A Woman's Place is in the Resistance

[shootingstar]

Hope the town halls proliferate in the U.S. across the nation. It's highly critical there's open discussion where people feel safe and it's moderated by in-person folks. Am hoping for the best back to normalization of democracy and rule of the law. Latter is not happening right now.

This past birthday long weekend, is something I'll always remember. Every day, there was always something drastic about Trump's manoeuvres. His ban for for dual-citizenship with 1 from 7 banned countries (not just refugees from those countries and immigrants-approved for U.S. entry), was pretty lost of my respect for this U.S. leader. It is an enormous slap in the face for all immigrants and descendant U.S. generations.

I just hope Canadian Prime Minister and our govn't doesn't fall into the same snake pit of negative political power. We did allow vetted entry of 30,000 Syrian refugees for approx. 12 months. They were screened by Canadian immigration authorities right at the refugee camps. Our city took in approx. 1,800 refugees. PM Justin Trudeau keeps repeating and hopefully he keeps at it: Canada welcomes diversity. He has not yet said publicly outright Trump is racist, wrong, etc.

As for the peaceful womens' marches across the world, it was great there was no violence. I don't support violence at protests wanting good positive change for broader community. So disappointed what devolved at Berkley U of Cal. campus.

[Selkie]

I was at the women's march in DC and it gave me hope. Before, I felt as if this hate was being normalized. People came from all over the country, such a diverse group of folks, everyone was so kind. Write to you senators and congressmen. They do listen. Vote during midterms. I might go to the science march as well. I hope the world knows that this is not America.

[ny biker]

I hope the world knows that this is not America.

+1000

[ny biker]

Happy International Women's Day.

I thought about going on strike today, but decided not to, mostly because I would have no where to go and I can't stay home without ending up angry at the noisy neighbors. If I didn't have to wear this ankle boot I would have found a park or museum to visit. But anyway. I'm wearing red.

(So of course it's One of Those Days at work, and I'm really wishing I was somewhere else.)

One of the local school districts here closed for the day because so many of their teachers put in for the day off.

[Helene2013]

We celebrated Womens' day at work today by ordering cake and some our male senior partners served it to the staff. It was truly appreciated by all. The leftover (2 out of 4 huge cakes) were being delivered after to a womens' shelter center nearby the office. I'm sure the women and their children will appreciate getting such nice cake (high end one too) for dessert tonight at dinner. We could have given the leftover cakes to the staff to take home. But we figured they had their share and it was a good opportunity to share with those less fortunate.

On another note, we decided to forget about Trump and his "weird ideas'' and go spend our vacation in the USA this coming summer. We are not going to penalize ourselves, or tourism, just because of him. Hoping we have no issues crossing customs in our RV as some of those officers at entries can be pretty tough in the past few weeks even on Canadians...born in Canada with a a valid Canadian passeport. Too many we read about are being turned around without any justification, just because of a name... oh well... I used to feel very comfortable crossing those borders, now.... not as sure as we do not know what to expect anymore. And my vacations are paid for and we can't get a refund if we can't cross on that day. So crossing fingers that the day we cross it will be uneventful. hihi

[shootingstar]

We celebrated Womens' day at work today by ordering cake and some our male senior partners served it to the staff. It was truly appreciated by all. The leftover (2 out of 4 huge cakes) were being delivered after to a womens' shelter center nearby the office. I'm sure the women and their children will appreciate getting such nice cake (high end one too) for dessert tonight at dinner. We could have given the leftover cakes to the staff to take home. But we figured they had their share and it was a good opportunity to share with those less fortunate.

On another note, we decided to forget about Trump and his "weird ideas'' and go spend our vacation in the USA this coming summer. We are not going to penalize ourselves, or tourism, just because of him. Hoping we have no issues crossing customs in our RV as some of those officers at entries can be pretty tough in the past few weeks even on Canadians...born in Canada with a a valid Canadian passeport. Too many we read about are being turned around without any justification, just because of a name... oh well... I used to feel very comfortable crossing those borders, now.... not as sure as we do not know what to expect anymore. And my vacations are paid for and we can't get a refund if we can't cross on that day. So crossing fingers that the day we cross it will be uneventful. hihi

I'm sure it'll be fine for you Helene.
As a Canadian, I have been curious of some recent cases of Canadians who were turned back at the Canadian-U.S. border.

