Hasta La Gadget!

If Jill Stein (Green) and Gary Johnson (Libertarian) can make it into the debates, 2016 may be the defining historical moment for the third parties.

Bernie supporters who fall into the category of #NeverHillaryNeverTrump welcome a third party into the national debate. A great deal of the Vermont Senator’s policies echo in Jill Stein’s platform, whereas Johnson attracts Republicans who have no interest in Trump but supported Sanders.

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a private organization, controls every aspect of the debates, from who the participants will be, to what will be discussed.

To qualify for the CPD debates, a participant must gain ballot access in enough states to achieve the 270 electoral votes necessary to win and demonstrate “a level of support of at least 15 percent of the national electorate, as determined by five selected national public opinion polling organizations, using the average of those organizations’ most recent publicly-reported results.”

Both Green and Libertarian parties have reached the first hurdle of having enough ballot access to obtain 270 electoral votes.

But the five public opinion polling organizations are chosen by the CPD, and polls don’t ask participants the same questions for all parties. In the latest CNN poll conducted just after the DNC convention, they asked 1,003 people for their opinion of the two major party candidates and their running mates, but didn’t ask for their opinion of the third party candidates.

“We’d like to get your overall opinion of some people in the news. As I read each name, please say if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of these people — or if you have never heard of them.” -CNN poll (only asked about Clinton, Kaine, Trump, and Pence)

The greatest barrier to knowledge of third party candidates is the mainstream media’s lack of coverage. (What happened first: the media’s coverage of Donald Trump or Trump’s popularity?)

Trump said of third party participation in the debates, “I’d rather have head to head and right now, they’re not getting any numbers. She’s (Jill Stein) doing better than he (Gary Johnson) is, but right now in some polls she’s actually not doing badly.”

“Polls show that a majority of voters want to see additional candidates in the debates,” said John Andrews, Senior Advisor to Jill Stein. “The CPD is not running the debates to help voters understand their choices – they are running them to eliminate competition. It’s time that we had inclusive debates.”

The CPD could shut out third party candidates by choosing which polls they use for their criteria. The CPD says they “will identify the selected polling organizations well in advance of the time the criteria are applied.”

One way to bring the third parties to October/November debates is to put pressure on the Commission on Presidential Debates. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson founded a group called Our America Initiative in 2009 to demand the CPD allow participation by any presidential candidate with enough ballot access to win the election. By this standard, only two other candidates qualify: Jill Stein and Gary Johnson. Our America Initiative is collecting signatures on this petition which they could use to show the networks how many people want to watch such a debate.

The Green Party offers their own petition called Open The Debates, utilizing a hashtag #OpentheDebates to make the case that America is ready for a fair debate among the parties.

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This morning, I received an email from Congressman Keith Ellison by way of the DCCC. It reads as follows.

Dear Fred,

I’m a Muslim. That’s why I’m asking you to take a stand. Demand Trump apologize to the Khans today.

I’m an American. I’m a Member of Congress and I am livid after seeing Donald Trump’s attack on the Gold Star Khan family.

How can he question a mother’s pain after her son is killed in combat? How can he imply her religion — not her grief — kept her from speaking to millions of Americans on national TV?

Fred, I’m asking you to unite with me and sign the petition demanding Trump apologize to the Gold Star Khan family.

This moment is too important to stay silent. Trump’s insults are not just an assault on one family. He’s attacking millions of Muslims like me and if we shrug this off as just another gaffe from Trump, folks across this country will think there is nothing wrong with this blatant discrimination. We can’t let that happen. Demand Trump apologize to the Khans

Thanks,
Congressman Keith Ellison

Here is my response.

Keith,

I share your outrage and repulsion at the comments of Donald Trump. He should certainly apologize. However, since you put the issue before me, I have a question for you and other practicing Muslims.

In your private life, do you elevate adherence to any aspect of your religious law (Sharia law) above any aspect of the American Constitution or constitutionally protected laws?

Many immigrants of your faith become American citizens and then, after swearing an oath to the Constitution, immediately begin to practice certain aspects of Sharia law in their local communities and in other cases, attempt to supplant local laws with Sharia laws.

The Muslim faith clearly defines moral and religious law as infallible and superior to laws created by American citizens. Therefore, at its core, strict adherence to the Muslim faith prevents strict adherence the American Constitution. This is the 800 pound gorilla in your room.

The American Constitution only implies separation of Church and State but the 1st Amendment makes it perfectly clear that your faith can be freely practiced in America and Congress can make no law prohibiting it.

This creates an irresolvable paradox that democrats refuse to confront. When this sort of religious freedom is viewed objectively, it becomes obvious that as more Sharia law is practiced, Constitutionally protected freedoms will be eroded.

