[Closed] The Great Unraveling and the Great Turning - Rebuilding a Progressive America in the Future

@enkasongwriter As far as the delayed restoration of power, I am unsure why towns gave publicly traded fortune 500 companies their trust in the first place.  I realize it goes back decades and that it's a complex issue that involves economies of scale.  But why would towns turn their business over to big Fortune 500 companies when they can do it themselves? There are towns, like the one I live in, who run our own electric utilities.  We are never out of power more than 4-5 hours while other towns nearby can be out for a week or two.  

Whoever thought that the private sector could do it better than the public when the private sector has one goal, profit and their stock quote. Okay, so someone is going to tell me I've way oversimplified, but I shake my head every time I hear about some town that has to wait weeks for power when I don't hear about it happening in towns who own their own power. Couldn't towns take the job away from these private companies and band together and run their own power?  If there is a power expert out there who can explain this to me, I'd be much obliged.

@jeanne-mayell I am more of a public-private partnership supporter, aka third-sector in Japan, where certain parts of operations are publically operated while others are private. For example, the local government owns the transportation system, owns the rolling stock, and controls the fares while a private company gets a contract to provide services, similar to the NICE bus in Nassau County, the Presbyterian hospital in Flushing and the MTR in Hong Kong. In Japan, the railway systems are efficient as the operators are private and the government regulates fares, which leads to the companies competing with each other and diversify. Competition allows consumers to have their own preferences and keeps prices lower for consumers.

There is competition in New Jersey, where private companies compete with NJ Transit. I have seen cases where the private companies have cheaper fares and operate more frequently than NJ Transit. The MTA subway used to be three competing companies and the buses used to be operated by various companies until the governments overtook the systems, which leads to inefficiencies and frequent price hikes.

@laura-f

"I got tired of my daughter's ethnic origin constantly questioned, my own as well,"

Enough said. Inexcusable! Its very similar to the constant homophobia expressed to those in our non-traditional sexual or gender identitified communities.

Racism and all those other "isms" polarize, separate and create chasms of fear and judgment rather than the love and acceptance of genuine spirit and faith based lives.

@melmystery A hearty welcome to the forum.  I love what you wrote, even if I posted in ways that seem to contradict.   Thank you for sharing the Druid perspective.  I have this belief about trees that in some ways coincides with your belief. I sense that  they feel us, and know us, and I talk to them and hear their ideas. I don't cut down trees without a really good reason, like they are dying and about to fall on my house. And I've felt that trees don't like hurting anyone unless that person is a tree killer. I also feel this way about the oceans, rivers and lakes. 

@allyn I feel for you, the circumstances you find yourself in, and I know you are such a great warrior. 

@enkasongwriter

I was out for 25 hours. They are still people in my town who are still waiting. Some of them have wires down with trees. They can’t have anyone remove the trees until the wires go back up. People had to throw their food away. Never mind that PSEG texting to let them know you had an outage did not work. You couldn’t call them either. They got rid of LIPA because of the performance after Super Storm Sandy. Same crap different name. Still horrible service. 

Did the White House just say they are considering ways to restrict entry on the US-Mexico border, including US citizens and lawful permanent residents over Covid-19 concerns????

@melmystery Welcome to our little group! Tickled to see another practitioner of Neo Druidic beliefs here ❤️ 

@allyn, I do not know your personal situation (work/finance etc.) or what is possible in the states, but I second (third?) the suggestions made on this forum: move away!

I spent years being very unhappy living near Amsterdam. My work was toxic, my personal life sucked and I missed nature with all my heart. When I decided to move back East I had nothing there. No friends, no family, no job... nothing, but my memories of childhood and a leap of faith.

However, I did it. Started with a house and the rest followed: pure bliss.

Life is too short to be unhappy/discontent. Don't let a toxic environment define you. It frazzles the soul. 

