Christmas Ornaments For Sale at My Zazzle Webstore... Mandalas, Kaleidoscope Patterns, Swirling Freakouts - You May Add Words if You Want - or Change the Slogans

LINK to buy this Ornament

You May Change the Word if You Want To.

There are Two Layers of Type...

a White Layer In Back and

a Black Layer in Front...

(To Do That "Drop Shadow" Effect)
https://www.zazzle.com/love_christmas_ornament-175321203393589964

Many Other Christmas Ornaments for Sale: Rainbow Cross, Peace Sign, Psychedelic Art, Ezekiel's Wheel UFO and Many More! 

Rainbow Cross and UFO Ornaments for Sale

LINK to My Latest Christmas Ornaments. You May Wear Them as a Necklace if You Provide the String... 

https://www.zazzle.com/store/gregvan/products?st=date_created&qs=Ornament&dp=252980704774124324

LINK to my Most Popular Ornaments. 

https://www.zazzle.com/store/gregvan/products?qs=Ornament&dp=252980704774124324

Even More Christmas Ornaments for Sale... 

LINK to Buy The OCCUPY MARS T-Shirt

LINK to ALL My T-Shirts

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

and Now for something completely different

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

THIS is the Icon for Make a Phone Call... Totally Out of Date! This looks like a Handset from a SIXTIES AT&T Desk Phone... The Reason I'm Bringing this Up Is... One of the Caregivers at Home noticed that another Resident appeared to be Dead... So while she was trying to get a Response from the Resident... she said... "Dial 911" to the Other Care Giver... AND... The Other Caregiver Didn't Know How To Make a Phone Call on our Cordless Phone... FIRST you push the button with this Icon, Then You Push the Buttons "9" and then "1" and then "1" --- and She Couldn't Do That! Because... She has never seen a Phone that Looks Like This!

I wish people would use the Standard Hyperlink Color Scheme... Blue Letters, Underlined... So many Websites have Random "Artistic" Link Schemes that Make me GUESS which words are the Links... Like on my Google Blog... If I Hover Over my Name the Display Blog Post link Appears... Unless I Hover, The Link I want is Invisible! and often The Scroll bars are hidden... unless I hover over the place that A Scroll bar OUGHT TO BE... Bizarre!

I remember one time I took LSD and Went to the Movies to see "2001 a Space Odyssey" and "THX -1138" --- Well... The Movie THX Had an Absurd Amount of Bright White Light that Hurt my Eyes and Illuminated the Audience... and The Audience seemed much more interesting than what was happening on the Screen... I Walked Out to go explore the REAL WORLD because the MOTION PICTURES seemed so fake and Uninteresting... Just Goes to Show... Planning an Acid Trip Sometimes Just Doesn't Work!

FYI: LSD Causes Dilated Pupils... and Extreme Bright Lights are Painful... Once, I Went to Go Play in the Snow Near Mount Lassen and Had a Terrible Time... Snow Blindness Extreme!

My Slide Into Dementia... Today I couldn't Remember the Phrase "Coat of Arms" so I Substituted the Word "LOGO" instead... and When I Think About it, The Meaning is Very Similar! 

and There was NO WAY that I Could Remember our Family Name "Underhill" - mainly because My Name is Vanderlaan and the Underhills are Distant relatives that Live in New York... 

At the Old Folks Home that I Live in My Care Giver asked me if a Certain Cup was Mine... and she held up my Housemate Tom's Cup... I wanted to Say Mine Has a "Coat of Arms" on it but Couldn't Remember that Phrase... So I Said "LOGO" and She Served me a Cup of Coffee in the Correct Cup... and I READ the Word Underhill...

I'm amused by the Game Show "Jeopardy!" on TV and Play it Every Day... AARP offers Brain Training Games on the Computer but I NEVER Play them because They are NOT FUN... and I'd Rather Have Dementia than do Something that is NOT FUN...  

The Next Day I couldn't Remember the Name of the Movie "The Matrix" - So I Googled "Movie Keanu Reeves  Laurence Fishburne Mr Smith" and Google Found it for me... 

I wanted the Quote about How Humans are a Cancer on the Planet... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrBdYmStZJ4

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Whenever Someone Says "Namaste" I Always Reply: "I'm Nasty Too!"

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Today I read on FaceBorg: MWM Said: 

 

I am convinced that there are three categories of people who call themselves Christians.

