Heed The Warnings

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, education, Election 2022, Global Issues, History, Personal, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary, voting rights

Well, friends, I’ve managed to get another ‘temporary ban’ from Twitter today!  Why, you ask?  Because in response to an idiotic tweet by Matt Gaetz praising the conspiracy theorist Kari Lake, I replied …

“The best thing that could happen would be for Kari Lake to go jump in a lake … and stay there. And then, if you could join her, and take Margie Greene and Lauren Boebert with you … that would be a great start!”

Twitter claimed I was “encouraging suicide”, so I’ve been banned for 12 hours.  Oh well … I’m not exactly shedding tears or losing sleep over it.  Actually, I’m rather glad someone actually noticed what I said for a change!

On to bigger and better things.  Our friend TokyoSand over at Political Charge has a post this morning that I hope you’ll take a minute to read … she begins …

In this country, we see evidence every day that David Frum was right when he said, “If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they won’t abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.”

But it isn’t only in this country … the picture is much bigger than just the U.S., as could be seen yesterday with the election in Italy of a Mussolini-style fascist Prime Minister.  Please do read Do We Still Care About Democracy?

And along those same lines, this morning our friend Roger sent me a cartoon … a Disney cartoon of an all-time favourite story, Chicken Little.  But this version is a bit different than the one you may remember from your childhood.  Please do watch it … and then take a deep breath and do what TokyoSand suggests and get ready to fill out that ballot!

My thanks to both TokyoSand and Roger for their contributions today.  Let’s hope people around the globe wake up before it’s too late.

104 thoughts on “Heed The Warnings”

    • Sadly, no he isn’t. He received a lifetime ban from Twitter, but Facebook is considering reinstating him in January. Meanwhile, Truth Social is the social media website he owns and he can pretty much post whatever he wants there. I joined it for a while just to be a thorn in his side, but frankly it’s so boring and nobody even responded to my snarky comments, that I deleted my account last week. It would be impossible to ban him from ALL social media for life, for it would be against the laws of ‘freedom of speech’. I do wish the mainstream media would stop covering his every word, though … keeping him front and center in the news is not healthy for this nation!

      Like

  3. My Twitter account was suspended last winter for “promoting suicide” for just saying that “you should try driving in Niagara Falls” … the thread was about cities with BAD POTHOLES IN THEIR STREETS. Algorithms suck.

    Liked by 3 people

  4. Glad to share Jill…I would have replied earlier but WP was having one of its hissies…..Anyway you keep on keeping on. These algorithms are useless. Amazon and Audible both allow coded race hate products…Go fish a herring I say.
    Do you recall ‘Our Scott’ as opposed to our good friend Scottie.
    I recall ‘Out Scott’ literally calling for the execution of senior health officials as traitors for their work fighting Covid and yet WP let that go through (as I also recall no one bothered to reply that particular bit of excess).

    Liked by 3 people

    • WP … Bah Humbug to WordPress! Poor David cannot get his comments working on his blog, and the “Happiness Engineers” have been useless to him. And for the past several days, about half the time when I respond to a comment, WP tells me “You have already made that response” when I know good and well I have not! I’m gonna tell ’em all to Go Fish a Herring!!!

      Yes, I do recall “Our Scott”, aka Mr. Lawlor. Hmmmm … I don’t recall that specific comment, but it sounds like him and he has made many similar to that. Nowadays he sneaks under the radar with fake names … I always catch him because I recognize his ‘style’, if it can be called such.

      Liked by 2 people

      • Fornacazoni to WP!
        I have had the same problem as you Jill, and sympathies to David.
        There was a new post bubbling around the response Twitter made to your ‘Go Jump’ comment, but on noticing WP was up to its tricks, I left it to return to.

        Y’know Scott & I actually had a dialogue going on the problems of a fair and representation taxation system….Mind you I was on ground of explaining that kind of weirdness, so maybe home advantage. It went quite well- pity about the rest though. Ah well, it’s as bad on the UK Left…so that’s folk I guess.
        We need more of ‘Keith’ I tell you.

        Liked by 2 people

  5. Keep on fighting for democracy while you can, Jill because if people like the MAGAT crowd ever gain control of the government, none of us will be permitted to speak in public about defending democracy ever again .. because the democracy will have been dissolved and free speech will have become history. We have to sound the warnings while there is yet time and you are doing a heck of a job… so keep it up!

