My Dearest America,
Somewhere along the way we lost our moral compass as a nation, we let hate and divisiveness guide us. We let tough-talk and political brashness take a leading role. We elected a man who in one week did more to reverse the progress of not only our nation, but of the entire world. We elected a man who obviously has no understanding or regard for our Constitution, and we put him into the most powerful position in the world. I don’t know why we did this, I am sure we will ponder that question for the remainder of our lives. I find it hard to have hope when I see the actions of President Trump, but maybe this is what we need to test our strength as a nation. Maybe Trump is what we need to find the goodness inside of all of us. While all of this may or may not be true...
Politics
The first week of the Year Zero is underway and the rebirth of NSDAP is chugging along nicely. The dismantling of all consumer protections, shutting down science which does not agree with the worldview of Der Pumpkin Fuhrer, Newspeak, prejudice, and the gagging of the opposition has now become de rigueur. It all started when the Whiner in Chief, (I care not if it is insulting because he acts like a ten year old petulant child,) was upset that the Women's March had more attendees than the Inauguration. Rather than accept this, he forbade the Park Service from tweeting and sent Sean Spicer out to lie. I feel quite bad for Mr. Spicer who, whether one agrees or not with the people he works for, was a person of integrity. Mr Spicer lambasted the press, passing on the complaint that Der Pumpkin...
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I often wonder if you know what life is like for "real" Canadians. When you sit in your ivory tower with its view of Capital Hill, drinking your $12 Starbucks coffee, do you wonder what life in this country is really like? I am here to explain it to you.
I am a proud Canadian. I love the things this country stands for, I love that my children do not have to fear persecution if they are LGBT, that my husband and I are an interracial couple, that we are free to be ourselves and have our own thoughts, beliefs, live our lives any way we choose. What I do not love is that our government has chosen to ignore the needs of its working class.
You see, I am a 35 year old Canadian woman, who has been working full time for almost 20 years, and has still yet to ever make more than $11.40 per hour...
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January 22, 2017
Yusra Khogali, Sandy Hudson and Janaya Khan (and/or Current Leadership)
Co-founders, Black Lives Matter Toronto
PO Box 30315, York Lanes
North York, ON M3J2C1
[email protected] / [email protected]
Aaron GlynWilliams and Alica Hall
Co-Chairs, Board of Directors
Pride Toronto
55 Berkeley Street
Toronto, ON M5A 2W5
[email protected]
Dear fellow and esteemed community members and activists,
On July 3, 2016, while participating in the Toronto Pride Parade, the organization Black Lives Matter (BLM) held an unexpected sit-in, effectively preventing and blocking the internationally-recognized celebration from continuing, which happened to also be the first time Canada’s Prime Minister joined the parade. The city’s first black...
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Dear people of facebook, friends, and family,
Let me start this by saying that I am writing this not to change your political position or to call you out for who you voted for. I am not writing this to tell you that you are wrong. I am not here to sit on a pedestal. I am here to explain my side and ask that you understand. You don't need to agree. You don't need to all of a sudden go against your president. I'm just asking that you hear why I can't "just let it go", and that you respect and empathize, and never ask me to "let it go" again.
I (we) understand that the election is over. I (we) understand that there is someone new in the White House. I (we) understand that the office/position of the POTUS is one of respect. However, I (we) don't understand how to respect the man in that...
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I'm not a fan of discussing my political views online, but since we'll be having a very...interesting...few years, I feel the need to say this:
I didn't like, or vote for, either major candidate. Personally, I think the two-party system is a broken mess. I hated the brutality and hatred and ugliness on both sides of the campaign, by both the candidates and their supporters. So when I watched Trump win, I didn't know what to expect. Then I saw his victory speech, and I was proud of his humbleness and graciousness to Hillary. I said to myself, "You know what, the man deserves a chance to prove he can actually lead this country." And for a while, I was optimistic—a view I do not undertake lightly.
But as the weeks have rolled on, I find myself appalled at the lack of control and poor...
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Dear Representative John Lewis,
I have been outraged by your statement that Donald Trump is not a legitimate president-elect. Maybe you did not realize that with this statement you insulted almost 63 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump. And what are your grounds for making this statement? Maybe you, like some liberal media reported, believe that Russians hacking the DNC server discredited Hillary Clinton, therefore helping Trump to win. Let me assure you that Hillary Clinton did not need help from the Russians to be discredited. She does it very well herself. You might say that Donald Trump is not a legitimate president because he lost the popular vote. Well, that's exactly why our founding fathers had the idea of an electoral college, so that smaller states have their voice...
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The repulsive 2016 elections have demonstrated more clearly than anything else ever could that our 2-party system is a screaming failure and a grotesque joke. Neither candidate showed integrity, neither candidate could boast an investigation-free past (and no, Hillary supporters, I'm not referring to email issues, I'm talking about shady real-estate deals during her husband's Executive tenure), neither candidate could speak intelligently or substantively about a single issue (although the spin was thick enough to walk on), and neither one operated with even the thinnest veneer of genuine concern for the actual well-being of our country and our people. You both called each other names like you were 4-year-olds. You belittled each other like pre-teen bullies, and made yourselves look like...
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I am neither a Republican, Democrat, Conservative, or Liberal but a Freethinker. I was raised to listen to all, filter the noise, and find the consensus which ultimately, should be a society that benefits all.
The country is based on the Second Treatise On Government by John Locke and the Social Contract by Rousseau. To live in a society individuals have to surrender the ability to so as we please when we want. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the needs of the one is the guiding principle. This is not some nonsense spouted in Star Trek but Utilitarianism a philosophy by John Stuart Mill. We may all argue about the means to the end but not about the end. The Founders believed government exists only by the consent of the governed and that it is...
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"I believe there are more instances of the abridgements of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations."
- James Madison
I never thought that it would come to this. I never thought that equality would be so far from grasp. I never thought that I would be the one to walk the moral high ground. I also never thought that half of you didn't care. Hell, I never thought that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were alienable. But apparently they are.
They don't care about liberty, or justice, or even TRUE freedom. They only care about themselves and their beliefs. Their selfish. Like the toddler that looks into the bowl of another and asks "why don't I have as much as him?", instead of asking "does he have...
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