Nov 132023
 

This article is from John Pavlovitz, the Evangelical Christian pastor who was kicked out by his congregation for preaching Christianity (he’s not the only one but may be the best known.)

I’m going to be leaning on random articles for a while, and not every day at that.  This one is kind of a companion to Freya’s newest Sound Off!, but looking forward.  (It had also occurred to me that we might build on these election successes, so dependent on turnout all) with variations on “See now? That wasn’t  so bad/difficult/painful to vote/  We can keep doing it,” but I digress.)  John’s points too are important.

===========================================

Polls don’t vote. People Do.

By John Pavlovitz

Friends,

Last week was a reminder that elections aren’t won by the media, they’re won by voters.

You’d think we’d have figured this out by now, watching an antiquated process that has proven over and over again in recent years to be less and less reliable in measuring the actual intentions of the electorate. In both terrible and wonderful ways, we’ve all watched the results of contests roll in and defy the prevailing narrative that ushered them in.

And it isn’t simply the faulty nature of the assessment tools that’s a problem, it’s the emotional impact of them on ordinary people; of the toll of these tools on the voting population—in the hands of mainstream media outlets that in an ever-crowded landscape, strain to command the attention of the nation the way they once did.

Simply put: sound, rational leadership, the kind offered by President Biden and the Democrats, is boring.

Competence is boring.

Emotional maturity is boring.

Thoughtful discussion of complex ideas is boring.

Consensus and compromise are boring.

And boring is bad for business.

These things don’t move the needle of mass attention, they don’t garner hits and clicks and trend. They can’t be leveraged to drive engagement and lure eyeballs and sustain urgency.

For that, the media requires chaos.

For that, they need the sideshow.

For that, they need the sh*show.

For that, they want Donald Trump and his cadre of content creators.

The Republican Party is a giant human car crash: a headline-generating monstrosity that daily traffics in manufactured emergencies, culture war histrionics, unhinged rants, and abhorrent behavior. It is a regular creator of the laughably horrible that is honestly tragic for our nation’s government but riveting as performance art.

What this all means, is that because we now exist in perpetually-flooded inboxes and timelines, the mainstream media will never lead with a story that is based on reasoned responses, on measured conversations, on sound policies. In these days, the steady, mature leadership of President Biden and the Democrats isn’t profitable.

And ultimately what this means for us is that we need to ignore all the polls other than the ones we marshal people to, the ones we enter on those pivotal Tuesdays, the ones we collectively flip the script in.

If we continue to work toward those polls, we will prevail. We will create a nation that is slowly weaned from needing its politics to entertain and become a place where terrifying crises and unnecessary drama are relegated to fiction.

Last week, We the People need to remember that although we face legislative threats and Conservative assaults, for now, our voices and our choices determine our fate.

And if good people organize and work and show up, we can still be the difference in the day.

It can be boring but beautiful.

Be encouraged.

 

 

 

 

 

===========================================

GBS (George Bernard Shaw) and GKC (Gilbert Keith Chesterton) were British intellectuals of the early (roughly first quarter of  the) 20th century.  Shaw was an atheist, Chesterton a convert too Roman Catholicism.  There’s a story that once they encountered eaxh other and Chesterton said, “Shaw, anyone who saw you might think there was a famine in England,” and Shaw replied, “And anyone looking at you might think he had found the cause of it.  Shaw was a lifelong bachelor, Cwesterton a devoted husband.  Clearly they had little in common.  But there was one thing (at least) on which they agreed.

 

 

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 Comments Off on “Polls Don’t Vote, People Do”
Jan 062021
 

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox.  I am watching the bogus, treasonous attempt by Trump*, Hawley and the Republican Reich to overthrow the government of the US.  They are trying to discard valid electoral votes for Biden, chosen based on the popular vote in those states, and replace them with bogus electoral votes for Trump*, chosen based on their obedience to their Nazi Fuhrer.  I have also been watching the Georgia Senate runoffs.  Warnock has officially won, and although Ossoff has not, he has a comfortable enough situation that I am certain that he has.  At the beginning of Campaign 2020, I predicted that Democrats would hold the House of Representatives.  Thank God I was right.  I predicted that Democrats would win the White House.  Thank God I was right.  I predicted that Republicans would hold the Senate.  Thank God I was wrong!  Tomorrow I should be in the saddle, but busy.  It’s a grocery delivery day, and I’ll have a big order, as Store to Door was off two weeks.  It’s also a WWWendy day.  She will be coming late in the afternoon.  Happy Hump Day to all!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:52 (average 4:46).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Advancing a new conspiracy theory during a rally on Monday, Donald J. Trump claimed that the United States Constitution is invalid because it was signed by dead people.