    Liked by 4 people

    • Thank you so much for these words of encouragement, John! I know my voice is small and I’m probably ‘spitting in the wind’ or ‘preaching to the choir’ as friends have told me, but I cannot do otherwise. This is too important, for as you say, we may not have the chance to speak out if the forces trying to undermine democracy have their way. Thank you again … your words mean so much.

      Liked by 2 people

      • When your friends tell you discouraging words, why not invite them to start their own blogs so that their voices can be heard as well …or, if you have the time, why not turn your own blog into a syndicate where you charge other bloggers a monthly fee to add guest written articles to your own blog …You could set the rules and you would be the moderator …we need all the voices we can get in this fight for the survival of our democracy. I would do it myself but I am too old now to mess with it.

        Liked by 2 people

        • Well, those who do tell me I’m wasting my breath mostly do have their own blogs where they post non-political things. One such friend tells me that “It will be what it will be, and nothing we can do will change it, so set it aside and learn to appreciate fun things in life.” She posts pictures of food she’s eating, her Christmas ornaments, she and her friends out for a night of fun, etc. Another tells me that I’m “no fun anymore … politics will work itself out just like it always does, so you should ignore it like I do.” It’s a losing battle to argue with them … you probably won’t be surprised to learn that I have lost a large number of friends over my political views and the fact that I pull no punches, but state what I believe.

          As for your suggestion … I would not charge a penny for my blog in any way. However, I do welcome guest posts, so long as I have the ‘right of refusal’. I’ve had some success with guest posts in the past, but haven’t tried it for a while. I might just do that, but without charging. And as for being “too old to mess with it” … you aren’t, I’m betting, any older than I am (I’m 71)!

          Liked by 2 people

    • Heck yeah … I’ve had three 3-day bans in the past, including one for calling Fox’ Laura Ingraham a b*tch, so this was indeed a slap on the wrist that probably would have gone unnoticed by me, except they sent me two emails to inform me of my ‘punishment’.

      Sigh. I probably will get back on, but sometimes I think my mental health would be better if I avoided social media altogether.

      Liked by 2 people

      • I did exactly that Jill, ‘ get off ALL social-media platforms,’ back in 2018. Not only was I increasingly fed-up with the insane frivolous comments & discussions with for the most part no positive impact for people’s lives, that by that time I was already rarely on them. Then what happened in 2019 in Christchurch, NZ, where all of the major social-media sites broadcasted LIVE the killer’s massacre of innocent men, women, and children… LIVE 😱 and horribly graphic… then none of them paid any price whatsoever for their clear cut negligence in being Criminal Accessories to mass shootings! Un-effin-believable!!! 😡

        For me Christchurch was the final straw with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all of them.** On the matter of moral principles and human decency, I could not in any good conscience financially support (indirectly with my browsing activity) those social-media platforms. If I had continued on their sites as if nothing ever happened, then I would also be an Accessory to their negligent management of users/killers. I have too much humane dignity to make those sites and their owners wealthier and wealthier for horribly negligent business practices wrongly DISGUISED AS bullshit “freedom of expression” or “freedom of the press. ” Or whatever other lame excuses Mark Zuckerberg and the other owners or Boards/CEOs of the social-media sites fabricated for the public. Pffffft! I want none of it, ever again!

        Besides Jill, you will be SO MUCH healthier from leaving them all because your blood-pressure and cortisol levels will drop! Guaranteed! 😁 Best decision I’ve ever made regarding the internet!

        ** Footnote – I do not count WordPress as a true social-media site. Most blogs are so much more in-depth, intriguing, provocative, and most of all require bloggers, followers, and commenters to spend MORE THAN 5-7 mins reading, discerning, and constructively(?) participating and engaging—nothing like Facebook or Twitter in the least!

        Liked by 2 people

  8. Now I’ve heard it all. I knew there was a reason I avoid Social media but didn’t know what it was until now. At least it’s only 12 hours! Could be worse but I don’t know how! It sounded more like promoting a little bit of murder to me and at the risk of being banned from WP, I think it’s justifiable at times. In defense of democracy is one! I’m not holding out much chance for the world now. Once I was optimistic but now? Not so much.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Yeah, 12 hours is nothing! I’ve been banned 3 times for 3 days each time before, once for calling Fox News’ Laura Ingraham a b*tch. And in truth, I often think I’d be better off to cancel both my Twitter and Facebook accounts! Like you, I have almost always been somewhat of an optimist, but I am not at all optimistic now. I keep fighting, hoping that maybe I can make a little bit of a difference, but … I think I’m fighting a losing battle.

