🌈Then They Came For Me

Posted on June 4, 2023 by jilldennison under History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

No matter how many times I read this poem, written by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller, I never fail to be moved by the words. Niemöller penned this in 1946, at the end of WWII, the end of the Holocaust that took more than 6 million lives. It is engraved on a plaque at the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston, Massachusetts, and is known worldwide. The poem speaks volumes and should serve as a warning to people all around the world today.

I have shared this poem before, used it in different contexts, for it seems that “they” are always coming for someone. But today, the fourth day in Pride Month, I am especially moved to share it for it seems many people, groups, politicians, and religious leaders are coming for the LGBTQ community. Our friends, our neighbors, our family … are being vilified, even threatened with their very lives if they dare to be publicly proud of who they are.

In addition to coming for the LGBTQ community, “they” are coming for women, for people of colour, for Jewish people. Apparently in “their” eyes, the only people who have a right to be proud are white, Christian, straight males. The rest of us are the dirt beneath their feet. If we hide in our closets, wear camouflage in hopes of not being noticed, if we do not speak out against the atrocities being committed against the LGBTQ community and others, then perhaps we will be overlooked and allowed to exist. For now. Until someday …

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Padre Steve on “‘Targeting’ Pride” …

Posted on May 25, 2023 by jilldennison under History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Re-blogs, Social commentary

One week from today will be the beginning of Pride Month, and I have grave concerns for the nation, especially for the LGBTQ community. Pride Month is meant to be a time for celebration, a time of great joy for people who have been repressed and suppressed for centuries and are finally getting the respect we all deserve. But this year … this year feels different, for there are threats of violence against the LGBTQ community … threats stoked by politicians like Ron DeSantis, fueled by religious leaders and media outlets such as Fox ‘News’. There was that ludicrous “scandal” about Bud Lite beer, and more recently employees of Target stores nationwide have been threatened and harassed, ultimately causing Target to remove or relocate some of their Pride merchandise. I am incensed … everybody should be!

There are two “men of the cloth” for whom I have great respect. One is John Pavlovitz, whom most of you are familiar with, and the other is Padre Steve Dundas, a recently retired lifetime Army and Navy Officer and Chaplain. This morning, Padre Steve posted the following on his Substack account, and his words simply must be shared. He is angry, as am I, that humanity and caring for others seems to be taking a backseat in this nation to prejudice, hatred, and violence.

“Targeting” Pride

Steve Dundas

25 May 2023

It seems that emboldened Christian extremists in the South, read MAGA States are making headway in their efforts to force major retailers to remove LGBTQ+ merchandise from their stores. Their efforts are criminal. They have wrecked displays, damaged merchandise, and threatened employees at Target stores throughout the South. In response, Target has removed merchandise from some stores or relocated it to less visible places in their stores. See this article: https://apple.news/AK07RIGLTR3u1RTJNdp6wIA

The attacks are being driven by intentionally misleading reporting from Fox News, other Right Wing propaganda outlets, as well as Republican political leaders and Right Wing Christian Nationalist “Pastors”, and organizations like the American Family Institute.

My thoughts. First, I don’t think that Target or any other retailers should bow down to hate filled violent anti-LGBTQ+ persecutors. I think that they should call Law Enforcement and have those that damage property, and threaten or harm employees or other customers arrested, and press charges. Not to do so is to embolden them to commit more acts of violence and vandalism, in other words to precipitate an anti-LGBTQ+ version of the Nazi Kristallnacht. It is no different, it may be smaller in scope, and not yet back by the police power of the State, but in every State where these attacks are happening multiple laws are being passed to limit the civil rights of LGBTQ+ citizens.

Second, if the shoe was on the other foot, and people opposed to Christianity went into a Target and vandalized specifically Christian religious merchandise in seasonal Easter or Christmas sections, or went to the “Inspirational” books section and destroyed Bibles or books on the Christian life, what would happen?

Please click link to read the rest!!!

You Say You Won’t Vote In November???