“All we’re hearing is, the Constitution this and the Constitution that,” Trump said. “I’m telling you, as sure as you’re sitting there, that every person who signed that piece of paper is dead.”

Trump said that he had his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani investigate the signatories to the Constitution, “and he found a scandal bigger than Hunter Biden’s laptop.”

“Their signatures do not match the signatures of any living person,” he said. “Not only are these people dead, but they have been dead for a long, long time. This should never have been allowed to happen.”

Dang Andy! Is that satire? Trump’s* surprise that the founding fathers are dead is completely credible.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Byrds – Turn! Turn! Turn!

 

Ah… the memories!  RESIST!!

13 Days Until the Big FLUSH!!

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Sep 102020
 

It’s a busy, exhausted day here in the CatBox.  Yesterday’s test infusion went as exspected.  However, I did get some news that may be good.  I had thought that my difficulty eating was a sign that my esophageal cancer is getting worse.  That may be true.  However, if my immune system is attacking the tumor, which is how this drug is supposed to work, it could cause the tumor to swell, just as any wound swells when one’s immune system is healing it.  So my trouble eating could also be a sign that the drug is working.  Time will tell.  Either way, if if the tumor closes to the extent that I cannot eat, I’ll have to get a stent quickly.  Tomorrow Deborah is coming for my routine doctor visit.  What I do tomorrow will depend on how long that takes and how I feel.  This is my only article today.  Have a fine day.  JD, would you please cover Sam?

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:06 (average 6:31).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Trump* Virus Update:

0910TrumpVirusMap

US Cases: 6,550,984
US Deaths: 195,259
Plus thousands of Trump’s* GOP murder victims Republicans are hiding from us

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Oregonian Channel): Oregon wildfire evacuees describe devastation from state’s largest wildfire

 

Last night on the way home from my cancer treatment my eyes stung, and the sky was orange-brown. I could look directly at the sun, and it was red. WWWendy was worried that she might have to evacuate. She had been notified that her house is in a Level 1 area. Thank God she didn’t have to go!  I can see from my window that we still have heavy smoke, but the wind has abated, so that will help the firefighters.  The extreme severity of the wildfires this year is a result of how the Republican Reich ignores climate change and opposes green energy.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Trump says he knew Covid-19 was deadly even though he downplayed it

 

All Trump* cared about was getting reelected. Because he was running on the economy, he gambled on keeping the stock market high. We lost. Every American that Trump* virus has killed is Donald Trump’s* personal murder victim. And what does criminal Fuhrer Trump* have to say about these statements recorded in his own words? “It’s a political hit job!” May that dirty lying bastard rot in hell, since we are all rotting in the hell he has made!  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of past protest): Jefferson Airplane – Volunteers (with Lyric)

 

Ah… the memories! Protest like the 60s! RESIST!!

Vote Blue No Matter Who Top to Bottom!!

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Oct 092019
 

It’s a strange, chilly, muggy day here in the CatBox.  The temperature is 38° with 98% humidity.  We have a freeze warning coming tonight.  This is October, not January!  I seem to have the Republicosis under control so far.  We’ll see as the day progresses.  WWWendy won’t be coming until tomorrow.  Hump Day Hugs to all!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:21 (average 5:04):  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Media Matters Channel): Fox News blames “Deep State” for the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump

Barf Bag Alert!!

