping, drinking and their healthcare are all a part of our family program. I know you have heard it before...they are our children. Jodi has become more confortable at The Little Guild but it took time to build her trust.

Jodi hasn't been adopted yet, which suprises the shelter staff, since she has become so lovable and outgoing. But they feel strongly that it will happen. The little girl is lucky but look at the above stats and think of the awful consequences if you decide to abandon your pet. PLEASE!

Arizona's Anti-Democracy Gains Momentum

 

Arizona's leader in the destruction of our democracy, gubernatorial loser in the November elections, "still refuses to concede a race the Associated Press called for her opponent weeks ago." Vox reports she is still pumping supporters for help and recently...

filed a lawsuit asking Maricopa County, the largest county in Arizona, to hand over various election records before the statewide canvass of the results, which is scheduled to happen on December 5.

And it was a typical Arizona Trumpster Republican that threatened a "violent revolution" and "death penalty" at a Maricopa County election hearing. According to RawStory...

A woman named Kathy Roscoe told the supervisors that she came to the hearing "to get an up close and personal look at the seven traitors to the United States Constitution."

She continued...

"I will not repeat your election crimes," Rosco said. "I will just say, not 

certifying the machines constitutes a form of interference and in case no one has enlightened you people, interference in an election in the United States of America, Mr. Gates (Maricopa Board of Supervisors), is a capital offense; it's considered treason punishable by the death penalty!"

And, the Arizona lunatic state Sen. Wendy Rogers, recently censured by her own party for her comments on the Buffalo gun massacre, is now...

"promising Trump supporters she can have the 2022 Arizona election redone, as a fundraising gimmick."

In another RawStory article...

"From the glass half full department, Maricopa County’s vote to certify the Nov. 8 election opens an entirely new grifting opportunity for the election denial industry," wrote [Laurie] Roberts. "And who but our own state Sen. Wendy Rogers to lead the way? Within minutes of the (Republican-run) Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voting (unanimously) to certify the vote on Monday, Rogers had her hand out. 'I am Arizona Senator Wendy Rogers, and I will hold Maricopa County accountable for its election shenanigans,' she wrote, in her fundraising plea. 'Help me get a new election for Maricopa!' And by 'help,' she means send her money."

Okay, maybe we can't stop the momentum but what we can certainly slow it down by illustrating to the rest of the country what a bunch of certifiable morons we have in Arizona's state government. 

Billionaires and Large U.S. Corporations Support Anti-Democracy

 

It is beyond disconcerting to realize one of the richest families in the U.S. supports the 2020 election deniers spending over $1 million to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory. It was right-wing shipping magnates Dick and Elizabeth Uihlein and their money went to "campaigns or committees tied to the 147 Republicans who voted, on January 6, (2021), to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory." But their affection for MAGA goes a lot farther, according to AlterNet...

"Sollenberger, writing for the [Daily] Beast in an article published on November 28, reports that in 2021, Arizona Republican Party Vice Chair Gina Swoboda was hired as executive director for “the Uihlein-backed dark money nonprofit Restoration Action Inc.” Her salary was $108,750 per year."

And in corporate America some of the largest corporations handed out more than $8 million "in campaign contributions toward candidates running for federal office who denied the results of the 2020 election and promoted ideas that the race was stolen from former president Donald Trump." Of course, Chas. Koch and Koch Industries was one of the leaders in the gang of democracy mongers. Another you will want to know about before planning home repairs is Home Depot.

There are more so remember the names if you have a relationship with these companies and let them know how you feel...

"AT&T, Home Depot and UPS, which collectively contributed more than $1.6 million to campaigns that pushed ideas of election fraud.

"Others included Comcast, NBC Universal, the American Crystal Sugar Company and Delta Airlines."

 Arizona GOP Election Rejecting Zeal Could Boomerang On Party's Candidates...

What is most concerning is how organized these people are becoming as if this is only the beginning of the battle...and it may very well be. Here's the scenario and you can see why Arizona is known today as the hotbed of anti-democracy...

“Swoboda, a former Trump campaign official and the vice chair of the... 

"Arizona Republican Party, is now leading a misguided charge against the ballot count in that state on behalf of GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake,” Sollenberger explains. “Swoboda currently serves as ‘election integrity’ coordinator for Lake, whose repeated false claims of voter fraud have ingratiated her to former President Donald Trump and who still refuses to acknowledge her election loss to (Democratic Arizona Secretary of State) Katie Hobbs.”"

