Kalisiin

Kalisiin https://www.dailykos.com/user/Kalisiin/rss/index.xml News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Tue, 10 Aug 2021 05:26:08 +0000 Tue, 10 Aug 2021 05:26:08 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Trans Lives Matter...Or Do They?? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/3/19/2021836/-Trans-Live-Matter-Or-Do-They It is with great sadness, and, I must admit, some anger...I write this blog today...a blog I wish like hell I did not feel like I had to write, but here we go...again. I can only hope what I say here doesn’t go against some GODLY RULE here somewhere...which, in this case, would serve to shut me down. So, to begin, I am going to say up front...that I do NOT THINK that asking Democratic elected officials...or the Party itself...to actually stand up for what they SAY they believe — is an attack against The Democratic Party...or any Democratic Officials.  This is where I am afraid I will run into some GODLY RULE and be shut down...because Goddess knows, NOBODY wants to hear things from the Trans Perspective. So, let me start with a quote directly out of the National Democratic Party Platform: <blockquote> Protecting Americans’ Civil Rights Democrats are committed to ending discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, language, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability status. </blockquote> and one more: <blockquote> Protecting LGBTQ+ Rights Democrats applaud this year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision that made clear that employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity violates the law, but we know we still have work to do to ensure LGBTQ+ people are treated equally under the law and in our society. We will fight to enact the Equality Act and at last outlaw discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in housing, public accommodations, access to credit, education, jury service, and federal programs. We will work to ensure LGBTQ+ people are not discriminated against when seeking to adopt or foster children, protect LGBTQ+ children from bullying and assault, and guarantee transgender students’ access to facilities based on their gender identity.  (BOLDING MINE) </blockquote> Now, I will also post the Preamble to the North Carolina Democratic Party’s Plan Of Organization: <blockquote> North Carolina Democratic Party Plan of Organization As Amended February 29, 2020 PREAMBLE We, the members of the North Carolina Democratic Party, in order to make more effective the principles of our Party, to embrace and serve all peoples of our Party without regard to race, age, gender, color, creed, national origin, religion, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic status, or physical disability (hereinafter referred to as “status”), to insure the blessings of liberty and equal opportunity, and to work together for the welfare and happiness of all citizens, do hereby adopt and establish this Plan of Organization. (BOLDING IN PREAMBLE IS MINE) </blockquote> Seems pretty clear the Democratic Party purports to support transgender people...and our rights to live with dignity...without discrimination or interference...right? If only the reality matched the words!! Recently, in the COVID Relief Act, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, cosponsored by Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina...introduced an Amendment, which, fortunately, did not pass.  <a href="https://www.advocate.com/politics/2021/3/08/susan-collins-joe-manchin-vote-anti-trans-language-covid-bill" target="_blank">Amendment 952</a> would have prevented transgender students from playing on school sports teams that match their identified and lived gender.  By the way, Mississippi, separately, passed such a law...but this would have made it nationwide. AND SENATOR JOE MANCHIN (D-SUPPOSEDLY) VOTED FOR THE AMENDMENT!! Now, firstly, this Amendment has NOTHING to do with COVID relief...so I don’t want to hear GOP whining about things Democrats put into the bill...when they try to hide a direct attack against my community into a must-pass bill!  Of course, for an Amendment to get incorporated into a bill like that, it takes 60 votes...and this was never going to get sixty votes. So….WHY would Joe Manchin vote for such an Amendment, particularly when he has stated allyship with my community in the past??  For the very reason that he knew it was not going to pass...and he could use it to play kabuki theatre in West Virginia!! Now, I have just about HAD IT...with politicians who believe my community’s civil rights to live our lives with dignity, and without undue interference or discrimination — are negotiable or expendable in the name of political expediency...or anything else for that matter! It gets worse.  The National Democratic Party has done NOTHING to address this vote by Senator Manchin...to essentially toss overboard, a community that is a core constituency of the Democratic Party coalition, and a community the Party purports to support!!  NOT A PEEP out of anyone! And that is what makes it worse.  Can you just IMAGINE….if a Democratic Senator were to vote for something to make the lives of immigrants more difficult...or to make the lives of BLM more difficult?  It would take NO TIME AT ALL for the Party to speak out against that….but we’ll never know, because no Democratic elected official would even THINK of doing something like that!! So...it would seem...ONLY US “ICKY TRANS” are expendable.  Yeah, the Party supports us...until they have to actually stick their neck out...then we get tossed overboard, with nary a blink of an eye.  As soon as it becomes politically expedient...for elected officials in “tough” Districts or states...we trans are tossed overboard — and nobody says a word! Now, for full disclosure, I am a Party Official of the NC Democratic Party.  I am the Chair of the Transgender Political Caucus of the NCDP (the first such Caucus in the nation recognized by a statewide major political Party)  Now...ask yourself...how am I...as the Chair of the Trans Caucus...to speak to my trans friends who are Unaffiliated (many of them are) and ask them to join the Democratic Party….when they see what Joe Manchin just did...and they see the lack of response to that action from the Party?  When they see that we are expendable?  When they see that the Party gives a “pass” to legislators in “tough” Districts or states...to actively attack our community? To that end, I am asking the Party to issue an appropriate response.  And this is where bad gets even worse. This incident occurred AFTER my Precinct Organizational Meeting...and so, of course, I did not advance a Resolution on it through my own Precinct.  By the way, I was re-elected Chair — and at the end of my term in 2023, I will have served five years in this capacity.  I was also the first openly-trans Precinct Chair in the history of Wake County, NC when I was first elected in 2018, to fill the unexpired term of my predecessor.  I was then elected for my own full term in 2019, and again, just a couple weeks ago. SO...I wrote a Resolution about this, and asked other Precincts in my County...who did not yet have their Meetings...to advance the Resolution through their Precincts...so that it would be on the agenda at County Convention...and was refused.  Because they do not want to speak up against Joe Manchin!  But apparently, attacking my community in order to play kabuki theatre is just fine!! My Resolution appears below: <blockquote> Resolution:  Reaffirmation of Commitment to Transgender Rights WHEREAS, Transgender people are, as a community, a valued member of the Democratic Party coalition and WHEREAS, this is affirmed in the Preamble to the NCDP POO as well as the National Party Platform and WHEREAS, transgender people and their rights have historically been sacrificed in the name of political expediency and WHEREAS, Amendment 952 to the COVID Relief Act, which, if passed, would have created a nationwide ban on transgender participation in school sports in their identified and lived gender and WHEREAS, Sen. Joe Manchin, who has publicly claimed allyship with the LGBTQ+ community in the past, nevertheless voted for this Amendment and WHEREAS, this is a direct attack on the rights of the transgender community that the State and National Party holds to affirm and support, BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the NC Democratic Party publicly issue a statement strongly urging Sen. Manchin to support and affirm transgender people's rights in the future, and a statement further affirming the Party's support of the rights of transgender people to live their lives without interference or discrimination BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the NC Democratic Party will urge the National Democratic Party to make similar statements. </blockquote> In effect...all I wish here...is to hold my Party accountable to stand behind us...as they state they do in their very foundational documents!!  And I have asked them to reaffirm their commitment to the rights of transgender people.  Yet, my Party has refused. And so...I am left to stand alone, once again.  It isn’t the first time I have had to do this, and I doubt it will be my last...but I shall have to stand alone, at County Convention, and bring this Resolution from the floor.  The very fact that I have to do that….to be heard at all...speaks to the necessity of the Resolution’s passage. ANY OTHER MINORITY...would not have to go through this!  Nobody in our Party would THINK to vote for, say, a law allowing motorists to run over BLM protesters...or a law allowing ICE to detain immigrants indefinitely...and if any ever DID...they would be immediately called out for it.  But for the trans….nothing! And you all still wonder WHY I feel like nobody TRULY cares about us trans… I only hope this is not my last Diary, because I may have broken some rule about not criticizing Democrats...but, again, I contend that holding my Party accountable, and asking that they live by the words in their own foundational documents, concerning support for my community...does not constitute an attack! rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Democrats manchin Transgender TransRights _2021836 Fri, 19 Mar 2021 17:27:38 +0000 Technology...arrrrgh https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/2/7/2014575/-Technology-arrrrgh OK, so, like a year ago or so...I got this new TV...and it happens to have Fire TV included.  I have only now started messing with this a bit...and I have NO IDEA what the hell I am doing...this thing looks to me WAYYYYYMORE COMPLICATED than about anything I have ever seen. Where do you find to good stuff for cheap?  How the hell do I get MY local channels and not just the ones for SOME cities, none of which are near me??  I do not even have the first freaking CLUE what to do with this thing...it looks like a ton of really good potential...except I haven’t the first clue how to use it or maximize the possibilities for the least money. For example, in noodling around...I found a video in my library...the first ever XFiles episode...but I have no idea how it got there...and how to add others...like maybe some movies I have files on and so on.  I am confused as hell...about everything to do with this!! Coukd a few kind souls who understand this new-fangled technology help this poor overwhelmed fifty year old apparently non-technical person?? And then...how do you get all the channels you want and none of the ones you don’t...and get them into a nice guide...so you can click thru to what you want?  Like I said, I just absolutely do not understand what I am doing at the moment.  HEEEELLLLLLLLPPPP.. Thanks everyone. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Amazon Clueless firetv Technology TV _2014575 Sun, 07 Feb 2021 19:25:00 +0000 Biden Reverses Transgender Military Ban https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/1/27/2012179/-Biden-Reverses-Transgender-Military-Ban So, Biden has come through, and the transgender military ban is gone.  And this is important. You might ask why it is important to a near-fifty year old trans who would never be accepted into the military on physical grounds.  It’s important because, when you take an entire group of citizens, and deem them unworthy or incompatible with military service, you are in effect saying they are in some way defective...this is stigmatizing. Now, I know and am friends with more than a few transgender Veterans, one of whom served in Vietnam.  And I am very glad for these friends of mine, and for those trans who wish to serve.  That being said...my feelings on this, personally, have never changed from the very first day this ban was initiated… Simply, my position was this:  I cannot EVER see myself willing to put my body in harm’s way, being shot at, and facing the daily risk of being killed, maimed or crippled...in order to defend the freedoms of people who so cheerfully and gleefully refuse me mine.  HOWEVER...those trans who do wish to serve and are otherwise qualified to do so...should damn as hell be allowed to serve!  Barry Goldwater said it best when the issue was gays in the military, “They only have to be able to shoot straight.” My friend who served in Vietnam once said...when you are down in a foxhole, you do not give a damn about anything...as long as the person down in the foxhole with you has your back! Trump’s rationale behind the ban...was as full of bullshit as everything else he did while in office, citing unspecified “disruption” and medical expenses.  I’m sure he must have been aware, or should have been aware, that the military never has covered any medical procedures relating to gender confirmation.  So it was another bogus claim among many. Well, Biden’s off to a good start here...still waiting, however, on two more things...one will — or should — be far easier than the other.  The first is a reaffirmation of the original wording and interpretation of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.  This was what protected LGBTQ people like me from being denied healthcare, just because of who we are.  That he could do anything to limit some citizens access to healthcare in the middle of a pandemic of deadly disease...speaks volumes as to just what kind of a monster Trump was. Trump’s “justification” for this was so that medical providers would not be forced to perform sex change operations (gender confirming surgeries, thank you, Mr. Trump) or abortions.  That doctors should not be forced to violate their “sincerely held religious beliefs.”  How often has that bullshit been used to carve out exceptions to our equality?  But this one was far more insidious, on several levels: Firstly, the premise was total bullshit.  In order to perform either an abortion, or gender-confirming surgery, one has to undertake specialized training.  One does not undertake such training to perform procedures to which they are morally opposed.  Secondly, doctors who provide these services...tend to provide EXCLUSIVELY these services.  Thirdly, and more to the point...as a transgender woman who got my surgery in 2002...I would say that I would NEVER want to be in a position where a potentially hostile-to-me doctor was coming at ME with a knife while I am unconscious!  Or while I was conscious, for that matter! But the actual rewrite of Section 1557 was so broad and so vague...as to be able to be interpreted as being allowed to refuse ANY medical procedure to any person who was LGBTQ...up to and even including life-necessary and life-saving procedures!  And this was finalized in the middle of a pandemic!  I know many members of my community (and I am one of them) who honestly fears that, if we get COVID...we will be deprioritized for treatment and allowed to die...in order to save the straight and cisgender...regardless of any other health considerations.  That we will not only be allowed to die...but that we will be “lucky” enough to draw an ICU doctor in charge of our case who is hostile to trans...and who will deliberately withhold treatment so that he can laugh wile we drown in our own fluids and die...alone and scared...nobody we love around us.  I still fear that i will get COVID before they finally get around to getting me a shot...the vaccination has been so freaking bungled, I do NOT believe Biden will be able to deliver...and that I will be lucky to get a shot by 2030. Okay, so I engaged in a little hyperbole there, but, you get my point! Anyway...the rewrite of Section 1557 never went into effect, because of a lawsuit...and an injunction filed against its implementation based on the likelihood of success of the Plaintiff’s case...based on the recent Bostock ruling...which is yet one more reason why that ruling was SO important to my community.  The fact that it was a 6-3 ruling in Bostock makes it pretty iron-clad. I think the easiest way for Biden to get rid of this is to simply withdraw the lawsuit, and enter into a Consent Decree that declares the rewrite null and void...and then the issuance of an XO that reiterates the original interpretation of the original wording.  That part should be easy. The harder part will be passage of The Equality Act...unless they DO decide to nuke the filibuster.  At least, this time, The Equality Act WILL be heard on the floor of the Senate and GOP will have to go ON RECORD if they oppose equal rights for my people...and I’d love some of them to be challenged by colleagues and reporters to explain why they are opposed. However, none of this addresses the current culture of our country, and the fact that Trump all but greenlighted discrimination against us...and greenlighted the withholding of even life-saving care for us.  And, as we saw in the trump era...laws are basically worthless unless they are enforced.  And even then...that would not necessarily protect us. While things are better now that when Trump was in...there’s still things to address.  Biden has got off to a good start, but it will be a long time before I am fully able to relax. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) EqualityAct HealthCare JoeBiden militaryban Transgender _2012179 Wed, 27 Jan 2021 14:09:25 +0000 Because, OF COURSE It Was ANTIFA!! https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/1/11/2008438/-Because-OF-COURSE-It-Was-ANTIFA So, already, I got foaming-at-the-mouth idiots on Facebook trying to tell me to believe them and not my own eyes.  I will post their Facebook post below with a short replay I had for this person, and then just open the floor for comments…   <div class="align-center"> <figure class="image-captioned width-xl"><img alt="Untitled.png" class="width-xl" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/904852/large/Untitled.png?1610436071" title="Untitled.png"> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> </div> My response to this person was to ask them exactly what universe they were living in.  Because, OF COURSE, ANTIFA and Democrats all dressed up like MAGAs and then stormed the Capitol to overturn an election our Party already won!  That’s why everyone so far arrested has been identified as being a part of a White Nationalist group...oh, except for one REPUBLICAN State Senator from West Virginia, who was stupid enough to livestream himself storming the Capitol and shouting his own name — that he was in. I give up...these people simply refuse to exist in reality, and I can’t make them. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Coup Insurrection MAGAts Treason _2008438 Tue, 12 Jan 2021 07:26:02 +0000 It Can't Happen Here...Except It Just Did https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/1/6/2006635/-It-Can-t-Happen-Here-Except-It-Just-Did I have had to calm down “bigly” before I could sit down to write this.  “I never thought this could happen here” — how many times have we heard this?  How many of us believed this?  I never did.  Pay special note to the post date of this Facebook Post I made.  I predicted this.  There’s times I love to be proved wrong, and this is one of those times when I wish I had been. <div class="align-center"> <figure class="image-captioned"><img alt="Untitled.png" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/787889/large/Untitled.png?1586109683" title="Untitled.png"> <figcaption>Take note of the date I posted this, circled in red.  I called this before he even got elected.</figcaption> </figure> </div> Trump now has blood on his hands.  One woman (apparently with the domestic terrorists) is dead...shot dead,  Three others had medical emergencies that led to their deaths in the wild rumpus we witnessed today.  This is the most shameful moment in my nation’s history that I have witnessed. January 6, 2021 — will now live in infamy, along with dates like Dec 7, 1941 and Nov 22, 1963 and April 4 and June 6, 1968, and Sept 11, 2001 and April 12, 1861.  As shameful as June 1, 1942 — the date Manzanar opened. I really don’t want to engage in further division in our hurting nation...but I never want to hear these Trump supporters ever again claim to be patriots!  How DARE they chant USA! USA! USA! when, by today’s actions, they have showed they have no respect for our nation, our institutions, our property, our laws, procedures and norms?  They have spit on democracy, and our Constitution. And Donald Trump has violated his Oath Of Office.  He has incited insurrection, and there must be consequences,  Whether or not Pence and the Cabinet invoke the 25th Amendment, as is being discussed...Trump absolutely must be impeached again.  And this time, the Senate needs to support it.  I’m pretty sure Trump can forget any plans to run in 2024 now, but let’s make sure...by impeaching him and convicting him, so that he will be disqualified from ever holding public office again. At the very least Josh Hawley should be expelled as well.  He actually raised a fist at the Trump supporters, encouraging them.  He even sent fundraising emails while our nation’s capitol was being torn asunder. This, however, might be the event that serves as a catalyst to wake up the nation from Trumpism.  Maybe this moment can bring about the change this nation needs. May it be so.   rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) 25thAmendment Impeachment Riot Sedition Treason trump _2006635 Thu, 07 Jan 2021 06:29:52 +0000 So....What Is Valuable TO YOU?? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/12/15/2002124/-So-What-Is-Valuable-TO-YOU Crede Bailey, Director of White House security battled COVID-19 a few months ago.  He spent three months in the hospital.  And he had to have his left big toe amputated, as well as his entire right leg below the knee. Just a bad flu, right?  When’s the last time you had to have an amputation because of a bad flu? Just a hoax, right?  Ask this man and his family.  Ask the families of 300,000 Americans how much a hoax THEY think this is? Every time I think about this...and how it did NOT have to be this bad...I get seething, raging mad. Though this guy is a staffer in an enemy Administration, I do not wish him ill, and he did not deserve this.  I would not wish this on my worst enemy.  But I DO keep wondering what event...will finally get the COVID deniers and the mask-refusers...to finally take this shit seriously. I am not afraid to die.  We all will die some day...life itself is a terminal condition.  That’s just reality.  I am certainly in no hurry.  This is the one and only life that we know FOR SURE that we get.  That being said, the one thing keeping me going right now...is the fact that my house, my single-wide mobile home...is not yet paid off...and there is not enough insurance and savings to fully pay it off. My 74-year old Mom lives in my home, and I promised her a home for life and I will do everything I can to make good on that promise.  I owe her that...she took me in at 34 years of age after Hurricane Katrina ruined me.  And we have lived in the same house together every since...first, in her home in Pennsylvania...then, after she lost it through no fault of her own in the housing bust of 2008 (she managed to hang on till 2013) we came here to NC in 2014...and I bought the mobile home we now both live in. She kept me for nine years when she did not have to.  She gave me the opportunity to get back on my feet and have a chance to make something of myself.  I owe her the world...and the very least I will do...is make sure she doesn’t end up homeless.  She doesn’t deserve that.  And that is why I take COVID seriously.  Because, without me and without my income...she faces the possibility of becoming homeless...and I will not allow that to happen if there is any way on God’s green earth I can prevent it. So...how about the rest of you who take COVID seriously?  Why do YOU take it serious?  What’s important to YOU??  What do YOU value??  Maybe we need to start talking in terms like this to get the COVID deniers and mask refusers to start thinking about what is REALLY valuable….to them. Maybe then we can get the conversation going in the right direction, and kick this pandemic’s ass.   We are not out of the woods yet.  Vaccines are just now coming online, and it will be six months to a year before it is available to enough people to possibly achieve a herd immunity that will protect most of us.  So, for the next six months to a year...we ALL need to think about what is most important and valuable to us LONG TERM...and not in the short-term desires of immediate gratification (and that is asking a lot of most Americans, I know) — I am able to think in these terms, because, as a trans woman in America...I have never had material wealth.  I have had to learn about the things that are TRULY VALUABLE. This pandemic has highlighted, for all to see...the disparities of our current system, and how it fails so many of us.  When this is done, we need to look at ways to improve the system, and not just re-embrace the systems that already so utterly failed us once. I close with the wisdom of Dolly Parton...who, by the way, contributed financially to the development of the vaccine.   <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content"><a class="new_iframe_placeholder" href="#">x</a></div> <a class="iframe_placeholder youtube dk-embed" href="//youtube.com/watch?v=16XoueLoaaU" title="" data-frameborder="0" data-height="281" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/16XoueLoaaU" data-width="500">YouTube Video</a></div> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Covid _2002124 Tue, 15 Dec 2020 14:35:10 +0000 My Annual Trauma - ACA https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/12/3/1999715/-My-Annual-Trauma-ACA So, that “wonderful” time of year is upon us again.  The part where I have to make a thousand phone calls, but to find a new insurance plan, that has a doctor on it that I can actually trust. I should not have to go through this.  It is a very traumatic experience for me every year.  Every year, I face the risk of either not finding a plan I can ACTUALLY AFFORD...or not finding a plan that has any doctor on it that I know for a fact I can trust. This is very important for me as a transgender woman.  I will never again see a doctor I do not know...unless a doctor I DO know, and preferably one who treats transgender patients...says is okay.  You see, in 1997, I was sexually assaulted in a doctor’s office...just because I am trans.  I will never put myself through that again. But ACA, every year...makes me risk that very thing.  Because insurance companies seem to think that it is okay...to pick from a list of names to be your doctor...a person whom you will appear before often….in a state of undress.  It’s like they think we are all machines now or something...they do not acknowledge that there are those among us who have real trust issues where doctors are concerned. Every time I find a plan that looks good, and I think I can afford...it ends up none of the doctors I actually trust...accepts that plan.  This is so much bullshit!  Insurance companies should just simply fucking cover any licensed physician...fuck this “network” bullshit.  Why the hell should I not be able to pick a plan that works for me...and then go to any licensed physician I AM COMFORTABLE WITH...and have them get paid for my care? And then there’s this bullshit about estimating your income for the next year!!  With this fucking coronavirus, how the hell can ANY of us accurately estimate our income for the next year, when we have no fucking idea what the next year holds??  It should be based on whatever your income was THE PREVIOUS YEAR...so that you can accurately answer the god damned question!  This year, for example, I estimated my income based on the previous year’s income...and then WHAM, here comes coronavirus and fucked everything up….I could have most likely qualified for Medicaid this year...but I didn’t because I estimated too high.  So I get fucked. And next year...if I estimate too low, and then get Medicaid, and I end up making to much...I get popped for penalties and shit.  This whole system fucking sucks.  I hope Joe Biden is listening.  Sure as hell none of my useless fucking Senators from North Carolina are...and good luck trying to reach Rep. David Price. So here we are again...another fucking Open Enrollment (the name itself is fucking laughable...as is the name AFFORDABLE Care Act) and another god damn heart-wrenching trauma.  I should not have to go through this every damn year. This whole system sucks. Rant done.  