I thought you should know ...

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Wednesday March 22, 2017 · 1:25 PM PDT

2017/03/22 · 13:25

I have been a life-long Democrat, and have always voted party line. I’ve been a registered member of Daily Kos since 2011, and a daily visitor to the site since around 2007.

I rarely write a diary, and I rarely comment. I come here to read diaries.

On the few times that I have commented, it’s been in response to posts related to science. I am a science geek with a bachelor of science degree. I spend most days doing scientific research.

I have in instances, politely disagreed with various diarists on the use of certain “scientific products” because of … science. Each time, my comment has promptly been removed. There are a few diarists on here that have decent mojo, but spend their time looking for comments like mine to immediately discredit and report to admin for removal. Last time I had to sign an “acknowledgment” for the removal.

What I’ve realized from that experience, is that Democrats can’t even have discussions amongst fellow Democrats about issues. Just because we are Democrats, do we really need to have the same view on every single issue? Can’t we even have a normal civil discussion/debate about a topic? Do we all have to sing to the same tune? How in the world will you increase your base by not having engaging discussions and debates to make the party better and stronger?

This site has made me realize that I can no longer be a Democrat. I’m going independent and will no longer vote party line. I want to engage in intelligent discussions and debates on various topics.

Sigh... Chris Christie off the hook.

Geriw

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Saturday January 28, 2017 · 11:14 AM PST

2017/01/28 · 11:14

Bridgegate collage by Flickr user DonkeyHotey.

Sadly, it looks like Chris Christie isn’t going to be charged in Bridgegate.

www.cnn.com/…

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie won't be charged with misconduct in the so-called "Bridgegate" scandal, Bergen County prosecutors said Friday.

The prosecutor's office said it did not think it could prove the charge in court.

So his underlings Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni are taking the fall for him. They are scheduled to be sentenced next month on corruption and fraud counts.

According to recent polls, Chris Christie is the second-most disliked politician currently holding office in America.

Now that Bridgegate is behind him, will Trump appoint him to something? My guess is we’ll hear something soon.

Robocalls out on DeVos

Geriw

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Monday January 23, 2017 · 8:48 AM PST

2017/01/23 · 08:48

Not a diary per se, just an FYI that I received a robocall asking to call Sen. Bennet to support Betsy DeVos. (Bennet used to be superintendent of Denver Public Schools, and I truly don't know how he will vote on this.)

So please take a moment to call Sen. Bennet and tell him NOT to support Betsy DeVos. You can contact him here: www.bennet.senate.gov/...

The problem is that "empathy" is disappearing. Here's proof.

Geriw

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Thursday November 17, 2016 · 7:42 AM PST

2016/11/17 · 07:42

I’ve had several conversations with my mother who voted for Trump, and none of the conversations end well. It really all comes down to a lack of empathy. She cares about her family, but that’s about where it ends. I don’t think she is capable of seeing things from a different perspective.

I also look at workplaces, and how people just can’t get along. Again, if I had to pinpoint it, it’s a lack of empathy.

Here are a few interesting tidbits.

Psychology Today

College students who hit campus after 2000 have empathy levels that are 40% lower than those who came before them, according to a stunning new study presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science by University of Michigan researchers. It includes data from over 14,000 students.

NPR

Nearly one quarter of all Americans reach for a bottle of Tylenol every week to take the edge off a headache, fever or toothache. Experiments suggest it might also have another effect on you. . . . We gave participants eight scenarios which described people in either physical pain or social pain. Physical pain meaning, for example, injuring the shin. Social pain would be experiencing rejection in a peer group. And we found that acetaminophen basically reduced empathy for the pain of those people.

Science Daily

When you take acetaminophen [Tylenol] to reduce your pain, you may also be decreasing your empathy for both the physical and social aches that other people experience, a new study suggests.

Pubmed

SSRIs [antidepressants] may be associated with another unwelcome clinical side effect—behavioral and affective indifference. . . .

Because this syndrome is commonly under-recognized by both patients and clinicians, we recommend advising patients who are about to embark on a course of SSRI treatment about the possibility of SSRI-induced indifference. Following the education of patients as well as their families, we suggest routine monitoring by the clinician during medication follow-up appointments.

A brave young lady gets bullied and intimidated by 2 school board members

Geriw

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Thursday April 21, 2016 · 9:36 AM PDT

2016/04/21 · 09:36

Students in Douglas County Colorado are organizing a protest to support their teachers. The school district has been losing quality teachers, and the students are tired of it. The school board of course does not want this attention. Watch the school board bully this young girl to keep her from organizing a protest. (The meeting starts at about the 5 minute mark.)

YouTube Video

Bernie Sanders wins Time Magazine's Person of the Year Reader's Poll

Geriw

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Monday December 07, 2015 · 10:09 AM PST

2015/12/07 · 10:09

I didn’t see this posted yet, but it looks like Bernie Sanders won the reader’s poll on Time Magazine. Polling closed yesterday. The editors of Time Magazine however, will make the final decision.