Posted on April 29, 2022 by jilldennison under education, Election 2022, Election 2024, Free Press Issues, History, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary, voting rights

You’ve all heard it many times before. I’ve posted it here on Filosofa’s Word a number of times in various contexts. But today, I am asking you to read it and think about it from the perspective of those who, given the political chaos and unrest at present, still shrug their shoulders, say that “these things always work out, so I’m not gonna worry about it”, or those who don’t like either candidate in an election so they either just don’t vote, or throw away their vote on some third party or write-in candidate.

First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me

– Martin Niemöller, January 6, 1946

Think of it in today’s terms …

First they came for the Blacks

And I did not speak out

Because I was not Black

Then they came for LGBTQ people

And I did not speak out

Because I was not an LGBTQ person

Then they came for teachers

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a teacher

Then they came for voters

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a voter

And then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me

Sadly, I have many friends, former friends, and even former family members who are among those who shrug their shoulders, tell me to “chill, Jill”, and go on with the business of posting pictures of their meals, going on vacations, and whatever else floats their boat. They claim they only seek ‘happiness’. They cannot see what is before them, cannot see that we are on the cusp of any number of events that can and likely will change the very face of this nation. In our lifetime we have survived Watergate, Vietnam, 9/11, and now the pandemic, they tell me. Yes, but this is different. I can feel it in the air, feel it in my bones … this time, some of us, perhaps most of us, won’t get off so easily. Even those who side with the right-wing state of evil and corruption will not find that bed of roses at the end of the day.

Maybe there’s still time to change the way this nation is headed, but we need people to wake up, need them to THINK! Those who don their blinders and stuff cotton in their ears, then walk around singing, “La la la ♫ la la ♫ … I can’t hear you” are the problem. Those who say they won’t vote, or who will throw their vote away … they are the problem. Those who don’t even bother to read a newspaper, because they are too busy shopping online for a new collar for the dog, are the problem. And those who believe what they are told by the likes of Fox ‘News’ and other right-wing media … they are responsible for what comes next.

No, I don’t expect brownshirts to come knocking on our doors in the middle of the night, but listen … hear that? Those who seem to have tired of democracy, of a government “of, by, and for the people,” are already taking over schools, threatening teachers who actually teach our children. They are already taking away our voting rights. And they are already trying to convince the Supreme Court to diminish women’s rights by reversing Roe v Wade and LGBTQ rights by reversing Obergefell v Hodges. What’s next? Take away integrated schools, return to the doctrine of “separate but equal” which was never even close to ‘equal’?

This year, it is more important than ever that we not only vote, but help ensure that our friends and neighbors are able to register and to either obtain a mail-in ballot or else get to the right poll at the right time on election day. It is, perhaps, the single most important thing we can do this year. If you have the resources and the ability, I would encourage you to follow TokyoSand at Political Charge, for she always has good ideas about ways to help get voters to the polls.

Then They Came For Me

Posted on May 15, 2021 by jilldennison under Election 2020, Election 2022, Election 2024, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary, voting rights

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

You’ve all heard and read this poem, written by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller, more than a few times. Niemöller penned this in 1946, at the end of WWII, the end of the Holocaust that took more than 6 million lives. It is engraved on a plaque at the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston, Massachusetts, and is known worldwide. The poem speaks volumes and should serve as a warning to people all around the world today.

Here in the United States, they are coming for our voting rights, for our right to have a voice in our government. They are coming for our right to peacefully protest those things we see happening, such as police brutally killing unarmed Black men. What will they come for next?

“They” who are coming for our rights are not necessarily who you might think. Most of us, if asked who ‘they’ are, would likely say “Republicans”. Understandably, for they are the ones writing the voter suppression bills, the ones writing the bills that now allow people to run down and kill even peaceful protestors. But the truth of the matter is that the Republicans are but pawns in a much bigger game. They are puppets being moved like pieces on a chess board by the likes of Charles Koch and other uber-wealthy men who want to ensure their pawns stay in power, to ensure that We the People have only a very limited voice, or preferably in their eyes, no voice in how our government operates.