Kari Lake is a big promoter of Swoboda and the Uihleins' funded Restoration of

America network which is a hub for election denial, including funding some of the key players pushing election falsehoods in Arizona at the moment. There is so much more in this article that will make the democracy-loving public literally sick to their stomach. It's a great read! In closing, this is AlterNet's overall perspective...

"This is a reminder that there’s big money behind the push to undermine democracy. Through Restoration Action and other entities, an array of groups pushing election conspiracy theories are backed by literally tens of millions of dollars from just one billionaire couple.”

This anti-democracy movement must be stopped now but so far lacks a real leader. If one doesn't step up to the plate soon it could be too late. 

 

UPDATE: Gun Nuts Abuse Their Right To Carry Arms Intimidating The Innocent

 

UPDATE: DAILY BEAST: 

It’s Sickening How Many Guns Were Sold on Black Friday

Right here in Phoenix we had groups of Trumpsters/2020 election deniers out shadowing voters at drop boxes, and it was all legal. Voters were scared for their safety since many of the intimidators were heavily armed. Arizona is, of course, wide open to guns, even allowing them in bars. It is a normal day in this state to see someone walking around the streets packing heat. Ownership requires only a warm body. But all this has escalated into something much worse.

Here's the way Mike McIntire of the New York Times sees it...

"Across the country, openly carrying a gun in public is no longer just an exercise in self-defense — increasingly it is a soapbox for elevating one’s voice and, just as often, quieting someone else’s."

Okay, it is one thing to stand on the corner armed to the hilt trying to stare down a voter. But it is quite another thing to confront your opponents swinging an AR-15 in their face. It is clearly a threat and that is exactly how it is meant to be. Here's a recent headline from The Guardian, "Six million Americans carried guns daily in 2019, twice as many as in 2015." This study by the American Journal of Public Health continues...

"The new estimates highlight a decades-long shift in American gun ownership, with increasing percentages of gun owners saying they own firearms for self-defense, not hunting or recreation, and choosing to carry a gun with them when they go out in public..."

Responsible Gun Owners Don't Use Guns to Intimidate...

I don't buy this "self defense" crap when you are out in public, but it sometimes can be valid at home when you are threatened. Authentic statistics that confirm gun carriers have been instrumental in stopping a gun confrontation or saving a life are hard to find; I am sure there are some but this hardly justifies the coercion of innocent people with an assault rifle, as is depicted in this NYT article. And the Editorial Board of the Washington Post wants us to be honest about guns...

"The mass shootings that plague this nation are a uniquely American jumble of contradictions. Each new one horrifies, and yet fits into a depressingly familiar pattern. Communities count the dead — nearly 50 so far in November — and tally the gruesome details. The country vows to honor the lives cut short. And then it all fades from the headlines and people move on, leaving behind thoughts and prayers but no concrete policies to stop the next bloodbath."

The month of November will be over tomorrow and there have been "nearly 50"

deaths due to gun violence in this month alone. Merry Christmas from the NRA. SCOTUS has made things even easier...

"A landmark supreme court case this summer overturned a New York law that placed strict limits on public gun-carrying, ruling, for the first time, that Americans have a constitutional right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home."

The Guardian says an estimated 16 million adults...

"saying they carried a loaded handgun in public at least once a month, and an estimated 6 million saying they did so daily..."

It may be legal to carry guns in public, even for those who have no training on how to use them, but the time is coming when a comatose public will finally wake up to the horrifying innocent deaths due to gun violence in the U.S. and wreak havoc on this insane gun culture. Better sooner than later!

ARIZONA...The Hotbed Of Anti-Democracy

 

I have lived in Arizona for over twenty years. We left Los Angeles because of the gangs that were slowly migrating up the coast where we lived. When we arrived here and discovered how conservative and far-right the state was (didn't do my homework), we didn't want to leave; rather we thought another liberal presence in the land of the sun could help change the state to, at least, moderate. We have had luck finding other liberals and now Arizona has definitely turned purple, we think on the way to blue.

But as it turns out the Donald Trump administration, which didn't make the state necessarily more red, did incite the brand of retaliatory politics that has resulted in the recent chaotic gubernatorial election. Kari Lake, a radical right Trumpster who is also a 2020 election denier, challenged Democrat, Katie Hobbs, who wasn't squeaky clean but a hell of a lot more honest and qualified than Lake. Hobbs had a narrow win but Lake is still contesting the certified voting results. 