We can certainly agree that Donald Trump is unfit to serve as President and each time he opens his mouth, he reinforces his mental instability and probable incompetence.

We can also agree that if elected, Donald Trump would be a menace to society and would likely erode 200 year old Constitutionally protected freedoms.

Donald Trump’s comments notwithstanding, a serious and very rational question regarding your faith lurks within Trump’s irrational rants and confused rhetoric.

This question is very simple. Can practicing Muslims who adhere to Sharia Law also be patriotic American citizen? For many non-Muslims, this question remains unanswered.

Sincerely,

Fred Lundgren
Katy, Texas

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Just like many people, one of my guilty pleasures is watching The Bachelorette. Apart from the obvious reasons, with the work I do helping people to become more aware of themselves and to shift their patterns, including in love and relationships, I love to watch how each of the “contestants” show up and how their relationship patterns unfold to dictate their “success” or getting sent home.

For example, one of the most common relationship patterns on JoJo’s season was men who were emotionally-blocked and disconnected from themselves. Don’t get me wrong. These men were good-looking and trying sincerely to open up, but many of them were just shut off from their own feelings.

Examples of patterns from other season’s include Nick’s pattern of always being “second-best” and Ashley I.’s pattern of being super emotional, likely to subconsciously get attention.

So, what does this have to do with JoJo choosing Jordan?

Here’s how I describe it:

We all have relationship patterns from our childhood. Our parents (or our caregiver) show up in a certain way (or don’t show up in a certain way), and we are forever chasing that in our partners. Many times, these patterns are what keep us attracting certain mates and keep us from attracting a partner that can truly love us the way we would choose to be loved if we weren’t intertwined with our childhood patterns.

For JoJo, part of this looks like her being attracted to men where she always feels doubt and fear that they were going to pull away their love and not stick around.

Her focus on this, or trying not to attract this, is what has kept her attracting this type of partner, over and over.

Even when she had guys that were showing up for her fully, guys like Luke and Robby, her heart was drawn to Jordan. Now, first of all, I’m not at all saying Jordan is a bad guy, but JoJo clearly kept questioning that relationship, and her questioning that relationship is good information for her. After all, I don’t know anyone, that if they’re truly being honest with themselves, who wants to spend a lifetime in fear and self-doubt.

Of course, too, as part of JoJo choosing Jordan, there was chemistry, but I would venture to guess that a lot of what made her feel like Jordan was the right one was her comfort in being uncomfortable. We’ve all been in places, where even though something made us feel not so good, we kept going after it because there was something intoxicating about it. As part of this discomfort, my sense is that an old relationship pattern was driving her truth. And, when an inherited pattern (i.e. – something you picked up from your parents) is driving your truth, is that really your truth or is that just inherited truth? In the moment, it sure feels like truth, but unfortunately, it’s at a deeper energetic level that keeps you blocked from being able to see what’s in your highest good for the long term.

So, how do we begin to undo this, especially when it comes to undoing relationship patterns to attract an ideal partner for ourselves, and not just a partner who appears ideal?

1. Be aware.
First and foremost to undoing your relationship patterns is to be aware of what that pattern is. What type of person are you attracting? Maybe they’re unavailable in some way or a narcissist. Whatever it is, noticing the common pattern you keep seeing, is the first start to changing it.

2. Know your why.
After you become aware of the relationship pattern, understanding why you are continually being drawn to this type of person is crucial. A key to this is looking at who in your life showed up this way (or didn’t show up this way) and the initial moment that comes up for you where this person demonstrated this pattern. For instance, if you had an unavailable or abusive parent, notice when you think of the first time this pattern appeared with this parent, what memory shows up.

3. Give yourself a voice.
The third piece to undoing a pattern is giving your inner child the voice it didn’t have when that pattern was initially taken on. In your mind’s eye, put whatever parent comes up when you think of this pattern in front of you and begin to tap into your inner child. What does she/he want to say to this person about what happened? Maybe it’s something as simple as, “It really hurt me when you said that.” and maybe it’s something even deeper. Whatever the case is, keep vocalizing what your little child needs to say until you feel like you’ve said it all. A key point to note here is that you may need to do this exercise with the same person multiple times, as new emotions may surface as you start to bring this to the forefront.

Whatever the case, I wish JoJo and Jordan much love, and hope that her truth was from true choice.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Tesla should be used to getting called out by other automakers by now—not that it doesn’t dish out its fair share of industry trash talk from time to time. Now it’s Diarmuid O’Connell, a business development executive, who basically called out the entire field of electric vehicle competition for being boring, claiming automakers are “probably really not even trying.”

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