A New Day

[H2O Man]

“Our training pushes us to develop a new set of instincts: instead of reacting to danger with a fight-or-flight adrenaline rush, we’re trained to respond unemotionally by immediately prioritizing threats and methodically seeking to defuse them. We go from wanting to bolt for the exit to wanting to engage and understand what’s going wrong, then fix”
”
Chris Hadfield (An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth)


Saturday's rally felt somehow differently to me. I have attended other ones starting in late spring through the summer months, with an ever-changing group of old friends and associates. A psychiatrist, social workers, professors, retired law enforcement, carpenters, electricians, retired military, and a couple of nurses. I've known several for over sixty years. Most of us are grandparents.

We have participated in rallies in two places in the wilderness of rural, upstate New York. It is not a region known for a strong Democratic Party. In my county, for example, there are more registered republicans, then independents, than Democrats. The same holds true for the two other counties our group comes from. It is accurate to say that relatively few Democrats win elections in this region, be it for local, state, or federal office. The last seven times I am familiar with were those when I ran the campaigns, back when I was younger and had a lot more energy. But there have been a few more in recent years that I know of.

In the past, those attending the rallies we attended seemed – to me – to recognize that this administration was purposely destroying the social fabric and trampling the Constitution. At one, we were but two blocks away from ICE taking a family away. The crowd's mood – again, my opinion – was largely, “Someone needs to do something to stop this threat.”

Now, we know that there are four responses to threats: freeze, flight, fawn, or fight. It seemed clear to me that no one at Saturday's rally was frozen in fear, running away, or pretending they admire the enemy. People were not looking outside of the rally for the source of power required to do battle with the maga beast. We are not going to engage on the battle fields our enemy picks, or use the tactics these lying scumbags attempt to attribute to us.

Among others, a good local Democratic Party politician spoke. Now, this wasn't a party rally. While my group are all registered Democrats, we all have a lot more family and friends who are independents. Most of the older of these were members of our party in years gone by, but think the party leadership tends to represent something different than it used to. I suggested to one old friend he could protest Reagan invading Grenada on Saturday if he wanted to join us.

He responded by noting that those who had spoken out against the horrors in Gaza were not popular with the heads of the Democratic Party leading up to the 2016 elections. He noted that there are still sticks in the mud who blame people of conscience for the loss to the felon, despite the fact today it appears they were right. The system that put the felon in office twice, he said, is the same system running things now.

This is just my opinion, based upon the rally that I was at, and likely in every rally, big and small, that people recognize that has some merit. But in my opinion, it isn't a valid reason to leave the party. More, the game has changed in an important way. There are more registered independents than Democrats, and we outnumber republicans nationally. All of the Democrats I am friends with have values closer to the independents at the rally than, say, that traitor Andrew Cuomo.

I saw an interview with that dehydrated snake skin yesterday. He said there is a “civil war” within the Democratic Party. No there isn't. You got humiliated in the primary. You are a sore sport. Democrats recognize you as a sex offender. Some of us are aware of your domestic abuse of Kerry. Our party doesn't hide such things to protect dehydrated snake skins. We shed them to promote new growth in the party.

As Bob Marley sang, “Make way for the positive day …. 'cause it's a new day, new time, new feeling, said it's a new sign.”

[Hekate]

1. KnR

[H2O Man]

2. Thank you!

[Alice Kramden]

3. Appreciate your post

It's good to hear that some Republicans are recognizing the trampling of the Constitution

[H2O Man]

4. Thanks!

I inhabit a very republican region. There are actually quite a few of them that recognize they were lied to. The numbers may not strike everyone as significant, but it actually only takes a relatively small percentage of the to either not vote for a republican, or not vote at all, to sink maga. The main reasons are medical insurance and grocery prices.

[Easterncedar]

5. Feeling bleak, then you inspire hope. Thanks, man

[H2O Man]

6. Thank you.

I suspect that seeing the White House damaged has upset a lot of the DU community. We learned about the last time this happened in the War of 1812 when we were in junior high social studies class, but did not anticipate that such a thing could happen in our life-times. But we were thinking of foreign enemies, not a potential domestic threat. Yet we know that sociopathic tyrants always want some monument built to honor themselves. And the felon is aware that nothing like those that honor Washington or Lincoln would ever be constructed in DC.

