Every day, more nominees. I never thought I’d actually be rooting for Mittens so there will be at least one adult in the room.
If you’d told me that “President of these United States” was an entry-level elected position, I would have laughed.
Who could have predicted that the Weekly World News would have gotten more right over its years of publication than what is shown on most news stations. (At the very end of this post is the best story EVER about the Weekly World News.)
My overall concern is what we need to do to protect democracy now that the country is going to be run by inexperienced misogynistic, racist, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTQ, white supremacist ideologues. And we need to call them that because far too many people think “alt-right” is some form of music. Not only do they plan to dismantle the ACA, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, government funding for EVERYTHING except the military, but they also are going after First Amendment rights.
We must FIGHT EVERY DAY to hold on to those First Amendment rights, because they are the cornerstone of democracy. There are a few things to do now:
- Subscribe to the New York Times and the Washington Post, and one other legitimate news source of your choice. Dollars will make the difference in getting their reporters out there, asking questions, investigating and publishing. It is the smack down we need against the fake news brokers. And related: quit getting your news on Facebook. Sure, read it for headlines but get your NEWS from the source. If you’re a member of Amazon Prime, a Post subscription is $3.99 a month. And don’t you want to give that tiny amount of money to the newspaper Trumpkin banned?
- Join your local Democratic organization. This will keep you informed about local issues, get you on telephone trees , and help to organize block by block because many local elections are next year, and all of The House is up for re-election in 2018, and we’ll want to elect people who will undo the coming disaster.
- Make a few phone calls a day:
- Your Congressman
- Your Senators
- One neighbor
- EVERY DAY call your reps and tell them your opinion on something they’re going to vote on. A Supreme, Medicare, Climate Change – get in the habit of calling because they take calls far more seriously than letters or emails – they keep boards with tallies, but only from calls. And call a neighbor to tell them what your issue of the day is. Ask them to call their reps. (Don’t call the same neighbor every day)
- Set up telephone trees to call Congress when a specific bill is coming up. Even Rick Santorum, when PA Senator, changed his mind on a Social Security bill strictly because of the overwhelming number of phone calls.
- Support small independent blogs (like DCW) by reading and then sharing.
- Wear your safety pin every day. And when people ask about it, tell them, get them on board.
- Join and support organizations fighting to save America: the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Planned Parenthood….you know the list.
- Recruit one new Democratic voter every week. Keep lists and make sure they’re at the polls for the 2017 primary and general, and on into the future.
- Always have voter registration forms with you, just in case.
- Keep your eyes open for an opportunity to be of service. It might be standing with someone being bullied, or helping out at a food bank….sometimes even just making eye contact and smiling at someone may be the only good thing that happens to him/her that day.
So that’s what I’ve got for today. And here’s my story…The Weekly World News story. WWN was published by a guy named Robert Lynd. Under the name of Bob Lynd, he had a one hit wonder in “Elusive Butterfly”. He was interviewed by the New York Times and was asked what made WWN different from other tabloids. His answer….”If someone called the Grey Lady saying he had dinner last night with Elvis, JFK and Aristotle Onassis, you’d hang up. If he called the National Enquirer, they’d ask for art. Here at Weekly World News, we give our readers the benefit of the doubt.”