Interestingly, he beat Pope Francis in the poll.

Here’s the top 5:

10.2% Bernie Sanders 5.2% Malala Yousafsai 3.7% Pope Francis
3.5% Barack Obama 3.1% Stephen Colbert

time.com/...

Vaccines shouldn't be a dem vs. repub issue

Geriw

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Friday September 18, 2015 · 9:28 AM PDT

2015/09/18 · 09:28

I get really annoyed when vaccines are suddenly a democrat vs republican issue. I'm a bleeding liberal, but when it comes to vaccines and GMO's, I have major issues.

I'm not being 'anti-science' at all when I say this. I'm annoyed when democrats keep arguing the point that republicans are anti-science, and because of that, they believe that everything that happens in the name of science is good. Do you think big-business intentions are always good? We should know better. We are being manipulated. Vaccines and GMOs are BIG BIG business!!

I'm arguing BECAUSE of science. When it comes to vaccines, you will find out that 99% of autistic kids have the MTHFR gene mutation, which means they don't detox as well as people who don't have these mutations. Keep in mind that vaccines are either bound to mercury or aluminum, so we are in effect injecting newborns with metals that should not be in our bloodstream. If these kids are challenged when detoxing, they are going to have major physiological issues that come from metal toxicity.

Additionally, we are vaccinating children before their immune system has developed, meaning that these first vaccines are useless. I urge you to learn about how the immune system develops if you don't believe me.

Vaccines and GMO's are big business. Big corporations are making a killing requiring that our population is vaccinated. Monsanto is making a killing selling us foods which genetically could be part fish and part vegetable, or part bacteria and part corn. Our food is FAKE, with no nutritional value. Yet, we're lead to believe that it is food scarcity. Do you know how much food we throw away?

But back to vaccines, I'm not saying that vaccines are bad at all. Some are necessary. I'm just saying that big business has gotten us all to believe that we need multiple vaccines at birth, when a baby's immune system can't even do anything with the vaccine, but in the meantime has to try to detox from aluminum or mercury that has just been injected into their bloodstream.

Update - Here are some resources for you where doctors share the TRUTH about Vaccines:

There is no party that supports small business

Geriw

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Wednesday November 05, 2014 · 12:02 PM PST

2014/11/05 · 12:02

What party sticks up for the small business person? And when I say "small", I'm not referring to the so called "small" businesses that have over 500 employees.

We know the Republicans are known for supporting BIG business, and those so-called small businesses with over 500 employees.

But what party truly sticks out their neck and helps the real small businesses, the kind with under 15 employees?

Just saying...

Geriw

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Thursday October 30, 2014 · 6:54 PM PDT

2014/10/30 · 18:54

I'm in Colorado, and when I click a page on DailyKos, I immediately get a automatic soundbite attacking Udall. These are ads that automatically have a soundbite without controls.

I think Kos should tweak the ads on the ad network he uses to make sure these types of ads don't play on the site. Many people might think this is what the site is promoting.

What happened to Bruinkid?

Geriw

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Friday October 17, 2014 · 7:19 AM PDT

2014/10/17 · 07:19

I miss the daily Colbert and Daily Show recaps that Bruinkid used to do.

What happened?

I of course appreciate Michael Langenmayr's recaps, but it doesn't include the Daily Show with John Stewart.

New school board takes money from funded public school program to build charter school

Geriw

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Thursday January 16, 2014 · 4:26 PM PST

2014/01/16 · 16:26

There is a Jefferson County School board meeting tonight, and parent's are mad!

In Littleton Colorado, a newly elected school board is voting to take program funding away from the local public middle school, for the purpose of building a second charter school in the area.

The funding was for a math, science, engineering and mathematics program. The program was approved and funded by the previous board and parents have already sent in applications to have their children attend.

Here's the petition to stop it from happening:

http://www.change.org/...

The school board is obviously not interested in the needs of the local community. Building more charter schools is how you squeeze out teacher unions and bring in private enterprise. And we all know how that goes...

Pope Francis is amazing

Geriw

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday November 08, 2013 · 7:54 AM PST

2013/11/08 · 07:54

First of, I should say that I'm and atheist. ( Maybe agnostic ... that's still a debate I'm having in my head).

I just read an article on huff post where the pope gave a very compassionate touch to a man who has a horribly disfigured face.
( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/... )

Most people would run from someone who looked like that. And I'm sure not many people would want to touch him. Imagine what that must feel like for the person living in that body.

Then here come the Pope giving such a compassionate and meaningful moment to this man. I started boo-hooing right away. In fact, I'm still bawling as I right this. I'm truly impressed with this new pope.

Remember he kissed the foot of a prisoner, traded in his car for some really old 1980's car, and told the Catholic community that it's about loving each other, and it's not about birth control and abortions?

He's going to be one of history's best popes if you ask me.

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