Who IS this guy?!

'Niceguy' Eddie

Political Talk Show Host and Internet Radio Personality. My show, In My Humble Opinion, aired on RainbowRadio from 2015-2017, and has returned for 2021! Feel free to contact me at niceguy9418@usa.com. You can also friend me on Facebook.

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Sunday, November 27, 2016

Why do working class white people vote for Republicans?

I did an exercise a while back, looking at how the voting pattern of the different regions of the country changed over time.  (Yeah, can't find it now. Sorry.)  But I would like to visit two regions in particular: The Northeast and the Southeast. Because I believe that these show, in the starkest manner, how the ideologies of the parties have shifted over time, and how the regions embraced one party, then another, over that time period.

A couple of points:

1) For this excessive I am looking at who the States went to in the PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.

2) I'm leaving out the other regions because the pattern I wish to demonstrate does not apply. The Mountain States (and Alaska) have ALWAYS been, and REMAIN solidly Republican Territory. (A few have just started to turn, only in the past few cycles.)The Midwest, has generally been a reliable battleground, with a mix of loyalties throughout he region, and the Pacific States WERE solidly Republican until 1992, since which they have become solidly Democratic.

3) I am leaving out the following years, during which one party of the other won in a National Landslide: 1936, 1940, 1944, 1964, 1972, 1984.  These years say less about the region and their party loyalty and more about how well (or how poorly) the individual candidates did that year. IOW: That Massachusetts went to Reagan in 1984 or Roosevelt in 1936 says very little about Massachusetts specifically, and far more about Reagan and Roosevelt, since basically the ENTIRE COUNTRY went that way in those years.

4) I am starting with the 1876 elections. This was the first year that the REPUBLICANS faced a unified DEMOCRATIC party.  In the elections prior, the Democrats were fractured and ran multiple candidates. And before 1860, there were no Republicans.

5) To keep the number on the same scale, I am counting how often the State went to the DEMOCRAT.  And coloring according to that Scale.

Here is the first period:


As you can see, the DEMOCRATS dominated the Deep South.  And mind you, this map DOES NOT include the National Democratic Landslides of Franklin Roosevelt!

And now the second period:


WHOA! The damn map done FLIPPED RIGHT OVER!  Well... What the hell happened in 1964 that was so...?

"We have lost the South for a generation."  President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

OK... So actually the quote itself is mere legend. He never said it. But the sentiment however, if anything, is grossly understated.  If he had said it, it would have been amazingly prescient.  And given that this is basically the largest, if not the only, such change in electoral college trends - as the Mountain states were already Red and stayed Red, the Midwest stayed mostly purple, and the Pacific Coast (3 states) changing much later - don't tell me that this isn't about race. And don't believe ANYONE when the say that the DEMOCRATS are the party of the KKK.  Oh, sure, they were. No doubt about it: LOOK AT THE TOP MAP!

But when they STOPPED being that?

They lost the South for GENERATIONS, and have still failed to win the bulk of it back.





Saturday, November 26, 2016

Thanksgiving

So just got home from our annual Thanksgiving pilgrimage to Lynchburgh Virginia.  This year, I am thankful that Liberty University has such conveniently placed SIGNS...



Tuesday, November 15, 2016

IMHO - 11/15/16

If you missed the show when it aired on Rainbow Radio.FM, you can still catch it HERE.  This was my first new podcast following the election, and I give my thoughts on the outcome, the aftermath and what lessons need to be taken away fron it as we move forward.

And remember everyone, RainbowRadio.FM exists to give the LGBT community a voice.  And come what may, we are not going anywhere!  So if YOU'VE got something to say, to the incoming administration or to your community, we want to hear from you!

You can email at niceguy9418@usa.com with a statement to read on the air, or with a recording to be played.

You can also send a Contact Request to my Skype, Niceguy Eddie Cabot, to speak with me directly and setup a recording session, to be aired on the next available podcast.
 

Good night, and good luck!

Saturday, November 12, 2016


From my friend, Jenn Dolari...

