Would Trump have passed the Naturalization Oath?

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Tuesday March 07, 2017 · 8:56 PM PST

2017/03/07 · 20:56

Oath of Office of the President of the United States

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America

Candidates for US citizenship take the oath of allegiance to become US citizens during a Naturalization Ceremony for new US Citizens at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, November 17, 2016. / AFP / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.

I’m thinking no.

Connect! Unite! Act! San Francisco, Portland, OR & NN16 C&J Events: Grandparent Memories?

Steven Payne for Connect! Unite! Act!

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Sunday May 15, 2016 · 7:30 AM PDT

2016/05/15 · 07:30

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Even though I was living on my own when I moved from my home state of Illinois to Denver, my grandparents were still taking care of me to some extent. I took a lot of meals with them and washed my clothes at their house. They often slipped me pocket money. It had always been like this, though. When my parents divorced when I was 11, my father went his way and eventually my mother wanted to go hers. At 14, my mother and stepfather moved to Indianapolis and I moved in with my grandparents until I got my own apartment my senior year of high school.

They took it hard when I told them I was finally leaving home for good. Even though I was 21, they both seemed convinced a wider world would swallow me whole. I wasn’t frightened at all. I was excited to finally have the opportunity to stand on my own two feet and begin my life. So my boyfriend and our best friend, Karen, packed up our meager belongings and headed to the promise of big city life.

We arrived at the apartment my boyfriend had rented sight unseen and found it infested with cockroaches. It was off to a bumpy start. But we all landed jobs soon enough, made our apartment livable, charming even. We established ourselves quickly. Money was tight, but not so tight we didn’t manage to have our fun.

Early the following February I got a letter in the mail from the IRS. I opened it to discover that I had screwed up my withholdings and owed $631 bucks. Yeah, it sucked and I harped about it to anyone who would listen. Unfortunately, I made the terrible mistake of harping about it to my grandmother.

“OOOOOh honey, what ever are you going to do?” she lamented in her most dramatic Kentucky drawl. “You know you will always have a place to come back to.” Now shouting to grandpa at the top of her voice “Stevie is in deep trouble with the IRS!” to which I heard my grandpa bark loudly, “Goddamn Sonsabitches!”

I came to the sickening realization that I had put these two dear old people on red alert for nothing. I told them that the IRS would be willing to work with me to make payment arrangements, but that flew past their deaf ears. There was nothing I could do at that point to calm these two depression-era people who never carried more than a long-ago paid off little mortgage their entire lives.

About a week later, a box arrived at our door. I could barely lift the damned thing. I recognized my grandfather’s handwriting immediately, wrestled it in and ripped it open. It was a box full of russet potatoes, exactly as the box indicated on the outside. Well, hell, I was glad to get the potatoes, but this was strange even for these people.

I pushed the box in the closet to get it out of the way. It wasn’t until a couple of hours later when laughing about the absurdity with Karen and Alan that it dawned on me. I went back to the box and uncovered a couple of layers of the potatoes. Sure enough, the rest of the potatoes were lovingly wrapped with $5, $10 and $20 dollar bills. And one single. The harvest total came to exactly $631 bucks.

My question: Has a potato ever tasted so sweet to you?

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Events Currently Scheduled

Golden Gate Bridge at sunrise with SFKossacks text

SFKossacks welcome peregrine kate to San Francisco!

Sunday, May, 15th at High NOON < NOTE TIME CHANGE!

Battery Wallace picnic area in the Marin Headlands

Potluck and BYOB, sunscreen and lawn chairs, let us know if you need a ride

Please send navajo a kosmail if you’d like to attend.

photo Battery Wallace picnic area_zps92mwl5l6.jpeg — **Battery Wallace #1, Historic Landmark, Golden Gate Bridge in the background**

^{“High in the hills of the Marin Headlands, well past the throngs of tourists along Conzelman Drive, Battery Wallace picnic area is a crown jewel of the region. Located close to the Point Bonita Lighthouse, the four tables and grills in this wide-open spot overlook the Golden Gate Bridge, with sea-to-sky views of the Pacific, San Francisco in the background, and beach coves sculpting the coastal landscape. Battery Wallace is exposed, so the best time to ‘cue it up is…now! Park your buns here for a few hours or a full day. Ladies and gentlemen, start your briquettes!” ~ from Weekend Sherpa}