      Liked by 2 people

      • You keep on keeping on kiddo. ‘They’ of MAGA know you are here, and it annoys the hell of them, because every time one of them tries to say something inane on this site, they get shredded and can’t stand the heat. This is one of the beacons of reason, fire and fury against the gathering toxicity of ignorance and intolerance.
        Y’all keep on hear? 👱‍♀️(guess who)

        Liked by 2 people

      • I can’t even get on FB now. They keep putting a page with the name Jarrod Austell up on my devices each time I try to get into my page. I have no idea who he is, but it definitely isn’t t me. I’ve written to them but no results so I’ll just delete the entire thing. I still have the Twitter account but just don’t open it any more. Too much junk there. As for LinkedIn, the account is still open butI just delete the notifications. I’m just tired of the battles. Kept getting emails from every state wanting me to contribute to whoever was running until I finally sent an email telling them if they continued I would change my party to Republican! That won’t happen but it just might have worked. Very few emails today.

        Liked by 2 people

        • How very odd!!! Ah well … you aren’t missing anything there. When I was doing consulting many years ago, I used my LinkedIn account for professional purposes, but never considered it social media in the sense of using it for personal reasons and I haven’t been on it in years. I suppose all the fund-raising emails are a part of the 300 or so spam emails I get daily. My spam filter does a great job of weeding out the crap so I don’t even look at it, just delete it all in one click of the mouse every night. Interesting how I keep getting some wanting to help me enlarge a body part I don’t even own! 🤣

          Liked by 1 person

          • OMG, I get those too. Maybe they first want us to switch over first. Think of the money they would charge for THAT! But I don’t know what I would do with that particular body part because it seems like a lot of trouble controlling to me. Then there are also the ones wanting to install a home security system. I’m in a secure home and certainly don’t need their system. Those constant political ones are the worst though. I don’t even think there is a candidate in my own state I’m willing to send money to so why do all these others think I care about sending them money? Just a way of harassment on a national level and they can keep it out of my inbox. invading my personal space and taking up some of my time. Some? Most of my time. Even though I mark them as spam they still get through!

            Liked by 1 person

            • Heh heh … IF we had that body part, then many doors would open to us that are currently slammed in our faces! I also get multiple ones each day begging me to contact some realtor who wants to buy my house! Trouble is, I don’t own a freakin’ house! I rent a townhouse apartment! Hmmm … I wonder if I could sell it on the sly. Considering the ‘management’ just raised my rent by 15% to $1,444 per month, it would serve them right if I sold the place!

              Liked by 1 person

              • I was tempted to sell the Roosevelt House also. And then there are the ones about my car warranty expiring. My last car was a 1991 Camry. That warranty expired so many years ago it wasn’t even funny. The car also expired almost 20 years ago! And now I’m being told about all the money I’ve been awarded in a class action suit that I wasn’t even part of. But you are right av0it the doors opening for people with that body part. And at times it seems like it would be easier and faster to pee standing up!

                Liked by 1 person

                • Oh yes … the car warranty one! I get those multiple times a day! Do you get the ones about the class action suit about Camp LeJeune? I get about 20 of those a day, saying that since I served there, I am entitled to money. I’ve never even been in the military! Oh yes … I’ve always been envious of those who have that body part, especially when camping, hiking, or on a long trip, and can just go behind a tree, whip it out, and be done with it when they need to pee! 🤣

                  Liked by 1 person

    • How can you give up hope when women are protesting hijabs and burqas in Iran, and men are leaving Russia in droves to protect themselves from dying for an unpatriotic war? Just because America is sitting on the brink does not mean the entire world is being lost. And even America has not lost yet. Is this the era of the doomsayer, or the era of world unification? We are still at the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. These things do not happen at lighting speed. And we have to accept that the established order is going to go down fighting! Cheating even! They’ll fight with their mouths. They’ll fight with their tongues. They will even fight with their teeth! We cannot expect them to just roll over and die! But we can expect to win, because progress is the way of life!
      O ye of little faith, abide a while. Good things come to those who wait, especially if they do not give up!
      Thus spake rawgod!

      Liked by 4 people

        • I hope more people do. Someone, Word Press? has just frozen a post I was writing about taking a new look at the problem of how we allow ourselves to be governed. I have never had a draft p8st freeze on me before.

          Liked by 3 people

            • Probably. And it suggests Big Brother is watching. Some things I have no trouble saying, no matter how radical. But when I try to write about the failure of cspitalism, or the fall of Christianlity, my app suddenly seizes, and I cannot publish them.

              Liked by 1 person

              • That’s really weird … as much criticism as I dish out against Republicans, Christianity, the wealthy and others, I’ve never (touch wood) had a post just freeze up and not be publishable.

