Retreat is not victory (#4046)

     What trump is doing is retreating not declaring victory. The peace offerings to Afghanistan and earlier Syria are and were not from positions of strength but from positions of weakness that trump could not escape. His predecessors were not inclined to retreat from the stalemates that were because a greater good was at stake but with the cowardly trump in control we have given away our blood and treasure earned advantages for some semblance of chest thumping. Well what takes place after our troops withdraw from Afghanistan will be eerily similar to what is happening in Syria.
     Where we cast aside our long time allies for a political stunt. Where we condemned to death those freedom fighters who thought we were in it to win with them. Where the tyrants of the day are now the real chest thumpers and proclaimers of victory. It is in defeat that trump sees himself winning. When the dust settles on these retreats the victors will have established their strongholds again in time to subject their people to more authoritarian and brutal rule. The idea that democracy won out is absurd, and actually defeat for democracy is the exposed trumpian agenda. Why would the wannabe dictator trump want to spread democracy when he is trying so desperately to defeat it at home?
     The long held belief that our democracy was the best form of government ever created has now been quashed by trump and his republican sycophants. Not only here at home but now overseas where we as a nation in the past held that cruel and brutish regimes did not deserve to exist if we could help put them down. Not anymore. Now we Americans are accomplices to defeatism as a political stunt to try to win votes from the stupid among us. The problem is that not many are going to fall for this agenda of trump and all he is doing is weakening the rights of all individuals to have the right to the pursuit of happiness.

Friday couldn't come fast enough for trump (#4045)

     On Monday this week the Dow closed down 278 points. On Tuesday this week the Dow closed down 1,032 points. On Wednesday this week the Dow closed down 879 points. On Thursday this week the Dow closed down a record 1,191 points. Well today is Friday and the Dow started off falling down over 700 points in the first minute. It has stabilized a bit in the last 20 minutes at still more than 700 points down. So whatever happens today to the Dow the week has been one of a mighty fall. good thing tomorrow is Saturday and the Dow being closed for the weekend otherwise there would likely be no relief for trump and his handling of all things in our society.
     Of course trump will blame everyone else for whatever happens that is bad and claim all credit for anything that happens that is good. But his blaming anyone or anything else is not going to play well with the big money boys who are taking a huge financial hit right now. That trump cut funding for disease control by about two thirds leading up to the latest pandemic coming from China downplays his narrative of not his fault. Just like when the republican Congress cut funding for embassy security before the Benghazi embassy attack, no shuffling of blame away will work. Yet neither that republican led Congress nor trump now will ever accept the blame for their doing.
     The thing though about this Friday being the stopgap trump needs to end the free fall of the Dow Jones and other trading indexes, it is only a short stay. Then the new week will have it's own narrative to write. As I am writing this post I am also checking on the updates for the Dow and as of this very moment it is now down more than 900 points as of 10 am Eastern time. Yesterday was a record breaker for the largest drop in American history for the Dow and today may have that same kind of story to tell when the final closing bell for the week rings.

250 days until the election (#4044)

     Every day it seems like trump and his bottom feeders do something that is a shame to modernity and respect. Yet with each passing day we hit milestones in our countdown to ending the trump coup. Today marks the 250 day mark until trump gets his verdict from the American people. Yes, he will be found wanting and no matter how much he lies, cheats, and steals he will be defeated come November 3rd. Because no amount of false information nor narrative change will save his sorry ass from the anger he has instilled within us the majority in his quest to become a wannabe king.
     There are too many of us who will never vote for him and although we some in the democratic party are pitiful at times we will all fall in line behind whomever is our standard bearer. The kind of institutional cheating trump would have to do within too many states is impossible now after what we learned from the theft of our democracy in 2016. So the writing is on the wall and trump in 250 days will be ripe for the picking of the deserves he has coming. The charges and verdicts coming to him notwithstanding, his ego will take such a hit that what he does after November 3rd is still unknown. He may do a runner or just dig in his heels and refuse to accept our votes to end his reign.
     Either way trump will be done and that is what is going to happen. He offers nothing to reasonable and sensible people so the only ones who will stand by him are his cult followers and those who cannot abide a democracy. The problem there is that even with both he is well short of being competitive. He will be blown out of office and with him will be his sycophants in Congress. The wipeout is coming as our blue wave will become a tsunami and nothing of any real effect from the republican party will be left. 250 days will go by in a hurry and for that I am as glad of anything in life.

