Hi, all, and happy Wednesday. I hope you enjoyed your Fourth. I suspect many of you faced the day with ambivalence—I know I did. It’s never been a favorite holiday of mine, and the last few years have strained my ability to celebrate it almost to the breaking point. It feels too hard to separate our country as a whole from those who have taken it hostage. These hostage-takers have always been here, of course. But they have made such advances of late that it can feel that there’s nothing left worth celebrating at all.
Right now The States Project giving circles can double your donations (up to $1000). Now is a great time to extend the impact of your very important dollars!
An Elie Mystal podcast! I was in a kind of blueish mood after learning that a candidate whose campaign I supported lost by 123 votes to a former member of the IDC in NY. But your news about an Elie Mystal podcast lifted my spirits!
A NYC Council race. The City Council seat in NE Queens is nested within NY-3 (currently held by George Santos) and is currently held by Vickie Paladino, a MAGA Republican who has targeted Drag Queen Story Hour and has donated her discretionary funds to a "crisis pregnancy center." (She was a big Santos supporter. Surprise.) This was a Democratic primary. Turnout was pathetically low. Markers For Democracy wrote postcards for Christopher Bae, a young former prosecutor and he lost by 123 votes to Tony Avella, a party machine candidate who was a member of the IDC (he lost to NYS Senator John Liu in 2018) and who lost to Vickie Paladino in 2021. It's part of a larger narrative of parts of NYC turning reddish, including this district.
I have unconditional admiration for you. Your concern about the time we live is is thoroughly shared by me. And you give us ways to take action that mitigate the feelings of helplessness. Bless you
I observed the Fourth with mixed feelings also. The country and the word patriot have been hijacked by fascist wannabes. I don't think my parents, born in the 1920's, survived the Great Depression and WWII to have the country taken hostage by aggrieved MAGA adherents, manipulated by the morbidly wealthy for their own ends and against the best interests of those who are so aggrieved. The marginalized people, who are blamed for the problems of the aggrieved, don't have the political influence to be causing such big problems.
In Jacksonville Beach, where I was, people use the holiday as the opportunity to get stumbling drunk, set off loud concussive fireworks until 2:00 a.m. and be generally obnoxious. Our serious secular holidays, like Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day get turned into barbecues and beer blasts.
"It is meant to commemorate the efforts of people who wished—and still wish—for freedom." Commemorate/celebrate, indeed it's especially complicated these days, er years.
I was actually buoyed a bit by watching parts of the celebrations in DC and NYC. The crowds exceeded TFG's inauguration in my opinion, and the celebration was genuine. That being said, we need more of these celebrations, and the huge silent majority needs to start making noise. Vocal advocacy is power. The more we allow the right to dominate the messaging, the more power we cede to them.
Dig a little deeper into difficult nation building efforts like The Medical Care Restoration Act and Universal Basic income in The Price Of Eggs Is Down and Every War Is An UnCivil War, both on amazon kindle and paperback.
Take care of our language about going to the same school a parent went too. There is more harm done by self righteous indignation than by all the meanness ever born.
Being admitted to a school ONLY because a parent graduated there would be foolish. No school worth its salt would do so. BUT failing to utilize the motivation provided by wanting to follow in family footsteps damages the whole concept of family: parental example, bonding, holiday traditions, family trade or business, favorite family dishes, national service, public service, philanthropy, even being a leader for democracy, or for A republic that supports democracy
Right now The States Project giving circles can double your donations (up to $1000). Now is a great time to extend the impact of your very important dollars!
Yes! I am going to put my own VA Giving Circle in tomorrow's newsletter for just this reason!
An Elie Mystal podcast! I was in a kind of blueish mood after learning that a candidate whose campaign I supported lost by 123 votes to a former member of the IDC in NY. But your news about an Elie Mystal podcast lifted my spirits!
Oh no! In which race?
A NYC Council race. The City Council seat in NE Queens is nested within NY-3 (currently held by George Santos) and is currently held by Vickie Paladino, a MAGA Republican who has targeted Drag Queen Story Hour and has donated her discretionary funds to a "crisis pregnancy center." (She was a big Santos supporter. Surprise.) This was a Democratic primary. Turnout was pathetically low. Markers For Democracy wrote postcards for Christopher Bae, a young former prosecutor and he lost by 123 votes to Tony Avella, a party machine candidate who was a member of the IDC (he lost to NYS Senator John Liu in 2018) and who lost to Vickie Paladino in 2021. It's part of a larger narrative of parts of NYC turning reddish, including this district.
I have unconditional admiration for you. Your concern about the time we live is is thoroughly shared by me. And you give us ways to take action that mitigate the feelings of helplessness. Bless you
Thank you, Jill!
I observed the Fourth with mixed feelings also. The country and the word patriot have been hijacked by fascist wannabes. I don't think my parents, born in the 1920's, survived the Great Depression and WWII to have the country taken hostage by aggrieved MAGA adherents, manipulated by the morbidly wealthy for their own ends and against the best interests of those who are so aggrieved. The marginalized people, who are blamed for the problems of the aggrieved, don't have the political influence to be causing such big problems.
In Jacksonville Beach, where I was, people use the holiday as the opportunity to get stumbling drunk, set off loud concussive fireworks until 2:00 a.m. and be generally obnoxious. Our serious secular holidays, like Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day get turned into barbecues and beer blasts.
"It is meant to commemorate the efforts of people who wished—and still wish—for freedom." Commemorate/celebrate, indeed it's especially complicated these days, er years.
I was actually buoyed a bit by watching parts of the celebrations in DC and NYC. The crowds exceeded TFG's inauguration in my opinion, and the celebration was genuine. That being said, we need more of these celebrations, and the huge silent majority needs to start making noise. Vocal advocacy is power. The more we allow the right to dominate the messaging, the more power we cede to them.
100%.
Dig a little deeper into difficult nation building efforts like The Medical Care Restoration Act and Universal Basic income in The Price Of Eggs Is Down and Every War Is An UnCivil War, both on amazon kindle and paperback.
Take care of our language about going to the same school a parent went too. There is more harm done by self righteous indignation than by all the meanness ever born.
Being admitted to a school ONLY because a parent graduated there would be foolish. No school worth its salt would do so. BUT failing to utilize the motivation provided by wanting to follow in family footsteps damages the whole concept of family: parental example, bonding, holiday traditions, family trade or business, favorite family dishes, national service, public service, philanthropy, even being a leader for democracy, or for A republic that supports democracy