 

The Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, likes nothing more than whipping deplorable Republican Sheeple into a hate-filled rage! RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): The Fate Of LGBTQ Equality In The Workplace

 

I can only hope that the five Injustices at SCROTUS (Republican anti-Constitutional VD) do not steal the rights of our LGBTQ citizens. I’m not holding my breath. I fear we’ll have to join their fight to get those rights back! RESIST!!

From NPR: Turkish forces began crossing the Syrian border on Wednesday, launching an operation in Kurdish-dominated areas of the country’s north, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced.

The Turkish offensive jeopardizes Kurdish-led forces who have been a key U.S. ally in the bloody fight against ISIS. Turkey says those same forces are linked to militant groups who stage attacks in a separatist movement against the Turkish government…

…The Turkish military is working with the Syrian National Army, Erdogan said, adding that they area [sic] targeting Kurdish fighters as well as ISIS extremists.

Thanks to the Fuhrer of the Republican Reich, our loyal allies are under the bus, and the bloodbath has begun. RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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Nov 022018
 

Compared to September, October results were up in every category, except uniques, which was down only slightly.

Here is our latest summary:

Stats10-2018

Reported period

Month Oct 2018

 

 

 

 

First visit

01 Oct 2018 – 00:01

 

 

 

 

Last visit

31 Oct 2018 – 13:33

 

 

 

 

 

Unique visitors

Number of visits

Pages

Hits

Bandwidth

Viewed traffic *

4,534

 

37,928

(8.36 visits/visitor)

213,530

(5.62 Pages/Visit)

433,940

(11.44 Hits/Visit)

20.00 GB

(553.02 KB/Visit)

Not viewed traffic *

 

 

 

821,311

942,054

17.24 GB

Reported period

Month Oct 2017

 

 

 

 

First visit

01 Oct 2017 – 00:00

 

 

 

 

Last visit

31 Oct 2017 – 23:59

 

 

 

 

 

Unique visitors

Number of visits

Pages

Hits

Bandwidth

Viewed traffic *

9,247

 

30,218

(3.26 visits/visitor)

121,949

(4.03 Pages/Visit)

274,997

(9.1 Hits/Visit)

9.63 GB

(334.05 KB/Visit)

Not viewed traffic *

 

 

 

432,632

505,617

12.12 GB

Compared with last October, we are way down in Uniques, and way up in all other categories.  Fewer visitors doing much more is a win.

Here out ClustrMap for 2018 YTD.  This is ten months’ traffic.  I partially fixed the problem we had last month

Map10-2018

ClustrMap misses a lot of visits, because many visits can’t be easily traced to a location.

Here are our top five articles:

Fuhrer Financial Fraud 10/3/2018 1,099
I’m Going to Puke! 10/5/2018 866
Merkley Gone Wild! 10/17/2018 706
Bill Maher from 10/12 10/13/2018 675
Republicans on Parade – 10/8/2018 10/8/2018 580

The count represents only the people who opened the page for that specific article.  All were from this year.   All were from October.  I wrote all five.  I would have been happier to see more of our other authors’ work represented here.  JD, Nameless, Lona and Squatch have written fine articles.

Here are our top non-blog/news referrers (100 referral minimum):

Google .com 3,738
Care2   2,285

Google was up from last month.  Care2 was slightly down. 

Here are our top  blog/news referrers:

http://infidel753.blogspot.com/
http://alterx.blogspot.com/
http://bildungblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.davedubya.com/

We had 4 sites with 2 or more referrals, down 2 from September.  Putting blogs’ links here increases the ratings of their sites, so this “linkey love” is our thank you for their referral support.  We still need to improve this.  Since May, I cleaned up our blog roll and found most of the sites either were gone or had not published for years. Now I still need to visit the few who remain.

As of midnight November 1, we had 8,570 articles and 102,773 comments.

Pat B won a another Big Mouth Award for the 102,000th comment on October 5.  We think she’s taking it over.  More kudos for Pat, please. From now now on, Big Mouth winners at 10,000 levels will have their choice of a PP mug or a PP T Shirt.  Staff will remain eligible to be winners at the 1,000 levels,  Winners at prize winning levels will be the first non-staff commenter.  If any staff member wants a mug or a T Shirt, let me know.

