A grim couple of weeks in America, yes. But some reasons here for hope and optimism. My latest in @GuardianUS. Thanks to @AshaRangappa_ @ThePlumLineGS, quoted herein https://t.co/PgXThbL8PH
— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) July 5, 2023
Margaret Sullivan, in the Guardian, “On the Fourth of July, a few reasons to feel encouraged about US democracy”:
It’s been a grim week or so in the United States, especially for those with progressive values…
But despite that, there are reasons to feel encouraged about the future of the nation on this, its 247th birthday.
First, the successful effort in Congress to protect democracy and electoral integrity known as the Electoral Count Act reform. Widely seen as the most important such reform in a generation, it developed in direct response to Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election which came to a violent head in the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. Among its many admirable provisions, it prohibits state legislatures from changing how electors can be selected after an election.
Then in one of two positive pieces of supreme court news in recent weeks, the court rejected a dangerous effort to allow states to ignore their own state constitutions. Undeterred, that could have radically transformed how federal elections are conducted by giving state legislatures a great deal of power to set rules for federal elections. The court also unexpectedly struck down Alabama’s racial gerrymandering plan under the Voting Rights Act.
I find it oddly encouraging that, according to a recent USA Today/Suffolk University poll, seven in 10 Americans think our democracy is “imperiled.” Of course, people define that peril according to their own politics and world views, but is is undoubtedly one reason why election denialists were roundly defeated during last year’s midterm elections.
Most Americans apparently don’t want extremists running elections and they understand how high the stakes are…
And while this is hard to quantify, I know of many citizens and advocates who are working hard to protect voting, to support the rights of the disenfranchised. to lessen the blows dealt by the recent court rulings, and to sustain local journalism.
It’s a heavy lift, so we should all lend a hand.
“Get engaged locally,” urged Yale University’s Asha Rangappa told me recently when I interviewed the former FBI agent for my podcast, American Crisis: Can Journalism Save Democracy? That could mean runing for office, signing up to be a poll worker, volunteering at school, participating in the arts.
Rangappa wants more Americans to “cultivate the habits of democracy”. Those habits are developed when people leave their social-media echo chambers, get out into their communities, and simply talk to each other.
On this Fourth of July, let’s make sure our ever-fragile democracy endures to celebrate many more birthdays.
SpaceUnit
Okay she lost me with that part about going out and actually talking to people.
Baud
@SpaceUnit:
It’s people that got us into this mess!
Baud
Interesting Reddit thread about … Threads.
SpaceUnit
@Baud:
Yeah, like I’m gonna go out and deliberately talk to someone in person!
I don’t think so.
Bethanyanne
It’s been such an awful 3 weeks. I live with and care for my mom. 3 weeks ago, took her to local hospital with what felt like appendicitis. Nope, kidney stone and sepsis. Which graduated her to regional trauma center ICU and kidney failure. She’s been clear about DNI, and has bad days and less bad days. I think it’s very likely that we are near the end. And I’m so lost. I just can’t fix this.
Baud
@Bethanyanne:
I’m very sorry.
Bethanyanne
Today had been a less bad day. Sister and I visited and she was looking better. But tonight she slipped back down to erratic breathing and being less aware of her surroundings.
Dan B
@Bethanyanne: Very sorry that your mom seems to be failing. The uncertainty is tough.
SpaceUnit
@Bethanyanne:
I’m so sorry. It’s such a terrible thing to go through.
Bethanyanne
I wish she would let us intubate her, but she’s got pretty poor overall health. The very best case is beginning to look like a quality of life she would hate. In a skilled nursing facility, doing dialysis all the time.
Ramona
Bethanyanne
She’s so on the edge. We get a scrap of improvement and I’m grateful, then back down. Thank goodness we moved to be near my sister in February. She’s already told me I won’t be homeless if Moms not here
twbrandt
@Bethanyanne: I’m so sorry. I wish you and your mom strength and peace.
Bethanyanne
I’m sorry to just dump this on everyone.