Except to say FUCK ACA, FUCK Private Insurance Companies….MEDICARE FOR ALL is the only solution. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) AffordableCareAct Insurance m4a _1999715 Thu, 03 Dec 2020 17:13:16 +0000 LGBTQ Literature: Waxing Poetic - Random Thoughts From a Transgender Philosopher https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/11/29/1996274/-LGBTQ-Literature-Waxing-Poetic-Random-Thoughts-From-a-Transgender-Philosopher <blockquote> LGBTQ Literature is a <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/blog/Readers%20and%20Book%20Lovers">Readers and Book Lovers</a> series dedicated to discussing literature that has made an impact on the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. From fiction to contemporary nonfiction to history and everything in between, any literature that touches on LGBTQ themes is welcome in this series. LGBTQ Literature posts on the last Sunday of every month at 7:30 PM EST. If you are interested in writing for the series, <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/newthread/Chrislove" target="_blank">please send a m</a><a href="https://www.dailykos.com/newthread/Chrislove" target="_blank">essage</a> to Chrislove. </blockquote> The life of the transgender...is many things.  It is sad, and it is sweet...and sometimes, it is bittersweet.  It is struggle and strife...it is courage and determination.  It is many things, all at the same time.  It is sometimes marked with profound loss, and other times with unexpected gain...it is joy and sadness, and so many other things...it is not a journey that can be described, only experienced.  But I shall try, as best I can, though my words and poetry….to describe it to those who are not on this life journey I am on.  And it is a journey...one without end, actually.  It is pain and loss, sorrow and seeking...and it is also a joy that is beyond anything most people ever experience.  So there’s a lot mixed up in there. So, I will start, in this diary, with loss, as we are just beyond the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR).  In 2001, I lost a dear person to me.  Terrianne was my transmom.  I looked up to her.  She taught me a lot of things, including how to fight.  I was blessed to know her, and the time we knew each other was far too short.  It ended in a single gunshot to the head on Dec 11, 2001.  Terrianne was dead in her own driveway, and her killer, to this day, has not been identified...much less apprehended. Terrianne was on 2002’s TDOR list, as her death happened after the 2001 TDOR.  She now lives only in my memory...and in the cold case files of the Jacksonville (FL) Police Department, in which she is misgendered.  Even in murdered death, they could not give her the dignity she, and so many of us, are denied in life.  I wrote the following poem in her honor.  It was the first poem of mine ever published (other than my own self-publishing).  It appears as the opening screen in a documentary film “Just Another Dead Transwoman.”  It was used in that film, with my permission. <h2>Say Their Names</h2> Say their names, my sisters and brothers taken They the ones society has forsaken In life nor death given consideration They come from around the world, every nation Their entire lives, denied humanity When will we see the end of insanity? What if we cared less about their chromosomes And welcomed them into our lives and homes? What if, instead of showing them scorn and hate We allowed them in life to participate? Maybe if we said their names while still alive Maybe if they were given a chance to thrive Maybe if in life their value not denied We'd not have to say their names when they have died From a very early age, I knew I was different.  Not different as in unusual, but different...in that I did not feel the things everyone around me seemed to think I felt, I did not like the things people around me thought I should like, etc.  I was no good at sports, and so I hated them.  Boys in the neighborhood always played sports, or engaged in other sorts of play I found to be not fun...in the same way any kid with glasses hates dodgeball.  I was always last picked for teams. One year, I even played Little League baseball.  My parents signed me up...I didn’t have a choice.  When I wasn’t keeping the bench warm, they stuck me way out in right field and prayed like hell nobody would hit the ball anywhere near me...a prayer I shared, by the way.  I got on base one time that season, when I was hit by a pitch.  I cried all the way down to first base.  The coach looked at me, disgusted, and said “You shoulda been born a girl.”  I had all I could do to not say, “I know.” I was often a loner as a child.  My older brother wanted nothing to do with me...and it wasn’t till many years later I found what a blessing that was!  No, I spent my afternoons, either down at Mrs. Bennett’s house — she was an old lady in the neighborhood that I liked...and she had a little Pomeranian named Smokey — or hanging, as much as I could, with the neighborhood girls.  That was where I was happiest, doing latch hook rugs, needlepoint, double-dutch...I was good at these things and they were fun.  I hated when they wanted to play “house” though, because they always wanted me to be Daddy, and I did not want to be Daddy.  But I played along, so that I could hang with them doing the other things I did enjoy. At this age, my thoughts were not, “I want to be a girl.”  My thoughts were, “Why is everyone trying to make me be a boy?”  I did not know anything much about the differences, physically, and I sure as hell knew nothing of adult relations!  The girls my age...looked like me...except that they often wore dresses and had long hair.  I wanted them, too.  I was not blind, I could see my mom had something upstairs that my dad did not...but I always assumed I’d grow up to be like mom. Every summer, I went to camp.  There is no place on Earth that is more hell for a young transgender person than summer camp, it is possibly the most sex-segregated place you could ever be in.  This being the 1970’s and the era of “self-esteem” BS...everyone got a blue ribbon at the end of summer camp.  I would see girls getting things like Best Hopscotch, Most Beautiful Voice, and so on, where I’d see boys getting things like Home Run King, Best Wrestler, etc.  Mine was always “Best Vocab.”  And I always had to explain to the other kids what that was, since they did not have a vocab! Almost every boy or man I knew as a child was mean, a bully...few men in my life to ever admire or aspire to be, including my father.  But I wanted his approval.  I just wanted it in a way he would never give. <h2>Daddy’s Little Girl</h2> Born was I, in Illinois Daddy thought, his little boy My true self forced forever to hide Feelings inside could not be denied Daddy lost not thru death but rejection Failed to live up to his expectation Seething anger made me blind Vowed never to look behind Brokenhearted by his rebuff Made my way resolved to be tough Never could forgive him for my pain Never to see my Daddy again April the first, Daddy died No one more surprised than I When at his deathbed I cried Daddy hooked up to tubes and wires No longer could hold anger's fires This is the moment we must seize Daddy, forgive and love me please He took my hand and gave a squeeze Daddy's Little Girl I wanted to be Twenty minutes was all the time had we It took me seventeen years after his death...before I could write this one.  It took me that long to find just the right words...to express what I felt about my dad.  It took me that long to understand the tears I cried at his deathbed...were not for the death of my dad...but for the death of possibilities.  All that could have been, and now never would be. I still remember, a month before his death, I landed a new job.  I was living, by then, in Louisville, KY — and had been Angela full-time for the last three years.  One day, shortly after I got hired, I was out at the butt hut with some co-workers, on break, smoking...and we got talking about our families.  I remember saying that, if I got word back from Pennsylvania that my father had died...I would go back to Pennsylvania...just to make sure he was really dead.  I did not know then...just how soon I would have to eat those words.  Words spoken in anger.  Words that wound and that kill. I had, at this time in my life, cut off all communication with my parents.  Mom did not accept me then — but I held out hope for her...and I had a pager...which she had the number to, in case she really needed me for something.  She had that number with the understanding my father was never to get it.  You see, before I moved to Kentucky, I lived twenty miles away from my parents.  I lived in a boarding house.  I had to disconnect my phone answering machine, because my father would constantly call and leave disgusting messages in a falsetto voice, on my machine.  I used Caller ID, then a new thing...to return phone calls I wanted to return.  So my father started calling my lawyer, my landlady...everyone he could think of to try to get at me. Well, in Kentucky, I was living in the home of a 79 year old woman I was caretaking for...and I did not want her harassed by my father, so I cut him off.  He only knew I was living in Louisville...he did not know who with, and he had no address, phone number, or any other way to contact me.  In Kentucky, I literally was Driving Miss Daisy.  I still think of Janet whenever I see that movie.  Like Daisy and Hoke...Janet and I were embattled at the beginning...but, at the end, she was like a second mom to me...and I, the daughter she never had. So, one day at work, my pager went off.  And I saw the phone number was one I did not recognize, but it was a Pennsylvania area code...the one adjacent to where my parents lived — and we were on a border with area codes.  I got this cold feeling...and I did not want to return the call...but I did.  I reached my mother...at Pocono Medical Center.  I was informed that my father was in the ICU, and not expected to make it.  He had cirrhosis, jaundice and Hepatitis C. I went to my boss, and he told me to get out there...I had three days.  Well, being as this was Easter weekend, I actually had six days in total.  So I got in the car and headed back to Pennsylvania.  For some reason, I turned on the radio.  I do not know why...normally, on a long trip like this, I would have put in a CD...but I put on the radio.  And it was as if the song was there, just for me.  On the radio, Mike And The Mechanics were singing “In The Living Years.”  I had to pull over the car, I was crying that bad.  And I could no longer hold the anger I had for my father. I made it back to Pennsylvania before he died...and went to see him the next day, in the hospital...all hooked up with tubes and wires...and I forgave him everything he had done to hurt me.  I asked him to forgive me anything I had done to hurt him (I never considered my transition something that needed to be forgiven)  By this time...he could only answer “yes” and “no” questions, by a hand squeeze...once for yes, and twice for no.  He squeezed my hand.  And then did not let go.  He died twenty minutes later...still holding my hand.  And I cried.  Later, I understood that what I was crying for was all that was now lost and never would be.  I had always wanted to be Daddy’s Little Girl...and now it never would be — though we had those twenty minutes.  It should have been twenty years.  But both of us were too stubborn and too prideful.  And it really is too late, when we die...to admit we don’t see eye to eye.  But I cherish those twenty minutes. Loss is something we trans know intimately.  When we become true to ourselves...we often lose our jobs, our homes, and our families.  We find out who our true friends are.  They are the ones that stand by us.  We also lose our illusions, and the blinds are ripped from our eyes...and we see how superficial most of this world is...built on bullshit constructs and social expectancy.  And we build new families from among those blood family that remain loyal to us, friends that have stood by us, and some new people we meet in the trans community...and beyond.  Today, I have a blended family such as this...and some who were blood family are no longer a part of my family.  We define family differently than other people.  For us, family are those who will stand with us, no matter what.  Who will not turn from us, and upon whom we can rely — and in turn, can rely on us to be there when they need it. <h2>Echo In The Wind</h2> An echo in the wind Screaming her every word Wanting only to be heard Is it really so absurd? A girl without a home Fights her internal war Beaten, battered, bruised and sore Is there really nothing more? A spirit without form Three and twenty years grown In a body not her own For what sin must she atone? An actress on a stage Her life has been so cursed Will every day just get worse Her every move rehearsed? Heart yearning to be free Her self for all to see Or will she forever be Just an echo in the wind? As you may have noticed, by the words in this poem...it was written many years before I published it.  It was probably the first good poem I ever wrote.  I first shared this with my former Creative Writing teacher at my ten-year high school reunion.  I had almost failed Creative Writing.  And I remember something this teacher told me...when I was fifteen.  Though it now has been thirty five years, I still remember what he said to me that day, because his words were true...though, at the time, I did not know it. He told me, at the time, “I cannot teach you Creative Writing.  I can teach you form, style, grammar, punctuation...but I can’t teach you to write creatively.  You either have it or you don’t.  I think you do.  I also think there is another voice, down deep inside you...one you are afraid to listen to.  Until you listen to that voice, you will never write creative — or accomplish anything else meaningful in your life.”  He was right.  I should mention, he was a Hopi Indian, and I found out, at our ten-year, that he was also a two-spirit.  He saw right through me, even at fifteen.  I still consider him among the best teachers I ever had. Another of those who stood by me, and whom today I consider a sister, was Amy J.  Now, the first thing you want to know about Amy...is that she is the girl who took my male virginity.  She got me drunk.  It happened right in the public park, on a picnic table, in Allentown.  It didn’t work out well.  And Amy, frustrated as hell, asked me what she could do to make it work...and I could not answer her then. We reconnected years later, in 2005, when I moved back to Pennsylvania.  And she just looked at me in amazement.  “Is this why it didn’t work for us back then??”  We ended up going out that night, and she actually borrowed a dress from me!  She stood by me.  I could not believe it...and I asked her why.  She told me that I had never seemed happy before, and that now, I was.  She told me she’d always wanted me to be happy...and was always upset because nothing she could do would make me happy. In 2014, my mother and I moved to North Carolina.  She had lost both her jobs in the economic downturn following the housing bust in 2008.  Since my father had died, in 1999, she worked two jobs, trying to keep the house.  Dad had left her nothing...no life insurance, no mortgage insurance...just a pile of bills.  My mom was strong.  Still is.  I like to think I get much of the strength I have today...from her.  We had repaired our relationship after my father’s death, and in 2005, I moved in with her, back in Pennsylvania, after Hurricane Katrina about ruined me.  I had nothing left but the clothes on my back, a few pieces of furniture, my car, and my dog.  So when mom was in the position of losing the house, I told her...well, you always wanted to move south, for warmer weather, and we can’t stay here anymore...so we came to North Carolina...where we had vacationed for years. I bought a mobile home here, and told my mom she had a home for life.  It was the least I could do...she had taken me in when I had nothing.  I came here with the intent of finally living out my life in peace and quiet, as the woman I had finally become...in a place where nobody knew my past.  Instead, I ended up becoming this state’s first-in-history openly trans woman to run for State Legislature!  Thus proving that life is what happens when you are busy making other plans! I think, when I was a child, I got that cursed fortune cookie, the one that says “May you live in interesting times.”  Well...my life has been many things, but "boring” has never been one of them! Incidentally, I do not like the word “transition” for what we trans do.  To the rest of the world, maybe, we are transitioning.  To us...it is a BECOMING.  Becoming what always was there.  Many of us just starting...think that is the end of a long journey.  It isn’t.  It is just the beginning.  The internal war, which raged for years...is over...and that internal war becomes external.  It forces us to be strong.  Life does not give us any other choice.  I was horribly bullied as a child, and never once stuck up for myself.  You could say that I never had balls...until I didn’t have balls! I also don’t like the word “transgender.”  That word did not even exist when I came out, the word then was “transsexual.”  The term “transgender” came about because some wanted to get the word “sex” out of it, and because some felt “transsexual” was too exclusive.  It’s not a word that is in vogue in our community, but it is one I still prefer for self-identification, because my GENDER never changed.  My gender was always my gender, and it always was female.  My SEX is what changed.  So you may notice that, except in very rare cases, I always refer to myself as simply “trans,” because, for others it can mean “transgender” while, for me, it still means “transsexual.” But, the journey never ends...it is an endless cycle of learning and unlearning — in fact, I’d argue it is more unlearning.  Unlearning what has been beaten into our heads by society since we were born.  The learning part...comes in learning to accept who we are, and that being different is okay.  Learning to let go the inhibitions that have been built into us by societal expectancy. <h2>Burning Day</h2> Soaring high...beautiful, proud and bold Feathers of red and yellow and gold Flying high, soaring, forever free Her only purpose, just to BE Brave of heart, strong and true But the day would come, she always knew When all peace and joy and hope would die And like Icarus, she’d fall from the sky No longer soaring the sky so blue Bold and beautiful, strong and true Buried in a blanket of ashes soft and gray Nobody wanted her on Burning Day Yet from those ashes was she reborn To grace the sky again next morn Flying high, soaring, forever free Her only purpose, just to BE <h2>LGBTQ Literature Schedule (2021)</h2> Hello, all—this is a note from the editor (Chrislove). I hope you enjoyed Kalisiin’s diary as much as I did. <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/9/27/1981127/-LGBTQ-Literature-On-Hiatus-Until-After-Election-Call-for-Writers" target="_blank">As you probably know</a>, this is the last LGBTQ Literature diary for this year, since we are off in December. I am currently building the LGBTQ Literature schedule for the year 2021, and I would like to get as many slots filled as possible before January. If you are interested in taking a spot, please either comment below or <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/newthread/Chrislove" target="_blank">send me a message</a>. I am looking forward to seeing where this series will go in the coming year. Here is our 2021 schedule: <blockquote> January 31: OPEN February 28: OPEN March 28: OPEN April 25: OPEN May 30: OPEN June 27: OPEN July 25: OPEN August 29: OPEN September 26: OPEN October 31: OPEN November 28: OPEN December 26: OPEN </blockquote> <div class="table-wrapper"> <table class="dk5-table"> <caption>Readers & Book Lovers Series Schedule</caption> <thead> <tr> <th>day</th> <th> time est/edt </th> <th>series</th> <th>editor(s)</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <th>sunday</th> <td>Noon</td> <td><a href="https://www.dailykos.com/tags/GrokkingTrumpists" target="_blank">Grokking Trumpists</a></td> <td>Mokurai</td> </tr> <tr> <th></th> <td>6:00 PM</td> <td><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/news/YoungPeoplesPavilion" target="_blank">Young People’s Pavilion</a></td> <td>The Book Bear</td> </tr> <tr> <th> (last Sun of the month) </th> <td>7:30 PM</td> <td><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/news/LGBTLiterature" target="_blank">LGBTQ Literature</a></td> <td>Chrislove</td> </tr> <tr> <th>monday</th> <td>8:00 PM</td> <td><a href="https://www.dailykos.com/news/TheLanguageoftheNight" target="_blank">The Language of the Night</a></td> <td>DrLori</td> </tr> <tr> <th>TUESDAY</th> <td>8:00 PM</td> <td><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/news/ContemporaryFictionViews" target="_blank">Contemporary Fiction Views</a></td> <td>bookgirl</td> </tr> <tr> <th>wednesday</th> <td>8:00 PM</td> <td><a href="https://www.dailykos.com/news/Bookflurries-Bookchat" target="_blank">Bookflurries Bookchat</a></td> <td>cfk</td> </tr> <tr> <th>THURSDAY</th> <td>8:00 PM</td> <td><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/news/write%20on">Write On!</a></td> <td>SensibleShoes</td> </tr> <tr> <th>(FIRST THURS OF month)</th> <td>2:00 PM</td> <td><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/blog/AdmiralNaismith">Monthly Bookpost</a></td> <td>AdmiralNaismith</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Friday</th> <td> 7:30 AM </td> <td><a href="https://www.dailykos.com/news/WAYR" target="_blank">WAYR?</a></td> <td>Chitown Kev</td> </tr> <tr> <th></th> <td>8:00 PM</td> <td><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/news/BooksGoBoom" target="_blank">Books Go Boom!</a></td> <td>Brecht</td> </tr> <tr> <th></th> <td>9:30 PM</td> <td><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/news/CLASSICPOETRYGROUP" target="_blank">Classic Poetry Group</a></td> <td>Angmar</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Saturday</th> <td>Noon</td> <td> <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/news/ycrt">You Can't Read That!</a>    or <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/news/paulsreviews">Paul's Book Reviews</a> </td> <td>pwoodford</td> </tr> <tr> <th></th> <td>9:00 PM</td> <td><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/news/bookssobadtheyregood" target="_blank">Books So Bad They’re Good</a></td> <td>Ellid</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) LGBTLiterature LGBTQ LGBTQLiterature Poetry R&BLers ReadersandBookLovers Transgender _1996274 Sun, 29 Nov 2020 11:00:10 +0000 4 Years Of Hell In 100 Minutes - A Trump "Loser Montage" https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/11/27/1998618/-4-Years-Of-Hell-In-100-Minutes-A-Trump-Loser-Montage This I did for historical purposes that we never again forget the hell this nation visited on itself when Donald Trump got in the White House.  It is also done with sincere appreciation for all whose work is featured in it (full credits at the end)  It is those people, and these works...that made it possible to endure these long four years in Hell. Warning, this video IS LONG….it is literally 100 minutes long.   <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content"><a class="new_iframe_placeholder" href="#">x</a></div> <a class="iframe_placeholder youtube dk-embed" href="//youtube.com/watch?v=-8cL54DJu4s" title="" data-frameborder="0" data-height="281" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-8cL54DJu4s" data-width="500">YouTube Video</a></div> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) .loser Election Montage trump _1998618 Fri, 27 Nov 2020 20:48:04 +0000 Today Is Transgender Day Of Remembrance https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/11/20/1997101/-Today-Is-Transgender-Day-Of-Remembrance <div>This Transgender Day of Remembrance, I remember Terrianne Summers. She was murdered in Dec, 2001 and was on 2002's list. This poem was written with all of us in mind, and dedicated to her memory. Say Their Names  </div> <div>Say their names, my sisters and brothers taken They the ones society has forsaken In life nor death given consideration They come from around the world, every nation Their entire lives, denied humanity When will we see the end of insanity? What if we cared less about their chromosomes And welcomed them into our lives and homes? What if, instead of showing them scorn and hate We allowed them in life to participate? Maybe if we said their names while still alive Maybe if they were given a chance to thrive Maybe if in life their value not denied We'd not have to say their names when they have died</div> rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Transgender _1997101 Fri, 20 Nov 2020 14:23:32 +0000 The Trump Effect?? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/11/13/1995456/-The-Trump-Effect There has already been much talk about how badly the polls “got it wrong” in 2020, just as there was in 2016...though in 2016, the polls did not get it all that wrong...the truth is a lot of states were VERY close, and most of the ones that were called wrong were still within the margin of error...they just came down, for our purposes, on the wrong side of the equation. I tried, some of you may remember...to account for a lot of this bad polling, by introducing factors that people were more likely to respond truthfully to...and predictive about who they would actually vote for.  At first glance, my final map looks pretty bad, but work with me here...   <div class="align-center"> <figure class="image-captioned width-xl"><img alt="Untitled.png" class="width-xl" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/876641/large/Untitled.png?1604158810" title="Untitled.png"> <figcaption>This was my predictive map.  It would seem Joe will in fact end up with 306 EV’s</figcaption> </figure> </div> Looks like I blew it pretty bad, too...but I didn’t.  I correctly called that PA and WI would be far closer than MI would be.  I correctly called the close race in IA, assigning it red, as it did eventually go.  I also got Arizona, and many will remember I kept pushing back on the Blue Texas folks, and got that right. I blew Florida.  And I blew Ohio.  I incorrectly called Georgia...but it is very light red...and ended up very light blue instead...so I was not off much...and the calls of Ohio and Georgia in my map nearly cancel each other out, OH having 18 EV’s to Gerogia’s 16 EV. I blew NC and ME-02.  Note they are both very light colored...and as it ended up I just got the color wrong.  I was within the margin of error on every call...even OH and FL...which I kinda blew.  I think I did not weight quite enough for what I will call The Trump Effect...some may remember a thing called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_effect#:~:text=The%20Bradley%20effect%20(less%20commonly,candidate%20run%20against%20each%20other." target="_blank">The Bradley Effect</a>. Anyway...the Bradley Effect has to do with race...whereas The Trump Effect...has to do with the fact of trump being a Cult Of Personality.  I actually weighted that into my own projections.  But apparently not quite enough.  Without giving away my entire secret sauce, I weighted a few factors as how people answered certain questions...when I felt those questions would be predictive of how people would in fact cast their ballots.  For example, people are more likely to answer honestly if they think the country is on the right track or the wrong track...than they are to answer honestly (or at all) “Trump or Biden?” Obviously, if you think the country is on the wrong track, you are more likely to vote against the incumbent.  I also baked into my secret sauce, factors such as the historical voting patterns of states — and i think I did not bake quite enough into it...I need to amend that sauce a little bit there...because some states went stronger Trump than I had predicted.  It seems to me that those states :loyal to Republicans” are more strongly loyal to them...than states “loyal to Democrats” are to Democrats. I’m wondering if...in both 2016 and 2020...if the national pollsters failed to fully account for this Trump Effect...even as I did...though not by as much as they did….because I did factor for it, just apparently not enough.  And I wonder...for 2024, when a Trump will not be on the ticket...if there will be any residual effect or not.  I guess we need to see what becomes of Trumpism in the GOP to answer that….but I’d think the effect at least will be lessened. My own post-mortem would, initially, say that Biden just plain did not go negative enough...he’s too damned nice, if you want the truth.  He should have been showing ads of Trump promising jobs, followed by workers leaving the Lordstown, OH GM plant.  Or the Carrier plant in Indiana.  All other issues aside, most people in the end DO vote with their own pocketbook...and we need to more-emphasize the fact that Republicans DO NOT bring prosperity to Main Street and Joe and Jane Sixpack. There are those who will tell us we need to emphasize more...what we will do for WHITE people….as if this nation doesn’t already do enough for most white folk, right?  But we do need to be careful to not give Republicans an opening to play on racial divisions by making us appear hostile to Whites….it’s a fine line.  