A friend of mine, Jenn Dolari (who has appeared both on this blog and on my show, and who many of you may know from Closetspace and A Wish for Wings) penned this very powerful piece on Facebook that I'd like to share with you.

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 I began privately crossdressing in the late 80s, I came out as trans in high school, then began appearing in public in the early 90s. For the next fifteen or so years, I've fought for my existence. I've escaped arrest, fought firings, handled hecklers, organized vigils. When possible, I've tried to educate, be compassionate, and understanding with those around me who were willing to have their minds changed.

The Obama Administration afforded me the luxury of protections. This allowed me, over the last eight years, to focus on that education, compassion and understanding. I like to think I've been mostly successful, and that approach, as done by others, has made our existence across America that much more accepted.


I don't fight against people whose minds won't change. I'd much rather spend my energy, and take risks with those who can eventually become allies. Fighting against those who will always refuse change is just wasted energy and risk.


But one thing I am willing to fight for is every square inch of territory we might lose on those protections we've gained in the last eight years. That fight began a year or two ago...I mostly waved it off as a bunch of disgruntled people making an outlier decision.


As we've seen in this election, and the months leading up to it, this is not an outlier vote. From here forward, the fight must begin anew. Be out. Be about. EXIST in this world as best you can.


If you are fired, fight it. Take it as far as you can go. If you are heckled, maintain your dignity. If you are threatened with violence, protect yourself. Get the attention of everyone you possibly can: violence hates witnesses. If you can, give as good as you get. If you can't, avoid the areas you know you are in danger, but be out anywhere else you can be.


If you find your existence being voted on, get out the word that this is your life on the line. As we saw in this election 50% of America didn't vote, and that could have secured the next four years for our existence. Make your friends vote. Offer to drive people to voting booths. Are they not registered? Help them get registered. These are lives on the line - don't let their apathy legislate you out of existence. Organize.


We've been given protections. We will find many being taken away. Fight like hell for the ones we can keep, then fight like hell to take back the ones we lose.


We exist. And we will continue to exist.

Friday, November 11, 2016

SIGN THE PETITION!

No new Supreme Court Nominees until Merrick Garland gets a vote!


In 2016, the Senate make a conscious decision to abandon their Constitutional obligations and deny Merrick Garland, President Obama's nominee to fill the vacancy left by the passing of Antonin Scalia, a hearing and, barring any issues with his qualifications, an up-or-down vote.
We call upon Senate Democrats, and all principled members of the Senate Republicans, to use every tool in their power to BLOCK, HOLD, OBSTRUCT or FILIBUSTER *any* further Supreme Court Nominations until MERRICK GARLAND has been given a fair Confirmation Hearing and, barring any issues with his qualifications, an up-or-down vote.
To have run out the clock, as Senate Republicans chose to do in 2016 with this nominee is UNPRECEDENTED in our Nation's History, and it is utterly unacceptable.  All who sign below, encourage and support any and all efforts to appoint MERRICK GARLAND to fill Antonin Scalia's vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States before ANY nomination of President-Elect Donald Trump's be considered.
By the Constitution,and by ALL historical precedent, this vacancy is NOT President-Elect Donald Trump's to fill.
PLEASE SIGN AND PASS THIS ON!

From my friend, Christine Smith...

A friend of mine, Christine Smith (who has appeared both on this blog and on my show, and who many of you may know from The Princess sent me this very powerful piece of hers today, and asked me to pass it on...
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On election night, I took the train home from San Francisco. The only sounds in the city was the ugly din of machines. On the subway platforms, on the train there was not a word. Every face creased, looking to the screen in their palm, stunned as they transitioned through disbelief and despair to..... well, I don't think any of us knew what comes next. The array of humanity could not have been better composed by ad agents. There were faces belonging to people whose ancestry traces back to near and far Asia. From Africa. From the islands of the South Pacific. From Europe. Hispanic faces. There were women in hijabs and men with cross tattoos on their arms. I, transgender, sat among an array of gender expressions and, presumably, sexualities. Together we were afraid. We were afraid for the people and for this city of many nations. Afraid for this nation upon whose shores we reside. Afraid for this world from whose corners and cultures and histories, against astronomical odds, came people to fill my train car, rumbling north into the night.