Bethanyanne
Being an adult sucks.
bbleh
@SpaceUnit: this indeed. I haven’t noticed MAGAts, right-wingers generally, or even most Republicans of any stripe, willing to do anything but shout, and certainly not to listen. And despite the oh-so-very-earnest theorizing and analysis of well-paid journalists, tenured academics, et al., the absolutely undeniable fact is that Republicans — and not Democrats — have been lunging consistently to the extremes for decades. It is abundantly clear to everyone except those paid not to see it that it does no good to “simply talk” with them. They have no intention of listening.
I agree enthusiastically, though, that we should “cultivate the habits of democracy,” specifically voting, donating, volunteering, organizing, and where possible running for office, in order to advance our views, gain power to implement them, and in the process defeat the alternatives. More of that!
We are long past the time of polite conversation and the meeting of minds. “It takes but one foe to breed a war,” and unfortunately war was declared on us — literally, repeatedly, by many people in many ways — long ago. We have now only to fight it.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
I’m getting tired of so much winning.
Speaking of winning, Big Red Machine won yet again.
Bethanyanne
I have been reading threads here the past few days, but everything has been so all over the map I didn’t want to say anything. There is still hope for some months of a good life. Not much, but every time I despair, she bounces back some. Mom was raised with 3 cousins as siblings. Aunt Patsy is still alive and with her right now. She missed the flight out of Little Rock and decided to stay evidently.
Jackie
@Bethanyanne: I’m so sorry.😢 Hopefully you and your sister can be by her side as much as possible. I’m sure hearing your voices and feeling your touch gives her comfort – even if she seems unresponsive.
Sending positive vibes to you all.
Mai Naem mobileI
@Bethanyanne: I am so sorry you’re going through this. It’s an awful rollercoaster of emotions when somebody is in that situation.
Chris
@bbleh:
The people who constantly say we just need to talk to Republicans are people who are obsessively determined to never listen to anything they have to say, and to retcon whatever they do say as just a cry for help.
The people saying that they’re completely around the bend and that we need to beat them in every election we remotely can, not stop and talk to them, are the only people who’ve actually talked and listened to them.
SpaceUnit
@bbleh:
Yeah, nice try bish but interacting with people is how you get yourself killed in 2023. That and riding in homemade submarines.
ETA: Too soon for submarine jokes?
sab
@Bethanyanne: Please don’t be sorry about that ( about dumping this on us.) That is part of why we are here.
Jackie
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: Darned Bidenomics!!!
Betty Cracker
@Bethanyanne: No apology necessary. Lots of us have been through similar hells and understand how gut-wrenching it is. Wishing you and your family much peace and strength for the days ahead.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Bethanyanne: I’m so sorry.
Soprano2
@Bethanyanne: I’m so sorry, I know it’s easy for me to say this but don’t beat yourself up over it. Some things just can’t be fixed no matter how much we wish otherwise.
Princess
@Bethanyanne: I’m really sorry. She’s lucky to have you.
Brachiator
I suppose I am guardedly optimistic. I believe that while a majority of people want the best for all citizens, some states, with the protection and approval of the Supreme Court, have become experiments in tyranny.
The anger and resentment that Trump encouraged has blossomed into active ill will directed at women, trans people, blacks and Hispanics.
People of good will seem to understand that a hard fight may be required to restore a kinder, more tolerant society.
A good start.
persistentillusion
@Bethanyanne: I’m sorry. The end or the beginning of the end is so hard. Even if you know it’s coming. Warm thoughts.
Jay
@Bethanyanne:
Yup,
Take care of yourself.
So sorry for what you are going through.
Bethanyanne
I am so grateful for my family in this. I wish we had moved up here to Arkansas a couple of years ago, but mom was dead set against it. Then she realized my sister didn’t want Mom in her house. She was hearing things my sister wasn’t saying. We are about 20 min away from Donna, and have a peaceful little apartment in Russellville. Huge backyard full of birds we promptly started feeding. Our cats watch the birds and we watch the cats (and the birds). I am actually sort of smitten with Russellville. It’s got what few amenities I need, and it’s so much quieter than Houston. I really do see myself settling down here. I’ve even seen people wearing nice pro trans shirts.
Salty Sam
Not at all- Titan was a joke of a sub before it even got wet.
Sure Lurkalot
@Bethanyanne: So sorry you are going through these hardest of times.
