So there was a "shake up" in the Trump Campaign on Wednesday. And that makes me think oh no. Shake ups make me nervous. That means he realizes he is slipping, and needed a change.  I don't like change. I like how things are right now, and I'd like them to stay that way until November 8.

I follow a journalist, Jared Yates Sexton on Twitter, and have loved his tweets throughout this election. Apparently I am not alone. An article from The Good Men Project has all of Jared's tweets from Trump's rally last night in North Carolina.  You can read it here. I will warn you, it is terrifying. 

He points out how different Trump seems now, more controlled than he has been, and also has some observations on the people attending the rally.

This isn't the rambling, embarrassing Trump address we've seen for a year. This is focused and has a message for media to swallow.

— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) August 18, 2016

Guy behind me calling for Clinton to be thrown in prison, "and you know what happens in prison"

— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) August 18, 2016

Guy next to me says of Trump doesn't win he thinks we'll either have a civil war or the country will die.

— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) August 18, 2016

Listen. This was a different Trump product. A dangerous one. And his supporters are ready for violence.

— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) August 19, 2016

So, we shall see where it goes from here. I'm back to being completely nervous.

Your comic relief for the day: when you hate your job

Don't Hate on Hillary

To some of you Bernie or Bust people who are having a hard time getting on the Hillary train because you "don't trust" her or she's too "shrill", This is the article for you!  And, quite frankly, if RuPaul's endorsement of Hillary doesn't convince you, I don't know what will.

Great op-ed from the NY Times here, on Trump's 2nd Amendment comments.

I find myself getting teary eyed, getting heart palpitations, and barely able to look at FiveThirtyEight's latest prediction.  I was talking to a friend last night about this election, and she was saying how she didn't see how Trump could win. My first general election was in 2000, and I will forever have severe PTSD from that election. My thoughts then were how could anyone ever vote for George W Bush? Much like the thoughts many people have now how could anyone ever vote for Donald Trump? 16 years later, I am looking back fondly on the days of my loathing of George W Bush. I stopped being able to watch him speak when he was elected. I stopped being able to watch Trump speak in March. So, as I look at the latest prediction, I close my eyes, take a deep breath, see that it is possible. We may very well have our first woman president. And then 20 year old Megan quickly rears her head and says don't forget 2000. And I take another deep breath, stop getting too cocky, and remember there is a lot of work to do before November.

Instead of some comic relief, I give you some eye candy from our neighbors to the North.

Show me the Money!

The tax returns. Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine have released theirs. Trump and Pence have not released theirs. And we are all thinking the same thing: Trump is hiding something. Is he not as rich as he boasts? Is a lot of his money in other countries? Does he not donate to any charities? All of the above? There are some great articles about this very topic, to get your wheels turning and give you some ammunition if/when you bump into a Trumpet (a friend of mine told me her mom refers to Trump supporters as Trumpets, so I have decided to steal that with glee).

Truthout.org
Fortune
NCRM

In the non tax return world of Donald Trump, I found this fascinating article about his tweets last night, showing how every non-hyperbolic tweet comes from his staff, and every hyperbolic tweet comes from him. If anything, this, to me, just further proves his instability. The author, David Robinson, is a data scientist and ends the article with this: "A lot has been written about Trump’s mental state. But I’d really rather get inside the head of this anonymous staffer, whose job is to imitate Trump’s unique cadence (“Very sad!”), or to put a positive spin on it, to millions of followers. Are they a true believer, or just a cog in a political machine, mixing whatever mainstream appeal they can into the @realDonaldTrump concoction? Like Tony Schwartz, will they one day regret their involvement?"   Part of me wants to feel bad for Trump's staff. But, if they are Trumpets themselves, I don't feel bad for them at all.

And your comic relief:

Pence and Abstinence

This morning, I came across this article about an interview of Mike Pence in 2002 by Wolf Blitzer.  I realize it is 14 years old, but something tells me that Mike Pence's views on birth control have not changed. I would like to extend an invitation to any woman who supports Trump/Pence to tell me how, in their 21st century minds, they can vote for someone who says things like that. I do not understand it.