-- Traditional Christians follow Paul of Tarsus, and worship Jesus as "God in a man-suit." Many of them are sincere and admirable people. I love any number of this sort of Christian.

-- "There is another group of folks who identify as Christian. Some call themselves Progressive Christians or Red Letter Christians or Jesus Followers. They -- we -- try to live the command of Jesus to love God with all our being and to love all of humanity as we do ourselves and take quite seriously his words about caring for the most vulnerable --'the least of these siblings of mine.' These are folks who understand that that Bible was written by people describing their own efforts to understand the Ineffable, to describe the Indescribable, to explain the Inexplicable. It is not a history or science text, a law book, or a weapon to hammer others with. it is a story of faith journeys. Most of this group of Christians are far too awed by the Creator and too aware of human limitations to claim to possess the only truth about the Infinite. Unfortunately, these folks are quietly living out their faith alongside Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter and so many others while that second group makes all the noise and tries to co-opt the name but not the message of that First Century Middle-Eastern Jewish rabbi."

-- A newer category of Christian hates women, especially a woman's right to control her own body; hates LGBTQs, especially their right to control their own bodies and love whomever they choose; and hates black, brown, red, and yellow people, especially those who do not believe what these "Christians" believe. They firmly believe that the Jesus portrayed in the Christian Testament commands them to vituperate, judge, and condemn. Their image of Jesus is a gun-lover who (amazingly) hates, judges, and all the same people these "Christians" hate.

I try hard to pity these "Christians," because I think a hate-full life must be an unhappy one.

But, dang, on days like these it's hard to do....

and I Replied: Don't Forget the "Backsliding" Christian... I Truly Believed ONCE... I Accepted Jesus Christ as My Personal Savior... ONCE... and Then Never Went to Church Again... And I made Sure that I Sinned... After All, I Wouldn't Want to Have Jesus Die FOR NOTHING... I'm Certain that I'll Go To Heaven... BECAUSE... The Only Requirement is that You Accept Jesus Christ as Your Personal Savior... No Amount of Good Deeds Are Required... God Doesn't Keep Score...

If You Think About It, Christianity is the Perfect Religion if You Work for the MAFIA... Step One: Commit Murder, Step Two: Ask for Forgiveness, Step Three: Get Forgiven... Then... LOOP... Step One: Commit Murder, Step Two: Ask for Forgiveness, Step Three: Get Forgiven... Then... LOOP...

LOVE Christmas Ornament -

You May Change the Word

“Thank you to the woman who wrote this:

I’m 14 and I’m struggling in Algebra class. When I ask for help, the male teacher says ‘I’m not surprised, girls aren’t that good at Algebra.’

I’m 18 and go to my first fraternity parties with girlfriends. We don’t ever say it out loud but it’s understood that we need to stick together at these parties and not get separated, for our own safety.

I’m 20 and I’m working as a hostess at the Red Lion Inn in San Jose, near the airport. Men in suits come in to eat after their meetings during the day and I see them take off their wedding rings before heading into the bar next to the restaurant. Every girl who works there learns quickly not to bend too far over because of the short skirts of our uniforms.

I’m 22 and it’s my first day on a new job. My male supervisor gets me into a room alone and I think he’s going to tell me about the job but instead he tells me about how much he likes sex and how he needs to have it every day. I get up and walk out of the room and avoid him after that, but I don’t tell anyone because I’m one of the only women there and I don’t know what to do.

I’m 24 and I’m watching Anita Hill on TV, testifying about a man who wants to be on the Supreme Court. I don’t understand everything I’m watching but I understand that she’s a black woman facing down a panel of white men and she is going to lose because, at 24, I do understand who has power and who does not.

I’m any age in my 20s and I’m walking on the street, in a park, in a city, in a suburb, anywhere. Men tell me to smile, to wait a minute, to slow down what’s my hurry, can I ask you a question, can I stand too close to you, can I demand your space, your time, your attention, hey where you going bitch?

I’m 25. I’m buying my first car and the salesman offers a price I know is way too high. I bring my stepdad to the showroom and the same car is now $3000 less. I smile and buy the car but inside, I’m seething.

I’m any age in my 30’s and I think about where I park, where I go, whether I should get in that elevator that only has one man in it and how I should make sure not to make eye contact with men in the streets. All of this is normal to me and I don’t question any of it.

