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.

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.

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

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.

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

Nobody Moves!

 

It's hard to say that Hilary lost when she won the popular vote by about three million. Nevertheless, because of the antiquated antics of the electoral college, the most disgusting man in America ruined American History and assumed the American Presidency.

In that campaign, Ms. Clinton spent an inordinate amount of time trying to woo "disaffected Republicans." Yes, many of them were disgusted by Trump and initially supported other Republicans. They sounded pretty adamant against him. But in the end, 99.9% of them came back home to roost, held their noses, and voted for the orange conman.  

In my own sphere, I had a co-worker who did not like Trump, would participate in my anti-Trump rants, and voted for another very conservative candidate in the primary. I had no idea until much later that he voted for the narcissistic racist in the general election. It was a great shock, and I did not react well. I felt my whole world built on people being rational crumble. After that, we never talked about politics.

Hilary Clinton wasted a lot of time and energy trying to win over the unwinnable and needed to spend more time trying to recapture the otherwise nonpolitical Bernie voter. In my opinion, these were the voters who could be won over, those who did not traditionally vote or always vote Democratic.

In 2020, when four years of the incompetent fraudster should have convinced many in the conservative base of how bad he was, there still was great resistance to switching. I did not talk to my co-worker about it, but I knew he had a Trump sign in the cabinet in his office. Biden won decisively, thanks to a large turnout, overcoming Trump winning more votes than he did in 2016.  

In the present. Kamala Harris has made a big deal out of winning over disaffected Republicans. I'm not sure how that's going to go. At least this time, she has a plethora of Republican figures supporting her, including the VERY CONSERVATIVE Cheneys, military generals, and most of Trump's cabinet; if you worked with him, you knew he was a POS.

How will that work this time? There is some hope she will gain more ground than Hillary Clinton did — the anecdotal evidence leans that way. Fortunately, that is not the only thing Harris is doing. She is appealing to the Democratic base and Independents as well. As an independent progressive, I am way fired up in a way that even exceeds my disdain for TRUMP/VANCE/PROJECT 2025. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is the best choice I could imagine for Vice President. 

In my own sphere, looking back on the last nine years we've lived with the sour reality that so many blindly support a fascist, I'm thinking hard if I know personally of even one person who had supported him who has since changed their mind.

Granted, I live in a 90% Trump county. It's not socially acceptable, or even safe, to publicly express opposition to him. But people know where I'm at and how I feel. You think at least one person could slip me word that they are now off the Trump reservation. But I've never heard that, not in nine long years.

Do you know anybody who was once for Trump but now disavows him? You don't need to name names. Just let me know - is there any hope? Is there anyone you know who moved out of the fascist darkness?

I really want to know.

Back to Political Basics

 

It's a strange season.

Many of you have already voted. It's difficult to know how much persuasion is warranted. Some of you have already voted for the future of American democracy. Some of you have already made the biggest mistake of your life.

In my personal world, I have seen little change or movement. For nine years, the lines have remained relatively solid. Nothing has been more discouraging and disappointing to me than my failure to persuade a single, solitary soul.  

So, enough about the monstrous shortcomings of the orange conman. None of you who are enthralled with him are willing to peek behind the curtain. The only thing left is to pray that the quirks of the Electoral College and the crafty manipulations of those who don't believe in democracy leave us with an unthinkable situation.

Once again, let me list the positions that are most important to me and who I feel will help the most. This will be brief, and it is important to note that I am picking those who represent it best, even if they are not the ideal.

1) Climate change/global warming is happening now, not just in the future. We need to do everything in our power to mitigate and slow the damage that is already underway. HARRIS/WALZ is the team to slow this.  

2) This country should have universal health care, ideally a single-payer plan. HARRIS/WALZ may only get there partially, but they'll make more progress than the other side (who are more likely to increase the cost and reduce the number covered).

3) The increasing gap between the wealthy and the working class needs to be reversed. HARRIS/WALZ have policies that will help close that gap, and start to reverse 40+ years of Reaganomics greed is good philosophy.

4) Public resources, such as public schools and libraries, need to be cherished and financed. HARRIS/WALZ will support and strengthen them.

5) My view, based on my faith, is that national borders mean nothing. God loves us all, and we should love all. There is no special relationship between God and any country. In that view, immigration means nothing. All jobs should have a living wage, and if Americans aren't willing to do them, then they are fair game for others to come in and do. Nobody deserves to be paid a wage they can't live on, regardless of where they come from. To be clear, nobody in politics represents this radical view. But I do think the HARRIS/WALZ will not focus on demonizing and dehumanizing immigrants.  

