In the United States, there are two hallmarks of the justice system: all are equal in the eyes of the law and anyone accused of a crime is presumed innocent until found guilty.
It goes without saying that he is entitled to a fair trial by a jury of his peers. However, given his influence and the potential chaos, this is far from an ordinary court appearance.
Part of me wants to celebrate, knowing that he will finally see the inside of a courtroom. But I also know that there is a possibility of a sequel to January 6th. Obviously, we can’t know at this moment what the results will be. But I can’t help but feel that this country is finally on the right track.
Am I the only one who is tired of the Republican‘s endless shtick? They seem to be unaware or unconcerned that the country is going down the drain.
In Florida, State Senator Jason Brodeur proposed a bill that would require bloggers who publish political pieces to register with the state. Though it was initially tied to Governor Ron DeSantis, that was quickly refuted. While it is heartening that the Governor was not behind it, this denial of freedom of speech is very concerning and a warning sign that should not be ignored.
Also in the sunshine state, DeSantis was at a book signing (and keeping his 2024 Presidential hopes alive). He was confronted by supporters of the former guy. Instead of ignoring them and focusing on the attendees, he had the protestors forced out of the store. While security escorted them out, they cried for freedom of speech. Though DeSantis has yet to formalize his campaign, this speaks to the division on the right. It also reveals that the Governor is not as much of a badass as he claims he is.
And finally, in Texas, Crystal Mason was doing her civic duty by voting in the 2016 Presidential election. Instead of doing her business and walking out, she was accused of illegally casting a provisional ballot and was sentenced to five years in prison. At the time, she was on supervised release for a previous conviction. The law in Texas bars convicted felons from voting if their sentence has not been completed.
According to her legal team, she was unaware that her sentence had not reached its end. What strikes me is that this sentence goes well beyond what it should have been. It reeks of racism and denies this woman her right as a citizen. Though the conviction has been overturned, the message is clear. Because she is a woman of color, her voice and vote is not wanted or needed.
Blending the information she gathered from both sources and interviews (including with you know who), she reveals what most of us (hopefully) already knew. He is not completely cold, but treats others as it suits him. He holds a grudge like nobody’s business. He goes for what he wants and if that means stepping on a few toes along the way, so be it.
Like all of us, he is human and complicated. What makes him dangerous is not just his ego. It is that others are willing to feed and take advantage of that ego to get ahead. Instead of being a leader and stepping up, he is more than willing to blame others for his mistakes and thinks that being in politics is the same as owning his own company. What is worse is that others have copied him.
He is everything we should not want in anyone in office. Moreover, this book is a warning about what could happen should he (G d forbid) win the 2024 Presidential election.
Do I recommend it? Absolutely.
Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America is available wherever books are sold.
Superheros are part and parcel of our culture. When the shit hits the fan, we know that we can rely on them to save the day. While we look up to these characters, we have to remember that they are fiction.
Her message is simple and crystal clear. While we look to legal superheroes to save us, the truth is that it is up to us to keep this nation and this democracy alive.
The United States was founded not by generals or kings. It was started by ordinary people who understood how important freedom was. It is that spirit we need today if we are to continue what the founders started nearly 300 years ago.
I really enjoyed this book. It should inspire all of us to take action. If we don’t, then there may be nothing left of the republic that we know and love.
Over the last half a century or so, there has been a shift in regard to women and politics. Many nations across the world have had at least one female in the highest office in the land. Except for one….the United States.
She also deconstructs previous elections (the 2008 and 2016 Presidential elections to be specific) and how both Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton were viewed by the press and the voters. As usual, the questions of “likability” were applied unequally. The qualities that were questionable or just plain wrong in terms of the female candidates were brushed off as completely fine for their male counterparts.
Throughout the book, Vitali asks two important questions:
When will we finally be able to say “Madame President” in this country?
When will women and men truly be equal, both legally and socially in the US?
This book is an important and vital read. It is a reminder of the fact that the glass ceiling is still intact and how far women still have to go. Given our present political circumstances (i.e. Roe V. Wade being overturned in June), we need to take a hard look in the mirror and ask why only a man can be President.
Do I recommend it? Yes.
Electable: Why America Has Not Put a Woman in the White House…Yet is available for purchase in bookstores.
If our history books have proven one thing, it is that women are underestimated. We have so much power to change the world. But for that change to happen, that power must be harnessed and our voices must be heard.
In 2021, Resistance: How Women Saved Democracy from Donald Trump by Jennifer Rubin was published. Rubin tells the story of how American women, from 2016 to 2020, fought for our country while you know who sat in the Oval Office. The story starts in the fall of 2016 when he who shall not be named won that year’s Presidential election. Many presumed (myself included) that Hillary Clinton would be the winner. When the results were announced, shock, rage, and fear ran through the nation like a bolt of lightning.