They work hand-in-hand with the likes of Vladimir Putin to buy politicians such as Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Ted Cruz and more. They don’t choose the brightest bulbs in the pack to do their dirty work, but the weakest, those who have the most to lose if elections going forward are fair and honest, if every person over the age of 18 in this country has a vote, a voice.

HR1, now S1, For the People Act, would expand voter’s rights, end partisan gerrymandering, increase access to ballot boxes, postal ballots, and the polls. But, what frightens the shadowy cabals pulling the puppet strings the most is that it would limit secret campaign spending and provide more transparency about political donors, effectively stemming the flow of ‘dark money’ in politics. None other than the ignoble billionaire Charles Koch has said that congressional republicans would do better to ignore the will of the people and simply kill the bill in Congress. To whatever extent possible, that is what they will do, and we will never know quite what hit us.

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative organization that consistently ‘advised’ the former guy on his staff picks, recognized that the For the People Act is tremendously popular almost equally among democrats and republicans, so they have encouraged members of Congress to subject the bill to the filibuster and shut it down before it ever sees the light of day. That is precisely what they are planning to do, and with the help of two Democrats, Joe Manchin from West Virginia, and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Short, Not-So-Sweet, And To The Point

Posted on July 28, 2020 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Election 2020, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

Tonight’s post is short … I have a single rant and a poem, and then I am going to bed, for I am tired, angry, sad, and my left eye is swollen shut (no, I didn’t get punched — I petted the cat, then rubbed my eye). I’ll be back later with renewed energy (I hope).

Gross misuse of OUR MONEY!!!

In the United States today, we have a rising national debt that is currently at $24.95 trillion. We have a raging pandemic taking a thousand lives a day. We have high levels of unemployment unequaled since WWII. We have people being evicted from their homes. We have people who cannot afford to buy food to feed their families. We have so many needs in this nation right this very minute. Meanwhile, Melania Trump is planning to spend OUR money to … wait for it … remodel the f**king Rose Garden! With only 100 days left until the election, odds are she won’t be there to ‘enjoy’ it for long, and what is this going to cost us?

According to the New York Times …

The project, which includes electrical upgrades for television appearances, a new walkway and new flowers and shrubs, is meant to be an “act of expressing hope and optimism for the future,” according to a set of prepared remarks Mrs. Trump will deliver to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House later Monday morning.

“Our country has seen difficult times before, but the White House and the Rose Garden have always stood as a symbol of our strength, resilience and continuity.”

Bullshit! ‘Hope and optimism for the future’??? If Trump gets re-elected, there will be NO hope and NO optimism and NO future for this nation!

If Trump wants the Rose Garden renovated for the purpose of enhancing his campaign for re-election, let him pay for it! The people of this nation cannot eat the flowers and new electrical system in the Rose Garden!!! It will not provide much-needed equipment to hospitals to help with the overflow caused by the coronavirus!!! It will not pay the rent, so a family won’t be thrown out on the streets!!! Get your priorities straight, Donald and Melania, else get the hell out of the White House altogether! Go back to Mar-a-Lago and redecorate as much as you like on your own dime and your own time!

First Trump Came …

You’ve all heard the famous Martin Niemöller poem, “First They Came …” many, many times, right? The following poem is a modern version of that, written by Gideon Lichfield, MIT Technology Review’s editor in chief. This is Niemöller’s poem rewritten for Donald Trump’s America, and published in Quartz in June 2016, even before the election that ushered Mr. Trump into the White House. I think it speaks volumes today, more than four years later.

First Trump came for the women
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a woman.

Then Trump came for the people with disabilities
And I did not speak out
Because I did not have a disability.

Then Trump came for the African Americans
And I did not speak out
Because I was not African American.

Then Trump came for the Mexicans
And I did not speak out
Because I was not Mexican.

Then Trump came for the Muslims
And I did not speak out
Because I was not Muslim.

