I say YES. YOU say NO....Numero Tre! Enjoy!
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May I add, tho, that what a crock. It’s still not definitely decided if the ban is permanent. WTF, Facebook.
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One thing I see everywhere I go is “Help Wanted" signs! From the Health Department to the Housing Authority to a few small factories and summer seasonal help; there seem to be signs in just about every store or business I go in to. I constantly see local businesses with help wanted posts on Facebook. The McDonald's sign in town says they're paying $12 an hour! Ohio minimum wage is $8.80 an hour.
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My sister Gail lives in the Akron area. Her daughter was in a car accident 24 years ago and suffered a devastating brain injury that left her pretty much like an infant, so she needs 24-hour care. Gail has been managing her care for 22 years (her first couple of years were in a nursing home while her house with special accommodations was being built) and she's never had as much trouble finding help as she has in the last couple of years. It's almost impossible to find anyone willing to work the overnight shift. I know the hours are difficult, but the job itself is easy, just changing Jenny's brief and reposition her every couple of hours. She's offering $14 an hour and she can't get anyone, so Gail's been working a lot of overnight shifts. And she's almost 73 years old.
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I think some people are distrustful of the employer, and working conditions. My tennent was laid of, she was a dental assistant. Doesn’t want to go back to that. Can’t blame her. Who wants to put their hand into a possible covid mouth. And who wants to work in close quarters with a possible carrier who won’t wear a mask. Restaurants in StPete are offering hiring bonuses, no takers. Same reason. To much MISinformation, too many antivacers and stupid governor. Looking at you Desantis.
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I think there has to be some adjustment with the way unemployment payments are handled. As liberal as I am, I am not at all pleased that my 26 year old nephew, who was a waiter at a fancy restaurant on the West Coast, is choosing to collect unemployment benefits instead of looking for a job. It's one thing to have a bunch of kids at home, be older, have a medical condition etc., but IMO it's another thing if you are just choosing not to work.
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Stop! Breathe deeply.
Begin bringing peace to the outer world
by regaining your own inner peace.
Choose love, choose gratitude,
choose forgiveness, choose peace.
Begin with your own inner peace.
Then use that inner peace
as a platform from which
to approach the outer world
with perspective, understanding, and patience.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama
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I'm glad Trump is still out of Facebook for the moment although his loyal followers will see it as good reason to go bonkers again. It will keep him in the news more but then for the most part the GOP have kept him going pretty much anyway. I'm hoping that Liz Cheney has made the right guess as to Trump's viability. I read on the way here that there are those who are certain he will be in the 2024 line-up on the Reps. side. My thought has been he is in fairly deep I think with New York and the issues there along with Giuliani and others. I'm still hoping he is looking at serious hoosegow accommodations then.
He could also be a good deal un-healthier than he already seems to be. His only thing is that he had acclimated is body to being improperly fed and it won't show until the dam breaks. That could be any time. In the meantime he will just become stouter and shorter ( except for the shoe lifts ) so we will see how it goes.
To work or not to work. I like to work, but I think it has been more timed into just the enjoyment of helping others. The paycheck was always important to me, but first I wanted to help. I do think some people are still a bit leery. It wasn't so long ago and people were washing groceries before they put them away at home -- and many wouldn't even go to a store with a mask and gloves on -- and had deliveries. So, I do understand feeling reluctance for that but it does seem we have reached a point where you need to start easing up on fears. While Trump was still in the WH I did not blame anyone for being nervous about things. Now we have total competence and a CDC and others who are trying to give us the best info available and the best conditions. Time to go to work.
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Our next door neighbor was a waiter at the Space Needle Restaurant. He is reluctant to go back to work because he'll have no idea if the patrons are vaccinated, exposed, or spreading Covid. He's moving to a city a little north of Seattle, so may look for work there. Restaurants are crowded, crazy spaces. More so for the employees than the customers. I understand why he's hesitant, but it is time to go to work somewhere.
I'm hoping that people are just coming up for air now and will make plans for the future pretty soon. Getting kids back in school will be a big help.
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It's been a while since I've been here, so checking in to say that this Canadian was never more relieved than when the media began calling the election for Biden. And it's nice to no longer be treated as, "... a national security threat ..." as we were under Trump. Canada has been an ally of America for over two hundred years and I'm glad that we're are back on a more congenial footing.
On the home front, we're getting hammered by COVID-19 in my city and our province is on our 3rd lockdown with no end in sight. I've had my first vaccine and am waiting for my second shot. My mother - a life-long breast cancer survivor - is in a senior's residence and they've been very good at keeping the residents safe, but I haven't been able to have a face-to-face visit since last summer. She's doing well - as well as can be expected for 89 - and has been fully vaccinated.
Since I work in the death care industry, I am part of an essential service and have been working through the various lockdowns. I find myself losing it on-line with these twits who keep going on about there being a "COVID hoax" and that 99.9% people survive (or that the vaccine will "... alter your DNA ..."). Well, we've been burying COVID-19 patients since last March and our most recent burial was a 10-year-old boy. On top of the agony families are going through losing loved ones to COVID-19, they cannot have a funeral for them because gatherings are still restricted to 10 or so people. It's so very sad to work with these families and I find myself overwhelmed and exhausted. So when I see these anti-mask/anti-lockdown "protests", I have to walk away or I'm going to explode.
On a positive note, I've used the lockdowns to expand my garden to include vegetables, and I spent the winter growing seedlings in my cellar. My husband built me two, beautiful raised beds and I will be raising corn; pumpkins; zucchini; cucumbers; tomatoes; sweet peppers; broccoli; cabbage; Brussels sprouts; beets; carrots; onions; and various lettuces this summer.
Nice to be back and see some familiar names...
Selena0 -
Selena!!! So good to “see" you. I have wondered where you were. Hope all is well.
Caryn
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I remember you too Selena!
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Hi, Selena!
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Welcome back Selena. I hope you find time to come more often. Also hope Canada soon gets some good control going on the COVID. This has been a really nerve-wracking yr. but I must say since Pres. Biden took over we are all so much more relaxed here. Not totally over the orange mess yet, but watching him depart the WH on Inauguration Day for Biden was a cause for great celebration and I still sigh now and then just to enjoy the relief again.
Just as a sm. note here -- as Rachel Maddow was signing off she received a heads up that the Cybor Yo-Yo's in Arizona had just rec'd a letter from the justice department. I wasn't able to get to the tv in time but it sounded like the gist of the letter was a sort of warning to them that their was potential lawbreaking going on. That the U.S. Govt. is responsible for the care and safe-keeping of election materials ( ballots ) and not outside companies and or citizens. Also, something I didn't know is that were also warned about going door to door asking people about their votes and this is very much against the law. I had no idea the yo-yo's were doing that. I think one of the last statements made was that perhaps the thing ( sham ) would come to a halt quite soon since who would want to tangle with a justice department for very long. Sorry I didn't hear more and more clearly -- but did think it interesting since I've wondered all along how this could take place at all. All the first recounts were handled very carefully and in VERY standard fashion sanctioned by the correct federal people. This has been weird from day one on.
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Hello ladies!!! Nice to be back.
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Everything is well. I've been meaning to come back and visit for some time, but had some issues with remembering my password.
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As I look back at the entire tapestry of my life, I can see from the perspective of the present moment that every aspect of my life was necessary and perfect. Each step eventually led to a higher place, even though these steps often felt like obstacles or painful experiences. -Wayne Dyer
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Haven't heard anymore now from what Rachel's last minute news was last night. I did read this morning a little on how part of what is going on is that a camera is being used to look for bamboo in the ballots. I saw a man who was inside ( an allowed spokesperson apparently ) explaining the situation. Of course, since I consider myself sane for the most part, I had to wonder how he was able with straight face to say this. Another dumb-a** conspiracy theory. So, if they don't find the bamboo ( we all know it can't be there ) what will they come up with next as the 'way' the Democrats stole from Trump. Then sometimes I do wonder who actually sits around and thinks 'watermarks' or 'bamboo', then passes on the info to get it started. We are brilliant people, but some are able to dream up such incredible things -- and it is not always just incredible, but the amt. of people willing to latch onto such idiocy.
It sounds like they haven't managed to get through many of the ballots at all and this building/arena they are using is booked for other things so they are going to have to move out next week. Where I wonder will they do ?? Wondering if they will have to give up ?? There was apparently that DEEP query letter from DOJ as to perhaps they were breaking the law since they weren't duly authorized reps. of the government to take care of ballots properly etc. Anyway, I'll have to ( in case it fades a bit ) be thinking about next week when the coliseum will be turned over to the next 'renter'.
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DeSantis is trying to out-do Trump I do believe. Not sure when they see how much Trump ( never mind how bigly ) lost, why anyone would think they should do everything he did. Added to the fact, that while I think if Trump does do 'time' it would be from SDNY, there is being locked up to be considered as well. Can't believe they have drank that much Kool Aide although they did have a lot. Most of those people have lost every shred of common sense any of them may have had.
