This is the place I am in. I am already on medication and I have a therapist and this is where I am. I don't want to alarm anyone and I am so so sorry for being mean. I'm not going to post again, I am in a very bad place and need to step away for everyone else's peace of mind.
I am sorry I ever came on here and said the things I did.
This is the cycling "put yourself down voice" of deep depression talking. Don't listen to that universal dis-ease that speaks to, controls and overwhelms so many.
Darn it woman. We love you and your gifts and need and want you here! Heck you used to talk about high brow historical-political books I'd never heard of much less read or had any plans to read and about how hard it was to be Russian and feel the great cultural divide and even discrimination.
You have the gifts of a brilliant mind and a deep need and understanding of so many emotions and pains and challenges that others here share and all of us feel and have parts of ourselves that don't feel we fit in most places.
Why even care so deeply about what other people think or say that allows you to let so much extra pain and sadness in?
You know who you are and why you are here and why you connected to Jeanne and this site. You know deep deep deep inside why you were put on this earth.
Excavation of our interior and exterior selves to the depth of our inner being is quite possibly the greatest journey and deepest purpose any of us can or will ever have and believe it or not-- that's what we're all doing and learning here. Not politics not illness not suffering not pain of mind/body/spirit . We're learning and growing through our anger, fear and separation from love.
And we love you here.
Warren ended her campaign today
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/05/politics/elizabeth-warren-drops-out/index.html
@jessi1978 and @lovendures, thank you for posting about Warren. I voted for her. That deeply saddens me, but I knew it was coming. I do feel Warren will be instrumental in making the changes she has been fighting for. Her fight isn't over.
Yes not sure why it was locked I was going to post this too. I'm sad because I still think she's the best candidate. She hasn't said yet who she endorses (though it's obvious to me it would be Bernie) however, I think she may be waiting to see who surges ahead. A very STRATEGIC ticket would be Biden and Warren.
I have had to step away from all the news and disinformation that is going on. I started crying yesterday for no reason,than I realized it was because I truly believe I will never see a women president in my lifetime. The news this AM of Warren ending her campaign is depressing. I country is ruled by rich white men and whoever wins the election in November will carry on that tradition. Sad to say but true. I don't care how "pro-women" they claim to be they aren't. Warren would have made a perfect president and would have unified the country and gotten things done. She was done in by the media and her own party. I don't care for Bernies followers tactics, they sound a lot like Turds followers tactics. Whomever wins the nomination I will support them, I am Blue no matter who, and I believe either can beat the Turd. Turd is making so many mistakes with his handling of this Virus. People are dying and he is lying! What is going to be important is who is the Vice President candidate. Lets face it neither Joe nor Bernie is in great health and neither is a spring chicken. The only one I will not support is Gabbard and I hope to god Joe and Bernie both realize what a disaster she would be. Oh well we will see. I was at my brothers the other day and he said it best, the only thing we can do is to vote.
@yogagirl, I hear you, and I agree. As a woman, it is disheartening.
I don't believe for a second that Joe or Bernie would choose Tulsi. I'm thinking Warren, Kamala and Stacey Abrams will be slotted for possible positions in a Democratic administration, if they want them.
I'll be 68 this year, so I'm not sure if I'll see a woman president in my lifetime. I told myself that if I pass on before that happens, I will be helping out and making mischief from the other side to make that happen. ?
I have just finished reading everyone's responses and I am blown away by your kindness and compassion. I honestly can't believe it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I have been living in fear and it's crippling. Sometimes I feel so emotionally bogged down that I struggle to function. I don't want to make this post entirely about me but for some context I will say a few things. I do have a therapist and I am on anti depression medication. I have been diagnosed with a moderate to severe case of ptsd. There's probably more going on in my psyche than that but the only official diagnoses I have is ptsd. It's moderately severe because of how I react to external stimuli like politics, other people's opinions etc....
At home when I screw up I always apologize immediately and my husband always tells me to stop, that I work too hard, do too much and I need to stop. But I find myself unable to stop, I get short of breathe, my heart races and I panic. Some years of my life these symptoms barely appear and other years they are my constant companions. I used to have an involuntary flinch that occurred when men made sudden movements towards me, I'd get jumpy. Sometimes that flinch comes back.