Lyrebird
@Bethanyanne: You are doing an amazing job. We’re lucky that our mom stayed lucid enough to be super clear about her specific wishes. I have never met you, so please pardon if I over step. I don’t know if you would feel it’s appropriate to say things out loud like, “we love you, we don’t want you to suffer, it’s okay for you to go.” Yes it is awful. You are giving her a very precious gift, your loving care through the worst part.
JWR
Reminds me of a segment on last night’s otherwise pretty good PBS News Hour.
What’s her name, (the older, blond woman),Judy Woodruf got 3 Rs, 3 Ds and one Black Libertarian Iowa voter(s) together, Luntz style, to discuss this “can’t we all get along” stuff. As expected, it went poorly.I think instead of all this woo woo focus group mush, what should be discussed is determining the sources where each get their news, (none of this “I get my news from everywhere” BS), and then check everyone’s sources against cold, hard, undeniable facts, and, if needed, educate from there. Of course this would immediately be attacked as biased, but the media shouldn’t be both-sidesing this stuff, and should instead be educating the public about facts, because dammit, Democracy is on life support.
Salty Sam
Having done some grief counseling for hospice, I encourage you to continue “dumping”. You have a real community here at BJ, who will listen to your stories, without judgement, and reflect back the strength you are seeking. You are navigating this exactly right…
Jay
@Bethanyanne:
my Mom died, because she quit. I had moved back home to take care of her but the the day before I arrived, she went to the hospital again. She lasted 2 months, and then gave up.
Later, T and I bought my Dad’s house and moved in with him, because he didn’t take care of himself. We renovated and cleaned around him, made him eat good meals, and swapped his 30 year old single bed that was mine when I was a kid, and bought him a new bed and flannel sheets. He claimed he hated the cats, but I came home early one day from work, to find him taking a nap on the couch with both dogs and both cats.
Two years later, he had a stroke. I noticed and we took him to the ER. It was a minor stroke, he quit. Refused to do the physio, just lay in bed, until he became bedridden, they transferred him to an extended care home, where he lived out his years, all 20 of them.
So sorry for what you are going through,…….
JWR
@bbleh:
Hey, that’s what I’d intended to say. ;)
Bethanyanne
I did finally get a job here in Russellville. It’s been harder than I thought it would be to find one. It’s at Friendship, a community nonprofit that helps developmentally disabled folk, as a “Direct Support Person”. It’s funny to me in a way, cause it’s so much like what I’ve been doing for Mom for 5 years. Help my client with chores, go shopping with them, hang out, play games. Just be there and be a friend and be helpful.
Bethanyanne
@Jay: Oh, wow. That sounds like a rough ride. This year has just been draining on Mom, and I think she’s just fed up with the fight. I’m so not. But, it’s her life, and I can only help.
Bethanyanne
I saw a study this week in Nature that the motion data from movement trackers can be used to diagnose Parkinson’s disease years before a traditional diagnosis would detect it. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02440-2
eclare
@Bethanyanne:
Oh I’m so sorry, it’s tough.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Bethanyanne:
I’m so sorry to read this. My best wishes to your Mom (and you) in dealing with this.
eclare
@Bethanyanne:
Don’t be sorry. We have all either been through this or know someone who has.
BethanyAnne
Thank you, everyone, for the kind words. I think it has helped for me to babble some tonight.
Ruckus
A ray of sunshine for me.
Today is the 50th anniversary of my discharge from the USN.
Jackie
@Ruckus: Happy Golden Anniversary!
BethanyAnne
@Ruckus: Nice, gratz!
Elizabelle
@BethanyAnne: please keep us apprised. I wish you and your mom and your sister grace as you get through whatever the next months have in store.
Ruckus
@BethanyAnne:
I’ve been through this, it’s never easy, you don’t get used to it, but you do have a concept of what to expect after a few times.
Mom was the oldest, dad was an only child, both sets of their parents long gone before them. I was the third oldest child in the extended family, as of last month I’m the oldest living person.
It’s never easy, we all go through this in our own way, sometimes the getting there is really, really difficult, sometimes a bit less so.
Raoul Paste
@Bethanyanne: It’s a difficult business for all concerned, with maddening uncertainty. You are doing what you can, and that is a lot.
