Thursday, November 28, 2024

Thanksgiving in the New Era


 Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.

In the past, I have blogged a list of 31 things I am thankful for, revising it each year for any changes.

That's very tough to do this year.

It's not that I don't have plenty to be grateful for. I am thankful for my family, my friends, our health, our pets, my church, and many of my church family.

I am thankful that my son, Benjamin, and our friend, Anita Lynn, will be with us for Thanksgiving.

There are many personal things that I am thankful for.

But it is difficult to be completely thankful when the nation that I love so much has had its happiness and future snatched away from us.

It's difficult to live in a county where 89% of the voters chose the orange fascist.

I won't go into all the many ways that this unfortunate decision will affect us in the US and around the globe. I'll have plenty of other posts about that.

I wish I could be like so many who have decided to cut these poisonous people from their lives. I'm doing it to the extent that I can. But it's not easy when the view that thinks this is okay is dominant here. That this was just another election, and why can't we all be friends.

As many have clarified, it's not a difference in politics; it's a base difference in morality. And that is hard to get around.

I'm doing the best I can. Thankfully, I no longer have to work in an environment filled with his supporters.  

Tomorrow, I have to go into the Lion's Den and have a Thanksgiving meal with relatives who support him. If I was a stronger person, I would refuse to go there. But I can't do that. It's not in me. But I  will do my best to minimize interaction beyond what is needed to be polite.

Some who read this blog may wonder when it will turn to a broader range of topics—family, nostalgia, movies/TV/books/theatre, etc.

Maybe that will come in time.

But right now, there is too much anger and fear and rage.  

I can't let it go. To do so would be to surrender to fascism and to accede to the immorality of the narcissist in chief.

If that bothers you, then cut me off. Because it's not going to stop.

I can't let it go.

As dark as times are, I refuse to stop lighting up what I can.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all, including the Trumpeteers. I despise what you did and will never understand or forget it. But on a personal level, I wish nothing but the best for you and your family and friends. 

United States of America

1776 - 2025

A noble experiment has come to an end.

Someday, God willing, it will be returned to us.

But for now.

It is gone.



Friday, November 22, 2024

A Dream Deferred


 On Friday, November 1, I wrote a letter from the future, A Glimpse of Better Times, as written by my granddaughter. It showed an increasingly bright future, all stemming from Harris/Walz's victory.

Shockingly, that didn't happen. Americans chose the Orange Fascist instead.

I thought, maybe I need to rewrite that story, show all the horrible things that this despicable person and his Trumpeteers will do, and the damage that will reverberate for decades.

But then I thought, I can't write about that kind of nightmarish hellscape and put my Granddaughter in it.

I prefer to keep this sticker set and give it to her at the right time so she knows that it is not over but a dream deferred.

For her sake and the sake of all those I love, I have to pray that somehow we get out of this with a minimum of suffering and pain.

There is a lot to be pessimistic about. For those who think this was just a normal election with a normal election outcome - you truly do not know what you have done.

I despair. I find it difficult to be around anyone who willingly puts us in this mess. I fear about the effects not just to democracy but to the irreversible damage that will be done to our environment. I fear for the lives of Ukrainians and Palestinians. I fear for those who will be persecuted for their sexual identities and their open gender expression. I fear for those who continue to speak out and risk their well-being and freedom. I fear for the lack of women's reproductive health care. I fear for all civil workers, being led by absolute morons whose only intent is not to serve but to destroy and enrich themselves. 

I could go on and on. Yeah, a lot of bad stuff is going to go down.

But then, I look at my Granddaughter and know I can't surrender. I can't just give in to my grief.

It's hard right now.   Hard to be anything but angry and worried.   It's hard to be around those who sold this nation out.

But I promise you, my sweet, precious Retta, that I will fight these feelings and do whatever I can to make your future better.

It is not a dream ended.   It can't be.

It is a dream deferred.



Wednesday, November 20, 2024

What Went Wrong?

 

This is what we could have had. Love, family, and a team devoted to helping the American people.


This is what we got. Narcissistic billionaires, conspiracy theorists, sexual assaulters - all centered on benefitting themselves at your expense.


What went wrong?

Everything. Absolutely everything.

Yes, those who look at my recent posts will know I missed my election prediction by a mile. 

Truthfully, my prediction was not based on sophisticated poll analysis or other scientific data. Polls were unreliable and all over the map.

No, mine was based on gut instinct. I had faith in the decency of the American people and that they would give Vice President Harris the landslide she deserved.

I relied on the decency of our fellow citizens. I was wrong. I'm not the first person to get shot down because they overestimated the discernment and intelligence of Americans.

