August 3, 2015

I roar for Cecil.

Indeed.

August 2, 2015

Nah, it's just fine that you posted in GDP.

But I've gotta admit, I'm still surprised, myself, at some of the responses from the Bernie camp. They truly have not seen the brickbats flying all over the place from their own compatriots? Seriously? I've become rather sensitized to this whole mess, and I find I am now LOOKING, deliberately, for evidence of that. Granted, I'm not on some round-the-clock patrol, sifting every post on every thread in every forum, so I'll concede that, certainly. But what I have seen is so doggone lopsided that it becomes another one of those moments to compare a brick to a grain of aquarium gravel and pronounce them both equal because they both happen to be hard.

I think we are fortunate to be able to learn from our sisters and brothers of a different skin color. As an Anglo, I don't share their experiences, so it helps me to hear about them and study and learn. I find their perspectives most illuminating. Every one of them is a teachable moment.

August 2, 2015

I read all your words, too, bravenak, and yours as well, Raine1967.

Both excellent points. Both worth recommending in and of themselves!

I've noted here, myself, as a white woman, Raine, that the main way I can relate, since my family is pretty monochromatic on the lighter side, too, is through being a mom. I just sink myself into the faces and voices of those mothers who've lost their precious children to police brutality, senseless gun violence, or the Stand Your Ground overkill, and ponder how I have the luxury of kissing my son goodbye on his way to a gig and I can feel pretty confident that he will come home on his own two feet and not in a box.

Black moms do not have that sense of security. Why do they not deserve that sense of security too? Why on earth should they be denied that? I could add the trite little comment about how no mother anywhere should be denied that, but CRIMINY, it happens so damn much more often to Black families that it is a genuine, and almost transcending crisis! As a mom, I know how critical it is for me to know my kids are safe. That's as big a bedrock fundamental issue as there is, for a mom. I can only imagine how that fear and dread gnaws at any Black mom, every moment of every day and night that her kids are not, physically, safely within her view.

Perhaps this is why, for many, social justice outweighs economic justice on the scale of importance. Because no job, no matter how good it is or what it pays, can comfort a mother who's had her son or daughter violently and unjustly ripped away from her forever.

So I relate that way, and I've gotta say, it just tears up my guts.

August 2, 2015

+1.

It could simply be that accusing you of being a Hillary supporter is someone's idea of an insult.

August 2, 2015

NICE!

So gratifying. We're lucky. He is turning into a Great President. He will be in the top five.

August 2, 2015

Well then, there shouldn't be a problem, since all sexually active men

just automatically and always take precautions, without fail, correct? All rapists certainly are thoughtful about that, aren't they?

Furthermore, condoms are NOT universally free. Plus, some women have so little money that they have trouble buying FOOD, much less a pack of Trojans. And if she's already trying to look for a job, bargain for child care, and take care of kids (particularly if she's a single head of household), maybe she doesn't have time to drive to some inconvenient place to pick up free condoms.

Furthermore, birth control meds are sometimes prescribed for other reasons than for pregnancy prevention. Several young girls in my daughter's classes - and as I recall, mine, too - had them prescribed for severe cramps and drastically irregular periods. This was long before any of them became sexually active. If the pill was available over-the-counter, at any 7-11 for example, does anyone doubt that women would readily exercise that option?

August 2, 2015

This is not the only place outside the DU bubble where it's noticeable.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lorraine-devon-wilke/bernie-bullying-and-other_b_7908216.html

I too find it interesting that this view is not just an observation based on happenings here in our little DU world, Sheepshank. Of course, there's usually a sense of "maybe it's just me, but..."

However, it's not just a case of Hillary people here on DU who are supposedly just whining about somebody being mean to them, either. No longer. Like it or not, confirm it or deny it, this is becoming a thing. This and the OP both appear to be independent, objective testimony. I'd venture to say nobody from here (or from anywhere within the Hillary camp, for that matter) ordered or forced either of these bloggers to write what they did.

Guys - we all need to remind ourselves repeatedly from WHOEVER'S camp - that we ALL face THE SAME common enemy. The enemy is the GOP. NOT various segments of Democrats.

Family feuds are NOT helpful.

August 2, 2015

Hey, I would imagine a few of us have done that by accident.

I certainly goofed once in the Bernie Sanders Group, when I replied to a post - to reply specifically to THAT post. I just didn't have the presence of mind to check up at the top of the screen to see which forum the thread was in. D'OH! It's easy enough to do if one is momentarily not paying attention. Taught me to make sure to check which forum. I apologized, of course. It's a habit that just sorta has to be formed. I'm working on it myself, trying to be more contientious about that.

Btw - thank you for being so courteous!

August 1, 2015

Oh God! I hope so!

Fingers crossed! Prayers said! We can't afford to lose these magnificent cats. Or any of these other rare, endangered animals.

Can't.

August 1, 2015

Where have you been?

I got a post hidden for complaining about it, not all that vocally, either, and the snark and insults and personal attacks against me among the jurors just in that DU jury alone were so nasty and pointedly personal against me that I'm trying VERY HARD to forget so I can eventually find my way to forgiving. I have seen it ALL OVER THIS SITE. For MONTHS.

You haven't seen the attacks on sheshe2, on BainsBane, William769, DemocratSinceBirth, even on people like 1StrongBlackMan and bravenak? Holy cannoli, how they pile on bravenak, and she hasn't even declared for Hillary! But she too has pointed out that the Bernie people have jumped all over her so viciously that she's changed her mind about voting for him. Reading some of that shit she's had to deal with here, week after week, I'm not one bit surprised. I see the "get snarly with me, bait me to answer questions..." here ALL THE TIME.

But I realize something else, too - that I may not be clearly understanding your post. On first look, it sounds to me like baiting, but I could be misreading it. Sometimes that happens when all we're doing in discussion boards like this is reading flat two-dimensional words on a screen. No spoken words, and thus, no vocal inflection, no context, no nuance, no clearer meaning. So I may very well simply be misunderstanding your post, and for that I apologize.

But to answer the question you pose - YES. MANY of the virulent brickbat posts I see here from Bernie people are EXACTLY like what's described in that paragraph in your post. I ABSOLUTELY have seen it. Over and over and over and over and over again. I myself have the virtual scars to prove it. Sometimes I feel like this place is a "Jurassic Park" movie. You venture out - into the "jungle" and you can be repeatedly set upon by packs of hungry velociraptors. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that this observation is being made in other places on the internets than just here at DU. But that HuffPo piece really was illuminating: "Aha! You mean it's NOT just me? DU isn't the only place this is going on? Same complaints arising from elsewhere, too? Shit! I thought things were being exaggerated, or that it's just this little insular phenomenon here within the confines of our unique little DU hangout here." But this tells me it really is as bad as some of us here think it is.