6) College costs need to be brought under control, and that means more federal and state involvement. HARRIS/WALZ will move us in that direction.  

There are many other issues I could address, but that is a start. I haven't addressed foreign policy, but rest assured, HARRIS/WALZ are the best. They won't abandon Ukraine, and although I'm not happy with how we're dealing with Israel's violence in Gaza, I do think Harris/Walz is more persuadable than the Orange Cheeto, who just wants Israel to "finish the job."

I can't think of a single issue where TRUMP/VANCE/PROJECT 2025 would be better for the country. Actually, all their positions would move us to an authoritarian fascist state.

But, apparently, some of you are perfectly happy with that.

And that scares the crap out of me.

Nine Years Into an American Nightmare

 I knew from the minute he rode down that escalator more than nine years ago - June 16th, 2015.

Really, I knew well before then. From the 80s on, I was aware that he represented the worst of America. His bankruptcies, his fraudulence, his racism, his misogyny - all was clear to anyone even paying half attention.

Descending (both physically and verbally) into the darkest corners of American racism and xenophobia, calling Mexicans criminals and rapists (talk about mirroring and projection!), I did not think this narcissistic buffoon would be no more than an extremist footnote on our body politic.

Boy, was I wrong.

A great swath of the American people disappointed me - again and again and again. Every day was a new low for this scamming blowhard, and every day, those who should know better overlooked it and stuck with him.

Thanks to our minority-enshrining Electoral College, Trump blustered his way into the White House. Having lost the popular vote by THREE MILLION meant nothing to him. It meant nothing to his supporters. I swear to you, had it happened the other way around, the Electoral College would have been shredded by now.

His President, by all measures, was a disaster. He inherited an excellent economy from Obama, and over the course of three years, he slowly ebbed it away. The Covid disaster covered up how much the economy was deteriorating before then. So some still get misty eyed for the return of the Obama economy.

We have been in a vicious cycle for the last forty-four years. Republicans destroy the economy, and then a Democrat has to come in to restore it (Clinton, Obama, Biden). And yet, polling indicates that a majority of people think Republicans are better at the economy. Ah, the enduring power of Reaganesque propaganda!

However, the economy is only one of Trump's problems. He has demonized and divided since Day One. And his lack of Covid response resulted in the needless death of hundreds of thousands of Americans. We had quantifiably the worst response to COVID-19 on the planet. He turned wearing masks and social distancing and vaccines into a political issue instead of community health care. Many of us simply stopped caring about each other. I'm not sure I'll ever get over many's warped, selfish response to Covid.  

He illegally did everything he could to steal an election and insert himself as a defacto dictator. You say that Vice President Pence is endangered by the mob I incited? As Trump said that day when told - "So what?"

It has been so hard. I live in a 90% Trump county. It is not comfortable to live here. You must be very careful who you speak to and how you speak. In person, I sometimes have a fierce temper when confronted by lunacy, so I have to be extra careful. Right or wrong, I have less hesitation when writing.

Every day has been wrenching. Every day, even now, I hope people around me, some of whom are otherwise decent, will wake up and say, "Tom, you've been right all along. Trump is a monster, and I'm no longer going to vote for him."

I see posts on social media that show former Trump supporters who no longer will back him. But in my own life? I don't know a single one. It has been a long, bitter wait to see any Trumpeteer I know return to the fold of Democracy.

It's so hard to accept. They don't want democracy—whether it's fascism, authoritarianism, or Christian nationalism—whatever they want to call what is, in essence, the same thing—they're all for it. And it is so hard to see the breakdown of the civic compact that is supposed to bind us all.

I just pray that this nightmare comes to an abrupt end on November 5th.

If it doesn't ... I'm not sure what to do. My heart and spirit will be broken.  

This is my most heartfelt message to the Trumpeteers in my life: Please wake up. Please return to the diversity and civic strength that are the best of America.

I can't take more sleepless nights.

P. S.  It is impossible to list in any one post all the rotten things Trump has done.  Please look at my label, Trumpocalypse, to get a fuller picture.  Or, just get your head out of the right-wing bubble.

Where's the Policy?

 

Ah, yes. It's time for our quadrennial ode to the independent voter.

The most repeated concern for this election cycle is - "I don't know enough about Kamala Herris's policies."

Really?

That's your concern?

Over time, politicians have learned not to be stupid enough to spend their time detailing elaborate, pages-long plans that map out what they're going to do in great detail. Why? 1) They're not writing fully fleshed legislative bills that they may or may not be able to pass.  2) The independent voter wouldn't listen to it anyway.

They've already made it clear that being undecided in one of the most clear-choice elections we've ever had means you're not paying attention, and many won't even at the last minute.

