lavendertook

I hate that I can't cheer Comey's firing, because I can't help wondering what Comey might have found in the Russian probe, and how a new FBI director picked by Trump might spin what they have more in Trump's favor. Yes, I think Comey screwed our election and helped turn the tide against HRC, but that doesn't mean Trump owned him. More fuckery.

And yesterday was so bright with Macron's win and Yates fierce unflagging testimony that was a joy to watch. So the timing of firing Comey may be a strategy that each loss for Trump, as yesterday was, must be followed by a quick power play to keep the opposition demoralized and off balance. Constant whiplash for the engaged resistance.

So angry. Not giving up--I would so love to see Yates run for office and keep fighting for the resistance.

Happy Thanksgiving Day! I hope all who celebrate are having a good one. And to those who don't, OK, you can have a good day too. I'm so grateful to have all my friends here--I'm not sure how you all fit yourselves into my tiny macbook air, but I'm glad you did. <3


Another October pic I took by the lake.

I had a yummy T-Day meal with zlabya and her DH and her BF. I made my signature salad, and she made a yummy chicken, sweet potato casserole, and apple crisp. Excellent company to hang out with.

Auditing the Vote

If you missed the news, Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for US President started raising funds yesterday to audit and recount the votes in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Best comment ever reported as seen on twitter by ambree40: lanyard @lanyardigan 8h8 hours ago: Please, God: like Gollum, let Jill Stein have a totally unforeseen and critical purpose. :-D

I contributed yesterday and watching it grow has been so exciting--they're up to $4.3 million and counting. Go here if you want to contribute or just watch the donations flood in.

A decade back I was following the voting integrity push, belonged to Common Cause, and presented a paper to Congresspeople involved in the movement. When I canvassed for John Kerry down in Florida on election weekend, I listened to poll workers who saw voting machines flip their votes from Kerry to Bush.

We've made great strides in creating a paper trail in many districts in this country to check these problems, but paper backup ballots don't do any good if you never audit and take a look at them. It's just a gigantic green flag to hackers, Russian gov't connected or from anywhere, if they know we're not verifying the optical scanners by checking some of the paper ballots. We should be auditing a sampling of ballots in every state before we announce the count, and we should get used to not having instant gratification and wait a week or 3 before announcing a winner, as grueling as it would have felt to do that this year.

So, without getting my hopes too high that they will find something that will overturn the horrid results of this election (but seeing that Trump has a pattern of doing the things he accuses others of and Bannon is involved with data-mining operations, how could we not check this out), the recount here is just a needed thing to ensure the integrity of the vote. As long as we're having elections close enough that one side wins the electors and the other side the popular vote, vote audits should be made an automatic procedure through legislation. We're doing a good thing here, whatever the outcome of the recount.

Also posted at http://lavendertook.dreamwidth.org/216488.html with comments

I know this is a return to the denial and bargaining phase of grief, but a bunch of sites are picking up this story now, and whether or not it is a hoax, making the phone call is worth a shot. The count is so close in these states, and they haven't finished Michigan's count yet. Right now at 11pm ET the 202 number is busy, but you can get right through to the 1-800 number--I got through immediately--maybe it is easier to connect late in the evening and off hours and read the script below:

Please take one minute and call/email the DOJ -Department of Justice- : 1-800-253-3931 (press 5) or 202-353-1555 (leave message)

email: voting.section@usdoj.gov

"My name is [first last name], I'm calling from [city],[state] to respectfully request you pursue an investigation into voter suppression, Russian collusion and FBI interference with the 2016 presidential election. Please issue an injunction until a thorough investigation can take place."


The point is to provide the DOJ with numbers so they can say X number of Americans want an injunction. Short, sweet, polite does the trick.

Thank you to ithiliana

Here's an article on the issue.

Also posted at http://lavendertook.dreamwidth.org/216106.html with comments

I've been moving around in a fog and just can't get it together. I swam today and have no idea how many laps I did in 45 minutes--just couldn't keep track. And I've been getting to bed too late and up too late. Poor kitties. I will get myself to bed on time tonight and try to get myself back on schedule and hopefully that will help and I can put myself back together. I have no idea what stage of grief this is. I'm a slow processor. Others still in the same place?

Also posted at http://lavendertook.dreamwidth.org/213911.html with comments

If the stats are good in this article (and that's a big "if" until we see more discussion on and examination of this, and the results are still not all in), only 55% of eligible voters bothered to vote in this election--the lowest turnout in 20 years.