I’m 35. I’m buying my second car and the salesman says we should wait for my husband to get there before talking about the price but would I like to see the makeup mirror? I tell him I’m a lesbian and, if he’s waiting for my husband, he’s going to be waiting a long time. I leave because I’m learning.

I’m 40 and a woman, Hillary Clinton, is taking a serious run at the Democratic presidential nomination. She’s smart, tough and qualified but she endures endless anger, viciousness, and misogyny and she eventually loses in the primary. Male friends tell me it’s probably for the best because there’s just something they don’t like about her, you know?

I’m 49 and a man who said he grabs women by the pussy is elected as the 45th President of the United States. The night of the election, I feel physically ill and my first conscious thought is ‘my God, the Supreme Court.’ The next morning, I overhear two men laughing and congratulating each other about the election and I feel unsafe in my own country.

I’m 51 and another man who stands credibly accused of sexual assault has just been confirmed to serve on the Supreme Court. I see women on television sobbing, screaming, protesting, crying out in their anguish and their fear. I am so angry. I think of every woman I know and I am so angry.

I am any age, every age. I am a woman. I am a daughter. I am discounted. I am underrepresented. I am underestimated. But I am a voter. Today, that has to be enough.”

~ Author Unknown

• 
  

FREE Zig Zag Mandala Artwork - You May Pirate these Images and Use them to Make your Own Decorated BLING! or Buy My Christmas Ornaments for Sale at Zazzle Gregvan -

Like a Tie Dye but Digital! 

Link to Buy This Ornament - Click Here!

Link to All My Christmas Ornaments!

Remember: You May Add Words if You Want To. 

Zazzle has a Wide Variety of Typefaces... 

If there isn't enough room to write your MANIFESTO... Write a 

MINIFESTO Instead!

and then on FaceBorg a Zen Buddhist Said:

As much as we would always love to be positive and upbeat, the truth is that this is not realistic. Tough times will happen, but that's just the natural course of life.

Without tough times, you would never appreciate the good, so it's natural you will go through periods with a negative mindset. The problem arises when that mindset becomes constant as it will ruin your life.

One of the biggest causes of a negative mindset is fear.

The trick is choosing what you allow into your mind, and what can influence you. This means you might need to turn off the news or avoid people who only bring you down.

But as we mentioned, a negative mindset is nothing but a habit, and any habit can be broken.

Look at negative thoughts like spam email. You wouldn't take a spam email seriously, you just delete it.

Write Your Own Slogan Buttons - Hats - T-Shirts - Playing Cards and Bumper Stickers for sale on Zazzle Gregvan - You MAY Change the Words if You Want To... WhatEver Makes Your Freak Flag Fly!

Link to ALL My Buttons for Sale!

Click HERE to buy a Just Say Know! Button

Click HERE to buy the Question Authority Button

 

Click HERE to buy the Outlaw GUNS Button

Click Here to Shop!

for ALL my Edit Text Buttons, Hats!

https://www.zazzle.com/collections/math_art-119587815715020441

LINK to the Main Page of 

Zazzle Gregvan

Cosmic ART printed on Playing Cards 

on Zazzle Gregvan - Click Here!

Obviously, Governor Ron Death Santa is Insane! Everybody Loves Mickey Mouse... Disneyland is EXCELLENT... EPCOT is a Model for our Future... But Tolerance is Forbidden in RON'S NAZI WORLD... The "Don't Say Gay" Law is not only idiotic but IT'S FAILING... More People That Ever are Talking About GAY... What does it Mean? Should We Spread HATE?

Especially Children... They Are Asking their Parents: Why Can't We Say Gay?

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/editorials/os-op-edit-disney-desantis-part2-20230423-toas3gzhnrglxkkf2os22lomgy-story.html

Our pundits seem perplexed at DeSantis' policies. But he is doing exactly what he wants and he has a plan. And it's working. You see him recruiting cops and teachers all over the country as he travels around probably on our dime. He attacks Disney, attacks women, attacks LGBTQ and he attacks blacks with his book banning. He is effectively forcing out everyone in the state who doesn't agree with him. He is attacking the largest employer who employs 77,000 cast members, Disney. Because a lot of people who work there with the exception of bus drivers who are usually right wing, are libs. And this makes the two counties next to Disney vote blue. So the plan is to attack occupations like teachers and cops, and university administration to replace them with maggots. Good liberal cops are leaving. Good doctors are leaving, Black people who fear what's next are going to leave, He wants to crush Disney into a magga way of doing business to force out the libs at Disney. He's also attacking the teachers union here to force out the liberal teachers. He has put maga maggots in positions of power in the university system to fire all left wing heads of colleges and universities. And refused tenure to any one left wing. All this despite the labor shortage in this country right now. The pundits don't know what to make of this! And they think he's stupid. Because their perspective is from someone who lives in NY! But DeSantis is Yale educated. And he is fine with people underestimating him! The man is Machiavellian! And he is smart and cunning. He might not be a very personable man, and no one seems to like him personally because he has no social skills. And he is as petty as they come. Getting even with anyone he perceives as his opponent or has bested him or humiliated him.

