francislholland - Tumblr blog

[francislholland]

Is Skin Color Aroused Dysphoria "A Thing"?

Do you think there is something called skin color aroused dysphoria?  That would be when perceiving another person's skin color and/or one's awareness of one's own skin color arouses dysphoric feelings in a person.

I ask because people say "racism* is caused by fear", yet dysphoria involves a plethora, myriad anguish-provoking feelings.

A "lot" of people take antidepressants, anxiolytics, antipsychotics...

It would be very interesting to scientifically measure their levels of color aroused dysphoria before beginning to take such medications and afterward.

If color aroused dysphoria is comprised of a number of different complex and interrelated feelings, that would help explain why anxiety reducing medication doesn't, by itself, reduce color aroused dysphoria.

[francislholland]

CNN 2016 Presidential Election Exit Poll by Sex, Color and Origin Group.

[francislholland]

Obtaining and Filling Psychiatrists’ Medication Prescriptions Constitute Obstacles to Treatment of Bipolar Disorder (1) and (2).

This post is to cooperate with my sister, Kim Holland, MD, in publicizing Mental Health Awareness Month.

Many people who are diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder often need to maintain a measurable level of lithium and/or other substances in their blood in order to treat and avoid recurrence of bipolar symptoms.

Consequences of failing to maintain blood serum levels of prescribed medications can include sleeplessness, emotional lability (instability), mood swings, depression and even psychosis (in those with Bipolar Type 1).

In most countries many or all of the medications that treat Bipolar 1 and Bipolar 2 are available by prescription only.  

In my case (Bipolar 2) case, my prescribed Quetiapine/Seroquel and Escitalopram/Lexapro are available in the Dominican Republic without prescription.  

Xanax (crucial for sleep), however, is legally sold here and in most countries by prescription only.  (In the USA, all of my prescribed medications are sold by prescription only.)

Even when bipolarity medications are available without prescription, they can cost hundreds of dollars per month, which will not be reimbursed by insurance companies unless prescribed by an authorized physician.

I have no medical insurance.  I self-pay my medications in the Dominican Republic at an approximate cost of $100 USD per month (but the same medications might cost $500/month in the USA).

Where medications are available by physician prescription only, the patient must have sufficient money and/or insurance to see a physician authorized to prescribe psychoactive medication.  

Exceptions include socialized medicine countries such as Brazil, where government-proviided psychiatric visits are free but must be scheduled days or weeks in advance.

In Brazil and in the Dominican Republic, only psychiatrists have the forms necessary to prescribe some or all psychoactive medicines, e.g. the Xanax that I take.

Psychiatrists in the USA often have months-long waiting lists.  Patients are often required to see a social worker and/or primary care physician before seeing a psychiatrist.

As a result, managing to schedule and pay for psychiatric visits in order to obtain medication can be as challenging as any other aspect of managing Bipolar Disorder.

Money can be a significant obstacle to treatment.  In the USA, one visit to a psychiatrist can cost $200.00 USD (US Dollars).  That is how much a person with $660.00 USD of monthly income would be expected to be able to pay monthly for rent, or half the advisable rent of an individual living at the poverty level.

In the Dominican Republic, a visit to a typical private-practice psychiatrist costs $60.00 USD, which is about half of the Dominican Republic’s minimum wage.  $60.00 USD is also about one-third of my monthly rent payment or a quarter of my monthly food budget.

Bipolar Disorder, like diabetes, must be managed regularly by a physician because the medications used to treat it often cause obesity and diabetes, which can lead to liver damage and other irreversible illness if undiagnosed and  unmanaged.  Lithium, a common Bipolar medication (that I do not use) must be  blood tested at least monthly to avoid liver damage.

Nonetheless, Bipolar Disorder patients in the USA regularly report being unable to schedule regular psychiatry visits, even when paying in cash.  Some rural and remote US communities with tens of thousands in population have no psychiatrists at all.

Fortunately for me, I can schedule a visit with a private practice psychiatrist in the Dominican Republic within a three days, as long as I can self-pay.

The obstacles I face in obtaining prescriptions and medication compliance are:

Traveling five hours each way to my psychiatrist’s office and back.

Scheduling the psychiatrist visits so that I can travel to the capital, visit the psychiatrist and return home in one 24-hour period.

