282 Comments

This morning I got one of the greatest Christmas presents I could have wished for--the news that Alexey Navalny has been found alive and apparently at least reasonably well. In Siberia, of course, but where there's life, there's hope? I had been afraid that this was going to turn into a case of disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again. He's the kind of leader Russia needs.

Expand full comment

Voting rights are a legacy of freedom. Don't let anyone silence your voices, vote in every election, democracy is not free it needs and deserves your best effort to keep us free. Merry Christmas to all

Expand full comment

Like they say, the cruelty is the point.

That ignorant old boomer looser will be forgotten by everyone two minutes after he makes America great again permanently with his departure. The same for all the other Lifetime Losers of MAGAt World. When he looks at you, all his inadequacies that led to his lifetime looserness stare back at him and he can only rage like this in frustration, showing the world what a loser he is, has been, and always will be.

You, Joyce Vance, on the other hand, will be remembered in the history books.

Expand full comment

Thank you Joyce for a year of incredible clarity and insight. 2024 is going to be a rough one, but like you said, we are in it together and as long as you keep posting pictures of knitting, chickens, dog, and cat we should be able to weather any storm.

Expand full comment

Happy Holidays to you and all your loved ones. And thank you for all you do for us. Yours is one of the few sane voices in the current maelstrom

Expand full comment
founding

If you don’t vote, think about who IS voting. The cult will determine the outcome by virtue of your lack of participating. Please vote.

Expand full comment

It is quite simple:

If you don't vote, you ARE voting for Trump and Project 2025.

If you vote for a third party candidate, you ARE voting for Trump and a dictatorship.

If you don't vote a straight ticket of Democrats you are abandoning democracy and women's rights. You would be declaring that you don't care if the planet becomes uninhabitable for billions of people and other organisms.

We are having our own Kristalnacht in fits and starts right now. We have been warned. The new Nazis must be crushed at the polls.

Expand full comment

Can’t we say “Merry Christmas Lock him up!” any more?

Expand full comment

Merry Christmas Joyce. Please look into Substack's refusal to comment on outright Nazi substack. You might not want to continue with this version of your gathering of mind. All best always. You are a gift.

Expand full comment

Happy day! I am celebrating Christmas with a new grandson and my vote will be to preserve our democracy for him. Peace all

Expand full comment

Yesterday and today, as many subscribers are people, too, minds were on Holiday preparations, family visits and keeping politics in the closet or forever getting into to the 'us v. them harangue', which circles endlessly in our minds. My mind was in the same place as Joyce's. My vision of the US right now is not too pretty. My comment on yesterday's LFAA forum is the same today on Civil Discourse.

What is your picture of the USA today? What comes to mind first of all?

Voting, one of our most important rights as citizens -- the right to vote will be ours to exercise as citizens in 2024.

'The 2024 United States presidential election will be the 60th quadrennial presidential election, scheduled for Tuesday, November 5, 2024.[1] Voters will elect a president and vice president for a term of four years. Incumbent President Joe Biden, a member of the Democratic Party, is running for re-election.[2] His predecessor Donald Trump, a member of the Republican Party, is running for re-election to a second, nonconsecutive term.[3] If Trump wins, he would become the second president to achieve this feat, after Grover Cleveland. If both Biden and Trump are nominated by their respective parties, it would mark the first presidential rematch since 1956. A number of primary election challengers have also declared their candidacies for the nomination of both major parties. The winner of this election is scheduled to be inaugurated on January 20, 2025. It will occur at the same time as elections to the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House; several states will also be holding gubernatorial and state legislative elections.' (Wikipedia)

Those are the simple facts, without any color! 2024 is a crucial year for 'We the people ...' and for our country.

GETTING OUT THE VOTE HAS TO BE OUR 1st PRIOTY AS CITIZENS OF THE USA.

Expand full comment

Trump wants to be a dictator, not just a king. Sorry!

Expand full comment

Merry Christmas Joyce & thank you for your wisdom (and animals 😁)

Expand full comment

Hudson Rowan's "I voted!" Sticker does it for me.

Thank you, Hudson, I will vote.

Expand full comment

Thank you...even we Goy appreciate a good Chinese restaurant on Xmas!!! 😎

I'm often completely baffled at the NON EXCUSES people have for not voting.

And i suspect there are many who just lie about it. Sad, really sad!

Expand full comment

Wishing you the happiest of holidays and looking forward to continuing to spread the word on what’s at stake this upcoming year. I know what my New Year’s wish will be and I will work hard to make it a reality. You are an inspiration!

Expand full comment