Under the Radar WINS

...and a personal success

I keep hearing from people that they are overwhelmed with dismay from the sheer amount of chaos and cruelty to which they are exposed. They are tuning out. They are avoiding news. They are having trouble sleeping, or sleeping too much. They are unable to eat, or eating too much. On and on, YOU KNOW…

I hear you.

I understand.

Did you know that a Democrat won a special election this week? Yes really. Congratulations to Mike Zimmer for winning State Senate District 35 this Tuesday in Iowa. IN IOWA! He won 52% of a vote in a district that went for the Orange Menace at 60% in November. HUGE SWING. IN IOWA! For all of you who think there will be no more elections, MIKE ZIMMER! Source.

Elections are won house by house, person by person, block by block. And every win counts!

Does that cheer you, even just a little?

Plus one more: Congratulations to Doron Clark who won the special election for Minnesota State Senate District 60 seat. She replaced Kari Dziedzic, who passed away in December. Her death made the Senate 33-33, and so now, we have control back, albeit there is still a tie in the state assembly. Source.

And also, there’s Florida, where both state chambers stood up to Ron Deathsantis. They overrode a veto, called their own special session, denied the special session that eats-pudding-with-fingers wanted. After SIX years of fealty, they stood up. Yeah, they’re still overwhelmingly horrible people, but THEY STOOD UP.

That should give you hope.

Plus, in the biggest win so far, yesterday afternoon, the White House rescinded the order that froze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans.

BLOWBACK WORKS!!! And there was HUGE blowback against the order. It was calls to Congress, court cases, and there was even a demonstration in DC.

And those are in addition to the court cases, the other blowback hitting Congress, and actions that are upcoming, currently being whispered about.

I have been asked how I am able to stay abreast of what’s going on, cull information, and then blog about it, and not lose my mind. Also to ferret out good news, such as it is, in the face of the horror show that is the new fascist regime.

I’m going to share that with you now. Feel free to stop reading now, everyone has their own way of doing things.

First is my attitude, of which I have written previously, ad nauseum. Due my medical situation, I statistically have a 50/50 chance of living another 4 years. On every single damned day that I can stand up, I use all the energy I can to save America, and to save democracy. If I don’t make it to the 2028 elections, I need to be sure that I did everything I could.

Second is that I expected much of what they’re doing, because I read Project 2025. And I see areas where it’s going to be possible to push back, and other areas that are gone. I focus on what can be accomplished, and work REALLY HARD to get people to do what is necessary to push back, and believe me, that’s hard when dealing with people who have completely given up. We CANNOT give up. Because then evil wins.

I ignore the things that are done deals. The biggest one of those currently (but not forever) is deportation, which is inhumane and just plain awful. But that is what they ran on, it is one of their two highest priorities, and it’s going to go on. It will take 3 - 6 months before we see the ramifications in terms of employment at farms, dairies, meat and poultry processing plants, housing and landscaping. There will also be impacts to school funding due to a lower head count. For now, they’ll deport Latin and South American undocumented and documented immigrants, and likely several citizens. Next week, they’ll expand to pro-Palestinian protesters from the college protests last spring.

There’s a limit to how many people they can deport. Last night, I saw an ICE guy interviewed on the local news, and he said it took 14 of them 10 hours to get one guy.

BUT

Eventually, Congress will come through with comprehensive immigration reform (likely last year’s bill) and it will be paired up with the additional funding that the fascist regime needs to continue their raids.

Third, I rely on my dreams, or perhaps it’s a bucket list. I spend some time every day thinking about these things. They make me happy and bring me inner peace. And I share with you my success from Monday night.

I have been trying to successfully bake a pan of cookies for decades. This has NEVER worked out for me. Not once. Until Monday. I baked these cookies.

They were delicious. The bottoms were brown and not burnt. The centers were cooked and not raw. Not salty (you have NO IDEA how badly I’ve failed at cookies). No “off flavor”. Look how even they are!

I used a brand-new recipe.

• Step 1: Preheat oven to 350.

• Step 2: Find non-stick cookie sheet.

• Step 3: Go to freezer and access the box with the preformed outrageously expensive cookies from a famous manufacturer.

• Step 4: Place cookies on sheet and into the oven.

• Step 5: Wait 8 minutes and pull them out.

Why do I tell you about cookies? Well, first I’m REALLY PROUD! But more importantly to show you that no matter how bad the fascist regime is, you should take some time to decompress, to try something new, to do something NORMAL. (Most people can bake cookies with no trouble.)

Give yourself some space and grace, and then get back in the fight. We win by leveraging BLOWBACK — every call you make to an elected official. Every person to whom you talk and get them to make calls, too. It all matters, and it WILL pay off.