On Nov. 6 Election Day, Anne Hopes Cat & Dog Shoes Lovers Land A Knockout Punch On Trump

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On Nov. 6 Election Day, Anne Hopes Cat & Dog Shoes Lovers Land A Knockout Punch On Trump

Writing just now about the Louis Vuitton x Grace Coddington collab called Catogram, inspired me to reflect on my mouse shoes and their Manhattan intersection with a so-called master of the universe.

On this epic voting day in America, we have 1) a chance to smash rudeness, lies and white nationalism in the face in a blow to Donald Trump; 2) to stand for feline truth. You ALWAYS know where you stand with a cat, and there is no such thing as emotional fakery; and 3) love for humanity with a devoted dog who has your back.

While America is a nation with many faults, today will tell the world whether or not America still has a soul. Is she really the nation of promise I’ve fought for all these years, or does she have a fundamentally racist, angry, white nationalist, cold and frozen heart.

America’s true values are on the ballot today, so let me share a smile-worthy moment with a New York man with a heart — unlike Trump’s empty tin can contraption that keeps him alive, but has never in life had a real tuneup.

A Master of the Universe Meets My Parisian Mouse Shoes by Anne Aug. 11, 2011

These ‘Smoking Cat Wedges’ come from London-based luxury accessories designer Charlotte Olympia. Mine were mice. I bought them in Paris during the 80s, and I positively adored them. My mice shoes were fully fitted with eyes, whiskers and tails.

Wearing them on the sidewalks of New York, I knew my mouse tails weren’t long for this world. A sensible woman would have kept her Parisian mouse shoes for special occasions, but mine were pounding the pavement in days. Within weeks, one tail was AWOL.

Whose NYC Sidewalk Is This?

I have a major pet peeve with aggressive men in New York. You know the guy — he walks in the wrong direction on your side of the sidewalk, assuming that you will get out of his way, in order to avoid a major collision. It usually works, and women not only defer but say ‘I’m sorry’ as a Manhattan master of the universe mows the little people down.

Oprah Heads To Georgia As Maya Angelou's Words Remind Us To Use Our Anger By Voting

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OPRAH URGES HER 42 MILLION TWITTER FANS TO HEAD TO THE POLLS, SITTING ALONGSIDE HER LONGTIME FRIEND, NBC NEWS’ MARIA SHRIVER IN A NEW PUBLIC SERVICE AD. THE MEDIA MOGUL SAYS ABOUT VOTING “OUR COUNTRY DEPENDS UPON IT.”

Oprah Heads To Georgia As Maya Angelou's Words Remind Us To Use Our Anger By Voting

A Fragile American Dream

AOC’s reflection on ‘Maya’s Quilt of Life’ comes when Oprah Winfrey is headed to Georgia on Thursday, where she will campaign for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. The candidate is deadlocked in a tight race with current Georgia secretary of state Republican Brian Kemp.

Oprah urges her 42 million Twitter fans to head to the polls, sitting alongside her longtime friend, NBC News’ Maria Shriver in a new public service ad. The media mogul says about voting “Our country depends upon it.”

“We’re both independents. I don’t think a lot of people know that,” Winfrey — who endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election and called herself a “100 percent supporter” of his during the 2012 race — told the camera.

Oprah will join Stacey Abrams at two town hall conversations, according to BuzzFeed News. And like Will Farrell before her this week, Oprah will spend time knocking on doors.

Not only would Abrams become the first African American woman elected as a US governor, her Republican opponent Brian Kemp as already been found guilty of substantial voter suppression efforts in the state of Georgia. Kemp has once again put the state’s minority voters under siege, as the courts have stepped in yet again to insure a reasonably fair and honest election in the state.

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Across America, millions of citizens are heeding the words of Maya Angelou, and will declare — one way or the other next Tuesday — the state of America’s soul, civic spirit and historical progress on the rights of all people, not only white people:

“If you’re not angry, you’re either a stone, or you’re too sick to be angry. You should be angry. You must not be bitter. Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. It doesn’t do anything to the object of its displeasure. So use that anger, yes. You write it. You paint it. You dance it. You march it. You vote it. You do everything about it. You talk it. Never stop talking it.”

AOC shares this commitment to never shut up, because the future of America depends upon truthful voices as white nationalism threatens to sweep our beloved country.

After Major Award In France, Jane Fonda Heads To Michigan To Get Voters To the Polls"

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After Major Award In France, Jane Fonda Heads To Michigan To Get Voters To the Polls"

The pendulum of Jane Fonda’s life swings wide right now. In Lyon, France to graciously accept the 10th Lumiere Lifetime Achievement Award, Fonda used her platform to first thank the french and then to speak on American politics.

Speaking in French, which she masters fluently, having been married to late film maker Roger Vadim in the 1960s, she played on the surname of the inventors of the moving pictures, the Lumière Brothers. Lumière means light in French, and Fonda said her award was a gift of "amour et lumière", love and light.

Preparing to leave France for Michigan, where Fonda is working with Taraji P. Henson to get out the vote efforts in the minority communities, the Oscar-winning actor currently featured in an HBO biopic ‘Jane Fonda In Five Acts’, summed up the concerns of so many progressives heading into the midterms on November 6.

“The elections on Nov. 6 are the most important elections of my lifetime. So much depends on what happens,” she said. “It's hard for me to breathe right now.” 

