Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Mitch McConnell is beaming, he calls Kavanaugh’s confirmation the most consequential accomplishment in his 34 year Senate career.  “It’s hard to judge your own legacy but I can say this: I think it’s the single most important thing I’ve been involved in in my career,” says McConnell.  

In the final week before the confirmation vote, McConnell’s speeches cast Kavanaugh as the victim-- he pushed the confirmation vote as a referendum on basic fairness.

Conservatives are praising McConnell for steering the nomination through.  McConnell’s success is rooted in his escalation of political gamesmanship.  

McConnell’s friends say he will be remembered for his shrewd refusal to give Judge Merrick Garland a hearing.

“McConnell has irreversibly damaged the nomination process.  He has set a new bar for tactics, and made them baldly partisan.  Clearly McConnell has stretched and mis-characterized what all prior tacticians had done.”  -- Democratic Congressman John Yarmouth of Kentucky who worked alongside McConnell as an aide in U.S. Senator Marlow Cook’s office in the late 1960s.  

Tornado watches cover much of northern Florida and Georgia.  Hurricane Michael is in southeastern Alabama and southwestern Georgia.  President Trump is campaigning in Pennsylvania.

Stewart Myrent

All right. I've finally had it.  I'm tired of being a lurker! And I've decided to take up Carol's challenge, preferring a "group of contributors" to an "audience of lurkers."  Before I start, I want to thank Alan Alop, Steve Hirschstick, Allan Karlin & Marv Blustein for their recent contributions, as I was laughing my ass off, reading their posts.  Laughing is my favorite thing to do.  The reason I decided to chime in, is that I have noticed a not-so-subtle change in the Forum, in the past few days.  It seems that the tone of the Forum, lately, contains posts from our classmates that are bending over backwards, to not be offensive, or insensitive, in any way.  Frankly. it has somewhat of a phony feel to it.  I much preferred it, when it was more openly hostile. even with people putting a more civilized edge on it.  I would much rather know someone's true feelings, than be misled.  Although I rarely, if ever, post, I do open my Class of 1964 Forum, with great anticipation, on a daily basis & read all the posts.  Despite Carol's claim that Janis has a "personal blog" on the Forum site, I have to say that I, in particular, look forward to Janis' posts.  I find them to be empathetic & informative.  Before I continue, I want to say that I have been a life-long Democrat & liberal, so perhaps that explains my appreciation of Janis' posts.  What I really wanted to say, is that I would have guessed that most of my classmates would have similar outlooks on life, in general, and politics, in particular, having come from the same, or similar, communities & backgrounds.  I realize that I was foolish to ever expect that to be the case.  Because the older I get, the more I realize that our thoughts, identities & proclivities are there because of ancient attitudes that are instilled in us from our childhoods. Can we change?  Possibly, but not likely. My major problem with the current Congress' attitude towards immigration, is that I am flabbergasted at their attitude, because every single Representative & Senator, regardless of party, has ancestors who came from somewhere else, in hopes of attaining the American dream, or at least some personal freedom.  Even if they came over on the Mayflower, they came from somewhere else.  Every single wave of immigrants has had to endure the pain of prejudice & ostracization.  Because they were different.  Because they spoke differently, or dressed differently, or ate differently, or believed in another God.  It didn't make any difference if you were Irish, or Jewish, or German or Polish.  They all had to go through it.  But in every case, those first-generation immigrants, who spoke little, or broken, English, and probably spoke most often in their native tongues at home, bore children who spoke English perfectly. If it wasn't their children who spoke perfect English, it was their grandchildren, who were able to assimilate into the great American culture.  I really don't get this antipathy to immigrants & I never will.  It is what made & makes America great & different.  Sorry to be so long-winded. 

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

 Welcome off the sidelines Stewart.

 Thank you for your kind words.

 Immigrants bring vibrancy, new energy, and high motivation.

 This land is as much a matter of the mind and spirit as it is geography.

Fancy Miss Nancy (Novak)

Fancy Miss Nancy (Novak)

Everyone involved  Great job on setting up his website. It may be 10 to dismantle it and keep it as just an announcement of reunions will get together’s or something like that. 😲 wow! Someone DID notice. Thanks, neighbor. Still, I’m not sure this is the place for me to be discussing such miniscule issues like false teeth and memories while y’all are jousting with joy over world changing political debates with constant emphasis on your DIFFERENCES.

