Say, Have You Seen My Democracy? #VoteForYourLife

Sharing with permission, this up close and personal account of a Donald Trump rally via Facebook.  Read it and Weep. ~RedEYE

(The guy in the suit is a Trump Secret Service agent)

This is what I will say about the Trump rally I attended Saturday...alone.

It was scary. This man knows just what to say to fire up his crowd, no matter how factually inaccurate it may be.

Wall! ISIS! Kill Them! Mexico!

Then there was the blatant fear mongering. He told Ohioans that only oil was propping up their state, and that their economy was in serious trouble. He said this over and over again.

He also told the crowd that ISIS was out to kill them. That ISIS was putting 50 people at a time in cages and drowning them in the ocean. And that we had to kill them first.

Cheers for water boarding. Cheers for torture. Calls to cut off their heads.

If this was a brown person saying the exact same things in the Middle East, we'd call them a dangerous terrorist. But since it's a white man in America, we call him a Presidential Candidate.

The scariest part was the crowd. They loved everything that was being said. The calls for the wall. The calls to blow up oil fields. The calls to torture and kill people.

And the protesters. Every time a protester was kicked out, they were yells to get them out of here, even to KILL THEM!!!

Really? Kill them? For protesting?

When Trump brought up Obama, a teen even exclaimed "F+CK THAT NI&&ER!!!!"

I felt like at any point, the crowd was going to light torches and grab their pitchforks, and spill out into the streets.

The worst part was when their venom turned toward me. There were protesters around me who got ushered out, and then people started pointing at me, motioning for the Secret Service to "get him out of there".

Now mind you, I hadn't uttered a single word the entire rally, but people still said things like "Well what about this one? He needs to go too!"

At this point, the black kid that grew up in the projects, surrounded by drugs and gunfire, felt CONCERNED for his safety...at a Donald Trump rally.

At that rally, I saw the scary underbelly of America. I saw unadulterated hate, fueled by intentional misinformation.

These people who, just 2 hours ago, seemed like good and kind people, were now cheering for blood.

The worst part is Donald Trump knows EXACTLY what he's doing. He's patterned his campaign after a WWE match...

And it's working.

‪#‎Trump‬
‪#‎TrumpRally‬
‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬

This Elections is 1968 All Over Again, And That's Not a Good Thing.

#TamirRice: Here we go again....

Gunned down: Tamir Rice, 12, was fatally shot by police on Saturday and passed away on Sunday

 You know the drill

An African American is killed by police.

Controlling the narrative, police release their version of events and state that they had no other alternative but to use lethal force.

Eyewitnesses, recordings, and indisputable facts counter the police narrative and expose glaring inconsistencies in their story.

The character assassination of the shooting victim and his family begins.

The officers are not punished for what they did.

The family and community are left in a state of grief—fueled by a lack of closure or justice.

Listen to how police described the fatal shooting of 12 yo Tamir Rice before they knew there was video. Then watch. http://t.co/PolvS2hkoO
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) December 2, 2014

 Tamir Rice, Rest in Peace Sweet Child.

See Mama Sally Jump Through Hoops to Vote in the United States of America

In response to my previous post, Why Mama Sally can't vote, my favorite Righty's  offered this ahem solution for my friends 100-year-old maternal grandmother;

Redeye, just read your blog where you talk about your friend’s maternal grandmother possibly not being able to vote in Mississippi. Have your friend, your friend’s mother, your friend’s grandmother, or do it yourself(as long as you get permission to do so) go to the following website: http://www.msvoterid.ms.gov/ , or they can call 1-855-868-3745 and they can help her get an ID free of charge, and it even looks like if she needs transportation, they will arrange it for her.
Also according to the State Department, if she does not have a birth certificate and the state can’t find one, the state must issue her a Letter of No Record. The Letter of No Record then can be sumbitted with other forms of evidence (census record, early school record, family bible record, baptismal certificate) to form proof of citizenship to stand in for primary evidence of U.S. Citizenship.

My question is, why does a 100-year-old woman, or anyone for that matter, who has been voting for years, have to jump through hoops to vote in the United States of America in 2012?

There is no evidence that black/brown/elderly/disabled/college students are showing up at the polls committing "voter fraud", yet Mama Sally's story is proof they are the ones who are adversely affected by the republicans Voter ID laws.

And they want us to sing God Bless America?

Today's Must Read
Voting Wars

Free Your Mind Friday

This week in  Zombie Republicans  Land

Friends don't let friends vote republican!  Some (not to be confused with all) of the Critters over at Involved, Informed, Progressive Left in Alabama are asking why they should vote in the Democratic Primary Tuesday. 