The bottom line is I couldn't fathom us choosing another Trump administration. I couldn't imagine enough people deliberately picking that kind of hate and destruction.

What went wrong?

There are as many theories as there are people as to why Harris did not emerge victorious. Most of them are bullcrap.

Should Biden have gotten out earlier? It wouldn't have helped. He'd be done as President, and he would not have been able to accomplish anything. The nominee that they picked would have either been Harris or somebody on the Corporate Democrat side of the spectrum.

Harris was too woke? HAHAHAHAHA! That's the silliest thing I've ever heard. Did you really listen to their campaign? We have guns! I'll shoot the burglar invading my home! We'll be tough on the immigrants! And not one word about the endangered trans community. They weren't even allowed to speak at the convention.

Harris should have gone further right? That would have been difficult. Any further right, and the Democrats might as well have picked Liz Cheney.

The economy was bad? Disregarding the power of Fox to make you believe what isn't true, the economy was about as good as it gets for at least the last fifty years. There were some problems (housing, college costs, healthcare), but anyone who thought that Republicans had any solutions were fooling themselves

Here's some that I consider to have at least some validity to them - 

1) Harris spent too much time courting the elusive disaffected Republican.

This has happened before. Much of Hilary Clinton's campaign overfocused on winning over Republicans who understood that Trump was a bad character.

It didn't work then. It didn't work now.

Granted, even I thought there was some validity to the strategy this time. Many (well, more than a handful) of Republicans stated their opposition to Trump, some prominent, some not so prominent. Surely, some of the more reasonable Republicans would choose country over party.

I knew this was a failure when I saw the Pierce County vote count. 89% voted for Trump, virtually the same percentage for every Trump election. No falloff whatsoever. No miracle conversions. Just the same percentage determined to plunge this country into a nightmarish hellscape.

2) Harris's policies were incremental rather than dramatic.

Harris overfocused on small incremental tax code changes rather than bold, transformative initiatives. This caused particular problems with the working poor and/or the noncollege educated.

I guess she thought she would lose support among moderate and right-leaning independents if she was too bold. Maybe she would have, but I don't know.

All I know is that, since 2000, Democratic campaigns have been littered with the corpses of those campaigns that refused to be bold. Gore, Kerry, and Clinton (and now Harris) all tried to trim their sails and all came up short (thanx and a hat's tip to the slave state inspired Electoral College).

We lost the working poor (mainly but not exclusively whites) when the Democratic Party did everything it could, in both 2016 and 2020, to shut down Bernie Sanders and then to ignore what appealed to his more diverse base.

The Democrats chose corporate policies over people policies. And they've been suffering ever since.

3) Too many refused to vote for a woman, especially a black woman,

This was a factor. It makes me sick to my stomach to live in a country so backward and so misogynistic that this may have been why some didn't vote for her.

And the most important -

4) I blame the American people.

Yeah. I said it. All of you who voted for Trump; those of you left it blank or voted third party - I blame you.

You know better. At least you should.

He was/is lawless.

She was/is flawless. Regardless of what was said above, she is of sterling character, ran the best campaign she could, picked the best Vice Presidential candidate I've ever seen, is the most qualified candidate of recent times, and is empathetic and caring.

And none of that mattered. None of it.

These next four years are going to be terrible.  

The best case scenario is that an adult/adults come back in 2026 and 2028 and can repair as much as possible.

The worst case scenario is that was the last election, and anything in the future will be a front and a sham, like they are in other authoritarian governments, like Hungary and Russia.  

What went wrong?

Everything. Absolutely everything.

And we're just beginning to find out what that means.






Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Our Darkest Day

 

This morning, in my alternating melancholy and rage, it is probably best that I don't say too much.  I am ready to burn bridges to the ground.  Not Christ-like, I know.  But there is nothing Christ-like that happened in this election.

There will be a temptation to understand and forgive those who did this, and the analysis will be endless.

I don't care about the analysis.  I don't care about considering forgiveness.  

What has been done is unforgivable.

What has been done will do horrible and irreversible damage.

And there is no way of getting around that.

There will be more later as I try to restore rationality to my temper.

But for now, I write the most terrifying words I have ever written - 


The Trumpocalypse Continues




Monday, November 4, 2024

2024 Final Projections: Saturday Political Soapbox 299

 



This is my final 2024 projection for the 2024 election!

The above is my overly rosy projection for the Electoral College.  

My less rosy projection is Harris 328 and the fascist 210.

Something's happening, and the polls aren't always catching it. Some polls are sponsored by and skewed by one party or the other (although to be honest, this is mostly a MAGAt game). Others are misapplying lessons learned in prior elections. Pollsters always overadjust. This time they are underestimating the furor of women and the youth vote. They are overestimating MAGA-style Republicans.

This does not include the fact that many people are no longer answering their phones. Even text messages are left unanswered. I had one pollster try to message me several times. I looked up the organization polling and decided it was not legit.

Examples of a trend towards Harris - the highly reputable Iowa Poll that showed her winning Iowa by 3 points! Also interesting was the Kansas poll that showed  Harris within five points! The last time a Kansas election was within five points was in 1896! The last Democrat to win Kansas was LBJ in 1964! Heck, FDR lost Kansas in 2 out of his four races! The fascist won Kansas by 15 points in 2016 and 11 points in 2020. What kind of seismic shift must be occurring for Kansas to be almost in play?

2024 HOUSE

My house projections:

Rosy: Democrats 236 Republicans 199

Less Rosy: Democrats 226 Republicans 209

I am confident that Hakeem Jeffries will be the Speaker of the House for the 119th Congress. I'm less sure of the margins. However, I would not be surprised if the final numbers are even rosier than I suggest!

I would love to see a Congress without Boebert, MTG, and Gaetz. However, that may be difficult because they are in very red districts. Of the three, Boebert is the most vulnerable.  

2024 SENATE

My Senate projections:

Rosy: Democrats 54 Republicans 46

Less Rosy: Democrats 51 Republicans 49

These numbers are with all the Independents caucusing with whom they really belong.

The Senate is the one I'm least sure about and makes me the most queasy. Because of the seats at risk, with Democrats having to defend the most territory, the natural course of events favors the Republicans.  

If the Republicans control the Senate, it would be a disaster. No one will get confirmed, leaving hundreds of vacancies. No legislation would pass, even bipartisan legislation. And I am afraid, with the Harris administration able to get little done, the 2026 backlash will be ugly, with morons blaming Harris rather than the Republican Senate.

The Republicans that I most want gone include Cruz of Texas, Scott of Florida, and Hawley of Missouri.


I am sorry. I cannot picture a scenario where the Orange fascist wins. But if he does, I fear for the nation. I fear for the world.

The MAGA fascist movement, the Christian nationalists, the billionaire bros - they all must be stamped out. Or at least neutered.





Friday, November 1, 2024

A Glimpse of Better Times

 There were some tough times.

That was inevitable with how history flows - it's not always a smooth course. There are always steps forward and steps back. You just have to hope you're lucky enough to live in a time when the forward steps exceed the backward ones.

Finally, in the deep twilight of my life, I feel blessed to have seen us progress towards a brighter future.

I thought we would never get a handle on global warming. And we didn't. Not completely. But it's nowhere near as bad as it was in the late twenties. We finally did the right things, moving to renewable fuels and taking better care of the Earth.

Sadly, poverty still exists. But very few live in starvation and misery, and we've ended the Age of Billionaires. Population peaked and stabilized, and we've learned much about sustainable agriculture.

In 2033, we finally gained true universal health care, thanks in large part to the efforts of President Ocasio-Cortez and the Progressive majority. Electoral reforms, such as the elimination of the Electoral College and ranked-choice voting, universal voting registration, increases in the Congressional delegation (Senate and House) based on population, the outlawing of legislative gerrymandering, increasing the Supreme Court to 13 (matching the number of circuit courts) and limiting their terms to 18 years, all of these increased the democratization of the American experiment.

Education flourished as public universities were made free, and critical thinking skills took preeminence at our public schools. Public libraries became central, parks were prioritized, and urban planning was implemented to beautify many cities, including the blooming of urban gardening.

People were free to love who they wanted. Gender and sexuality were a brilliant rainbow. Diversity was respected and enriched us all. We were no longer a white majority country, and except for a stubborn few, that made the country richer, more tolerant, and more loving.

With the essential safeguards in place, people felt more secure in becoming entrepreneurs, pursuing their dreams, and making the nation a rich patchwork of businesses and enterprises.  

At times, it looked like Christianity would be a thing of the past. But once the domination of the Christian Nationalists was broken, the Christian Progressives took center stage, and now Christianity is stronger and more purposeful than ever. The power of love and inclusivity, the desire to bring us closer to heaven on Earth, proved to be more potent than the power of hate and exclusivity.

As I sit here, on my porch in the Catskills, overlooking the beauty of nature, here in 2113, I look back to the early days when I was a child and my parents who fought so hard to end the country's teetering toward fascism, and the remarkable turnaround that began with the election of our first female President (amazing to think that it's been almost seventy years since our last male President), I see a world that is far from perfect but is so much better than it could have been.

God bless President Harris, and god bless all who voted for her. You made my world so much better.

Love to all,

Pastor Retta Strait