There is no doubt in my mind that this man is trying to drive out all liberals from this state. Or at least as many as he can. The last group he will drive out is the few elderly libs. Because everyone else is motivated by jobs and the ability to make a living, he can attack libs from that angle. And he's doing it successfully! And libs don't seem to see what he's doing. And they had better because other states will take his playbook and do the same! And to be honest, he didn't get this idea himself. TX has been doing it for a while. That's why it's so hard for libs to get a foothold there. But I think he has just taken what they have been doing and doubled down on it here. Because if you can pass laws like he is doing, and make it to where if we protest we risk our lives by being legally run down in the street! And arrest people for staying overnight at a protest. Then you are even more fascist than TX. And that's saying something. DeSantis is NOT dumb. He is calculating. And what he's doing is long term. He's stuffing the courts with RW judges too. And approving the gerrymandering lines from his legislature, like no one's business. So dems can never win. The more you force out dems, the more maggot move in to take their place! Then you have less liberal votes here and more maggot votes. Florida used to be the swingiest of swing states. But he is making it solid red. So bottom line. He is attacking industries where there are a lot of libs or a lot of people who work in that industry. This makes a shift from blue to red. Next step after you have forced libs into a few blue states? We know the Senate only gets 2 senators per state. So you will have a disproportionate number of senators who will shove in conservative federal court judges and SCOTUS judges. And we have seen what the federal courts are doing. This brings in a permanent branch of government who are RW. And who will impose their will and ideology on the rest of the states.

AMERICA NEEDS TO CONFRONT ITS CULTURE OF GUNS AND FEAR

Just in the last week, there have been four shootings of ordinary, unarmed, regular people going about their lives simply for encountering the wrong armed person. While one incident might be abnormal, and two coincidental, the fact that four occurred within just a week of each other, in four different states, speaks to how Americans have been absolutely consumed by a culture that relishes deadly weapons and conditions us to live in a constant state of fear. 
The combination of both a high proliferation of guns and our fear of the unfamiliar has led to this week’s disturbing acts of violence, and should be a wake-up call for all of us to examine how things got to this point and how to turn things around before they get worse.

https://www.occupy.com/article/america-needs-confront-its-culture-guns-and-fear#sthash.gNNEAtcT.dpbs

Australia and New Zealand: A resounding success for gun reform...
America’s epidemic of mass shootings temporarily slowed down during the Covid-19 pandemic, when most people stayed home to slow the spread of the virus. But in 2021, as soon as society began to reopen in earnest, mass shootings at schools, churches, parks, stores, festivals, and elsewhere resumed. The Gun Violence Archive characterizes a mass shooting as any violent event in which at least four people, not including the shooter, are injured by firearms. By this metric, there have been 18 mass shootings in the United States since the April 10 mass shooting at a bank in downtown Louisville, Kentucky – including yet another in Louisville. There have been so far more mass shootings than days in 2023.
The seemingly daily occurrence of mass shootings is likely to continue unabated given how many guns there are in the United States. A 2017 study estimated there were nearly 400 million guns in the US despite just 320 million residents. And given the abnormally high number of mass shooting events in 2023, it’s clear that the tepid bipartisan bill that passed Congress in the aftermath of the massacre of 21 young children and staff at Uvalde Elementary School in 2022 was not enough. Addressing the root causes will require that the US look to the international community for inspiration.
In 2019, after a man killed 50 people at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand with assault weapons, then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern proposed a ban on assault weapons and semi-automatic firearms, along with a mandatory buyback program for the banned guns. The legislation was not only endorsed by New Zealand’s gun lobby, but it was also supported by the opposition party and by the nation’s gun owners. New Zealand hasn’t had a mass shooting since the Christchurch massacre. 