Carol Helen Kretschmar (Riffner)

And Nancy, your attempts to lighten things up didn't go unnoticed or unappreciated. 

Thanks, Carol. Seems like only you and Steve even noticed my (failed) attempts. I’ll go ahead and publish my snippets somewhere else and pray for y’all that some day your hearts will soften and perhaps will come to the realization that we’re all in this TOGETHER.  Sure WOULD be nice to know where all the grown-ups are? Adios... I’m done with the bickering, bratty babies driving away so many of us who simply hoped to connect with understanding comrades on a deeper, personal level. 

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Nancy,

The Forum is the right place for your snippets.  The Forum is written by those who post.  I have welcomed the energy you bring to the Forum.  Yes, Carol and Steve both commented on your snippets... I recall that Doc and Jax and Paul Hain and I have too. 

Classmates have encouraged you to keep writing and posting / publishing your snippets on the Forum.  I have encouraged others to follow your lead and write their stories.  I recall that some time back Alan Alop and Steve Hirschtick posted stories about each other... just today Allan Karlin shared history on Alan Alop and Steve Hirschtick and challenged them to “admit the truth” of what he posted.

As classmates at Niles West we share a history-- we love reminiscing... we also look to the future and that includes what's happening in the political arena.

We're a medley of voices-- and yours has always been heard and welcomed... “we're all in this TOGETHER.”

We're all finding our way...  Laughter is good medicine, hugging is too!

"So now all is well.  (You) married Frank Bruce Irwin.  All hail Numero Cinco.✋🏻"  Where is your handy pentatonic ideal while you're in Texas?

You posted you're “always able to see the bright, usually funny, side of a situation.”  Why not see it here?  We love laughing, laughing ‘til we cry, and allowing ourselves to mourn...  that's why we're stretching our minds, sharing and learning from one another.  You are part of us. 

LOVE  IS  ALIVE !

Janis

Allan Norman Karlin

Nancy-- Love your posts.  There are many ways to make the world a better place to inhabit.  Your posts are one.  I shall think of something to share.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

      "Misogyny is when Women finally

          start reporting Sexual Assaults  

        and the response from some is to

          say 'We must protect our boys

             from  false allegations.' "

   On this International Day of the Girl 

       thanks  to  Niles West  guys

   for the support you give us "girls".  

  Let us protect girls and boys,

    and one another as women and men.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Trump’s America

A mother’s Facebook post:

“If you have a son, make sure you buy him a note pad, a body camera, & a recording device.  Get him a battery pack too so he can always protect himself with video evidence of every single encounter he has with a woman.

Men aren’t safe in America anymore.

There is a war on men.”

A father’s response:

“I decided to just teach my son to respect women.

Fewer things to buy.”

Carol,

It's Donald Trump who divides us along political lines-- he exacerbates a lack of civility.  Chants of (gender specific) “Lock her up” -- Hillary Clinton, Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosis -- break out at Trump rallies at the mention of a woman not under his spell.  Trump loves the rancor of a raucous crowd.  He’s all about male bravado-- and the red MAGA hat.

The Forum IS what classmates post... when you attempt to "free" the Forum by “fighting tooth and nail”, monitoring and shaming others for what they share, lurkers come off the sidelines to accept the challenge of freedom of speech to grow the group of contributors. 

Today while Americans are reeling, struggling to grasp the reality of Hurricane Michael and the unimaginable trail of devastating destruction, and while the scandal of a missing journalist deepens, Kanye West celebrated male energy with President Trump, and the two vamped for the cameras in the Oval Office.  

Donald Trump has now put a pricetag on what matters to us (U.S.).  This is the wrong time to be talking about our economic ties to Saudi Arabia.

There’s lots to lament about our turbulent times.  We need to expand our vision.  Please tell us what makes you proud of this picture.

Can we agree? the Forum is a place for all our classmates to express what moves them--

We are a medley of voices.