Fonda maintains close ties to Georgia, her home with former husband and CNN founder Ted Turner. She also operates a Georgia nonprofit GCAPP (Georgia Campaign For Adolescent Power And Potential)  But now, she can no longer speak to extended family and friends there.

“I love them, but I can't talk to them anymore. And I will fight to my last breath to stop what they are trying to do.” Fonda is referring to massive efforts by Republicans in Georgia to disenfranchise minority voters as the state stands on the precipice of electing its first black woman governor — America’s first black woman governor — Stacy Abrams.

Republican candidate for governor, current secretary of state Brian Kemp, is disenfranchising minority voters at an epic rate. To most progressives and Democrats, Kemp has an untenable conflict of interest and presumably Jane Fonda agrees.

The activist also spoke about America’s president Donald Trump. “I believe he suffers from PTSD because like many men he was, I believe, brutalized by his father when he was very, very young,” she said. “And some men … lose empathy for others [and] also totally lack empathy. And he has been very brutal with his own sons. Father son father son, it's very sad. I hate this. I have empathy for him, it's difficult, I try, I work at it.” (Jane Fonda, you are a far better soul than I am!)

“Martin Luther King said, 'I don't have to like you, but I have to love you.' It's not easy at this moment,” she summed up the situation in America. “We live in the patriarchy and the patriarchy makes us think that empathy and love is weak, but it's not. That is where our strength is. We have two strengths — there are more of us, and also we go forward with love and open minds and warm hearts.”

Voter Registration Skyrockets After Taylor Swift's Plea To 112 Million Fans To Vote, Preferably Democrat

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Superstar Taylor Swift waded into deep political waters on Sunday night, sharing an Instagram post urging her 112 million fans to vote before it was too late.

Leaving millions of right-wing boys crushed with her endorsement of two Tennessee Democratic politicians, Phil Bredesen running for the Senate against Republican Marsha Blackburn, and Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper.

"We are up to 65,000 registrations in a single 24-hour period since T. Swift's post," said Kamari Guthrie, director of communications for Vote.org.

For context, 190,178 new voters were registered nationwide in the entire month of September, while 56,669 were registered in August, reports BuzzFeed News.

In Tennessee specifically, VOTE.org received 5,183 new voter registrations in October, with a minimum of 2,144 coming after Taylor Swift’s Instagram post.

Democrats Launch The Last Weekend As Largest Grassroots Army Ever Assembled For Midterm Elections

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Nearly two dozen top progressive groups which include Swing Left, Indivisible, MoveOn, Organizing for Action, Latino Victory, United We Dream and the Working Families Party will launch on Wednesday a massive get-out-the-vote effort aimed at helping Democratic candidates during the last days of the 2018 midterm elections. 

Organizers say the effort, dubbed “The Last Weekend,” is focused on recruiting the largest grassroots army ever assembled before a midterm election — one that will not just vote for Democratic candidates but volunteer for their campaigns.

“The stakes are so high that voting isn’t enough,” said Ethan Todras-Whitehill, executive director and co-founder of Swing Left, which is organizing the effort. “You’ve got to do more. The new bar is not just voting, but volunteering in key races that matter for determining control of the government.”

“I can’t think of another time where you had this diverse array of progressive organizations coming together the last weekend before an election,” said Cristobal Alex, presidential Latino Victory, which is part of the effort. “Not just to get out the vote, but to mobilize an army of super volunteers ahead of the vote.”

Dem Kentucky House Candidate Amy McGrath Delivers Progressive Power Punch Campaign Video

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I was jazzed last night, seeing that Kentucky Congressional candidate Amy McGrath's story was front page landing photo and story at The Huffington Post.

The retired Marine colonel, wife and mother of three who has been teaching political science at the US Naval Academy, is one of more than 11,000 women pursuing public office after Trump's 2016 election win.

Many of us saw McGrath's incredible campaign ad as a triumph that motivated women in despair over Hillary's loss and Trump's arrival. We forgot in two-minutes of blazing determination to fight for true women's equality the DNC's decision that protecting women's body autonomy is no longer a core Democratic value. Instead, working-class, white men will rule, suggests the DNC, because we must cater again to them.

McGrath has a different vision of how Democrats can win, from the male-dominated DNC, now sounding a bit Republican on women's rights.

Speaking of Trump’s recent decision to ban transgender people from the military, McGrath doesn't waver.

“These people are patriotic Americans who stepped up to the plate,” she explains. “Do you have my back when I’m getting shot at, are you competent, are you someone of integrity? That’s what we really care about.”

Trump’s attempt to ban immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries “is a terrible policy” that amounts to “a strategic win” for the enemies she spent years fighting. This position puts her toe-to-toe with a Trump family that has NEVER served in the American military or even run for public office.

“They want to pit America and Americans against their religion (Islam), and he just handed them the Powerball lottery,” McGrath said. “This is not a war that can be won by more bombs being dropped on people. It’s a war that’s going to be won ... in people’s minds. When you hand the enemy exactly what they want in order to make more propaganda, you’re creating more fighters. This ban does not get to the root of the problem, and it does not protect Americans.”

More tough talk from progressive Kentucky Congressional candidate Amy McGrath could prove to be formidable in a Democratic race for one of 24 wins to put the party in control of the House in the 2018 elections. ~ Anne