The good news is that only a quarter of eligible voters voted for Trump, so less than a quarter of the population. So 3/4 of the US did not approve Trump nor wanted him. Most USians just stood by in their not-my-problem-field and let it happen. Which is really the US I know. And it's oddly comforting.

At least I will be oddly comforted by the part that was not the result of voter suppression efforts that kept people of color from getting to the polls. And I really want to find out who is doing the best work to investigate all cases of voter suppression and donate--I suspect that would be the Southern Poverty Law Center, but maybe there's another organization working on this. Any ideas, flisties?

So keep in mind that most people will stand by and do nothing if the Trumpies come for us, but there are still more of us who are working to resist than there are Trumpies since Hillary did win the popular vote. Trump only represents 1/4 of our voting public, not nearly a half of the voters. I am really relieved that this could be the result of low turnout and apathy and not a surge of new voters coming out of the woodwork. The shadow is a passing thing. But only if we work to discourage more nonvoters to join his ranks.

Our best hope is that some of these nonvoters are surprised and horrified by Trump's win enough and all he and his minions do to horrify us all further that a few of them will come out and join us for midterm elections in 2018 and get rid of Trump and Pence in 2020.

Do not stop harping on the fact that Hillary won the popular vote every chance you get and a slim amount of voters could have changed the electoral vote. Every vote really does count. We only need a few of them to wake up out of their stupors to get our country back in 4 years. We need to keep ringing the alarms and help pull them out of bed.

Also posted at http://lavendertook.dreamwidth.org/213332.html with comments

There are so many horrible and deplorable white people and misogynists in this country and they won last night.

And let's not fall for the classist narrative that a lot of the press is upholding. Do not ignore that statistics show that the backbone of Trump's support is the same as Republicans have always had--wealthy people of varying education levels, mostly white men and the women who love and are related to them, and their only concern is to not pay taxes. They do not care who gets thrown under the bus as long as they keep all their stuff. They are supported by poor white people who hope to be them one day, but they are not the backbone--the wealthy and well off are and they are very quiet about what they are doing. They do not attend political rallies--they make phone calls and transfer money.

We have to go on and look out for each other and those more vulnerable than us. It's going to be harder still for a while. The fight continues.

Also posted at http://lavendertook.dreamwidth.org/212239.html with comments

Our leaves peaked Friday and are past peak today. So there's as much brown and bare as color now, but there's still a lot of color and green still yet to turn. It's been a beautiful week here. This pic is from 2 weeks ago:



Cats: Tuxie is doing well. I succeeded in doing 2 blood glucose curves on him a couple of weeks back--the first day was really high, but he was just getting over whatever digestive upset he had--whether it was from a lot of bad food or a virus. The next day, his values were very normal and his tests at the vet went well, except for raised pancreatic values, like me and Moo had. I need to start spot checking him, but I wanted his ears to recover from the pin cushion I had made of them. It's been great to see him climbing both cat trees again and he's been a cuddle bun. Moo is still being a painfully slow eater who I have to monitor for a good hour or so in the morning and evening so her food doesn't get devoured by the Tuxie monster--good thing they're cute.

Health: I had a tooth pulled and just got the sutures out yesterday. In 3 weeks I'll have an implant put in. I'm on celebrex for my foot and pinched neck nerve pain. I've had a couple of podiatrist appointments, am sleeping with a night splint on my left foot, which is helping, and getting orthotics made. More appointments to go. The neuropathy in my left arm from the pinched neck nerve is still troublesome, but the celebrex is helping with the pain some. Unless it gets a lot better in the next couple of weeks, I'll probably need to do some traction therapy for it this winter to try to stretch the neck discs some, after I get through with the dentist and podiatrist. I'm just not sure what that's going to require time-wise and whether I'll have enough work leave time for it. The hot flash and anxiety problems are ongoing.

I met up with a science fiction meet-up group for lunch at the Museum of the American Indians cafe in DC. I had my first fry bread, but it wasn't hot, so not that good--will have to get fresher fry bread sometime. I even had breakfast at Denny's that morning for my full Thomas-Builds-the-Fire experience, but driving into DC made me nervous, and my anxiety level was a little high to make the day fun, what with the election and my personal chemistry. There were beautiful beaded clips in the gift shop that made me think of deluxvivens. I've been thinking of her quite a bit lately. I really miss her. Walks in the autumn beauty and framing pics of it, snuggling cats, and good novels remain the best medicine for me. And watching SNL election skits online really helps.

Also posted at http://lavendertook.dreamwidth.org/211499.html with comments

Senator Hillary Clinton voted to create a law that closed a tax loophole that had allowed robber barons like Trump to steal money from the American people. Pass it on.

