A Free Speech Lesson: The Onion and Sandy Hook families think out of the box

God bless The Onion and the Sandy Hook families for thinking outside the box to disrupt the lies and the liars who lie them.

 

Alex Jones in Washington DC in 2018. Photograph: Jim Bourg/Reuters

The 1st Amendment protects our speech from government control, not from harming others and for your own personal gain. Go ahead, say what you want, defamation law will demand you step up and take responsibility for the harm you cause. Lesson learned.

AP| How Alex Jones' Infowars would up in the hands of The Onion

Thank you to all voters

Thank you to everyone who voted. Over these past three elections we have sent our government a clear message. We are a country divided. It's now our responsibility to elect and challenge our legislators to work across the aisle. To find answers that serve all of us, not just some of us. 

We must be the watch dogs that protect our democracy.

For those dismayed by some outcomes, remember that "all politics is local" (Tip O'Neil). The work for change is ours to do.

Need a starting point: GoodParty.org

Childless Cat Lady...

 WHO VOTES!

 Mom and Butter

Vote - Why?

Please Vote. 

Each vote from your community is important to how elected representatives and city/county officials gauge needs and services; attention and representation. It puts you and yours on the "oh, yes we do matter," map.

Whatever your opinions, beliefs, or positions are, Vote. 

2020 taught us that we are a divided nation. That is a powerful lesson that our elected must learn and act responsibly to represent. If not, we do need to remove them. 

Every vote from every perspective has to matter to those who work on our behalf and with our tax dollars. 

We have to work together to bring them back to bi-partisan collaboration. We have to impress on them that they were elected to work for this democratic nation's citizens; not for their own deepening pockets, biases, and selfish gamesmanship among political parties. 

Make truth and democracy matter.

Protecting everyone's right to vote ensures your own vote is protected

Protect all efforts to ensure EVERYONE'S Right to Vote without limitations designed to discourage or prevent safe and reasonable access to vote. It is the only way to protect our democracy and the rest of our freedoms. The 2020 election demonstrated that access to voting made a huge difference in the number of voters. It sent us all a message about how divided we are and inspired both sides to engage in this democracy.

Driving one side or the other back into the "why bother, my vote doesn't count," cave won't ever make this an honest, real, free democracy. My parents lovingly cancelled each other out at each election. Yet, they both strongly believe in their positions and the importance of their vote. They taught me to understand that perhaps my vote will be cancelled out. Yet my vote still counted in the message about the numbers voting that every candidate, politician, or government official got as he/she considered their agenda or their next campaign.. The numbers matter. I'm out there and I expect my interests, even if in the minority, to be recognized and attended to just as the majority's are.

Maybe I won't get all I wanted. Maybe I won't win.

I'll try again next time.

There are too many important issues out there for me to give up. The environment, free speech, a woman's rights to her own health decisions, ending systemic racism...I could go on. Of course I could. Those who know me know I could. So could you...

Protect the vote for all. Vote. Voice your concerns. Work for change that betters all of America. Selflessly.

Don't Tell Me Donald's Con Hasn't Taken Lessons from Adolf

(Wikimedia Commons, Tom Pennington/Getty Images via JTA)

Early on in our experience with Donald Trump, critics suggested a comparison to Adolf Hitler and many accused them of hysterics and instigating more trouble.

Yet, we know that Hitler had the platform and that the longer and louder he repeated his lies about innocent people, the more others joined him in fear that otherwise something might happen to them. We know that such hateful propaganda attracts those who ignored. When they buy in, suddenly they are in the in group.

Yesterday, we saw four years of lies culminating in the actions of believers following the con man they trusted. That comparison rings sadly true now, especially since Trump's followers are predominantly white and fearful of their fellow citizens of color.

Trump has goaded them for his own selfish reasons; without a care in the world what might happen to these people who believe him and acted on his behalf. He has put them at risk indifferently. And he has shown us how propaganda can divide a country and its people to the harm of us all.

We should all thank our higher power and the U.S. Constitution for giving us the right to decide who leads us and who must leave the office January 20. We haven't learned all of the lessons but we are getting a very serious education if we are paying attention.

 

We can't trust them, yet we vote for them

Auchter's Art: It's all just fearmongering

Michigan Radio, 8-28-20

Fear is the best sales tactic there is. Every marketeer knows it, every reality show star knows, and every politician knows it. And they are afraid --- of their opposition. So afraid that they don't trust us to listen to the messages we want most: what are they going to do to serve their constituents' needs and protect this democracy. What are they going to do to return to a bi-partisan collaboration for the good of the country rather than blatant McConnell declarations to protect the Republicans and screw the Democrats while we watch. We're in a reality show between two competitors and they've forgotten the audience is their electorate.

They are so afraid that we won't listen to their messages of what they will do that they have both surrendered to over-the-top made-for-television dram-edy scripts about how heinous their competition is. And that's the information they want us to take to the polls on election day. Fear made for TV, where everything resolves itself with the hour.

Lying, misleading, or omitting information are all unethical forms of communication. They intend to harm listeners and impact their actions in a biased fashion --- usually the pocketbook. That's at stake here but so is our health, our equal protection under the law, and our democracy.

So again, we are left probably voting for the lesser of two evils rather than two candidates of integrity with solid plans to advance the goals of this nation. Or maybe not voting at all.

We can't trust the information any of the candidates are putting in their attack ads. Please do your own homework, fact check and use unbiased sites such as FactCheck.org.

Vote like your rights and freedoms depend on it. FactCheck. org.