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^{From Hwy. 101 take Alexander Ave. exit. Turn left on the Marin Headlands Tunnel Route (aka Bunker Rd.). Follow Bunker Rd. nearly to the end; make a left on Field Rd. going up to the Visitor Center. Go past the Nike Site and make your first left. This takes you to one-way Conzelman Rd., where you’ll turn right and reach Battery Wallace. No dogs.}

RSVPS:
1. peregrine kate 2. navajo 4 bottles red wine 3. Meteor Blades 2 cans of spam 4. smileycreek wine and beer 5. paradise50 wine and beer 6. side pocket strawberries & creme fraiche 7. maggiejean something salad-like 8. Glen The Plumber pasta dish 9. remembrance 10. TLO 11. kimoconnor 12. citisven beet dip, plus baguette 13. dsb chips, salsa & guacamole 14. jck Alu Chat 15. Where4art 16. jakedog42 *sandwich fixin’s	Maybees: FogCityJohn shanikka

Sunday, May 22, 2016: Lunch to welcome asterkitty to Portland!

Meeting place: Siri Thai, 5234 SE POWELL BLVD PORTLAND, OR 97206

Time: 12:30 pm

Activities: Hugs, giving local advice, laughter, and eating large amounts of great food at reasonable prices!

RSVPS:
1. asterkitty 2. Sara R 3. winglion 4. loggersbrat	Maybees: llbear

More information here and kosmail Sara R to RSVP

Netroots Nation banner for 2016 - St. Louis, MO July 14-17, 2016 — **Registration and hotels still available**

Daily Kos/Cheers & Jeers Welcoming Dinner

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Time: 5:30 PM

Location: Mango

1001 Washington Ave, One block from Convention Center, 2 minute walk from the Marriott

Screen Shot 2016-04-06 at 10.06.13 AM — One block from Convention Center
2 minute walk from the Marriott

Join us for a generous buffet of Peruvian appetizers that will be substantial for dinner. Vegetarians will be provided for well.

^{Peru is home to one of the most exquisite fusion cuisines in the world. Mango Peruvian Cuisine brings the taste of Peru to Saint Louis by combining the diversity of their culture through locally provided food. Mango's beverage menu mirrors the marriage of diversity and locally sourced products.}

Roll call for the C&J Dinner in Connect! Unite! Act!

This will be headcount central for the C&J Dinner. Spread the word.

RSVPS:
1. navajo 2. Meteor Blades 3. Bill in Portland Maine 4. Common Sense Mainer 5. jotter 6. aha aha (Mrs. jotter) 7. side pocket 8. Mrs. side pocket 9. paradise50 10. smileycreek 11. Chris Reeves 12. Ramara 13. loggersbrat 14. Justice Putnam 15. theRoaringGirl 16. winkk 17. jakedog42 18. vicki 19. markm667 20. brillig (bday gurl that day!) 21. mik 22. K1 23. K2 24. Eddie in ME 25. moody in savannah 26. lulu 27. texasmom 28. texasdad 29. Ed Tracey 30. Raines 31. skohayes 32. 714day 33. gizmo59 34. gizmo59’s squeeze	35. belinda ridgewood 36. evcoren 37. bfitzinAR 38. sidnora 39. peregrine kate 40. Spedwybabs 41. Malacandra 42. Will Rockafellow 43. Michael Langenmayr 44. tealbomb 45. Paul Hogarth 46. Chris Bowers 47. Mara Schechter 48. Faith Gardner 49. Jen Hayden 50. Elizabeth Strong 51. SnoKat 52. SnoKat’s guy 53. Irna Landrum 54. Carrisa Miller 55. Rachel Colyer 56. ArlissBunny 57. OllieGarkey 58. Maybees: norm winifred3 normAl1792

There will also be a Daily Kos Caucus session during NN16.

Stay tuned for room location, date and time of our caucus.

Registration and hotels still available

Event Reporting

The Nashville KosKats brainstormed on April 30th at their meet-up and came up with the following places that might be good to register voters:

...farmers markets around town, YMCA’s, hipster coffee shops, college campuses, local book stores, craft and art fairs, city bus station, the VA, Senior Centers, clinic and hospitals, specialized street parties for all different kinds of groups of people, some that highlight pets.

This is what we all need to do now, before the general. REGISTER PEOPLE TO VOTE!

Nashville KosKats - Front Row, L-R: Jon Sitzman and Rook
Standing, L-R: Al Fondy, Jarbyus, Nashville Flatz and Zen Trainer

Silicon Valley Kos' banner for their group

Silicon Valley Kos had a great event on April 30th. A representative from the Honda campaign attended and Jeevan Zutshi described a side of Mike Honda not well known in that Honda is always eager to help new candidates and encouraging involvement. They also discussed ways they could work as a team to increase SVKos’s impact on local politics. Exactly what all Daily Kos In-Real-Life groups should be doing.