 My question is, IF you are Democrat, why wouldn't you vote in the Democratic Primary on Tuesday?  Your vote in the republican primary isn't going to give you a voice, it's going to give the Crazies a voice.

Democrats  who vote in the republican primary are not helping President Obama in November. I'll bet you can't  Guess who won Ohio on Super Tuesday?  Here's a hint...his initials are B H O.  How and Why?  Because half a million DEMOCRATS came out to support the President.   If you want to support the President in November, support him in March too. .

The reason we are still fighting about  women's rights, voting rights, immigration, civil, equal and human rights, is because the republicans don't have anything else to talk about about.  They can't talk about their desire for all war all the time.  They can't talk giving the rich a tax cut because the poor don't pay enough.  They can't talk about job creation.  They can't talk about education.  They can't can't talk about their plan to turn America into a slave state.   So they create wedge issues as a weapon of mass distraction from the real issues, facing real people.

Today's Must Read

My philosophy on Trolls

Today's Must See YouTube

Free your mind and the rest will follow.  

Post election must reads

Dem victory in NC county election ends high-profile battle over control of Wake school board

"Incumbent Wake County school board member Kevin Hill defeated challenger Heather Losurdo in a runoff tonight to complete a Democratic election sweep that knocks Republicans out of power after a turbulent two-year reign."

Speaking of Education Rocket City Bloggers on Education is a must, must, read.

Education is an amazing, miraculous process of communicating, uncovering and connecting with our brothers and sisters who are passing through this world with us. It is, to steal a line, our last, best hope of co-creating a world in which we would all want to live.

Union-busting, homophobic Michigan state Rep. Paul Scott narrowly recalled If only Alabama had Recall. Sigh

Scott was dragged kicking and screaming onto Tuesday's ballot, filing multiple challenges in court, but not only did his opponents collect enough signatures to trigger a recall despite having just two weeks to collect them, he lost repeatedly in court

Virginia is the new Alabama. You get the BatS#it Crazy you vote for.

86 votes in a low turnout (!!!!) election. And yes, there have been voting anomalies.

The state Board of Elections said there had been “isolated issues” at some polls but characterized them as “normal Election Day issues.”

In the Washington region, some counties reported only a handful of problems on Election Day, but others experienced dozens of baffled voters at individual polling places. That was most often the case in Fairfax County, due to redistricting.

But local elections officials characterized the problems on Tuesday as minor.

Russell Pearce Wanted Illegals Out, Now He’s The Out Snicker You hear that Mo and Scott?

2011 Ohio Election Results, some wrong, some right pun intended.

Well, Ohio still can't seem to get it right on federal health care, but never the less Ohioans did get it right more often than not, in this off year election last night. Issue 3, was largely a symbolic vote against what the GOP calls Obamacare. It was really on the ballot so that the GOP/teabags can mount a court challenge to health care. Issue 3 spoke to the mandate requiring that all Americans have health care.
If the federal health care mandate is wrong...then so is the requirement for having insurance, in general, Right? Think the business driven GOP is going to kill one its staunchest allies, the insurance industry? I think not, in the long run. So we will have these skirmishes until SCOTUS rules.

Election Lesson: Republicans Learn That Americans Aren't Quite as Crazy as They Are: Warning this is from the rude pundit so it raw but real.

Unjustifiable

How can such religious wealth and opulence possibly be justified when there are so many starving children in the world? And I'm not just picking on the Catholics. The $1000 suits, Cadillacs, and mansions of many evangelical and mainline protestant ministers are just as bad. Can this possibly be justified by the gospel of Jesus they claim to believe in?

I sure do miss the good old days when we had fair and free elections in America too

Prior to the 2000 election, I wondered how in the world George W. Bush and Dick Cheney planned to *ahem* win the 2000 election without the African American vote? Little did I know they planned not to count the African American vote.

The Florida election has been closely scrutinized since the election, and several irregularities are thought to have favored Bush. These included the Palm Beach "butterfly ballot," which produced an unexpectedly large number of votes for third-party candidate Patrick Buchanan. Also noted was a purge of over 54,000 citizens from the Florida voting rolls identified as felons, of whom 54% were African-Americans. The majority of these were not felons and should have been eligible to vote under Florida law.[8] Additionally, there were many more 'overvotes' than usual, especially in predominantly African-American precincts in Duval county (Jacksonville), where some 27,000 ballots showed two or more choices for President[citation needed]. Unlike the much-discussed Palm Beach County 'butterfly ballot,' the Duval County ballot spread choices for President over two pages with instructions to 'vote on every page' on the bottom of each page.