So far I've read and seen the photos in the newspaper of Canadians who: whose family background is East Indian, Middle Eastern, etc. You get the drift. I haven't yet seen it so for East Asian descent yet...probably because the 6 U.S."banned" countries doesn't include people from East Asia.. I would expect myself not to have a problem. But I will be honest here: Over the past few decades, when I travel overseas and am in a lineup at Customs, my Canadian passport is highly visible in my hand. I want the rest of the world to know my country origin..even for those other visitors who stand around me in the lineup. Other Canadians. I am just Canadian as they are. This even includes flying on domestic flights in Canada. Anyway seems like 90% Canadians that I've seen, flying on domestic flights, are like me, they show their Canadian passport as the strongest govn't issued ID. It's not the driver's license, it is a passport. I fly several times across Canada annually.

I have been mistaken for Filipino, Malaysian and of course direct from China. A sister of mine has been mistaken for native Indian.

A country has a right to impose their "legal" requirement whom they deem as appropriate to cross the border shortly after checks. But the obsession over the 6 country ban is quite discriminatory...excludes Americans living in the U.S. who have serious criminal record / can be a threat. If this all means less tourism over the next 12 months for the U.S. or slowdown, then the U.S. has to deal with that. (somehow it's doubtful tourism dollars is not a top priority for the newish President).

Not surprising (to me), that Hawai'i is trying block President's travel ban: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.9738f806b0f9 A lot of their economy hinges on tourism. When I visited Hawai'i (twice) to myself personally, it felt different to be there compared to mainland U.S....the whole cultural history, demographics of people, etc...which what did appeal to me..American yet not totally mainland.

[shootingstar]

I forgot about Women's International Day. ..though there was a small article on our corporate intranet. I'm not familiar with going on strike away from work on WID...is this in response to this year's developments in U.S. presidency term?

[Eden]

but I just found this today - I think it's brilliant and I've made up several postcards to mail tomorrow (er... I guess it's now today )

On March 15th, 2017 each of us will mail the White House a postcard that publicly expresses our vocal opposition to the new president. And we, in vast numbers, from all corners of the world, will overwhelm Washington.

https://www.theidesoftrump.com/#theidesoftrump

[smilingcat]

Too many dates to remember. Yesterday was Pi day as in March 14--> 3/14 or 3.14 of course two years ago it would have been Mar. 14, '15 or 3.1415 better Pi. <nerd>Off the top of my head, pi is 3.14159265</nerd>

I need to get my butt in gear and pick up some postcards. Will I end up on "no fly list"?

[ny biker]

!!!!!!!

I swamped at work right now but just wanted to say -- huge things happened in Virginia yesterday. For the first time in a year, I have hope.

We'll start with this.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...=.d417202f3276

What I love most is that she won because she ran on real issues, like transportation.

And of course there were the elections for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. But also serious upheaval in the House of Delegates, though several districts will have recounts so the final results are not yet known.

BTW the number of women holding seats in the House of Delegates grew substantially.

I only helped out in a small way, volunteering last weekend. In part that's because there were so many other volunteers that they didn't need me for some things I would otherwise have helped with.

Now to try to carry the momentum to 2018, and Congress.

[emily_in_nc]

Virginia is a bright light! Watching MSNBC last night, DH and I were cheering. Definitely a reflection on, and a rejection of, Washington in the last year.

Optimistic here!

[north woods gal]

Me, too. After reading the news, this morning, first time in what seems like forever that I felt a touch of hope concerning politics.

[Crankin]

Me, too!
Although there were no elections for me to vote in, we had a few women mayors elected, one being the first woman mayor of the city I grew up in. Both she and her opponent were liberal Democrats, but near the end, it turned into a modern version of the southside vs. the northside rivalry that's been around since time began! She handled it well. And, all of the women who were elected seem so professional and competent.
Very happy for Virginia, NY. My closest friend from above described city lives in Richmond (since the late 70s) and she was worried. She's a paralegal for the Federal Defenders office and very politically connected. I like hearing her take on things, as she has not lost her Massachusetts values.

[rebeccaC]

ny....that reminds me of her poem 'On The Pulse Of Morning'.

we had a huge crowd 500,000 to 600,000 by most estimates. marching in solidarity ftw!!!!!!!!!

[ny biker]

Got an email at work yesterday -- due to "tax reform" all employees will receive a small bonus. After taxes are taken out it won't be much. I have decided to donate it to World Central Kitchen (who are still feeding people in Puerto Rico), a local nonprofit that helps victims of domestic violence and the ACLU.


http://www.worldcentralkitchen.org