Nancy Doyle (Sudlow)

Stewart Myrent

 ​I said yesterday that I was tired of being a lurker, but first I want to thank Janis for her very kind post, but, also for the cartoon of the 2 native Americans.  It was one of the best political cartoons ever. However, I mainly wanted to say that I got the impression, that Carol was either thinking of, or had already decided, to withdraw from participating in the Forum.  I don't agree with her decision, if she has already made it.  Carol, I know what you're thinking; that I want you to stay, so that others can make jokes at your expense; I'm fairly sure you think you're the last conservative voice on this Forum, but I don't believe that.  I don't believe it, because this country is torn too closely to 50/50 between liberals & conservatives; I suspect that our current problem is because of those pesky independents, who can't make up their f'ing minds.  More to the point, even if, in fact, you are the ONLY conservative voice left on the Forum, that's all the more reason for you not to withdraw your opinions from said Forum. It's too easy to get smug & think we know everything; in reality, we're more like the 19-year olds, who think they know everything, but in fact, know basically nothing.  I stated, in my post of yesterday, that I am a life-long Democrat & liberal; however, I, for one, very much see the value of hearing from those who look at life, and things in general, in a wholly different way.  It makes us all better people.  So, Carol, if you have already made your decision to not participate, but somehow are able to see this post, I really would like you to re-consider.  If you have not yet decided, but are still thinking about it, I would like you to re-consider.  You may think you lack value on this Forum, but, of course, that's ridiculous.  More tomorrow.

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

The beat goes on-- a beautiful medley of voices.   

 R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Nancy Novak Irwin: “To hope is to risk frustration.”  Jack Bookwalter took up and met your challenge with a treasured memory... Allan Karlin says he’s thinking of something to share...

Classmates are supporting and encouraging both you and Carol-- though you call us “bratty” and Carol says she has “different definitions for hate... ”  yours and Carol’s voices are valued on the Forum.

Carol, glad you’re done fighting-- post your truth, take up Nancy’s challenge to “spin out a short story that relates a personal life experience, fact or fiction...”

Love is ALIVE.  The Forum is PoPpiNg.

Stewart Myrent

I was going to go in a totally different direction with yesterday's post, but I felt that Carol's decision to exit herself from this Forum, required a more immediate response.  I am curious, as to why, in response to Carols's request for a "group of contributors", as opposed to an "audience of lurkers", was enough to get me off of the "lurker" sidelines, but, apparently, not enough to get other conservative voices, to become likewise engaged on the Forum.  My guess is that other consevative voices (remember, I do not believe that they don't exist), are hesitant to express their views, either out of concern for being ridiculed, or concern that their views have a dearth of factual basis.  Either way, I kind of understand why they are hesitant to express themselves forcefully.  Carol stated earlier this week, that the Forum has been taken over by the more liberal mindset.  I'm not sure I would disagree with that, and I understand why Carol might think it's not worth the time, or effort, to continue on this Forum.  My guess is that Carol would love to have more support from like-minded people, so she doesn't have to bear the conservative burden, all alone & all by herself.  So, I am putting out a call for the conservative members of our class, to voice their views openly, without fear of derision.  I don't think it's right that Carol has to be the only voice of conservatism.  I would be interested to hear what other classmates think. By the way, Steve, you nasty man, could not resist throwing one more barb Carol's way (but I get it).  However, despite the fact that you said it might be your last chance, I believe you will have many more chances. Carol, don't let me down.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

I like the personal stories our classmates share... here’s an immigrant story about the Emerys:

The Emerys have always been proud of coming to America on the 2nd ship after the Mayflower-- they’re Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution.  

Uncle Bob Emery was deep into genealogy until one day a letter arrived in the mail marked “PERSONAL and PRIVATE”... Uncle Bob had discovered an Emery forbearer who “brought crime to America”-- a convicted murderer.  Uncle Bob did not want me or the children to know.  

Some years ago a black man introduced himself to me as “Emery”... I told him we must be extended family-- from what I had been told, Emerys in America are all descendants of two Emery brothers who came to America together.  He calmly replied, “Your family bought mine”--  apparently there was a southern wing of the Emery family who were slave owners... I felt tarnished by the history of slavery, even though my forbearers had not yet immigrated-- there is corporate sin.

What can I tell you about my family history?  One of my biological great grandfathers was a Catholic priest, my great grandmother, a teenage girl alone in Chicago who gave birth to my grandmother.

There are positive stories too on both sides of my children’s and grandchildren’s lineage-- but that’s for another day.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Brewers and Dodgers squeezed everything they could out of Game 1 of the NLCS--

Brewers defeated Dodgers 6-5 at Miller Park.

It’s fun watching the Brewers when they’re not playing the Cubs.  

Miller Park’s hospitable welcome to "cheering Cubbie Blue fans" though they inundate / overwhelm Miller Park when Cubs are in Milwaukee compels me to cheer seeing Miller Park ALIVE for the Brewers.  