I am saying all this because I want others to understand that I am not always rational, my emotional reactions can be over the top and my nerves struggle to cope. That's why I never want to offend anyone because I feel that it is incredibly easy for me to do so, to become callous, vicious and mean. I am not a natural bully but in real life I can be aggressive when I feel threatened.
Yesterday I left work with my makeup blotchy from crying, I was so quiet about it I don't think anyone noticed. Yes I have had urges to self harm, like the other symptoms it's one of my companions and one I know well. I usually do not harm myself however or at least I haven't in the last few years.
I want to say a little bit about Bernie, Biden and Russian interference. I am sensitive to the person who mentioned that Bernie has Russian connections. I don't know if he is influenced by the negativity of some of his supporters, my guess is not. He has come out quite strongly against election interference in an interview he did after it came out that some of the online "Bernie bro's" may have been bots. I have been on board with his ideas since 2015, largely because to me they make sense and all I have to do is visit Canada to see a place where many of his ideas have been the law of the land for decades, and the sky hasn't fallen, and the country hasn't devolved into a communist dictatorship. So I know he's right when he preaches like a broken record about medicare for all and a living wage. It's worth noting that his ideas have been enacted locally in some parts of this country, New York City for example has a $15 minimum wage. I get his ad's on my phone when I watch YouTube videos and I have become very concerned about him. He seems remarkably more frail and thinner than he did in 2016, it's something that I can't ignore and it hurts to think that our champion may not be physically strong enough for the fight. His ideas for me are the point and worth fighting for, I for one am not going to stop believing in those ideas simply because large parts of this country disagrees, I am as stubborn as mule when I want to be.
I don't have anything personal against Biden, so what I am going to say is not coming from a place of malice. I do not believe that Biden will win an election against Trump. His record will be dissected with a fine tooth comb over the coming months and it's not a good one. He supported the Iraq war, he supported NAFTA, he supported Bill Clinton's gutting of the welfare program in the nineties. These to me are the most egregious but what I think will be his Achilles heel is his record of dishonesty. He claimed to have marched with Dr. King, to have been arrested in South Africa, both of those claims are untrue. He repeats these claims of having been involved with the civil rights movement all the time and it has been proven that he is lying. Now I get my information not from TV which I don't watch, but largely from print, YouTube and podcasts. I listen to the Intercepted podcast hosted by Jeremy Scahill, Deconstructed with Mehdi Hassan and The Breakdown with Shawn King. Yes these are progressive outlets but I don't think they invent their own facts. I also read the Guardian, Salon, Truthdig and Alternet. Joe Biden to me is a terrifying candidate to put forward precisely because of these weaknesses, coupled with the fact that he may be suffering from dementia and will not perform well in a debate against Trump. This is absolutely not about me disliking him, and others may well find dirt on Bernie Sanders that will be bad. I just fear that he is not the man we need to remove Trump.
Lastly I want to say that there is no guarantee of unity in the Democratic party whichever direction the nomination goes. At the moment the progressive left is wounded but undeterred and I am saying right now that there is no guarantee that they will vote for Biden if they feel that Bernie has been cheated by the DNC. Some will vote for him, other's won't and that's a fairly large risk the DNC is willing to take to ensure that they can keep their corporate cash. They may lose the progressive base for a generation or more if this continues and good luck winning an election without those people. Now the same can be said in reverse that there are many democratic voters who will not vote for Sanders no matter what. This is a fissure that isn't going to heal itself over night, in fact I don't think it will heal at all in the near future.
In Canada the progressive people have their own political party called the New Democratic Party to vote for and so this kind of fissure on the center/left spectrum doesn't really happen. But in a 2 party system where there are more than 2 types of ideas it's bound to happen. I really don't know what else to say, I just want to reiterate my thanks for everyone's kindness, my heart swells. Thank you!!!!!!
I just read about Warren. It's extremely sad, I would have loved to see her in the White House. I was so much in favor of her for months but then virtually everyone at my office and my father all claimed they'd never vote for her and kept disparaging her so much that literally yesterday it's why I cried.