SEE? There is a Solution to the Insanity of GUN DEATHS!

and then SE Said: 

The closest thing the Bay Area has to KCRW is KFJC, 89.7 FM. KFJC broadcasts from Foothill Junior College, and it's publicly funded, mostly by listener contributions. KFJC play a very eclectic mix of music. I can clearly remember listening to KFJC all the way back in 1981 when I was just a kid. Back then, we used to record songs off the radio onto cassette tapes. I remember I had several cassettes made up of songs I recorded off KFJC. One of those songs is "Everything's Gone Green" by New Order. I had that song recorded on a cassette for at least a couple of years before I finally learned what it was, and then I ran out and bought the 12" single, which I still have. "Everything's Gone Green" was one of New Order's first songs as New Order (after Joy Division). I've been a New Order fan ever since.

I can remember some of the other bands I recorded off of KFJC in the early 80's: Altered Images, Adam and the Ants, Bow Wow Wow, the B-52's, to name a few. We didn't get a commercial "modern rock" station in the Bay Area until the mid-80's, so before that, KFJC was one of the only places you could hear that kind of music. And if I heard something on the radio and wanted to know what it was, I could call up the station and the dj would answer the phone, and they were always more than happy to tell me all about the music they were playing. That's part of that connection through radio which I'm always trying to put into words. Radio dj's on stations like KFJC are always so happy when listeners call in and show an interest in what they're playing. I know that sometimes my phone calls made their day because it told them there was someone out there listening and paying attention to what they were doing on the air. And even now, if I hear something on KFJC that catches my attention, I know I can still call them up and they'll be super happy to know that someone is listening. That's what radio is all about.

Nowadays, KFJC plays a little of everything. I don't think kids record music off the radio onto cassette tapes anymore, but I bet there is a tween-aged kid somewhere in the Bay Area who is discovering something on KFJC which will change their life, just like I did back in 1981 when I recorded "Everything's Gone Green" onto a cassette tape.

and I Replied:

I too am a KFJC Fan. Mostly for the David Emory Conspiracies Exposed Talk Show... Government Coverups... He was Very Interested in the Kennedy Assassinations and The AIDS Virus... Was it a Bioweapon designed by the US Military? We Just Don't Know... and that makes me wonder... Was COVID-19 a Bioweapon Designed by the USA and DEPLOYED in China... and the Worldwide Pandemic was BLOWBACK? 

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

One of Trump's advisors visited an elementary school classroom during his presidency and spoke to the class.

"My favorite subject in elementary school was vocabulary. Can anyone tell me what a tragedy is?"

One little boy piped up. "Like if my friend ran out of his yard onto the street and got hit by a car?"

"No, young man, that would be an ACCIDENT. A tragedy is something different."

Another little boy proffered: "If our school bus ran off a cliff and we all died?"

"Well, that would indeed be terrible, but we'd call that a GREAT LOSS, not a tragedy."

A sullen little girl in the front row spoke next. "Let's say Air Force One crashed, and you, Trump, and all the rest of his advisors died horribly."

"Yes! Yes! Very good, young lady, and do you know why that would be a tragedy?"

"Because it probably wouldn't be an accident, and it certainly would be no great loss."

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Time to get rid of the GOP once and for all! They've gone insane!

GOP PROPOSED CUTS FOR VETERANS BENEFITS ARE OUT:

- Cuts 81,000 Veterans Health Administration jobs

- Reduces funding for rural telehealth

- Cuts 6,000 Benefits jobs INCREASING WAIT TIMES FOR HEALTH CARE

- Cuts $565M for clinic construction

- Cuts 500 jobs from the cemetery service and delays the opening of 5 new facilities

- Cuts housing for 50,000 veterans

- Cuts food assistance for veterans

- DEEP cuts to mental health care

- ELIMINATES job training for homeless veterans

- CUTS the entire VA budget by 22%

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Libraries are at the heart of our communities, providing access to information, classes, and workshops, and sometimes even just a warm place to read.

This #NationalLibraryWeek, I proudly celebrate and honor the libraries & library workers who help keep our community running!

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

19 Earth Day Books For Kids Who Want to Save the World.

https://tinybeans.com/kids-books-about-earth-and-protecting-the-environment/

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Here's a Washington Post Article Hidden by a Paywall... 