Brewers pitcher Woodruff hit a homerun off Dodgers pitcher Kershaw tying the score bottom of the 3rd-- Miller Park was wild for the home team.  It’s good to see the excitement when Miller Park is full of cheering Brewers fans.  

The last game the Brewers lost was on September 12th.  

They won their final seven games of the regular season to force a tiebreaker (against the Cubs) to win the National League Central Division and #8.  

A sweep of the Colorado Rockies in the National League Division Series put their streak at 11

and tonight, October 12th, the Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series for a 12 game winning streak--

and free hamburgers for Milwaukee--

fulfilling the prediction and promise made in 1948 by the founder of George Webb Restaurants that Milwaukee’s home team would win 12 games straight and if they managed the feat, there would be free hamburgers for Milwaukee.  In 1987 the Brewers won 13 straight to open the season (and hold the MLB record for best start to a season) and on April 22nd, George Webb fulfilled his promise and thrilled 168,194 Brewers fans. 

In preparation for the 2018 celebration in the post season, the vice president of the George Webb Wisconsin chain “ordered an extra 200,000 hamburger buns and between 30,000 and 40,000 pounds of beef.” 

Bravo and Bon appetit Brewers fans.  Enjoy the games (one at a time) and the burgers (one apiece).

         ———————————————————————————————

The world’s most powerful passport is...

A. An American passport

B. A Russian passport

C. A Chinese passport

D. A Japanese passport

D.  The Japanese passport is the most powerful passport in the world, according to the Henley Passport Index.  Japanese citizens can enjoy visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a whopping 190 destinations around the world.

        ———————————————————————————————

The UN reports the planet will reach the crucial threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by as early as 2030, precipitating the risk of extreme drought, wildfires, floods, and food shortages for hundreds of millions of people.

"A hotter world is a hungrier world."

Stewart Myrent

​I would like to discuss what I wanted to bring up 2 days ago.  These comments are directed to the ladies of the 1964 graduating class of Niles West, specifically, and all U.S. women, in general.  I have a bone to pick with all of you & blame all of you, for the mess we find ourselves in.  About 2 weeks before the 2016 general election, I saw the poll results, I believe it was the Quinnipiac poll, showing Hillary leading Trump, with WOMEN, by 20%.  That's when I knew that Hillary's election was in the bag.  I was excited that the U.S. was finally going to elect a woman as political leader, probably the last of the Western democracies to do so.  I mean, it's not like the guys have done such a great job, and I was excited that I lived long enough to see a woman become President.  The important thing to realize, is that women got suffrage in this country in 1920, almost 100 years ago, and you couldn't get one woman elected President?  The fact is, there are more women in the electorate than men. I believe about 6 million more.  So, what happened?  Well, Hillary did get more votes from women than Trump.  However, she got 54% of the female vote, compared to 43% for Trump, about 11% more than Trump.  But that wasn't enough of a margin for her to win the Presidency.  I felt that Hillary was one of the most qualified people to ever run for President, running against one of the least qualified, if not the least qualified, ever.  Do you know who was the only President, to have been both a U.S. Senator & Secretary of State?  (Answer at end of post).  What I kept hearing, back then, was Hillary was not trustworthy & Benghazi, blah, blah, blah.   The fact is,  the House of Representatives had 9 separate inquiries into the whole Benghazi thing & found no misconduct, or mischief, on Hillary's part.  I never really got the part about Hillary not being trustworthy, but I suspect that people's feelings about Bill, her husband, had something to do with it.  The thing that freaks me out about the election result, is not that Hillary got 54% of the female vote, but that Trump got 43%.  Are you kidding me?  The Access Hollywood tape had already been released.  I never understood how people could vote for a reality TV star, over a highly qualified candidate.  Still don't get it.  Maybe it's me.  However, getting back to my major point, I am having trouble understanding how 43% of you women, voted for a man, who had no experience in politics & was an obvious disrespecter of women.  The fact that we have a Republican Congress, which supports our President blindly, I could not foresee.  You will have a small chance, in less than a month, to begin to set things right.  I am counting on all of you ladies to do the right thing.  By the way, the one President we've had, who was also a U.S. Senator AND Secretary of State, was James Buchanan, our 15th President, who is better known as being our only bachelor President.

​

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Stewart, Carol's the woman to answer your question(s)...