There's a strong part of me that thinks the reason that she got such negative reactions from some people was because of her gender which is another reason to feel down. We as women can never be good enough, if we have opinions we are labelled shrill or hysterical, people don't listen to us just because of our anatomy. I hope one day we can live in a world where someone like Greta Thunberg isn't the subject of rape memes from fossil fuel companies just because she speaks her mind.
The only strategic mistake with my own desire to see Warren with either Biden or Bernie is she comes with the important caveat that if she left the Senate, her vacant Senate seat would be filled by the sitting Republican governor, Charlie Baker. That could swing control of the Senate to Republicans during the crucial first phase of a new Democratic administration. Democrats could be better served, perhaps, by having Warren appointed to a high-profile Cabinet post once it is clear that her Senate seat won’t be the deciding vote.
IF the candidate is Biden, then he may be better served by picking Kamala Harris or Stacy Abrams. The next question is if it's Bernie, who would be a good VP pick for him? I say that's where he would want to pick Warren, but the above applies, so perhaps the same two choices for Biden (Harris or Abrams) would be best.
In some states the governor must appoint a person who is of the same party of the person vacating the seat. This is true for Arizona. What is the procedure for MA?
Natalie,
I was going to post this under Joe Biden, but since you referenced me in your post, I thought it best to put it here.
If you were to ask me, today, who my dream candidate for President is, my answer would not be JB. He's older than I would like. I know that's ageism, but it's true. Being President is a horribly stressful job and it ages you. Look at before and after pics of past Presidents. He makes gaffes and has said things that aren't true, absolutely. Biden has said himself that he is aware of his age and would choose a younger (and probably female) VP.
But, unfortunately, thanks to the GOP, we don't have the luxury of running our personal dream candidate. We have to run the one who will win. The survival of our country is literally at stake.
We are fighting against a party who has proven that there is nothing they won't do to gain or retain power-gerrymandering, lying, treason. I disagree with you that Biden won't beat T. There is an article on MSN this morning, titled "Republicans, rooting for Sanders, see Biden wins as a setback." The R's are gleeful about a Sanders nomination and terrified of a Biden one. They are frantically and desperately trying to dig up dirt on him and his son, still, just like they did in Ukraine. The things I said about Sanders are in the Mueller report and the FEC filings.
I think we will take back the Presidency, the Senate and retain the House as well. The article says that R's are also gleeful about taking back the House if Sanders is the nominee. It will be the end of this country if that happens. Look at the severe damage that has been done in three years by T and his minions.
I am Russian descent. Both sets of my great-grandparents, as well a a large number of my ancestors, came from there. Not ashamed of that in the least. It's an amazing country will stunning architecture, fascinating history, and cool people. It's the oppressive government I don't like.
I am with you; I would love to see a time when an honest third-party candidate could run and stand against the mainstreams. As I stated originally, I don't have a problem with some of Sanders ideas. Our healthcare system, compared to others around the world, is a joke. Kids shouldn't have to go into lifetime debt to attend college.
Don't apologize for who you are or how you are. I don't agree with some of your beliefs, but I respect your right to them, and I think you respect mine. People need to respect and support each other more. We are all in this together.
Our fight right now is to take our country back from those who have betrayed her.
Apparently the governor of Mass. can appoint a temporary replacement but a special election is then required.
Hi @Natalie. With respect to your PTSD, there is a very strong energetic component from your trauma that is interfering with your ability to progress with healing. (Remember we are Mind, Body and Spirit) I would like to recommend that you explore some types of energetic healing modalities to deal with this. The list below is good starting point, but, as with all things, it's best to ask Spirit for guidance and then go with what feels best to you.
Here is a list of different modalities that I feel would be beneficial:
Constellation Work
Radix Therapy
Shamanic Healing
Energy Therapy (Look for a practitioner that is skilled in multiple methods like Reiki, Quantum Energy Work, EFT, Crystal Healing, Inner Child work, etc and that is also an Intuitive)
If cost becomes an issue, there are often groups on Meetup.com that focus on learning/teaching these therapies and provide group therapy sessions for free or for a minimal donation.
Hope this helps!
Re Elizabeth Warren: since I am unable to post under the Warren thread, just wanted to let you know that Warren will be on Rachel Maddow this evening.
