Years as a fashionista..now, photography, cooking, and my dog are my passions..Prog. Independent, happily speak my mind. NO DMs #BlueCrew #🟦🟧#SEBSFRIENDS
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Joined July 2013
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patricia caldwell retweeted
Vote and don't get complacent and don't stay home!!!
🚨BREAKING: Democrats are now projected to TAKE CONTROL OF THE SENATE in tomorrow’s elections.
A new NYT polling aggregate—drawing from Quantas, YouGov, MSNow and others—projects a 54–46 Democratic Senate.
Now finish the job. No complacency. No excuses.
SHOW UP. VOTE. WIN. 🌊
#BlueWaveIn1Day
Michiganders…
The important thing is who do you trust?
Please vote BLUE.
The eyes of the nation are on you, we know you’ll do the right thing.
I spoke with Haley Stevens yesterday.
Feeling a bit absurd in pointing out the obvious and being far kinder than I should have been, I reminded her that the outcome of this senate race will be viewed in the light of a future Supreme Court vacancy, and I expressed a hope that all of us understand the stakes.
She assured me she's supporting Dr. El-Sayed, sent me a video of a recent speech she gave blasting Mike Rogers and said this: "Still stands. I promise."
She also said she's been sending this video to other folks to make it clear where she stands on this race.
Again: that was yesterday.
I have known Haley Stevens for years. I have counted her as a friend and an ally. We've had many thoughtful conversations about this country, and she has never failed to remind me that her mother is a fan of my writing.
Whatever other political differences we have, she has always made it clear to me she would stand with LGBTQ people. It was a red line she refused to cross.
Instead, she has made the inexplicable decision to endorse a man who views LGBTQ Americans as second-class citizens unworthy of full equality.
I can't help but wonder what her mother must be thinking right now.
I have no idea what has happened to the person I thought I knew, but clearly, she has completely taken leave of her senses in endorsing a Republican who is little more than a Trump sycophant -- less than 24 hours after promising me that she has not wavered from the bigger picture.
I am disgusted with her cynicism and cowardice in this moment. God forgive me for trusting her.
If you're a Michigan voter and as disgusted as I am, get to your polling place and vote for Dr. El-Sayed.
patricia caldwell retweeted
Over the past few months, I’ve had folks—most often complete strangers—reach out and ask me some version of the following question:
“This Democratic candidate took an anti-trans position. Should I still vote for them?”
Folks, I acknowledge that you want to be thoughtful about all this. I appreciate that you want to get a trans person’s opinion. I understand that y’all take allyship seriously, and I’m grateful for that. I truly am.
Fortunately for all of us, the moral and ethical calculus here are very simple.
An election cycle is split into two parts: the primary season and the general election.
The primaries are over. A lot of candidates across the political spectrum stepped up, offered their ideas, and pitched the voters. The ballots were cast, and some of those candidates won and most of those candidates lost.
We are now in the general election portion of the cycle, and almost every U.S. Senate and U.S. House race offers a straightforward choice: there is a Republican and there is a Democrat.
One of those two candidates will win, and ONLY one of those two will win.
There is no third potential outcome.
On the Republican side, you have a political party led by a sociopathic pedophile who has dismantled critical federal agencies, gutted health care for tens of millions of American working class families, engaged in widespread corruption that would make Richard Nixon blush with secondhand embarrassment, hobbled our economy with deeply asinine and self-serving financial incompetence, alienated all of our longstanding diplomatic relationships with other countries, involved us in an array of irresponsible and dangerous and unnecessary military actions, lost a stupid and pointless war with the theocratic, human rights quagmire that is the Iranian government, made it clear he’s oblivious to the consequences of data centers and other unaccountable bullshit carried out by AI companies, raised our gas prices, raised our food prices, raised our housing costs, raised our childcare costs, raised our health care costs, and continues to cover-up his role in a massive child sex trafficking operation by keeping millions of files hidden from the public.
On the Democratic side, you have a party led by national leaders who are somewhat uninspiring but nevertheless deeply committed to stopping all the above and building a brighter future for working class families in our country.
On the Republican side, you have an entire political party being held hostage—some of them more than likely through blackmail—to the fleeting whims and temper tantrums and probable dementia of the aforementioned sociopathic pedophile.
On the Democratic side, you have a party that is often at each other’s throats but also the furthest thing from a cult, which, ironically, is a sign of very good health and embodying enduring faith in the democratic (small d) process.
You ask me for my thoughts on anti-trans ads or comments put out by Democratic candidates and whether you should still vote for them against Republicans?
Yes. Of course you should vote for them.