Paying $40.00 USD for transportation, not including the costs of owning and operating a motorcycle.

Paying the psychiatrist’s $60.00 USD fee.

Paying $100.00 USD for the medication..

Finding each of three medications in the capital during the one-day trip at the least cost.

Coordinating with a friend to accompany and drive me to pharmacies in the capital.

Preparing financially and scheduling a month in advance to visit the capital before medications run out.

I am told there is a doctor an hour from me who will write a prescription in exchange for $10.00 USD, so long as I already know precisely what I need.

I am also told that one psychiatrist in the public hospital an hour from me might write a prescription for free, if I know precisely what I need.  In Brazil, this service was so much in demand that emergency room doctors frequently refused to do this at all.

Although it is not strictly lawful, it is reported that, in some cases and places, it may possible to find someone willing to sell a limited amount of a restricted medication without a prescription, but only if a legitimate emergency is demonstrated to the professional’s satisfaction on a one-time basis.

Considering that the lack of medication may compromise a Bipolar person’s problem-solving skills, the financial and practical obstacles to simply obtaining prescriptions can easily prevent a Bipolar person from maintaining medication compliance, with serious consequences.

[francislholland]

Obtaining and Filling Psychiatrists’ Medication Prescriptions Constitute Obstacles to Treatment of Bipolar Disorder (1) and (2).

This post is to cooperate with my sister, Kim Holland, MD, in publicizing Mental Health Awareness Month.

Many people who are diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder often need to maintain a measurable level of lithium and/or other substances in their blood in order to treat and avoid recurrence of bipolar symptoms.

Consequences of failing to maintain blood serum levels of prescribed medications can include sleeplessness, emotional lability (instability), mood swings, depression and even psychosis (in those with Bipolar Type 1).

In most countries many or all of the medications that treat Bipolar 1 and Bipolar 2 are available by prescription only.  

In my case (Bipolar 2) case, my prescribed Quetiapine/Seroquel and Escitalopram/Lexapro are available in the Dominican Republic without prescription.  

Xanax (crucial for sleep), however, is legally sold here and in most countries by prescription only.  (In the USA, all of my prescribed medications are sold by prescription only.)

Even when bipolarity medications are available without prescription, they can cost hundreds of dollars per month, which will not be reimbursed by insurance companies unless prescribed by an authorized physician.

I have no medical insurance.  I self-pay my medications in the Dominican Republic at an approximate cost of $100 USD per month (but the same medications might cost $500/month in the USA).

Where medications are available by physician prescription only, the patient must have sufficient money and/or insurance to see a physician authorized to prescribe psychoactive medication.  

Exceptions include socialized medicine countries such as Brazil, where government-proviided psychiatric visits are free but must be scheduled days or weeks in advance.

In Brazil and in the Dominican Republic, only psychiatrists have the forms necessary to prescribe some or all psychoactive medicines, e.g. the Xanax that I take.

Psychiatrists in the USA often have months-long waiting lists.  Patients are often required to see a social worker and/or primary care physician before seeing a psychiatrist.

As a result, managing to schedule and pay for psychiatric visits in order to obtain medication can be as challenging as any other aspect of managing Bipolar Disorder.

Money can be a significant obstacle to treatment.  In the USA, one visit to a psychiatrist can cost $200.00 USD (US Dollars).  That is how much a person with $660.00 USD of monthly income would be expected to be able to pay monthly for rent, or half the advisable rent of an individual living at the poverty level.

In the Dominican Republic, a visit to a typical private-practice psychiatrist costs $60.00 USD, which is about half of the Dominican Republic’s minimum wage.  $60.00 USD is also about one-third of my monthly rent payment or a quarter of my monthly food budget.

Bipolar Disorder, like diabetes, must be managed regularly by a physician because the medications used to treat it often cause obesity and diabetes, which can lead to liver damage and other irreversible illness if undiagnosed and  unmanaged.  Lithium, a common Bipolar medication (that I do not use) must be  blood tested at least monthly to avoid liver damage.

Nonetheless, Bipolar Disorder patients in the USA regularly report being unable to schedule regular psychiatry visits, even when paying in cash.  Some rural and remote US communities with tens of thousands in population have no psychiatrists at all.