All detailed plans do is give the press, special interests, and the opposition party opportunities to pick it apart.

You think being more specific helps? Why don't we check with those who felt like they had to concentrate on specific plans - Al Gore? John Kerry? Hilary Clinton? Any thoughts? How did that help you win the Presidency?

Vice President Harris is telling you where she wants to take the country in broad strokes. First and foremost - BY HELPING THE MIDDLE CLASS, the workers that are the backbone of this country. Immigration? Pass the bipartisan border bill that Trump tanked. Inflation? Challenge corporate greed. Housing? $25,000 to first-time home buyers, encourage more affordable homes to be built, challenge private equity buying up, and inflate the price of real estate. Women's healthcare rights? Bust the filibuster and codify Roe v. Wade. Voter's right? Pass already pending bills to secure the vote and democracy.  

And more. Want more details? See her website.

There is no excuse for not knowing her policies. You'll get the gist of where she's going. Detailed specifics are for losers.

Speaking of losers, what about Donald Trump? You sure as heck can't get many specifics out of a Donald Trump speech. I mean, once you get past the Hannibal Lecter, sharks, toilet flushes, and whatever else he's whining about.

Here's what you'll get - immigration is bad, and he'll paint that in demonizing, dehumanizing terms. He'll have mass deportations, INCLUDING legal immigrants. He'll do another round of massive tax cuts for the rich and large corporations. He'll impose massive tariffs, ones sure to spur inflation and wreck the US economy, and cost the average citizen thousands of dollars. Don't think so? Research how excessive tariffs deepened and extended the Great Depression of the 20s and 30s.

Other issues are just braggadocio of how he'll fix it without real explanation.  

But do not despair.

There is a detailed explanation of what Trump will do. It's called Project 2025, an almost 900-page tome that lays out all the autocratic moves designed to make our country a fascist state. Many of the people who wrote it are connected to the Trump administration. His name is mentioned over 300 times. JD Vance wrote the forward.

Most independent voters are not really independent. Many have a clear bias towards conservatism or progressivism. They may hesitate due to character concerns, or stuff they saw on social media, or what their Uncle Ferd told them. They are just searching for enough confirmation bias to justify their decision.

If you're really concerned about policy details, don't expect the candidates to waste their precious time at rallies and interviews gushing out great details (we're not all Michael Dukakis, you know).

If you're concerned about Harris, check her website.

If you're concerned about Trump, find what you can about Project 2025.

Inform yourself and vote. It's what preserves our constitutional democracy.

That is if you're interested in preserving it.

September Wednesday Wanderings

I've been absent from the blog for a while. I would apologize, but I just think that's the way it will be now. Rest assured, I'm not abandoning my blog, even if I can't get to it every day.

PERSONAL HEALTH UPDATE

I'm doing pretty good. I have blood pressure problems and am prediabetic, but I'm doing my best to mitigate those with exercise and diet and shutting out MAGA world when I can.  

I am affected by rheumatoid arthritis, which primarily affects my knees, feet, and legs. It is difficult to sit at the computer for significant stretches when I am in a flareup, like I was until recently. Consequently, during those periods, I write less.

I have received help from my physician's assistant and am on the mend. This is good. I will visit my granddaughter soon and wanted to be as mobile as possible.

WORK SITUATION

I have acquired a part-time job. Yes, it's in accounting and bookkeeping, which is not my favorite, but it's for good people and is only about 10 hours a week. It should help family resources so we can maybe travel more.

UPDATE ON BLOG SERIES

I still want to write the final installment of Getting Off in All the Wrong Places. It's difficult because current events keep overtaking what I want to say. But rest assured, it's still fulminating in the back of my mind.

I also will work towards another installment about the 100 best science fiction movies of the 20th century. I'm going in reverse order, starting with #100. I stalled out at Cocoon; it's not available to stream anywhere. They have also not made a new DVD in many a year. But, thanks to the great resources of our public library, I was able to borrow a DVD of Cocoon! Only to find out my DVD player no longer worked! Not to be deterred, I purchased a new DVD player via Amazon. It came in yesterday. It is installed, and I hope to watch Cocoon as soon as today!

I will post fiction as it comes to me. Currently, I am entering a flash fiction contest in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine - wish me luck!

I will also post about other things—politics, public library support, and family stuff, both current and nostalgic—as time and inspiration allow.

HARRIS/WALZ 2024!

The debate last night was incredible. She was personable, communicated effective plans, and she just wound him up. She stayed calm but strong, while he was loud and angry and incoherent and lying nonstop.

