Saturday, November 23, 2024
Latest:

One place where everything comes together

Informed

Informed
Confluence

Make America Grate Again

Reading Time: 4 minutes Before the 2016 Presidential election, candidate Trump promoted his slogan to “Make America Great Again.”  His current demeanor of insulting individuals, alienating allies; and, supplicating himself to outlandish strongmen makes me rethink his slogan as “Make America Grate Again.”  For a man who never met an adverb he doesn’t adore, I “strongly” recommend this change.

I put my faith in our democratic ideals and the vast bedrock population across this country.  There is much to do in this experiment we call “democracy,” then again “democracy” isn’t for the faint of heart, just visit Arlington Cemetery.

Read More
Informed
Confluence

In the Last Few Days, Trump Disrespected Chancellor Angela Merkel, PM Theresa May, and the Queen of England – But You Are More Powerful than They Are

Reading Time: 4 minutes Women are the largest voting block in this country – by enough to get beyond the margins of foreign election tampering. If there was ever a time to stop voting party lines and vote for our own interests, that time is now. If Trump can’t respect the most powerful women in the world, there is no reason to think he will respect any one of us.

In the end, though, the joke may be on him because individually and collectively, if we vote, each one of us is more powerful than the Queen of England, PM Theresa May, and Chancellor Merkel combined.

Start now. Make your plan to vote in November. It’s not too early to start getting ready. Ask for the day off work now if you need to. Double check your voter registration and eligibility status to make sure you haven’t been purged from the voter rolls. Get your ballot by mail of that’s an option. And if not, make a plan to get to the polls under marshal law if you have to – and I say that only partially kidding.

Read More
Informed
Confluence

How Cool of a White Person Are You?

Reading Time: 6 minutes Ok y’all. Lotsa racial shit happening causing divides. Let’s run with it! Maybe it will help to classify all you wypipo so you know how cool or fucked up you actually are in the eyes of a POC. We need all you cool white folks over here with us in the resistance on the winning side of the revolution. So let’s determine…..
“How Cool of a White Person Are You?”

Read More
Informed
Confluence

Sextortion: This is My Email from a Creepy Internet Faker Demanding Money

Reading Time: 4 minutes The truth of the matter is, the vast majority of these sextortion shakedowns are nothing more than hot air threats – and when I say the vast majority, I mean seriously, almost all of them are complete bunk. As unsettling as they may be chances of anyone having a secret video of you doing something sexy are very slim. So, do not pay.

If for some reason you believe you might be at legitimate risk, report the incident to law enforcement and then do not pay. Paying a computer hacking stranger or a complete random faker is a good way to accomplish nothing more than them asking for more money. Paying, in general, makes this kind of fraud a profitable scam for people who prey on strangers online. If it doesn’t work they will stop trying.

Read More
Informed
Confluence

Lauren Simmons: Meet NYSE’s Only Full-Time Female Trader

Reading Time: < 1 minute Working in an industry where you are one of very few women can be challenging enough — but imagine what it’s like to be the only woman on staff. That’s the case for New York Stock Exchange trader Lauren Simmons. The 23-year-old is an equity trader for Rosenblatt Securities, and she is both the youngest and the only full-time female employee to hold that position at the NYSE.

Read More
Informed
Confluence

Trump Pardons Rightwing Extremists with Militia Ties and It’s a Very Big Deal

Reading Time: 4 minutes The Hammond pardons tie our President to a group of people and ideology we should all be afraid of. We’ve known all along Trump’s words and attitudes have empowered the racist words and attitudes of others out of the shadows and into the light. Now, the group being empowered are the kinds of people who have blatantly disregarded the law and used arsenals of weapons to make their point and ideology public.

Every single day in this administration is a new day.
Every single day things happen we couldn’t have imagined possible.
These pardons may quietly be shuffled into the books in a news cycle that can’t keep up. However, it’s very possible that history will show this was one of the darkest days yet. Actions have consequences and the consequences for allying yourself with the most violent and extreme among us probably won’t be good.

Read More
Informed
Confluence

Why the Rescue of 13 Boys in Thailand Gave Us Something to Believe In

Reading Time: 3 minutes The Trump administration has just missed a deadline to reunite migrant children under the age of five with their parents. Watching those young people suffer while the president turned, and continues to turn, a blind eye and deaf ear perhaps gave the Thai story more resonance. We needed a happy ending for those young men, brown-skinned like the detained Central Americans, deprived of their parents for vastly different reasons, but still forced to face indescribable emotional and mental conditions without the loving care of the people to whom I presume they would turn for comfort.

Read More
Informed
Confluence

In a Hauntingly Predictable Move Trump Does the Most Cowardly Thing to Date and Nominates Brett Kavanaugh

Reading Time: 3 minutes In his speech after the announcement of his nomination, Kavanaugh did say he feels the role of a judge is to adjudicate based on current law, not to make law. Based on the fact that his 2009 paper called on Congress to pass a law protecting a sitting President from prosecution, he acknowledged no such law exists. Maybe by that measure, Kavanaugh may not be the safe bet Trump believes he will be.

However, in a political climate where the Congressional Dems and about half the country are willing to lay down the gauntlet to prevent this nomination, that 2009 paper will either be the keys to the kingdom or the sword this man’s career will die on.

No one should be above the law – and there is no law that suggests otherwise. On that point, Kavanaugh got it right more than a decade ago. We can pray he remembers that should he take a seat on the Supreme Court.

Read More
Informed
Confluence

Dear Angry White Woman: Four Things To Do Instead of Dialing 911

Reading Time: 4 minutes Let us be very clear on one central point here. People of color are at risk of being killed by the police at a much higher rate per capita than white people. That’s not an opinion. It’s a fact. The ONLY way a person of color can one hundred percent be assured they will not be shot by a cop is to not encounter one. Black and brown people know that.
Yes, dear angry white woman, when you decide to make your world right by forcing the cops into an encounter with a person of color, you are putting that person’s life at risk. While you might not have thought about that, now you know. So, before you dig your phone out of the nether regions of your purse to make that call, count to 1000 and get yourself in check.

Read More