It’s a line I am not sure how we walk in the future...but Biden did a pretty good job walking that line, when he did speak of Scranton, and the blue-collar workers there. Maybe we need to target our messaging better instead of targeting it nationally...we need to microtarget.  It is said all politics are local, and I agree...even when you are talking about a national campaign.  Because in the end, people are looking at “Who will make MY life better?” We are a badly divided nation, as I see it...and Trump exacerbated those divisions.  Will those in the GOP who follow him...do the same, or not?  Will we unite more, divide more, or stay in limbo?  I see Trump only as a symbol of what was already there, so I think The Trump Effect will be in play again, but to a lesser degree, in 2024...if only because there likely will not be a Trump on the ballot. The polling industry, having twice got it wrong, need a serious autopsy.  I think part of MY problem was my too-simplistic approach, as a result of the lack of time to dedicate to it...I don’t have crosstabs on my data...I relied on the data collectors to sample a truly representative sample of the nation, and I think they likely undersampled, once again, but less so than in 2016. Were I to make a serious attempt, in 2024...I’d like to see a “control group” of, say 100,000 Americans from all walks of life, all geographic regions, all races, genders, education levels, etc...that reflects what our nation in fact IS...which can be readily obtained from Census data, which should still be reliably fresh.  I’d like to factor that “control group” in...and see what swings exist in that control group...and measure that according to other polls...leavening somewhat, the swings, and possibly giving a more accurate picture when sampling a random group of people versus the same people. In the end, every state I got wrong, was only barely so...and within the Margin Of Error...and instead of 353 EV’s Biden will get 306.  Looking just at that number it looks like I blew it...but, digging deeper, I did not blow it by much...and I do not think the national polls did, either.  But there are some additional factors that need to be more fully accounted for. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Elections Polling trumpeffect _1995456 Fri, 13 Nov 2020 13:14:19 +0000 My Presidential Prediction https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/10/31/1991307/-My-Presidential-Prediction <a href="https://www.yapms.com/app/?m=4c2h" target="_blank">Here is a link to the map you see above</a>...and now I will explain things. The lightest colors in red and blue are the true tossups, and how I am calling them.  I have my own secret sauce that blends data I have from various public and not-so-public sites, as well as some stats on various things, including the level of satisfaction to the COVID response, overall right-track versus wrong-track, a baked-in advantage on certain states based on past Presidential voting history, and a factor for Trump’s overall popularity in a state, since he is such a cult of personality.  These figures, plus a guess at Independent/Undecided voters, and how they will break...is also built in. All of these figures are plugged in to my own algorithm I developed, my own “secret sauce” as it were...and used to leaven out the possible effects of the so-called “shy Biden” and “shy Trump” effect (hint: I think that is mostly bullshit, but I am still a little leery because of 2016...so I have erred in a few places on the side of Trump)  There are a couple of places, too...where I may err slightly on our side...but the above map, I think...is close to what the votes will say, once they are all counted. For the record, I am also calling 53 Dem — 47 GOP Senate, with two Independents caucusing with Democrats.  This is a flip of six seats...well, seven, considering Doug Jones is toast. Here’s my flips. ME (Collins) NC (Tillis) GA — special (Loeffler) GA — (Purdue) IA — (Ernst) CO — (Gardner) AZ — (McSally) That is seven pickups and then AL — (Jones) That is one loss...net gain +6 This gets us to 53. now, a few outside shots here...in order of likelihood SC — (Graham) (54 — 46) AK — (Sullivan) — Gross has said he will caucus with Dems (55 — 45) MT — (Daines) (56 — 44) MS — (Hyde-Smith) (57 — 43) KS — (Marshall) (58 — 42) KY — (McConnell) (49 — 41) TX — (Cornyn) (60 — 40) Now, truthfully, I do not think we pick off more than the top three of these last ones...sorry, folks. But those are my calls, and how I see it shaking out.  I know some will argue my placing AK as a higher pick than MT, and that was actually a tough call for me.  The difference-maker here is the Independent streak Alaskans are well known for.  Consider that it is the only state in modern history to elect a write-in Senator (Murkowski) I know some will also be disappointed at the low chances I give McGrath and Hegar, in KY and TX respectively...but I lived in both states, and there’s a lot of baked-in Republicanism in both states that I just don’t think we quite can overcome...but I will be THRILLED if I am wrong. Another tough pick was placing MS over KS...they also were close...in the end, I chose to place MS higher on the likelihood, because of the non-debate with Hyde-Smith...and Espy had the stage alone.  Bollier is a fine candidate who may also make it, but I see Espy making it before she does.  Likewise, McGrath is a good candidate (if having a small habit of sticking feet in her mouth isn’t a dealbreaker) and so is Hegar — but I truly don’t think either can overcome, as I said above. My final call 53-56 Senate seats for the Good Team….and I think 53 is closer...54 at the outside. I did not evaluate House races, as there are too many, but a pickup of ten is not out of reach.  Pie in the sky tops is a 15-seat pickup.  I am guessing closer to 6-7 seats. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) 2020 Elections ElectoralCollege GOTV PresidentialElection Senate _1991307 Sat, 31 Oct 2020 19:30:34 +0000 Today, I Celebrate My 18th Rebirthday https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/10/31/1991296/-Today-I-Celebrate-My-18th-Rebirthday OK, so I will try to keep this one short and sweet, just like me!  Well, actually, I am 5 feet 10 inches, so not all that short, especially for a woman, but I digress… Anyway...18 years ago today, I woke up in my hospital room in Bangkok, Thailand.  And the first thing I did was to reach a hand down to check.  And found that it was all done, I had been reborn, a Halloween baby...a beautiful girl at last. So...let’s talk about presents.  There is only one present I want this year, and that is for you to get out and VOTE!  Seeing the Orange Monster fired four days hence will be my birthday present. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) LGBTQ Transgender Vote _1991296 Sat, 31 Oct 2020 14:37:21 +0000 PA Legislature Toying With Idea Of Overriding Popular Vote and Awarding PA's EV's To Trump! https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/10/27/1989917/-PA-Legislature-Toying-With-Idea-Of-Overriding-Popular-Vote-and-Awarding-PA-s-EV-s-To-Trump <div class="dk-editor-embed center-block" data-twitter-content="&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;UPDATE: Finals days of Pa Legislative Session before the election! &lt;a href="https://t.co/yNPVlL9xtN"&gt;https://t.co/yNPVlL9xtN&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;— Brian Sims (@BrianSimsPA) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/BrianSimsPA/status/1318990098613063681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;October 21, 2020&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;"><div class="remove-embed-content">x</div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">UPDATE: Finals days of Pa Legislative Session before the election! <a href="https://t.co/yNPVlL9xtN">https://t.co/yNPVlL9xtN</a>— Brian Sims (@BrianSimsPA) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrianSimsPA/status/1318990098613063681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 21, 2020</a></blockquote></div> There it is...right from Rep. Brian Sims, who, incidentally, is the leader of the LGBTQ Caucus in the PA House.  His District is in the Philly area.  This is the same Brian Sims who broke the story of the Republican House Speaker in PA concealing COVID positives among GOP Representatives from Democratic Representatives...only telling each other...which led to the PA House Speaker having to resign in disgrace, and be replaced. Now, our Pennsylvania Watchdog has another one!  Apparently the PA Legislature is toying with ways to see how they can just toss all the votes in Pennsylvania, and just GIVE Trump PA’s 20 EV’s.  This is based on their interpretation of Bush vs Gore. Now, as a former Pennsylvania resident, I have still some ears on the inside in Pennsylvania.  As long as the popular vote is not close, there is no way this succeeds.  They won’t even try… But, even if it IS close...the normal procedure in Pennsylvania...is for the Secretary of the Commonwealth to certify the vote.  And Kathy Boockvar is a Democrat.  Additionally, Gov. Wolf would certainly have something to say about this...the GOP in PA does not enjoy a veto-proof majority.  So I see no way of them legislatively changing the way the vote has always been certified in Pennsylvania. But what happens if...according to Bush vs Gore, it is the province of the States to determine how they choose their slate of electors.  What’s interesting here, though...is that the Court’s ruling in Bush vs Gore, allowed THEIR Secretary of State, Katherine Harris...to certify the previously-certified vote count, and award the 25 EV’s from Florida to Bush. Now this is where it gets interesting.  Article 2, Section 1, Clause 2 of the US Constitution states that the State Legislatures decides how Electors are chosen. <blockquote> Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector. </blockquote> However, it has already been established by past Legislatures in PA and other states, that the voters decide, and the Secretary of State (or Commonwealth in the case of PA) certifies that vote, which is then used to determine which slate of electors is sent. It seems to ME...that they can’t just, on a whim, toss that out...they would have to do it legislatively.  And the PA GOP, with its gerrymandered majorities...does NOT enjoy a veto-proof majority.  So any such attempt would obviously be vetoed by Gov. Wolf. Certainly they can go to court, and try to have the certification of votes enforced or thrown out, but they’d need to be able to show cause as to why this should be done.  Like a very close election, such as Florida, 2000. SO...my fellow former Pennsylvanians...GET YOUR ASS OUT AND VOTE FOR JOE BIDEN!!  It needs to not even be close!  Now, Pennsylvania does not have early voting the same way other states do...and it is way too late for a mail ballot. <a href="https://www.votespa.com/Voting-in-PA/Pages/Early-Voting.aspx" target="_blank">This link</a> takes you to an info page that tells you how to take advantage of Early Voting in Pennsylvania, using the newly-passed Act 77, which allows for Early Voting as soon as ballots are ready (when I lived in PA Early Voting was not even an option) You cannot actually apply for and get a ballot early now, as the deadline to do that was today.  However, if you already GOT a ballot, you may drop it off in person at your County Election Office or other designated location, which can be found on the link above.  DON’T trust the Post Office!  We need to get all the votes in Pennsylvania counted!!  And, remember, Pennsylvania...it is the GOP that is literally trying to take away your right to vote, and unilaterally just GIVE Trump your state’s 20 EV’s!! Remember that, when you vote, that the GOP wants to throw away your vote, and disregard the entire election, if Biden wins in a close election.  If your vote did not matter, they would not try so hard to take it away from you!!  Don’t let them! rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) BrianSims ElectionFraud GOTV Pennsylvania Vote _1989917 Tue, 27 Oct 2020 07:12:45 +0000 Proof COVID Is Not A Hoax https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/10/20/1988097/-Proof-COVID-Is-Not-A-Hoax My insurance company, Blue Cross / Blue Shield of North Carolina, just today sent me, in the mail, two disposable cloth face masks. Since when does insurance spend one damn DIME that they do not have to on their insureds? Obviously, they are hoping these masks will protect me (or more accurately, protect their bottom line against the possibility I contract COVID) rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Covid Insurance _1988097 Tue, 20 Oct 2020 19:28:58 +0000 Donald John Trump, You Are Fired! https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/10/17/1987309/-Donald-John-Trump-You-Are-Fired So, I was not planning to vote until next week, because of constant long lines at early voting here in North Carolina, but I got an alert from one of our peeps at one of our locations, about ten miles from my home, that there were no lines.  So I zipped on over and did my part to fire Donald Trump.  Took my mom with me, so there’s another two NC votes (and two rural women) he is not getting. Voted all the downballot, too...Dem all the wat down to Soil & Water.  They did not list Party on that office...and I had to look at the names for a sec, to pick out our guy….the ballots look a little different when you personally know almost everyone on them!  Then I checked our slate card outside and to my relief, realized I had correctly picked our guy for Soil & Water. So it is done now.  Now I just wait till Election Day itself where I am a runner for all four Precincts in my town.  I did this before, back when I lived in PA, and folks here knew that...so I got pressed into it up here...but originally I was doing just two of our Precincts, now I am doing all four.  So I’ll be busy on Election Day...I got double masks for that day, and I double-masked today going to the polls. I saw — by the way, that I was NOT the only person there double masked….or using both mask and face shield in some cases.  Anyway, the day I have waited for these last four years has finally arrived!   <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content">x</div> <div class="dk-editor-embed embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9 center-block"> <div class="remove-embed-content"><a class="new_iframe_placeholder" href="#">x</a></div> <a class="iframe_placeholder youtube dk-embed" href="//youtube.com/watch?v=TkU1ob_lHCw" title="" data-frameborder="0" data-height="281" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TkU1ob_lHCw" data-width="500">YouTube Video</a></div> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) EarlyVoting NC Vote _1987309 Sat, 17 Oct 2020 17:41:55 +0000 NC Early Voting Opens Today!! https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/10/15/1986810/-NC-Early-Voting-Opens-Today So, early voting opened today in NC.  My early reports are incredible.  Just out here in Eastern Wake (the least-populated part of the County) lines at one early voting site are 3-4 hours and the other one, two hours long! Meanwhile, we have confirmed reports, from a total of three sites...of a total of four people passing out, presumably from heat stroke, waiting to vote. We also had, reportedly earlier today….a Republican voter squawking about cheating and an unfair election because our Democratic Party table did not have the Republican slate cards!!  Apparently, the GOP had not yet shown up with their own table...and the woman got more and more pissed as people waiting in line to vote started laughing at her. We also had a young, college-age volunteer be told that she should be arrested for handing out Democratic Party literature. You can’t even make this stuff up!! For my part, I am waiting until midweek next week to vote, so that I can get in and out quick. Incidentally, I also have….as yet unconfirmed...reports at some voting places — of some people deliberately taking off their masks and coughing into the air!! I am telling one and all right here...if I saw that shit, the first thing I would do would be to get the Election Judge...every polling place has one...and point the person out and ask that they be removed….and if I did not get cooperation the next call would be to the Sheriff’s office to have them removed. The depths to which the GOP will stoop really do know no bounds, do they?? rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) EarlyVoting NC NorthCarolina Voting _1986810 Thu, 15 Oct 2020 20:13:41 +0000 New Residents Of Rainbow Bridge, 2020 Edition https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/10/12/1986058/-New-Residents-Of-Rainbow-Bridge-2020-Edition 2020 has sucked so bad.  For all of us.  It’s been even worse for those of us who have lost loved furbabies this year, on top of everything else that has been shitty this year. So I thought, after seeing several other stories here like mine...people who have lost loved furbabies...that they should have a place to be memorialized here.  Please include a name and a picture if you have one, and tell us all a bit about your loved furbaby now waiting at the Rainbow Bridge.   rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Animals furbabies Pets RainbowBridge _1986058 Tue, 13 Oct 2020 05:58:31 +0000 Trans Activist Monica Roberts Dies At 58 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/10/8/1984969/-Trans-Activist-Monica-Roberts-Dies-At-58 Trans activist and founder of TransGriot, a blog dedicated to the trans community of color, Monica Roberts, died on Oct 5. She was 58. I have marched with Monica, I have lobbied with Monica, and consider her a giant in our community.  She, along with myself and several other trans activists, primarily in the South, founded NTAC, the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition, a precursor to today’s NCTE. HRC refused to deal with us at NTAC, because we were not willing to take a back seat in rights legislation.  Monica always brought everything to the fight.  I remember standing with her on the steps of the Kentucky State Capital with our banner “TRANSGENDER AND PROUD...AND WE VOTE!!” — all of us holding a can of a very specific soda in our hands that were not holding up the banner. This was tradition, when we lobbied in Frankfort...the soda cans were specifically an energy drink made by The Jones Soda Company, called “Whoop Ass” — and the idea was we were about to open a can of Whoop Ass on the legislature. She and I came out around the same time, though, at the time, she lived in Houston, and I in Pennsylvania.  We both ended up in Louisville.  I, in 1997, she in 1999.  I am proud to have known her, to have marched with her, to have had her as both a friend and a mentor. The circumstances surrounding her death are not, at this time, clear. <a href="https://www.out.com/transgender/2020/10/08/monica-roberts-transgriot-creator-and-pioneer-trans-news-has-died" target="_blank">www.out.com/…</a> Following is one of her articles from TransGriot, specifically referring to The Louisville Option, which I invented in Louisville in 1997, as a way of fighting very common gay-only rights legislation that cut trans out of the rights bills...in the “incremental” groupthink of the coastal LGBT’s of the time...and which myself and others, notably n the South, refused to have any part of...which actually led to the founding of NTAC in 1998, though it was short-lived because HRC absolutely refused to deal with us, as we would not willingly take a back seat on the civil rights bus. <a href="https://transgriot.blogspot.com/2011/02/is-it-time-to-execute-louisville-option.html?m=0" target="_blank">transgriot.blogspot.com/…</a> Monica continued the fight in Louisville and in Kentucky, after I had left...for of all places, Texas...and by the time she got back to Houston, I had gone back to Pennsylvania. But our community has lost a friend, an outspoken activist, a mentor and a giant. RIP, Monica! rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) MionicaRoberts Transgender transgriot _1984969 Fri, 09 Oct 2020 04:52:59 +0000 The Money Quote Of The Night https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/10/7/1984602/-The-Money-Quote-Of-The-Night So, let me start this by saying I have not been a great big fan of Kamala Harris...as many here are aware.  My main concern is the fact that I am not entirely reassured that she will be as strong an ally to my transgender community as I would like. Yes, I know she will be better than Trump has been, and better than Pence would be.  That is not in dispute.  I just do not know that I am at all reassured that she will work to undo all the damage that has been done to my community these last few years...nor am I reassured that she will work towards further progress for my community.  I AM AFRAID.  You would be, too...if your community was attacked as mine has been.  You would want reassurance, too.  So, please be fair with me about that. I know her fans will point out X Y and Z...but I ask you to not do that.  Instead, ask US what would reassure US.  WE are the community under attack, and what YOU think is sufficient...some of us do not. I use the above as a backdrop, so that you will understand that my review of Kamala’s performance in the debate tonight IS NOT one of a fan...but one who has been less than enthusiastic about her.  Of course her fans will say she crushed it...I am sure Mike Pence’s fans think HE crushed it, too.  That is why it was important for me to say what I just did above...so that everyone understands the review I am about to give...comes from one who was not terribly enamored of Senator Harris...and still has some misgivings directly related to my community. I want to do this in reverse order, by first pointing out the missed opportunities…. She did not point out that Pence completely failed to answer or even speak about the question posed concerning pre-existing conditions.  Considering that healthcare is a major concern right now in this country, and a major issue in the election...this was a missed opportunity I wish she had taken...especially given that Pence pointed out her failure to address the court-packing question (although that one backfired on Pence, as you will see in my later analysis...so be patient) She missed an opportunity to refute the notion that the Trump Administration always followed the science, as asserted by Pence by failing to point out 1. Donald Trump once suggested nuking hurricanes! 2. Trump suggested ingesting or injecting Clorox and other disinfectants, to say nothing of his touting of unproven medications (hydroxychloriquine, anyone??) or his suggestion to place UV bulbs in very uncomfortable places. 3. She also failed to point out that the White House blocked the CDC in doing Contact Tracing related to the White House outbreak. She also missed an opportunity to point out that Trump had stopped all negotiations on a COVID stimulus bill until after the election, with the addition that there would be none if he did not win — and say that this smacked of literally bribing voters...or punishing people for failing to vote for Trump.  The time for that would have been when Pence asserted that they have cared about all those who have been infected with or died from COVID. Now, that is the extent of the bad….a few missed opportunities.  In no way did she blunder anything.  She handled herself very well, and more than once asserted that she was speaking, and frankly, her telling Pence not to lecture her of all people about criminal justice was a beautiful thing to see. NOW...let’s get to the good. She wins, hands down, on healthcare.  She made the points consistently through the night...which is why I am a bit dismayed that she failed to point out Pence’s failure to even address the question of pre-existing conditions. She wins, hands down, on the transparency thing...finding a way to inject Trump’s taxes into that...but she should at that point also have pointed out the failure of the White House to be transparent about the currently ongoing outbreak, and especially the White House blocking the CDC on Contact Tracing of the White House outbreak. Now we get to the absolute money quotes of the night... The first being the aforementioned Pence comment that backfired on him.  When he talked about her failure to address the court-packing question...she turned it right back on Pence and Trump, talking about how they had packed the courts with idealogues who were, in many cases considered unfit for those roles by respected organization and their own peers...and pointing out that they had not appointed even one person of color.  That was a home run!! Now, the grad slam!! Talking about the Election of 1864, and Abe Lincoln declining to fill a Supreme Court vacancy in the month leading up to an election...versus Donald Trump racing to fill a Supreme Court seat in the month before an election!  She just as good as made a stark contrast between HONEST ABE….and Donald Trump!!  OMG, slam dunk, grand slam, hat trick...whatever you want...she totally fucking nailed that one!! I really do wish she had also brought up Merrick Garland, but given her Abe Lincoln contrast — I suppose bringing up Garland would have been anticlimactic. Mike Pence, in my view...did the absolute minimum that he had to do in this debate...and that would be to stop the bleeding.  He may have succeeded in that...but he brought no forward momentum, so, on that point, Kamala also wins tonight. I don’t think this debate does much to move the needle either way...but since Pence and Trump were the ones who needed to move the needle...Kamala completely owns the night.  Bear in mind this review comes from one who could not in any way be described as a fan of Senator Harris — as I said, of course her fans would say she crushed it.  I am saying the same thing. The few missed opportunities are more than made up for with the home run and the grand slam she hit tonight. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Debate Debates Harris kamala KamalaHarris MikePence VPDebate _1984602 Thu, 08 Oct 2020 03:48:42 +0000 How Would Y'all Like THREE Biden Appointees To SCOTUS?? How About SIX?? Or EIGHT?? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/9/26/1980852/-How-Would-Y-all-Like-THREE-Biden-Appointees-To-SCOTUS-How-About-SIX-Or-EIGHT OK...so I am not a lawyer, but follow me a sec here. When it was brought up that The Judiciary Act of 1869 would prevent us from adding SCOTUS Judges (and in fact this is what prevented FDR from doing it) I decided to delve deeper into the Act. It would seem we could make an argument for the immediate appointment of THREE Biden judges to SCOTUS right after he is inaugurated, all while keeping within the spirit and intent of the law.  We could also in a second scenario, make an argument that three current Justices should be demoted (and this assumes Amy Coney Barrett is seated) First, let’s look at the Judiciary Act of 1869: <blockquote> CHAP. XXII. - An Act to amend the Judicial System of the United States.1870, eh. 186.Post, p. 179. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Supreme Court of the United States shall hereafter consist of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of whom shall constitute a quorum; and for the purposes of this act there shall be appointed an additional associate justice of said court. [This section sets the number of SCOTUS Justices at nine] </blockquote> <blockquote> SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That for each of the nine existing judicial circuits there shall be appointed a circuit judge, who shall reside in his circuit, and shall possess the same power and jurisdiction therein as the justice of the Supreme Court allotted to the circuit. The circuit courts in each circuit shall be held by the justice of the Supreme Court allotted to the circuit, or by the circuit judge of the circuit, or by the district judge of the district sitting alone, or by the justice of the Supreme Court and circuit judge sitting together, in which case the justice of the Supreme Court shall preside, or in the absence of either of them by the other, (who shall preside,) and the district judge. And such courts may be held at the same time in the different districts of the same circuits, Cases may be and cases may be heard and tried by each of the judges holding any such court sitting apart by direction of the presiding justice or judge, who shall designate the business to be done by each. The circuit judges shall each receive an annual salary of five thousand dollars. [This section is important, as it states the REASON for nine SCOTUS judges is that there should be one from each Circuit.  When this Act was passed, there were NINE Circuits.  Today there are TWELVE.  In keeping with the spirit of the law as written then, we could add three Justices...since the intent was for the SCOTUS to represent the whole of the United States...since they all were to come from different Circuits] </blockquote> <blockquote> SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That any judge of any court of the United States, who, having held his commission as such at least ten years, shall, after having attained to the age of seventy years, resign his office,  shall thereafter, during the residue of his natural life, receive the same salary for which was by law payable to him at the time of his resignation.  [Sec 3 and 4 omitted as they have no bearing on this issue] [This section calls for the retirement of any SCOTUS judge who has reached seventy years old, provided that they also have served ten years on the Court.  Goodbye Clarence!!] </blockquote> <blockquote> SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect on the first Monday of December, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine.  APPROVED, April 10, 1869. </blockquote> OK...so NOW...let’s look at who is currently on the Court, when they were appointed, what Circuit they came from, and their age: First, the Conservatives: Chief Justice: John G. Roberts, DC Circuit, seated 2005 (15 years) (age 65) Clarence Thomas, DC Circuit, seated 1991 (29 years) (age 72) Samuel A. Alito, 3rd Circuit, seated 2006 (14 years) (age 70) Neil M. Gorsuch, 10th Circuit, seated 2017 (3 years) (age 53) Brett M. Kavanaugh, DC Circuit, seated 2018 (2 years) (age 55) Now, the Libs: Stephen G. Breyer, 1st Circuit, seated 1994 (26 years) (age 82) Sonia Sotomayor, 2nd Circuit, seated 2009 (11 years) (age 66) Elena Kagan, Soliticor General (no Circuit) seated 2010 (age 60)** **resides in 2nd Circuit So, the current makeup is 5-3.  And if Amy Coney Barrett is seated then that is 6-3 and she comes from the Seventh Circuit. NOW...the bolded people are aged out.  That would be Thomas, Alito, and Breyer.  Now there’s three justices right there.  New makeup 3-2 (or 4-2 if Barrett is seated) Add three replacements by Biden and we end up with a 4-5 SCOTUS, assuming Biden picks all Libs. That is the first way to overcome the barriers of “court packing” we would be following the actual law in forcing the retirement of those three judges  Read Section 5. NOW...here is where we get to SIX... In keeping with Section 2...the number of Justices on SCOTUS is set at nine, one from each Circuit then in existence.  There are now twelve.  So...we can argue that the spirit and intent of the law as written...was that the SCOTUS should represent the whole of the United States, and thus three more Justices are needed so that there would be one from each District. Now, this gets tricky, because of the bolded and italicized names...these violate another area of The Judiciary Act of 1869 — Kavanuagh, as he comes from the DC Circuit, as does Roberts, who would stay as he is not aged out...and is under the age of 70...goodbye Brett! Unfortunately, we’d also need to let Kagan go, as she is in the 2nd Circuit by residence, but did not serve on that court.  Sonia Sotomayor DID serve on the 2nd Circuit. So if we go that far, it is a wash….one Con and one Lib gone, so now we have a 3-4 SCOTUS.  And Biden names two new Justices.  Now there’s EIGHT Biden appointees! So, what we then would have is as follows:  Regular type is one who stays.  Italicized and bolded would be Biden replacements for Scenario One...which is three appointees (the ones aged out) First, the Conservatives: Chief Justice: John G. Roberts, DC Circuit, seated 2005 (15 years) (age 65) Neil M. Gorsuch, 10th Circuit, seated 2017 (3 years) (age 53) Brett M. Kavanaugh, DC Circuit, seated 2018 (2 years) (age 55) Amy Coney Barrett, 7th Circuit, seated 2020 (0 years) (age 48)** **pending.  This assumes she is seated. Now the Libs: Sonia Sotomayor, 2nd Circuit, seated 2009 (11 years) (age 66) Elena Kagan, Soliticor General (no Circuit) seated 2010 (age 60)** **resides in 2nd Circuit BIDEN APPOINTEE BIDEN APPOINTEE BIDEN APPOINTEE This yields a 5-4 Court in our favor. Now...Scenario Two.  This adds the three Justices for the fact that there is now twelve Circuits This yields a 8-4 Court in our favor. Lastly, Scenario Three, in which Kavanaugh and Kagan are demoted as they are from Circuits where a more senior Justice is already from, AND the aged-out Justices are retired AND we expand to 12 Justices. First, the Conservatives: Chief Justice: John G. Roberts, DC Circuit, seated 2005 (15 years) (age 65) Neil M. Gorsuch, 10th Circuit, seated 2017 (3 years) (age 53) Amy Coney Barrett, 7th Circuit, seated 2020 (0 years) (age 48)** **pending.  This assumes she is seated. Now the Libs: Sonia Sotomayor, 2nd Circuit, seated 2009 (11 years) (age 66) BIDEN APPOINTEE — 1st Circuit BIDEN APPOINTEE — 3rd Circuit BIDEN APPOINTEE — 4th Circuit BIDEN APPOINTEE — 5th Circuit BIDEN APPOINTEE — 6th Circuit BIDEN APPOINTEE — 8th Circuit BIDEN APPOINTEE — 9th Circuit BIDEN APPOINTEE — 11th Circuit (note DC is twelfth Circuit) This yields a 9-3 Court...and if we could stop Barrett...we could get a NINTH Biden appointee, and a 10-2 Court. ALL OF IT...in keeping with the law as written, and in keeping with the spirit and intent of the same. Time to play hardball. Or am I missing something here?? rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Courts RBG SCOTUS _1980852 Sat, 26 Sep 2020 11:00:15 +0000 I Am NOT Happy About The Kamala Pick https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/8/12/1968594/-I-Am-NOT-Happy-About-The-Kamala-Pick Okay, I will risk the torches and pitchforks to say I am not AT ALL happy about this pick.  I have been fairly vocal in my opposition to Kamala, and it has NOTHING to do with her race and everything to do with the fact I do not TRUST her on transgender issues...and with good reason. This goes back to a case her office handled when she was AG of California.  The case is <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/15-15712/15-15712-2015-10-05.html" target="_blank" title="">Norsworthy vs. Beard</a>  and her non-apologies in this matter when she decided she wanted to be President, and act as if she suddenly was a great friend to the LGBTQ community notwithstanding.  There are many levels to this case...some of which are not directly related to the fact that Ms. Norsworthy was trans.  So I am gonna break it all down for y’all...”transsplain it” as it were...and then you can decide. All else said below, Biden still has my vote, because ANYTHING is better than four more years of Trump, but I am not going to hide my disappointment and, frankly, RAGE...that we trans were not considered.  And I swear on everything I hold holy I will be holding both Biden and Kamala’s feet to the fire on our issues. After four years of being the number one recipient of animus from the Trump malAdministration, I feel like we trans deserve better...we deserve someone who will make up to us all the harm we have endured; one who will advocate for our rights and our well-being.  I do not see Kamala fulfilling that duty to us.   So...I will include some afterthoughts below, after I spell out the details of the case: Ms. Norsworthy was an inmate in the California prison system.  She was transgender.  Before she went in, she was taking hormones leading up to an eventual surgery. While she was in prison, she was raped.  The State failed to protect her.  And as a result of that rape, she acquired a case of Hepatitis...again, the state failed to protect her. Now, Hepatitis is bad enough, but when you are a trans woman on hormones, it is much worse, because the hormones themselves stress one’s liver...even a healthy liver….and Ms. Norsworthy, thanks to failure on the part of the State whose duty it was to protect her, no longer had a healthy liver. Ms. Norsworthy petitioned for sex reassignment surgery, and was prescribed same by a licensed medical practitioner in the State of California, primarily because the surgery would cause her to need a far lower dose of hormones, ultimately easing stress on her liver...which, I remind you, the need for that lowered stress was caused by the State of California failing to protect Ms. Norsworthy. Now...I do not care what the circumstances may be...when you are in the custody of the state, and you are prescribed medical care by a licensed physician in your state it is INCUMBENT upon the state to provide that medical procedure, whether you agree with it or not.  Particularly in this case...since the basic reason for this was the failure of the state to protect her from being raped and acquiring Hepatitis, which made the surgery necessary to preserve the health and life of Ms. Norsworthy. Kamala, then the state’s AG, saw things differently, and she fought against Norswothy, going so far as to file three briefs in the case against Ms. Norsworthy — briefs she later claimed had been written by underlings in her office without her knowledge or consent...when she suddenly decided she wanted to be President and was thusly getting hammered by my community about this case.  A non-apology, a non-admission of wrong...and it is not acceptable. Now...afterthoughts.  There are those who would say that Kamala was AG, and thus she had a duty to defend California in this case.  I disagree.  I live in North Carolina.  And as much as I have issues with Governor Cooper...the parallel here is that, when Cooper was OUR AG...he refused to defend the state in the HB-2 lawsuit.  Whatever else I may say about Cooper notwithstanding, I will give credit where credit is due, and in this case, Cooper acted in a manner I find honorable.  Kamala could have similarly refused to defend California in this matter and instead chose to viciously attack Ms. Norsworthy, because she is viciously anti-trans...against a person her state failed to protect in the first place, allowing her to be raped in prison, bringing about the medical need for the surgery. Secondly, Elizabeth Warren, some will point out...in 2012, made statements to the effect that prison inmates who are trans should not be afforded surgery at the state’s expense.  She has since owned that statement, and the error of her thinking at the time...she fully owned and apologized for her words, and we trans know, going forward, we can trust Warren.  And there’s the difference with Kamala.  She HAS NOT properly apologized, admitted her error, and promised to do better....as Warren did.  WE NEED HER TO SAY IT, LOUD AND CLEAR AND WE NEED HER TO OWN IT.  That would have the effect of making it impossible for her to abandon us later, when it became politically expedient to do so. I had a similar problem with Hillary in 2016.  She, too, wanted to sweep her anti-trans past under the rug, and wave in our face what she did at State about making it easier for us to obtain Passports, by streamlining the procedure...which she actually did at Barack Obama’s direction.  I am old enough to remember Hillarycare, and it’s direct prohibition on any transgender-related care.  She’s never owned that or apologized for it.  Which afforded her the luxury of being able to abandon us in the name of political expediency and her own ambitions.  We need leaders we KNOW will not abandon us. This becomes especially important to me now, in light of the fact that we have a pandemic of deadly disease….one which does not skip infecting you because you are trans.  And we trans have experienced doctors and healthcare systems that have refused us even basic or life-saving care, on the basis that since we were trans….and trans-related healthcare was not covered.  I mean, trans have been denied gallbladder surgeries...which has NOTHING to do with being trans...but in the logic of the insurance companies, because you were trans, every single malady you had was because you were trans….and so, like the Soup Nazi:  NO HEALTHCARE FOR YOU!! <div class="align-center"> <figure class="image-captioned width-xl"><img alt="Special_Treatment_For_TG.jpg" class="width-xl" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/350816/large/Special_Treatment_For_TG.jpg?1484559048" title="Special_Treatment_For_TG.jpg"> <figcaption>This is all too often exactly what we endure...and it seems to me like nobody cares, since nobody speaks up on our behalf.</figcaption> </figure> </div> This became so common we trans developed a name for this, called <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/irl/trans-broken-arm-syndrome-healthcare/" target="_blank" title="">Trans Broken Arm Syndrome</a>.  It has cost some of us our very lives.  The most-notable case of this is the case of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Eads" target="_blank" title="">Robert Eads</a>, whom I was privileged to know.  His life story and the story of his death are the subject of an HBO documentary called “Southern Comfort” in which yours truly actually has a cameo role (if you blink you will miss it...but the 27 year old me is handing out registration packs to incoming convention attendees at Southern Comfort.) Couple this history with the fact of Trump’s recent change to Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, specifically denying us trans protections under Title VII...meaning we now can be discriminated against in healthcare….which means, Goddess forbid, we can get COVID...and thus be refused treatment and allowed to DIE when we could have been saved...just because we are trans.  To say nothing of the possibility that COVID could get so bad in America that in places we are forced to move to Advanced Triage. Advanced Triage is where the normal rules of triage are tossed.  The normal rules of triage are that the most serious cases are treated first.  In Advanced Triage, cases are treated on the basis of most likely to survive/benefit from treatment.  And already there are doctors and insurance companies that have blamed every malady we have on our being trans!!  Who have denied us care, even life-saving care...even care that they would provide to a cisgender person...just because we are trans!! We even had a trans lady who got COVID….and <a href="https://www.insider.com/trans-burger-king-worker-died-coronavirus-staff-boss-blamed-hormones-2020-7" target="_blank" title="">the lady’s employer actually blamed it on her being trans!!</a> Add this up and the very fact of our being trans becomes a potential death warrant...where we can be killed off with impunity!  Imagine it...Title VII, thanks to SCOTUS, now applies to us in employment...BUT NOT IN HEALTHCARE!!  So you can’t fire us anymore, but you can murder us!!  So….and this is gonna get me tarred and feathered but...a black man is killed by cops, and millions march….we are killed every day and nobody says a peep.  Hell, BLM themselves will not say the name of <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2020/05/tony-mcdade-tallahassee-florida-police-shooting-death/" target="_blank">Tony McDade!!</a>  You hear all the time about George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshawn Brooks...but not a word...no acknowledgement...for Tony.  And too many in our community can’t seem to chew gum and walk at the same time.  I am NOT a racist, but goddamn it there are OTHER groups who are also being oppressed and killed...and nobody seems to care!  Maybe because we are trans.  Maybe because the way in which we usually die is slow and insidious and not able to be videotaped.  I do not wish to take anything from BLM, but goddamn it I want OUR LIVES to matter TOO!  I am a white trans...when does MY life matter? And THIS is why I am disappointed in Kamala Harris.  I wanted someone I could better trust, in these times...to advocate for and look out for the trans community.  Kamala simply fails this requirement. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Election JoeBiden kamala VP _1968594 Wed, 12 Aug 2020 09:56:16 +0000 Curiousity Question https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/8/8/1967787/-Curiousity-Question OK, I am curious about something.  We are already hearing that NC is likely to gain an EV in the Census.  We are also hearing that PA, IL, and CA are likely to lose one. Here’s the question, though….Montana is likely to gain an EV, to 4...with a population just over a million….yet, DC still sits at 3.  Why?  I’d think the population had grown since it first got EV’s. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) DCStatehood EC Elections _1967787 Sun, 09 Aug 2020 03:24:49 +0000 The Karens And Mask-Refusers Keep Acting Out Because We Keep Allowing It https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/7/19/1961979/-The-Karens-And-Mask-Refusers-Keep-Acting-Out-Because-We-Keep-Allowing-It Until there are real and serious consequences the Karens will continue to act out, and the mask-refusers will continue to spew their death breath on everyone they can. There need to be fines and jail time attached to mask ordinances, for those who refuse to comply. There needs to be public shaming of the Karens...complete with video and naming them. And the same for the mask-refusers. They need to be publicly shamed, and called murderers. They are overgrown toddlers. When a toddler throws a temper tantrum, do you give in to the toddler? NO. The toddler thus learns they will not get the outcome they want by throwing tantrums and they finally stop. So the entire point of this Diary is to seriously discuss ways in which we can begin to hold the Karens and mask-refusers accountable, and how we can go about publicly shaming them...and anything else that could achieve the result of saving American lives. So, let’s talk. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Coronavirus Covid karen mask-refuser _1961979 Sun, 19 Jul 2020 11:20:21 +0000 COVID-19 IS NOT "A Bad Flu" https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/7/19/1961975/-COVID-19-IS-NOT-A-Bad-Flu I will make this short and sweet. If you think COVID-19 is just “a bad flu” ask Nick Cordova’s widow. No matter how bad a flu gets, you never need to have a fucking leg amputated because you got the flu. And then Nick died. Just “a bad flu” huh? Fuck you. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Coronavirus Covid _1961975 Sun, 19 Jul 2020 10:51:13 +0000 OK, MAGAts - You Got Us - The Jig Is Up https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/7/17/1961567/-OK-MAGAts-You-Got-Us-The-Jig-Is-Up All right, MAGAts...you got us. It’s all been an elaborate hoax and conspiracy to make your boy Trump look bad. Not that he needed much help, but this elaborate scheme has laid bare the inadequacies of your boy Trump in a way we had been unable to produce any other way. SO...in order to tank your boy Trump, and sink the economy and tank the Dow Jones, to deny His Highness another four years to screw over our country, and make it a satellite of Mother Russia… We managed to get nearly 140,000 Americans to date to agree to die We managed to get 3 million other Americans to agree to play sick We managed to get hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers to agree to play along, and to work themselves literally to death, and to forego the pleasures of their own families. We managed to get over 180 countries around to world to have their own crises...which they handled with varying success (but almost universally better than the United States) We managed to get farmers to agree to let crops that could be sold — to rot in the fields We managed to get The Charmin Corporation and every other manufacturer of toilet paper to greatly reduce production, so that we all could have a really shitty year We managed to get The Lysol Corporation and the Purell Corporation to ALSO massively cut production to create shortages in their product — while simultaneously creating a huge demand for those products...and that corporation chose not to cash in on that demand We managed to get 40 million Americans to agree to lose their jobs (and along with it in many cases the healthcare for themselves and their families) We managed to get those same Americans to agree to do all this to tank the Dow Jones, so that their own retirement 401k’s would lose a ton of value We managed to get respected health experts from around the world to get on board and cooperate with our conspiracy. We managed to get heads of state from around the world to also cooperate, and also to lie to all their citizens...and to a greater or lesser degree, trash their own economies as ours was trashed. You want more? The basic rule of a conspiracy is...the more people involved in it….the more who know about it….the more unwieldy and unsustainable it becomes. Yet not a single person involved in our great scheme has yet to spill the beans on it, and all have so far agreed to harm themselves and their families for months on end….with no end in sight (short of November) — but I have decided that JUST NOW...there’s finally too many in our conspiracy to maintain it...so I am spilling the beans. You got us. Do you feel fucking stupid yet?? Now...you want the REAL conspiracy?? Blacks and other persons of color are disproportionately affected by COVID...at least in part due to the systemic racism that has served to keep them generally in the lower socioeconomic strata — along with all the “benefits” of that status, e.g. poorer health, shorter lifespans, poorer nutrition, etc. Transgender people getting COVID can now be refused healthcare by any doctor, for any reason...and allowed to die...simply for being trans….courtesy of your boy Trump So there is now at least a potential for a genocide of “undesirable people” which can be carried out. Several elected officials, from both Parties (but mostly yours) cashed in on advance knowledge of what was coming...so that THEY could cash in while the common citizens 401k’s tanked (and the common citizenry agreed to it) We deliberately shorted healthcare workers fighting this pandemic of PPE by setting up “bidding wars” between states, so that they all could direct all the help to red states that voted for His Highness while punishing states that didn’t vote for him (blue states) by depriving them, thus causing death to blue states….and that was so expertly carried out that now eight of ten states with the greatest increase in cases are red states!! Talk about a backfire...talk about total fucking incompetence...y’all can’t even carry out a conspiracy properly!! Now that is a little less outlandish than the first conspiracy….isn’t it?? But it still isn’t the REAL conspiracy. Now, in all seriousness...here is the real conspiracy: COVID is a brand-new strain of coronavirus with particularly deadly and damaging effects we still do not fully understand. It knows no age, no gender, no sexual orientation or gender identity. It knows no race, color or creed. It knows no politics or economic status...it is an equal-opportunity virus, and it will infect anyone it can..in order to propagate itself...for the sole purpose of infecting even more people…to still further propagate itself. It is highly virulent (meaning easily transmitted to others) and has a fairly high mortality rate. Those it does not kill it often leaves with chronic, lifelong, crippling and debilitating injuries — including cardiac conditions, renal conditions, pulmonary and circulatory conditions...and it is even speculated that it can cause male infertility. And the US Government response, led by His Highness, your boy Trump….has been to make the entire situation worse!! They have shorted front-line workers and common citizens of PPE and disinfectant products, increasing chances of infection. They have more than undone all the early progress by insisting on re-opening too soon...all in order so that the Dow could go back up and your boy could get re-elected — even going so far as not holding states to the re-opening guidelines they themselves put in place...and another backfire….they moved the hotspot of the nation from the blue states in the Northeast to their own red states in the Sunbelt….great fucking planning on that one...again, proving they are fucking incompetent. MEANWHILE...they have used the murder of George Floyd as a way to fan the flames of racism to further divide our nation….just when we all most need to come together. They have suggested people ingest Lysol and Clorox, and to shove UV light bulbs up their asses. They have sought to kill the Affordable Care Act, leaving 20 million or more Americans without health insurance...in the middle of a pandemic — a pandemic that will leave possibly millions of those who survive...with pre-existing conditions which will preclude them from getting health insurance ever again — without the protections afforded by the ACA. They have sought to suppress votes by fighting mail-in balloting, and have sought to undermine the people’s confidence in our elections in general...and they have sought to kill the US Postal Service...the better to squash democracy. They have refused any help to Main Street America, unless it was structured in such a way as to allow their rich buddies to gobble up most of the benefits intended to help the most needy among us. They used tear gas on legal and peaceful protesters in order to obtain a photo-op They have created a culture in which the entitled among us feel entitled to endanger the lives of others by refusing masks...which, if everyone would wear them for a few weeks….we actually COULD start to get back to normal...and the mask refusers throw tantrums, and even commit assault and murder against those who ask them to wear a mask. They have demanded that your kids be placed in danger by full re-opening of schools with no masks or social distancing...and decided this in ZOOM MEETINGS!! They decided YOUR kids can face deadly danger, while refusing to meet in person themselves….to say nothing of the teachers, bus drivers, custodians and other school staff who will also be placed at risk….who will then also place most of the general public at risk. IN SHORT...THEY COULD NOT HAVE FUCKED UP MORE IF THEY WERE TRYING TO FUCK UP!!! They have utterly failed in their most sacred and solemn duty….to protect us from all enemies, and to promote the general welfare of We The People. And THAT, friends….is the real conspiracy!! rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Coronavirus Covid Health Pandemic trump _1961567 Fri, 17 Jul 2020 22:18:00 +0000 Seven States https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/7/7/1959002/-Seven-States So, I have been tracking my own prediction on the outcome of the election, and it is a little scary. Because it comes down to seven states, as I see it. Trump MUST WIN all seven of these states...a loss in any one of them hands the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to Joe Biden. The seven states: Arizona (I am not ready to put this one in the bag yet) Florida (not ready….because it is Florida….’nuff said) North Carolina (this will be a true squeaker. I live here, so i can say that with confidence) Iowa (It could happen that Ernst loses and Trump wins, or vice-versa...too close) Ohio (ok, so about 100 polls show this one to be ours, but not ready to put it in the bag yet) Wisconsin (this one, I think, is likely ours, but not as strongly as I’d like it to be) Georgia (I think this one is too optimistic, actually) So here is a map of my latest and best projection, using my super-secret algorithms which take into account polls from reliable sources, approval/disapproval on COVID, right track/wrong track polls...and the historical voting pattern of states in Presidential elections. It is necessary to take other factors than JUST polls into account, because people lie to pollsters, and you also do not know their algorithms for scaling up the sample. All of those numbers are fed into my cruncher, and gives me a result which I believe will be close to the actual result. And what I have right now, is 375 — 163, we win. BUT….and here’s the rub...take ONLY the states which are SAFE Dem and STRONGLY Dem — and we get 269. NE-02 is gonna be VERY IMPORTANT this year!! Here’s a map: <div class="align-center"> <figure class="image-captioned"><img alt="Untitled.png" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/828894/large/Untitled.png?1594180079" title="Untitled.png"> <figcaption>Taking ONLY the darkest blue and next-darkest blue...we get 269 EV’s. Even NE-02 then is enough to put us over the top….along with any other state not already in a shade of red. I did not include Georgia in my list above, because I feel my call for Georgia is too optimistic.</figcaption> </figure> </div> We certainly have an easier path than Trump does. But it isn’t in the bag YET. A few notes now: Texas has been trending our way, and we even have polled a win a few times. I am not ready to go there just yet….but a loss of Texas is game over for the GOP. I see weaker support than normal in Montana because of Steve Bullock. I don’t think his coattails are long enough to win this for us, but Trump’s support should be weaker. Interestingly, Montana is a state likely to pick up an EV in 2021. I see weaker support in the Dakotas, because COVID is affecting the shale oil industry. Likewise, I see weaker than expected support in Kansas and Nebraska, because agriculture isn’t doing terrific lately, again, due to COVID...and a few other little trade wars… Iowa is just too tough to call at he moment. Georgia….is a bit optimistic in my view. Wisconsin ought to be ours...but you never know...and Ohio….well...let’s say this...Democrats have won the Presidency without getting Ohio’s EV’s. The GOP never has. Anyway...my absolute most conservative call right now is 269 EV’s for us, and my most optimistic is 375 EV’s for us. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Election ElectoralCollege EV Getoutthefuckingvote Map President _1959002 Wed, 08 Jul 2020 03:59:40 +0000 Is It SO HORRIBLE...To Want My Community To Matter TOO?? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/6/26/1956067/-Is-It-SO-HORRIBLE-To-Want-My-Community-To-Matter-TOO I debated writing this, because I know I will probably get savaged for it...by people who have never truly known the hurt that comes with being a minority in this country. What I am seeing lately HURTS. Maybe it shouldn’t...BUT IT DOES and I cannot help it. And I can’t hold it in any longer, either. Every time Trump’s many sins are listed...i am forever having to remind people to NOT FORGET the transgender community that has suffered mightily under Trump. The brunt of the animus directed from this Administration towards LGBTQ has been reserved almost solely for trans...and more specifically, trans WOMEN….like me. Every time there is any kind of outrage committed against other people...there’s the crowds...there’s the protests. But when it happens to my people...SILENCE. And it hurts. It feels like all the love, support and care in the world is being used up and there’s none left for my community. Maybe it shouldn’t hurt, but it does. I came out in a very different time. It was 1993. I was 22 years old. Prior to that...I was “out” if you will, because, for me, the only “safe” place for me to dress up...was walking around town at night, dressed up….and never knowing what sort of danger I was putting myself in...but I digress. It was in 1993, I declared myself, officially out. At that point, I started living my life full time as my true self...except at work. In 1997, I came out at work. And was promptly fired. Nobody gave a shit. I ended up suing my former employer...after they not only fired me for transitioning after they had said I could...but then lied to unemployment about the circumstances of my termination (I got benefits eventually) and then began to give false and misleading references to potential future employers...and outed me on every reference “You know that’s not, like, REALLY A WOMAN...right??” Now...in these days...when I came out...there was no real trans community. I was nineteen years old before I ever met or talked to another person like me. That sure as hell is not the experience today’s trans youth have! Anyway...there was no LGBT community then...it was the GLB community, in that order, and B was very barely tolerated then. THERE WAS NO “T” though. There was no room for me at the table. Nobody gave a shit about us...there was no love and support for trans youth when I was a trans youth! I had to go through it all alone. In those times...we mostly flew under the radar...and stayed employed doing the shit jobs nobody else wanted...or working the shit shifts nobody else wanted...so I worked a lot of second and third shift. I was okay with that, I truly did not want to be around other people much...many people were not kind. In 1998, Matt Shepard was murdered. Five days after that, the Dean of my school (Sullivan College, now Sullivan University in Louisville, KY) told me that I could only use men bathrooms on campus. Forcing me to choose between higher education and my own personal safety. Imagine it...me and my skirt going into a men bathroom...and some guy deciding to follow me home and harm me later...no, I dropped out. I had, at the time, been double majoring in Paralegal and Political Science...with an intent to go on to law school. I was carrying a 4.0 GPA. My dreams, my hopes, my plans, my future were stolen from me. Nobody gave a damn. To this day, I see Sullivan touting how inclusive they are...and they have NEVER acknowledged or apologized for what was done to me when I was a student at Sullivan!! Nowadays...finally...trans are cared about SOME….but all the care and love and support seems directed SOLELY at the trans youth, and the transPOC. I am not a person of color...and there was no love or support for ME when I was a trans youth! Maybe it should not hurt BUT IT DOES. It feels like there is no love or support or care left for those of us trans who happen to be middle-aged and white. Things ain’t all that great for us EITHER, yaknow! One black man is killed and millions take to the streets. One of US is killed...and hardly anyone knows. You all know George Floyd, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, Rayshawn Brooks….have you ever head of Tony McDade? I am guessing not. I don’t hear HIS name being lifted up. Yet he was a black man shot by police. Except he was a TRANS man. So nobody cares. This is how it feels to me anymore. Kids in cages...people rightly scream. Trump tries to ban Muslims….people rightly scream. Trump tries to end DACA and there’s an uproar. Police murder black men...and there’s millions in the streets. Jerkwad trump supporters beat up Chinese-Americans….and we are horrified. Trans banned from the military….barely a peep. Trans people are murdered every day...and often mutilated post-mortem...nobody knows. I could go on forever...but the entire point of this Diary is to ask WHY CAN’T OUR TRANS LIVES MATTER AS MUCH AS ALL THOSE OTHER LIVES THAT MATTER?? Because, to me it does not feel like anyone thinks our lives matter. Excuse me while I go put on my Kevlar. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) BLM LGBT Recommended Transgender _1956067 Fri, 26 Jun 2020 10:48:35 +0000 Y'all Think Brad Parscale Wants Trump To See This?? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/6/17/1953797/-Y-all-Think-Brad-Parscale-Wants-Trump-To-See-This OK...so I have been, for some time...running, and keeping up to date, my own Electoral Projection, using 270towin dot com’s lovely tools. I am running my own algorithm to determine these things, using following criteria: 1. His overall approval rating in any given state...which runs from January 2017 to current...and TRIPLE-weighting that, because Trump IS such a Cult Of Personality 2. The percentage of people saying we are on right track versus wrong track, single-weighted (also...everyone not specifically saying wrong track is counted as right track...so all unsure’s break their way) 3. The percentage of approval on handling Coronavirus, single-weighted 4. Any recent polls I can find on a state that are from known reliable sources, DOUBLE-weighted (and undecided’s are split even) Lastly...I calculated a “built-in edge” for each state, based on the Presidential voting history of that state, going back to 1980 (Reagan) These numbers, crunched, produce the following result...which I believe may be SLIGHTLY optimistic...but they are within striking distance of what other polls seem to be saying. NOTE: Tossup states are tan if they lean our way, yellow/gold if they lean their way. <div class="align-center"> <figure class="image-captioned"><img alt="Untitled.png" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/819910/large/Untitled.png?1592390881" title="Untitled.png"> <figcaption>Yathink Trump might lose his mind seeing this map?</figcaption> </figure> </div> rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) 2020vote Election ElectoralCollege trump _1953797 Wed, 17 Jun 2020 10:50:55 +0000 The Supreme Court Ruling - From A Transgender Perspective https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/6/16/1953497/-The-Supreme-Court-Ruling-From-A-Transgender-Perspective I only wish Aimee Stephens could have lived to see this. But the ruling came down almost as I had expected when the case was first brought to SCOTUS. I had said, then...forget Kavanaugh, Alito, and Thomas. Gorsuch, I said...I am not sure, he is playing his cards close...but I don’t have a lot of faith in him ruling our way. Leaving us hoping Roberts has enough sense of what the legacy of the Roberts Court will be...to rule our way, as he did with the ACA in King vs Burwell. I said at the time, hinging hopes on Roberts made me VERY nervous, and i wished like hell Kennedy was still on the Court. The irony is not lost on me that Gorsuch ruled our way, and even wrote the opinion...when he is a Trump appointee...and is in fact in the seat that McConnell stole from Merrick Garland! This is not likely the last we hear of LGBTQ issues, as this ruling would appear limited, for the moment at least, to employment...since all three cases were employment-based. That being said, I would not...even were I not myself transgender...even if i hated LGBTQ….I would NOT want to be the litigator that tries to make the argument that firing us or refusing to hire us for being trans or gay is sex discrimination...but refusing us healthcare, a car loan, an apartment rental, and home loan….or service at the local Krispy Kreme for the same reason ISN’T sex discrimination. That’s an argument I would not want, as a litigator, to have to try to make. There are others areas of law where this ruling could be less clear, for example public bathrooms, identity documents, school sports, etc. Expect to see those litigated at some point. To say nothing of the trans military ban. I am not a lawyer, so I am unclear if Title VII reaches into the military (I do not think it does) — but, again...it’s a hard argument to make, in light of this ruling...that denying us entry into the armed services...for the sole reason of being trans….is NOT sex discrimination. Again...this is an argument I as a litigator would not want to have to try to make. I am not sure what pretzel logic could get you there. We still have much work to do. But, today, i celebrate. Today, I am joyful. Today...the twenty five plus years I have fought, bled, cried and almost died for my cause...are vindicated. From the very beginning of my “career” as an activist...my number one issue with a bullet has been employment, employment, employment. Because without economic justice, there is no justice. Because in a capitalist country...you have two choices: Work or die. What do YOU think happens when they impede our ability to work? So, for me...this was always the number one issue. And today, we can claim a victory. My next fight is healthcare...again critical. Trump recently issued an edict creating a so-called “religious carve out” in the Affordable Care Act, Section 1557...which was being used to insure we were not discriminated against in healthcare (using Title VII as rationale, by the way) It wasn’t lost on me that trump culminated his two year effort...on the four year anniversary of the Pulse Massacre. Lambda legal is already planning, or has filed (I am not sure) a lawsuit in this matter. I still am unable to believe anyone think it is appropriate, during a freaking pandemic...to impede ANYONE’S access to healthcare for any reason. But Trump did that. Ostensibly, the “carve out” was so that doctors would not be required to perform abortions or gender confirming surgeries...at best a specious argument...no, I will go there...it’s total bullshit, and this is why: To perform an abortion, or a gender confirming surgery...one must undergo specialized training. One does NOT undertake specialized training to perform procedure to which they are “morally opposed.” Secondly, most abortions and gender confirming surgeries are performed by providers that perform almost exclusively these procedures. So, this was a specious excuse at best. The real and unspoken intent...and effect — is that doctors could refuse to treat a trans person like me for my heart attack and watch me die with impunity. That we could get to the place Italy was with COVID and have to choose who lives and who does not...and my trans status become a mitigating factor in that decision...and not in my favor….that quite literally, being LGBTQ become a death warrant. I expect an injunction would be issued shortly after the case is filed by Lambda. All you need to do is argue the pandemic...and the recent SCOTUS ruling to boot. I think it is a hard argument to make, as i said above...that while firing us or refusing to hire us because we are trans or gay is sex discrimination...denying us health care is not. Truthfully, I don’t even have a problem with the carve out IF trump is very clear it ONLY covers abortions and gender confirming surgeries...because the providers that currently dispense these services would continue to do so. I do not know about YOU...but I do not want someone who has a moral problem with trans...coming at me with a knife while I am unconscious! I just want clarity that they cannot deny to an LGBTQ person...any service that they WOULD provide to a cisgender or heterosexual person. That should be a no-brainer. The next area of interest for me...is identity documents. I am one of the small minority of trans people that have ALL of my identity documents in my correct name and gender...and believe me it was neither easy nor cheap to get that done. Identity documents are central to our lives, you cannot open a bank account, write a check, get a loan, get a job or an apartment without one. And when our documents do not match our presentation...it leads to denied services...or harassment and violence. Bathrooms are also a huge issue to me, seeing as I live in North Carolina. I always saw the bathroom issue as merely an allegory for and microcosm of...all the bullshit we trans put up with in everyday life. We just want to freaking take care of nature’s business like everyone else. I just want to go, wash my hands and get out before someone else farts, yaknow? And I want to do that in a place that is gender-appropriate, comfortable and safe for me. If my very existence makes you uncomfortable...when I am not doing anything inappropriate...you are the one who has a problem...and you have no right to make it mine. I really could care less about communal showers and locker rooms...I have never been comfortable in such places, regardless of the gender for who it is designed. When I had a gym membership at Planet Fitness...I started shortly after HB-2 was passed — I even came out to them right there and asked them if they REALLY WERE a “no judgment zone.” And they told me I should use the female facilities. I always came and left in my workout gear...and then went home to change and shower. I could do that because I work from home. So I understand why it’s an issue for some in my community...but it is not a hill on which I choose to live or die. But expect some of these issues to get litigated in the upcoming months and years...our battle is won...our war is not. As I said in my recent run for the NC Senate (becoming the first openly-trans woman in state history to run for such office) — we have truly arrived...when someone like Danica Roem, or Gray Ellis, or myself, even...can be elected AND IT IS NO BIG DEAL. That is when our war is won. When our existence is no longer a big deal. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) LGBTQ SCOTUS TitleVII Transgender _1953497 Tue, 16 Jun 2020 10:00:06 +0000 Thanks A Milllion, Dumbass Donald!! https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/4/28/1941133/-Thanks-A-Milllion-Dumbass-Donald Finally managed it...we are Number One, eh,, Dotard?? In HUGE way. You must be so proud. Only 500 more deaths until this thing takes more Americans than the Vietnam War!! rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Covid-19 OrangePlague Pandemic trump _1941133 Tue, 28 Apr 2020 20:52:26 +0000 Predictive Electoral Map https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/4/18/1938443/-Predictive-Electoral-Map So, I decided to crunch some numbers and try to come up with a realistic picture of the Electoral Map in November….so let’s talk about how I arrived where I have… I did NOT average in a poll on the economy in this, because even in states Trump is otherwise massively popular, he is tanking...and I felt it was unrealistic to include this at this time. I took an average of a few things — response to coronavirus, aggregate right track/wrong track since the Trump Presidency began (this was substituted for an economy poll for the reasons above) aggregate approval/disapproval since the beginning of the Trump Presidency and recent polling data in states where available. I added to it TWO counts of Trump approval/disapproval, aggregate since the beginning of the Trump Presidency — this was added in twice because Trump IS such a Cult Of Personality that this WILL factor into voting. To the totals of above I added a factor of -25 to plus 25 as a “built-in edge” accounting for historical as well as recent election results since 1980, with higher emphasis on more recent elections. I then took the following liberties with the map: I assumed one EV from Maine for Trump I assumed a tossup EV from Nebraska I assumed Tossup Iowa to be light blue, because the average came out within Margin of Error, but on the blue side. I assumed Tossup Texas, Alaska and Georgia to slight Red...because I just can’t quite see them flipping yet this year. Ohio and NC really WERE absolutely too close to call, NC is coming slightly blue, but I cannot bring myself, as a NC resident to call it that way just yet...because I just know a bit more about NC, and I am not quite prepared to call my own home state for Team Blue yet. Ohio REALLY WAS totally up in the air, hopelessly uncallable. This bodes well for Team Blue, because, on this map, even if we lose AZ and FL (40 EV) — we still get 284. If we also lose Iowa, that’s 278...and then there is no margin for error. With Iowa in our column, we COULD lose Wisconsin, but not MI or PA Bear in mind that TX AK and GA all came in as tossup...but I could not bring myself to call those tossup….of the three, I like GA as the best possible. And if we win either OH or NC it’s game over. That’’s my call for now. Things look positive for Team Blue, but there is NO WAY IN HELL we can get complacent. a lot of this is way too close. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) 2020 Election ElectoralMap trump _1938443 Sat, 18 Apr 2020 20:38:53 +0000 The Truth About Medicare For All (M4A) - Coronavirus Edition https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/4/12/1936537/-The-Truth-About-Medicare-For-All-M4A-Coronavirus-Edition OK. Time for some TRUTH about M4A. Before I begin, some background, so that you know I have qualification to speak to this. I am currently a medical biller/coder who owns my own company. I have been in healthcare administration, on both sides of the desk, for now over fifteen years...the last eight as a biller/coder...and my previous time on the other side of the desk, working as an insurance claims adjuster for a major health insurance company...whose job it was to find reasons to pend/deny claims. I am a recent candidate for my State Senate. I am a Precinct Chair and member of the NC Democratic Party State Executive Committee...and I am, by appointment of the State Chair — a member of the state Platform and Resolutions Committee. Though my Subcommittee does not deal with healthcare, it is because I am on the subcommittee dealing with Civil Rights, Criminal Justice and Education...though as a member of the full body, I also weigh in on healthcare issues, and have many times been commended for my input on various issues surrounding healthcare — but I remain on the Subcommittee I am...because I am transgender and Civil Rights is my absolute pet issue. Now...Medicare For All <h2>YOU WILL NOT LOSE YOUR DOCTOR</h2> If you have Medicare For All, every doctor will be “in network” as there will be no networks. As long as your doctor takes Medicare at all, he/she would already be in the plan. And if not, he/she would hurry to get in Medicare, else lose most if not all of their patients. Networks, by the way, are a creation of private insurance, and to remain in a network, you need to be holding the line with an insurance company...that means, withholding as much healthcare as possible, keeping the insurance company’s costs low...or they will boot you out of network. So when they tell you it is about making sure you have quality doctors to choose from...don’t buy that B.S. As an aside, I might mention the story of a friend of mine who went for surgery. Her surgeon was covered. The anesthesiologist wasn’t. Who thinks to check if the anesthesiologist is covered on their plan? My friend got burned that way. With M4A this does not happen. My mother is on Medicare. She has had the same doctor since we moved here six years ago. I have lost my doctor every year on ACA. Although this year I get to go back to a doctor I had previously and lost. But I have had four different PCP’s since moving here...Mom still has the same one we both used. <h2>PRIVATE INSURANCE WILL STILL EXIST</h2> Medicare, as currently designed, has an annual deductible, and a 20 percent co-insurance rate —meaning they only pay 80 percent. There currently exist supplemental plans that you can buy to pay that 20 percent...some even cover the deductible. Additionally, the private insurance companies now offer “Medicare Advantage” plans (Medicare Part C.) Now, these plans have networks (as mentioned above) and likely still will...so if you lose your doctor, it will be because you changed companies….or because your insurance company dropped your doctor...or changed/discontinued your plan, and enrolled you in a “comparable” plan. But it will be a function of private insurance, not Medicare, that causes you to lose your doctor. And you will still be able to choose these plans instead of Traditional Medicare (the red white and blue card some of you are familiar with.) <h2>NO ANNUAL OR LIFETIME BENEFIT CAPS NO BEING DROPPED BECAUSE YOU GET SICK</h2> Remember the “good old days” when you would get a surprise bill from the doctor, because you had exceeded your annual benefit cap or lifetime benefit cap? ACA did away with those. It’s worth noting Trump and Company are trying to do away with the ACA even now...because they want insurance companies to be able to deny you coverage when you get really sick...or drop you when you are no longer profitable. I am old enough to remember those days, and I suspect some readers here also are. Medicare has no such caps. Yes, there are limitations (the famous drug donut hole) and there are deductibles and co-insurance, as noted. <h2>HEALTHCARE COSTS GREATLY REDUCED UNDER MEDICARE FOR ALL</h2> This works in two ways. First, you will pay no premium. Your taxes will go up, yes, because free is not free...someone is paying for it. But your taxes will go up by less than the amount you are no longer paying in insurance premiums. Medicare could then, because of the volume of members it has...aggressively negotiate drug and lab test costs — thus driving down the cost of healthcare. <h2>RURAL HOSPITALS AND CLINICS CAN STAY OPEN</h2> Sixty-two percent of rural hospital/clinic closings are in the 13 states that have not expanded Medicaid under the ACA. If patients have insurance, they can use the hospitals and clinics, and thus they do not close down because of going broke. Did you know that there is not a single hospital or clinic in St. John The Baptist Parish in Louisiana? This is a fact which has come out during the current pandemic. Many other rural Counties/Parishes have the same situation. <h2>HEALTHCARE NO LONGER TIED TO YOUR EMPLOYER/JOB</h2> This is especially important to note in the current pandemic...when so many have lost their coverage when they lost their jobs...and who cannot enroll in ACA because Trump will not re-open enrollment for those who have lost insurance in this way. Also, when your — or your family’s healthcare is no longer dependent on you staying put in your current job, you are free to pursue other dreams/opportunities/goals that present themselves. Many people are frozen into their job with a pair of golden handcuffs…..time to release them. <h2>THIS IS THE TRUTH ABOUT MEDICARE FOR ALL</h2> It fucking works. It places your actual care ahead of the profit. It prioritizes your health over profit considerations. Now, whether we get actual M4A, or a public option added to ACA, many of the same benefits will accrue to We The People...but Medicare For All is a more permanent solution and not a band-aid. Then again, expanding ACA to include public option can be a bridge to get us to M4A. And to do the public option, all you need to do is to allow people to “buy in” to Medicare...the apparatus exists. Even if you phase it in, starting with those 50 and older, then 40, then 30, then everyone. At any rate, the current pandemic has shined a very bright spotlight on our healthcare system...and the myriad of ways in which it fails us. I think that we as a nation will be demanding a more permanent fix after the pandemic. It’s a shame it had to come to this for progress to happen. It’s also shined a very bright spotlight on systemic poverty...and I cannot see a lot of people being very eager to re-embrace the systems that so utterly failed us, and failed our families, friends, neighbors, co-workers and loved ones. I think this pandemic is going to bring about some change...because not a one of us is going to come out of this untouched. Every one of us will have either suffered the disease and survived (or not) — or we will have a loved one, a family member, a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker who did. And all of us will have lived weeks/months of our lives in fear. Fear for our lives or our livelihoods or both...and this places a very bright spotlight on the reasons we Progressives fight so hard for safety nets. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Coronavirus Covid-19 m4a Medicare Pandemic _1936537 Sun, 12 Apr 2020 11:00:04 +0000 Donald Trump's Approve/Disapprove on Coronavirus Translated To Electoral Map https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/4/9/1935990/-Donald-Trump-s-Approve-Disapprove-on-Coronavirus-Translated-To-Electoral-Map I used Civiqs for this, their polling from Feb 25 thru Apr 8 The way I did this: I added Completely Satisfied and Mostly Satisfied Scores between 48 and 52 result in Tossup Between 45-47 Slight Dem, Between 53-55 Slight Rep Between 41-44 Strong Dem, Between 56-59 Strong Rep 40 or Under — Solid Dem, 60 or Over — Solid Rep Are ya loving that beautiful blue Texas? Surprised the hell out of me. Only solid red is Wyoming. Utah, Mississippi, Alaska, Indiana tossups, LOL. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Covid Electoral Recommended _1935990 Thu, 09 Apr 2020 22:32:13 +0000 Not Feeling Joe? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/4/9/1935816/-Not-Feeling-Joe I feel ya. I am not excited about Joe, either...but I will work my ass off because Trump must go. I started out as a Gilliibrand supporter — which, in a way, made me something of a pariah in my circle — they did not like her role in Franken’s resignation. It was one of several things that attracted me to Gillibrand, though. Here was a woman who did the hard thing….because it was the right thing...with no thought to what that may do to her own career and ambitions. Then, too, as a transgender woman, I was very grateful for her standing up on the Senate floor, speaking out against the transgender military ban, and I was grateful to Rep. Katie Hill for her speaking out against the “boys in girls’ sport" argument that is used to excuse horrible treatment of my community. Gilllibrand represented to me a strong woman who would not back down from what she knew was right...and she was a fighter...a scrapper like me — she went toe-to-toe with Jim Mattis on our behalf. And I never forgot. Meanwhile, I was running my own campaign for our State Senate, as the first openly-transgender woman in our state’s history to run for such office. Already, I was the first transgender person to be an elected Precinct Chair in my County’s history, and the fourth transgender person in State history to be elected to our Party’s State Executive Committee (there are now five of us.) I still serve in those roles, having resumed them after my Primary loss...while also serving as Secretary of the East Wake Democrats, and 1st Vice Chair of the Transgender Political Caucus of the NC Democratic Party — the first such Caucus recognized on a state level by a major political Party in the nation. On top of that, I serve, by appointment of the State Party Chair...on the Platform and Resolutions Committee...and I am on the Subcommittee for Civil Rights, Criminal Justice and Education. I have been there for the last year and a half...and have now been asked (and accepted) to Chair that Subcommittee. My own County Party Chair is in that Subcommittee, and i got asked to Chair it. So I do the work, and am a leader...and...as such...my support is now with Joe. After Gillibrand dropped, I was a Warren supporter...until I saw Tom Steyer speak...and liked him more than I wanted to. I even ended up endorsing him, from my position as a candidate. So I politically in a very different place than Joe. So I understand the Sanders people to a degree...but this is where I diverge… I have a streak of pragmatism in me that comes, out of necessity, from years living as a hated minority — and from just years of experience. A streak of pragmatism I find missing in many Sanders supporters, which, in my view...makes them willing to throw away the whole pie if they can’t have it....they won’t accept 40-50 percent of the pie and then work for the rest, they want it all right now or they will throw it in the trash...which is NOT a good strategy, in my view. Joe...for his part, is going to need to make overtures to our wing of the party, though...to create unity. And I believe he will need to make meaningful overtures, and so I am looking towards a potential Cabinet as places where those overtures can be made. And some of his picks will undoubtedly tick me off...like Kamala Harris...who I do not doubt will get something. I’ve never been able to forgive her for her role in Norsworthy vs Beard. She is to me what Gillibrand is to some others in our Party...one who committed what I view to be a mortal and unpardonable sin. On the other hand, I am pretty sure Warren gets something too. maybe even Sanders...but I expect Sanders will stay in the Senate, and reap his favors, as they were...in the appointment of others in his orbit who are younger...like in the vein of an AOC. (probably not AOC herself) [DIARIST’S NOTE: This part edited for clarity from it’s original text.] Personally, I like Warren for VP or Gretchen Whitmer. On the other side of the aisle...and it must also be accommodated this time...in order to get the ones less-than-enthused about Trump to come over...we will probably find a place for a guy like Mitt Romney...maybe even Secretary Of State. My point is….this will be a package that everyone will find something to hate about...and everyone will find something to love about. But we all need to keep eyes on the prize — Trump absolutely MUST go. We must vote as if our lives depend on it...because this time, it really does! Sanders folks...I feel ya. It hurts when your guy drops...I know, I went through it twice this cycle...and once after I had made a public endorsement from my position as a candidate. I am begging all of you to look at the larger picture here — and to vote for Joe in November. I know I will...even though I am less than excited about Joe...the alternative is unthinkable. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) bernie GOTV JoeBiden trump Unity _1935816 Thu, 09 Apr 2020 11:53:36 +0000 200,000 Deaths Is A Win... https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/4/4/1934174/-200-000-Deaths-Is-A-Win OK...so lets try a little perspective on this. Right now...the country with the most deaths is Italy. They have 14.5K dead at the time of this writing. Their population is roughly 18 percent ours (Italy has about 60 million citizens to our 330 million.) So, in another way, we have 5.55 times as much population. If our per-capita death rate was to match Italy, then, we would have between 80 — 81K dead. And this assclown in our White House still thinks 200,000 dead is a win. More than twice the per-capita death rate as the current worst country in the world for this disease presently. Yeah, Donnie sure like to do it big, At least we would be Number One in something, yeah? Let’s try some more perspective. Italy has, at present, about 120,000 cases...and 14,5K deaths. That is a twelve percent death rate. And that assumes all active cases resolve favorably. With 20K recovered in Italy, they still have about 85,000 active cases. The US has 278K cases as of this writing. We have just over 7K dead and just under 10K recovered, so let’s round those. We have thus half as many dead and half as many recovered, currently, as Italy. Because we have more cases at the moment, our death rate is lower, but we still have 260,000 active cases unresolved. Three times as many as Italy. With just our current cases, assuming no new infections, and just a 5 percent death rate...we would match Italy’s current dead total. If we matched their current twelve percent, it’s over 33,000 dead. And that’s with no new infections. Now, Italy...let’s look just at resolved cases...dead or recovered. 34.5 K cases. 14.5K dead. Now you are talking a 42 percent death rate. If we matched that (and our current dead to recovered ratio mirrors Italy’s at the moment) — with no new cases at all you are near 117K dead in America. So with no new cases at all — we have a range of best-case, 14K dead and worst case 117K dead. And that, again, is with no new infections. I am guessing we will land somewhere in between. So let’s say dead center of this range. I will round down and call it 65K...and again, that is with no new cases. Yet cases are doubling here every four days, I believe. Let’s be generous and say six...because six days ago, we had 140,000 cases. Now...how far are we from flattening the curve? Models currently show our “apex” being April 15. That’s twelve days. So our cases double twice in that time. And they don’t stop after that...they start to level off and go down. If the model is correct, then we would have 1,1122,000 cases by April 15. Models show us needing half as many hospital beds on May 6 as April 15...so we could say at that point, halfway thru the down curve. So now let’s say that for those twenty days...our cases only increase by 50 percent. We would now have 1,668,000 cases cumulative by that date. From there the model shows us getting to near zero on July 1 but pretty close to it even on June 1.. All models I can work with suggest to me that approximately 2 million American cases will be cumulative total. Now let’s re-work figures. The reported death rate is 4 percent, approximately...but I think ours will be higher because of a lack of equipment and preparedness. 4 percent means 80K dead 12 percent which is what Italy ends up with if no new cases, and all current ones resolving in recovery...in America...a 12 percent rate means 240K dead. Now let’s look at the nightmare scenario, and assume the 42 percent rate from above, which is Italy’s current dead to recovered ratio. That means 840K dead. Now let’s take that best case and worst case again...since I suspect we end up somewhere in the middle….and let’s say 460K dead. Now for some perspective: 80K dead, best case results in 80 percent of South Bend Indiana biting the dust. OR the Battle of Antietam, PLUS all Swine Flu deaths from 2009 PLUS all Military deaths from the Normandy campaign PLUS all military deaths from the Korean War. And that’s best case. 240K dead is a little more than the entire population of Richmond, Virginia. OR a little over twice the total military deaths from World War One. 460K dead is slightly less than the entire population of Omaha, Nebraska OR about the total military deaths from World War Two PLUS Vietnam. 840K dead is the entire population of Seattle, Washington AND Tuscaloosa, Alabama OR about the number killed in the Spanish Flu of 1918 PLUS all military deaths from World War One PLUS all military deaths from Vietnam. This chart shows the grim details <div class="table-wrapper"> <table cellspacing="0" style="text-align:start"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">Event</td> <td style="text-align:left">Year(s)</td> <td style="text-align:left">Americans Dead</td> <td style="text-align:left">Notes</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">Las Vegas shooting</td> <td style="text-align:left">2017</td> <td style="text-align:left">58</td> <td style="text-align:left">Worst mass shooting in U.S. history</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">Oklahoma City bombing</td> <td style="text-align:left">1995</td> <td style="text-align:left">168</td> <td style="text-align:left">Deadliest domestic terrorist attack in U.S. history</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">Sinking of the Titanic</td> <td style="text-align:left">1912</td> <td style="text-align:left">238</td> <td style="text-align:left">Overall death toll (including non-Americans) estimated at 1,635</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">Hurricane Katrina</td> <td style="text-align:left">2005</td> <td style="text-align:left">1,836</td> <td style="text-align:left">Estimated</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">Johnstown Flood</td> <td style="text-align:left">1889</td> <td style="text-align:left">2,209</td> <td style="text-align:left">Worst man-made disaster of the 19th century; estimated</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">Bombing of Pearl Harbor</td> <td style="text-align:left">1941</td> <td style="text-align:left">2,467</td> <td style="text-align:left">Deadliest military strike on U.S. soil</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">Hurricane Maria</td> <td style="text-align:left">2017</td> <td style="text-align:left">2,982</td> <td style="text-align:left">Estimated</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">9/11 attacks</td> <td style="text-align:left">2001</td> <td style="text-align:left">2,997</td> <td style="text-align:left">Deadliest terrorist attack in world history</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">San Francisco earthquake</td> <td style="text-align:left">1906</td> <td style="text-align:left">3,000</td> <td style="text-align:left">Estimated</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">Battle of Antietam</td> <td style="text-align:left">1862</td> <td style="text-align:left">3,675</td> <td style="text-align:left">Deadliest single day in U.S. history</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">COVID-19</td> <td style="text-align:left">2020</td> <td style="text-align:left">4,000+</td> <td style="text-align:left"></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">Galveston hurricane</td> <td style="text-align:left">1900</td> <td style="text-align:left">6,000-12,000</td> <td style="text-align:left">Worst natural disaster in U.S. history; estimated</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">Battle of Gettysburg</td> <td style="text-align:left">1863</td> <td style="text-align:left">7,058</td> <td style="text-align:left">Deadliest battle in U.S. history</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">H1N1</td> <td style="text-align:left">2009</td> <td style="text-align:left">12,469</td> <td style="text-align:left">"Swine flu"</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">Revolutionary War</td> <td style="text-align:left">1776-83</td> <td style="text-align:left">25,000</td> <td style="text-align:left">Estimated</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">Normandy campaign</td> <td style="text-align:left">1944</td> <td style="text-align:left">29,204</td> <td style="text-align:left">Deadliest military campaign in U.S. history</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">Korean War</td> <td style="text-align:left">1951-53</td> <td style="text-align:left">36,516</td> <td style="text-align:left">Military deaths only</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">Vietnam War</td> <td style="text-align:left">1964-71</td> <td style="text-align:left">58,209</td> <td style="text-align:left">Military deaths only</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">World War I</td> <td style="text-align:left">1917-18</td> <td style="text-align:left">116,516</td> <td style="text-align:left">Military deaths only</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">COVID-19 projections, 3/31/20</td> <td style="text-align:left">2020</td> <td style="text-align:left">120,000-240,000</td> <td style="text-align:left"></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">World War II</td> <td style="text-align:left">1941-45</td> <td style="text-align:left">405,399</td> <td style="text-align:left">Military deaths only</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">Spanish Flu</td> <td style="text-align:left">1918-19</td> <td style="text-align:left">675,000</td> <td style="text-align:left">Estimated</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="text-align:left">Civil War</td> <td style="text-align:left">1861-65</td> <td style="text-align:left">800,000</td> <td style="text-align:left">Military deaths only; estimated</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> As you can see, on 3/31/20 the projection was 120K to 240K dead. Does Trump even KNOW what 200,000 dead Americans looks like? It is about half as many people as are buried at Arlington. <figure class="image-captioned align-right"><img alt="Arlington_National_Cemetery_graves.jpg" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/786072/large/Arlington_National_Cemetery_graves.jpg?1585772129" title="Arlington_National_Cemetery_graves.jpg"> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> Only a complete unfeeling JACKASS thinks 200,000 dead Americans is any kind of a win. I am beyond disgusted. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) COVID19 trump _1934174 Sat, 04 Apr 2020 10:56:42 +0000 Clear And Present Danger https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/4/3/1933857/-Clear-And-Present-Danger So this Diary of late-night lawyering comes as a result of research I did, after my curiosity was piqued by another Diarist’’s comments, specifically — concerning whether FOX NEWS should be censored, removed from the air, or even held legally liable for disinformation emanating from their network in this COVID crisis, especially in the beginning, when they toed the IMPOTUS’ line about how it was all a Democratic hoax for the sole purpose of hurting him and his re-election chances. I should note I am NOT a lawyer….but I did major in Paralegal and Pol. Sci in college, with an intent to go on to law school, and I carried a 4.0 GPA. Paralegal background makes me good at finding applicable case law...and very light interpretation of same — inasmuch as one would need to interpret well enough to know if it was applicable. So for a moment (I can’t resist this) — I want to digress into how EVERYTHING always seems to be about Donald J Trump...or the effect a thing has on Donald J Trump...in Trump’s mind and the mind of his supporters. In their world….everything anyone says or does that they do not agree with has a nefarious motive — never that maybe we’d like to protect ourselves, our loved ones, our neighbors, our co-workers...and complete strangers...hell, we would like to protect EVEN THEM! If for no other reason than that, when infected, they could pass it on to us, our loved ones, our neighbors, our co-workers. But I digress. So, getting back to <a href="https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/193/schenck-v-united-states" target="_blank">Schenck</a> — which I snipped above...while this case involved actions in wartime, it established the <a href="https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/encyclopedia/case/27/clear-and-present-danger-test" target="_blank">“clear and present danger”</a> test, which has been used for the famous quip about how Freedom of Speech does not give one the right to yell “FIRE” in a crowded theatre when a fire does not in fact exist. The case HAS also been used in context outside of wartime...and as with much case law...has undergone interpretation, re-interpretation and modification. On the surface, Schenck would seem to say that YES...FOX NEWS could be censored, removed from the air, or even held liable — because I don’t think anyone could make a case that a pandemic with the potential to kill hundreds of thousands of Americans does not rise to the level of “clear and present danger.” The most recent re-interpretation/citation I could find that would seem to apply is <a href="https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/189/brandenburg-v-ohio" target="_blank">Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)</a> — which I bring up ONLY because in that case they cite a previous case, <a href="https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/190/dennis-v-united-states" target="_blank">Dennis v. United States (1951)</a> Brandenburg had to do with advocacy, and cited Dennis as “good law.” While Dennis dealt primarily with anti-communism in the McCarthy era — it DID uphold convictions of Communists, based on the Party’s political teachings. In Dennis, Judge Harold Medina instructed the jury members that they were not to deliberate on whether the defendants’ actions could possibly have caused harm to the nation. They were merely to decide whether the defendants had engaged in a conspiracy and would take steps to overthrow the government given the chance, as alleged by the federal prosecutors. Judge Medina thus reserved to himself, and ultimately to Congress, the heart of the clear and present danger test: an inquiry into the nature of the conduct outlawed. Brandenburg introduced the “imminent lawlessness test.” which has largely replaced “the clear and present danger test” (Schwartz 1995: 27): “The constitutional guarantees of free speech and free press do not permit a State to forbid or proscribe advocacy of the use of force or law violation except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.” But we are out in the weeds here, because most of these cases have to do with what speech can be limited when the effect or intended effect is to overthrow the government or incite violence/lawlessness...we do NOT have a clear interpretation, that I can find….that would in fact allow a limitation on Freedom of the Press, even in the face of a pandemic and a network disseminating misinformation...whether or not the intent/effect was to place hundreds of thousands of Americans at risk. Let alone any that would allow FOX NEWS to be held criminally or financially liable. And given the current makeup of the Court, i doubt we will see anything come forward that would address this in a manner that would allow for limitation/liability of FOX NEWS. I can’t find any case law that would specifically apply. Any actual lawyers care to comment? Also, anyone care to comment on why this should or should not happen….and please give reasons. As for me...I believe this is an area of law that now must be addressed. But I have, as I indicated, little faith that our current SCOTUS would rule in a manner I would agree with. I believe in a public health crisis of this magnitude, there needs to be some way to insure that information disseminated is accurate, and will not have the effect of increasing harm to the general public. I’d also say that the the Preamble to the Constitution would offer an argument in my favor, because it is the Government’s duty to provide for the general welfare. As far as I know, this has never been tested in the way it would need to be tested to apply in this current crisis. <blockquote> The Preamble states that an overriding purpose of the U.S. Constitution is to “promote the general welfare,” indicating that issues such as poverty, housing, food and other economic and social welfare issues facing the citizenry were of central concern to the framers. (www.acslaw.org) </blockquote> Frankly, in this current crisis...there is a LOT of interpretation that needs to be clarified! Some states have done this in their own Constitutions, for example, <blockquote> <a href="http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/folioproxy.asp?url=http://wwwjnu01.legis.state.ak.us/cgi-bin/folioisa.dll/acontxt/query=*/doc/%7bt1%7d?">Alaska’s constitution</a>, adopted at the time of statehood in 1959, addresses the public health of state inhabitants, as does <a href="http://hawaii.gov/lrb/con/">Hawaii’s</a>, which states that “the State shall provide for the protection and promotion of the public health.” </blockquote> Anyway...that is my late-night lawyering, and my opinion remains that we need to address and clarify many things. But as of right now, I see nothing that could be used to limit Freedom of the Press, or hold them liable, even if they do, by intent or not...cause real harm to the public health. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) 1stAmendment Constitution COVID19 FoxNews _1933857 Fri, 03 Apr 2020 11:00:19 +0000 Help Our Most Medically Vulnerable - An Immediate Plea For Action!! https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/3/31/1933158/-Help-Our-Most-Medically-Vulnerable-An-Immediate-Plea-For-Action OK...I am asking for some help here...not for me, but for some of our most-vulnerable citizens. I need to first provide a little background. As some of you night be aware, i own and operate a medical billing/coding company out of my home. My main client is in Pennsylvania...but this is a nationwide concern. As of March 6, Medicare is waiving normal requirements for doctors to practice telemedicine and are paying these claims at parity with regular in-person/in-office visits - and most private insurance companies are following Medicare's lead...and this is a good thing. However, there is a population I fear could be falling through the cracks here, and they are some of our most-vulnerable. These are people who reside in Domiciliaries or rest homes that are NOT Skilled Nursing Facilities. You see, office visits get coded with CPT Codes 99201-99215, and Skilled Nursing Facilities, 99307-99309. These codes are included. What is missing is CPT Codes 99324-99337 (this info is more for doctors, nurses, Medicare, etc as they will know what this means) What it means, though...is that doctors currently visiting patients in such facilities could still only continue in-person visits, and NOT do telehealth for these patients. This is very dangerous, because the residents of such facilities tend to skew elder, tend to have many chronic conditions and/or comorbidity issues, and often do not have full possession of mental faculties, making social distancing difficult if not impossible to enforce. In light of what happened at the LifeCare Center in Kirkland, WA - it is clear that this is a tragedy waiting to happen and which can be avoided. These are mostly all patients already at higher risk, and with the added problem that social distancing is difficult or impossible in such an environment...if any one patient got exposed, it would go through the patients and staff like wildfire, with foreseeable tragic results! Please help me protect these vulnerable citizens, by contacting Federal officials, asking them to ask CMS/Medicare to revise their policy to include service to these facilities be allowed via telemedicine (and this is where you need the CPT codes I gave above) - so that these patients can continue to receive needed medical attention while minimizing the risk to these patients. Thank you! rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) COVID19 Medicare Telemedicine _1933158 Tue, 31 Mar 2020 21:50:46 +0000 This Country Is Going To Fundamentally Change https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/3/22/1930201/-This-Country-Is-Going-To-Fundamentally-Change So here we are in Day What...of this ongoing pandemic. I do not know the official starting date, but I count Day One as Super Tuesday, as that was the day we got our first positive in MY County (Wake County, NC). Meaning we are now, by my count, 20 days in. We still have not enough tests, not enough masks, not enough ventilators. New Jersey became the latest state to order Shelter In Place and more may be coming. The US has now become the country with the third most cases in the world. Every day we see more and more positive cases as more testing becomes available….and as some spreading occurs. This crisis has brought into sharp focus...the many failures that have led to this thing being worse than it had to be...and I am wondering how readily Americans will re-embrace the systems that so failed us. Will we demand more proactive response in the future? America has always been a reactive rather than proactive nation...will that change? Will we demand contingency plans and better reporting to be in place? Will the fellow feeling we see in many last...or will it fade? Will we demand better for the poor and the vulnerable among us? One way or another thing thing is going to touch us all.. I’d like to know what people think will be some of the lasting effects. Discuss. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Coronavirus COVID19 Pandemic _1930201 Mon, 23 Mar 2020 05:13:48 +0000 So, What IS A Pandemic? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/3/22/1930077/-So-What-IS-A-Pandemic I'm surprised...though I guess I should not be - about how people freak out when they hear the term "pandemic." Our media has NOT helped in this regard. Before I continue - a disclaimer. I am NOT a doctor. I am NOT qualified to give medical advice or treatment. But I do work in healthcare administration, specifically billing and coding - and my formal education was in Medical Transcription. As part of my education, I had to learn a great deal of basic medicine, mostly terminology, context and disease processes - in order to be able to correctly do my job. So...today, I want to explain, as best I can...what a pandemic ACTUALLY IS. The media hype is making people believe that a pandemic is somehow stronger, more likely to kill...and this has driven some fear and panic. None of what I say here should be taken as medical advice, please get that from reliable sources like your doctor, the CDC, your State official channels, etc. Now...pandemic. What is it? Did you all know AIDS is currently classified as a pandemic also? Simply, a pandemic is a virus to which nobody on the planet has any built up or natural immunity - making the entire population of the world susceptible. How does this happen? Viruses come in different strains (or species if you like) and corona viruses are just one strain of virus. For example, some years, the flu vaccine is more effective than other years. This is because they have to take their best guess as to which strains are most likely to be prevalent in a given flu season...so when a strain they did not expect is active, you have a worse flu season, since fewer people would have a natural or built-up immunity. A sub-group of virus species is known as a serotype. This is so called because antibodies in your system exist in your blood serum. These antibodies are created in an immune response to antigens on the surface of viruses - or acquired through vaccination. (vaccines are a deadened form of the virus, but allow your body to create antibodies against that virus serotype) As with all life, viruses also try to survive, and adapt according to what makes them best able to survive. The way a virus works is...the antigens on the surface of a virus attach to specific cells to which they are compatible. It then turns that cell into a "virus factory" - using our own bodies' cell regeneration to produce more virus cells...which then attach to more cells. Antibodies in your system are designed to attach to the antigens of the surface of a virus, preventing them from attaching to cells - your body is actually pretty smart! Unfortunately, so are viruses! Viruses survive in the long term by mutating (EVOLVING) - and changing the sequence or structure of their antigens so that the existing antibodies are less effective. This is a new serotype, or subgroup, of an existing species or strain of the virus in question. Normally, these new serotypes follow a pattern of extrapolation from the old serotype...and so we have SOME immunity - and our bodies just alter their antibodies to match. BUT...when a new serotype is radically different from the preceding serotype - we have no immunity. And such a virus is, by definition, a pandemic - because the entire world's population is susceptible. Pandemic does NOT mean stronger, more likely to kill...but it does mean more likely to get it because of the lack of any immunity. So DO be careful and follow the guidelines being put in place by the experts who ARE qualified to diagnose and treat...and contain. But don't let the media's overuse of the word PANDEMIC scare you. That is the media doing what the media has always done...trying to get your attention. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Coronavirus COVID19 Pandemic _1930077 Sun, 22 Mar 2020 20:29:18 +0000 I Did Not Win My Election - But The Fight Continues https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/3/5/1924482/-I-Did-Not-Win-My-Election-But-The-Fight-Continues This is a post I did not want to write, because we did not achieve the results we wanted. First, I wish to congratulate Sarah Crawford on her victory tonight, and in hopes that she will fight for the causes both of us believe in. I have run a campaign I can be proud of, and I have blazed a trail and made NC history as the first openly transgender woman to ever run for NC Legislature. I've shown many who doubted me that I had dimensions they did not suspect. It is possibly more exhausting to run for office than to hold office, but I have enjoyed the campaign, and meeting all the voters I did, and hearing their stories. I will carry them with me as I continue to fight for the cause of equality, justice and fairness in North Carolina. Until today, I never understood it when a losing candidate was asked, "What's next?" and they would answer ""rest!" But for me, there will be no rest. I will continue to fight - as a citizen - for the causes upon which I ran this campaign. I wish to thank my campaign manager, Brandi Brown, whose guidance was valuable beyond all measure, and her husband, Brian, whose support for me means more than he can know. I also wish to thank my mother, Rosalie Bridgman for standing in support of me 100 percent...and for her patience. She tells me I am brave to do what I have done, and that she never could do this...but the values I have, and which I brought to this campaign, I owe to her. To my supporters, my friends, those who voted for me....and those who shared their stories with me over this campaign - you have enriched my life and firmed my resolve to continue to fight until all North Carolinians have a government that is just, equitable, and responsive to their needs, because North Carolina deserves nothing less. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Elections LGBTQ NCGA NorthCarolina Transgender _1924482 Thu, 05 Mar 2020 13:00:14 +0000 History In The Making! North Carolina Has First Two Openly-Trans Candidates For NC Legislature https://www.dailykos.com/story/2020/2/28/1922709/-History-In-The-Making-North-Carolina-Has-First-Two-Openly-Trans-Candidates-For-NC-Legislature <a href="http://www.wcnc.com/video/news/investigations/investigators/making-history-2-transgender-candidates-seeking-office-in-nc/275-c66550fb-cd82-4e89-b9a0-51d1c9f49596?jwsource=cl" target="_blank">Link to Video From NBC Charlotte</a> Here is the latest write-up on my own campaign positions, versus my opponent, Sarah Crawford, appearing in this morning’s <a href="https://wakeweekly.com/stories/democrats-vie-for-votes,202480" target="_blank">Wake Weekly</a> I’d like to excerpt from that a key point, on which I have campaigned, because I believe that this is key to getting everything else we want…..and no, it is NOT gerrymandering! There’s something else that comes first: <blockquote> WAKE WEEKLY: North Carolina currently doesn’t have a state budget due to a stalemate between Republican lawmakers and Gov. Roy Cooper. Do you support Cooper’s veto of the budget, and how might you work to resolve this or future budget stalemates? BRIDGMAN: I support Gov. Cooper’s veto. When elected, I will work to pass a referendum through the Senate and the House to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot to impose a 10-day limit on the Legislature to override gubernatorial vetoes to match the 10-day limit the governor has to veto legislation coming from the General Assembly. Currently, the Legislature has no limit, and therefore nothing to force them to come to the table to negotiate in good faith. This creates a situation in which we no longer have three coequal branches of government, as required by the North Carolina Constitution, so this amendment would restore that balance. </blockquote> My campaign, when it started…was written off by many detractors as being all about HB-2. I have since proved otherwise, though in a small way, they are right. You see, without HB-2 I’d still be living in stealth — as the woman I have finally become, in a place where nobody knew my past. That was my intent when I moved here in 2014. Ask me how well THAT plan worked out! Like myself, Gray Ellis understands the importance and the history-making aspect to our candidacies. and like myself, wishes to emphasize the many other aspects to our campaigns — but it is unavoidable that the center of attention will be on our respective transgender statuses. I would challenge anyone to find me a candidate or an elected official that does not have a few issues that, for whatever reason, are near and dear to their heart. HB-2 is no different for myself and Gray. We are quite capable of walking while chewing gum! As to my own path to candidacy, I say this: On March 23, 2016, my state government declared war on me, and on my community. I fought back. The fight continues...and it will continue until ALL citizens of North Carolina enjoy full justice and equality. <figure class="image-captioned width-md align-right"><img alt="WalkCardFront.jpg" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/771496/large/WalkCardFront.jpg?1582899729" title="WalkCardFront.jpg"> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> As an out transgender woman for more than 25 years, I have had to learn how to take things that do not work, and make them work anyway. Our legislature is broken. Outside the box thinking is a critical survival skill for transgender people like myself, and it enables me to find creative and workable solutions to complex problems. I’d like to take those skills to the NC Senate, for the betterment of all citizens. My fight began when HB-2 was passed. That night, friends of mine back from Pennsylvania were all calling me, asking me when I was going to come home. And I told them all: “Don’t you do that to me, I AM HOME!! And I am here to fight!” The reaction to HB-2, not from outside the state, but from within — let me know I had made the right decision. People stood up for me and for my community...and they said “We Are Not This!” Now, I remember a time, not that long ago, when something like HB-2 could have passed, and nobody would have cared. But this time….people who were not transgender stood. And my struggle became theirs. As I worked with them, fought with them, got to know them and became friends with them...their struggles became mine. And the issues I learned about from them…..have become the core of my campaign. I am not like other politicians. I am not a lawyer, I do not drive a fancy car, I live in a single-wide mobile home, and I do not wear the latest designer fashions. I also do not speak in abstracts. I know in a very real, personal and visceral way — what it feels like to suffer injustice. I am moved by passion and by compassion to fight it wherever I see it. This is what being touched by injustice has done for me. And the issues I fight for, the solutions I propose...come from talking with real people, finding out what they need, and then figuring out how to help them get it. My Primary is Super Tuesday. <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vQvRAaaPPKvCk1OrW3Y7AXM_TjBjK9GRH9vM7krOuhsjnRUAEdBjoFmhP4yEgjL2-O3dQxzJLyruC6s/pub?start=true&loop=true&delayms=3000&fbclid=IwAR2uzM4emWwK_JuOFBzdpwQwTGi6A3DXVB2ys89ZiH1kCLaePBeDPI-i_zY&slide=id.p" target="_blank">Click To Start Slide Show</a> rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Elections NC-Sen NorthCarolina Vote _1922709 Fri, 28 Feb 2020 15:56:13 +0000 I Am Not Alone - NC Has TWO Openly-Trans Candidates For State Senate!! https://www.dailykos.com/story/2019/12/24/1907625/-I-Am-Not-Alone-NC-Has-TWO-Openly-Trans-Candidates-For-State-Senate First...it was me. I stood alone. In 2018, I became the first openly-trans person in state history to publicly announce a candidacy for the State Legislature. I originally filed my campaign committee in April, 2017. I had intended to run for NC House in 2018. However, a court-ordered redraw of the State legislative districts moved me from the District I had planned to run in. In fact, I got moved from two Republican Districts into two Democratic Districts...and not just any Democratic Districts...but the Districts, respectively, of the House Minority Leader, Darren Jackson (HD-39) and the Senate Majority Leader, Dan Blue, Jr. (SD-14.) Thus was my 2018 candidacy torpedoed. In a year when we were trying to break the GOP Supermajority (which we happily succeeded in doing) — I had no interest in Primarying an incumbent Democrat. Normally, I would not have a problem, if I felt I could do better, and I assure you, Party loyalty aside, I have little love for either of these two men. Largely because of their actions and lack of actions concerning transgender rights in North Carolina. And my feelings in this matter, concerning these two men, are no big secret. Of course, Rep. David Lewis of Harnett County, when asked by a reporter, denied that I had been deliberately targeted…that non-incumbent candidates had not been taken into account in the map redraw in 2017 — to which my response was that they should ask Matt Calabria what he thought about that (they literally drew right around his house.) In my case, I live in a mobile home community — there is only one road in. So they could not as precisely cut me as they had Matt, but they did use the very first available streets both east and north of my community for the new lines. I dropped out of my race, because I felt it was counterproductive to the efforts underway to break the Supermajority. And I had a vested interest in making that happen. Because of HB-142. The so-called repeal of HB-2, which placed a Moratorium on local governments from passing civil rights legislation beyond the level of the State. That Moratorium is set to expire in Dec. 1, 2020...meaning those elected in 2018...will be sitting in the Legislature still when that date arrives. I fully expect the NC-GOP to try, and succeed, in passing separate legislation to extend that Moratorium. And I fully expect Governor Cooper to veto that. With a Supermajority, the NC-GOP could and would have closed ranks, and we transgender would never have rights in North Carolina. That is what was at stake. Of course, in September, we saw what the NC-GOP will resort to trying to over-ride a Gubernatorial veto when they do not have that Supermajority! In either case, I backed out of my intended candidacy in the interest of serving the greater interest of my community. Fast forward to 2019. Another court-ordered redraw of Districts left me in my existing House District, but moved me BACK to my old Senate District. Of course, I was going to run regardless, as the concerns that existed in 2018 were no longer a factor, and, as I stated, Party loyalty aside, I have little love for Dan Blue Jr. I was prepared to run against him if it came to that — I even had “RESET BUTTONS” ready to roll out (you need to understand the history of that...I will trans-splain below) So...when the so-called repeal of HB-2 — HB-142 was passed, Senator Blue spent SEVEN MINUTES pontificating on the floor of the NC Senate (and I know because I put a stopwatch to him from the Gallery) about how this would be “a reset button that would enable an open and honest conversation about the rights of transgender citizens of North Carolina.” And Senator Blue has not given us seven SECONDS since that day. We trans have waited nearly three years for the promised conversation that has never even started. Hence my willingness to run against him, and hence the RESET BUTTONS I was ready to roll out with my campaign. Fate had different plans, and I was moved back to Senate District 18, where I had been originally...but the District was reconfigured in a way that gives the edge to the Democrats...so the incumbent Republican in that seat, John Alexander, is not running. And so i assumed I would be the first and only openly-trans person to run. And I was the first to file, filing on the very first day, Dec. 2. And I stood alone. Articles were written about me, notably in the Wake Weekly. And then came the last day of filing. And Gray Ellis, a trans man and attorney from Durham...filed for Senate District 20, a seat being vacated by one of my favorite Senators, Floyd B. McKissick, Jr. so that he could take a seat on the Utilities Commission. Had this not happened, I am pretty sure he would have had no Primary challenger. (Author Note: Floyd was one of six Democrats that had the guts to stand with us trans and vote NO on the so-called repeal, because of the lengthy Moratorium) As it is, there are three Democrats in Gray’s Primary, including Gray himself. I also have a Primary challenger — one who ran for this seat in 2014 and lost...when it was configured more in a way that favored the Republicans. So now it is on like Donkey Kong!! North Carolina has TWO openly-trans candidates for state Senate. Gray, like myself, appears to be following the Danica Roem model, do not run from the trans issue, but focus on issues outside of the LGBTQ. He and I both have staked out positions on healthcare affordability and accessibility. I have additional planks in my campaign platform, focusing on educational parity and funding, expansion of rural broadband, ending gerrymandering and other social and economic justice issues. In addition, I am having to take a page from AOC’s playbook. I have to be everywhere. Because my Primary opponent is the wife of a registered lobbyist, and thus has a source of funds that I will never tap into. I cannot outraise or outspend her, and I don’t mean to try...I am going to out-people her. That being said, I would appreciate the support of the KO’s community in my campaign, because you cannot run a campaign without money, unfortunately. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/angelancsenate" target="_blank">My ActBlue is here</a>. <figure class="image-captioned align-right"><img alt="AngelaBridgmanSenate.jpg" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/726408/large/AngelaBridgmanSenate.jpg?1570728352" title="AngelaBridgmanSenate.jpg"> <figcaption>MAKE IT WORK! This is my campaign slogan, and it is more than just a slogan. As an out transgender woman for the last 26 years in an often-hostile society...I have had to learn how to take things that do not work...and make them work anyway. Right now, for many of our citizens, the State Legislature does not work. I mean to change that.</figcaption> </figure> There are many voices right now in North Carolina that are not being heard. The transgender is but one of those voices. I am running because I hear ALL of those voices, and I want to make sure our government does, too. I want to make sure their voices are heard, their challenges addressed, and that our elected officials are truly accountable to the people. My fellow citizens deserve no less than a government that is transparent, accountable and responsive to ALL of its citizens. My recent public positions: I am calling out the fearmongers who demonize undocumented immigrants, pointing out, accurately, that they are far more likely to be the victims of exploitation and violence than they are to be the perpetrators of it. I am calling for Gov. Cooper’s intervention in the case of <a href="https://blavity.com/another-black-woman-may-go-to-prison-because-she-didnt-know-she-lost-her-right-to-vote?category1=politics" target="_blank">Lanisha Bratcher</a>. She faces being sent back to prison because she voted in 2016...and did not know she had lost the right to vote. Nobody told her. She was apparently still on the voter rolls, and was allowed to cast a ballot. So there are screwups on all sides here...if she was to lose her right to vote, she should have been so informed...her name should have been removed from voter rolls and she should have been prevented from casting a ballot. None of those things happened. So, as a society, we punish only the black woman. I see NO compelling state interest in destroying, once again, the life of this woman...after she has so painfully rebuilt her life after her release from prison. This could have been prevented, with the passage of <a href="https://org2.salsalabs.com/o/6601/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=26793" target="_blank">HB-819</a> in the last session. I am now on public record supporting the passage of such legislation, which would require the state to prove INTENT to defraud, before they could convict. As it stands now, voting while serving a criminal sentence in North Carolina is considered a “strict liability” felony, meaning prosecutors can convict people like Bratcher without proving they intended to vote illegally. HB-819 would change that, requiring that intent be proven. I am on public record supporting this….and in calling on Governor Cooper to intervene. I stand for the vulnerable, the oppressed, the voices that have not been being heard. I stand for those victimized by our society, often through legal means. I stand for those whose voices have not been being heard...and whose challenges remain unaddressed. I am not, at this time, aware of Mr. Ellis’ stance on any of these issues. I am guessing he would take the same stance I am taking. But I cannot do this alone...I need your help! I need financial support, and more than that, I need PEOPLE POWER!! I need volunteers...phone bankers and door knockers. Please visit my <a href="http://www.bridgmansenate18.com" target="_blank" title="">campaign website</a> where you will find links on how you can help. Together, we can make North Carolina a better place for everyone! You may also follow me on Twitter at @AngelaForNCSD18 — and you may also Like my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AngelaForNCSenate18/" target="_blank" title="">Campaign Facebook Page</a>. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Campaigns GrayEllis LGBT LGBTQ LGBTQIA NCGA NorthCarolina Transgender _1907625 Tue, 24 Dec 2019 12:30:21 +0000 Wake Forest, NC Cancels Christmas Parade Over Safety Concerns, Possible Disruption https://www.dailykos.com/story/2019/12/5/1903658/-Wake-Forest-NC-Cancels-Christmas-Parade-Over-Safety-Concerns-Possible-Disruption So...Wake Forest has now joined Garner in cancelling their Christmas parade. This is over controversy about the participation in the parade of a group called SCV (Sons of Confederate Veterans.) Apparently, outside groups both in support of, and opposed to SCV, have planned protests/demonstrations that the towns do not feel they are able to respond to in a way that keeps the community safe. Now, I do not know about the rest of you, but I for one am tired of bad actors on either side...taking away the things that are GOOD in life. That said, I publicly oppose the participation of the SCV in the Christmas Parade. My reasons for this: 1. The symbols of the Confederacy have absolutely nothing to do with Christmas. 2. The inclusion of symbols that some in the community find hurtful, threatening and unwelcome...in an event intended for the enjoyment of the ENTIRE community...is not appropriate. There has been heated discussion on this on a Facebook Group for Wake Forest. I proposed a possible solution of having trained peacekeepers to keep opposing groups from engaging each other...and, as I am also a trained peacekeeper for events like this, would be willing to serve myself...and I so stated. I also stated my opposition, and reasons for it — in this Forum...and did so as a candidate for State Senate. But this whole controversy has me thinking in a few ways. First...while I have publicly stated...and many others in opposition have publicly stated their reasons for opposition...NONE of the supporters of SCV have been willing to state their reasons for their position...apart from so-called 1st Amendment rights. And I wonder if those who fight vociferously for the rights of SCV in this area...would fight as hard for the rights of other groups? I am guessing not. So their argument lacks merit. It is even in SCOTUS ruling that 1st Amendment rights are not absolute, for example, you cannot incite a riot, or incite harm to another person, or yell “fire!” in a crowded theatre...but I digress. You would think that these people in such strong support of the SCV — would be willing to state, publicly, their reasons for such support. That they could answer when asked what the inclusion of symbols of the Confederacy actually add to a Christmas Parade (hint they don’t.) That they could answer in what way their enjoyment of the Parade would be diminished...if symbols of the Confederacy are not included. I am just saying, yaknow?? Instead you get a few half-hearted responses that the SCV is not a hate group and that they are not racists. The fact that they carry, display, and glorify symbols that for decades have been used for racist purposes notwithstanding. The fact that the Stars and Bars was not even the official flag of the CSA does not matter to them. The Stars and Bars was in fact a battle flag of Virginia regiments. The fact that these symbols, for good reason….are hurtful, threatening,, and unwelcoming to some members of the community also does not matter to them. And they advocate for their inclusion in an event intended for the enjoyment of the ENTIRE community...and their inclusion in a Christmas Parade, when the symbols of the Confederacy have nothing to do with Christmas at all. The other thing that I notice is the history revisionists...who continue to claim that the Civil War was not about slavery. Anyone who reads The Cornerstone Speech for themselves...knows that the notion that the Civil War was not ENTIRELY about slavery — is complete and total bullshit. And one other thing I notice… The ones who most ostentatiously wear their so-called patriotism on their sleeve...are the ones who stand in support of and glorify...the largest group of traitors in American history!! And I do not say that lightly. “Traitor” is clearly defined in Article 3, Section 3 of the Constitution: <blockquote> Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. </blockquote> Obviously, the Culture Of Impunity is in no danger of taking its rightful place in the dustbin of shameful history just yet. Oh...before I go...one more thing. You see some of the supporters say things like about how it is not in the Constitution that everyone have a right to not be harassed and terrorized….see for yourself: <figure class="image-captioned align-right"><img alt="facebook.png" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/744083/large/facebook.png?1575547729" title="facebook.png"> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> People who would say what Brett said to me here...are a perfect example of why anti-discrimination laws are needed. He as good as says that he will hurt whomever he feels like hurting...until someone with power makes him stop. Bear in mind these are the people who hold themselves out as patriots...and whose excuse for being horrible to other people is that “Iran is worse.” That’s a pretty damned low bar!! I am guessing, somehow...they would not feel the same if they were the ones targeted for such treatment...rather than being the ones dishing it out! rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Bigotry Christmas Confederacy SCV WakeForest _1903658 Thu, 05 Dec 2019 12:13:03 +0000 Papers Filed, North Carolina Has First-In-History Openly-Trans Candidate For State Legislature https://www.dailykos.com/story/2019/12/3/1903184/-Papers-Filed-North-Carolina-Has-First-In-History-Openly-Trans-Candidate-For-State-Legislature Today, I made North Carolina history. I am the state’s first-in-history openly-trans candidate for our State legislature. I am running in <a href="http://www.bridgmansenate18.com" target="_blank">Senate District 18</a>, which covers Eastern Wake County, including Wake Forest, Knightdale, Wendell (my home), Zebulon, Rolesville, and all of Franklin County. <h2>I am running because I dare to dream of what is possible, rather than accepting what is.</h2> What is...right now...is 600,000 North Carolinians without basic healthcare, because our state refuses to expand Medicaid. What is...right now...is a NC-GOP in control of both Chambers of the Legislature, who resorts to dirty tricks and to refusing to hold votes when they know votes will not go their way. Recently, the NC-GOP refused to hold a vote, even with all Senators in attendance, on a budget-veto override, because they knew that they did not have the votes to override. That is not democracy, and North Carolina deserves better. What is...right now...is a serious shortage of school support staff, such as counselors and nurses. When our children cannot remain healthy, they cannot learn. This is injustice. We can do better and we must. What is...right now...is working with our third set of maps in five years, because the NC-GOP has proved they are not capable of drawing fair congressional maps that comply with the free and fair elections provisions of the NC Constitution. It is beyond time we took the map-drawing out of the hands of elected officials with a vested interest in the outcome. What is…is a large agricultural state placed at disadvantage because of a lack of broadband service in rural areas. The latest precision agricultural equipment requires a broadband signal. Currently, our state forbids local governments to invest in their own broadband network in places the private companies refuse to serve because of low population. This hurts our farmers and our economy. What is...right now...is a General Assembly that has continued to cut funding to education. This has led to a situation where the will of voters has been subverted. In 2006 the citizens approved the Lottery, the Lottery was to supplement funding to education. Even as the Lottery has allocated more funds to education the General Assembly has slashed their contribution, leading to a situation where the Lottery funds are now supplanting, rather than supplementing funds to education from the General Assembly...which was NOT the intent of voters who approved the Lottery. What is...right now...is a state that refuses to afford its LGBTQ citizens the full protection of the law, or full civil rights. All of these things and more, I pledge to work on, should I be elected to the North Carolina Senate. As an out transgender woman for the past 25 years in an often-hostile society, I have had to learn how to take things that do not work...and make them work anyway. Our Legislature, for many of our citizens...does not work — their voices are not heard, their challenges remain unaddressed. I am running because I hear their voices...and I want to make sure our government does too! Together, we can <a href="http://www.bridgmansenate18.com" target="_blank">Make It Work!!</a> rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) makeitwork NC-Sen NC-ST-SEN NCGA NorthCarolina Recommended Transgender _1903184 Tue, 03 Dec 2019 08:56:04 +0000 North Carolina To Have First-In-History Openly Transgender Candidate For State Legislature https://www.dailykos.com/story/2019/11/4/1896896/-North-Carolina-To-Have-First-In-History-Openly-Transgender-Candidate-For-State-Legislature There are many voices not being heard, currently,, in North Carolina. I am running because I hear those voices...and I want to make sure our Government does, too. <figure class="image-captioned width-md align-right"><img alt="kickoff.jpg" class="width-md" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/734587/large/kickoff.jpg?1572773328" title="kickoff.jpg"> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> On Nov 9, this Saturday, my campaign for NC Senate District 18 becomes official, with my campaign kickoff, and my formal public announcement. So you get this a little early! People have asked me why I am running. I am running because every day you endure injustice is the longest day of your life. I am running because I want to be in a position to correct these injustices. Injustice affects many of us, and comes in many forms — educational, social, and economic. For many citizens of North Carolina, these injustices are a part of everyday life. Injustice, quite simply, is opportunity denied...denied because of who you are, your socioeconomic status, who you love, your race...and many other circumstances in your life not of your own making. I want to fight injustice everywhere and anywhere I find it. Injustice is 600,000 North Carolinians who cannot get even the most basic health care because of cost. We can do better. We can expand Medicaid, as many states have, to provide much-needed care. Injustice is the mother of a special-needs child, who pays taxes that support private schools that have closed their doors to her child. Injustice is being stuffed into a too-small classroom with too many students...a classroom that sometimes does not even have desks, because there is not enough room for them — and having the state tell you there is not enough money to build more classrooms, and hire more teachers to reduce this load...while giving tax breaks to corporations. Injustice is the teacher who is not rewarded for continuing/advancing their education, and making themselves better teachers. The Master’s Degree bonus must be restored as part of the teachers’ salary package. Injustice is the social and economic opportunities missed by people living in rural areas that lack access to broadband Internet. Broadband has become a necessity in modern life, and economic opportunity does not come to areas that lack coverage. In addition, the most modern precision agricultural equipment requires broadband. This is the Rural Electrification of our century. Injustice is the LGBTQ person living in fear of being denied medical care, a job, or a place to live,, simply because of who they are or who they love. <figure class="image-captioned width-md align-left"><img alt="WalkCardFront.jpg" class="width-md" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/734588/large/WalkCardFront.jpg?1572774164" title="WalkCardFront.jpg"> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> I am running because I believe that we can and must do better. We must find the will to do so. Being an out transgender woman for the past 25 years in an often-hostile society, I have had to learn how to take things that do not work...and make them work anyway. For many citizens, our Legislature does not work; their concerns ignored, their issues unaddressed. I want to change that. Outside the box thinking is a survival skill for transgender people like myself, and i want to bring this creative problem-solving to the NC Senate, and help my fellow citizens in District 18 — and across the state — to have better lives. There are those who ask me if I believe North Carolina is ready for a transgender person in the Senate. And I tell them about the first time I visited our Legislative building after moving to North Carolina. There are pictures on the walls of all the former Senates. If you start around, say, 1963, and look...you see nothing but white men in the picture. A couple pictures down, and you see the first couple of women in those pictures. And the Senate survived. A couple more pictures down and you see the first black person in those pictures. And, again, the Senate survived. Not only did the Senate survive, but it became stronger, and better served the citizens of North Carolina, because more voices were at the table and being heard. The voices of the uninsured, the poverty-stricken, those forced from the neighborhoods in which they grew up...and forced further from economic opportunity by gentrification...these are some of the voices not being heard. I am running because I want their concerns to be heard, and their issues addressed. The citizens of North Carolina deserve nothing less! <figure class="image-captioned width-md align-right"><img alt="WalkCardBack.jpg" class="width-md" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/734589/large/WalkCardBack.jpg?1572774434" title="WalkCardBack.jpg"> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> My District is the only one in Wake County, NC not currently held by a Democrat. The current Senator, a Republican, is not running, giving us an excellent opportunity to flip this seat blue! We need just 4 Senate seat gains across the state to take the majority in the Senate. With so many issues and concerns not being addressed, and with the redrawing of Congressional Districts coming in 2020, it is imperative that we flip this Chamber. If elected, I would join with other legislators who have called for the formation of a non-partisan citizen’s commission to draw the Districts, taking the process out of the hands of elected officials with a vested interest in the outcome...and putting the needs of North Carolinians first. I will work to bring a return to to pre-lottery levels of funding for education, adjusted for inflation, so that the lottery becomes a true supplement to education funding, as was intended by the voters who approved the Lottery in 2006. I will work to bring Medicaid expansion to North Carolina, giving 600,000 currently uninsured people much-needed access to healthcare, while at the same time creating jobs and helping to keep rural health clinics and doctors’ offices open. I would appreciate the support of the KOs Community as I become the first openly-transgender candidate in the history of North Carolina. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/angelancsenate" target="_blank" title="">My ActBlue is here.</a> You may also follow me on Twitter at @AngelaForNCSD18 and you can <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AngelaForNCSenate18/" target="_blank" title="">find me on Facebook.</a> I am currently working on a webpage, it will be at BridgmanSenate18.com (if you misspell my last name as Bridgeman you will be redirected to the correct page.) rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Candidate Elections LGBTQ makeitwork NorthCarolina Senate Transgender _1896896 Mon, 04 Nov 2019 14:30:09 +0000 The Lack Of Attention To Trans Issues On Daily KOs Is Upsetting To Me https://www.dailykos.com/story/2019/10/12/1892036/-The-Lack-Of-Attention-To-Trans-Issues-On-Daily-KOs-Is-Upsetting-To-Me What is a transgender person to think...when she pours her heart into a Diary about the SCOTUS cases on October 8...that hold her very future in their outcome...and it gets a whopping ten views and 6 replies, counting her own replies to replies….and when I write a Diary about not wanting to participate in the Census as a way to protest the fact that we will NOT be counted as trans in the Census...AS WE WERE PROMISED BY OBAMA WE WOULD BE...gets a mountain of replies...people begging me to fill out the Census...and capitulate in an official report that says I don’t count...that who I REALLY AM does not matter? Precious little in that Diary was offered by way of what I could do, alternatively to fight the injustice...and precious little care has been shown to the fact that my very rights and future hang in the balance at the Supreme Court. Try being made “less than” for the bulk of your adult life...having your hopes, your dreams and your future stolen from you for no better reason than the fact that you are transgender. See what that feels like. No, I just get begged to capitulate to the Census and give them all kinds of information they do not need, right down to what time of the day I take a damn dump...and they can’t COUNT ME AS THE TRANS WOMAN I AM?? No, and hell no. Try looking at it from my side. Try looking at having your entire life laid waste, basically...opportunity and rights denied you just for being who you are. Then try what it feels like when you get no attention on a Diary about how your life and future and rights hang in the balance...and a deluge on a Diary about the damn Census...and not a damn person offering to help….only begging me to capitulate in an official count that says I do not exist. I am mad as hell. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Transgender _1892036 Sat, 12 Oct 2019 20:54:24 +0000 I Am NOT Participating In The Census For 2020 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2019/10/12/1891977/-I-Am-NOT-Participating-In-The-Census-For-2020 When then-President Obama said that the Census would finally contain a question “Do you identify as transgender?” I was elated. Finally, I would REALLY COUNT. As who I really am. And Trump has destroyed it. What does it hurt anyone else...if a question like that appears on the Census? if you do not so identify, just say no...what is the big deal? We have, in my community, always had to deal with estimated numbers of our population...and I think that is the reason Trump took us off the Census. Because he, and the Republicans DO NOT want an accurate picture of our numbers. So that they can continue to marginalize us. So that they can continue to dehumanize us and make us invisible. So, I am simply refusing to participate in the Census in 2020 in protest. And, when they send a worker to my door...because we do not fill our form out...I will nicely tell the worker (after all, they are just doing their job) that I have refused to participate, and that until transgender people are allowed to so identify...and be counted as such — I refuse to participate in protest. And to convey that message back to their superiors. I’d bring it up with my Congress people, too...if I had a Congresscritter that was worth a damn. But I have Burr and Tillis on the Senate side, and George Holding on the House side. None of them are worth the space they occupy. They do not represent me and never have. And, so long as I am not accurately counted and represented in this country, I will not participate. All members of my household have been instructed to follow this direction...and since I pay for the house, they will comply. My household, the entire household...WILL NOT be counted in the 2020 Census. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) census2020 Transgender _1891977 Sat, 12 Oct 2019 14:50:48 +0000 Transgender America's Future Is In The Hands Of SCOTUS Now https://www.dailykos.com/story/2019/10/11/1891543/-Transgender-America-s-Future-Is-In-The-Hands-Of-SCOTUS-Now On October 8, this past Tuesday, SCOTUS heard opening arguments in three cases that likely will determine the future, and the rights, of LGBTQIA+ Americans. I do not know — nor would I claim to speak for my entire community, but you can count me in the camp that is nervous as all hell. Will ideology rule the day? Or will common sense and precedent rule? Will we finally be equal with other Americans...or will we be, for the rest of my lifetime, relegated to permanent second-class status, backed by a ruling from the highest court in the land, beyond which there is no appeal? <figure class="image-captioned align-right"><img alt="AngelaBridgmanSenate.jpg" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/726408/large/AngelaBridgmanSenate.jpg?1570728350" title="AngelaBridgmanSenate.jpg"> <figcaption>Do you notice the colors are subtly the colors of the Trans Pride flag?</figcaption> </figure> Before I dive into this, let me say that regardless what SCOTUS does here, it is imperative that the Senate vote on and pass The Equality Act. I am still more than a little put out with Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats, for failing to do this in 2010, when they had control of all three branches of government. And understand I say that as an Officer of the North Carolina Democratic Party...and the first openly-transgender person in the history of the state of North Carolina...to run for State Legislature...I am in for 2020. I will do a separate article about my candidacy in a few weeks. For a moment, I want to talk about The Equality Act...and the latest argument that is fashionable to use against it...the whole women’s sport argument. And here I go, about to destroy that argument… 1. Renee Richards played professional women’s tennis in the 1970’s. She DID NOT dominate her cisgender female competitors. 2. Trans women lose approximately 40 percent of their upper-body strength while on hormones. Yet we must still support a male skeletal structure, with reduced muscle mass. If anything, we are at a disadvantage. This is borne out in the next point. 3. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has allowed trans female athletes to compete for nearly a decade. Number of medals won by trans female athletes? ZERO. 4. Forget for a moment, cisgender/transgender...forget gay/straight. Just consider how women are treated in society...and ask yourself if you would choose that...if you could. Would you choose that, especially if your only motivation was to “game” women’s sport? Seriously? No, the women’s sport “argument” is a bogus argument. Most of us transgender women do NOT play competitive sport, and it has absolutely NOTHING to do with our ability to be gainfully employed without fear of discrimination and harassment. It has nothing to do with our ability to secure a residence...without that same fear. It has nothing to do with our ability to obtain healthcare...and nothing to do with the fact that we must live in fear that we will be denied healthcare services...even life-saving healthcare services...by a doctor or a paramedic...simply because we are who we are. And it has happened. Citing two cases for you, one is Tyra Hunter, who died Aug 7, 1995 — after she was refused treatment from paramedics who then laughed at her while she lay broken and bleeding on the pavement. The other is Robert Eads, who was denied the total hysterectomy that would have saved his life, because it would have been “aiding and abetting his quest to become a man.” Any cisgender woman with the cancer Robert had...would have got treatment, and the hysterectomy. But they allowed Robert to die of his cancer. May I also say women should be offended at the suggestion that we cannot take care of ourselves...that we somehow need the protection of men...against transgender women and other scary bogeymen? If you are a man who thinks this, then you have NO idea the creative ways in which a simple hairpin could be used! No, the women’s sport “argument” is made — usually by men...who have never attended a women’s sporting event in their lives...and never even watched one on TV. They never cared about women’s sport until they figured out that they could use that argument as a handy hook for their bigotry. The truth is that they do NOT want us to have equality, because they want to retain the right to murder us with impunity...and in a way that allows them to remain as Pontius Pilate...no blood on their hands. And yes...I just went there. Because I am done being nice about this. Discrimination = deprivation — and when you deprive another human being of that which they need to survive...you are actively engaged in murder. And when you support depriving another person of that which they need to survive, you are passively engaged in murder. Get used to it. If you do not like the taste of that, then change the dynamics. Stop engaging in murder. I find it incredible how many people in America are more worried about being CALLED a bigot...than they are about in fact BEING bigots. In a capitalist country like America...you do not live long without an income, a place to live, and access to healthcare. And when transgender people are forced into the underground economy in order to survive, they are placed at great risk for violence, disease, encounters with law enforcement, and death. In spite of what those who stand against us would have you believe...the bulk of transgender people who are on sex-offender registries are there because they were busted prostituting themselves to survive. And when you get on a registry like that, it is all downhill from there. Forget ever getting a traditional job at that point. But in their world, we are supposed to curl up and die somewhere where they will not have to step over our bodies. Like I said, I am DONE being nice about this! So, getting back to SCOTUS now. Let’s talk precedent, first. There is precedent, at the level of SCOTUS, and on many lower court levels, that discrimination based on sex stereotypes is in fact discrimination based on sex. I am the owner of one such ruling. And my case is cited, at SCOTUS, in the case of Aimee Stephens, the transgender woman who is now fighting in the Supreme Court. Aimee was working for Harris Funeral Homes, in Livonia, Michigan, as a Funeral Director when she transitioned. Despite having a perfect work record, she was terminated. Harris is claiming “religious freedom.” Now, let me be very clear here: NOBODY is asking anyone to change their beliefs...religious or otherwise. We are simply saying that you may not use those beliefs in a manner that causes objective harm to another person. Being transgender is not a crime, and we objectively hurt nobody. I am aware that, by our very existence we subjectively harm some people, because we offend their sensibilities, and make them just a little uncomfortable. Well, the Constitution never granted anyone the right to never be made a little uncomfortable...but it sure as hell granted ALL of us the right to LIFE. And when you deprive another person of something which they require to live...you are effectively depriving them of LIFE. So, the previous SCOTUS case is Price Waterhouse vs. Hopkins. In that case, Hopkkns was a cisgender female employee who was passed over several times for promotion, because she did not dress/act “femininely enough.” In that case, SCOTUS held that discrimination against a person for failing to live up to sex stereotypes was in fact discrimination based on sex...and ruled in favor of Hopkins. The case was heard in 1997. Now...those of us who are transgender — when we are discriminated against for being transgender, we are so discriminated against because we fail to live up to expected sex stereotypes of either men or women. So the above cited case has bearing here. There are, as I said, many lower-court rulings saying the same thing...including in my own employment-discrimination case. So now let’s talk some common sense. Transgender people are STILL one sex or the other sex. And if you would not discriminate against a woman for wearing a dress...and would discriminate against a person you perceive as male for wearing a dress...you are discriminating based on sex stereotypes, and you are discriminating based on the sex of the individual as you perceive it. Additionally...religion IS a choice. People can and do change religions every single day. Yet religion is a protected class. As well it should be. NOBODY should be deprived that which they require for life itself...based on anything that does not violate the laws of this nation. Now...if you were a Christian, and you converted to Judaism...and I discriminate against you for that...am I not ultimately discriminating based on your religion? Of course i am! Similarly...were I born male, and then changed to being female...and you discriminate against me for that...are you not ultimately discriminating based on my sex? Of course you are! I will not argue with those who believe that being transgender is a choice. It is not. But those who stand against us will accept no proof of that. Even if it were a choice, do we not have Freedom of Choice in America? If my gender identity, chosen or otherwise, is to be limited by pain of sanction to only that which is acceptable to others...am I in fact free? The answer is no. And I find it incredible that here we are, in 2019, in the nation that is the Leader Of The Free World...and there are still those who believe transgender people’s basic civil rights and human dignity...are acceptable topics for debate or compromise. We will likely not get a ruling on Aimee’s case until at least March 2020, if not even later, possibly as late as July 2020. So, meanwhile, we transgender sit and wait. And we wonder. And we worry. Will the highest court in the land of the free...finally rule that we are full humans? Or will they relegate us to permanent second-class status? As an aside, let me say that those of us who ARE able to find work (I myself run a home business and am self-employed) — we pay full taxes...for less than full rights. Stop me if I am wrong, but wasn’t this nation founded on the principle of taxation without representation? Did we not fight a little eight-year war on this very matter? So we do not know how the Court will rule. Here is what we DO know. 207 major employers who collectively employ more than 4 million Americans...have weighed in on the side of LGBTQIA+ Americans. An Amici Curiae was jointly filed by 46 non-profits in favor of the LGBTQIA+ community in the case of Aimee Stephens. <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2019/06/18-107_Amici%20Curiae%20Brief.pdf" target="_blank">You can view the Amici Curiae here.</a> Yours truly is, as I previously mentioned, cited in this filing. My name right now is at SCOTUS. You can find my case cited on Page 23 of the filing (page 36 of the linked PDF.) And I knew it would be in that filing, because I was contacted and asked for permission. Which of course I gave. My case was of particular interest on two levels. One, it had interstate implications...and was the first such case involving employment discrimination where the Plaintiff (me) was a transgender person. Because one of the two prongs of my case, in which I acted as my own attorney, was discrimination based upon known mental handicap...a right that existed in New Jersey, where I worked, but not in Pennsylvania, where I lived. And I asserted that, as I was working for a New Jersey employer, I enjoyed all the rights of any other employee in New Jersey, regardless my state of residence. At the time, Gender Identity Disorder was still considered a mental handicap, and was listed in the DSM. It has since been delisted, and renamed Gender dysphoria. The second reason my case was of interest was that the second prong of my case was sex discrimination. Three cases were filed in New jersey by transgender people at approximately the same time. Janet Aiello (a Hoboken police officer) and Carla Enriquez filed cases within the same month I also filed mine. My case was adjudicated first, in 1999, and for a time, my name was case law in New jersey. Not bad for a pro se litigant up against high-powered corporate lawyers! My case was later cited in the Enriquez case at the level of the NJ Superior Court, which <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/04/nyregion/new-jersey-appeals-court-bars-firing-of-transsexual.html" target="_blank">ruled in favor of Enriquez.</a> And Enriquez became case law in NJ, until such time as statewide protections were passed, known as the Babs Siperstein bill. Sadly, Babs passed shortly after the bill she fought her whole life to enact...was signed. The State of New Jersey flew their flag at half-staff in honor of Babs when she passed. In my case, the employer never once disputed the facts of the case, or the reasons for my termination...only the legality of those actions. I won on three levels, being appealed every time...until we settled out of court in 2002. And the employer who discriminated against me for being trans...wound up financing my sex-reassignment surgery (now called Gender Confirming Surgery) — poetic justice if ever there WAS any! The terms of the settlement forbid me to name the employer, or disclose the amount of the settlement. I will only say that I got everything i was asking for, except an apology and an admission of guilt. And i was not prepared to continue to drag this out just to get that. The next level would have been Superior Court….which, by then, had already ruled in Enriquez’ favor. But it would have meant another two years of fight, and I had already fought for five years, and was simply weary. it was not, in my view, worth it...just to also get the apology and admission of guilt. So...let me say here that I admire the hell out of Aimee Stephens...for fighting all the way to this level. I am not sure I could have. Certainly not as a pro se litigant! So...what do we know so far? The four liberal Justices, as expected, have been fairly clear that they are on the side of Aimee Stephens. The other five...well, we aren’t sure. And it is this uncertainty that weighs heavy on the mind of my community. Kavanaugh is playing his cards close to his breast, not tipping his hand at all. Gorsuch has made comments to the effect that it is, in his mind, “very close.” We can be sure Thomas will rule against us. Likely, so will Alito, but we don’’t know. And that leaves Roberts. Who may have some sense of the Legacy of his Court. Will the Roberts Court go down in history as the one who relegated some Americans to permanent second-class existence? Or will it go down in history as the Court who said, “While we respect your right to whatever religious belief you may have...you may not use those beliefs to cause objective harm to other people.” So we wait. And we wonder. And we worry. No human being should have to go through what we are right now. No human should have to feel what we are feeling. And it will be 4-8 months before we know. The tide is turning in our favor in America...but will the Court consider that? No person has the right to use their rights to deprive others of their rights. Former SCOTUS Justice Louis Brandeis was quite clear on that when he said “Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins.” But will the Court rule that way? Every law-abiding citizen has the right to work and earn a living, free of harassment or discrimination. Free from fear. Every law-abiding citizen has the right to rent or purchase a residence without fear that their gender identity or sexual orientation will be a factor in denying them these things. Or at least they should. It will be four to eight months before we learn if this nation will live up to its sacred duty to protect all law-abiding citizens...or if it will renege on all it is supposed to stand for, relegating some of us to permanent second-class status. Buckle up. rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) AimeeStephens Equality LGBT LGBTQ LGBTQIA SCOTUS Transgender _1891543 Fri, 11 Oct 2019 10:00:03 +0000 More of the Same NC GOP Shenanigans At Redistricting Hearing https://www.dailykos.com/story/2019/9/16/1885950/-More-of-the-Same-NC-GOP-Shenanigans-At-Redistricting-Hearing So, we have had to have another court-ordered redraw of the maps for 2020. This is of particular interest to me this time, for the following reason: <figure class="image-captioned width-xl align-right"><img alt="AngelaBridgmanSenate.jpg" class="width-xl" src="https://images.dailykos.com/images/718742/large/AngelaBridgmanSenate.jpg?1568694079" title="AngelaBridgmanSenate.jpg"> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> I am planning a run for the North Carolina Senate in 2020. I will be the first openly-transgender candidate for State Legislature in the history of North Carolina. And there is a reason the District number is NOT on my logo. Anyone want to take a guess as to why? The hearing this morning, which I addressed, convened at noon today, and was finished by 1:30PM...after which the Senate Committee was to reconvene to discuss public comments and make any adjustments to the maps as a result of those comments. Instead, the Senate chose to recess until 7PM tonight, and vote on the maps they already had...so none of the public comment was taken into consideration. The maps passed the Senate and now, if they are approved by the Court (and many, myself included, believe that they will not be) these would be the maps we use for 2020 elections. Now, the information disseminated to the public, the maps you could see...enabled perhaps 95 — 98 percent of North Carolinians to be able to pinpoint what Districts they were being drawn into...or out of. I am one of that 2 to 5 percent who live so close to a line, that ONLY street level maps would tell me which Districts I would be in...and, as you might imagine, this is of a great deal of importance to me! I went to the room where the Senate was to reconvene at 2:30PM...that was how I found out they had recessed, and were simply going to vote on the maps they already had...all public comment from the hearing notwithstanding. And I requested, of the people in the room, to see a street-level map, so that I could determine my Districts...for them to even enter my address and just tell me what Districts I was being drawn into. I was informed they could not do that...that I would have to come back with a Senator...in order to get that information. So the process was ANYTHING but open and transparent as far as I was concerned….as far as my Precinct was concerned, and as far as those who lived close to lines were concerned. I managed, with some effort, to find a Senator to help me. Obviously, I could not ask my current Senator, as I might have remained in his District and thus be Primarying him! He was thus not likely to be inclined to help...and anyway, asking a future opponent for help is bad optics. Sen Wiley Nickel refused to help me. But Sen. Jeff Jackson, from Mecklenburg County, two hours from where I live….he did help me, and I did get to see the maps I needed. The point is...as a citizen of this State, I should not have had to go through that to find this information out….especially not in a process that was court-ordered to be open and transparent to the public. Esse Quam Videri...right? If my new District holds, i will be in a three-way Primary for Senate 18...instead of being in Senate 14, and Primarying my own Party’s Minority Leader….which I had no problem doing, by the way...there are all kinds of personal reasons in that case!! Following are my comments to the public hearing this morning: <blockquote> For the second time in as many years, we find ourselves having to draw new District maps, because the NC GOP is incapable of drawing maps that comply with the free and fair elections requirement of the NC Constitution. Right now, we have a hold on the implementation of Voter ID, because it was ruled to have been passed by an illegally-constituted General Assembly. Of course, Voter ID is a solution in search of a problem, and one more way the NC GOP seeks to undermine democracy and the will of the people of North Carolina...to say nothing of the disgrace we witnessed just last week. In every area, from education, to the powers of the Governor, to making judicial races partisan - which flies in the face of judicial neutrality, all the way down to my own transgender community, the NC-GOP has shown itself incapable of dealing in good faith, and incapable of putting the interests of the people of North Carolina first. Gerrymandering, no matter what Party engages in it...is bad for democracy. Democracy works when the people choose their representatives, not when the politicians choose their voters. It is beyond time we took the process of drawing these maps out of the hands of politicians who have a vested interest in the process, and formed an independent commission of citizens to undertake the redistricting process, such as is outlined in House Bill 69, filed in February, and Sponsored by Rep. Hardister, and Rep. McGrady, so it is bipartisan. Thank you. </blockquote> I should also note that, shortly after my comments, the Chair expressed, publicly, bewilderment at the amount of comments disparaging the NC GOP. And not ten minutes later, he was justifying the gerrymandering of 2011, by saying the Democrats had done it for a hundred years prior to that point. So, apparently, in GOP world, two wrongs make a right, and they get to screw with the maps for the next ninety years. I might also point out that when the Democrats were doing this...they did NOT have the sort of software that allows pinpoint accuracy, such as what exists today. A final not, on my own candidacy for 2020. When I was running in 2018, I had planned on sidestepping the issue of my transgender status. I knew my opponents would bring it up anyway...and I would have brushed it off, saying, look, you know who I am, so you know how I stand on those issues, let’s talk about issues that impact most of the people of this District...or something to that effect. My strategy is now changed, thanks to Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and what he did in the third debate. I am now embracing my transgender status as I make my run...and I am going to turn what many might see as a negative into a positive. <blockquote> ”As an out transgender woman for 25 years, in an often-hostile society, I have had to learn how to make what does not work...work anyway. Thinking outside the box is a survival skill for transgender people like myself, and it enables me to think outside the box, and to find the solutions others never consider. So if you are tired of business and politics as usual, and you are ready for a change, I am that candidate who can and will work for that change.” </blockquote> Below is my ActBlue, and I would appreciate the support of the KOS Community in making it possible for the first-ever openly transgender candidate for state legislature in the history of North Carolina to compete in this race. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/angelancsenate" target="_blank" title="">secure.actblue.com/...</a> rss@dailykos.com (Kalisiin) Gerrymandering NC-GOP NorthCarolina Redistricting _1885950 Tue, 17 Sep 2019 04:46:30 +0000