Not only should you vote for them but you should get your family and your friends and your neighbors and your colleagues and your mailman and the door-to-door salesperson currently waiting patiently on your front porch to vote for them.
For example, I am not a fan of Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. I do not like her. I think she’s very cynical. Among other things, she has taken unnecessary votes that harmed trans service members and veterans and our families in order to pander to moderates.
Guess what? Her Republican opponent is 10x worse for trans rights. If I lived in her congressional district—WA-03—I would vote for her without hesitation and get everyone I know to vote for her, too. Because I’m not an idiot.
Or take James Talarico, who is running for the U.S. Senate in my beloved home state of Texas. In an interview with Fox News, he stated his conditional opposition to trans youth in sports and pandered to anti-trans social conservatives about opposing already non-existent surgeries for trans youth.
Guess what? His Republican opponent, Ken Paxton, is easily 100x worse for the trans community. Paxton is an anti-trans exterminationist. He does not want the trans community to exist. He would gladly support criminalizing the existence of trans people. He has spent the past four years using his position in the state government to harass and terrorize the parents of trans youth.
Not only am I supporting James Talarico, but if God opened up the clouds above and offered me a deal of exchanging my left arm for the guarantee of Mr. Talarico beating Paxton, I would agree to the deal in a heartbeat.
This is not a complicated decision.
I feel the exact same way about Dr. Annie Andrews, who has spent her career serving working class families in South Carolina and is now tantalizingly close to flipping that U.S. Senate seat currently held by Darline Graham, sister of the late Lindsey Graham.
Do I care that Dr. Andrews put out an ad opposing trans youth in sports and already non-existent surgeries for trans youth? No, I do not care. I do not give a shit.
Because Darline Graham has made anti-trans extermination her entire political brand and seems to spend every waking moment obsessed with how to make the lives of trans people miserable, not the least due in part to her lack of any policy ideas to help working class families in South Carolina and needing a scapegoat to conceal her own strident mediocrity.
You’re goddamn right I support Dr. Andrews for that U.S. Senate seat. I would gladly vote for her if I lived there, and I’d be canvassing every day in support of her, too.
This is not complicated.
Pick any U.S. Senate race and U.S. House race, and my opinion is gonna be the same every damn time. Because the primaries are over, this is the general election, and there are only two choices: either an imperfect Democrat with whom I disagree on a handful of issues or a Republican currently subscribed to a death cult that wants people like me to cease existing entirely.
Some of y’all will bring up that there are trans people who disagree with me. I’m sure there are. That’s their prerogative. They have a constitutional right to express their opinion that certain Democratic candidates should be boycotted. We do, after all, for the moment, live in a free country.
But they’re wrong. They’re dead wrong. They could not be more wrong. Their curious sense of aimless and flailing political strategy honestly makes me wonder if they have a shred of survival instinct in their bones.
Again: this is not complicated. If you care about the future of trans equality in this country, you will march your happy ass to your polling location and fill in the bubble next to every name on that ballot with a (D) next to the name.
Then you will make sure your family and friends and neighbors and colleagues and mailman and door-to-door salesperson still waiting on the front porch have all done the same.
The past two years are all the proof you need that sitting out an election because the better candidate happens to not be perfectly to your liking is completely stupid and self-destructive.
On Election Night, I am going to celebrate Democrats taking back Congress and saving democracy from the anti-trans fascists of the GOP. I will sleep-in the next morning. Then, I will wake up and get to work being an insufferable pain-in-the-ass on the importance of trans equality for the Democrats who were just elected.
God love democracy.
Do not complicate an easy decision. Go vote for Democrats.
patricia caldwell retweeted
All this guy does is LIE. He makes one false promise after another. One LIE after another. He promised lower prices. Your gas, food, rent, healthcare, and credit card bills say otherwise.
This November is our LAST CHANCE to DRAIN THE SWAMP.
American people know where the real SWAMP is, and you can drain it this November. You have the power.
He promised no foreign wars. He promised $5,000 DOGE checks and tariff checks. Neither happened.
Meanwhile, according to Reuters, he and his sons added at least $2.3 BILLION through crypto ventures. You're maxing out your cards just to live. He's cashing in.
Republicans in Congress won't ask a single question about it. Only a new Congress will.
You can vote early in person. Vote BLUE. It's our last chance to save and repair what's left of this great nation, and to hold corrupt politicians accountable to the law.
Pay attention people. If you use an electronic voting machine..this could happen. Check your ballot before leaving the booth.