The decision Elizabeth Warren made to drop out has left me bereft. This is twice now that the most qualified, intelligent, capable candidate was denied a place in the White House because she had the bad luck to be female. I no longer feel the hope of taking the reins out of Republican hands that I had a week ago. On Tuesday, I proudly and excitedly voted for Warren. Literally everyone I know who votes Dem was supporting her. Every political group I belong to, the support was overwhelmingly for her. It seems like Biden and Sanders literally came out of nowhere. (I still can't shake the thought that this has Republican fingerprints of cheating and election tampering on it.) If you had told me a year ago that they would be the two candidates standing, I would have called you a liar. It makes me wonder what all the work is for. I've canvassed ... phone banked ... written postcards ... every candidate I believe in (post-Obama) has failed. I can't give up ... my Congressman Grandpa would haunt me if I did ... but it all feels so hopeless. When do we get that big time frame shift? When does the feminine arrive and slap power out of the Old White Guys' hands? People are suffering all over this country and world, autocracy seems to be on the rise, and it seems like it's just going to continue because the people in power don't care. Money, greed, control ... those are the only things that matter. I need a break. Caring hurts too much. I'm blue no matter who, but dammit this one hurts.
Before posting my thoughts, which are unrelated, I just want to acknowledge the deep sorrow of the Warren supporters who are here. She was a wonderful candidate and I too am sad that we will not see a woman president in 2020. My condolences to her and I wish her well wherever she goes from here. ❤️
I have a theory, about Bernie Sanders, that has come after I have been mulling about some things tonight. Please please forgive me, I forget who said this, but it is late and I am too tired to go back and look; someone here said that after March they saw Bernie Sanders’ energy “dropping off”, like “off a cliff”. I believe those were the words. I was at first quite concerned to read this, and it conflicts with my deep intuitive sense that Bernie Sanders will be the next president of the United States.
But after Tuesday and especially during today I am now really starting to feel a shift in the energy around him moving towards a dark place. It has been especially profound during tonight and I think, I could be wrong, but I think I know the reason. I was reading some articles saying that some think Bernie’s only chance at winning now is to go at Biden with everything he’s got; to, as I read somewhere, “learn to punch below the belt”; because at the very least, Trump definitely punches below the belt. I really believe this is not in Bernie’s nature and it is going to be very difficult for him, but I think he’s going to do it. He gave a speech tonight where he tested out some new talking points, and the tone of his online messaging has started to change, too. I’ll be honest it doesn’t feel great, it doesn’t glow with light like his early messaging did. But I think this is necessary. If anyone can come out of a down, dirty, filthy fight to be president of the U.S. and still retain some semblance of humanity, it’ll be Bernie.
I hope Bernie doesn’t do that as this country needs a unity president. My friends of color sent me this https://www.theroot.com/an-open-letter-to-white-liberals-blaming-low-informatio-1842100419
last night and yesterday on Brian Lehrer the guest a writer for the Washington post whose family are southern blacks gave voice to their connection to Biden and that relationship.
I remember Obama’s deep push to unite this country and to be everybody’s president. I’m hungry for that same ethos and whoever becomes president I hope they remember that this country has a lot of gop voters who need to be won over. It’s not enough to be woke- we have to make space for everyone, listen to everyone and welcome views that don’t align with our own. We can challenge those views but hate won’t heal this country or ourselves. We don’t get to tell other people what is best for them but we can listen and hear where they are coming from and maybe we make a connection which would offer both some healing.
Maybe this election isn’t about Bernie or Biden- maybe it’s about us. Maybe it’s about rejecting tribalism and making connections, choosing love.
Ah Jaidy, I could write volumes about this wonderful post but instead let me just say Hurray for you and very well said!
It’s not enough to be woke- we have to make space for everyone, listen to everyone and welcome views that don’t align with our own. We can challenge those views but hate won’t heal this country or ourselves. We don’t get to tell other people what is best for them but we can listen and hear where they are coming from and maybe we make a connection which would offer both some healing.
Maybe this election isn’t about Bernie or Biden- maybe it’s about us. Maybe it’s about rejecting tribalism and making connections, choosing love.