Fortunately for me, I can schedule a visit with a private practice psychiatrist in the Dominican Republic within a three days, as long as I can self-pay.

The obstacles I face in obtaining prescriptions and medication compliance are:

Traveling five hours each way to my psychiatrist’s office and back.

Scheduling the psychiatrist visits so that I can travel to the capital, visit the psychiatrist and return home in one 24-hour period.

Paying $40.00 USD for transportation, not including the costs of owning and operating a motorcycle.

Paying the psychiatrist’s $60.00 USD fee.

Paying $100.00 USD for the medication..

Finding each of three medications in the capital during the one-day trip at the least cost.

Coordinating with a friend to accompany and drive me to pharmacies in the capital.

Preparing financially and scheduling a month in advance to visit the capital before medications run out.

I am told there is a doctor an hour from me who will write a prescription in exchange for $10.00 USD, so long as I already know precisely what I need.

I am also told that one psychiatrist in the public hospital an hour from me might write a prescription for free, if I know precisely what I need.  In Brazil, this service was so much in demand that emergency room doctors frequently refused to do this at all.

Although it is not strictly lawful, it is reported that, in some cases and places, it may possible to find someone willing to sell a limited amount of a restricted medication without a prescription, but only if a legitimate emergency is demonstrated to the professional’s satisfaction on a one-time basis.

Considering that the lack of medication may compromise a Bipolar person’s problem-solving skills, the financial and practical obstacles to simply obtaining prescriptions can easily prevent a Bipolar person from maintaining medication compliance, with serious consequences.

[francislholland]

Obtaining and Filling Psychiatrists’ Medication Prescriptions Constitute Obstacles to Treatment of Bipolar Disorder (1) and (2).

Obtaining and Filling Psychiatrists’ Medication Prescriptions Constitute Obstacles to Treatment of Bipolar Disorder (1) and (2). This post is to cooperate with my sister, Kim Holland, MD, in publicizing Mental Health Awareness Month. Many people who are diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder often need to maintain a measurable level of lithium and/or other substances in their blood in order to treat and avoid recurrence of bipolar symptoms. Consequences of failing to maintain blood serum levels of prescribed medications can include sleeplessness, emotional lability (instability), mood swings, depression and even psychosis (in those with Bipolar Type 1). In most countries many or all of the medications that treat Bipolar 1 and Bipolar 2 are available by prescription only.   In my case (Bipolar 2) case, my prescribed Quetiapine/Seroquel and Escitalopram/Lexapro are available in the Dominican Republic without prescription.   Xanax (crucial for sleep), however, is legally sold here and in most countries by prescription only.  (In the USA, all of my prescribed medications are sold by prescription only.) Even when bipolarity medications are available without prescription, they can cost hundreds of dollars per month, which will not be reimbursed by insurance companies unless prescribed by an authorized physician. I have no medical insurance.  I self-pay my medications in the Dominican Republic at an approximate cost of $100 USD per month (but the same medications might cost $500/month in the USA). Where medications are available by physician prescription only, the patient must have sufficient money and/or insurance to see a physician authorized to prescribe psychoactive medication.   Exceptions include socialized medicine countries such as Brazil, where government-proviided psychiatric visits are free but must be scheduled days or weeks in advance. In Brazil and in the Dominican Republic, only psychiatrists have the forms necessary to prescribe some or all psychoactive medicines, e.g. the Xanax that I take. Psychiatrists in the USA often have months-long waiting lists.  Patients are often required to see a social worker and/or primary care physician before seeing a psychiatrist. As a result, managing to schedule and pay for psychiatric visits in order to obtain medication can be as challenging as any other aspect of managing Bipolar Disorder. Money can be a significant obstacle to treatment.  In the USA, one visit to a psychiatrist can cost $200.00 USD (US Dollars).  That is how much a person with $660.00 USD of monthly income would be expected to be able to pay monthly for rent, or half the advisable rent of an individual living at the poverty level. In the Dominican Republic, a visit to a typical private-practice psychiatrist costs $60.00 USD, which is about half of the Dominican Republic’s minimum wage.  $60.00 USD is also about one-third of my monthly rent payment or a quarter of my monthly food budget. Bipolar Disorder, like diabetes, must be managed regularly by a physician because the medications used to treat it often cause obesity and diabetes, which can lead to liver damage and other irreversible illness if undiagnosed and  unmanaged.  Lithium, a common Bipolar medication (that I do not use) must be  blood tested at least monthly to avoid liver damage. Nonetheless, Bipolar Disorder patients in the USA regularly report being unable to schedule regular psychiatry visits, even when paying in cash.  Some rural and remote US communities with tens of thousands in population have no psychiatrists at all. Fortunately for me, I can schedule a visit with a private practice psychiatrist in the Dominican Republic within a three days, as long as I can self-pay. The obstacles I face in obtaining prescriptions and medication compliance are: Traveling five hours each way to my psychiatrist’s office and back. Scheduling the psychiatrist visits so that I can travel to the capital, visit the psychiatrist and return home in one 24-hour period. Paying $40.00 USD for transportation, not including the costs of owning and operating a motorcycle. Paying the psychiatrist’s $60.00 USD fee. Paying $100.00 USD for the medication.. Finding each of three medications in the capital during the one-day trip at the least cost. Coordinating with a friend to accompany and drive me to pharmacies in the capital. Preparing financially and scheduling a month in advance to visit the capital before medications run out. I am told there is a doctor an hour from me who will write a prescription in exchange for $10.00 USD, so long as I already know precisely what I need. I am also told that one psychiatrist in the public hospital an hour from me might write a prescription for free, if I know precisely what I need.  In Brazil, this service was so much in demand that emergency room doctors frequently refused to do this at all. Although it is not strictly lawful, it is reported that, in some cases and places, it may possible to find someone willing to sell a limited amount of a restricted medication without a prescription, but only if a legitimate emergency is demonstrated to the professional’s satisfaction on a one-time basis. Considering that the lack of medication may compromise a Bipolar person’s problem-solving skills, the financial and practical obstacles to simply obtaining prescriptions can easily prevent a Bipolar person from maintaining medication compliance, with serious consequences.