Then Trump came for the gay, bi, and trans people
And I did not speak out
Because I was not gay, bi or trans.*

Then Trump came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew.**

Then Trump came for the journalists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a journalist.***

Then Trump came for the judges
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a judge.

And now Trump is coming for the Constitution of the United States
And if I do not speak out, what am I?

* Actually I am one of those, and I didn’t speak out about that.
** And one of those, and didn’t speak out about that either.
*** Ditto.

I think he summed it up fairly well, don’t you? Think about it.

Saturday’s Snarky Snippets

Posted on May 16, 2020 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Law and justice, Political commentary

As I sit at the kitchen table, looking out on the cloudy day and the one lone dandelion that remains in the yard, I ponder a few things. Our nation supposedly has a government ‘Of the people, By the people, and For the people’, and yet those words ring hollow today. The majority of the people in this nation would not choose, did not choose, the person at the top of the chain, and are horrified by what he has done and is doing to this nation, to US. And yet, where is our voice? We can, and do, write to our representatives and senators, sometimes even to Trump himself, but … what response do we get? Typically a “Thank you for reaching out … blah blah blah”. Our only voice, it would seem, is at the voting booth, where more and more it is diluted by the games played by political parties, mainly the Republican Party. I do not approve of Trump or his many wrongful actions such as bullying those who don’t agree with him, filling our government with those whose only qualification for their job is that they promise to lick Trump’s boots. Yet … my opinion goes unheard and unheeded. Democracy? Not by any stretch of the imagination. I feel much like that one lone dandelion … alone, unprotected, waiting. And thus, I am once again driven by angst to write another Snarky Snippets post.

The purge continues …

Nixon had his Saturday Night Massacre, but Trump has a series of Friday Night Firings that, when added up, are just as bad. Last night was yet another …

On Friday night, Trump fired State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, the latest in a series of dismissals of independent government watchdogs that have come in the wake of the President’s acquittal on articles of impeachment earlier this year. Trump has long been fixated on ridding his administration of government watchdogs he views as Obama loyalists, and his purge began in earnest on February 5^th when the Senate shirked their duty and handed Trump the keys to the kingdom, near authoritarian power.

So, why was Steve Linick fired? One theory is because he had opened an investigation into the actions of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who may have been misusing the time of staff at the State Department to run personal errands for himself and his wife. In other words, Linick was doing his job, for which he was fired, just like so many others in recent months. Unless you are completely without conscience, like Kellyanne Conway, Kayleigh McEnany and so many others, it must be sheer hell to work in this administration, knowing that if you serve the people as you are tasked with doing, your head may be on the chopping block any Friday night.

The Washington Post refers to it as “Trump’s slow-motion Friday night massacre of inspectors general”. Soon there will be nobody left in our government to look out for the interests of the people of this nation. Remember the poem …

Stern speaks …

I am not a fan of media personality Howard Stern, I think he is an attention-seeker and a bit of a voyeur, so throughout the years I have almost completely ignored him … harmless, but rather disgusting. Knowing that he is a longtime personal friend of Donald Trump’s does nothing, in my book, to improve his image. However, while presumably he still likes Trump, he doesn’t much admire Trump nor his supporters. On Tuesday, he mentioned Trump and those who slavishly follow him on his radio show …

“The oddity in all of this is the people Trump despises most, love him the most. The people who are voting for Trump, for the most part … He wouldn’t even let them in a f*cking hotel. He’d be disgusted by them. Go to Mar-a-Lago, see if there’s any people who look like you. I’m talking to you in the audience. One thing Donald loves is celebrities, he loves the famous. He loves it. He loves to be in the mix. I do think it would be extremely patriotic of Donald to say, ‘I’m in over my head, and I don’t want to be president anymore.’ It’d be so patriotic that I’d hug him, and then I’d go back to Mar-a-Lago and have a meal with him and feel good about him because it would be such an easy thing to do.”

Listen up, Trump supporters … you’re being played like a fiddle by a ‘man’ who doesn’t care whether you live or die.