I recommend using your own avatar. Go to Gravatar.  Sign up using the email address you use to post comments here and upload the image you want to use as your avatar.  Whenever you comment under that email address here or on any WordPress blog (several others too), that image will become your avatar.

Your Administrators are Lynn Squance, aka Sasquatch or Squatch, SoINeedAName, aka Nameless, and I, aka TomCat, the Founder.  Your Editors are Joanne Dixon, aka JD the Erynator and Lona Goudswaard, aka Lona the Napster.  I  promoted them from Author in August 2017 to give them the ability to add graphics to comments and the ability to correct my innumerable typos.

This is our policy on links.  We do not embed links to extreme Republican websites, like Faux Noise, Breitfart or World Nut Daily.  However I leave notes in square brackets when I delete such links, (example: [faux noise delinked]) so readers, who wish to follow them can click through to the source article.  I also remove topical links.  Finally, I blank the target on all links, so they open in a new tab or window.

We now have just 4 days, before we will have a major opportunity to reclaim part of our nation from the fascist Reich that possesses all three branches of government.  Please do every thing you can.

Thank you for your support here, and kudos for all the good you do, everywhere you do it.

RESIST!!
VOTE BLUE!!
4 DAYS!!

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Oct 302018
 

It’s been a busy day here in the CatBox with lots of chores keeping me too busy.  It’s cool fall weather, but with 89% humidity, my clothes stick to me and feel clammy.  That and pre-election brain-drain have been keeping me awake at night, so I feel quite tired.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:28 (average 6:08).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (CNN Channel): Trump plans on ending birthright citizenship

 

The Fuhrer wants to add "white" to the 14th Amendment and stoke the Republican Reich to create more bombers and mass-murderers. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From YouTube (Vox Channel): Admit it. Republicans have broken politics.

 

Anyone who has read me over the years knows that I’ve talked about the exact same things throughout the last decade, but I love the term "asymmetrical polarization". RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

From The New Yorker: The chief executive officer of Fox News said on Monday that Megyn Kelly’s nostalgic remarks about blackface were insufficiently racist for the right-wing cable channel to consider rehiring her.

“We at Fox have nothing but respect for Megyn’s achievements as a racist television personality,” Suzanne Scott, the Fox News C.E.O., said. “Having said that, we do not feel that her blackface comments represent her best work.”

Scott expressed concern that, by trying to tone down her racism for the morning-television audience on NBC, Kelly might have “gotten a little rusty, hate-wise.”

Dang, Andy! Do you think it’s really that? The way the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, treats women, I think it’s because her boobs sag a bit. RESIST!! VOTE BLUE!!

Cartoon:

It’s as true today as it was when I made it in 2011.

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Oct 042018
 

Compared to August, September results were down in every category.  I don’t know why.

Here is our latest summary:

Stats9-2018

Reported period

Month Sep 2018

 

 

 

 

First visit

01 Sep 2018 – 00:01

 

 

 

 

Last visit

30 Sep 2018 – 23:59

 

 

 

 

 

Unique visitors

Number of visits

Pages

Hits

Bandwidth

Viewed traffic *

4,539

 

36,621

(8.06 visits/visitor)

177,017

(4.83 Pages/Visit)

382,731

(10.45 Hits/Visit)

18.69 GB

(535.22 KB/Visit)

Not viewed traffic *

 

 

 

744,676

889,829

20.98 GB

Reported period

Month Sep 2017

 

 

 

 

First visit

01 Sep 2017 – 00:00

 

 

 

 

Last visit

30 Sep 2017 – 23:59

 

 

 

 

 

Unique visitors

Number of visits

Pages

Hits

Bandwidth

Viewed traffic *

8,742

 

27,465

(3.14 visits/visitor)

101,767

(3.7 Pages/Visit)

236,376

(8.6 Hits/Visit)

7.69 GB

(293.69 KB/Visit)

Not viewed traffic *

 

 

 

421,101

484,020

11.33 GB

Compared with last September, we are way down in Uniques, and up in all other categories.  Fewer visitors doing much more is a win.

