Vern,
It’s been a difficult week.
In moments like these, it can be easy to feel hopeless.
After the ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked, someone asked Alexandria on Instagram, “Are we screwed?” Here’s what she had to say:
What is important in moments like these is not to think in binaries. Good/bad, screwed/not screwed. There is no doubt that things are bad. Some things, really bad. And they may likely get worse.
But that does not preclude the fact that slowly but surely, some good can be growing as other things fall apart. This is not some syrupy sweet silver lining case for optimism. Rather, it is really about a choice all of us will have to make in life, either consciously or unconsciously: will I be a person who is safe and creates good for others?
Will I be a person who stands up? Will I be a person who primarily minds my business and serves myself or try to be part of something bigger? Or will I just be a passive, “neutral” observer of it all?
What I sometimes tell my staff is that the world we are fighting for is already here. It exists in small spaces, places, and communities. We don’t have to deal with the insurmountable burden of coming up with novel solutions to the world’s problems.
Much of our work is about scaling existing solutions, many created by small, committed groups of people, that others haven’t seen or don’t even know are around the corner. So while we can’t change the world in a day, we can and do have the power to make our own world within our own four walls, or on our own blocks.
We can grow from there with the faith that somewhere out there, everywhere, others are doing the same. And we will come together.
That’s why if you’re a parent, how you parent matters. If you’re a neighbor, how you are a neighbor matters. Many of our biggest problems are results of massively scaled up isolation from others. That means many of our solutions can be found in creating community.
Ultimately, we live in this world and in this time. We have no choice but to engage in it while we’re here. Even running away is a form of engagement. So will your engagement hurt or heal? Build or bring down?
There is no neutral choice, so we can at least do our best to make good ones and learn and do better the next day.
You are allowed to be scared. To grieve. To be angry. But you are also allowed to create good, to be soft, and enjoy the small reprieves. Struggle lasts as long as we do.
In solidarity,
Team AOC
I guess we’re due for an open thread, so this story will do.
The Liberal OC continues to do stellar work by breaking the news that I supposedly have a new car, a Chevy Spark. Devoted trolls of Donna’s social media, Dan’s gang came across a picture proving this bombshell! Actually my mechanic lent me his car while he was working on mine, and Donna thought I looked funny driving such a small car, so she posted a picture.
Another Facebook post of Donna’s has convinced Dan’s gang that there are six people living in our small comfortable apartment. Actually her four kids, long ago moved out, are still registered to vote here, and none of them are inspired to vote. But… whatever makes Dan & co feel superior, go for it, boys!
Oh, Dan has more, he actually wrote a piece – a full-throated defense of Larry Agran’s propaganda organ “Irvine Community News & Views.” I guess with Larry back as Mayor again, Dan’s loyalties will be a lot simpler now, and he can go back to being a full-time Agranista. Things were more difficult for him when Agran-hating Farrah was Mayor, and he kept having his “testicular fortitude” yanked back and forth between Melahat and Larry.
I’ve been meaning to mention that Matt’s “OC Independent” now has a writer I enjoy reading at least, one Mina Kim (or is it “Mean-a?”) So far she’s posted two attacks on Democratic Irvine Council candidates, but whether I agree with her or not, at least she’s a decent entertaining writer.
On William Go (who won last week, apparently after shopping around what district he’d have the best chance in): https://ocindependent.com/2024/11/irvine-william-go-the-nomadic-council-candidate/
“Go appears to be a nomad, a migratory subspecies of city council candidate attracted to hospitable political climates.”
And on Ayn Craciun, the worthy Democratic environmentalist who was sadly defeated last week by crooked GOP incumbent Mike Carroll: https://ocindependent.com/2024/10/irvine-new-conflict-of-interest-law-will-force-council-candidate-ayn-craciun-off-city-commission/
I guess it’s mainly a pillory of Treseder, but it is also worth reading. Mina can write here if she ever gets tired of Cunningham’s swamp.
Chermananski demonstrates stellar cyclopean stupidity.
And since when is Wordsmith Jerbal opposed to office seeking carpetbaggers?
100% depends on who paid his last bill.
Yeah – this if you missed it was a woman called Mina ridiculing William Go for district shopping… but Matt has been dogging a Stanton candidate, Alyce Van, for residence shit… and I think I figured out Matt’s paymaster for that was Stanton Mayor Dave Shawver.
The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson had to take a week off after that exhausting election, and everyone should watch his latest podcast, about the worst of Trump’s appointments and the fight going forward.
[Deleting the part expressing lust over AOC – ed]
We need to trust some Republican senators will fully appreciate their advise and consent powers, constitutional duties and conscience and that common sense prevails.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0055728/ (may be a good time to watch this movie)
[That is the old movie “Advise and Consent” – ed]
Well this may help explain the otherwise inexplicable.
https://calmatters.org/politics/2024/11/afscme-against-california-democrat/
Actually, what AFSCME did was less destructive to Newman than what the Redistricting Commission did to him — a story I thought I could safely skip before the election while concentrating on Tran and others — but which I now see I’ll have to tell. It’s hideous.
Sometimes the Pink Toad is just so stupid, it’s hard for me to not say anything about it. All I’m saying… https://theliberaloc.com/2024/11/18/the-irvine-special-election-to-replace-mayor-elect-agran-will-be-district-5-only/comment-page-1/#comment-285903
Saying is touching. No good can come of it. The Polypheman stupidity rubs off and poisons stuff.
I can’t really make heads or tails out of what he’s saying (seemingly that the replacement for Agran both is and is not districtwide? Or maybe those are comments?) and whether it’s stupid. Can you elaborate?