Tag Archives: Politics

America, American Politics, Hope, Voting, Washington DC

“Small Potatoes”

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In case you haven’t seen or heard this, the current resident of the White House recently commented that the damage to the U.S. in the war he chose to embark on with Iran, was “small potatoes”.

Can you imagine? The 18 families grieving their loved ones who died in this debacle certainly don’t think this is “small potatoes”. What an insult. What an abhorrent thing to say or even to think. The man has no respect for anyone.

It is astonishing to me that his fat orange ass is still in his job. That in spite of all the damage he’s caused since he glided down that escalator, he gets to keep his job. It’s like, America, are you for real right now?

I believe that this issue, this war with Iran and his casual dismissal of the damage it’s caused and lives it’s taken, will be the last straw that will get people to the polls in November. You would have thought the last straw might have been the Epstein files, his tarrifs, or his insistence on desecrating the White House and the Kennedy Center. But disrespecting our troops and not having a plan to get them out of there…it’s gotta be the beginning of the end for this evil White House mafia’s reign, right?

The mid-terms are right around the corner-a mere 39 days away now, my fellow American friends. This is our chance to use the power we have and get these bums out of office and welcome in new, progressive energy. After we vote in people who can right this ship, just imagine what America can begin to look like. I believe the pendulum is going to swing harder than ever to the other side at this point. History is on our side.

Our job now is to get through to the mid-terms. Knowing there will be shenanigans, as the MAGA coalition is going to do all it can, legal or not, to thwart the will of the people. I don’t know about you, but I can’t not do anything at all to try to push things in the right direction between now and then. I recently found a company that you can puchase postcards from, which provides you with a list of names and addresses of people who tend to vote progessively, but do not have a history of voting in mid-term elections. I spent about an hour a few weeks back writing out 20 postcards and sending them out to American voters in about 4 different states, encouraging them to vote and signing with “Rhonda, from Osceola, WI”. The theory is that people are more likely to take action on something if they receive a handwritten note from another person. I encourage you all to do this. It’ll be a small way for you to stand up for a better America.

Here’s the website: https://www.signsofjustice.com

And let me leave you with a song with an important message from badass American musical icon, Sheryl Crow:

America, Anger, Minnesconsin, Neighbors, Protests

In Solidarity with My Home State

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The shock and horror I feel about what is happening now in my home state of Minnesota cannot be adequately encapsulated in words today.

Nonetheless, I’ll try-from my perch just across the border in Wisconsin.

At 37, Renee Good and Alex Pretti were in the prime of their lives. They were, by all accounts, good people. Upstanding citizens who cared about their fellow humans. Who caused no harm while exercising their First Amendment rights, standing bravely against evil-doers fixing to harm their fellow Minnesotans and wreak havoc within the city of Minneapolis.

Alex was also exercising his Second Amendment rights. A good guy with a gun; how horrifically ironic. He was an ICU nurse at the VA. Think about that for a second. Every American reading this right now can easily come up with an image in their mind’s eye of a person they personally know who served in the U.S. military. Like my Dad, Babe, who served in the Korean War. If he were here in the flesh now, in January of 2026, he’d be livid. Absolutely wild with rage at these morally injurious times we have landed our American asses in. Alex cared for vets like my Dad.

And Renee. A mother of three and a poet. What a cutie. She was fresh-faced and appeared to be very kind. She even told her executioner, “hey man, I’m not mad at you”.

This is just so heartbreaking, and it sickens me that the federal agents who murdered these two have not been arrested. That is unacceptable.

From my lips to Karma’s ear, may justice be complete and swift for all of those responsible for these atrocities. Every last one of them.

I’ve always been proud to be from Minnesota. But these days, I’m even more proud because of the groundswell of support I’m seeing from Minnesotans for their neighbors in these horrifying times.

I’m proud that the people of my home state are simply not having it. Some are banging their drums outside in the frigid temps with anti-ICE signs propped up next to their drum kits. Some are marching in the streets, singing the songs of solidarity. Some are organizing food trains for their immigrant friends and neighbors who are too fearful to venture beyond their front doors.

A little cold air and ice (and now, ICE) isn’t keeping the hearty Minnesotans away from taking to the streets and standing up to the bullies in their midst. Minnesotans are nice, of course. Duh. But that goes hand-in-hand with being no-nonsense, gritty, honest, and hard-working. Minnesotans, by and large, take no crap. They do not hesitate to call out b.s. when they see it.

From Governor Tim Walz, to the police chiefs, to the mayors and the brave protesters in my home state, I say with sincerity, may God (or the Universe) bless you. Keep up the good fight and never lose hope.

A lot of us have your backs.

ICE OUT of Minnesota!

Adult children, America, Anger, Community, Compassion, Faith, Life, Minnesconsin, Protests, Revolution

Bearing Witness in These Times

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As a life-long conflict avoider, it’s unnerving for me to put myself in a position where it’s likely others will disagree with me. I’m a people-pleaser. I never want to rock the boat.

This is not me trying to get an “atta, girl” from you, my patient readers and friends, but this past Sunday, Mr. NOA and I participated in a rally to protest the infiltration of federal ICE agents in Minneapolis. There are many people, some whom I know and love, who don’t “get” why I participate in these things. And truthfully, I don’t actually want to participate in these rallies and protests. Because I don’t want there to be a reason in this country, the “land of the free”, to have to do so in the first place.

Yet I must bear witness.

When the first Trump administration began separating children from their parents at the southern border of Mexico, and putting these children into detention facilities (many are still there, a truly disgusting fact), I began praying that these kids would be reunited with their families again, ASAP. I imagined my daughter at the time, who was in her mid-twenties, a mom to our beautiful grandson, and in a very challenging marital situation. I imagined her being in a foreign country where she and her son’s life was in danger due to rampant violence by members of a drug cartel. How I would support her fleeing that country to come to America where she and her son could be safe. And then when they got across the border, after a harrowing journey, feeling weak and cold and hungry-having my grandson taken from her and put in a detention facility where he knows noone and there is nobody who can tell him when (or if) his mom was coming to get him. The cruelty is astounding to me. It’s un-American, inhumane, and it fills me with rage.

The murder of Renee Good, a mother of three, only 4 years older than my daughter, by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, fills me with rage and breaks my heart at the same time. To add insult to injury, the responses of some of my fellow Americans to this event have been quite disappointing. The amount of folks driving by as we waved and held signs opposing this administration and it’s American Gestapo, ICE, who flipped us the bird, was shocking to me. It did give us a little satisfaction, however, when a cop pulled over a speeding driver who was clearly attempting to use his speed and truck tires to splash slop on us on that bridge connecting Wisconsin to Minnesota last Sunday. The comment sections on social media regarding this crime was largely disappointing as well. People stating their belief that Renee Good was attempting to run over the ICE officer as she turned her SUV’s tires to the right, away from the officer. People believing she got what she had coming to her. Seriously? Like, the officer couldn’t have simply shot out her tires to stop her from using her vehicle as a weapon? It makes no sense.

May the Universe bless Minneapolis, and may we summon our better angels as a collective. May there be justice for Renee. I know in my heart that we can do better than this.