[francislholland]

Obtaining and Filling Psychiatrists’ Medication Prescriptions Constitute Obstacles to Treatment of Bipolar Disorder (1) and (2). This post is to cooperate with my sister, Kim Holland, MD, in publicizing Mental Health Awareness Month. Many people who are diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder often need to maintain a measurable level of lithium and/or other substances in their blood in order to treat and avoid recurrence of bipolar symptoms. Consequences of failing to maintain blood serum levels of prescribed medications can include sleeplessness, emotional lability (instability), mood swings, depression and even psychosis (in those with Bipolar Type 1). In most countries many or all of the medications that treat Bipolar 1 and Bipolar 2 are available by prescription only.   In my case (Bipolar 2) case, my prescribed Quetiapine/Seroquel and Escitalopram/Lexapro are available in the Dominican Republic without prescription.   Xanax (crucial for sleep), however, is legally sold here and in most countries by prescription only.  (In the USA, all of my prescribed medications are sold by prescription only.) Even when bipolarity medications are available without prescription, they can cost hundreds of dollars per month, which will not be reimbursed by insurance companies unless prescribed by an authorized physician. I have no medical insurance.  I self-pay my medications in the Dominican Republic at an approximate cost of $100 USD per month (but the same medications might cost $500/month in the USA). Where medications are available by physician prescription only, the patient must have sufficient money and/or insurance to see a physician authorized to prescribe psychoactive medication.   Exceptions include socialized medicine countries such as Brazil, where government-proviided psychiatric visits are free but must be scheduled days or weeks in advance. In Brazil and in the Dominican Republic, only psychiatrists have the forms necessary to prescribe some or all psychoactive medicines, e.g. the Xanax that I take. Psychiatrists in the USA often have months-long waiting lists.  Patients are often required to see a social worker and/or primary care physician before seeing a psychiatrist. As a result, managing to schedule and pay for psychiatric visits in order to obtain medication can be as challenging as any other aspect of managing Bipolar Disorder. Money can be a significant obstacle to treatment.  In the USA, one visit to a psychiatrist can cost $200.00 USD (US Dollars).  That is how much a person with $660.00 USD of monthly income would be expected to be able to pay monthly for rent, or half the advisable rent of an individual living at the poverty level. In the Dominican Republic, a visit to a typical private-practice psychiatrist costs $60.00 USD, which is about half of the Dominican Republic’s minimum wage.  $60.00 USD is also about one-third of my monthly rent payment or a quarter of my monthly food budget. Bipolar Disorder, like diabetes, must be managed regularly by a physician because the medications used to treat it often cause obesity and diabetes, which can lead to liver damage and other irreversible illness if undiagnosed and  unmanaged.  Lithium, a common Bipolar medication (that I do not use) must be  blood tested at least monthly to avoid liver damage. Nonetheless, Bipolar Disorder patients in the USA regularly report being unable to schedule regular psychiatry visits, even when paying in cash.  Some rural and remote US communities with tens of thousands in population have no psychiatrists at all. Fortunately for me, I can schedule a visit with a private practice psychiatrist in the Dominican Republic within a three days, as long as I can self-pay. The obstacles I face in obtaining prescriptions and medication compliance are: Traveling five hours each way to my psychiatrist’s office and back. Scheduling the psychiatrist visits so that I can travel to the capital, visit the psychiatrist and return home in one 24-hour period. Paying $40.00 USD for transportation, not including the costs of owning and operating a motorcycle. Paying the psychiatrist’s $60.00 USD fee. Paying $100.00 USD for the medication.. Finding each of three medications in the capital during the one-day trip at the least cost. Coordinating with a friend to accompany and drive me to pharmacies in the capital. Preparing financially and scheduling a month in advance to visit the capital before medications run out. I am told there is a doctor an hour from me who will write a prescription in exchange for $10.00 USD, so long as I already know precisely what I need. I am also told that one psychiatrist in the public hospital an hour from me might write a prescription for free, if I know precisely what I need.  In Brazil, this service was so much in demand that emergency room doctors frequently refused to do this at all. Although it is not strictly lawful, it is reported that, in some cases and places, it may possible to find someone willing to sell a limited amount of a restricted medication without a prescription, but only if a legitimate emergency is demonstrated to the professional’s satisfaction on a one-time basis. Considering that the lack of medication may compromise a Bipolar person’s problem-solving skills, the financial and practical obstacles to simply obtaining prescriptions can easily prevent a Bipolar person from maintaining medication compliance, with serious consequences.