For some women, partisanship is stronger than sisterhood.  Sadly the statistics about women's votes in the 2016 presidential election are way more embarrassing than you noted--  Though a majority of all women voted for Hillary, an overwhelming 62% of white women voted for Trump and carried him to the presidency. 

Compared to the 43% of all women who voted for Trump, today 36% of all women approve of Trump-- that's predominately white women. 

The women, the females-- and no one else in my family has a clue how Trump receives this kind of support from women--

not my daughters (or sons-in-law), granddaughters (or grandsons), not me or my husband--

none of us understand Trump’s appeal.  To our bewilderment there are men and women who found Donald Trump prepared to be president; he had and continues to have their MAGA red support.  Somehow there are women and men who trust him and admire his strength-- he makes everything exciting and OK.  

Imagine Donald Trump as a Niles West ‘64 classmate / and on the Forum today.

Interesting that First Lady Melania Trump thinks she is "the most bullied person (at least one of them) on the world."  Yet she supports her husband for "punching down and harder," seemingly oblivious to the punching he initiates.  Both Donald and Melania Trump paint themselves as victims. 

By 2016 Hillary had been under attack for 25+ years.  There are Americans who have visceral hatred for Hillary, Putin does too.  Look how Hillary is treated at Trump rallies: Chants of "Lock her up" and now the same "Lock her up" chants about Dianne Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi. 

White evangelicals campaigned against Trump in the primaries (for all the right reasons).  Ultimately they shamelessly made a transactional deal with Trump: he has their votes and support  - in exchange for -  appointing Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v Wade. 

The Kavanaugh confirmation was not a proud time for Kavanaugh, the White House, Mitch McConnell, the Republicans on the judiciary committee, the bare Republican majority in the Senate chamber, or the FBI.  White evangelicals are expected to go to the polls in November to show their gratitude to Trump for keeping his word about judicial appointments.

Allan Karlin's quote says it all: "I am a former member and Chairperson of the West Virginia Lawyer Disciplinary Board and I can assure you that, if I had behaved in front of a Congressional Committee the way Judge Kavanaugh did, I would be facing a disciplinary committee not a position on the Supreme Court."

The FBI Director makes it pretty clear that the "limited in scope" investigation was not about getting to the truth, but about getting Kavanaugh confirmed.  Jeff Flake and Susan Collins (and Joe Manchin) wanted half a loaf--  cover for their vote to confirm Kavanaugh.

Chief Justice Roberts knows the Kavanaugh problem isn't going to go away.  He wants to protect the Supreme Court as an institution-- he does not want a justice to be impeached.  Roberts has opened an ethics investigation of Kavanaugh-- he sent the complaints forwarded to him by the D.C. Circuit (by someone other than Judge Merrick Garland because he recused himself) to the 10th Circuit for review.

Congress blindly supporting President Trump is inexcusable and UNConstitutional.  We have a chance to "drain the swamp" by electing women (and men too) to replace the arrogant old men and "begin to set things right."... We get the government we vote for.

I have always (since I was a girl-- QEII) wondered why women serve in political leadership in other Western democracies but not in the United States.  From my view-- Golda Meir who said "Those who don't know how to weep with their whole heart, don't know how to laugh either" was the "Grandmother of Israel."

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

“The Future of Our World is Only as Bright as Our Girls.”  -- Tagline for the Global Girls Alliance, Michelle Obama’s groundbreaking new initiative.

“Educating girls doesn’t just transform their life prospects—it transforms the prospects of their families, communities, and nations.”  -- Michelle Obama.

“The Global Girls Alliance is designed to support grassroots leaders around the world who best understand the unique challenges Girls face in their local communities and the strategies needed to overcome them.  The program connects those leaders so they can learn from each other and mobilizes people in the U.S. and around the world to take direct action to support them, including through a new social fundraising destination on GoFundMe.”

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

With all the voter suppression in the U.S. we need a new law:  

How about this?  

“Any citizen purged from voter rolls cannot be forced to pay any taxes until the next Federal Election in which they are allowed to vote.  

“Otherwise it seems like ‘Taxation without Representation’—which we oppose...

“and even fought a war when that was a big ISSUE.”

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

As the Clintons ready themselves for a live-event 13-city speaking tour - featuring joint on-stage conversations to “provide a unique perspective on the past, and insight into where we go from here” -

Bill & Hillary - sharing stories and anecdotes that shaped their historic careers - seem oblivious / tone-deaf to the current political culture.