🚨🚨BREAKING: Dolly Parton’s sister, Stella Parton, says a Tennessee voting machine repeatedly switched her selection to Republican Marsha Blackburn, forcing her to correct her ballot THREE TIMES before voting. She’s not alone. Other Tennessee voters have reported similar problems while attempting to vote for Democrats.
patricia caldwell retweeted
Heads up!! Check and check and check again before pulling the final lever.
🚨🚨BREAKING: Dolly Parton’s sister, Stella Parton, says a Tennessee voting machine repeatedly switched her selection to Republican Marsha Blackburn, forcing her to correct her ballot THREE TIMES before voting. She’s not alone. Other Tennessee voters have reported similar problems while attempting to vote for Democrats.
patricia caldwell retweeted
Elon Musk is trying to buy this Senate seat in Texas.
He wants our land, he wants our water, and he wants his own personal U.S. senator. He’s trying to buy Texas.
But on November 3rd, we’ll deliver a clear message to the world’s first trillionaire: Texas is not for sale.
patricia caldwell retweeted
Happy Birthday President Biden. We love you💙💙
This quoted post is unavailable.
patricia caldwell retweeted
Dear America,
This is right after the mid-terms.
Don't vote for the people who are going to hurt you.
Cruelty is the point: Rachel Maddow is reporting 10 million Americans will be kicked off Medicaid on Jan 1, and 20 million more will be ruined by skyrocketing ACA premiums.
The Trump regime's timing is pure barbarism. It was designed to brutalize regular Americans by pulling the rug out from under people the second the midterms ended and all the votes were locked in — with ZERO fucks given to the human suffering it will cause.
Forcing working class families to choose between buying food and losing life-saving healthcare isn't just a cynical Republican policy decision, it's a cruel and sadistic betrayal of 30 million Americans.
patricia caldwell retweeted
This man is gonna be the next Senator from Maine! Give him a follow if you want to see Susan Collins be very very concerned!
patricia caldwell retweeted
My wife and I received our $90 Medicare rebates yesterday.
We’re going to make $86.47 donations to Abdul El-Sayed and James Talarico.😁
patricia caldwell retweeted
In 1984, a twenty-five-year-old woman stood in a hospital hallway in Arkansas and watched a group of nurses draw straws to decide who would have to enter a patient's room. A red biohazard bag hung from the door handle. Inside was a young man suffering from AIDS. He had been reduced to eighty pounds and was dying in terrible pain, whispering the same word over and over again: “Mama.”
Ruth Coker Burks didn't wait to find out who had drawn the short straw. She turned the handle and walked inside.
She asked the nurses to contact the young man's family, but they told her they had already been calling for six weeks without getting an answer. Ruth took the phone number and decided to try one more time herself. When the man's mother answered, her response was cold and final. She said her son was sinful and that, as far as she was concerned, he was already dead to her. She refused to come.
Ruth hung up the phone and walked back into the room. She sat beside the young man's bed and stayed there. For thirteen hours, she held the hand of a dying stranger, quietly whispering comforting words until he took his final breath.
When his family refused to claim his body, Ruth decided she would bury him herself. She paid for the cremation out of her own pocket, found a chipped cookie jar from a local potter to hold his ashes, and took him to her family's cemetery in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Using posthole diggers meant for building farm fences, she dug the grave with her own hands. When the grave was finished, she said a quiet prayer over the soil.
Word of Ruth's kindness slowly began spreading across the South. People heard about a woman in Arkansas who wasn't afraid. A woman who would sit beside you when you were dying and make sure you were treated with dignity when no one else would claim you.
Over the next decade, Ruth Coker Burks personally cared for more than 1,000 people dying of AIDS. Most were young men who had been abandoned by their families and communities during the height of the crisis. She buried forty of them with her own hands in her family's cemetery. Her young daughter often went with her, carrying a small toy spade while Ruth worked with the heavy posthole diggers.
Many of the people Ruth cared for had lost their jobs, their homes, and almost everything they once had. She scrambled to help them buy medication and food and to keep up with their rent. She needed money to continue, and the local drag queens stepped in to help. Every Saturday night, they hosted shows and pooled their tips so Ruth could keep supporting the people who depended on her.
By the late 1990s, medical treatments had advanced and the immediate crisis had begun to change. Ruth's urgent work slowly became less visible, and over time, her story faded into quiet history. But the forty small graves in Hot Springs remained. They became sacred ground, cared for by a woman who had refused to let people die believing they were unwanted or disposable.
When fear and panic sweep through a society, it can be painfully easy for communities to turn their backs on the people who need help the most. Ruth Coker Burks chose to do the opposite. She walked toward the fear, sat beside those everyone else had abandoned, and made sure that even in death, they were treated like human beings.