Daddy Dearest …

Three of Donald Trump’s four grown children are arrogant, nasty samples of the human species, just like their sire. If you ever wondered how they got to be that way, consider these snippets from a 2004 article in New York magazine …

“We were sort of bred to be competitive. Dad encourages it. I remember skiing with him, and we were racing. I was ahead, and he reached his ski pole out and pulled me back.” – Ivanka

“He would try to push me over, just so he could beat his 10-year-old son down the mountain.” – Eric

What a wonderful example he set for his kids, eh? No wonder they have all turned out to be just like him, with the exception of daughter Tiffany, who has had far less contact, is largely (thankfully) ignored by Trump, and is nearing completion of a law degree. Wouldn’t the irony be delightful if someday she were hired by someone to file a lawsuit against her own sire?

Well, thanks for letting me share some of my snarkiness with you this afternoon. I hope the rest of your weekend is spent doing something you enjoy …

It’s Time To SPEAK OUT!

Posted on August 15, 2019 by jilldennison under Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Rants, Social commentary

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Emma Lazarus

The above is the text of Emma Lazarus’ poem, The New Colossus. She wrote the poem in 1883 to raise money for the construction of a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty, and in 1903, the poem was cast onto a bronze plaque and mounted inside the pedestal’s lower level. For more than 100 years, those words have been symbolic of what this nation stands for.

Three days ago, on August 12^th, this man …

Son of a Bitch, Ken Cuccinelli

… Ken Cuccinelli, with malice aforethought and in defiance of the very values that have heretofore defined this nation and its people, re-wrote a line in the poem. Mr. Cuccinelli revised it to say …

“Give me your tired, your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge …”

Mr. Ken Cuccinelli is, in the opinion of this writer, a Grade A Son of a Bitch.

He further claimed that the poem was intended only for European immigrants, not Middle Easterners, not Asians, and not Latinos. I repeat … Mr. Ken Cuccinelli is a Son of a Bitch.

It is against the laws of the land to change an author’s work without his or her permission. Emma Lazarus died on November 19, 1887 and thus cannot give her permission for the changes Mr. Sonofabitch has proposed, nor do I believe she would give permission. These changes are not in the spirit upon which this nation was founded.

The United States has made its share of horrific mistakes, starting with the enslavement of Africans early on, the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, the rejection of the St. Louis carrying Jewish refugees, many of them who later died as a result, the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki … We ought to have learned from those mistakes, but instead, today we have a so-called president who wishes to make this a “white, Christian nation” by rejecting refugees fleeing violence and terror in their native lands. He would build a wall to keep out Latinos from Central America, he would impose a ban on refugees from Middle-Eastern, predominantly Muslim countries, and he promotes and applauds racism and white supremacy on a near-daily basis. This week, he implemented new ‘rules’ to deny citizenship to immigrants who are struggling financially and are being assisted by government programs such as rent subsidies, food stamps, and Medicaid.

What’s next, folks? Think long and hard about this … Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, Andrew Wheeler, Steve Bannon, Ken Cuccinelli, and a boatload of others in the Trump administration are bigots to the nth degree. They have no respect nor love for the principles on which this nation was founded, but their only concern is putting more wealth into the pockets of the already-wealthy at any and all costs to the people who are paying their way in the world. We are increasingly pawns being moved about on a huge chessboard by people who have no heart, no values, nothing but a lust for money and a sense of entitlement.

Will we allow them to re-write history by re-writing the lines on the base of the Statue of Liberty? If we do, then we should simply send that statue back to France, for we no longer deserve it. If we do, then we have stopped being the United States of America as it has been envisioned throughout its relatively short history. Perhaps in two years, it will be called the DSR – Divided States of Russia.

I began this post with the poem by Emma Lazarus. I shall end it with yet another well-known poem, this one by Martin Niemöller …

Martin Niemöller

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

Filosofa's Word

Cogito Ergo Sum

Tag Archives: Martin Niemöller

Saturday’s Snarky Snippets