The NY Times published a decent article on Trump's taxes today--something the media has spent little enough investigative reporting on while they keep reporting on the faux email scandal, so it's time they did so. Where are the human interest stories of all the people who lost jobs and homes and health because Trump stiffed them and stole their labor by not paying them, the way he stiffed the American people by not paying his fair share of taxes? I call this theft on a massive scale.

But there's an important factoid buried in this article: it begins with Trump's claim that Clinton never did anything to stop people like him from being able to avoid paying these taxes. Guess what? It isn't until the end of the article that he is proved a liar in this allegation--Senator Clinton voted to close just that loophole. She did! Here's from the first and last paragraphs of the article:

Donald J. Trump proudly acknowledges he did not pay a dime in federal income taxes for years on end. He insists he merely exploited tax loopholes legally available to any billionaire — loopholes he says Hillary Clinton failed to close during her years in the United States Senate. “Why didn’t she ever try to change those laws so I couldn’t use them?” Mr. Trump asked during a campaign rally last month.

In any event, Mr. Trump can no longer benefit from the same maneuver. Just as Congress acted in 1993 to ban stock-for-debt swaps by corporations, it acted in 2004 to ban equity-for-debt swaps by partnerships.
Among the members of Congress who voted to finally close the loophole: Senator Hillary Clinton of New York.

I understand the writers delayed presenting Hillary's vote to close the loophole to the end of the article to create a compelling narrative frame and clinch line at the end, which is piss poor journalistic writing! Between the first and last paragraph is an exploration of arcane tax law and many readers may not get to the important fact at the end.

This fact needed to be up front. Trump's repeated claim that Clinton did nothing about this tax law is a complete lie. She voted to close it. While Trump was hoodwinking us and his workers, Clinton was working to make things better for all of us. She did a good job. We need to let her keep doing a good job. Pass it on.

Then take a break and look at these pretty leaves I saw down by the lake here:



Also posted at http://lavendertook.dreamwidth.org/210469.html with comments

I'm reposting a long excerpt form Hillary's campaign chair John Podesta because what's going on with the new crap about the emails needs to be widely circulated, especially the last paragraph on Republican intimidation of the FBI:

Here's the quick backstory: In July, FBI Director James Comey concluded a year-long investigation by deciding not to go forward with any case about Hillary's emails. It wasn't even a close call, he said. In his words, "no reasonable prosecutor" would have brought charges.

Yesterday, in a surprise to us all, Comey wrote a very strange letter to Congress that was long on innuendo and short on facts. He said that in a completely separate investigation, the FBI had found some emails that may or may not be related to Hillary, and indeed may or may not be significant at all.

It's since been reported that these emails may not have even been sent by or to Hillary; that they weren't withheld by Hillary or the campaign in the earlier investigation; and most or even all of them may be duplicates of emails already in the FBI's possession.

It's being reported that Comey sent this letter over the objections of Department of Justice officials who told him that it was inconsistent with longstanding policy of both Democratic and Republican administrations not to take action that might impact an election. It's an unprecedented intrusion into a close presidential election with 10 days until Election Day.

But by being vague and obfuscating, Comey opened the door to conspiracy theories, Republican attacks against Hillary, and a surge of fundraising for Trump and his team. So this bears repeating: There is no evidence of wrongdoing, no charge of wrongdoing, and no indication that any of this even involves Hillary.

Voters deserve answers.

Comey needs to come clean with the American people about what he found and answer all the questions about why he took this unprecedented step less than two weeks before the election.

Here's what this changes for you and this campaign: Absolutely nothing.

Trump has spent more than a year trying to bully his way to the presidency. He's been browbeating the FBI (indeed, many have speculated that Comey took this extraordinary action in part to reduce the pressure on his agency that Trump's campaign and his Republican Congressional allies has been building up), leading crowds in chants of "lock her up," and even saying Hillary should be in prison -- and if he won, he'd put her there.

Please pass this on.

The thing with the whole email situation is federal email is not secure, period--don't forget last year's huge OPM breach. The technology is new and we're not up to keeping it secure--it's a game of whack a mole and will be for a long time, not because government is bad--it's just necessarily too large and wide-ranging to secure with all the agencies, departments, and contracting companies they have to go back and forth between and all the work that has to be done to keep servers communicating and myriad sources secure.

And everyone's email is all over the place--if any other government official was investigated like Hillary has been, they would be found wanting in confidentiality protocols as well. It's such a non-issue the Republicans have used to undermine her credibility and it is no reason to mistrust her, period.