Other Trumpsters and 2020 election deniers also lost, but Abe Hamadeh, in a tight race for...

"attorney general, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday contesting the preliminary results of an election that had already been headed to an automatic recount."

You can see the stupidity of these people who react with no thought to what they are doing. Idiots. Hamadeh had a guaranteed runoff. But, what puzzles me even more, probably shouldn't in Arizona, is the fact the races are so close. You would think when known anarchists are on the ballot the logic would be that it is a threat to our democracy, vote them down. Much of the country did in the blue tsunami, but not Arizona. The New York Times reports...

Mr. Hamadeh’s lawsuit, filed in State Superior Court in Maricopa County, names as defendants Arizona’s secretary of state — Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who won the governor’s race — as well as the county recorders and boards of supervisors in the state’s 15 counties. The Republican National Committee joined Mr. Hamadeh in the suit as a plaintiff.

 Inside The Arizona GOP' 'Anti-Democracy Experiment'...

And on Thanksgiving Day, it was reported that Lake filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County, demanding information about Election Day printer problems. She said, "I still have hope." Here's the scenario...

"Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County officials on Wednesday, accusing them of breaking election laws and demanding they provide information about voters whose ballots were impacted by Election Day printer issues."

But, one of the most critical wins for Democrats was Sec. of State; the position controls state elections and Republican candidate and a Trump denier Mark Finchem had repeatedly said he may not certify some elections. With that area worsening on a daily basis, the Washington Post corroborates the problem in this piece, "Election denial is reaching new levels of absurdity in Arizona." Here's their

take...

"Arizona is home for many of the most fervent true believers in the election fraud myth. Their ire is directed toward election authorities in Maricopa County, home of Phoenix, where roughly 60 percent of the state’s votes are cast. After the 2020 election, the purveyors of the fraud narrative pushed the state legislature to authorize the so-called audit of the county’s vote. That effort confirmed Joe Biden’s victory, but it did nothing to quell the faithful’s suspicions."

That was followed by what WaPo calls the "fraud squad," illegal electors, led by gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake. She, along with the Trump supported gang of mock politicians lost, and as far as I am concerned, Arizona is saved...for the time being. We still have a Republican legislature to deal with and Governor-elect Katie Hobbs has indicated her plan to work with them. Being the self-designated state pessimist, I have my doubts but unlimited hope for turning Arizona blue.

Peace Through Democracy

 

For those who don't want peace, there should be a trap door to oblivion...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

Thankful for those who contribute to Democracy and the future of a free world.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Should We Cancel Thanksgiving This Year? NO but...

 

Starting with the corruptive enigma that almost brought down this country, Donald Trump has decided to run for President again.

I, and millions more can't be thankful for that.

I am not thankful for the amount of animal abuse and cruelty that is going on in the U,S, and in the world. In this country an estimated 115 million animals in science labs are killed every year for chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics research. Every 60 seconds, one animal suffers abuse; Every year, more than 10 million animals die from abuse in the US alone; There are over 10,000 puppy mills in the United States.

Millions are definitely not thankful for this. And I do not see how anyone could abuse an innocent animal; it takes a sick human being to do something like this.

Next, the idiot Elon Musk, a leader in electric vehicles, recently bought Twitter and is slowly but surely dismantling one of the best social medias the world has known.

Again, myself and millions can't be thankful for that.

A number of viruses, infections, new variants and most recently a deadly fungus threaten the U.S. population. How did it start and then spread so fast?

Once more, millions recognize that beginning with the pandemic and continuing with the current onslaught of calamities must, to some degree, be blamed on anti-vaxxers that we certainly can't be thankful for.

A recent blue tsunami in the November election is something to be thankful for, but the GOP although barely winning the House, does open the door to idiocies like the Hunter Biden investigation being planned by Jim Jordan.

Certainly nothing to be thankful for on either side of the aisle.

And then there are Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, the shallow and brainless Bobbsey twins that barely tip the meter of double-digit IQs.

If you really searched high and low, there is absolutely no way to be thankful for these two idiots. 

Look at gun violence. With two recent incidents of mass shootings at the Univ. of Virginia and another at LGBTQ Club, Club Q, eight are dead along with multiple injuries. There have been 39,005 gun violence deaths so far this year and 34,706 injuries from gun violence.

No one should be thankful for the National Rifle Assn. and its head, Wayne LaPierre, as well as the minions that serve him. Also, those gun nuts out there who have blocked responsible gun legislation.