The plan worked so well in 2000 they decided to have a repeat in 2004

Vote suppression/voter intimidation and deception. Shortages of voting locations and ballot forms. Foreign monitors barred from polls. Unmatched exit polls/actual results - actual results always skewed to Republicans. Masses of e-Voting "glitches". Computers lost votes. Presidential votes miscast on e-Voting machines throughout the US. More recorded votes than voters. Republicans gained 128.45% in Florida counties using optical scan voting machines while Democrats lost 21% - some districts showed gains of over 400% while one, Liberty County, gained over 700% for Republicans.Warren County officials locked down the county administration building on election night and blocked anyone from observing the vote count as the nation awaited Ohio's returns. Bush had 'incredible' vote tallies. 7% turnout reported in Cleveland precinct. In Cuyahoga County different towns had the exact same number of "extra" votes. And on, and on...

It's not as if African Americans didn't sound the alarm and try to rectify the situation in both cases, but of course they were routinely ignored and marginalized.

In a coda to a contentious, confusing and drawn-out presidential election, members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Saturday tried to stop the formal recording of the Electoral College tally during a joint session of Congress.

As Vice President Al Gore presided over the session, black members who supported him for president objected vociferously to the proceedings. One after another, the representatives rose to prevent the electoral votes from Florida from being counted.

Each time, Gore was forced to deny their motion, filed under an 1887 law, because their written objection did not include a signature from both a House member and a senator.

One after another, the caucus members arose and asked that the House withdraw from the joint session. Again, Gore denied the motions because no senator had agreed. One after another, the members also objected to the proceedings because a quorum was not present in the chamber. The vice president shut down the complaints.

If you are wondering how republicans plan to *ahem* win in 2012 without not only the African American vote, but the Hispanic, and LBGT vote as well, look no farther than the gop infused, media enabled Voter ID laws.

It is ridiculous on its face to believe that simply requiring someone to prove their identity before voting is an onerous requirement.

I wonder what part of we the people don't have to prove who we are before voting don't they understand?

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. §§ 1973–1973aa-6)[1] is a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S.[2]

Echoing the language of the 15th Amendment, the Act prohibits states from imposing any "voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure ... to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color."[3] Specifically, Congress intended the Act to outlaw the practice of requiring otherwise qualified voters to pass literacy tests in order to register to vote, a principal means by which Southern states had prevented African-Americans from exercising the franchise.[2] The Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat, who had earlier signed the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.[2][4]

The Act established extensive federal oversight of elections administration, providing that states with a history of discriminatory voting practices (so-called "covered jurisdictions") could not implement any change affecting voting without first obtaining the approval of the Department of Justice, a process known as preclearance.[5] These enforcement provisions applied to states and political subdivisions (mostly in the South) that had used a "device" to limit voting and in which less than 50 percent of the population was registered to vote in 1964.[5] The Act has been renewed and amended by Congress four times, the most recent being a 25-year extension signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2006.[6]

I can tell you right now RedEye will not be going out of the way to obtain a Voter ID card.

So here is senario

RedEye shows up at the polls on election day and is told they can't vote because they don't have a Voter ID card.

What does RedEye do? Say OK and turn around and go home without voting?

I don't think so. It's not RedEye's responsibility to prove they are RedEye, it's the governments job to prove RedEye is not RedEye.

A voter ID card will not prove RedEye is RedEye. Voter ID cards can be forged just like any other instrument. That's how we know it's not about proving identity, it's about keeping RedEye from voting.

What if hundreds of RedEye's show up on election day without a Voter ID card?

What if thousands of RedEye's show up on election day without a Voter ID card?

What if millions of RedEye's show up on election day without a Voter ID card?

Can you say Chaos?

Redeye's Interesting Reads and Rants for Interesting Times

This is not the Effing Hope and Change I worked for, donated to and voted for. How many @#!% jobs did the Bush tax cut for the rich create? ZERO. ZILCH. NADA. So why the heck is Bush, I mean Obama extending them for two more years? Are we not supposed to notice the Bush tax cuts are extended for two years, but unemployment insurance is only extended for 13 months? Former President Bill Clinton tried to tell us the Obama story was a fairy tail..of course the media we have twisted it into him playing the @#$ race card taking the focus off of the substance of his remarks.

During a December taping with PBS's Charlie Rose, a frustrated Clinton called Obama "a roll of the dice," as aides tried to end the interview. Then, in New Hampshire, he argued angrily that the story of Obama's principled position on the Iraq War was a "fairy tale," a charge few reporters bought. Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the top-ranking African-American in Congress and officially neutral, found Clinton's tone insulting and said so publicly.

I don't feel sorry for President Obama, I feel sorry for the American people.

Only fools should feel sorry for Obama as he prepares for a Republican-led House and weakened Democratic control of the Senate. This is Obama’s “comfort zone,” where he can continue to woo Republicans to join his grand center-right coalition. The only people Obama has no tolerance for are liberalish Democrats, who will emerge relatively stronger in the new Congress thanks to the decimation of Obama’s Republican-Lite friends in conservative Democratic ranks. By freezing federal wages, Obama signals that he has no philosophical problems with the GOP’s general aims.

To say I am disappointed in President Obama for compromising with the gop gangsters is an understatement. Like his Harvard buddy Artur Davis, he has ripped his drawers with me.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama said over and over that he was running to "put an end to the Bush-McCain philosophy." Campaigning in Colorado just days before the election, Obama clearly stated his opposition to Bush-era economic policies and ridiculed the idea that "we should give more and more to millionaires and billionaires and hope that it trickles down on everybody else. It’s a philosophy that gives tax breaks to wealthy CEOs and to corporations that ship jobs overseas while hundreds of thousands of jobs are disappearing here at home."

After months of breathless speculation 7th district Congress Critter elect Terri Sewell names Nichole Francis Reynolds as her Chief of Staff. I haven't been able to find out much information about Ms. Reynolds but I do know she is a native of Loraine Ohio, she is the former COS for OH-13 Congress Critter Betty Sutton and is a member of the populist caucus.

2008 Representative Sutton supported the interests of the Business-Industry Political Action Committee 10 percent in 2008.

2008 Representative Sutton supported the interests of the The Alliance for Worker Freedom 0 percent in 2008.

2008 Representative Sutton supported the interests of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 61 percent in 2008.

2008 Representative Sutton supported the interests of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - Lifetime 58 percent during their legislative career up until 2008.

2007-2008 Based on a point system, with points assigned for actions in support of or in opposition to American Forest and Paper Association's position, Representative Sutton received a rating of 33 percent.

2007-2008 Representative Sutton supported the interests of the Associated General Contractors of America 71 percent in 2007-2008.

2007-2008 Representative Sutton supported the interests of the International Warehouse Logistics Association 10 percent in 2007-2008.

2007-2008 Representative Sutton supported the interests of the National Association of Manufacturers 20 percent in 2007-2008.

2007-2008 In 2007-2008 National Federation of Independent Business gave Representative Sutton a rating of 56 in its 110th (2007-2008) Pre-Election Congressional Report.

2007-2008 Based on a point system, with points assigned for actions in support of or in opposition to National Restaurant Association's position, Representative Sutton received a rating of 40.

2007-2008 Based on a point system, with points assigned for actions in support of or in opposition to National Retail Federation's position, Representative Sutton received a rating of 20 percent.

2007-2008 Representative Sutton supported the interests of the National Small Business Association 69 percent in 2007-2008.

2007-2008 Representative Sutton supported the interests of the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association 70 percent in 2007-2008.

2007-2008 Representative Sutton supported the interests of the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors-National Association 70 percent in 2007-2008.

2007 Representative Sutton supported the interests of the Business-Industry Political Action Committee 0 percent in 2007.

2007 Representative Sutton supported the interests of the Consumer Alliance for Energy Security 0 percent in 2007.

2007 Representative Sutton supported the interests of the The Alliance for Worker Freedom 0 percent in 2007.

2007 Representative Sutton supported the interests of the The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association 0 percent in 2007.

2007 Representative Sutton supported the interests of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 55 percent in 2007.

1999-2000 Representative Sutton supported the interests of the Ohio National Federation of Independent Business 25 percent in 1999-2000.

1995-1996 Representative Sutton supported the interests of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce 43 percent in 1995-1996.

This coupled with the fact Reynolds was the District Director for former DINO Congress Critter Harold Ford, Jr. doesn't bode well for the voters in the 7th district. And couldn't Sewell have found a qualified individual from her district/state as her COS? Terri Sewell said she wasn't going to be a rubber stamp for President Obama, well here is her chance. She can vote HELL to the NO on the extension of the Bush tax cuts since he doesn't expect rubber stamp fealty in exchange for his endorsement.

Redeye Reads and Rants over and out.... to be continued when I can type without cussing.