Commentary
Says the Governor Whitmer should ‘make a deal’ with them
God Bless America?
I was watching the videos of gun-toting demonstrators protesting Michigan’s coronavirus lockdown as they stormed the state capitol building. The images were horrific!
I read that the President of United States said that Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer should “negotiate with them…make a deal,” because “they are very good people.” It was a stunning, but not totally surprising, statement from this man.
During the Neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville in 2017, Trump said, “there are very fine people on both sides.” His comments about Lansing in 2020 are actually worse. In Lansing, it seems only the protesters are “very good people” while people on the other side, and specifically the democratically elected governor of the state, are, by omission, not very good people.
Is this my country? Is this Irving Berlin’s country, the country he was thinking about when he wrote “God Bless America” in 1938? The song he wrote as a ‘thank you’ to the country that had taken him in, a Russian-Jewish immigrant. According to his daughter, ironically, given today’s anti-immigrant environment, “the song of the immigrant boy who made good.”
Sorry to say Mr. Berlin, this is no longer that country you wrote about.
God Bless America by Irving Berlin
God bless America, land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with the light from above
From the mountains to the prairies
To the oceans white with foam
God bless America, my home sweet home
God bless America, land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with the light from above
From the mountains to the prairies
To the oceans white with foam
God bless America, my home sweet home
From the mountains to the prairies
To the oceans white with foam
God bless America, my home sweet home
God bless America, my home sweet home
Around the Block 
No words…….
Judy Friedman
The Paper Trail Secretarial & Business Solutions
PO Box 6178
Tahoe City, CA 96145
530-581-5692
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You know, a picture is worth….
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We still close our weekly sing along session in our neighborhood with “God Bless America”! Take a longer view and this will be a 4 year blip (? blister, ? canker sore) in history…
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One can only hope! Because, right now, this is a country that doesn’t deserve to be blessed.
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In fact, if I hadn’t used “God Bless America,” I was going to use “This is My Country.” Only I had used that one in another Around the Block last week. Gotta keep moving forward!
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We’re speechless and crying
>
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It is beyond anyone’s comprehension. This is not Irving Berlin’s country; it is not your country; it is not my country. The Countdown Clock to Trump’s last day reads 262. There can be no question, that on Election Day, November 3, we CANNOT LET IT RESET!
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I have such a sinking feeling in my heart from seeing those pictures! I know things are bad in my country. I just am afraid of how bad they are going to get when you see those pictures.
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I understand and empathize with you.
I also post Around the Block on the Daily Kos. I received a long, heartfelt comment from a reader that began this way: “Today while talking with my husband, head in my hands, I sobbed because of the deep pain and loss I feel for what was once my hope and belief in our nation as an entity that, far from perfect, sought and upheld democracy under the former status of our constitution.”
Here is my reply to her:
“I share your pain. This is not a matter to be trivialized.
With impeachment cheapened because it was on straight party lines and, as such, declared a “hoax” by Trump and his enablers; with removal a non-starter due to craven, cowardly Republican senators; with Congressional censure, which I’ve suggested to my Congresswoman twice, a strong statement but one that would only work with significant bipartisan support, a non-starter; all we have left is the election.
On election day, we cannot let what happened in 2016 happen again. We cannot let people of color sit on their hands as they did in 2016. We cannot let Bernie’s boycott the election because Biden (like HRC) is not “progressive enough.” And since we’re talking Michigan, we need to put enough pressure on people like Justin Amasah to let him know that this is not the time for a 3rd party candidacy — all votes must count and not one can be taken from Biden because of some Quixote-like cause.
Given the topic in this blog and thread, forgive the metaphor, but we only have one bullet left in our belt. Let’s make sure it’s used wisely on November 3!
And then tune in on January 20th as U.S. Marshalls drag Trump out of the White House, kicking and screaming.
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