Category Archives: Politics

Government, History, Justice, Law, Opinion, Politics, Protest, Security, Social Rules, Trump

Dear Us

02/19/2025 X Teri Leave a comment

*Yes, I know that “goodbye” is misspelled.

I’m not Chicken Little, nor am I crying wolf. The wolf that some of you chose has eaten the chicken and now sits in our living room.

You’re wasting time focusing on daily firings, closings, and executive orders. One of his latest orders indicating that he and the attorney general are the sole arbiters of the law and its application needs no further examination to see how dangerous he is to the concept of democracy and governance.

He and his people have said the goal out loud – and I don’t understand why you’re not acknowledging it.

The federal government is being systematically dismantled.

What will take its place?

Several labels are applicable. Each with Trump in charge, absent accountability, court review, or congressional oversight. This sort of governance is never benign, nor is it accountable to or concerned with the will of its populace.

Your right to religious freedom will be upheld only if it aligns with the predominant one – and only if it’s convenient. They’ve repeatedly told us that the government must be deleted and replaced with political religion. (Their description – not mine.)

Civil rights? Gone. Workplace rights:? Vanished. Freedom of Speech? Eliminated.

You don’t have to guess whether I’m right. Our closest allies are saying it unilaterally. I consume a mountain of foreign news. Every country which stood with us is ringing the bell of alarm.

All the people driving these changes are saying it out loud.

It can happen here. And it is.

There will be no safeguards, protections, or system to stop him.

The only solution is to do as much as possible to remove Trump from office by any legal means available. Sometime in the future, a warning post like this will be deemed treasonous, even though my intent is to preserve our democracy, as flawed as it may be.

Anything short of legally removing him from office is a waste of time and effort. Even his removal will inevitably result in a rift that might still break our union. Continuing on this current path certainly will.

I held out judgment. Not long ago, it crystallized.

Courts can’t stop him. Congress won’t.

The Presidency isn’t about one man.

It’s about our collective system of laws. They mean nothing with someone like Trump in charge.

Those who support him will read this and think I’ve lost my mind. That’s expected. They mostly ingest the superficial explanation for what’s happening. The rest do like most of us and ignore politics.

I am not reading between the lines. His people have said the quiet part out loud, and the incremental dissolution of our federal government as we know it can only be explained through the alignment of their stated goals and the daily reality of what is happening.

When our democracy fails, I will fall silent, as people must do once safeguards and the checks and balances of presidential power have fallen.

I’ll be the obedient and angry citizen of whatever comes next.

It’s almost over.

Behavior, Government, History, Justice, Law, Opinion, Personal, Politics, Social Rules, Trump

Lost

02/17/2025 X Teri Leave a comment

It is the office itself that yields the honor and respect, rather than the person temporarily assuming its duties.

The expectation of someone behaving in a presidential manner is one that’s been shattered. For some, this is a welcome change. For others, it’s a chaotic and devastating reality.

We have demonstratively proven that anyone can become president.

Growing up most of us were superficially exposed to the civil war. Almost all we learned was of dates and places and broad themes. We did not then viscerally understand how a nation could become so irreparably shattered.

We go about our lives because that’s what we can do.

Regardless of your political affiliation, those of us paying attention now unfortunately feel it in our bones. Whether you’re excited about the upheaval recently brought to Washington or you’re onvinced that our government is in jeopardy, I don’t think people will generally deny that this is something much different.

We are united on paper much in the same way that Jefferson’s hollow words about all men being equal applied only to white wealthy men.

The intelligent people I trust are saying the same thing. Countries who were once allies are unilaterally warning one another and the world. People have shouted that the sky is falling and cried wolf before. It feels different this time because it is.

This isn’t Clinton refusing to resign even though he should have. Or Bush demonstrating incompetence.

I will be surprised if the end of February has not brought us to cataclysm.

People need stability, as does the economy, and society in general.

The struggle through the generations to create a reality in which all people, regardless of belief, religion, skin color, or their sexual identity could coexist in peace now resembles a dystopian fantasy.

Power and progress are both unstable. The problem with authority and authoritarianism is that they both fall into chaos.

Chaos is inevitable. Entropy governs the universe.

Those who currently seek to redefine America will learn the lesson.

