Category: blogging

SoCS: the real patriots

Vote for Democracy #36

There is a debate in the United States about what it means to be patriotic.

Some people connect patriotism with militarism or with waving a flag but I think that is not what true patriotism is.

Our Constitution begins “We the People” and lays out the purposes for which “We the People” are organizing their government.

Among these purposes is to “promote the general welfare.” It’s not to make as much money as I can personally. It’s certainly not make as much money as I can by exploiting others and not paying a fair share in taxes.

Another purpose is to “secure the blessings of liberty” for ourselves and future generations. It’s not about each individual doing whatever they personally want if it infringes on the rights and freedoms of others. A patriot can’t say whatever they want while denying that right to everyone else.

It’s alarming how Trump/Musk/Vance are trampling on “We the People” and our rights while ignoring the very purpose of our government as laid out in the Preamble of our Constitution. They are also ignoring or warping the Articles and Amendments that don’t fit their power grab.

The true patriots are those speaking out and working toward the ideals of “We the People.” Many of them, at least half a million in over 1,000 locations, are gathering today to say “Hands Off!” to the oligarchs and DT’s administration and the militias like the Proud Boys and anyone at the federal, state, or local level that is trying to take our rights and votes and our legitimate ability to govern ourselves that are laid out in the Constitution.

There are many more than those half million who won’t be able to be out there but who are working within their own spheres of influence to stand up for the United States and “We the People.” I wrote yesterday about how my health is keeping me from being out on the street today but my heart is with those who are peacefully protesting and telling DT et al “Hands Off!”

True patriots say “Hands Off!” our rights, our freedoms, our education, our environmental protections, our health care, our bodies, our neighbors, our safety, our freedom to worship or not, our words.

We the People are the Patriots. We are the government. Our elected officials are to represent us, not overlook “the general welfare” to take all power and money and property for themselves.

Thank you to all the true patriots who are working to make our government function properly and recognize that it’s about “We the People,” not about them and their personal wealth and power.
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this was to base the post on pat or a word that contained pat. Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/04/04/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-5-2025/

One-Liner Wednesday: Cory Booker

In gratitude for the witness, intelligence, fortitude, and patriotism of Senator Cory Booker (Democrat of New Jersey), who set a record for longest floor speech in the United States Senate yesterday evening at 25 hours, 4 minutes, during which he spoke against the immoral, damaging budget that the Republicans plan to ram through the Congress; the previous record had been held by Strom Thurmond, who in 1957 spoke against the Civil Rights Act, making it all the more fitting that Sen. Booker, a Black man who Thurmond would have wanted to keep segregated and poorly educated, was the one to so eloquently speak out on behalf of the American people, especially those most vulnerable.

Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/04/02/one-liner-wednesday-what-the-heck/

One-Liner Wednesday: standing up to totalitarianism

“It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques—techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life.”
~~~ Sen. Margaret Chase Smith (R-Maine), speaking out in 1950 against McCarthyism

Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/03/26/one-liner-wednesday-coffee-2/

SoCS: calendar

My calendar used to be filled with meetings, volunteer gigs, poetry workshops and readings, family events, and music rehearsals and concerts.

Now, it’s mostly medical appointments.

I am still holding on to singing with the Madrigal Choir of Binghamton. We are coming up on performance week, which will be a challenge with my diminished energy.

Maybe this next round of tests and specialists will get to a full diagnosis and some kind of treatment to improve my situation. I know that it is unlikely to be fully reversed but I’m trying to retain hope that I can bring back the most important abilities and activities I can’t manage now.

If that happens, maybe my calendar will have somewhat fewer medical appointments and more poetry – with some more travel to see family and outings with friends.

Maybe that can even happen later in 2025.

It depends on what happens with the tests and doctor visits that are in those calendar boxes this spring…
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “calendar.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/03/21/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-22-2025/

One-Liner Wednesday: integrity

“If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.”
~~~ Former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson, who passed away last week at the age of 93

Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/03/18/one-liner-wednesday-you-know-youre-getting-older-when/

5 years of COVID-19

(COVID Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash)

The COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns began in the United States five years ago this month. I’ve written a lot of posts about it over those years and I’m proud to say that they have been added to the archives of the Newark Valley (NY) Historical Society to be preserved for future research.

To date, there has only been one case in our household, when B contracted it at a work event in November, 2023. Fortunately, T and I did not get sick.

All three of us participated in Phase III clinical trials for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and have kept up to date on recommended doses as the virus has mutated into new variants over these past five years. We’ve also taken other precautions, such as masking and avoiding crowds when virus levels are high. Admittedly, it’s been harder and harder to get information about virus levels in our area as the public health emergency lapsed and reporting became optional.

I do still get some public health and long COVID newsletters that give some information. I found out today, for example, that there is a new variant, BA.3.2, in South Africa that has 50 new spike mutations. It could stay localized and fizzle out; if it out-competes other strains and spreads, it could create a wave similar to Omicron.

As far as the United States goes, I’m concerned that the vaccination rates are likely to fall even further with a vaccine skeptic now in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services. The United States has already suffered over 1.2 million deaths from COVID with millions more dealing with long-lasting health repercussions. Vaccines can help people avert more severe symptoms and decrease the chances of being infected but work best if a large proportion of the population are vaccinated. This also helps protect people who have more fragile immune systems, such as the very young, elders, and people with compromised immune systems.

I believe that information is power, but it needs to be factual information, not wishful thinking or political posturing. We can’t pretend that the virus doesn’t still kill or sicken people and that the United States is not continuing to lose hundreds of people each week due to COVID-19.

To deny the existence of COVID and/or its impact on our lives dishonors those we have lost, those who have been sickened by the virus, their loved ones, and their communities.

Take care of each other and do what you can to keep us all as healthy as possible.

SoCS: crumpled?

I remember reading Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday yesterday and thinking that I would pass this week because absolutely nothing came into my head, but, this morning, as I lay crumpled on my bed because taking a shower was too tiring and I’m trying to rest so I can participate in a poetry reading this afternoon, I thought I should post because I thought the prompt word was crumple but it was actually crackle, so never mind.

Yeah.

Brain fog.
*****
Please join us for Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday! Details at the link above.

Reblog: An Apology to the World

An Apology to the World for One-Liner Wednesday

I had to share this post from my blogger-friend JoAnna. She expresses what I and millions of others in the United States are feeling right now.

One-Liner Wednesday: upcoming MCOB concert

Binghamton area folks are cordially invited to join the Madrigal Choir of Binghamton on Sunday, March 30, 2025 at St. Thomas Aquinas Church at 4 PM to celebrate “Our Broadway Heritage” with a welcome reception for our new artistic director, John M. Vaida, following the concert.

This invitation is brought to you as part of Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays. Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/03/12/one-liner-wednesday-good-intentions/

One-Liner Wednesday: more from Thomas Paine in 1776

“There are persons, too, who see not the full extent of the evil which threatens them; they solace themselves with hopes that the enemy, if he succeed, will be merciful. It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice.”
~~~ Thomas Paine, closing lines of American Crisis, 1776

This sobering 1+ liner comes to you as part of Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday series. Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/03/05/one-liner-wednesday-bad-suggestions/