About that election...

I was going to have one mega politics post but I felt like it would be too long so I've broken it up.

Some things to keep in mind:

1. Did you see how close the majority of elections are? THIS is why we rail against unnecessary voting restrictions. The percentage of people who didn't vote is a distortion that includes those who WANTED to vote but were thwarted or denied being able to vote by malfunctions, incorrect information, unnecessary regulations, shortened early voting, hard to obtain absentee ballots or false criminal charges. Most of these people were those under 55. Some of them were probably even Republicans. Some might have been victims of the new poll taxes. Regular poll taxes are illegal so they've required photo IDs to have legal poll taxes. We must not make voting harder when voting is a RIGHT of all legal citizens over 18 who are not current felons. This is how the country becomes disenfranchised which is what the 1% wants. We can't let them win.

2. Yes, President Obama can veto any law he sees fit BUT...
Any veto can be over-ridden by Congress.

3. Money is once again proven to be the most important thing. The over-whelming majority of everyone and everything the Koch brothers threw their money at won. THIS is a HORRIBLE lesson! It completely underlines the majority of religions and moral codes.

4. Duke won.

Rick Scott and all his cronies who could have stopped Duke at any time and didn't were all re-elected. Nationally, they have the Koch brothers and everyone else on their side, too. Duke is one of the most dangerous companies to exist. They don't care about people. They don't care about the environment. They ONLY care about money and their customer bills prove it. Duke customers pays 20-30 dollars MORE than any other electric customer.

5. LGBTQA rights are now in danger.

Some of the higher courts are already backing down and allowing marriage bans. We can't be told that we are less than people. It's not right.

Sunshine

There was darkness in the sunshine although it was hard to see because of the media's reporting.

From Progress Florida:

"Amendment 1 passed and efforts to protect Florida’s land, water, and open spaces will have secure funding for years to come.

More people voted for Amendment 2, which would have legalized medical marijuana, than voted to re-elect Gov. Scott. The amendment received a huge 57% of the vote, but fell short of the 60% required to pass it.

Amendment 3, a cynical attempt by the Florida’s GOP-run legislature to pack our courts, was soundly defeated.

The Florida panhandle has sent a pro-environment and pro-LGBT woman to Congress in Gwen Graham.

Osceola County elected their first openly LGBT county commissioner and their first Hispanic woman county commissioner.

Conservative Marion County passed a one mill school funding referendum that will offset years of destructive cuts by Gov. Scott and the legislature: restoring funding for art, music, libraries, and more."

* In fact, Amendment 1 passed with 75%! of the vote. This is an almost unheard of majority.

From 350.org:

"Climate action works from the ground up. There were a number of bright spots last night, but they didn’t come from professional politicians. Denton, Texas became the first city in Texas to ban fracking with a locally led ballot initiative. Two counties in California did the same. Richmond, California defied massive spending from Chevron to elect a Mayor ready to take on Big Oil in their backyard. There’s a lesson here: courage counts, local action matters, and voters support bold and direct action against climate change."

From Emily's List:

"Scott Brown became the first person to lose to two different women in Senate races, in two different states even. Gwen Graham ousted Tea Party favorite Steve Southerland in Florida. Gina Raimondo is Rhode Island's first woman governor. And Alma Adams will soon become the 100th woman in Congress.

With our victories, we are on a journey that continues every election cycle in our country. This isn't just about one night, but about the movement for social change.

The fight to make women and families' lives better did not start in 2014. On this day in 1872, Susan B. Anthony voted, even though the 19th Amendment wouldn't be ratified until nearly 50 years later. "

From CNN:

"Tim Scott became the first African-American from the South elected to the Senate since Reconstruction, according to the Charleston Post and Courier. The last black Senator was Blanche Kelso Bruce, who left the chamber 133 years ago. Scott also became the first African-American to be elected to both the House and the Senate.

Mia Love became the first black Republican woman elected to Congress -- ever. Love, who is a first-generation American, will also become the first Haitian-American to serve in Congress, according to the Washington Post.

Joni Ernst smashed a couple of glass ceilings of her own, becoming the first woman to represent Iowa in either house of Congress and the first female combat veteran ever elected to the Senate, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

Shelley Moore Capito cruised to victory in West Virginia to become the first woman elected to the Senate from her state.

Tom Cotton is the first Iraq War and the first Afghanistan war veteran to be elected to the Senate. "

Plenty of Democrats were re-elected like Al Franken, Cory Booker, Tom Udall, and Jeff Merkley.

Now about those firsts. I know on the surface, it looks scary because most of them are Republican, but let's focus on the awesome part for at least a minute. These are women and people of color and people who are both and people who are young! We elected a 30 year old woman to Congress in the same year that a Fox News host said young women shouldn't even be allowed to vote!

Sure, some of them will toe the party line but these are younger people with different experiences than all the old Caucasian men that preceded them. We might be able to hope for a more moderate, understanding party that wants to rethink human rights and the environment!

Why I Voted for Charlie Crist

This is the third time I've voted for Charlie Crist.

In case you don't realize the significance of this, the first time I voted for Charlie Crist was when he ran against Bill Nelson and he was a REPUBLICAN!

