Next Steps Of A Revolution

 Hello!

We had a pretty resounding victory yesterday, and when it's all over, I'm sure there's more to come.

I understand how much we want to celebrate this victory.  I am celebrating myself.  And remembering how in-your-face some from the other side of the aisle were two years ago, perhaps there is a temptation to be in-your-face right back.  I hope that we can get that all out of our systems ASAP.  We have SO much work to do!

I liken this to a sports team.  Yeah, celebrate that Big Victory, especially because this is the victory that the rest of them all rest on.  But it is one victory.  We have a whole season to plan.  I think we have to approach this like a pro team would.  We have to assess our strengths, our weaknesses.  Our needs.  And we have to make a plan.   A manifesto.  An agenda.  We need to make a list.  What do we as Americans want?  Need?  What is important to us?  What do we want to leave to the next generations?

My list would start with:

1.   Reverse Citizens United.

2.   Universal Healthcare.

3.   Raise the federal minimum wage to reflect real-world cost of living for the average citizen.

4.   Investigate the wrongdoings of this administration, litigate and discipline as appropriate.  

5.   Fix the damage done by the Big Ugly Bill, especially to our social programs.

6.   Codify abortion rights.

7.   Codify protections for POC, LGBTQIA+.

8.   Institute immigration system reform.

9.   SCOTUS reform (can we impeach some of these corrupt liars?)

10.  Release ALL of the Epstein Files!

11.  And it goes without saying: ABOLISH ICE!

I'm sure I can think of more.  How about you?  What do you want to see done?

Rededication My A$$

So, a few weekends ago, Grand Poobah Trump and his band of Heartless, Clueless Loonaticks held their Rededicate 250: One Nation Under God.

God, Who?  God, Which?  One might ask.  Well, clearly only One of a handful.  I saw that Conservative Evangelical Protestantism was well-representated, with the likes of Franklin Graham, Paula White-Cain and Samuel Rodriguez making appearances.  With Squeaker Mike Johnson the Head Representative present, it's a cinch to see a few Catholics -- Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Robert Barron weighed in.  The Trump feud with Pope Leo notwithstanding, the need for the participation and cooperation of Catholics with Conservative agendas goes back to at least the Moral Majority of 1979.   Showing up for the Progenitor Faith was Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Meir Soloveichik.

Native American Spirituality even got a nod (surprising with this administration), with Dr. Laralyn Riverwind, ambassador-at-large for the Georgia Tribe of the Eastern Cherokee participating.

And that was it.

If one knew nothing about the US, and one watched this monstrosity, one might think we only have, as I said, a handful of religions in the US, instead of more than 370 religious bodies active here.

Any Moslems?  Hindus?  Buddhists?  Nope!  Not much of a chance for Pagans, Wiccans, Atheists, or that big Bugbear, the Spiritual But Not Religious crowd.  Hmmm....

So, what are we to deduce from this?

Well, I think we need a Rededication, alright.  Because we've strayed far afield from our original purpose.  Wasn't that to be welcoming to all law-abiding folks of all faiths?  Doesn't common sense tell us that if we let practicing Jews and Moslems migrate to this country, they will not usually do anything other than continue to practice Judaism and Islam?  If we have a problem with that, is that not an us problem, not a them problem?

For the love of Mike, can we get it together?

Happy Canada Day!

 

  

Dear Canada,

Happy Canada Day to you!

May you be blessed abundantly!

Please overlook our leaders and their folly.  Those of us who have always loved you and your beautiful country, still do.  Our leadership does not speak for the majority of Americans.  But I think you know that.

Enjoy your special day!

Elbows up!

Love, Claudia

How Far Have We Come, Really?

Monday, the day after the Super Bowl and its halftime show(s), I sat down and began to read my local NextDoor feed.  What I saw surprised me, and it didn't.  I guess it surprised me less than it would've a decade ago.  And sometimes I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then.

A news source, I believe it was Axios, asked what readers thought of this year's Super Bowl halftime show, starring Bad Bunny.  Now, let it be said that Your Crusading Blogger did not see the Super Bowl, nor the halftime show(s).  Even if work hadn't gotten in the way, I have not watched a Super Bowl in many years.

Even though this city's beloved Steelers were not in the Big Game this year, many folks here viewed the game, and had opinions, ranging from "Wow, great show!" to "Meh, not my cup of tea," to "Why the hell can't he sing/speak English?" to "Not white enough."

Sigh.  Yes, really.  Are my readers surprised?

A few complained about Mexicans (Bad Bunny is Puerto Rican).  About the need to assimilate to the native tongue.  (Because Trump Executive Order #14224, "Designating English as the Official Language of the United States", doncha know?)

MAGAs love the "good old days."  So do I.  The good old days when songs that were not all in English were welcome on the Billboard Top 40.  And our radio stations' playlists.  On our radios, in our homes and cars --

La Bamba - Ritchie Valens/Los Lobos - 1958/1987 (Spanish)

Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare) - Domenico Modugno - 1958 (Italian)

Malagueña - Connie Francis - 1960 (Spanish)

Sukiyaki - Kyo Sakamoto - 1963 (Japanese)

Dominique - The Singing Nun - 1963 (French)

99 Luftballons - Nena - 1983 (German)

Rock Me Amadeus - Falco - 1986 (German/English)

Macarena - Los del Rio -  1996 (Spanish/English)

Despacito - Luis Conan & Daddy Yankee - 2017 (Spanish)

I Like It - Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin - 2018 (Spanglish)

Now, I hear some folks had some problems with the "dirty dancing" in the halftime show (were y'all clutching your pearls in 1987 when the movie Dirty Dancing [starring the luscious Patrick Swayze] came out?  Or were you some of the ones that helped make that movie a massive hit?)