Here is August’s ClustrMap for 2018 YTD.  This is eight months’ traffic.  Clustrmap is broken and I’m looking for a fix.

ClustrMap8-2018

ClustrMap misses a lot of visits, because many visits can’t be easily traced to a location.

Here are our top five articles:

Republicans on Parade – 9/10/2018 9/10/2018 1,066
Grassley and the Pervert 9/16/2018 615
Monthly Report for August 2018 9/4/2018 573
Republicans on Parade – 9/2/2018 9/12/2018 568
Labor Day 9/3/2018 943

The count represents only the people who opened the page for that specific article.  All were from this year.   All were from September.  I wrote all five.  I would have been happier to see more of our other authors’ work represented here.  JD, Nameless, Lona and Squatch have written fine articles.

Here are our top non-blog/news referrers (100 referral minimum):

Google 3,247
Care2   2,295
Facebook 228

Google was up from last month.  Care2 was down.  We do not link to Facebook.

Here are our top  blog/news referrers:

http://infidel753.blogspot.com/
http://littlewinginc.blogspot.com/
http://welcome-to-pottersville2.blogspot.com/
http://bildungblog.blogspot.com/
http://parsleyspics.blogspot.com/
http://www.synapticstew.com/

We had 6 sites with 2 or more referrals, up 2 from August.  Putting blogs’ links here increases the ratings of their sites, so this “linkey love” is our thank you for their referral support.  We still need to improve this.  Since May, I cleaned up our blog roll and found most of the sites either were gone or had not published for years. Now I still need to visit the few who remain.

As of midnight October 1, we had 8,511 articles and 101,887comments.

Nobody won a Big Mouth Award last month.  From now on, Big Mouth winners at 10,000 levels will have their choice of a PP mug or a PP T Shirt.  Staff will remain eligible to be winners at the 1,000 levels,  Winners at prize winning levels will be the first non-staff commenter.  If any staff member wants a mug or a T Shirt, let me know.  Pat B has received her rewards.  Here are the Mug Shots she sent:

1003PatBMug

1003PatBT

I recommend using your own avatar. Go to Gravatar.  Sign up using the email address you use to post comments here and upload the image you want to use as your avatar.  Whenever you comment under that email address here or on any WordPress blog (several others too), that image will become your avatar.

Your Administrators are Lynn Squance, aka Sasquatch or Squatch, SoINeedAName, aka Nameless, and I, aka TomCat, the Founder.  Your Editors are Joanne Dixon, aka JD the Erynator and Lona Goudswaard, aka Lona the Napster.  I  promoted them from Author in August 2017 to give them the ability to add graphics to comments and the ability to correct my innumerable typos.

This is our policy on links.  We do not embed links to extreme Republican websites, like Faux Noise, Breitfart or World Nut Daily.  However I leave notes in square brackets when I delete such links, (example: [faux noise delinked]) so readers, who wish to follow them can click through to the source article.  I also remove topical links.  Finally, I blank the target on all links, so they open in a new tab or window.

We now have just 33 das, before we will have a major opportunity to reclaim part of our nation from the fascist Reich that possesses all three branches of government.  Please do every thing you can.

Thank you for your support here, and kudos for all the good you do, everywhere you do it.

RESIST!!
VOTE BLUE!!
33 DAYS!!

AvatarTC

Share
Sep 042018
 

Compared to July, August results were down in every category except visits.  I have no idea why.

Here is our latest summary:

Stats8-2018

Reported period

Month Aug 2018

 

 

 

 

First visit

01 Aug 2018 – 00:00

 

 

 

 

Last visit

31 Aug 2018 – 13:29

 

 

 

 

 

Unique visitors

Number of visits

Pages

Hits

Bandwidth

Viewed traffic *

4,786

 

38,305

(8 visits/visitor)

205,825

(5.37 Pages/Visit)

395,688

(10.32 Hits/Visit)

18.65 GB

(510.64 KB/Visit)

Not viewed traffic *

 

 

 

684,887

847,611

21.87 GB

 

Reported period

Month Aug 2017

 

 

 

 

First visit

01 Aug 2017 – 00:01

 

 

 

 

Last visit

31 Aug 2017 – 23:59

 

 

 

 

 

Unique visitors

Number of visits

Pages

Hits

Bandwidth

Viewed traffic *

8,474

 

26,754

(3.15 visits/visitor)

103,513

(3.86 Pages/Visit)

242,166

(9.05 Hits/Visit)

7.31 GB

(286.53 KB/Visit)

Not viewed traffic *

 

 

 

389,428

443,793

10.59 GB

Compared with last August, we are way down in Uniques, and way up in all other categories.  Fewer visitors doing much more is a win.

