PROGRESSIVE DISCUSSION - WEDNESDAY 1/31

Good morning and welcome to the end of January! Hopefully spring is not too far away.

So I did watch the SOTU last night all the way through. While he's certainly no orator, for the JA he did a pretty good job. If he would actually do some of the things he said, it would be good. The problem is that you can't believe anything he says, and he very likely will dispute his own words today, or tomorrow, or the next day. He doesn't have sincerity or true belief about any of it. His actions speak far louder than his words. Of course we all want to see something done about the infrastructure, but the measly $200 million he proposed for it in the budget isn't going to be a drop in the bucket. We all want the country to be safe, but his wall isn't going to do that. His hate filled policies and rhetoric do, however, go a long way towards making the world hate us. And, that he wants to increase our nuclear arsenal, yes he actually said that, is insane. We could already destroy the entire world 10 times over. We all want veterans to be well taken care of, but have you seen any tangible sign that he's working towards that?

His immigration policies are absolutely deplorable. He talks about lottery visas as if a name is pulled out of the hat, and that person is immediately on a plane and bound for the US with no background checks, etc. Anyone who pays attention knows that is completely false, but he says it and most of his followers just accept it as truth.

He wants to do away with what he calls "chain migration," and allow immigrants to only bring their spouse and minor children. Well, a great many of us have chain migration as part of our roots. In my own family, my DH came. He was a single 26 year old who had sacrificed a lot in order to be here. He went from a machinist-toolmaker to a Ph.D., and he brought his brother, his sister and her husband, and his niece. All three became productive citizens giving back to this country far more than many who were born here. He also brought his parents, who were older and not able to work. They were not a burden on society, however, as they were supported by DH and his brother. His father became a citizen, and his mother wanted so badly to be a citizen. The first time she took the citizenship test, she didn't pass it. She was nervous. She had studied hard, but she failed. So she studied even harder, but unfortunately she died shortly before being eligible to take the test again. I would argue that DH being able to bring his family here made this country stronger and greater rather than taking away from it as the JA would imply.

I've been having an issue with my eyes lately, and they were hurting so I went to bed without hearing the Democrat's response. DH did listen. He thought Kennedy sounded angry, which he felt was unfortunate and didn't send the right message. I'd like to hear what any of you thought about it if you watched. I know Anne was planning to watch.

Yay for DGD and her team! I'm sure our cheerleading was a big help to them.

As I said, I didn't watch. Dh and I went out to dinner with friends and had a lovely time. Dh made some comment to the waitress about their being too much cracked pepper in his meal so that it overpowered the taste at times, and they comped his meal! This was our first time at this particular restaurant and we will definitely go back again.

I did catch a little bit of Kennedy's speech. I thought he did a good job and the comments and reviews I've read have all been positive. Our paper came out with an article this morning fact checking Trump's speech and most of it was lies and exaggerations. Big surprise.

After several bumps on head from low ceiling in storage & slipping on slippery grass/ice & doing the splits, yup, I found the Valentine decorations.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JASON!

A very merry un-birthday to everyone else!