Well, twerking is nothing new, and if these two ladies had wing-wangs instead of va-jj's, they'd've been adding some thrusting to the mix:

 

And of course, our favorite Turning Point USA (TPUSA) gave (I guess) an alternative halftime show headlined by Kid Rock if Español and twerking gave one's stomach the heebie-jeebies.  This is the first time an alternative halftime show, mirroring the same exact format, with the same runtime, airing at the same exact time the official Super Bowl Halftime Show did.  And still so many people weren't happy, and were complaining relentlessly until a new news cycle took over a few days into the week.

Still, when the viewership numbers came out, I believe they told the tale:

NBC Official Halftime Show starring Bad Bunny:  128.2 million viewers.

TPUSA "All-American" Halftime Show starring Kid Rock:  6.1 concurrent viewers, and 25 million when accounting for social platforms and delayed views.

😀😃😄😆😅😂

"Well the stars might lie

but the numbers never do."

'Bye, y'all!

How Long?

So the sad news on September 10 that Charlie Kirk was murdered.

As I have said on Call-Outs And Shout-Outs several times already, we unequivocally condemn political violence.  We condemn all violence.

We condemn all violence equally whether it originates from the right or the left.

The problem is, after 1 and 2, comes 3.  And after A and B, comes C.  Karma, (cause and effect), follows us wherever we go.

As always after a shooting come the talking points -- right/left vis à vis gun rights, the 2nd Amendment, etc.  Except when it pertains to words of Charlie Kirk himself, let us leave the others' talking points for another time.

Charlie Kirk traveled college campuses, talking with and debating students.  Engaging is good.  Exchange is good.  We commend that.

We on this blog, however, cannot commend or condone some things, some opinions.

CK On Women

CK On Christianity And The Separation Of Church And State

Assorted Opinions

More Assorted CK Opinions

It goes without saying these opinions play well for some.  Not so much for the rest of us.  For some of us they are like a red flag to a bull.  Or a match to a fuse.

So how do we turn down the temperature when some of us wonder if the United States ought to head to divorce court, and some Civil War?

(And why has the news cycle been all Charlie Kirk all the time the past five days, with damned little mention of the school shooting in Colorado that occurred just ten minutes after Kirk's?)

How does this country ever get on the same page when we can't agree on what is the truth?  Or a common vision or purpose for this nation?  And if we have lived up to the vision and purpose this nation was founded upon?

Something to think about, yes?

More soon about a concept of violence I hope you all will think about.

Romance On The Turnpike

It goes without saying that I have seen just about everything in the 28 years since my advent at The Plaza -- fights, trysts, arrests, homeless people, booze and drugs of all kinds.  And heard it all, too, as you can imagine.  Except last night.  

I guess maybe it's sad that this is so rare.  

So I was out in the lobby wiping tables, and I saw this man standing by the doors, obviously waiting for someone.  Then she came out of the nearby ladies room, and he lit up like a Christmas tree and swept her up into an embrace.  Not a casual hug, but a warm embrace, one like you only see from 15 year olds, or people who have been separated for awhile.   Then, holding hands, they walked around, scoping out the plaza's offerings.  Finding nothing to tempt them but each other, they momentarily embraced again and left. 

I was kinda sad; I had wanted to bless them, maybe by buying them some Coffee Paradise.  Since they had other plans, I hope maybe they'll see this and know that I felt blessed by their obvious joy and devotion.  

May the Loving Strangers know Great Fortune!

Worth Its Weight In Gold

Recently, I responded to a complaint on the NextDoor app about a local restaurant whose ice cream machine was apparently broken, and on a sultry July afternoon, many people were frustrated from coming up empty after standing some time in line, waiting for their coveted sweet treats.

Why, said the post's author, did the restaurant not just put up a sign?

This is what I told him (keeping in mind, of course, that I am employed as a matron on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  My job is to keep clean 29 toilets, 17 mirrors, sinks and the surrounding vanities.  Not to mention 47 windows [77 if I do the outsides], 40 tables, and all the stuff out on the patio):

I feel your pain about the signs, and they should've put them up, but I will say in the workers' defense: sometimes putting up signs is pointless.

Where I work, last Sunday we had to close two of our restaurants and we put up signs saying this at each entrance, but people still walked up to me asking if we were closed.

When I close a section of the ladies room to clean it, if I put up two floor signs indicating the closure, alot of times the women will walk right past them -- "I didn't see them", and if I put up 4 or 5 signs and they feel like it, they will just move the signs and walk in anyway.

When I'm washing windows and I'm doing the door windows, people will open the doors and walk right into me.  And I've lost track of how many times I've been hit or almost hit by the automatic doors that people hit the button and open without looking, but if I had a nickel for each time, you and I could both retire.

When I worked in Coffee Paradise, every night when we closed and we pulled the gate, flipped out the closed sign and turned out the lights, there was always some pathetic schnook standing outside watching us clean, asking, "Are you closed?"  Every.  Single.  Night.

Alot of times, it's because people are on their devices, but I will say many times, too, people are just walking around in their own little world.

I have come to realize there's a reason why it is called "paying attention."  True attention is worth its weight in gold.