                Like

                • I think I have had 3 now, though it could be 4. The first draft just freezes, and I have to start all over on a different device to just delete it. I can’t even get back in. Yes, other times I can say anything I want, and nothing happens. I have no idea what the difference is.

                  Liked by 1 person

                  • Ahhhh … I think I understand the difference. I write all my posts in Word, then copy and paste them into WordPress, for early on I had the same problems you are having and I decided that writing directly into WP is a bad idea! But, that was back in 2013 or so … you’d think they’d have fixed their issues by now!

                    Like

      • And the women in Iran are being arrested and the men are being stopped from leaving and conscripted into the military. How can I lose hope, you ask? Well, I’ve read history all my life, always had a particular interest in WWII and what led up to it, and I’m seeing some parallels that prove we never learn the lessons of history, but rather keep on making the same stupid mistakes over and over. And now, we have those technological marvels called ‘nukes’ and so, this will likely be the last time we make the same mistakes. We have, perhaps, the cruelest and stupidest people about to take office here in the U.S. … people who have “promised” to impeach the president and re-elect a madman who we rejected two years ago. What is there left to hope for? I wanted to ensure a better world for my girls, wanted to take them somewhere better than the U.S., but it seems the whole damn world has lost its collective mind and there are soon to be no safe places.

        However, since rawgod hath spakethed, I shall try to hang in for a bit longer. LuL

        Liked by 2 people

        • LuL2, Jill. It is sad what is happening to the women of Iran, and the men of Russia, and woke Americans, but the thing is they are trying. They have put up with the nonsense of their leaders for too long, and now they are rebelling. A successful rebellion is a revolution. The world changes when revolutions happen! Focus on the good signs, not the bad ones. Losing hope is losing life!

          Liked by 1 person

          • You say, “A successful rebellion is a revolution” and “The world changes when revolutions happen” … all of which is true, but at the same time, all change is not necessarily for the better … AND … in a revolution, thousands, maybe millions of lives are lost. After all these millennia, if we still cannot manage to resolve our differences through diplomacy and compromise, then I don’t see that we ever will. We cannot simply keep having revolutions and wars to resolve our differences. This is not a world anybody, other than tyrants and those who love violence for the sake of violence, would want to live in.

            Like

      • Thank you rawgod! I have these bad days at times especially when I feel every second of my almost 80 years on this planet. I can remember the last day of WWII when all the bells in this town were ringing out a song of hope, love and peace! I haven’t heard any bells ringing at all these past few years. I think I’m tired of the battle worldwide, and losing my personal battle with MS now. My time here is limited but I worry about my legacy to my great-grandchildren. I remember lying in the grass under a shade tree watching the clouds moving in the sky. My watching place is now covered with concrete. The trees on the riverfront were cut down and replaced with concrete trees! Can you imagine that? Who can find pleasure in a concrete tree? No leaves to shuffle through in the Autumn. No more smells of autumn like the burning leaves raked into piles that we could jump in before the fires were lit. And yes mea culpa, those fires added to the problems of today. There are still days when I continue to wait but then the pain hits again. Not really giving up, just trying to adjust to my new realities. Assisted living — good and bad thing. Like being back in high school in some ways and being in warehouse for the dying in others. I still find reasons to smile and even laugh at times. Never just sitting and waiting though. My hands stay busy and my mind still functions, just in slow motion now. My hands are busy making things for others less fortunate than myself, and yes, there are so many others like that. My mind is occupied by reading, but with everything else in life being done for me by others it leaves me with a useless feeling at times. Not all the time though, so I haven’t given up. Just taking a few days off occasionally.
        Thus spake an angel!

        Liked by 1 person

        • Havi g work3d with people who suffer fro MS i knowyour life cannot be easy. But if you still have the ability to see beyond the MS then you are ahead of the game.
          But as for others doing so much for you, how much have you done for others for how many years? You don’t always have to give. It is your time to receive. Say thank you for their help, and give them a great big smile. Uelping ix so often a thankless job. I know how good it made me feel when someone would thank me.
          So, what kind of things do you like reading?