I've been going to write an essay on what Rep. Jamie Raskin has been laying out -- that man is brilliant -- but a couple of medical issues have delayed that. Hopefully, today's appointment will clear the 'ole schedule for the next week, before a long drive to see some specialist in a city I have not ventured to in thirty years. This getting older business sometimes gets in the way of the plans I make! Ha!

We are actually in remarkably good position today, considering the savage attack on our society. I am 100% confident about our chances in the next year. I'm fully aware that good people are suffering now, and that is definitely upsetting. So we are harnessing our strength to help those who are suffering, and to do battle with the beast.

Being of intensely limited intellect, this morning as I waited for the coffee pot to produce my daily fix, I was thinking about the nature of our opposition in the context of when I used to enter the boxing ring more than half a century ago. When I fought a tough opponent, and they were unleashing a vicious attack, I'd ride that tide, then pull them in close. Then I'd use a line that Rubin gifted me: "That all you got, boy? You're in a fuck of a lot of trouble now!" And that is exactly where we find ourselves today.

[Easterncedar]

7. Wish I believed in omens

There was an ungodly screaming outside my house Monday morning. I ran outside to see 3 bald eagles above circling and vocalizing louder than I had ever heard. The crows were chorusing in warning.

The eagles circled around and away and back for an hour and then were gone.

[H2O Man]

8. Interesting.

Thirty years ago, I was driving to work one morning. I saw a large owl perched very close to the road, so I stopped, unrolled the window, and asked, "Who is going to die today?" That evening, when I got home and was tired out, my mother called and asked if I could come and see my father? She said he was "acting like he was dying." So I went over, and indeed, it was not an act -- my father was in the process of dying that night.

Another night, my younger son called me to say stay in for the next 24 hours. He had just left my cousin's house, and a very large owl flew very close to his windshield. It scared my son & daughter-in-law, though for different reasons. Within twelve hours, an angry, intoxicated off-duty law enforcement fellow had shot my cousin and his son, because he was frustrated that they were driving the speed limit. He was in a hurry to buy more beer, surely a reason to ignore speed limits on a country road. My cousin lived, though his son died in his arms.

Since those are not chipper examples of bird coincidences, let's talk hawks and eagles. Chief Waterman and I were conducting ceremony as an audience of over one hundred participated in the re-burial of 120 human remains. This included Native people who had come from South and Central America to learn from Paul, and locals. A journalist was asking Paul questions, when he pointed up to the sky. A hawk was circling above, and a single feather dropped from the sky for Paul.

When my youngest daughter graduated from college, a Seneca chief said the opening prayer. Two bald eagles appeared low in the sky above us, to the audience's delight. They circled until the prayer was complete, then disappeared.

Now, these are merely some of the times that I've seen owls, hawk, and eagles. Perhaps they come to mind simply because I tend to associate them with specific events. I couldn't say with any certainty if they were omens or omelettes. Perhaps both. I do remember when Paul and I were traveling, and at one stop, a young lady of the "New Age" belief system asked Paul what such bird experiences mean? He said that they mean that Mother Earth has given birth to living creatures that inhabit the land, water, and sky, and that we should be aware of them.

[Easterncedar]

9. Very interesting. The last sentence resonates

Many years ago, when I was new to Maine and eagles were not as common as they are now, I went for a lunch hour walk across the park on a cold February day. I asked my Maine born friend, out of the blue, whether eagles migrate south in the winter. Before she had time to answer, two eagles flew up from the river below us and soared close overhead. We stopped on our tracks, dumbstruck, and she finally said, “Please just don’t mention tigers.”

[malaise]

10. A really hopeful OP

Rec. Rec. Rec

[H2O Man]

11. Thanks!

I think that we will see two things as we head into 2026: first, the administration will suffer some important cases in the courts, and second, as a result the administration will step up its cruelty in an attempt to exert control. But they are going out of control.

A funny thing about hatred is that some people think they can use it to gain or sustain control. But soon hatred controls them, and it doesn't work out well for them.