Has anyone else noticed, and I don't mean this in any negative way, that Kamala's voice style and tone are similar to Judy Garland's? 

This remenided me of what the debate was like. It was like Dorothy scolding the Wizard of Oz for being a fraud, with a symbolic Toto ripping back the curtain to show what a manipulative, empty suit Trump really is.

There is no there there. And now the American people know it for sure.

Will this move enough Trumpeteers that I don't have to stay awake at night worried about the outcome of this election?

Probably not. But one can dream.

I'm ready for Harris to click her heels and bring us back home.

A Legacy Devolved: Saturday Political Soap Box 298

 

We are often heavily influenced by political figures that are popular when we come of age.

I became politically aware younger than most. JFK and Camelot meant a lot to me, not just for what they did but also for what they promised to do.

The assassination of President Kennedy seemed to me like a dream interrupted. LBJ accomplished much of the Civil Rights agenda, only to fall way short with Vietnam.

RFK felt to me like an opportunity to restore the dream. Bobby was a more brash figure than his brother, starting out more conservative. But after the assassination, he went on a spiritual and political journey that brought him to identify more with minorities and the poor and disadvantaged. He had the rare ability to earn support from both Black and Latino voters, along with the white working class.

In my room at home, I had a poster of a quote that Bobby would often use -

This was initially said by George Bernard Shaw but made popular in my generation by RFK.

Once again, the dream was cut short by an assassination. It left me angry, confused, hopeless. Would the legacy ever be restored?

The youngest brother, Teddy, held some promise, but Chappaquiddick left him compromised. He still had a lot of good things to say, but it was hard for him to overcome what happened in that tragic accident. Although I longed for a Kennedy restoration, I stuck with President Carter in the primaries.

I looked for future generations as they entered adulthood and politics. Joe Kennedy Jr, congressman for Massachusetts, came the closest, but none quite fit the bill.

On the surface, I should have liked RFK, Jr., but I admired his earlier career in environmentalism. But then...

He kind of went off the nut.

His personal life was shaky (babysitter affairs, brain worms, adventures with roadkill). His policies were skewed towards the unacceptable. Some might consider his anti-vaccine routine acceptable or just a minor thing. I do not, not when childhood diseases are making a comeback, not when he was a significant part of the Covidiot nonsense.

So, I knew that he was not someone I could support. Some friends were upset that he was getting resistance from being on the debate stage or fighting to get on enough ballots.

If he was a ground-roots movement designed to build a vital new political party, I might have some sympathy with that viewpoint.  

But his is not. It's another rich guy's vanity project. Funding came from a consortium of right-wing billionaires. I kept being told RFK was a liberal by those who damn well knew that he was not.

Many thought he was a plant to draw Democratic voters away from Biden. I was skeptical and just thought it was narcissistic selfishness.

I was wrong.

Yesterday, he suspended his campaign and endorsed Donald Trump, even showing up at one of Trump's rallies.

Well, that rips the cover off that ball, doesn't it?

I am grateful that we don't have a monarchy in this country. We've had few families where we could safely transfer power from one family member to another.

The royal attraction is still strong in this country. John Adams to his son John Quincy Adams. Roosevelt cousins. Bush Sr to Bush Jr. The desire to go from Bill to Hilary. Those who swore until the convention that the Democrats would turn to Michelle Obama.

I am no longer yearning for a return to the Kenedys. However, I do still yearn for the politics represented by Bobby Kennedy—that progressive bent that attracts ALL the working class across all other barriers.

I see that ticket in Harris/Walz. Harris is experienced and competent speaks the right language, is strong in our various American communities, and crosses gender and racial lines. Coach Walz has a simple and direct way of communicating with the working class in ways that they can understand and identify with.

I still wonder what American History would have been like had Bobby not been assassinated and had won the Presidency in 1968. We can only conjecture. We can only dream.

But even though the dream of Bobby might be gone, and his legacy devolved by his own son, Harris/Walz convinces me that the dream is still alive.

I'm voting for Gus's Dad!

Harris/Walz 2024!!!

That's My Dad!

 

Sometimes, there are moments that seer one's soul and are etched there forever.

One such moment is watching Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's children react to his rousing acceptance speech. The open love and joy of that family are truly special, and I will never forget it.

Tim Walz is a once-in-a-generation political figure. No, not just political. He represents the very best of the fabric of American life.

He is a coach and public school teacher and has served in the military for 24 years. He has also served as a congressional representative and governor. That's great, but his best achievement is being a loving father and good neighbor.

More than any figure of my lifetime, he represents progressive politics' true nature and power. I love Bernie Sanders. I love AOC. But nobody, and I mean NOBODY, articulates it better than Coach Walz.

There were so many great things he said in his brief but effective speech (or, as he calls it, a pep talk) that it's hard to select just one.

Nevertheless, this one sticks out to me -

"While other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours," said Gov. Tim Walz, the next Vice-President of the United States.

When his 17-yrar-old-boy jumped up and cried and shouted "That's my Dad!" it was a riveting, galvanizing moment. I still turn into a puddle thinking about it. Such love! Such joy! What family bonds!

And the Midwest Dad thing? It's real.

How do I know it's real?

Because I had a Midwest Dad.

No, they aren't clones. But they're close enough to bring tears to my eyes. Close enough that it almost brings me to my knees as I remember.

My Dad was a public school educator, a math teacher, and then a high school principal. He was kind and giving, dedicated to hard work for the benefit of those around him. From him, I learned more about what it really meant to be a Christian than from anyone else in my life.

I love him. I am grateful for the foundation he gave me, which I have tried to pass on to my other boys. I miss him every day.

Joe Biden made a difficult decision, showing he loved his country more than holding onto power. Kamala Harris demonstrated her incredible intelligence and discernment by picking an incredible talent like Tim Walz.

Special note:

For those who are inclined to make fun of Gus Walz, I have an important statement -

Get off my feed. Get away from me. I have no respect for you. I will block you in any way I can. Enough is enough.

I have read he is neurodivergent and may have some learning issues. I don't care - in the sense that whether he has those issues or not, I fully identify with the emotion and love he showed.

Trust me. If it had been my Dad, I would have reacted the same way.

HARRIS/WALZ 2024!!!

Modern Day Zapruder

 The assassination of President Kennedy?

Yes. I'm old enough. Eight years old at the time. It was a frightening day, even though it took me a few years to understand its magnitude.  

We were sure what happened, but we needed to figure out why, how, and who.  

It became a kaleidoscope. Every time you looked through it, you saw the evidence and conjecture assembled and came up with a different answer. Lone gunman? Russian communists? Cubans? CIA? The mob? Every book, every investigation, every documentary led to other answers.

The famous Zapruder film, taken on a Bell & Howell home-movie camera by Abraham Zapruder, turned out to be a well-known piece of evidence for ALL THEORIES. What we were looking at? It may have cleared some things up, but mainly, it could be used to promote several theories,

And now we have our modern-day Zapruder footage. This rally was recorded, and it clearly shows that something happened, but it really doesn't clear everything up. Given what was happening, Trump's and the Secret Service's reactions seemed weird and strange. Why was Trump not covered completely in an active shooter situation, exposed as he popped his head up to fist shake and shouted, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" Where were the others hurt, and why do we not see them getting any attention?  

How did the shooter get that close? Especially when they were rallygoers trying to point him out to the police?

What about the shooter? What were his motivations? Was he really a registered Republican? A gun nut? A loner? Someone who gave $15 to a progressive group? 

Some answers may be found out with time. Others may never be found out.

What we do know is that it was a horrific incident, emblematic of the rot and danger in our political culture, in our gun culture, and in our social culture wars.

President Biden, Vice-President Harris, and other prominent Democrats have done a good job in reaching out with empathy and support for those involved and in condemning political violence as a whole.

Yes, legitimately so; there is a whole thing of the pot calling the kettle black. Not universally, but in vocality, Republicans (particularly MAGAs) have been quite violent in their rhetoric and in not being sympathetic when incidents happen - making for of Paul Pelosi after he almost lost his life to a political zealot, dismissing the kidnapping and potential execution of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, denying that January 6th insurrection was any more than just tourists, saying we should "just get over it," after school shootings, calling for the execution of their political opponents (in some cases, their own party, like with former Vice President Pence, and former Congresswoman Liz Cheney), posting memes of President Biden hogtied in the back of a pickup.  

Some Democrats and independents occasionally cross the line, but I'm sorry, never at the level and intensity of the other side. That's just a hard fact.

Please. Scrutinize my blogs, over 2,000 stories. Tell me where I call for violence.  

And no, stating that Trump is an authoritarian and a dozen other negative things is not calling for violence. I'm trying to call out what he actually is and emphasize what things would be like if he ever becomes president again. It won't be pretty; it will very likely signal the end of democracy, and I'm not going to lie about it.

But I've never advocated physical violence against him to anyone else. And yes, 99.99% of those I speak with and are on my side feel the same way.

I want Trump defeated at the polls - soundly. That is the only way to end the MAGA movement. I want his civil and criminal trials to go forward - we have a right to know these and to have them judged by a jury. If he is found guilty, I expect him to pay fines and be punished accordingly. I'm not desperate for him to go to prison, but I'm not against it if that is what his sentence dictates.

I wish Trump a speedy recovery (whoops! that may have already happened - he's back to playing golf). I grieve for the family of the person killed and for those who were injured. No one should have to risk their lives to attend a political rally.

I don't know everything that happened. We may never know.  

I pray that there is no more violence this election (or any election, for that matter).

That does not change what Trump is and the existential dangers he poses.

And I will not stop posting about it.

Bucking Up

 Someone commenting on how concerned I and others were about recent events wanted to dismiss and ridicule our concern. They stated, "Buck up, Pal. All will be well. Trust me."

Really?

All is definitely not well. First, we had the egregious debate where all focus was on Biden's performance and little to nothing on the manic serial liar, condemning migrants, claiming the Democrats were killing babies after birth, and shouting one falsity after another. Biden talks too softly, and the media is ready to run him out of town, and the narcissistic misogynistic racist adjudicated sexual assaulter, adjudicated fraudster, convicted felon orange conman gets a pass. A man, who while President, wasn't available until noon, read no briefings, and wanted us to drink bleach. A man who, as a former President, slept and farted through his trial, can't complete a coherent thought, and wants to execute Liz Cheney, and the media shrugs its shoulders.

But, of course, that wasn't the only thing about last week. The Supreme Court, which has been making horrible decisions the last couple of decades, upped its game considerably with four democracy-ending positions.

They ruled that bribery is legal if it's done after the fact.

They ruled that federal agencies no longer have any actual authority. An expert who has spent his life learning about something can now be overruled by the courts, all the way to the Supreme Court. If a certain chemical is contaminating the water supply, who better to determine whether it needs to be regulated than our six far-right Supreme Court Justices? Corporations rule, and citizens drool (literally, depending on what containment is allowed).

They decided that the homeless could be thrown in prison for the crime of not having a home.

And the worst? They made Trump King by giving him immunity for "official acts." And who decides what an official act is? That's right - the Supreme Court.

Some of my like-minded friends have suggested that Biden can now commit criminal acts to advance his own national agenda. Au contraire, Pierre. You need to remember who decides what is or isn't an official act. That's right. It's the extremist six who are running roughshod over democracy.

After the opening paragraphs, our Declaration of Independence was all about not wanting to live under the rule of an authoritarian King who had immunity to do whatever he wanted to us.

And now, on July 1, 2024, we ended our rebellion against a King, and the Supreme Court decided to restore us to a Monarchy.

Buck up? No, this is a DEFCON red alert emergency.

But, trust me, we will be bucking up. Just not in the way my Facebook commenter wanted us to.

We will be bucking up to fight this coming darkness in any way we can.

We will be doubling down in our support of Biden/Harris. 

We will sound the alarm about the Supreme Court, MAGA, Christian Nationalism, and Project 2025.

We will stand up to those who want to take away our rights and freedoms - women's right to reproductive health care, voting rights, support for our lgbtq+ community, support our public schools and libraries, defend our commitment to NATO, fight to reduce income inequality, struggle to make education, healthcare, and housing more affordable, to raise wages and encourage unions, to extend our respective faiths through the power of love and inclusion, and not the power of hate and exclusion.

Yes, there may come a time when we can't fight back, but that time is not here yet.

Until then...

WE ARE BUCKING UP!!!

BIG TIME!

President Biden: A Great President Who had a Bad Debate: Saturday Political Soap Box 297

 Those who follow my blog will know that my last blog story was about pre-date analysis, with an update with post-debate analysis.

Based on how debates are decided in America, which concentrates on optics, Joe Biden lost the debate. He needed to prove he wasn't old, and he failed to do that.

What a shocker. Biden is old. No duh.

We can only guess what went wrong. He had a cold, he was overrehearsed, and he was hoarse. My feeling is it was a combination of all three. He was trying to spew too many facts and policies in too short a period. It was also hard to pick out what to refute in Trump's avalanche of lies.

Before the debate, I had someone comment that they hoped the debate would concentrate on facts and policy. Then, after the debate, with Biden concentrating on facts and policy, the same person commented, "Well, was I right? Are we doomed?" They completely IGNORED that one of the candidates was trying to talk about the things he wanted them to talk about!

My conclusion on the debate had to do with how I saw debates judged in the past. Optics is King. Snotty one-liers are Queen. But that conclusion does not negate the fact that the President has been a great, successful President who has the ability and mental capacity to continue to lead us to a better future.

Incumbent Presidents have frequently underperformed in their first debates—Reagan, George HW Bush Sr, Bush Jr., Barack Obama, Trump, and now Biden struggled in their first debates.

The idea that Biden is too far gone to be President is balderdash. Our economy was wrecked, and he brought it back quicker than any post-pandemic economy on the planet. The inevitable post-pandemic inflation was reduced faster here than in other countries. He didn't just have a zillion Infrastructure Weeks; he actually passed it! He's revitalized manufacturing and brought the chips industry back. He passed the PACT Act to ensure that Vets got the health care they needed, and he's helped control drugs for Seniors AND for all of us. He's helped millions reduce Student Debt. He's led the support, marshaling an international alliance, to help Ukraine against Russian aggression. He's done more to help combat and mitigate global warming/climate change than ANYONE else on the PLANET.

He's compassionate and decent and cares about ALL Americans.

If there had been a competitive primary in the Democratic Party, I would've voted for him. And I am one of those far-left Progressives who'd love to see people like AOC and Jasmine Crockett become President. 

If something happens to Biden, I have confidence in Vice President Kamala Harris. She is a strong, confident, and competent leader, and I feel at ease if she is called upon. I know many of you don't feel that way, but you'll need to ask yourselves why. What is there about Harris that bothers you? Hmmm.  What could it be?

I'll keep my remarks short on the lying convict who is his opponent. He answered NO policy questions and lied with every word he spoke. He's a self-centered son of B and one of the few people I actually hate. Sorry, not sorry.

Here's an example of Trump in a recent post-debate rally - "All they know is electric, they want electric army tanks, they want electric planes. What happens if the sun isn't shining while you're up in the air?"

Seriously - do you want to vote for somebody that STUPID?

The immediate reaction from some Democratic officials was DEFCON 1 HAIR ON FIRE! How can we replace him?

Not gonna happen, folks. Nor should it happen.

Other than that, everything is going pretty well. After the debate, Biden gave a barn burner of a speech, lighting up a large crowd.

Some recent post-debate polls on who you would vote for show Biden going UP, not down!

Fundraising post-debate shows more money going to Biden than Trump!

Now that the initial shock is wearing off, many pundits and social media users are coming out strongly in support of him.

I'm not voting based on one bad debate. Issues and facts mean something to me. Competency and decency mean something to me. The future of Democracy and the planet mean everything to me. I want my grandchild to grow up in a better world, where global warming has been checked and mitigated, where people enjoy and thrive in great diversity, where the American Dream hasn't been choked off by the concentration of wealth, where - as my faith leads me to believe, LOVE is stronger than HATE.

So, mark me down—I don't care what happened in this debate or in the next debate. I know who can lead this country to a brighter future—PRESIDENT JOSEPH R. BIDEN!

I'M RIDIN' WITH BIDEN!!!

The Winner is ... 5 O'clock Shadow : Updated With Comments On the Debate From Hell

 

For one glorious year, I was the debate coach at Cass City High School in Michigan. Way before the Internet, the only research tools we had were the books and magazines we could gather ourselves. Other schools with larger teams and budgets could out-research us, so we had to find a different way to win.

Debates were often about how many quotes or researched references a debater could squeeze in in the time allotted. It almost became a scorecard, so if they had 7 quotes supporting their side, you just had to rapid-fire 8 quotes to beat them. It often involved speaking fast and delivering the most quotes per minute. It didn't make for an interesting or even informative contest.

So, my debaters learned to be more communicative, colorful if you will, with their language. We concentrated on the non-verbal part and our rhetorical flourishes. I had some highly intellectual debaters who also knew how to give a good speech with a flourish. We didn't win the state, but we were good enough to finish third, the most successful finish the school had ever had to that date.

But we didn't lie to do it. We didn't make up facts. We stuck to the truth, and we supported our more flourishing rhetoric.

It was hard enough keeping academic debates on course. You can imagine what political ones are like. They're not scored based on facts and policy. I wish that was true, but it is not.

They are almost always judged by single moments. Maybe that's the most people can absorb.

It might be physical, like Nixon's 5 o'clock shadow. George HW Bush's distracted impatience in checking his watch,  Al Gore's sighing, Trump stalking behind Hilary as if he were the Frankenstein Monster.

It might be a verbal slip-up like Ford saying Poland wasn't under Soviet domination. Or Dukakis's cold-blooded answer to whether he'd want the death penalty for someone who murdered his wife.

Often it is a one-liner like Reagan's turning the age question on its head with Mondale, and the snippy little "There you go again" to Jimmy Carter.

What can't I show? Where debates were won on facts and policy.

So, what will happen tonight? In this extraordinarily early debate?

Most things favor the President of the United States over the convicted felon. Biden is intelligent and quick-witted. Yes, he's 81, but other than cheap fakes on Fox, he's shown little sign of cognitive decline. That said, the slightest slip-up will be amplified to the max by right-wing media. 

On the other hand, there is little dispute that Trump IS in serious cognitive decline. If you don't think so, you haven't listened to some of his most recent statements. The battery/shark story is just the tip of the disintegrating iceberg.

Trump has advantages. He can lie his ass off,  and he will get away with zero policy statements. He'll verbally attack Biden again and again. He can be as incoherent as he wants as long as he gets off a memorable one-liner.  

And, yes, I know the candidates will be muted if they go over their time or if it's not their turn. What I don't know is how well the other candidate can hear them when their opponent's mic is off. I fear that Biden will still hear him even if we can't clearly, and it will distract him while he tries to answer. The resulting confusion and irritation may come across, and people will not reason it out because Trump is a boorish pig who won't shut up, but that Biden is OLD.

Biden is the better debater, but that is no guarantee. And I am very worried because the election of Trump does mean the end of the Democratic experiment. Check out Project 2025.

Oh, the terror of the superficial decider.  

Most of you will see this after the debate, I reckon. My blog, when seen it all, seems to be delayed by Facebook.  

So, I will try to add an update to this.

If I can stomach it.

UPDATE:

No, I can't stomach the update, but some people are anticipating so...

PHYSICAL/OPTICS:  an unmitigated disaster for Joe Biden. Yes, he had a cold. Yes, he got stronger as the Debate went on. But Biden had one job to do - to prove that his age didn't matter, that he had age-defying stamina. He failed in that job - spectacularly.

VERBAL SLIP-UPS: I can't think of any. I'll have to hear more reviews. Biden tried to spit out too many facts, and he got lost in some of the numbers, but he said nothing fatally stupid. All Trump said were lies and nonsense, but I don't know one that stood out. I guess when you're spinning out verbal diarrhea, it's hard to pick out the one that stinks the most.

ONE-LINERS: They are few and far between. I liked Biden's line about Trump: He has the morals of an alleycat.

FACTS/POLICY: This was a landslide in favor of Biden. Biden at least tried to answer the questions asked, and I love what Biden has accomplished and the direction he wants to take the country. Trump answered NO POLICY QUESTIONS and instead made everything about him. He spent considerable time demonizing migrants with monstrous lies that would make Hitler and Goebbels blush with pride.

However, as this blog and other sources have made clear, policy is irrelevant in a debate. It's the most important part of the debate, but it's the least absorbed part of a debate. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is about optics.  

Cage Match Re-Match

 

It's official! We have a re-match!

Whether you like it or not.

If you don't like it and did not vote in your primary for somebody else, you have no one to blame but yourself.

I'm not thrilled with the lack of real contest in our primaries and conventions. If we really like democracy, then we should consider competition essential.

That said, no matter how many choices we had, I would still vote for the same person - Joe Biden. Yes, he's old. Yes, he's not perfect. But the reality is that he has exceeded my expectations for what he has achieved.

The most comprehensive infrastructure and climate bills ever passed. Growth in the stock market, low unemployment, growing GDP and stock market, a return of manufacturing jobs, and recovering from post-COVID inflation as quickly as any nation on Earth. He has helped rally the free world to support Ukraine. I'm not happy with how he has failed to do everything to protect Gaza, but without a shadow of a doubt, he is doing more than what Trump would (who has just urged Netanyahu to "finish the job"). 

I won't go on and on about Trump. Anyone who reads my blog knows how I feel about him.

Every day for the past nine years has been an utter embarrassment to me that anyone would support this racist, misogynistic, narcissistic, adjudicated rapist adjudicated fraudster four times indicted with a total of 91 counts, twice impeached incoherent orange conman. Shame on you if you're still with him.

But...speaking of still being with him, Pierce County continues to outshine in its extremism.

I keep waiting for the big turnaround, but the Democratic Party's share of the vote keeps dwindling.

Here is the county vote in yesterday's primary, as reported by The Blackshear Times:

In the last two general Presidential elections, Trump has garnered about 87% of the total vote.

How about this time?

*

It just keeps getting more depressing. Unless they're people we know that are not Trumpers, we have to keep our mouths shut or risk dehumanizing vilification.

Only Republicans go to heaven, you know. At least per our very active and loud Christian Nationalist churches that dominate Pierce County.

It's hard. But I hope people across the nation recognize the danger Trump poses.

* This vote total represents only 17.53% of the county's registered voters. I'm sure this was somewhat reflective of the real lack of competition. Nevertheless, I don't know for any reason why the vote percentages would have been higher if more people had voted.