[francislholland]

The best way to bring down Trump is for multiple well-known people to engage him simultaneously in a Twitter war so that he can do NOTHING but respond and his responses prove he is becoming totally unhinged by constant 4:00 AM engagement in Twitter war.

Democrats made a BIG mistake by attacking him on Twitter one at a time and only once per person. They should have attacked him relentlessly, not to “win” each exchange, but to prevent Donald from doing anything else but obsess over and respond to these attacks.

Inability to let a prominent tweet go unanswered is Donald Trump’s Achilles heel. He can become overwhelmed if enough famous people attack him simultaneously and relentlessly.

[francislholland]

Prominent Twitter Wars Can Exhaust and Defeat Trump

The best way to bring down Trump is for multiple well-known people to engage him simultaneously in a Twitter war so that he can do NOTHING but respond and his responses prove he is becoming totally unhinged by constant 4:00 AM engagement in Twitter war.

Democrats made a BIG mistake by attacking him on Twitter one at a time and only once per person. They should have attacked him relentlessly, not to “win” each exchange, but to prevent Donald from doing anything else but obsess over and respond to these attacks.

Inability to let a prominent tweet go unanswered is Donald Trump’s Achilles heel. He can become overwhelmed if enough famous people attack him simultaneously and relentlessly.

To be effective at baiting Trump, the Twitter attacks must focus NOT on substantive issues, but on Trump's own perceived weaknesses and insecurities -- the ones to which he ALWAYS responds with a tweet rant. Doubt his intelligence. Doubt his crowd size. Doubt his virility. Doubt his wealth. Doubt why he lost the popular vote. Doubt his popularity and poll numbers. Experiment relentlessly to find other tweets to which he feels he MUST IMMEDIATELY respond without the counsel or reflection of his handlers. Trump can be defeated, but only by targeting his own worse instincts and his impulsive ego defensiveness.

[francislholland]

Clinton's Implosion is Gov. Patrick's Opportunity

November 19, 2014

Dear [redacted for confidentiality]

As I watch Hillary Clinton preparing for her 2016 presidential candidacy, it is clear to me that she is making the same mistakes that enabled Obama to overtake her in 2008.  She is ripe for a primary challenge and Gov. Patrick has all of the qualities Obama had to take advantage of her weaknesses:

Patrick opposed the Iraq War while Clinton supported it, which shows that Clinton is a conservative who doesn’t deserve the votes of progressive Iowa Caucus goers.

Deval is from the first state to allow gay marriage and he has a gay daughter. Deval supported gay marriage a dozen years before Clinton announced her support for it, which once again shows that Deval is a progressive while conservative Clinton does not deserve the votes of progressive Iowa Caucus goers.

Deval will win in South Carolina, just as Jesse Jackson and Obama did, because Black voters want the most progressive candidate and that candidate will be Patrick, if he is in the race.

Clinton has not articulated a message or rationale for her candidacy, in 2008 or for 2016, beyond her being a woman with experience.

Notorious infighting in Clinton’s camp, in 2008 and now, even before the 2016 campaign officially starts, will once again make it impossible for her to make and implement strategic decisions.

Clinton’s color aroused appeals, in 2008 and now, that she will win because she is white, are crass and turn off the press (WaPost calls it “ridiculousness”) as well as the most loyal voters of the Democratic Party – Blacks – who will punish her for it at the polls.

Patrick also has an advantage that Obama did not have in New Hampshire: Patrick has eight years as a popular sitting governor in the same media market as New Hampshire – Boston.  He is well-known and liked there.

Patrick will win in Iowa for the same reasons as Obama did.  If he wins in New Hampshire, then Hillary’s candidacy is over from that moment.  If not, he wins in South Carolina and Hillary is on the defensive for the rest of the nominating campaign, as she was in 2008.

Patrick should challenge Hillary not only because he can do so successfully, but because he should.  Patrick’s ability to present himself as more progressive is based in the reality that he IS more progressive on every issue concerning the Democratic Party electorate.  

And yet, he has shown that he has the skills and reasonableness to attract white voter in a general election, twice winning the governorship in a state that is only 5% Black.

Many in the Democratic Party want to nominate an alternative to Clinton.  Patrick is not merely an alternative but, like Obama, will prove to be an attractive, compelling and game-changing candidate in his own right.  

History calls upon Patrick to step forward and save the Democratic Party from Hillary Clinton.

Francis

[francislholland]

Clinton's Implosion is Gov. Patrick's Opportunity

November 19, 2014

As I watch Hillary Clinton preparing for her 2016 presidential candidacy, it is clear to me that she is making the same mistakes that enabled Obama to overtake her in 2008.  She is ripe for a primary challenge and Gov. Patrick has all of the qualities Obama had to take advantage of her weaknesses:

Patrick opposed the Iraq War while Clinton supported it, which shows that Clinton is a conservative who doesn’t deserve the votes of progressive Iowa Caucus goers.

Deval is from the first state to allow gay marriage and he has a gay daughter. Deval supported gay marriage a dozen years before Clinton announced her support for it, which once again shows that Deval is a progressive while conservative Clinton does not deserve the votes of progressive Iowa Caucus goers.

Deval will win in South Carolina, just as Jesse Jackson and Obama did, because Black voters want the most progressive candidate and that candidate will be Patrick, if he is in the race.

Clinton has not articulated a message or rationale for her candidacy, in 2008 or for 2016, beyond her being a woman with experience.

Notorious infighting in Clinton’s camp, in 2008 and now, even before the 2016 campaign officially starts, will once again make it impossible for her to make and implement strategic decisions.

Clinton’s color aroused appeals, in 2008 and now, that she will win because she is white, are crass and turn off the press (WaPost calls it “ridiculousness”) as well as the most loyal voters of the Democratic Party – Blacks – who will punish her for it at the polls.

Patrick also has an advantage that Obama did not have in New Hampshire: Patrick has eight years as a popular sitting governor in the same media market as New Hampshire – Boston.  He is well-known and liked there.

Patrick will win in Iowa for the same reasons as Obama did.  If he wins in New Hampshire, then Hillary’s candidacy is over from that moment.  If not, he wins in South Carolina and Hillary is on the defensive for the rest of the nominating campaign, as she was in 2008.

Patrick should challenge Hillary not only because he can do so successfully, but because he should.  Patrick’s ability to present himself as more progressive is based in the reality that he IS more progressive on every issue concerning the Democratic Party electorate.  

And yet, he has shown that he has the skills and reasonableness to attract white voter in a general election, twice winning the governorship in a state that is only 5% Black.

Many in the Democratic Party want to nominate an alternative to Clinton.  Patrick is not merely an alternative but, like Obama, will prove to be an attractive, compelling and game-changing candidate in his own right.  

History calls upon Patrick to step forward and save the Democratic Party from Hillary Clinton.

Francis

[francislholland]

Gov Deval Patrick (D-MA) w/Pres Obama.

[francislholland]

I correctly predicted in a 2014 brief precisely why Clinton would lose in 2016.

[francislholland]

Clinton's Implosion is Gov. Patrick's Opportunity

November 19, 2014

Dear [redacted for confidentiality]

As I watch Hillary Clinton preparing for her 2016 presidential candidacy, it is clear to me that she is making the same mistakes that enabled Obama to overtake her in 2008.  She is ripe for a primary challenge and Gov. Patrick has all of the qualities Obama had to take advantage of her weaknesses:

Patrick opposed the Iraq War while Clinton supported it, which shows that Clinton is a conservative who doesn’t deserve the votes of progressive Iowa Caucus goers.

Deval is from the first state to allow gay marriage and he has a gay daughter. Deval supported gay marriage a dozen years before Clinton announced her support for it, which once again shows that Deval is a progressive while conservative Clinton does not deserve the votes of progressive Iowa Caucus goers.

Deval will win in South Carolina, just as Jesse Jackson and Obama did, because Black voters want the most progressive candidate and that candidate will be Patrick, if he is in the race.

Clinton has not articulated a message or rationale for her candidacy, in 2008 or for 2016, beyond her being a woman with experience.

Notorious infighting in Clinton’s camp, in 2008 and now, even before the 2016 campaign officially starts, will once again make it impossible for her to make and implement strategic decisions.

Clinton’s color aroused appeals, in 2008 and now, that she will win because she is white, are crass and turn off the press (WaPost calls it “ridiculousness”) as well as the most loyal voters of the Democratic Party – Blacks – who will punish her for it at the polls.

Patrick also has an advantage that Obama did not have in New Hampshire: Patrick has eight years as a popular sitting governor in the same media market as New Hampshire – Boston.  He is well-known and liked there.

Patrick will win in Iowa for the same reasons as Obama did.  If he wins in New Hampshire, then Hillary’s candidacy is over from that moment.  If not, he wins in South Carolina and Hillary is on the defensive for the rest of the nominating campaign, as she was in 2008.

Patrick should challenge Hillary not only because he can do so successfully, but because he should.  Patrick’s ability to present himself as more progressive is based in the reality that he IS more progressive on every issue concerning the Democratic Party electorate.  

And yet, he has shown that he has the skills and reasonableness to attract white voter in a general election, twice winning the governorship in a state that is only 5% Black.

Many in the Democratic Party want to nominate an alternative to Clinton.  Patrick is not merely an alternative but, like Obama, will prove to be an attractive, compelling and game-changing candidate in his own right.  

History calls upon Patrick to step forward and save the Democratic Party from Hillary Clinton.

Francis

[francislholland]

Take a look at @ColorArousal's Tweet:

[francislholland]

Which is Marco and which is Ted?

Many 2016 voters have difficulty remembering which of two ambitious Latino US senators running for president is Marco Rubio and which is Rafael “Ted” Cruz.

It IS hard to distingish them because they’re near carbon copies of each other inany respects They were both elected from southern states: Marco is from Florida and Ted is from Texas.

Both have Cuban ancestors who fought for or worked for Communist Cuban President Castro.

What most distinguishes them may be their places of birth. Marco would have been born in Cuba had he not been born in the United States and Cruz would have been born in Cuba had he not been born in Canada.

For those who remain confused, Marco wants to repeal Obamacare immediately while Rafael wants it gone. Marco opposes abortion while Cruz believes life begins at conception. Both believe the US should have no diplomatic relations with the land of their parents' birth. Both are more than marginally eligible to be elected president, when applicable constitutional technicalities are carefully considered.