Hope some of these lawsuits bear some decent fruit.
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Republicans want to expand the Arizona audit — but DOJ may shut it down
Vice President Kamala Harris swears-in Merrick Garland as U.S. Attorney General Thursday, March 11, 2021, at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
(Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
Steven Rosenfeld andMay 06, 2021
This article was paid for by AlterNet subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.
Arizona's Republican-led Senate is looking to expand its post-election audit of 2.1 million ballots in the state's most populous county, while Arizona's Democratic secretary of state and the U.S. Department of Justice appeared headed to federal court to shut down the post-election exercise.
On Wednesday, May 5, the Senate's liaison to the audit, former Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, a Republican, confirmed that the GOP-led Senate is negotiating with a California nonprofit to conduct a new and separate audit of Maricopa County's 2020 fall election votes.
The nonprofit, Citizens Oversight, would conduct an audit based on analyzing the digital images of every paper ballot that is created at the start of the vote-counting process, when election system software reads hand- or machine-marked paper ballots and tallies the vote counts. The nonprofit has been developing its Audit Engine tool for several years and has tested it in a handful of counties in California and Florida and is now using it in Georgia.
"I know our election procedures and overall processes are good enough to prove to somebody if they really lost an election by more than one percent or more, but not by one-third of one percent," Bennett said. "But that's not good enough because that's not precise enough."
Bennett noted that Donald Trump, statewide, lost to Joe Biden by 10,457 votes and 33,359 ballots contained no vote for president. In addition to the ballot image audit, which would reveal marked ballot ovals skipped by scanners—such as voters who circle ovals instead of filling them in—Bennett said that he wanted to hire a firm to review the digital images of absentee ballot return envelopes to see if any lacked a voter's signature.
"I think we can exponentially magnify the level of trust in our elections by doing exactly what we're doing, and even a few things that haven't even been talked about yet," he said, adding he expected that this entire exercise would take "two to three months" to conclude.
An expanded and prolonged audit appears to be on a collision course with the U.S. Department of Justice, which, along with Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, is on the verge of going into federal court to try to shut down the unprecedented post-election audit led by partisans and conducted by private firms that have not been certified by federal election agencies.
On Wednesday, May 5, Hobbs sent a letter to Bennett saying that the audit's procedures were inconsistent with the protocols laid out in the state's election procedures, were not being done by "qualified, unbiased counters," and failed "to adequately protect and document chain of custody of ballots." These conclusions came from observers sent by Hobbs, who only were allowed into the site after a court ordered the Senate to allow their presence.
At the same time, the Justice Department weighed in on two fronts. In a letter to the Arizona Senate, Kristen Clarke, the head of the Civil Rights Division, said the use of private contractors could violate federal law requiring ballots to remain in the control of elections officials for 22 months, the Associated Press reported. And the principal deputy assistant attorney general, Pamela S. Karlan, said that the Senate's plans to directly contact voters by knocking on their doors and interviewing them could be illegal voter intimidation.
"If Justice can find a federal judge who agrees, they can shut it down," said Chris Sautter, a Washington-based lawyer specializing in recounts and post-Election Day procedures.
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00:00 00:00The Eye of a Growing Storm
The AP reported that the DOJ's "letter came six days after [a coalition of] voting rights groups asked federal officials to intervene or send monitors to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix," where the audit is occurring under tight security by state police. The groups, led by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, have been very critical of Republican-led efforts across the county to pass new laws curtailing voting options and access to a ballot following the 2020 election.
Inside the arena, two recounting procedures could be seen on Wednesday. The first was a hand recount of ballots, where teams of four or five people would put each ballot on an easel-like rotating stand, mark down which candidate (if any) the vote was for—or whether the voter's intent was not clear—and then compile a tally sheet. Bennett said that this process was following Arizona's election procedures manual. However, Hobbs' letter to the Senate president said that this operation "departs from best practices for accurate hand tallying of ballots."
"[A]lthough the aggregate totals of at least two tally sheets must match, there is no guarantee that the counters counted all 100 ballots the same way nor is there a reliable process for ensuring consistency and resolving discrepancies," the letter said.
The second process underway Wednesday was a novel process created by a "failed treasure hunter," as Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office put it in January, who has positioned himself as an adviser to Trump-supporting Republicans. Each ballot card is first placed on a tray below a camera, where a high-resolution photograph is taken. Then the same ballot is placed on a second tray where cameras attached to four microscopes take photographs of printer alignment marks, the marked oval, and borders of the ballot card.