This is the result I've expected since Trump entered the Presidential race.. Nations, rich in military might, always go down the road of authoritarian rule. The same nations, when faced with startling demographic shifts, must grapple with the question of who will wield that power. Establishment becomes entrenched, usually violently so. Xenophobia sprouts. Even before we were a nation, these nominally united states were a place where power has been held by hands grasping the trudgeon of suppression and oppression among racial lines. Race has ever been central to our national story. We’ve executed genocide against the Natives to build our farms and cities, on land with their natural resources that were taken by force. We descendants of Europe established these powers, singing the dark chorus of villainies that comprised chattel slavery. Regardless, we’ve somehow shambled toward reconciliation. People find freedom in spurts, and it always meets a backlash of repression. A backlash that put bullets in Presidents by killers crying out ‘death to tyrants’. Sometimes it is a backlash that gathers in robes, in the dark, carrying rope and fire. We don’t like to tell of evil voices whispering in the ears of power, just as we prefer to avert our gaze from our dances with abomination. But it is important to remember.

My hope yesterday was that America would somehow, in a hail Mary pass, surprise me. I hoped we’d press forward despite expansion of rights for sexual and gender minorities, and the blow to the sense of decency of an enormous voting bloc that this represents. I hoped that in the context of growing racial conflict between racial minorities and officers of the law, we would look toward the justice that is complicated rather than the vision that is simple. I hoped that in the climate of gun delivered mayhem, we’d seek to allay the nuanced causes rather than choose to escalate the personal possession of weaponry. I prayed that in the context of growing foreign violence and the needs of refugees who look and believe differently than many of us, we’d choose to welcome rather than refuse. I hoped that in the face of entrenchment of corporate power, we’d look at last beyond the lie of an ‘American Dream’ that tells us we’re all one good idea away from achieving the same. I hoped we’d prove exceptional. We didn’t, and we’re not. The same forces of history that have worked on other people and nations in other times work on us today.

The good news in this? It’s that every four years we revisit the question of executive leadership and no President serves more than two terms. It’s that every two years, we revisit the legislative question. It’s that the nation that elected a short fingered vulgarian also elected a candidate from the south side of Chicago who ran on hope and change and the better angels of our nature. An imperfect man, but a better one than most who’ve held the office. The demographic shifts that led to last night are going to happen regardless. The balance of power will be reset in the makeup of a changing electorate. The voting block that gave us President Elect Trump is being supplanted. Something new is happening in our nation and our world. It’s not always easy, and is never without stumbling. We have our reptilian, territorial, aggressive back brain but we also have our rational, compassionate, community seeking forebrain. The latter takes charge in times of stress and fear, but neuroscientists tell us that this cannot be sustained. The forebrain will reassert itself. Somehow, despite everything, we’ve come from overt genocide and chattel slavery to a time where immigration policy is the contested issue. The same questions are being asked, but even in last night’s movement in the wrong direction we see a profound weakening in the will to solve the issue through murder. Now is the time to consider not only the eddies of history that has in times gone pulled our raft to the rocks, but what it’s taken before took to save us. Because we’ve moved toward the light even while we stumbled in shadow. Remarkably, gaining more ground in tiny steps than in broad strides, many among us have begun to know each other. Sometimes we listen, and we even love. As this happens, tension grows, between a drive toward reconciliation and the will to power and domination. But the result is not yet determined. It’s up to us.

So, things are indeed very bad. But, they’re a lot better than they were two hundred and fifty years ago. They’re a lot better than a hundred and twenty-five years gone. We’ve advanced toward freedom, but not without tragedy. This didn’t happen because civic enfranchisement resides only in the voting booth. It happened because it merely begins there. It happened because people refused to accept oppression. They marched. They sat when told to move, and moved when told to sit. They threw bricks through windows when the police raided their havens. They made of civic duty an active verb, refused to be cowed by domestic terror and bloodthirsty mobs. They knew that progress isn’t a straight line. When facing defeat, they refused to surrender and gave the next wave ground to advance.