Perhaps the most pressing problem the world has ever had, climate change is drying up lakes that are critical for reservoirs in the U.S. and causing weather calamities that are changing lives around the world. Although the Republicans take the lead in the denial of this issue. the Democrats have also dragged their feet. WHO estimates that half of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed areas by 2025.

How could anyone possibly be thankful for this.

The U. S. has a Supreme Court that has moved so far to the right there are calls for impeachment for at least two judges, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. In the court's recent decision to in effect repeal the abortion act, Roe v. Wade, millions of women have been compromised, and they are mad as hell. They showed their anger in the recent election by turning back the expected red tide.

Yes, there are millions who are not thankful that the right to control their own bodies has been taken away from them.

Democracy is slowly dying, made possible by the autocratic government of Donald Trump's administration in the White House, supported vigorously by the Republican Party. 

Who could want their rights taken away from them and end up living like basketball star Brittney Griner has been forced to do? But this is the way they do it in a fascist government.

And the last entry leads to the question of whether Americans could live without their right to vote. If Republicans have their way vote will be restricted for some constituents; as an example, the black vote.

I am not thankful for the many laws the GOP has managed to pass and the new drawing of voting districts just to favor the right.

There are more I know but this is enough for now. 

Back to my original question, NO we shouldn't cancel Thanksgiving. What we must do is be thankful that we still have the right to fight tyranny and make it a 2023 resolution to try and mend the fences that have been erected by both the Republicans and Democrats, and return to the use of the two words negotiate and compromise. Without them, we are a lost nation. 

 

Will Extremism Haunt The Republican Party To Self-Destruction?

New York Times columnist, Charles M. Blow, says, "Extremism Is on the Rise … Again." And here I thought it had never abated. But Blow, being the excellent journalist he is, qualifies his headline, written before the Nov. 8 elections, citing one startling fact...

"There are 291 election deniers on the ballot."

You can see the 291 deniers in the "on the ballot" link, above, with names you will recognize like Kevin McCarthy, Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ron DeSantis, Kari Lake, Herschel Walker; you get the idea. But Blow reports...

In a major speech Wednesday night, President Biden described election denial as “the path to chaos in America.” “It’s unprecedented,” he said. “It’s unlawful. And it’s un-American.” But in truth, the extremism, racism and white nationalism are neither un-American nor unfamiliar.

There are comparisons with the William Howard Taft administration in 1908, later Woodrow Wilson, who campaigned on an “America First” platform, which soon became "associated not just with isolationism, but also with the Ku Klux Klan, xenophobia and fascism." Wilson was a racist from the South and is measured against Donald Trump who Blow says...

"is one of the worst presidents — if not the worst — that this country has ever had."

More matching between Wilson and Trump...

It was Wilson who screened “The Birth of a Nation” at the White House, a film that pushed the “Lost Cause” narrative and fueled the rebirth of the Klan.

 Assessing threats of political violence and rising extremism on the far-right...

Trump hosted a screening of “2,000 Mules” — a fact-checker-debunked documentary that purported to show widespread voter fraud carried out by “mules” who stuffed ballot boxes with harvested ballots during the last presidential election — at Mar-a-Lago, which Trump has called the Southern White House. That film has helped boost his followers’ belief in his lie about the 2020 election.

Civil war has been talked up by Republicans and now they are targeting their own with in-fighting over the upcoming Dec. 6, runoff between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker. This is a must win for the GOP and it all boiled over recently between Mitch McConnell and Rick Scott of Florida...

"A long-simmering, mostly private tension between the two men and their allies came to a head this week as their respective political consultants resorted to publicly insulting each other, particularly over how each was approaching the upcoming Georgia election."

Democrats would welcome Republicans keeping their extremism internally as long

as there is no spillover to the rest of the country. Annihilating each other could be the answer to saving our democracy. Neither Trump nor Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has offered Walker help, and some say the GOP big guns are not so enthusiastic about Herschel Walker because his win will not give them control of the Senate. And finally, more talk of civil war, this time between Republicans...

"Marjorie Taylor Greene says she is ready [to] unleash a civil war in the Republican Party after its poor showing in the midterms.

"The Georgia congresswoman also indicated she would throw her support behind House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in an interview with Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast."

Have you heard the talk recently from a past GOP congressman who said Kevin McCarthy will be Speaker of the House in name only? He said Marjorie Taylor Greene will be the actual Speaker.

Did anyone see that coming?