"Sober Republicans certainly must know their threat to blow up the economy and cause a default is untenable. They probably know that draconian cuts they propose, which will amount to 22 percent of law enforcement, veterans benefits, health care and the rest of nondefense discretionary spending, won’t endear them to most voters. However, they might be under the illusion that instituting work requirements for food stamps and Medicaid is going to score with working people who resent others getting something for “free.” In fact, it’s rotten policy that will not encourage more people to work.

For starters, Republicans appear to operate under the presumption that most beneficiaries are mostly poor, able-bodied loafers sitting on the couch, grabbing benefits. That’s daft. People who can work need to work to get by. Food stamps — which provide just enough for minimal staples (and not enough for a healthy diet) — or free medication won’t pay for rent, utilities, transportation or clothing. It makes no sense for people to refrain from earning enough to pay for all their daily expenses for the “privilege” of getting nutritionally poor foods or seeing a doctor (rather than visiting the emergency room).

Moreover, data proves that the vast number of recipients are either working poor or wouldn’t be required to work anyway (e.g., people with disabilities, children, seniors in nursing care). The Kaiser Family Foundation found a significant majority of “non-elderly adult Medicaid enrollees who did not qualify based on a disability were already working full- or part-time.” Furthermore, “Most who were not working would likely meet exemptions from work requirement policies (e.g., had an illness or disability or were attending school), leaving just 7% of these enrollees to whom work requirement policies could be directed.”

We have evidence already from the Arkansas Medicaid work requirement experiment over a 10-month period and from experiments briefly in effect for Michigan and New Hampshire. Work rules applied to only 3 to 4 percent of recipients — that’s proof of the mischaracterization of these people as moochers. Of those who were affected, thousands got kicked out of the system not because they were slackers but because they didn’t complete the paperwork.

Many beneficiaries “didn’t know about the work requirement or whether it applied to them,” the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found. “It’s likely that people with disabilities were particularly at risk.” And those whose work is transitory (a lot one month and little the next) were at risk of going in and out of coverage.

Moreover, there was no evidence it increased the number of people working. The CBPP found that nearly all of the beneficiaries who met Arkansas’s new requirements “were already working before the rules took effect or because they complied with work requirements already in place under SNAP (formerly food stamps).”

The stick of losing benefits injures the unwary and creates more uninsured people:

A study by Harvard researchers found that the uninsured rate among low-income Arkansans aged 30-49 — the group potentially subject to work requirements — rose from 10.5 percent in 2016 to 14.5 percent in 2018, after the work requirement took effect. There was no similar increase for low-income Arkansans of other ages or for low-income people aged 30-49 in other, similar states. This finding refutes claims, for example from HHS Secretary Alex Azar, that most people leaving Medicaid due to the policy did so because they found jobs with health insurance. …

Beneficiaries already had enough reasons to work: they needed to pay their bills. But they often struggled with unstable work hours, lived in rural areas with few jobs, or faced other barriers to employment — and the state didn’t invest any new money in job training programs, services to address barriers, or supports like transportation to help beneficiaries connect to jobs.

When work requirements are instituted, states such as Arkansas do a rotten job notifying recipients and applicants and explaining the program. The Department of Health and Human Services found that “one year after implementation began, a survey of individuals subject to work requirements found one-third of them had not heard anything about the policy, while 44 percent were unsure whether the policy applied to them.”

Poor people’s health is adversely impacted. A 2021 HHS report found “that adults with chronic conditions in Arkansas were more likely to lose coverage.” Moreover, “50 percent reported serious problems paying off medical bills; 56 percent delayed seeking health care because of cost; and 64 percent delayed taking medications because of cost.” If the aim is to make poor people sicker, it “worked.”

Upon closer examination, we can see Republicans are taking away funds for food and medical coverage for poor people and sending the money to tax cheats. The estimated cost of the “savings” from denying food and health care to the poor is roughly the amount they want to take away from IRS funding that would be used to go after tax cheats (those people who are by definition stealing from the taxpayers). House Republicans say their Medicaid and SNAP cuts save tens of billions; the Congressional Budget Office score shows a $114 billion cost for repealing the IRS enforcement.

