Janis is one of my favorite persons:
Janis Ian shared a post.
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AN APOLOGY. Feel free to share.
My wife pointed out this morning that in asking people to vote for "rational beings" rather than straight party lines, I was in effect saying "Go ahead and 'vote your conscience', even though that person can't possibly win.'"
She's right. That is not what I mean, and I apologize. Because here is what I believe. Tomorrow, and the next presidential election, are the two most important elections in my lifetime. We have allowed the rule of money and privilege to subvert the rule of law. We have given corporations free reign to spend as much as they like making sure "their" candidates are elected. Our current president has encouraged violence, bigotry, outright hatred of the press, and cares about nothing but his own skin and his adoring cult fans.
So let me make this very clear. I BELIEVE THAT IF YOU VOTE FOR ANY REPUBLICAN WHO HAS BEEN SUPPORTING TRUMP IN ANY WAY, YOU ARE COMPLICIT.
You are complicit in the caging of children, in the separation of families without documentation to ensure they're reunited. You are complicit in believing women are good for one thing only, and that we deserve what we get when we are manhandled. You are complicit in agreeing to accept outright lies, fabrications, suggestions that the free press be muzzled, that protesters be beat up. You are supporting a president who doesn't know even the first verse of our National Anthem.
You are complicit in the wave of anti-Semitism we are experiencing.
If there is violence, it is on you. If people of color are less safe, it is your fault. If women are less safe, you will answer for that. If you think it's okay that wealthy white males are running this country, trying to turn back everything from equal pay and opportunities to freedom of expression, you are complicit.
I do NOT want to hear "Yeah, I don't like him, but it's for the greater good." If you can't see where that has gotten us, and where it is leading us, you have no business being a citizen of what is supposed to be the greatest country in the world, because you only care about yourself.
Step up. Vote a Democratic ticket because there has GOT to be a show of strength large enough to make the McConnell wannabees think twice. Because they're stealing from Social Security. Because they're rolling back our rights. These people don't give a flying f*!k about you, and if you still don't believe that, you are a good example of what the dumbing down of an entire country's educational system creates.
A word of warning. If you respond to this post with words like "snowflake" "libtard" "moron" and profanity, I will not just block and ban you. I will publish your profile on that thread so others can block and ban you, and see you for the impoverished language you speak, and the ignorant racist you are.
Below is something I published on January 20, 2017. I still stand by it.
https://www.facebook.com/janisianpage/posts/1256196441133738
Published by Janis Ian · January 20, 2017 ·
In the past 48 hours I have been told to "get over it" and "suck it up" by more than 100 people on my own page.
Here is my response. I will continue to post as many political comments and memes as I like. I will also continue to post as many free downloads, funny photos, and interesting quotes as I like. Why? Because this is my page.
This is also my country. My grandparents did not watch their families slaughtered by Cossacks and gutted by so-called Russian "patriots", then WALK across Russia and Ukraine, endure unimaginable hardships, and finally arrive at the Statue of Liberty - and then learn a new language, a new way of life, a new way of government - so I could give up the right to dissent.
That is why my family came here. That is why my grandfather bagged groceries and my grandmother ran a boarding house and my other grandmother took in mending. That is why my father went into the service and then to college on the G.I. bill, why my mother took night courses, why everyone and everything in my family was geared toward thinking and questioning and moving forward. So that I, a second-generation American, could, through merit and hard work, become "the American dream".
So here is my answer to those of you who would normalize what is happening around us right now.
Dear James (and Elizabeth, and Harold, and all the rest) -
Thank you for posting. I appreciate your suggesting that I now "let it go" and "suck it up" because "like it or not, he's our president." (Or in the case of all the non-Americans chiming in for some reason to say "he's your president now.")
All right! Which part would you like me to let go of? Shall I drop the "grab pussy" part? or maybe the "gay people need conversion therapy" part, since Pence said it, not Trump?
How about the Muslim registry, so wonderfully reminiscent of that bright yellow star my forebears had to sew on their coats? Or maybe I should heed Trump's statement "It's cold in New York - we need global warming".
Wait. I can suck it up and try to forget the part where he dodged the draft, then said of John McCain "I like people who weren't captured" Wouldn't that be patriotic?
And as a Jersey girl, I could just "suck up" and "let go" of the part where he said "thousands and thousands of people" in Jersey City were cheering as the World Trade Center buildings fell.
Wait, I know! Let's forget freedom of the press, his veiled threats to allow White House briefing access only to periodicals that agree with him. Suck on that, you liberal swine. Maybe I can also let go of the part where he threatens newspapers with changes in the libel laws, so he can sue them - and I can suck up to the National Enquirer, owned and run by Trump's dear friends.
Wait! My grandparents were always terrified they'd have to prove they had a right to be in America, so even though it was always illegal to require it, they carried their "papers" with them everywhere. Yeah, if there'd been a Jew Registry, they could already have been counted.
How about I about I let go of him saying “An ‘extremely credible source’ has called my office and told me that Barack Obama’s birth certificate is a fraud”? Or when he said Mexico would pay for "the wall", except now we have to front the money?
Or my personal favorite, the part where he promises and promises to release his tax returns if he's elected....
C'mon, James. Which part should I let go of first?
No no no!!! I take it all back! I want to let go of this part, because somehow, I can't un-hear it. I can't un-see it. And I sure as hell can't "suck up to it":
"I did try and **** her. She was married. I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look. I’ve gotta use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything… Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything." Donald J. Trump
Nice. Go after married women. Cheat on your first two wives (at least). Kiss someone who doesn't invite it and consider yourself a "magnet". How presidential.
Yes, folks. I'll "suck it up" and "let it go". When hell freezes over.
You don't like it? Get off my page.
Janis Ian
January 20, 2017