          Liked by 2 people

          • I am grateful for everything they do for me even though it feels almost like I should be the one taking care of them. And having worked in nursing homes before working at Hospice I know how hard their job is. Overworked and underpaid but still trying to help too many people who do nothing but complain! That’s why I do most of my complaining here where I can get it out of my system so I CAN smile and always thank them for all they do. It’s just when I am hurting more than usual that I have to vent and since I know tat no one I know reads it I feel free to vent here. Very few people know who I am or where I live, and they can read my rants or not so that gives me a safty net where I can vent without hurting anyone else, or at least I hope I’m not hurting anyone. I try to find a way to laugh at my pitfalls, and most of the time manage it. I think I manage it.
            My reading is pretty eclectic. I like James Michener and then I’ll turn to some silly but addictive “Cat Who” or Agatha Raisin book. Right now it’s light mystery time with Deborah Knott stories by Margaret Marron. Also love poetry and philosophy, Kahlil Gibron, Plato, and Zen! Just depends on the mood I’m in and how intense or how crazy the book I just finished is.

            Liked by 1 person

              • I’m thinking now that I should read about Michener. Bio or blurb, something about his personal life. Would make him more alive to me. I do know that toward the end of his life there was a ghost writer trying to do his writing, or maybe just doing the research for his books. They weren’t the same at that time. Tried to read one but it was so unremarkable I don’t even remember the title. Made it through a couple of chapters before I closed the book and put it in file 13!

                Liked by 1 person

              • I just occurred to me that my photo is on my work. An old one, granted, but time has been kind to my face so just add a few wrinkles and all is still the same. Great genetic pool and a reward for being the oldest daughter.

                Liked by 1 person

                • Lol. My photo is from the 90s, but except for grey facial hair, and a bit of grey on top I too look basically the same. But I can put it down to the native blood in me. You don’t see many grey-haired or bald indigenous people, at least not until they are in their 80s or 90s.
                  And I have to add, the Caucasian parts of me are deteriorating faster than the native parts. I have one foot that is always white, and one foot that is usually quite red. The red foot is quite normal, but the while foot is suffering from petiphrral neuropathy. Take that however you want. 😅

                  Liked by 2 people

        • And about the bells, I wasn’t born yet in 1945 (i missed that by four years) but I lived in a city, Winnipeg, where a number of churches of different faiths were in a small downtown area, and at 11:00 AM every morning they would take turns ringing theirbells. It was a glorious sound, it snhowed how different people could work together to brighten thelives ofeveryone. The bells would ring out concsrt style for about 15 minutes. On those gays when I could I would sit inthe little park i the center of all the chur hes and just .usten and appreciate. One day the bells did not ring, I don t know why. The silence was deafening!

          Liked by 2 people

          • Oh yes! So many things are silenced now. I loved the bells and at one time tey rang out a glorious concert here as well. I don’t know what happened here either but the bells stopped and then the trains stopped coming trough town as well. I miss them both — the sounds of the glorious bells and the mournful sound of the midnight train passing through the center of town.

            Liked by 1 person

              • There are times I wish I had a time machine so I could go back in time to the ’50’s. Life wasn’t so hectic then, but again I was a pre=teen and totally unaware of what was happening in the world. I knew there was a war in Korea but didn;t really understand the concept of war. Really sheltered as a child.

                Liked by 1 person

  9. Jill, you know what I am going to say. Your voice is too important and your opinion to well researched to resort to such comments in writing. I am not a fan of Gaetz or any of the folks you mentioned, but I feel you can get your point across where it is heeded rather than discarded. No doubt, I am tempted to lay some people out given their derogatory and inane comments, but that would be harmful to the message, in my view. Keith

    Liked by 4 people

    • Sigh. Yeah, I know Keith. And you’re right … you know I consider you the gold standard, and when I’m writing a post, I often stop, think “What would Keith say?”, then revise my verbiage. But, sometimes I just … let my fingers fly before engaging the brain. I’m sorry. And thank you for saying that my voice is important … that means a lot to me.

      Liked by 2 people

    • You are without doubt a supreme artist of the dignified argument and mature response Keith; both Jill and I often lament ‘we should be more like Keith’…..and yet…We are who we are….
      We always bear you in mind though, and sometimes think ‘No Keith would not approve of that line/ word’

      Liked by 2 people

    • I hope so too, but frankly it appears more and more of those lights are growing dim or going out altogether. I honestly don’t think the average Joe has any idea how serious this is, what the future ramifications could be if the wrong people get into office this time. Sigh.
      Cwtch

      Liked by 1 person

  12. Dear Jill,

    You are slowly gaining “notoriety” for defending democracy.

    One wonders what your next (strategic) move will be.

    Here is SoundEagle Illustrating Politics, Rule of Law and Liberal Democracy in the United States in supporting Snarky Jill

    Yours sincerely,
    SoundEagle

    Liked by 2 people

Comments are closed.