Taking a step back, the work requirements are advancing a noxious vision to make the government budget (taxes and spending) more regressive. MAGA Republicans wants to keep all the Trump tax cuts and eliminate President Biden’s plan to make corporations pay something and to tax stock buybacks. The things that help poor and middle-class people have either already expired at Republicans’ insistence (e.g., the child tax credit expansion) or have been put on the chopping block (e.g., $35 insulin, drug caps on Medicare, green-energy subsidies, student loans). One doesn’t have to be a “socialist” to think it grotesque to make the rich even richer as a result of cutting benefits to the poor.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/24/work-requirement-republicans-debt/

and then on FaceBorg Jim Said - Grateful Dead: 

I got on the bus back in '78, when I received Europe 72 for Christmas. First of innumerable evenings with Jerry and the boys was the Uptown Theater, December 3, 1979 (Damn Rhino and Deadnet for limiting that Dave's Picks to 25K - missed getting it when it sold out in 1 day). Many more with Jerry solo and JGB.

After Jerry died, it was hard listening to the music without him. Such a huge hole to fill, and not just musically. Despite never wanting the a leader or a cult-like figure, he could not escape the role, and by all accounts it led him to his early grave. For all of us left behind, however, we had to adjust to a prospect of live Dead music without Jerry. It was hard, and I suspect not only for fans, but the band members themselves.

Starting with "The Other Ones" during the first Furthur Festival, I have gone to shows with every subsequent alignment of the remaining members of the Dead. Not a show goes by that I do not miss Jerry's guitar. No matter how talented the guitarist playing lead, or the person stepping up to the microphone to singe Jerry's lines, it is impossible to get over the expectation of hearing Jerry himself and impossible to stop yearning to hear him one more time live.

But we won't.

Jerry has been gone almost 30 years now. Almost as long as the Dead existed with him. Generations of kids not yet born when Jerry died are newly discovering the Dead, and many of them through live music events with the current members, in one iteration or another.

I had an epiphany at the Greek Theatre last year seeing Bobby and the Wolf Brothers with the Wolf Pack. I only went to the show because a dear friend called and offered me the ticket. However, as the first set unfolded - with almost all Jerry songs - I was drawn so deeply in by the music. And I had a number of realizations: Bob is SO underrated for his talent and musical vision. He is taking the music to places outside the shadow of Jerry, and honoring the beauty of the songs. These songs live and breathe, and they are a new set of American Standards. We are seeing how widely influential the Dead were, and how deep the songs have embedded themselves into a far larger body of music and musicians than most ever anticipated. Bobby and the Wolf Pack helped me hear the music beyond the expectation of hearing Jerry's leads, because the music wasn't arranged around Jerry's lead break structure. It liberated me from that expectation, and helped me hear the music in a new light. I could feel Jerry smiling from above in approval and respect for Bobby.

We are blessed to have every one of these post -Dead iterations. We are so fortunate that almost 30 years out from Jerry's passing that all of the surviving members are out there continuing to sew the seeds of the music they created, and creating new, exciting interpretations of these great songs for the enjoyment and discovery of Deadheads new and old and soon to be. They all just keep Trucking on. Enjoy them all, and enjoy the music, as it is a living breathing body of inspiration. The Music Never Stops, even though Jerry's gone (as well as Pigpen, Keith, Brent, Vince, Robert Hunter . . .) and nothing's gonna bring him back.

Enjoy these shows while you can - Phil is 83, Bob 75, Billy 76, Mickey 79. It will be in a blink of an eye that they are gone from us, playing celestial music in whatever space may await us. The music will survive, enjoy it in all its glorious permutations, tempos and supporting players who will carry on the torch for the community.

Lastly, please don't dominate the rap, Jack, if you got nothing new to say. From the time Pigpen died, to Keith and Donna leaving, to Brent passing, there was always someone complaining about the new iteration, saying the new music did not stand up to the old. Nonsense. Listen long enough, and you will find joy and new inspiration in every iteration, things you could never hear in earlier phases. Sure, have favorite eras, but respect and honor the whole journey. Can the negativity, or go anyplace else where it is welcome. It shouldn't be in this community.

We will survive, so will the music. Honor it, and respect and love each other.

and I replied:

I've had fun at every combination of players... especially LOCAL BANDS that Learned how to Play the Songs. Like that Casino Band at North Shore Lake Tahoe with the Janis Joplin Impersonator... My Cousin Declined a Couple of Free Tickets to The Fare Ye Well Concert in Santa Clara... but I went Both Nights... and 60,000 people singing along to every song was... EPIC... The Hotel was Fun too... Smoking Weed in the Hot Tub... and a Kid Strumming the Guitar and singing at Poolside... THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!