Ruckus
@Bethanyanne:
My neighbor works a job similar to that, she currently has 2 clients, works 3-4 hours a day with each one. I don’t know their level of disabilities, but they are old. She likes it but there are days…
Nelle
@BethanyAnne: Keep us updated on how you are doing. Such a strange time when you are in it. I’m so sorry.
Suzanne
@Chris:
One of the last times I canvassed in person was right before the 2016 election. I knocked on sooooo many doors for Hillary. Anyway, my list was (supposedly) all Democrats, trying to boost turnout, and my list sent me to a house in the next neighborhood over from mine looking for a young woman, early 20s. Mr. Suzanne and I knocked on the door and a man who looked to be in his mid-50s answered the door. We asked for the person on our list, and he and she wasn’t there. He asked who we were, and we said we were canvassers from our LD, encouraging Democrats to vote next week. That crazy motherfucker then threatened to shoot us, started screaming anti-Semitic slurs, and literally ran after us.
I don’t talk to Republicans anymore.
I try to turn out Democrats and left-wing people only.
Suzanne
@BethanyAnne: Hugs. I’m sending you best wishes for, well, just to hang in there okay.
CaseyL
@Bethanyanne: That’s what we’re here for. Well, one of the things we’re here for.
I’m so sorry for what you’re going through. It’s inevitable, but still always a shattering shock.
I’m glad that you have family with you.
Nelle
I’m an oddity in that I like to go up to strangers and find out about them. I’m off and on intentionally starting conversations with people in the 18 to 25 age range, asking what is important to them, what they wish people my age (I’m 72) knew or understood about people their age. I’ve met with good reactions, though at least three times, I’ve heard, “No one has ever asked what I thought before.” I find that very sad. Baristas, hotel clerks, hair dressers, HVAC technicians…oh, and a waitress who was a college student who said all her friends were seriously questioning the wisdom of staying at university, and beginning to look at tech training.
Jackie
It was just a matter of time… No One Is Allowed To Upstage THE Donald!!!
And, of course the MAL crasher has issues about no longer being TIFG’s pet:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-begins-to-sour-on-spotlight-hound-kari-lake-for-vp
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Ruckus:
That is a fine number to see! Happy 50th on your return to being a civilian!
Kayla Rudbek
@Bethanyanne: so sorry to hear this.
Maxim
@Bethanyanne: I’m so sorry.
ETA: Thanks for the link to the Parkinson’s article. Very interesting.
dnfree
@Bethanyanne: My mom died relatively quickly 26 years ago, within three days after a heart attack. It was a terrible shock at the time, but after the initial grief we realized that she would NOT have wanted to survive in a dependent condition. So it truly was better for her even though hard for us. I hope your mother’s situation becomes clearer soon.
Bethanyanne
@Ruckus: I feel like I just blow in the wind. Happy at any good news, then despairing over the slightest setback. I was *so* glad Patsy came up yesterday. She’s been a steady rock for me. Last week her ex husband died. They had gotten somewhat closer over the past few years. But having just been through this wringer, she keeps seeing positive developments Donna or I miss. And she is just more capable of sitting calmly in a room.
dww44
@SpaceUnit:
Not if you are a Subway Sign at a franchise somewhere in Georgia. the state.
Bethanyanne
This has me thinking of the future in a way I just haven’t done before. I feel like I may have roughly 25 years left. How do I want that to play out? How can I create a good life within that time? Can I get a home and income I can depend on some? What do I need to do to be mobile and healthy as long as I can? How can I help my nieces and nephews prosper? What can I do to support my sister?
dww44
@bbleh:
Hear! Hear!
Maxim
@Suzanne: When I was knocking on doors in 2018 for Katie Hill, I thought we were focusing on D turnout. It was not explained to me that they thought she had cross-party appeal. My partner and I were sent into a wealthy GOP neighborhood, and it quickly became apparent that we were not in friendly territory. No violence or threats thereof, but plenty of hostility and doors closed in our faces and yelling.
dww44
@Bethanyanne:
@Bethanyanne:
I hope this future you are planning happens in a place like the one in which you are currently residing. You seem to be a person who deserves a spate of good health and happiness. The best to you and your Mom.
mrmoshpotato
And punch Nazis!
satby
@Bethanyanne: I wish she would let us intubate her, but she’s got pretty poor overall health. The very best case is beginning to look like a quality of life she would hate. In a skilled nursing facility, doing dialysis all the time.