John Brakey, an Arizona-based election transparency activist who is a progressive Democrat but has positioned himself as an adviser to Bennett and has been a spokesperson for the audit, said that operation was counting ballots that had been folded as one way to detect forgeries. It was also looking for "bamboo fibers" to prove that 40,000 ballots had been printed in Asia and smuggled into Maricopa County in an elaborate ballot-box stuffing operation—which Brakey said was absurd and lacked evidence, but needed to be disproven.
"The only way you're going to persuade people on changing [their minds] is having facts, and we're on a mission for facts," he said.
In a Tuesday media briefing organized by the National Task Force on Election Crises—a group comprised of 50 experts in election law, administration, security and civil rights—Tammy Patrick, a senior adviser for elections at the Democracy Fund and former Maricopa County election federal compliance officer, said that this line of inquiry was baseless and indicative of an amateur partisan operation.
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00:00 00:00"There's an assumption [by the audit contractors] that all vote-by-mail ballots would have a fold, but they don't," Patrick said, saying that ballots that are spoiled, such as being torn or stained by coffee, are copied. "That's also not true for provisional ballots or for someone who votes in person."
Ballots also are printed on various paper stock and not all at the same time, she said. "There can be some slight variation in the paper, some slight variation in the ink used. But when it comes down to laying forth a narrative to continue to perpetuate all of the [stolen election] falsehoods and [purportedly] missing information, this is where it gets particularly problematic."
On Wednesday, Bennett said that he joined the audit team after the Arizona Senate president—a position he previously held—hired the initial contractors conducting the audit. He said that he heard and investigated similar conspiracy theories when he was secretary of state, such as false allegations of massive illegal voting by Mexicans crossing the border into Yuma.
"If I, as a public servant, don't go out and address concerns like that, even some that are crazy—if somebody says there's bamboo in these ballots, I may think that's crazy—but if I don't verify, yes or no, I'm just allowing that [narrative to fester]," he said. "I respectfully disagree with people [whom] I trust or respect [who say] that this process lacks credibility, because, to me, it's the exact process that we have to go through to rebuild trust in the minds of the half of the people, this year, [who] think the 2020 election was stolen or a fraud."
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Sorry about some of the materials in the above article. I was invited to edit it, but when I tried to do it -- nothing happened. This though is the article that I referenced last night/this morning from Rachel Maddow. Hard to say how any of this will end up but hopefully the insanity will soon come to an end. Not to put too fine a point on it, but this was the safest and most secure election that we have had in many, many yrs. Not to mention the SEVERAL recounts that already took place and the 60 or so, or a few less losses that Trump and co., racked up trying to overthrow the election through the courts somehow. If indeed the Cyber Yo-Yo's turned something up I would not have one iota of faith because they don't know what they are doing and may be breaking the law every minute that they do this weird stuff. The stupidity of it all is mind boggling.
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Just how horrible can you get:
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For all the good it will do, I did drop a copy of this on my Facebook page. I can already feel who among my friends and or relatives who will not mentally react kindly and I care not one whit. It really does seem like many of the Reps. would like to just push this 4 month old event under an old rug somewhere and totally forget it. I hope someday we are all able to NOT think of it or not often --- maybe now and then when it may turn up for some reason in a news broadcast.
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As to this: AlterNet had an article and had two distinct thoughts on this. The first ( condensed of course ) was that McConnell truly believes Biden passing this bill will be a disaster. He is steeped in Reaganomics and has been for 40 yrs. So much so that maybe he actually believes it. So, he would see Biden causing horror to crash down. It won't.
The second point was ( and the person said as much ) a real long shot, but after the last four yrs. we find much is possible we never thought before Trump got top spot. That would be that McConnell might be hoping that things are so bad for the Reps. in 2022 that they will immediately cease considering Trump as part of their party completely. I agree -- that would be quite a long shot, but Mitch ( any time he has tried very hard to distance himself from Trump as in just after Jan 6. ) backtracks and it may be the only way he knows to free himself and his party from the clutches of the orange deranged former guy. This would be one of the few ways you might get a big majority of your people ( what it would take ) to openly break once and for all. Anyone hanging on after that would have to be totally un-savable. Still doesn't seem real possible but I'm not going anywhere so I'll be here to see in 2022 -- though I'd imagine we'd know before then.
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This too went on my Facebook page for better or worse. I really would like to know what inspired McConnell to "tip" his hand like that. Time will tell. In the meantime we have Jen Psaki.
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