@jessi1978 Now Gov. Cuomo threatens to revoke PSEG and ConEd's license.

https://www.newsday.com/long-island/pseg-cuomo-operating-license-1.47982333

@moonbeam

Yes, people will vote for him as a protest vote against Biden and Trump. I don't think he would get the same numbers as a Libertarian or Green Party candidate however.

@enkasongwriter  I hope Cuomo does revoke these companies' licenses as well as the CT governor for the pour job Eversource is doing.  

PSEG CEO makes $10,419,291.

CONed  Chairman $8,846,840.  Coned next in line under him: $2m

Eversource executive salaries. They get huge bonuses, and for what?  Putting power in people's homes?  I doubt it. Keeping up that stock quote, yes.

Andrew Cuomo Governor of NY State: Cuomo's salary will be $200,000 this year under the resolution approved by the Legislature, an increase over the $179,000 paid to New York's governors since 1999.

To @moonbeam, @jeanne-mayell, @laura-f, and @loverndures

I am afraid that moving is simply not an option.  Despite how toxic my Trump-loving neighbors have become, my family needs me.  My parents have health problems, and my sister is extremely high-risk with her health conditions.  They have loved and supported me all my life, and I can't leave them behind.  Further, we live on a farm that requires a great deal of work, and my weekends are filled with mending fences, pulling weeds, tending gardens, etc.  Since I am the only one without major health issues, I am the one who does most of the heavy lifting (don't feel bad for me, I love being useful, and it keeps me fit!).  If I leave, who will help them?

Further, the spirit within me is defiant and yet hopeful.  I have withstood bullies all my life, and eventually they are the ones who leave.  This is my home and my life.  I was the one who put up roots here.  If they don't like the fact that I don't agree with them, then they can leave!

Also, I know that there are others like me, but are too cowed to say anything.  My defiance and the defiance of a few others gives them hope.  We do not actively seek confrontation (with the exception of one of us, but that is a different matter altogether), but neither will we back down when we are challenged.  Several times over the last few years, I have been approached by strangers and friends alike who told me to my face how relieved they were to watch someone stand up to these people and refuse to be bullied.  Once, one of my friends was told to "go back" to Mexico (Note: She isn't from Mexico.  Her parents are from Saudi Arabia, but she was born here and is as American as the rest of us.)  I proceeded to tell that person off and threatened him with the police for "harassment" and "making terroristic threats."  He left the restaurant pretty quickly after that!;)

So, I appreciate everything that this forum has done for me.  You guys have been greatly sympathetic, and you give me encouragement.  Further, like true friends, you point out when you feel I go too far, least I become the very darkness I am trying to defeat.  And I thank you all for that.

So, I can't leave.  But I know that when the head bully is taken down hard, his followers scatter like rats from a sinking ship.  So I hope that if Trump is taken down in November, my Trump neighbors will retreat back into the darkness and leave the rest of us alone.  One can only hope.

Ok.  Now Trump is challenging the New York DA about the details of his investigation.

This might be a "be careful what you wish for" moment.

Without knowing it, Trump may have accidently hurt himself by demanding that the DA gives up details about the case in order to challenge the subpoena on his taxes.  Because if the DA does have more information on Trump, he would have to put it in a motion.

Which then becomes public record.

Which means that the media can get hold of it, and then it would be released to the public.

So...if, for example, Vance writes in his motion that he has information that Trump used funds to have his mistresses abort babies or something like that, then the media will get hold of that information, and release it to the public.  Or if Vance writes that he received information from a source (likely Comey) that Trump and/or his family received direct payments from Putin in exchange for certain favors, then the media can release it to the public.

Had Trump not done this, this information could stay private and wouldn't be released until after the election.  The judge can always order that the motions remain sealed, of course, but there is no guarantee that it won't be leaked, especially once it has been filed.