The rise of progressive politics (#4043)

     Surely at this point no one can deny with an ounce of sincerity that our national conscience is moving to the left of center in politics. It is even difficult to maintain that our conscience is not moving further left toward progressive policies en masse. Which for the first time since the late 1960's would be welcome by what I see as a majority of American voters. This time, unlike other times in our more recent history there is an anger to those of us who are more than ready to vote our consciences. The turnout of our liberal/progressive citizenry has always been troubling in that we never seemed to get how important every votes is.
     Not so this time around. It is as if the many of us have had an awakening and instead of turning our attention away we are focused now on exercising our right to vote. The analysis for why this paradigm of inconsistent voting is changing has to largely fall at the feet of trump, mcconnell, and like ilk. Never in our national history has such a polarizing figure as trump been so blatant in his cruel and brutish attack on our democracy and our citizenry. There is no overlap as to intentionality when it comes to the republican party and it's devious agenda.
     So not only does the populist idea foment in the minds of we the democratic party of "all the people" but we are not subdued in our intent to end the travesty that is trump and his cult followers. Those of us who are registered democrats to vote in record numbers far outnumber those who are still under the sorcerer's spell. The rise of progress politics is the culmination of decades of decaying conservative control and the importance of progressive politics is now ever more vital. The time for our awakening in order to vote for our future is perfectly timed to not only end the appointed presidency of trump but to uproot the enablers in Congress that let him happen.

The Robert Kennedy quote (#4042)

     "Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not."-Robert Kennedy. It is like this today in at least one respect. Unfortunately, too many people today see things as they are but they don't question why. They accept what reality as the best that it can be without questioning why it is the best it could be. I have lived long enough to know that it is far from the best it could be and like Kennedy, I question not only why but I dream as well of things that never were and ask why not. This isn't a box we live in. We get to create our own reality and if you are not working on what your version of reality should be then you are not really living, you are just existing.
     In the Allegory of the Cave, written about in Plato's republic, some just sat and stared at a wall of shadows and accepted that as reality. Once one got curious and crept out of the cave and saw the vast horizon of the world for the first time, this person realized that what we accept as good enough is nowhere near what we could have. Lessons are all around us as is information but if we don't choose to get up and look outside our caves we will never know that our lives could have been much more rewarding. For those of us who got up out of the cave we now dream of what could be and want the rest of us to join in making it real.
     I am not here to gain anything just for myself, I want the whole world to enjoy not only the happiness that comes with accomplishing great things but for our human species to move beyond the pettiness of disrespect and cruel control. Am I being too selfish to want all of us to live in a world where anyone's merit and hard work equals success? Am I asking too much for our society to not only take care of our young and helpless but our old and infirm as well? Our human species is capable of much better than the uncaring and unquestioning paradigm that is currently operating. Before I go on to my last breath I hope I can help change the future so that it isn't shadows on the wall we see but instead the bright light of day and the hope of a magnificent sunrise.
  

The time is past due for medicare for all (#4041)

     The arguments against medicare for all have been weighed and measured and have been found wanting. The idea that we cannot have universal health care is now down to those who argue for profit over life. Everything else is just down to disambiguation of words. A transition over a few years from for profit health care to a government run single payer system is a protection for current workers who would transition from private to public care. There should be every effort made to see to it that no one who wants to keep a job in the current healthcare system loses a job. At the same time the beginning of bringing in every American citizen into healthcare coverage should begin immediately.
     This is not so much a progressive idea that hasn't already succeeded in 32 other industrialized countries as it is we here in America catching up to the moral, and ethical respect we should already have had for our citizenry. Of course this medicare for all will not happen while republicans are in office so when the voting time comes this November let us give ourselves a better life by removing them from office everywhere they are trying to hold on. Back when the republican reagan came into office in 1981 health care became much more privatized. So reversing that profit driven decision is what medicare for all will do.
     Many seem to think that a public option will work because it appears on the surface to be a step in the correct direction. However it is fools gold. Because it allows private insurers to keep a big foothold in the healthcare industry while denying medicare for all the advantage of lowering costs. Because medicare for all is not just about universal coverage, it is also about being able to negotiate from a foundationally strong position of strength to negotiate lower costs across the board. The public option significantly reduces that paradigm and well could be an impediment to public insurance remaining viable. A catch twenty two that the private healthcare insurance industry is hoping for in order to defeat medicare for all. Which is why there cannot be a lifeline tossed out to private insurers. They must be made to wind down and stop profiting off of healthcare miseries.