I believed in him. Even as Attorney General, he was never afraid to stand up against corporations or his own party or his own governor. While his attitudes towards certain things have progressed in a natural course, it was really the party around him that changed and became too conservative for him. The Republicans have done their best in the last ten years to chase away all the moderates more willing to work with Democrats like Crist, Lugar and Mike Fasano.

I still believe in him even though hard-core Democrats aren't supposed to support him. Instead, they blame him for every Republican victory since he was governor. My mom is so miffed at WMNF that she refuses to listen to them at the moment because they spent all morning blaming Charlie Crist for everything and how he's an opportunistic flip-flopper...without mentioning that even Obama and Clinton have progressed on issues in the last ten years like gay rights, but I don't hear any fellow Democrats calling them flip-floppers because it's NORMAL to change feelings on subjects as you become more acquainted with what they really mean to people, people you know.

This was in today's paper:

"Later, [Crist] said, he'll look for a way to stay active in politics and "help the quality of life for Floridians. That's enough for me."

He said he went back to his St. Petersburg headquarters on Wednesday and shook hands with a man working on a loading dock.

"I realized, he's never going to receive a minimum wage increase," Crist said."

I don't regret any of my votes.

The Future

The next Democratic candidate for governor is up in the air. None will have the name recognition of Charlie Crist and that's a big deterrent. So, we'll see, could be Buckhorn, could be Sink, could be someone else...

Hillary Clinton for presidential candidate seems like this foregone conclusion that everyone but her has come to.

Thus, it's more fun to pick her running mate. I was thinking Tammy Duckworth, Joaquin or Julian Castro or Donna Edwards. However, my mom was watching The Colbert Report and has a different idea that makes a lot of sense...
Barbara Lee

We'll just have to see...

Agent Carter

This clip came out Tuesday night so I posted it on my Facebook with the comment:

"This is the only thing making me anything in the happy family of feelings."

I kind of wish January would be closer...

Comics Round-Up!

I finally got to read these things!

Loki: Agent of Asgard, Vol. 1

I will always be a little sad that Kid!Loki was forced to grow up in Young Avengers so this could happen, but at least it does feel like a continuation of the same character...complete with those confused because the last time they saw him, he was just a kid and now he's...definitely not.

I also appreciate the fan service. They've learned from Hawkeye that women enjoy their male nudity and that's what we get here along with careful obstructions, bubbles and dialogue so that there's no actual penis.

Why did no one tell me that Phil Coulson and Loki had a scene in the comics and it involved nudity??

Loki even insists on calling him Phil!

Actually, Phil Coulson gets more of a appearance here than in Black Widow, Vol. 1 where he's unnamed and I didn't realize it was him. The fact that his character isn't consistent from artist to artist also made me wonder if "Speed-dating Phil" was actually Coulson but the internet says it's not.

I love seeing Thor and Loki as Bros and not always on the verge of wanting to kill the other. Loki even has a poster of his brother in his living room. However, there is some weird stuff with Thor in this one that makes that whole "unworthy" thing that much more believable.

There is also extra brownie points for Clint Barton and Natasha Romanov just chilling together in Avengers Tower...and confirming my private head-canon about Loki being awesome at hacking...and mentioning Loki's love of breakfast meats. I like to think that's all Peter Parker's fault that Loki now has a love of processed meats...but then, Asgard could have its own version of Haggis.

Loki as a woman and not that whole "I can steal anyone's body" but proper shape-shifting, yes! This isn't just me approving because of promoting progressive thinking but also because Myth!Loki wasn't afraid to shape shift into a female form and even suckle offspring. Lorelei even comments that the old Loki didn't like shape-shifting into a woman.

Why isn't there more stuff with Verity Willis? I really like their dynamic. It reminds me a little of Clint with Kate Bishop where she can just call him out on his shit.

Sex Criminals #1

Critically acclaimed AND written by Matt Fraction so I've been wanting to try this one for a while. When this issue was part of the dollar comics at the counter, I couldn't pass that up.

Some of it was weird to an Asexual...I kind of hope some of those positions were made up. I can't really identify with the magic of orgasms but I will love just about any character who throws regular parties to raise money to save books from her foreclosed library.

I have never read Lolita. I'm not sure what I would say if I was asked what my favorite book was...I'd almost need criteria.

So, the issue is also just as funny as I'd expect from Fraction left to his own devices and I definitely want to read more, maybe even Volume 1.

Next up is...
Black Widow and the Marvel Girls
Hawkeye: LA Woman I've literally had this pre-ordered since September 2013 so I'm totally excited. Plus, I heard that Coulson actually makes an appearance.
*fingers crossed that they don't ruin my headcanon"

Also, I found out they canceled Selfie. I'm sad. I loved Karen Gillan and John Cho together and who knows what their next projects will be?

Grimlock

Barnes and Noble has some AWESOME sales sometimes so I was able to get a Transformers Grimlock 75% off for twelve bucks.

It had already been described to me as a "pain in the ass". This actually describes a lot of it. First of all, the figure had so many plastic ties that it took five minutes just to detach the figure from the shipping materials. Then, the instructions included are for making your T-Rex into a Robot.

It comes in Robot form!

I finally found a Youtube video where I basically transformed it like they showed except his torso kept popping open and his tail didn't fit right. It took a good hour to turn him into a T-Rex and back into a Robot that could fit into his packaging.

This is definitely why I only buy a Transformer about once every five years.

I still love Grimlock though.