Here is our ClustrMap for 2018 YTD.  This is eight months’ traffic.

ClustrMap8-2018

ClustrMap misses a lot of visits, because many visits can’t be easily traced to a location.

Here are our top five articles:

Select Election Results from 8/7/2018 8/8/2018 895
Republicans on Parade – 8/7/2018 8/7/2018 880
Republican pseudo-Christian Love 8/5/2018 836
Perez Screwed the Pooch 8/12/2018 805
Bill Maher from 8/17 8/18/2018 805

The count represents only the people who opened the page for that specific article.  All were from this year.   All were from August.  I wrote all five.  I would have been happier to see more of our other authors’ work represented here.  JD, Nameless and Squatch have written fine articles.   Lona has not recovered from the great  migration, but has been nʍod ǝdᴉsdn for over a month, so we expect her back soon.

Here are our top non-blog/news referrers (100 referral minimum):

Care2   3,074
Google 2,928
Baidu 126

All were down from last month.  Google was WAY down.  I used to visit Stumbleupon every day, and they kept making "improvements" that drove regulars away.  When they drove me away, many were saying they would "improve" it out of business.  They did, so they are not on the list.

Here are our top  blog/news referrers:

http://infidel753.blogspot.com/
http:/bildungblog.blogspot.com/
http://progressiveerupts.blogspot.com/
http://jackjodell.blogspot.com/

We had 4sites with 2 or more referrals, down 3 from July.  Putting blogs’ links here increases the ratings of their sites, so this “linkey love” is our thank you for their referral support.  We still need to improve this.  Since May, I cleaned up our blog roll and found most of the sites either were gone or had not published for years. Now I still need to visit the few who remain.

As of midnight September 1, we had 8,440 articles and 101,047 comments.

Kudos to Pat B, who earned a Big Mouth Award in June for making the 101,000th comment.  Last month, Mitch opted not to accept his prize.  I decided to give the prize of a Politics Plus mug and a Politics Plus T Shirt to the 101,000 level winner.  From now on, Big Mouth winners at 10,000 levels will have their choice of a PP mug or a PP T Shirt.  Staff will remain eligible to be winners at the 1,000 levels,  Winners at prize winning levels will be the first non-staff commenter.  If any staff member wants a mug or a T Shirt, let me know.

I recommend using your own avatar. Go to Gravatar.  Sign up using the email address you use to post comments here and upload the image you want to use as your avatar.  Whenever you comment under that email address here or on any WordPress blog (several others too), that image will become your avatar.

Your Administrators are Lynn Squance, aka Sasquatch or Squatch, SoINeedAName, aka Nameless, and I, aka TomCat, the Founder.  Your Editors are Joanne Dixon, aka JD the Erynator and Lona Goudswaard, aka Lona the Napster.  I  promoted them from Author in August 2017 to give them the ability to add graphics to comments and the ability to correct my innumerable typos.

This is our policy on links.  We do not embed links to extreme Republican websites, like Faux Noise, Breitfart or World Nut Daily.  However I leave notes in square brackets when I delete such links, (example: [faux noise delinked]) so readers, who wish to follow them can click through to the source article.  I also remove topical links.  Finally, I blank the target on all links, so they open in a new tab or window.

We now have just a bit over two months, before we will have a major opportunity to reclaim part of our nation from the fascist Reich that possesses all three branches of government.  Please do every thing you can.

Thank you for your support here, and kudos for all the good you do, everywhere you do it.

RESIST!!

VOTE BLUE!!

63 DAYS!!

AvatarTC

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