I am a progressive liberal (#4040)

     This should be no surprise to anyone who knows me. I want progressive policies from a liberal standpoint but I am pragmatic about the details. I guess in many ways I am a Jerry Brown democrat. I want for all or our citizenry but not at the expense of failure. What seems possible must be in an equation that makes sense. Pragmatism is paramount to delivery and although some ideas have great lofty goals they have to be possible within our economic, social, and political processes. Many are and still are not policy so those can be instituted just by following the lead of others who have made them a reality.
     I do believe that having a futuristic vision is critical to making progressive policies but the hard work of the details must also accompany our best intentions. The days of saying no without a plausible reason are long gone much like the days of saying yes without an actual plan to formulate. Now our American moon adventure was full of wishful thinking that did prove to be a success but for the most part we cannot fly by the seat of our pants as the dominant process. We have to be able to think outside the box with ideas that can be converted into action. Until then the promise of greater advances in our society must remain just wishful until we can bring the necessary change forward.
     I would still rather live in a world that dreamed big thoughts for the correct reasons than live in a world where great thoughts are laughed at and dismissed with ridicule. We democrats are the former where our daily hope is to make our dreams of a better world a reality. But we must also show the world that we are serious and not just daydreaming. The work to make our policies come to fruition is work that must entail the best of our reasonings and analysis. We will get to our conclusions soon enough when we put our heads together and make the nearly impossible seem lightbulb on simple.

Patriots to democracy don't run nor hide (#4039)

     We are living in real time the ambush by trump and his lackeys of our patriots who do the great job of preserving and growing democracy. There is no doubt as to how trump and his cult are targeting the truth tellers within our political mechanisms. By either being called out as no trumpers or being fired the disgust that is trump is not trying to hide his mental infections. The scourge of one's soul that it takes to dump on honorable people is not within the normalcy of moral or ethical behavior. What we have is the rot of selfishness, cruelty, and greed on a massive scale within the republican party.
     The ones who are directly feeling the wrath of the wannabe dictator trump are in the most vulnerable of positions. They hold jobs within our government that have functioned to maintain our democratic processes. So when they see the dissembling of our democracy they are quick to sound the alarm in some form. Yet it is the sounding of the alarm that they are being punished for not the actual dissembling of our democracy. This is the trump way and what he intends to do during his last vestige of power before the election. He is trying to unearth those who are doing their jobs in order to silence the advances trump is making on becoming that wannabe dictator.
     As Nathan Hale said during the Revolutionary War, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." Never in his mind did he think this statement of his would be in regards to his commander in chief being a traitor to democracy. That he would be in peril, as a patriot in the front lines defending democracy, because his leader was highwayman in a not so subtle disguise. But as Nathan showed us back when our democracy was just a hope and a dream, nothing is more important, not even his own young life. Today we are not facing death squads over our political views. Yet if we don't stop the infection that is trump we will shortly be. It is my expectation that the end of trump's reign will be over on November 3rd and all those who stood up and were accountable to democracy will have chosen the correct path for our democracy to survive.

Virginia, leading modernity in the South (#4038)

     With the results of the 2019 state elections in Virginia still fresh in our minds it is good to focus on what actually happened to the political process there. Democrats have taken majority control of the General Assembly (55-45), the Senate of Virginia (21-19), and had in 2017 taken the Governorship for the next 4 years. So any obstruction by republicans of the democratic agenda voted in by it's citizens would not be simply mounted. So Virginia has been on a course over the last few months of enacting legislation that codifies into law a start at progressive policies.
     What this means for the rest of the South is important. With most all southern states dominated by complete control of republicans, the contrast couldn't be more important. Compare and contrast is a tool of evaluation that has facts and truths attached that overcomes a narrative of disinformation and rhetorical bellicosity. What the rest of the South sees the good happening in Virginia will leave them questioning why they don't have the same opportunities to upgrade and modernize. The expansion of medicaid is one of the most glaring policies along with raising the minimum wage that can profoundly change the minds of the citizens of the rest of the South.
     With higher wages more is spent on commerce which in turn increases opportunities for jobs. With a greater expansion of medicaid the many unwell will now be able to see a doctor and get well as opposed to no doctor or emergency room visits after the fact. Medicaid expansion will also increase work opportunities for health care workers. Improving schools, transportation, voting rights and myriad other progressive policies within Virginia will give southerners a progressive view that they have not had in their own backyards for generations. It is one thing to hear about modernity in California thousands of miles away but to do so in Virginia the old seat of the South is up close and personal.