If she’s saying no to that, honor her wishes for her sake. So many patients I’ve seen try not to let their family down when their bodies are not able to go on. Have you talked to hospice yet? It could help all of you so much in getting through this time.
Suzanne
@Maxim: I have canvassed many times — and in Phoenix, it is hot AF — and I went to plenty of GOP houses previous to 2016. I was always polite and helped anyone find their polling place and all of that. But people were fucken nuts in 2016. I had quite a few unpleasant encounters that year, but that one was the worst.
My cousin is a state rep in Connecticut. She was canvassing for herself last year (maybe that’s just called campaigning?) and she got bit by a dog. Imma stick to postcards!
mrmoshpotato
@Bethanyanne: I’m so sorry. I wish you the best.
mrmoshpotato
@Bethanyanne:
No need to apologize. We’re here for you. :)
Elizabelle
@Suzanne: Reading your earlier comment about canvassing the 20-something’s father: how fortunate that you had Mr. Suzanne with you. A witness.
At this point, Stand your Ground seems like “Be your own Klansman” in the event a canvasser comes to one’s door. That’s got to be a huge deterrent in the Southern states, and wherever wackos live in great number.
We had a LOT of white men being super nasty, f-bombs in front of their small children and everything, in expensive neighborhoods. Because they could feel that the Democratic candidate might win. (She did!)
I remember two little kids looking at their father. It seemed they were thinking “why are you being so mean to that nice lady who looks like a teacher or librarian?”
mrmoshpotato
@SpaceUnit:
No, it’s not. The things that have gone through my head about that…
🎶Rich trash crushed in a homemade submarine, a homemade submarine, a homemade submarine 🎶
ETA – I feel sorry for the teen, but his dad basically was a billionaire moron – along with all of the other adults.
Oh! And the Titanic is a gravesite! Leave them in peace!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
In which Ron DeSantis erases “Please clap” from the annals of Florida Republicans’ Humiliations. This is so funny I’m not convinced it’s real, under the heading of too good to be true (twitter link)
mrmoshpotato
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Weird that I could see your video Twitter Link, but still can’t read actual tweets.
Fire Elon into the Sun.
Brachiator
@Bethanyanne:
My deepest sympathies.
Manyakitty
@Bethanyanne: oh no. What a difficult time. Take care. 😟
Manyakitty
@Bethanyanne: it’s too bad you’re not in Florida. We need someone like you for my mom.
Manyakitty
@Ruckus: woohoo! 🎉🎉
Ruckus
@Bethanyanne:
I’m 74 so 25 yrs might be a bit much for me, but then I’m leaning towards making 100 just for the hell of it. Of course making 100 may just be hell. No one knows what the future holds – I think I first heard that when I was in single digits, but really we don’t know what tomorrow brings. My thought is why worry my butt about it all that much. But one has to think of the future because time only moves that one direction. The world we inhabit is a bit different for each of us and we often can make it a bit better or a lot worse. I’m always up for a bit better. It most often doesn’t take a lot to be on the side of a bit better so that’s my aim. I think we want to control a lot, to take out that unknown whatever, but really, does that ever actually work? My experience says no, we make mistakes in both directions, we see the situations wrong, we like people not good for us, or dislike those that are. It’s life, supposedly it’s what we make of it, but I think it’s how we deal with how it comes at us, how much risk we take, and more important how much stupid/asinine risk we take. Some of this concept has come at me as I’ve gotten older, looked back at what is, what could be and what bloody difference does most of it make. Are any of us perfect? Of course not, we are human, with all of the bits and pieces that make us so. We hopefully do our best, but we all know that sometimes our best isn’t enough and just as often it may be more than enough. It’s life. It’s good. It’s not. It’s great. It’s bad. I’ve walked away from being hit head on by a truck and feeling only moderately crappy. It’s what you make of your life that matters, it’s how you react to crap, it’s how you recover from it and learn from it. It’s living.
