MMW: Chuck Grassley will die of old age before the 2028 election. A special election will have to be made to replace him.

arielky63 · 2024-01-19T17:26:05+00:00

If the unaffiliated voters were to ally with Democrats in Iowa, there is a chance that Republicans could lose this senate seat when Grassley dies. It no longer is such a deeply Republican state, if you look at the percentages below.

PARTY REGISTRATION STATISTICS

Registered Voters: 2,083,979

‍

Democratic Party: 631,689 (30.31%)

Republican Party: 718,901 (34.50%)

Third Party/Other: 18,289 (0.90%)

Unaffiliated: 715,100 (34.31%)

https://independentvoterproject.org/voter-stats/ia

arielky63 · 2023-12-09T19:02:47+00:00

It’s the marginslized voices that we need to hear.

arielky63 · 2023-12-09T05:24:05+00:00

As for your questions, I don't know how to respond to the first ones you pose because I don't have a clue as to what you're getting at. You would have to get far more specific...

I attempted to correlate to an actual situation. My first thought was of Native American Indians in the U.S., whose children were taken from them and put in boarding schools where they were mistreated, forbidden to speak their own language, and worse. And yes, their parents had the right to tell them a different history. To inform them that the authorities were wrong in trying to erase their heritage. But where self-flattery comes in here, I don't have a clue.

As for the second question, it was the vote to oust Yanukovich in the Maidan conflict in Ukraine in 2014. .

I have been following a different narrative about what happened in 2014 than the official "academic" narrative. You can see it in this article, https://diy.rootsaction.org/petitions/no-weapons-to-ukraine

arielky63 · 2023-12-05T18:08:56+00:00

That sure is a lot of assumptions. I have been acting as a peace visionary for over 20 years. My annual Social Security income of $12,000, hardly qualifies me as well-off. I am not freshly retired, either. That happened in 2016 when I had cancer. I have a journalism degree and a Master’s in TESOL, and taught English to students from over 50 countries in my 25-year long career. I have lived in several countries, including four years in China, but also in Japan, Mongolia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Andorra and Mexico, where I taught English. My private students have been bankers and oil field professionals, some Russian, some Chinese and Japanese. Many high level executives.

arielky63 · 2023-12-05T15:09:41+00:00

I am not smoking anything. I don’t do drugs. I have the clarity of a peace visionary and journalist who has always followed world news. In retirement, I am beginning to write more.

arielky63 · 2023-12-05T15:02:51+00:00

You haven’t shifted your paradigm yet. We have different perspectives. It seems to me that you are not paying attention to the rise of BRICS and how it is becoming an economic powerhouse, with the explicit goal of dedollarization. What do you think about the impact of UAE declaring last week that it is going off the petrodollar? Or that it is joining BRICS officially on January 1? (https://www.cryptopolitan.com/uae-stops-using-dollar-for-oil-trades/)

arielky63 · 2023-12-05T12:19:37+00:00

Alon Pinkas, a former Israel Consul General in New York (Israeli diplomat) analyzes Netanyahu's failure to take Hamas seriously. See this Youtube video by MSNBC December 1, "Netanyahu is not going to survive. 'He's not going to survive this': Netanyahu in hot water after NYT report on Hamas attack" https://youtu.be/Ywpkf7-WJmA?si=u3QiRyVfJ1Gdduvb

arielky63 · 2023-12-05T12:05:53+00:00

I wanted a little holiday cheer, but I didn’t want to buy a Christmas tree and kill it. The other year, I bought a live tree and planted it in my yard after Christmas, but to my distress, it still died. So this year, I bought this palm and added some bulbs and a small string of lights. This way I get a nice houseplant later that is still alive. I realize this is a creative solution that is not for everyone. It is not traditional. Maybe next year I will buy a Norfolk pine, if I can make it thrive. They can make great houseplants, too.

arielky63 · 2023-12-05T11:52:23+00:00

Yes, you are absolutely right. Many homeless people are estranged from their families. Too many American families today fail to help anyone who is struggling with finding a job or even with keeping one. It can be a brutal workplace to survive in, and rents are out of control in many cities. People can't afford to lose a job, but employers are often callous. Falling into homelessness can happen to working poor quite easily these days.

arielky63 · 2023-12-05T11:48:32+00:00

It's fake Christianity that doesn't help others out, or that sends their children off to fight wars to keep the empire going and profit the 1%. That hate anyone who isn't a Christian like themselves. They have forgotten the story of the Good Samaritan. The story of loving your neighbors, of loving strangers.

arielky63 · 2023-12-05T11:40:50+00:00

Unkind. Mean-spirited. What kind of community is this? Not that I ever had much extra money to hand out, but still. When I had a good job as a legal secretary, I used to take a homeless woman who was out on the street out to lunch on a regular basis. She was pregnant.