Government, Justice, Law, Opinion, Personal, Politics, Racism and Prejudice, Safety, Security, Social Rules, Trump

Immigration

01/22/2025 X Teri Leave a comment

Francisco looked at me before he ran. Had he not, the immigration officials never would have looked twice. He came back to work later under another name. When he came to the United States, he worked hard. He rode a bicycle everywhere. I learned a lot of culture and language from Francisco.

After he ran, I went to the back docks were immigration officials were zip-tying people I knew in a refrigerated trailer. I had left my identification in my locker and diligently tried to be detained with the rest of my coworkers. I demanded in Spanish that the people I knew be moved out of the cold trailer. I refused to identify myself or provide identification. While I was not eloquent, I had to remind immigration that these were people being needlessly scared and put in discomfort for no reason.

I watched some of the agents half-heartedly perform their duties. They knew that the problem wasn’t the immigrants. It was the system and companies that relied on their labor. There were also agents who relished doing their jobs.

Later, I looked out at the back acres adjacent to Bethel Heights. At the work smocks hanging from the fence, left there by human beings fleeing.

It’s impossible to describe the people who didn’t experience it. Or to those who don’t speak the language and understand the need and drive to have a better life.

What a f mess.

I forget these experiences until I am required to remember. Every person rounded up or diminished by political grandstanding is still a person. And needed by the demands of our economy.

I did countless interviews and I-9 forms. The law required me to take a cursory look at identification prior to employment. If their identification was rectangular, it was good enough for me. Because anyone who wanted a job could have one. We constantly had unlimited positions available.

As immigrants become targeted, you can of course nod or applaud. But in so doing, you’re ignoring the bigger problem of economic necessity. Removing workers is a harsh solution that does not address the shadow economy or why we need so many additional workers.

Each time I see raids, I see Francisco. He was a hard-working man brought here by the fact that countless companies need workers. I think of that look of desperation on his face as he stood there zip-tied, knowing he faced a trip to Brownsville.

The raids were pointless. One man came to work with his suitcase. Instead of fleeing from immigration, he came to work ready for a free trip back to Mexico. He understood the economic reality that a job would be waiting for him when he came back across the border. And that it would likely always be this way.

Raids don’t address the problem.

They amplify it.

Companies who need labor anywhere they can get it will continue to do so.

Even if only 10% of undocumented immigrants disappear, it will have a devastating impact to our economy. Even if you’re unconcerned about the fact that these are people just like us, you probably won’t consider it to be an issue until prices rise and the reality of your choices results in discomfort for you.

We are not a nation of laws. We’re a nation of economics. Current events consistently prove this to be true.

Que desgracia.

X
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Government, History, Justice, Law, Opinion, Politics, Religion, Social Rules, Trump

On Pardons

01/22/2025 X Teri Leave a comment

Dumb Things Seen Today:

“Innocent people don’t need a pardon.”

Uhh…

You’re wrong. It should be written this way:
“Innocent people DIDN’T need a pardon.”

When a convicted felon with a penchant for felonious misconduct threatens you, you protect the innocent ones around you. Doubly so if the felon in question actively attempted to violently overthrow the government – and proceed to threaten anyone trying to hold him accountable.

Trump is the embodiment of what’s wrong with politics. He’s broken so many of the expectations and requirements of a President.

He’s the only president who wanted to pardon himself.

But I digress.

Using the logic of the above quote, Trump pardoned 1600+ people. If “innocent people don’t need a pardon,” it follows that these 1600+ people were guilty. Anyone citing the quote suffers from massive cognitive dissonance.

You can’t have it both ways.

Let’s not forget that 47 insists that the Central Park 5 were guilty, even after DNA and a confession freed them. Trump wanted them to be executed. They are suing him for defamation; Trump tells so many lies that it’s hard to hold him accountable for it. These same lies and disinformation erode our collective confidence in our government. It benefits him, but we will suffer the consequences long after he’s gone from the world stage.

Trump himself declares that he’s always innocent. Even though juries, grand juries, and judges said otherwise. Afterward, he argues that although he’s guilty, it was protected behavior.

Trump is a convicted felon with a long history of fraud, bankruptcies, and legal issues – not to mention the issue of sexual misbehavior.