BeautifulPlumage
@Bethanyanne: as others have said, you’re doing amazing. Dumping here is a good outlet, and others of us have benefitted from this amazing community. Hugs and hope to you.
Maxim
@Ruckus:
My dad once went head-first through a windshield in a collision and walked away.
When he was in the Navy, he fell down an elevator shaft and broke his back. When they got him to a hospital, x-rays showed that he also had a broken neck — but it was an old injury.
He figured it must have been the time when he was playing baseball as a young man and got hit by a ball. He was headed for the outfield and suddenly went blind. Not knowing what to do, he kept walking, and a few seconds later, his vision returned.
He also came face to face with a sea snake while swimming in the ocean (also while in the Navy) and managed to get away.
I’m not exactly a fatalist, but a pattern like that does make me ponder the possibility that people don’t go before their time.
Ruckus
@SpaceUnit:
ETA: Too soon for submarine jokes?
Are you kidding? Of course not! First, that young kid that did not want to go, I see he didn’t inherit his fathers lack of brain power. All that money – and death, just to say you were rich and, and, and, nope that’s it, you were rich. Second, you went in a crap craft, built out of the exact wrong construction material. Third you went at all because you had TOO MUCH MONEY and ZERO COMMON SENSE.
I’m going out on a limb here and saying that maybe just for the continued progress of humanity we should have an 80% tax rate for billionaires. To protect the world from having to deal with dumbass humans who think their shit doesn’t stink because their bank accounts are big. I mean really, a tourist trip to hell?
Ruckus
@Maxim:
a pattern like that does make me ponder the possibility that people don’t go before their time
Well if you are going to have a different concept of life and do things that get you walking away from quite possible death on a somewhat continuous basis then it seems there possibly might be something to your premise.
Kathleen
@Bethanyanne: Sending love and light to you and your family. Please also make sure to take care of yourself.
Kathleen
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: World Series. I’m calling it.
NotMax
@Ruckus
One might say that from the onset the father placed the kid under a lot of pressure.
Bethanyanne
@NotMax: ha, well played
Ruckus
@NotMax:
Yes he did.
I’m going to possibly out myself here, because I think crap like this dive, done for money should be a federal criminal offense
I worked in professional motorcycle racing. 20 yrs as an amateur official and over a decade as an absolutely full time professional one. I traveled all over this country working in a very, very dangerous sport. I’ve seen shit happen, things get very bad in a split second. I visited a number of people in hospital. I know people who died doing a sport that they knew could kill them but they loved it in spite of the risk. I worked with everyone else, trying to make that happen as seldom as absolutely possible. In that time not one person participated that didn’t want to. No one participated in this sport without the knowledge that they could die or be badly injured. Including me decades ago. But no one was talked into doing this. And this was a sport with a dramatic level of danger and responsibility to do it right. And it didn’t come within 1% of the danger level of that dive. And that responsibility to do that type of “sport” right was pissed on and laughed at by building this vessel how it was built how and with the material it was built with. All for, in the overall scheme of things, a few bucks.
Bethanyanne
With Mom, I’ve been thinking that hospice may be appropriate in a few days. Which has me remembering that Jimmy Carter is still in hospice after like five months.
satby
@Bethanyanne: Hospice can last for months, or just days, depending on the individual and when they decide to enter it. The focus is on pain relief and comfort, and helping the patient and family come to terms with the approaching end, whenever it may be. It can allow a patient a better final quality of life and the family a chance to have some conversations and companionship while a person is still able. And a dignified end when the time comes, without the slow deterioration of an end hooked up to machines and the burden of having to finally decide to turn them off.
These are gut-wrenching decisions for anyone, so get the support you need from the hospital counseling or chaplain’s team. My family just went through them last October with my younger sister who decided on hospice for herself. My sympathies.
Princess
@Bethanyanne: Keep us posted, if you like. We do care and we’re glad to be of what support we can be.
Betsy
@Bethanyanne: My heart goes out to you. What a vulnerable place to be in. You have done so much for your mom and to know you can’t fix this must be so hard. Holding you in love. Saying a prayer for you and your mom.