Photo of San Jose Kos group members in their last meeting — San Jose Kos: L-R: remembrance, Glen The Plumber, slowbutsure,
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The SFKossacks welcomed RLMiller to San Francisco on April 2nd. Photo diary here. Stay tuned. RLMiller is the President of Climate Hawks Vote Political Action. She is the elected chair of California Democratic Party’s environmental caucus. Our dinner lasted four hours!

**L-R: remembrance, TLO, lorikeet, dsb, jotter, aha aha, Glen The Plumber, RLMiller, Meteor Blades, citisven, kimoconnor, jpmassar, anonymous, side pocket, Mrs. side pocket and where4art**

The Houston Area Kossacks had a small meetup with lively conversation on Tuesday, March 29, 2016. Many more photos of the crew and ChrisLove’s great food pr0n can be seen here. Kosmail Chrislove if you’d like to join his group.

Group photo of the Houston Area Kossacks — From L-R: cosette, doraphasia, Mr. Libby Shaw, Delilah, Libby Shaw,
Dr. Love, tiredntexas and scott5js

Northwestern Pennsylvania Kos

Northwestern Pennsylvania had dinner and lively political conversation on the evening of Thursday, March 17 at Latinos Restaurant in Erie, PA, in celebration of a visit from Chrislove who lives in Houston. Gizmo59’s recap can be read in full here, complete with succulent food pr0n.

The Nortwestern Pennsylvania reader of Daily Kos. L-R: gizmo59, RevKatie, tobendaro, the restaurant owner, tobendaro — L-R: gizmo59, RevKatie, tobendaro, the restaurant owner,
gizmo59’s hubby, and Chrislove

The SFKossacks welcomed ColoTim on his recent business trip to the Bay Area. We met at the Beach Chalet for a great lunch overlooking the ocean. A zillion more photos here: Connect! Unite! Act! Ferguson, San Francisco & NN16 Event: SFKossacks Welcome ColoTim! Photos!

Untitled — **L-R: remembrance, Glen The Plumber, ColoTim, Meteor Blades, norm, side pocket and navajo**

While we are awaiting the official recap photo diary by JoanBrooker of our New York City meet-up on Sunday, February 28, 2016 with navajo and Denise Oliver-Velez, please enjoy this place-marker group photo. Several attendees were taking photos and we can promise some excellent food pr0n. Stay tuned for Joan’s report. We had a great day that lasted from noon until 8:30 PM! AND HERE IS JOAN’S REPORT: Navajo @ 2/28/16 NYC Meet-up!

NYC Kossacks — **L-R: sidnora, navajo, kathny, rubyr, Devtob, lulu, Roaring Girl, Design the future, ericlewis0, belinda ridgewood, Denise Oliver-Velez, JoanBrooker, mattc129 and cohenzee**

Saturday, February 13, 2016, the readers of Daily Kos in North Carolina joined thousands in the 10th Annual Mass Moral March on Raleigh & HKonJ People’s Assembly GET-OUT-THE-VOTE GATHERING AND MOBILIZATION action. Our readers braved 27 degree weather! There were two diaries about it: The march the trolls couldn't stop: NC-NAACP's Moral March on Raleigh, 13 Feb 2016 by DocDawg and North Carolina Open Thread: Marching and Connecting by randallt.

Here’s one photo of many provided by both diarists:

**From L-R: projectskid, Gordon20024, Lamont Cranston and cbgbz ~photo by randallt**

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Top Comments: Open Thread Wednesday Edition

Steven Payne for Top Comments

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday May 11, 2016 · 7:01 PM PDT

2016/05/11 · 19:01

Top Comments recognizes the previous day's Top Mojo and strives to promote each day's outstanding comments through nominations made by Kossacks like you. Please send comments (before 9:30pm ET) by email totopcomments@gmail.com or by our KosMail message board.

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Good evening folks. It is with my apologies that I welcome you to an open topic diary this evening. As I was just sitting down to write about my topic, I heard a scream coming from my neighbor’s back yard. I raced outside to see her holding up her hand which was profusely bleeding. She had sliced it open on a hack saw she was using to trim a branch on her tree.

There was no question that she had to immediately go to the emergency room and couldn’t drive herself. I loaded her up in my truck and 11 stitches and tetanus shot later, I got home just in time to slap tonight’s offering together and get it published.