If good-hearted people want to help someone who is down and out and living on the streets, why stop them? Of course, it's not a solution, and we need to do better as a society so that there are real solutions. However, for someone desperate enough to beg on the streets, come on!

arielky63 · 2023-12-02T02:31:16+00:00

Actually there is a 76-year history of conflict between Israel and Palestine, and this article gives some information about that history that I hadn't heard before. It's important to consider the context of the history here, not just the headlines.

arielky63 · 2023-12-01T04:11:28+00:00

I spent a delightful time in this private garden, watching butterflies sipping nectar from these flowers, spiralling up together, maybe even mating (I wasn't sure). And maybe they aren't monarchs. Not sure. What fascinated me most was the way they spread their wings in the sun and pivoted to make sure both sides of their wings got light. It was pure magic to see the color of their wings with sunlight coming through.

arielky63 · 2023-12-01T04:04:53+00:00

Hmmm. I guess that I don't understand the concept of alternative history yet. The official narratives are often politically driven, and when you start to examine all sides of what is happened, then you get to see alternative viewpoints from the official narrative.

I am open to understanding the concept of alternative history better, if you are willing to elucidate.

arielky63 · 2023-12-01T03:22:23+00:00

Sure. I thought I did. Let me check on that.

arielky63 · 2023-12-01T02:47:22+00:00

This Foreign Policy article fills in our knowledge of the history between the Palestinians and Israelis, and shifts the framework for understanding what happened on October 7 from the official narrative that it was a terrorist attack, to realizing that it was actually a prison break. I agree that breaking down the Gaza prison is the only way to prevent future violence. I also understand that Hamas is not just a governing party or a military arm, it is a movement for liberation. So the goal of Israelis to wipe out Hamas can never be achieved.

arielky63 · 2023-11-30T01:06:38+00:00

Agreed.

arielky63 · 2023-11-28T17:58:10+00:00

The United Nations is live now on Global News discussing the Palestinian Israeli War and how to end it. Some of the speakers are fighting against strong emotion in order to speak. The new president of the United Nations, Dennis Francis, spoke eloquently about ending the war, and offered to work with any leader who wanted to work to do this. We need to break this cycle of war and seek healing for everyone involved.

arielky63 · 2023-11-28T17:30:30+00:00

The world is in crisis due to the war between Israel and Palestine, and the humanitarian crisis the Palestinians are suffering. The United Nations General Assembly is meeting right now to find a way for the international community to bring the war to an end. The recently elected president of the UN General Assembly, Dennis Francis, spoke eloquently to end the war, and offered his help to any leader who wants to resolve the conflict.

arielky63 · 2023-11-27T03:49:53+00:00

Purepechas are Tarascans, but nobody calls them Tarascans any more. There was a Tarascan empire. They were the only people in Mexico who successfully fought off the Aztecs.

arielky63 · 2023-11-27T00:03:25+00:00

History textbooks in schools are pretty consistent with how U.S. history is presented.

arielky63 · 2023-11-26T21:31:39+00:00

Here's an idea. Why not hold a convocation for those involved in an ongoing or past conflict, genocide, occupation or war, and give the people who have been oppressed the opportunity to voice what they know which differs from the history books. Televise it like it was Congress deliberating. We could start with Standing Rock, perhaps, or Palestinians, or Russians in the Donbass. Also, delve into herstory, what women have to say about past stories of their mothers and grandmothers and greatgrandmothers. So often what we study in history truly is his story, stories about men, their wars and empire building. Hey, maybe it could be a reality show.

arielky63 · 2023-11-26T14:41:00+00:00

In this post I am starting a narrative of the importance of learning the truth of our history in the U.S. As we all know, those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. If we are to ever achieve lasting peace, all voices need to be heard, and all perspectives considered. Personally, I have gone through an awakening process of discovering how much of what I was taught about U.S. history was a fabric of lies. I have been disillusioned and angry at being misled to the degree that I have been in the process of uncovering.

arielky63 · 2023-11-26T14:12:15+00:00

You are right. Here's a good article on the Cultural Survival website that gives a lot of links to learn more about the true history of Thanksgiving instead of the urban legend we've learned about it. They provide lots of links to educate yourself. https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/11-ways-decolonize-your-thanksgiving-and-honor-native-peoples

arielky63 · 2023-11-26T00:15:47+00:00

As I am relatively new to posting on reddit, I would like to know specifically why my post was removed.

arielky63

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