Ok, so came home from work a few days ago to be met at the door by the wee daemon ninja weasel. Which was kinda a surprise since I’d put her in her crate when I left. Went over to said crate to find she had somehow figured out the zipper and had unzipped the one flap. This would, no doubt, be the reason I read (after-the-fact, unfortunately) that nylon crates for training are not recommended.

Thought it was just a fluke, so just put her back in the next shift. And, again, met at the door. But, I’m stubborn, so again yesterday, back in the crate but this time I had tied the two zippers together, thinking this little ‘Gordian Knot’ would deter her.

And was met again after work at the door by the little pint size Pika.

On inspection, it would appear she took Alexander the Greats approach, and rather than undoing the knot, she just ripped the whole zipper out, and free at last, free at last, no more crate.

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But, if she thinks I’m defeated by her greatness, she is mistaken. I have a backup. I still have her original crate a friend lent me, one that has a metal door, and though it is a bit smaller, it will do. I could just let her stay out, but, I have a very old velvet settee of my great grandmothers that I would rather she not rip to shreds.

So, with this wee Houdini for distraction, U.S. Politics has taken a back seat of late, though I have not abandoned it altogether. I watch my favourite political shows, such as Rachel Maddow, PBS Newshour’s Shields & Brooks, bit-o-Beau Of The Fifth Column, but, by and by, I have just not been very inspired to write any of my thoughts down.

Maybe cause they are much as they have been, just watching the same characters of chaos and cacophony, of sycophants bowing and turning a blind eye, and this astonishing loyalty to a historically incompetent moron, whether it be for greed or whatever other nefarious reasons they may have, same stuff different day.

Yet, part of his appeal I suppose is his defiance, and because he is just as trapped in the past as the rest of the GOP, hell-bent for recapturing ancient times, fabricating this fable of a glorious past, and they have no clue how to move forward.

They have no clue how to move into the future with their conservative values intact, obsessed with abolishing women’s rights, minority rights, scared of socialism, globalism, their lily-white male heads so firmly stuck in the sands of the past that they are going to be left out of the future.

The youth leaders of tomorrow have little interest in their parents and grandparents fantasies of a time and place that never actually existed, a land before that is merely myth wrapped up in some white nationalist fantasy.

I watch as Republicans instead ignore the opportunities hidden within minority communities, these immigrants who wish to come to the U.S., make a home for themselves. As many immigrants have, they see America, even still, as a place where they can be safer, be prosperous, a place their children have more opportunities. Republicans forget (or ignore) that many of the new (and 1st, 2nd & 3rd) generation of possible Americans, they have conservative values, traditional ways of seeing the world, they carry with them in their luggage similar ideologies.

However, many have 2 or 3 millimetres of skin that is the wrong colour.

What I’ve been thinking a lot on, though, is in fact how the Democratic Party HAS seen the opportunities, and how in some ways, if nothing else, Trump has forced Democrats to respond, and to look towards the future, since someone has to.

Real change is in the air, and the majority of Americans now embrace more progressive ideas. Well, progressive to them, as many countries have embraced many socialist ideas for decades upon decades, like Canada, Germany, Sweden, Norway, the UK, just to name a few.

And women? Well, Republicans see no worth in women, and quite frankly that is what will potentially nail their coffin shut.

Women within the Democratic Party on the other hand have a voice, have representation, and carry the future forward with inclusive ideas and compassionate community leadership. They are striving to listen to the voices of the many, instead of drowning them out with lies and convoluted conspiracies and undemocratic, fascist ideologies serving only the rich elite.

This Capitalist Democracy has been a failure, least in my opinion.

It has so far only served to grow the population of the poor, rather than in any way shape or form enriched the lives of the many. The needs of the many have instead been manipulated, replacing people with things, and communities with some nefarious dialogue that places the blame of poverty and crime on the backs of the impoverished and uneducated.

Consumer spending is down, they say, so lets give ourselves a tax break, that will, um, will do… well, will do absolutely NOTHING for anyone but them, just more trickle down greed.

Oh, and of course, occasionally they trot out the… all those criminal hoards that are swarming at the southern border, they’re to blame, they are taking your jobs. When, in fact, most often the jobs those new immigrants do are jobs you could not pay their white creamy butt to do, but that is an inconvenient truth. I mean, there are whole industries that would shut down if not for those immigrants.

Yet, I can’t help but think that if they would just take the time to actually develop strong immigration policies, rather than just arguing over xenophobic tropes, maybe…but, what do I know.

And, of course, many Americans are still buying into the nonsense of socialist ideas are the devil incarnate. Blah, blah, blah, it gets somewhat tiring to constantly be rolling my eyes.

The reality is that so called “socialist” ideas are a direct response to a capitalist system that puts profits before people.

Starting out as workers rights movements in the closing decades of the 19th century, socialism was born out of need. It was ignited by a whole swath of society that had been used and abused for, well, centuries, really. The industrial revolution just put more humans on the line, and with that a potential for more and more profit. The powers that be that controlled the purse strings just continued to profit off the backs of its work force, without any consideration or concern, in most cases, to the welfare of their workers.

Throughout the 20th century, as more and more people went from rural to urban areas, more people became just another cog in the system, barely chugging along. Overlords that once took responsibility for its workforce began to see no profit in that, and so quit providing any benefits but a pay cheque.

Over time, universal healthcare systems, old age securities, and various other programs of support became policies of industrialized nations governments, as more and more people fell through the cracks.

Socialist ideas, basically, help to balance the scales, helps to make it a shared responsibility of all citizens to ensure the least of them has what they need, and are therefore abler than to get the things they may want.

Many concepts related to socialism are a response to not just struggling thru the now, but about giving more people the ability to think towards their own future. A wealthy and just society should do no less, and seriously, how greedy do we have to be?

However, these are not ideals shared by all, unfortunately. And many have been made to fear helping your fellow human, your neighbour, your friend, that stranger in line behind you at the grocery store, some have just bought into the capitalist talking points, of greed and profit share being of more value, versus the individual value of a person.

Even Democratic candidates vying for the 2020 nomination have fallen into that trap, of being so focused on the rare one who cheats the system, that they completely ignore the vast majority, those many that truly could benefit from, oh, I don’t know, free k-16 education, healthcare for everyone, and that is sad that they just don’t see it that way.

Then, of course, we have that other Houdini that resides in the White House, defying every legal norm, even if he is as corrupt as any mob boss, he’s managed to generate just enough noise on the impeachment front that his base actually believes he’s some kind of victim. Presented with these reams of testimony of facts and revelations, revealing all the various impeachable acts, the numerous possible articles of impeachment, mounting day by day, the possibilities becoming obvious to more and more Americans, if not his own loyal lap dogs.

Ugh… but to be honest they are all rather obvious and tiring to watch so closely, day after day, month after month, same old lies different day, blah, blah, blah. They are no competition usually to this wee little doggo curled up on my lap.