So, no topic is too big or small this evening.

Top Comments May 11, 2016:

From BeninSC:

Highlighted by belinda ridgewood is this funny comment by slksfca!

Top Mojo May 10, 2016, courtesy of mik:

1) Winning in a landslide in CA doesn’t matter. He … by ElizabethRegina1558 +150

2) She may have to change her tune. … by markthshark +141

3) This is great! by iann +133

4) I consider this clip with all the seriousness th … by StellaRay +131

5) you’re equating two different kinds of mattering … by ElizabethRegina1558 +126

6) Current Facebook stats as of 5:10 a.m. … by LoneStarMike +122

7) This is what gives me hope, Mike. by markthshark +121

8) Military.com by Valtin +120

9) Not a good idea to allow any judge to require co … by Betty Pinson +115

10) Onward to Oregon … by wade norris +114

10) BNR #337: by LieparDestin +114

12) We are aware of who wants a coronation. … by Lysis +112

13) And thankya kindly, delphine, for a fine read. W … by Hound Dog +111

14) I love how the standards regarding whether or no … by Geenius at Wrok +110

15) Because it's news and an indisputable fact. I as … by dear occupant +109

15) What a polite congratulations. by igualdad +109

17) I’m not “playing innocent” about anything. I sta … by StellaRay +108

18) No, that isn’t want the polling stated. 39% of t … by biancardi +104

19) Hmmm. Seems to me that Bernie should ask the del … by quaoar +103

19) Well the news article is from 2008, so it's cont … by delphine +103

21) Please do tell us what those were. by Pricknick +101

22) This comment proves that you haven't been paying … by wsumike +100

22) Sorry, but the issue in this diary is the Front … by dear occupant +100

24) Cha-ching! by nomandates +98

24) I’d love a little bit o’ mojo… I managed to get … by RedDan +98

26) The FBI should trace this meme back to its creat … by Dr Teeth +97

27) Hoping for a victory! by TomP +95

27) Look; it’s never been about Sanders for me at le … by Tool +95

29) The unqualified comment still bugs the hell out … by Olkate +92

30) Looks like a big turnout and a huge margin win. by noe6ness +91

Top Pictures May 10, courtesy of jotter:

Connect! Unite! Act! San Francisco, Portland, OR & NN16 C&J Events: Your Real Name?

Steven Payne for Connect! Unite! Act!

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday May 08, 2016 · 7:29 AM PDT

2016/05/08 · 07:29

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Ever since I married Brian in 2008, I have been considering legally changing my name. There are a lot of reasons for me to do this, but the one that has stayed my hand has been that a person’s name is so much tied up with their self identity. To be called one legal name my entire life and suddenly change it so late in my life would be a big step for me. At the time of this writing, I am very close to deciding to go through with it.

That had me thinking that it’s not just my last name that I could change, but my first name as well. I’ve always rather liked my first name, Steven. The problems come in when people automatically assume that I would be equally comfortable being called Steve, or, god forbid, Stevie. The only people I let call me the latter are my father and brother and even then that one grates on me.

Now that I’m on the cusp of changing my last name, it occurred to me that I could change my first name too. Even though that would be too radical a step for me to take, I couldn’t help but consider some first names that I’ve always loved. One name that came immediately to mind was Sebastian. For some reason, I have always loved how lyrical it sounds. Another name I have always loved is Adam, even though very ugly bigoted people would make Adam and Steve jokes about me the rest of my life.

My question for you this morning is this: If you were to ever change your first name, what name would you choose?

Note: I am sorry that I likely won’t be joining you this morning at CUA. When you read this, I will be in Texas for Brian’s father’s memorial service. If I don’t show up, know that I hope you will all play and have a good time in the comments without me.

Love,

Steven Sebastian Adam Payne

Steven Payne for Connect! Unite! Act!

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday May 01, 2016 · 7:29 AM PDT

2016/05/01 · 07:29

I was fortunate as a child in that we always faithfully took at least one long family trip every year. Since my father’s family lived in and around the same North Central Illinois town, we would usually pack up the car every year and drive to Florida to see my mother’s family.

My grandmother lived on Merritt Island, very close to Cape Canaveral and my grandfather lived in Melbourne. Throughout the years, we traveled all across Florida so I got to know it very well. I have treasured childhood memories of playing on the white sandy beaches and splashing in the warm sea. When Disney World opened in 1971, my grandfather would drive my brother and I to the park entrance, drop us off and return late in the evening to pick us up. Great times.

So how about you? Did your family have a regular vacation destination when you were growing up?