Instead of taking to our beds and filling the proverbial hole with food or alcohol, we banded together. Organizations like EMILY’s List helped first-time political nominees from across the political spectrum run in their various districts. Not all of them won, but the fact that they threw their hats in the ring was enough to light the fires.
She spends several chapters towards the end of the book focusing on the female nominees who ran for President in 2020. Though we did not get America’s first female President, the fact that Kamala Harris was chosen as Vice President was enough to see that progress has been made. Though we know that the war for equality has not been achieved, the battles we have fought and won are victories in their own right.
This book should be required reading for every female (and anyone with a uterus by extension) above a certain age. Standing on the shoulders of previous generations of feminists, the women chronicled are history makers in their own right. Though there are those who would keep us down (I’m looking at you, SCOTUS), we have still found a way to rise up.
Do I recommend it? Absolutely.
Resistance: How Women Saved Democracy from Donald Trump is avaliable wherever books are sold.
Barring any major problems or scandals, I will be voting for her in the general election in the fall. Her goal (unlike other politicians who shall remain nameless in this post) is to help and protect the citizens of this state. Her signature on recent gun control and reproductive rights legislation tells me everything I need to know about her values. She also, unlike her predecessor, has the temperament to work with the voters and legislators at every level of government.
Back in 2016, when Hillary Clinton lost to you know who in the Presidential election, I (along with millions of other Americans) was devastated. Instead of moving this country forward, we were torpedoed back into an era that many believed were in the past.
It has become clear that she was right. We were warned but refused to listen. Now we are on the verge of losing everything we hold dear because many of us believed the lies of you know who and his minions. If only we had listened…..
P.S.: Who else thinks that Cassidy Hutchinson is a hero? She will go down in history as a woman who stood up for democracy and the rule of law.
P.P.S: A ten-year-old girl was raped in Ohio. The result of the rape was a pregnancy. Because she was a hair past the deadline in which she could get an abortion in her state, she had to travel out of state to end the pregnancy. This is exactly why Roe v. Wade needs to be codified as a nationally enforced law. No one with a uterus should be forced to carry their rapist’s child. Especially a child.
At the end of the day, politics is about compromise and finding some sort of common ground. In the halls of power in America today, compromise has become a dirty word and common ground is a thing of the past.
The problem is twofold. The first is that most Republicans have become so radicalized that there is no talking sense to them. The second is that the Democrats are bringing a plastic food knife to a gunfight. The only way to get this country back on track is to go to the mattresses.
The problem with this statement is that it assumes that the other side can be reasoned with. There is no reasoning with these people. Not that I am advocating that were completely lower ourselves, but playing nice doesn’t work anymore. We have to get our hands dirty and it means bloody knuckles, so be it.
Almost 250 years ago, our collective ancestors fought and died for this nation. If we give in to these radicals, what they fought for means nothing. Should that come to pass, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.
When that didn’t come to pass, Rainbow took the out-of-work actors’ career route: working both at a restaurant and as a receptionist. Using his MacBook and the news as his raw material, he started creating videos. His career took off at the start of the 2016 Presidential election and the announcement that you know who was the Republican nominee. From there, he became the satirist, comic, and musical genius that has kept us laughing and sane for the last six years.
I loved this book. Rainbow is candid, funny, and authentic. He is uniquely himself in a way that is both universal, endearing, and charming. There is something universal in his struggle that I think we can all learn from while getting a few giggles in the process. And if anyone is still asking, that is his real name.
Do I recommend it? Absolutely.
Playing with Myself is available wherever books are sold.
During any major election season, there will always be promises made that may or may not come to fruition once that person is sworn in.
During the 2016 Presidential election, a certain person claimed that he would “drain the swamp” once he took office. As we all know, the exact opposite happened. In their 2020 book, Sinking in the Swamp: How Trump’s Minions and Misfits Poisoned Washington, journalists Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng (co-host of the Fever Dreams podcast) take figurative deep dive into the self-made muck and mess that existed while you know who was President. In the book, they reveal an unfortunately recognizable list of people who joined the administration for personal gain, to spread conspiracy theories, or other reasons that are far from altruistic.
What I found unnerving was that he who shall not be named allowed this to happen. Whether motivated by greed, not giving a shit, or easily taken in by a smooth talker, he opened the door to nearly destroying this country. For me. it is just another reminder of how close we can to losing our democracy.
My only complaint is that it is a little slow in the beginning. But when it starts to get good, that’s when I was hooked.
Writergurlny 
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