In my wildest dreams, I could not have imagined that people would look to him for moral guidance, much less directions to Walmart. That the Bibles he touches don’t burst into flames is sufficient evidence that God is no interventionist.

I don’t have a problem with a convicted felon holding office, as shocking as that may be for some people. I believe felons should retain the right to vote. Even Trump. I do have a serious problem with so many overlooking Trump’s ridiculously long list of misdeeds, both personal and political.

He is an embarrassment and a literal threat to our system of governance.

Assuming our democracy survives this experiment with lunacy, history will not be kind to those who enabled it.

I would ask anyone who agrees with me to raise their hands, but Elon ruined that gesture for all of us.

Innocent people do need preemptive pardons. It’s not been a necessity prior to the arrival of 47.

I’m shaking my head at people defending salutes, insurrection, and rebukes toward people such as Reverend Mariann Budde. She spoke the essence of the message Christians claim to follow. When adorational politics lead people to demonize spiritual voices such as hers, the warning bells should be sounding universally.

Trump is a masterful showman and has played multiple groups to rise to power, none more so that Evangelicals and the lower class.

He’s not a ‘good’ person or one I look to for insight, inspiration, or authority. The bulk of his words reek of threats, bullying, and authoritarianism. It’s particularly telling that he rarely displays a positive attitude, acknowledges his own mistakes, and seeks to use political power to insult, harm, or threaten those who don’t agree with his words or behavior.

That he’s my President is beyond my control.

I, of course, hope that our deomcracy can erase this craziness at some point. I didn’t put in my quarters for this circus.

Our government runs at all is due to power being disbursed among the branches and entities of government. While the system is corrupt, it used to protect us from any group or person from subverting the collective mess of groups and interests within it. Trump has broken this compact we share among ourselves.

Trump is the four-year root canal surgery that the rest of us must endure.

The FAFO stage will affect all of us.

I legitimately have a concern that the Gulf of Mexico won’t be the last large part of our current United States to have a new name.

X
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Government, Law, Opinion, Politics, Privacy, Safety, Security, Social Media, Technology

United States Of Idiocy

01/19/2025 X Teri Leave a comment

PSA For people who haven’t used TikTok, it has an invaluable feature that the competitors do not. You can separate your information feed to exclusively show content you specifically follow. Bluesky does the same. TikTok also has a STEM feed if you’re interested in the sciences. Can you imagine the difference your Facebook or Instagram experience would be if you saw only content you chose to follow? Community building is also another feature that’s intrinsic to TikTok. It’s one of the features that threatens the competitors. I’ve been a TikTok fan for years. The advantages of its simple tools are incalculable. Not to mention that it provides a means to earn money for your content. The notion that it is a security risk compared to Google, Meta, Truth Social, or other social media platforms is illogical.

Because I have many acquaintances across the world, I get to observe how they perceive our political and economic systems. We are not held in high regard nor as a standard for governance. The consensus is that our political process is corrupt, possibly beyond repair. Inequitable and corrupt forces aligned to target TikTok. Money wins, of course.

Unfortunately for me, I know a considerable amount about the technology and tracking that allows for some companies to data track us all. It’s why it’s not a concern for me. Even if you choose not to use Facebook or a particular company’s services, these companies still maintain an extensive dossier on you and your interests and activities. Most of our phones default to allowing companies to use our private content to make money.

Five major telecoms were infiltrated last year by hackers. These hacks were not limited to a singular app. I’m surprised by the number of people who are unaware that their private conversations across a variety of apps were compromised.

Finally, I’ll add that the ban currently in effect for TikTok has exemptions for certain government officials. While the app is used predominantly for entertainment for the United States populace, it’s interesting that our government specified an exemption for what could only be described as a propaganda outlet. Which is precisely what our misguided leaders accused TikTok of being guilty of.

Meanwhile, more than 13 million Americans downloaded RedNote. You can’t make this lunacy up.

Opinion, Politics, Religion, Social Rules, Trump

Personal

11/10/2024 X Teri Leave a comment

This is personal. As is everything I write and post. I don’t duck behind sharing other people’s memes or messages. As imperfectly as I express myself, I’d rather be misunderstood for making the attempt.