The many are greater than the one (#4037)

     Like Spock said, the good of the many outweigh the good of the one, or something very similar. Same with our nominating process in determining our candidate to run against the pos trump. I rarely get what I want in life but that is always secondary when it involves the many of us. I accept that I don't get my way as long as our lives get better by another outcome. In this case if my preferred candidate loses to another candidate then I will support the other candidate with all I have because our democratic party is head, shoulders, torso, hips, knees, ankles, and toes above anyone the republican party can field.
     So often I see someone say that if a democratic party candidate is not theirs that gets nominated that they will vote for a third party candidate or write in someone. It amazes me that just a short 4 years ago the same dynamic came into play and although we ended up winning the election by about 3 million votes we lost the presidency because of the paternal electoral college. So voting for anyone other than the eventual democratic party nominee is not only dumbfounding it is giving trump one less vote to overcome. None of us is an expert on how any candidate will operate once in office so deciding to not vote for a democrat is a bit uneducated and more emotionally reckless.
     We the democratic party have got to figure this out very soon as the election is just around the corner. I have stayed out of the political posts slamming any democrat despite the temptation because I know that the greater good is to accept whomever our nominee becomes and then fight like hell for them. Because I know that if trump is appointed again or elected this time our democracy goes away. It is that simple folks. Either we protect our democracy and fight like hell to keep it or we lose it because we got our feelings gut punched about our favorite candidate. Again, I rarely get what I want so not getting what I want is not harmful to me because I usually get something good anyway and it is the same with whomever wins our democratic nomination.

Roll up our sleeves and solve our problems now! (#4036)

     I am sick and tired of the compromising on crucial policies that put grave harm on our citizenry. While the greedy seek to keep their privileges and advantages, we the less well off keep paying with our lives. Enough!!!!! It is past time but for sure it is time now to roll up our sleeves and get to work without the ball and chain of settling for a lesser solution. The time that it takes to repair the damage of greedy carpetbaggers continually puts us behind, with little chance of staying even and no chance of ever getting ahead. The national interest of our democracy should always outweigh the private accumulation of wealth.
     Yet that is not the case right now. Right now the republican party dismisses the needs of our democracy in order to fill the pockets of the greedy wealthy. This is nothing new to those of us who have studied history. The greedy wealthy will protect their privileges and advantages at all costs and have shown to be agile in order to survive our attempts to save our democracy. Which is why this coming election is so crucial to the nature of our society. Whether we will continue to destroy the great American experiment of democracy or whether we will uproot the rot of republicanism within our government has yet to be decided.
     In November we will witness which direction for our nation our citizenry will find acceptable. It is without a doubt that the very nature of democracy is up for the vote. We either courageously throw out the republican usurpers of our democracy or we let them destroy us because we don't care. I am at an age where my time in existence is growing shorter by the day so the future for me is more right now than decades away. So I don't have as much at stake as those who haven't lived the bulk of their lives yet. So whom will be more affected by this coming vote in November? Not me so much but those who are yet to live life either under the duress of tyranny or under the dearness of democracy.

Defining democratic policies (#4035)

     This coming election in November is about policy. I know that personality plays a part but the biggest share of mind making up will come through who defines their policies with the best narrative. We democrats have a real chance of burying trump and his republican party with facts and demonstrable equations. Equations you ask? Yes, equations. We take what math there is and show that instead of giving tax breaks to the wealthy, instead of giving to the military industrial complex, and instead of giving corporate subsidies, we revert back to improving our society with work projects that improve our infrastructure while paying prevailing wages.
     We may also improve the quality of life for our seniors and youth by expanding social security and raising the minimum wage. We may also do like 32 other civilized nations have done and move toward Medicare for all. Another sensible narrative for our democratic party is attaining equal rights for women through the constitutional process. Never again shall a woman be paid for the same work as a man at a now legally lesser amount. We democrats also have plans for normalizing relations overseas with every nation that accepts a democratic solution for their own governance. We the democrats have the best of intentions when it comes to reversing climate change and moving toward clean energy solutions.
     Our democratic policies are on the correct side of the manifest destiny of not only America but the world at large. Being smart and intelligent is still the best hope for our species here on Earth and out into the space that encapsulates us. This coming November the ideas of modernity and equality are going to be unstoppable against the tyranny and racism of the republican party. Democracy demands of us to protect it if we want to have equal rights for all of us. We democrats are in a fighting mood since the advent of the irrationally cruel trumpsters. The time is coming and it is nearly upon us to act. So let's do our due diligence and then when our voting time comes let's come together and give the republican party it's well deserved ass whupping.

Free, fair, and simple elections are the answer (#4034)

     The one thing governments, both federal and state, should be good at by now is how it elects it's officials. But no, we have to have so many different ways to make things difficult that I am of only one conclusion as to why. To confuse for manipulation the will of the one person one vote pure democratic formula. