We The People

💙 For Those that didn’t hear, wouldn’t hear or chose not to hear tonight’s Democratic Convention (August 18th, 2020) – missed the rally call of the nation…In EACH and every speaker, video and person – just like you and I – that have been affected by our world, as it stands, TODAY and what we have to lose….what we’ve already lost and what we will lose if we don’t take a stand, right what is wrong and fight against a tyranny that is threatening our existence as a democracy in this great nation. It is no longer party against party – this fight is against the downfall of moral decency, freedom and equality, economic and health survival and honor. There is no place now to hide or bury our heads from the truth that is displayed every single day – in our streets, in our communities – around our nation. Hate, violence and division is not the call of a moral president and administration that wants to build a better nation. It is the call to destroy a nation and take power over the freedom and liberties that we know, that our forefathers knew and freedoms that our children and grandchildren may Never know.

I may be 1 voice…but many voices together build villages and nations that are good and righteous – that recognize each and every individual as part of the whole. Some say: All government is corrupt – All politicians are the same. But what is a country without a free democratic government?: A dictatorship. It is chaos. It is totally corrupt and built on fear and power. The speakers tonight didn’t speak of hatred, they did not speak on the furtherance of bigotry and division. They didn’t hold up Bibles as props. THEY didn’t LIE. They brought issues to the forefront that are indisputable. While the current president Tweeted his anger at the truth and facts – these candidates and national supporters were imploring people to rise up and BE BETTER than THIS….and to be able to look their children….or their maker….in the eye and say: I did what was right for all people and for the generations to come.

💙I WILL VOTE BLUE – I WILL SUPPORT JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS – I WILL SPEAK UP and I WILL CONTINUE TO HELP REBUILD THIS COUNTRY ALONG WITH PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN AND VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS. And I will sing a song of freedom and democracy again. – Donna Freeberg 💙

SEARS: The end of the era of Brookdale Mall

I remember watching Brookdale Mall (Brooklyn Center, Minnesota) being constructed as we all eagerly peered out the school bus windows, on our way to  Northport elementary.  (It was my kindergarten year, and everything was bustling with “newness”.)

It was magical – Just imagining a mass of stores, under one cover, in a luxurious setting with restaurants attached – called:  A MALL!

So many shopping firsts and fashion firsts were acquired at Brookdale Mall: Dayton’s, Penney’s, Donaldson’s, Snyder’s and……..Sears. I worked at Sears throughout High School….. it was a grand place to work.  I can’t remember a time as a little girl when I didn’t look forward to the “Christmas Wish Book“, or going with my Dad to get a “Craftsman” tool.  And when Mom’s washer went on the blink – off we’d go to Sears for a replacement.  Sears was the store for the Everyman.   

The demolishing of Brookdale Mall a number of years back left one vestige standing: Sears. But now – it will soon be demolished as well.

I visited my flagship job/store/memory maker  –  in the last final days, and it was heartbreaking.  Below are a few pictures on the history of Sears – as I remember it and photographed  it.

Nothing stays the same.
And, at times, they simply vanish. 

        

“Ignorance and Want” What will this Holiday season bring?

Everything that is being written today is smoke and mirrors. Orchestrated to confuse what is “normal” living, or human behavior – with deviant behavior, and justifying it with the confusion. A person would have had to live in a vacuum not to have had some sexual flirtations or advances – people are sexual creatures.

But as my mom would say – “Mind your manners and respect other’s boundaries. AND if you don’t like the lifestyle – take yourself out of the given situation that causes you pain. Be responsible and accountable for your actions, Donna!””

Having lived within theater and music circles all of my life – I understand the lifestyle – it’s more familiar than a business setting. I accept (and welcome) it. But I’ve chosen those circles – nobody forced me to. Do I have boundaries and enforce them? Of course I do.  I also enforce my boundaries in business. Have we become so brain dead that we can’t decipher our own life choices? Or so robotic that we force all behavior to fit in or out of a “shaped” box which is dictated through tyranny or fascism?  This is playing conveniently into the Anti-Net Neutrality bill that the GOP is trying to force through.  Suppress and control.

In oppressed societies, historically – confusion, limited access to music or dancing or theater, what we read, how we speak and the economy – is controlled.  The entire planet fights against this…. Except the United States.

A huge fraction of social media lemmings, the GOP and those that vehemently defend their “vote” in this past Presidential election are welcoming (and orchestrating) losing our freedoms.  Those that oppose are sent to the gallows. How soon will it be that these supporters lose their personal freedoms and bellow to the heavens that they were duped?  Too late….everyone loses.

Sound familiar?  Follow your history from the ancient empires to Cuba to the ultimate terror: Nazi Germany.  It’s not new – it simply has a sleazy new coat and underneath?:  Ignorance and Want …… Ignorance and Want. 

The “Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future” are going to be very busy this holiday season….we can hope.  

The “CFPB”: Who they are and WHY we must protect this Financial Bureau!!!

Support the AG of MN Lori Swanson in protecting, yet another, much valued agency in citizen’s protection – in jeopardy of abolishment under the current administration:

“With all this greed, it is troubling that the financial industry wants to abolish the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”). The Bureau was established to be a consumer watchdog over the financial industry at the federal level. The industry says the CFPB needlessly intrudes into the free market with unnecessary consumer protections. Really? Let’s take a look:”……………………

Letter from AG Lori Swanson with Links

Please give the pdf above a moment of your time and write to your Congress and tell them we want protection from the banks and financial institutions to continue!!

Minnesota Members of Congress

U.S. Representatives	U.S. Senators
First District
Timothy J. Walz 1034 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-2472 Contact: Tim Walz contact form	Senator Al Franken United States Senate 309 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 (202) 224-5641 Contact Senator Franken
Second District
Jason Lewis 418 Cannon House Bldg. Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-2271 Contact form: Jason Lewis contact form	Senator Amy Klobuchar United States Senate 302 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 (202) 224-3244 Amy Klobuchar contact form
Third District
Erik Paulsen 127 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515-2303 (202) 225-2871 Fax: (202) 225-6351 Erik Paulson contact form
Fourth District
Betty McCollum 1714 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-6631 Betty McCollum contact form
Fifth District
Keith Ellison 2244 Rayburn Building Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-4755 (202) 225-4886 fax Contact form: Keith Ellison contact page
Sixth District
Tom Emmer 503 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-2331 Tom Emmer contact form
Seventh District
Collin C. Peterson 2109 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-2165 Collin C. Peterson contact form
Eighth District
Rick Nolan 2447 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-6211 Rick Nolan contact form

Howling to the Moon…(as in Congress.)

Thought of the Day
(or 143 days to be exact)

We are working under a madman – a lunatic and coup – a rogue Congress that does NOT serve the people, and our planet is up for grabs. The press keeps trying to make SOME sense to this madman, his nonsensical speech, his…..crazy – and there is none to be had.

Are WE all insane? Is that what was and IS wanted by the Republican National Committee? What is the purpose of driving this country, its’ laws and respect into the ground and taking the rest of the planet with it?

Moral compass and humanity is in decay and we are being herded like Lemmings off the cliff – with evidently no voice or power to our millions of voices, as we howl to the moon (while there is one).

Do we STAND with the Water Protectors at Standing Rock or bow to corporate Dakota Access [DAPL]- rotters of our Planet?

 I believe that those who are invested in, or control the enterprises of, OIL look aside for the dividends that will eventually come – but how can we continue to step back from corporate control and enterprise, and watch the rest of the planet and peoples expire through abusive greed.

The common man surely is not benefiting from investment, and certainly not the Sioux …. and we will all suffer most severely after these rotters have long gone and lived high. How can they look at their children and grandchildren and say “But WE lived large, by destroying your future?” How can any of us?

     And where WHERE is our government? What are their stances on this and the other pipelines that are being laid??

So I throw this down to you legislators:  STEP UP!!! Show your worth!!!!!

Your Political Legacy

I believe that there must be – in each state a leader, an appointed official, a Governor or Representative – that the members of said state recalls as a “big mistake” – due to distrust of current leaders or recent or past economic/legislative undermining.

Please do not make the same mistake with Donald Trump. He is not anti-establishment, he is not anti-government.  He is anti-American Humanity.  This would be like handing the country over to Castro or Mussolini.  Who he is against will perish or go to war within the country and community.  Who he is for economically will gain.  Our military will turn into a gorilla mechanism – with no leader of experience – the humane military will leave the service and when war ensues the draft will be put back into place.

With no social or diplomatic skills, our allies will turn their backs on America.

The horror of this possibility unravels my sense of any security or faith in the America that I love.  How can the land of greatest opportunity and liberty blithely hand over our liberties to this media clown and look their children in the eyes and say
                                            “I’m voting for your future”.  

                                                                                                      – Donna Freeberg

I’m right…you’re wrong.

I recently read the following:

(Note: Below was a post from FB.  I’m deleting the name to protect the fool that wrote it….)

“What do people who reject the God of the Bible become? In America they have become the Liberal/Left Socialists. In Russia and China they became Communists. How about those who create another God, what do they become? In the Middle East they have become Muslims who enslave, torture and behead people.The choice of who to become is so crystal clear. It really only depends on who you want to be and how you want to live. It doesn’t take any imagination at all…the evidence is all around us.”

My response is as follows:

A) The president of a Virginia Ku Klux Klan group claims that “the KKK is a faith-based Christian organization that does not condone violence.”

B) The oldest reference to Allah (“God” Islam/Muslim) – was discovered in Northern and Southern Arabia dating back to the fifth century B.C.   To state that all Muslims enslave, torture and behead is beyond radical.  Muhammad was a peaceful prophet.

C) Buddhism was founded in 624 B.C. Buddha was a peaceful prophet.

They all had their “God” and Prophets and Bibles and martyrs to the faith, long before the Christian Bible.

Also, to claim that all non-Christian bible thumpers (NOT non-Christians, mind you) are Liberals/Socialists is incorrect. However, I do think it might be a great compliment: If not for the Socialists of this country our forefathers and children would not have the Unions – which protected the middle class and poor during the industrial revolution through today. Also, the Socialist Party has no combined or recognized affiliation with Communism.

To be so pompous and self-righteous as to state that one’s beliefs are more correct than another’s beliefs is purely ignorant.  And, to attach misguided lies to support one’s superiority, or belief, is egocentric – not religious.

If I choose to believe that blue eye shadow is an abomination to me – does that mean that those who choose to wear it are wrong??

Howling to the Moon? (Taxing Big Business)

      Agreed — but so did Target and Sears and most big retailers. Government must demand more in taxing large corporations, closing loopholes and requiring more in social and family responsibility from ALL retailers – not to mention many of the so called “non-profits” that make millions on the disadvantaged.

We must also look at all of the major corporations and medical product suppliers who continually pay their assembly workers and support staff $10-12 hour. Who is going after them? Banks were bailed out of the giant mess that they created in the mid 2000’s and yet they remain immovable in sharing relief to a desperate economy.

I see Walmart as the scapegoat for the bigger picture. Yes, they should be included into the solution most definitely, but they are no worse, nor better, than thousands of corporations – and our Government is giving them carte blanche.

Howling to the moon? Probably.

Non-Profits: What Are you Really asking of…and giving to… your Donors?

Every year – every quarter – every day….Nonprofits look to their donors to keep their
mission alive. No trade secret exposed there, right?

And although this has been the same expectation since the first nonprofit took to the soapbox and preached it’s message to any and all that could hear…..the fact is: giving is down and there is always another “cause” directly around the corporate corner.

Let’s step back and Shake It Up……Business 101 style!

You have a Mission Statement. Right? …… When was the last time that you took this out of mothballs, shook it out and proudly proclaimed it to the world at large?

What do you do? Who do you serve? 

Do your donors – future sponsors – or your neighborhood Grocer – KNOW the righteous deeds that you do or the milestones you’ve obtained…… or simply that your service exists??

The world of Social Media, Crowdfunding and Corporate Sponsorships offers to Nonprofits new territory and virtually free marketing…..seize the day!

REVITALIZE and RECHARGE
Engage with your donors, your clients and your neighbors!

Open the office to a meet and greet
Sponsor a “Morning Coffee Intro” at a neighborhood coffee shop
Visit a rehabilitation facility with Coffee, Tea and rolls

…..Communication and Engagement on a personal level, as well as a strong
online presence will keep your message and mission vital.

REVITALIZE and RECHARGE

We want to know about you…..before you’re gone.  

www.linkedin.com/in/dfreeberg