Methinks that Vance will unleash an "October surprise" on Trump in October, in the form of indictments against members of his inner circle or his family.  Trump will be Trump and try to do something, but the damage will be done.  The last undecided voters will ask "why the heck would we vote for someone who will just have indictments for the next four years?"  They will not vote or vote for Biden.

Watch out for Barr, though.  He will try to stir up trouble against Biden, no doubt.  But I think the Republicans have dismissed Ukraine for so long that any lies they make up about Biden will not have the same bite that it would have had Trump not gone through the impeachment.

@mas1581

I have heard that too, and I have the perfect answer.

When they say that Covid-19 is proof that Trump is God's chosen and the rapture is coming, I remind them that, per their beliefs, the rapture will come because Christians will be hated by the world because many false prophets will be spreading lies about what Christianity stands for.  I then ask them "Are you sure you are not the false prophets?  Perhaps you are the ones that cause everyone to hate Christians?"

When they counter back that they are still doing God's will regardless, I tell them this-"Pharaoh did God's will when he refused to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, according to the Bible.  Do you think he went to heaven afterwards?"

Again, my point is this.  You can't claim that God hates sin and yet makes people sin in order to see that his will is done.  We are the ones who do wrong, not God (or whatever deity or universal truth you believe in.)  I believe C.S. Lewis was correct when he wrote in one of his books (The Last Battle from the Narnia series) that all good things come from God and all bad things come from the Enemy (whatever you call evil).  Therefore, those who do evil things in God's name is really doing service for the Enemy, and those who do good things even if it is not in God's name is still serving God.

I hope that eventually they will take time to self-reflect about this, and change their ways.  Anyone who does good is my neighbor, no matter who he or she claims to believe in (be it God, Allah, Jehovah, the universe, nature, nothing at all, etc.)  Those who walk in the light are comfortable with this knowledge, and don't feel the need to challenge and/or hurt those who disagree with them.  Those who don't are not guided by the light, and thus do not feel comfortable when they meet someone who doesn't believe what they do.  It is rather sad, and while I pity them, I cannot stand by and allow them to destroy others with hypocrisy so that those people stop caring about the light completely.  It is not my way.

@allyn

Been there done that. They just dismiss. I get a more logical and in depth conversation out of the 2 year old twins. Ive given up on trying to have conversations with them. Its too frustrating. 

As far as Trump wanting release of the other info, it makes sense. He feels fully protected by Barr and is confident that his power in the WH can make it all go away, as everything else has up to this point. As far as it going public, he doesn't care. He will just claim witch hunt/fake news and his believers will fall in line. This man can seriously eat a baby on live video and his people will still make excuses and support him. It no longer matters what he does, they believe in him like they believe in God now. 

If he gets the info released now, he can squash it before the election and get away with it. He is confident he can win by cheating, but I don't think he feels it is full proof so he would rather shut it all up while he is protected.

@Allyn, understandable and totally commendable! I once read that the Midwest is so red, because all liberals leave. Maybe it starts with little drops of water like you to change the drought into a monsoon.

@Rowsella, that would be horrifying. It's spitting on all those people who have fought so hard for voting rights. You do not use your vote as a nonsense 'protest' vote. You do not gamble or protest with people's lives. It frustrates me daily that my life, and all those with me in Europe, (or better said the world) is heavily influenced by the US and yet we have absolutely no say in these elections, while vapid people do.

Education really is the way to go in so many place in the world...

(not meaning to step on anyone's toes here, I mean in general -> vapid folks exist in every country;-)

@moonbeam

If only it was the Midwest!  I live in east Tennessee (between Knoxville and Chattanooga).  The area where I live is about 95% Republican with a few prominent Democratic families who occasionally make waves.  But the newer generation is becoming less and less conservative as time goes on, so hopefully a time will come where people can find common ground regardless of party.

@Allyn, that's what we're all hoping for! Conservative doesn't have to be a bad thing. As long as you are open to change and see that some things can be improved. Nobody ever got anywhere by standing still.