Talk about trouble - A new study may soon have people crying in their beer over the effects of climate change.  Global warming's extreme drought and heat will lead to substantial decreases in barley (the main ingredient of beer) crop yields, causing beer shortages and a sharp rise in the price of a pint.

Perhaps the only bipartisan consensus during the Kavanaugh hearing was that allegations of sexual abuse are very serious.  So serious, in fact, that they deserve careful and meticulous judicial review.  The Senate Judiciary Committee was conducted with theatrical pomposity in part because the investigation was less intent on finding truth, than with redistributing power.  Failures in decorum, truth-seeking, and due process rights haunt Brett Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation.  

NB As AR Republican Senator Tom Cotton says he will refer Prof Ford’s lawyers to the D.C. Bar Assn for not sharing all the correspondence with the judiciary committee with their client, the judiciary committee was offering to send staffers to CA-- Prof Ford wanted to speak to the committee.

David Steinberg (Noel)

Hooray for the JANIS FORUM!!!

LOVE TO ALL, LENNIE BRUCE

Stewart Myrent

​Janis, saw your post about "taxation without representation", and am not sure I agree with you.  You said, "Any citizen purged from voter rolls cannot be forced to pay any taxes until the next Federal Election in which they are allowed to vote."  It seems a little Draconian to me.  I certainly understand that you feel a high price should be paid for disenfranchising any citizen, and I agree with that.  But you said that they "cannot be forced to pay any taxes...".  I assume you mean Federal income tax.  Does this include state income tax,  FICA tax, or any sales tax?  I, frankly, want those people to contine to pay all those taxes, especially the Federal income tax, because my existence pretty much depends on Social Security & Medicare, which I already have concerns about, given the current political climate.  My Medicare supplement is going up $15 a month next month, and I won't even be 72 'till next March.   I saw we are getting a 3% raise from Social Security next year & that will help some.  As for not paying any sales tax, even non-citizens have to pay sales tax.  I agree that something has to be done, to redress citizens who have their vote stolen from them, but I'm not sure your (non-tax) plan is the right way to go about it.  I would love to give you a good alternative, but I'm not that smart.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Paul Simon: "In the Blue Light" ...a reference to the lyrics in “How the Heart Approaches What It Yearns”... "In the Blue Light" is deliberate, gentle, and subtle, placing as much emphasis on the words and melody as the instrumentation...

How sad / hypocritical that a country that spends blood and treasure to secure the vote for people at the far corners of the earth, works (and dishonestly so) to suppress the vote of Americans here at home.

Stewart, my post was hyperbolic, but when we know how twisted the grievance is, draconian measures are in order.  Voter suppression is a flashpoint in key midterm elections, eroding democracy at home.

In North Dakota: “It is the height of irony that Native Americans, the original inhabitants of this land, are being forced to prove their residency to be able to participate in American democracy.  It is undemocratic - an ‘assault’ on Native Americans’ fundamental rights - that North Dakota passed a law (upheld by the Supreme Court) mandating the qualification of a residential street address that they do not have through no fault of their own.”  

In Georgia: Early Voting has already begun.  Voting rights are under attack by Georgia’s Secretary of State who is running for Governor.  He is trying to defeat his opponent by abusing the power of his present office, blocking 53,000 voter registrations by using a controversial “exact-match” voting law.  

Republican “Originalists” are doing everything they can to mount obstacles to voting, marching backward, hearkening the day when women and slaves were property and only white male landowners were given the franchise.

I believe there are states that don’t have state income tax, but states that do, and are suppressing the vote should lose the revenue of residents they disenfranchise... The Federal government should also lose the revenue of disenfranchised residents.  Otherwise sales tax, real estate taxes, and FICA tax can be paid by all... 

Doc, the shout out from Lenny Bruce stopped me in my tracks... I lived most of my adult life under the scrutiny of the “moral majority” (before Donald Trump broke all the norms)... I got in trouble with a male church member for eating lunch with a friend at the Bar & Grill next to her antique store... scandalized-- not because he was there, because I was there... He wanted me to be seen (not in Bars &/or Grills) and not heard... Thanks for channeling Lenny Bruce.  

NB Lenny Bruce was granted a posthumous pardon - no joke - by NY Governor George Pataki citing NY’s commitment to freedom of speech.