With nuclear armament in play, we can take nothing for granted. This has been my greatest anxiety. But we also cannot take anything as certain. And we must note that somehow, even with last night’s enormous setback and its grave implications, this violent word is less violent than in history past. Human rights and progress have always reasserted themselves, regardless of profound setbacks. Even though we’ve a shameful draw toward authoritarian rule, the results of this pull have always been thwarted. Not by accident, or without sweat and blood. They’ve certainly not been thwarted by those who fret without engaging, who shirked the toil of progress. They’ve been thwarted by feet in the streets, by voices raised loud enough to be heard in Manhattan penthouses by those who sit on thrones of gold. They’ve been pushed back with fists raised and arms linked. They’ve been foiled because people show up and do the hard, scary work of advancing the cause of humanity.

Last night’s news was grave. It was just about as bad as it could have been. But history and nations play a long game. Somehow, even though I have trouble believing in it, Doctor King’s moral arc of the universe seems to indeed bend toward justice. Americans must grieve, and then we must work because hope and progress isn’t something that happens, it’s something that’s won. Those living outside our borders must be vigilant and engaged in their own political processes because the forces that gave us Trump are a part of the human condition, not just the American condition. Most of all, we must have courage and determination, and we must have hope and heart. We must move forward in love. Not easy, convenient candy-heart love but the difficult love that makes you ache in your bones and keeps you awake at nights with anger and worry. The future’s not set. It never has been. But because it’s not set, it’s ours to make. It will be bloody and sweaty, there will be falling and rising again, there will be moments when all seems lost but hope will lead us forward. Can we lose? Certainly, we can lose. But that’s not yet determined. The outcome in in our hands.

Scream. Cry. Pound your fists against the table. Rise. Look to the good. Fight despair. Find hope. Work. Reconcile when you can, and love your enemies. Get involved. Take courage. You are stronger than you know, and you were made for this moment.

Not the same...

Here’s another lesson from Captain Obvious, for all of you who suck at life: 

With regards to tolerance, bigotry and hypocrisy…

When I, as a liberal, “hate” you because you…

…Sent death threats to and doxxed an LGBT person?

It's not the same thing.

…Vandalized someone’s property with Swastikas and racist epithets?

It is NOT the same thing.

…Pulled the hijab off of a Muslim woman’s head while screaming at her to get the fuck out of the country?

IT IS NOT THE SAME THING..

…Verbally (let alone PHYSICALLY) assaulted someone in public because they LOOKED vaguely foreign, yet had a white significant other…
…or were gay…
…or trans…
…or disabled…
…or female…
…or poor…
…or black…
…or Middle Eastern…
…or Latino…
…etc...

When I “hate” YOU for doing these things?

Or because you work (or support those who work) to take away their basic Human Rights and legal protections?

IT. IS. NOT. THE. SAME. THING!

Because there is no moral symmetry here: I don’t “hate” you because you are white, straight, cisgender, Christian, male or even Conservative.

I “hate” you because you’re an ASSHOLE.

I don’t “hate” you for what you ARE. I hate you because of what you DO, or what you CONDONE BEING DONE, to others.

AND? When my “hate” consists ENTIRELY of penning sharply worded posts on my blog or on Facebook, with the occasional use of adult language?

IT IS *DEFINITELY* NOT THE SAME THING!

So… Have YOU said, “FUCK YOU, ASSHELMET!” to a Right-Wing bigot today?

Because, if not, you have my expressed personal permission to do so!
And that doesn’t make you a bigot.
It doesn’t make you intolerant.
 And it doesn’t make you a hypocrite.

And don’t for one second let these scum make you believe otherwise!

Niceguy Eddie OUT.