Anywhere you look, you see that time and time again, studies have shown abstinence only education does not work. This study from 2007. Although my doctor always tells me not to look things up online, one of my favorite self-diagnosis websites, and one most Americans run to as soon as a new rash pops up, WebMD, agrees, too. The Advocates for Youth Organization says on their website "Abstinence-only education programs are not effective at delaying the initiation of sexual activity or in reducing teen pregnancy."  (click for full article).

On the other hand, here are some "cool" statistics for abstinence. Come on, kids, a whopping 3% of Americans wait to have sex until marriage. THREE. They are trying to tell people that is a large number. I hate to tell you, it's not. I think that encouraging people to wait to have sex until he/she is married, is also encouraging them to get married young. We live in a world where now, women especially, can go out and live their lives anyway they want to. We can go to college, we can go to grad school, we can run companies, we can start companies, we can run for president. And, we are living longer! When people started waiting for marriage to have sex, it was because they were getting married at 14, having babies, and dying before they turned 40. Now we are living into our 90s. There is no rush to get married and have babies. We don't even have to have babies any more! That's right, I said it here: women, listen up. Your life is still valid if you don't have kids. And you should be able to live your life, enjoying sex, even if you aren't married, even if you are and you don't want kids, without the worry of getting a disease or pregnant.

SO, I pose this question: if you support contraception, (I'm not even getting into a woman's right to choose, I am just talking about the basic principle of BIRTH CONTROL), HOW, can you vote for Trump/Pence?

Comic relief: Don't Use Our Song

Great post by Dan Rather on Trump's comments yesterday... 

Practicing my Amendment Rights

 Today, Donald Trump said this:

 

Yes. He suggested that "2nd amendment people" could do something about the threat that Hillary poses to their rights to own a gun. I think we all know here he wasn't suggesting they start their own campaigns on gun ownership. Just last night, I was talking to a friend about how Trump seemed to be "toning it down." And I said to her "yeah, he's done this before, and I always think, shit he's toning it down, so now it might get close again." And I keep thinking There's no way he'll say something stupid again. Until he does. And it seems like each time, it is more outrageous than the last. How is this guy a legitimate candidate for the President of the United States? The NY Times has a good article about the whole thing here. 

And now, a rant about guns:

I don't like guns. I don't like violence. I don't think that any average Joe American citizen has the right to own military caliber automatic weapons. Quite frankly, I also don't see the need for any American to have a hunting rifle either, unless that is how they get their food. But. Hunting is a "sport" so I understand that dream is a long shot, and that's ok. Because I believe we can all work together, we can all compromise to live in a safe country. I understand that gun control won't mean every single gun is gone. All I want is people who should not be able to buy a gun, to not be able to. All I want is it to not be possible to buy gun that can kill several people in seconds.  Let's ban assault rifles. You can keep your hunting guns (I won't even do the research to see what a single shot, tough to reload hunting gun is called because I don't want to educate myself on that). 

I would also like to hear the answer to the question I have had for a long time: if you claim you have a gun to keep yourself and your family "safe," but you also claim that you are a responsible gun owner and have them locked up in a closet, how are those guns keeping you safe? You are lying about something. You are either lying about them keeping you safe, and you just like guns, or you are lying about having them locked up. If, God forbid, something were to happen in your home, do you really think you will have enough time to run to your closet where your guns are locked up, tell the invader to just hold on a sec while you unlock it to get out your gun? So either your guns are laying out where your kid could get it and accidentally kill someone, or you just have the guns because you really really want to exercise that 2nd amendment right. 

So, pardon me, while I exercise my 21st Amendment right from now until November 8. *

*Disclaimer- I cannot take full credit for that 21st Amendment joke, I saw something similar on twitter and think it is brilliant

Non political smile of the day.

Woah. I started this blog 8 years ago when President Obama was running against John McCain. This blog has been quiet because things have been pretty damn good. I realize I could have kept it up, discussing things as they happened, but I haven't. And now, with an extremely scary candidate on the right, I pulled the blog up, and decided to start it again. I'm keeping the title, because I think it is still relevant today. This is just a quick intro to say I'M BACK! Share with your friends, follow me on twitter, and most importantly: VOTE!!!!!!