I’m not pointing the finger as an accusation. I’m pointing it because if you don’t make the effort to connect with people who disagree, you’ve already failed. So many of us have friendships and family members who are going to have a difficult time for the foreseeable future.

The law of entropy affects everything, including human systems of governance. No matter how much work you put in, things can dissolve and dissipate without warning. Apart from that, we’re standing on lava and spinning through the universe at an incalculable speed.

One thing that people don’t like to acknowledge is the logical inference that results from their claim that God or their deity endorses or blesses their candidate.

If God is for your candidate, it follows that he is not for the opponent… that the preponderance of their beliefs and behaviors are endorsed by or align with the creator you worship.

I am 100% a believer in non-interventionism. Whatever shape or form a deity takes in your mind, I’m certain based on the evidence that we were set in motion to solve our own problems with the resources and intelligence that we have.

Many things that we take for granted were once angrily and violently endorsed by God. At least according to some proponents of each mistaken beliefs. Whether it’s the pronouncement that owning other human beings was acceptable or whether half the population, depending on gender or race, were less than equal and therefore ineligible to vote or own property.

To have been wrong about such fundamental beliefs and rights should be the clearest possible indication that people are quite often wrong. Insisting that their creator endorses something has a huge track history of error.

No two denominations or people believe alike. From there it degenerates into cherry-picking which parts matter, or to whom it applies.

As for the current state of things, my head hurts when I consider that people endorsed someone with such an obvious track record of objectionable behavior. Factoring in the allegation that their deity favored such a person goes against my identity as a member of a democracy. That much more qualified and human candidates should have been chosen goes without saying.

I can’t fathom how the message of hope and brotherly love translates into a candidate who in no way embodies the essential nature of the predominant religion in our country.

Those of you who mistakingly believe that we might not have voted for a conservative simply because he or she was a conservative are mistaken. We would have opted for George Bush (either father or son) over the presumptive president-elect. Part of that is because despite their flaws, they honored the pledge to democracy and rule of law. They certainly would have still done ill-advised things, but none of them would have undercut our democratic principles unilaterally in the way that the president-elect has and will again.

It’s a dangerous thing to equate God’s endorsement to a person or set of beliefs. History taught us that.

We have collectively decided to eff around and find out.

Such a collision of God and politics has never resulted in a balanced democracy.

We are rolling the dice.

Opinion, Politics, Trump

¿

10/25/2024 X Teri Leave a comment

I made this point a couple of weeks ago. The number of conservatives complaining about high-profile celebrity endorsements of Harris has, of course, skyrocketed. If only their candidate had followed the advice they so eagerly give. I seem to remember him being a huge TV star. Not to mention that beloved Hollywood Walk of Fame star that he’s so proud of. If celebrities can’t endorse a candidate, then it certainly follows that celebrities can’t BECOME candidates. This is dissonance on the most unimaginable scale. I would call it satire, except the people spouting this crazyness do so in all seriousness.

I’ve scratched my head so much over this that I only have two hairs remaining on my cranium.

I need a list of all occupations that are prohibited from expressing their political views. See how ridiculous that sounds? A person’s choice of career in no way negates their opinion or the ability to express it. It’s our fault that celebrities have so much voice to begin with.

So when we accuse them of undue influence, we are undermining the ideals that are the underpinning of our democracy. Freedom of expression counts as highest among them.

Behavior, Government, Opinion, Politics, Trump

Blue

10/23/2024 X Teri Leave a comment

I voted today, without waiting at any point.

I voted against him for the 6th time in my adult life. It’s amusing that his presence in the political arena pushed such a blatant liberal as me into the conservative primaries.

He’s not even the problem.

The problem is now that many of us realize that no matter how many gains we make, such a person ill-suited for political office can subvert the political process.

It’s not my job to convince anyone that he’s dangerous. If his closest allies and advisors, combined with his encyclopedic list of flaws can’t present the clear and present danger he is to our democracy, there’s certainly nothing I can add.

When I left the voting center, I’m certain I experienced one of the most beautiful views possible.

Above me, the blue sky.

Behind me? Hopefully the last populist narcissist.

But I know he can’t be. Because the people who will overlook the kind of character and behavior he represents will still be voting.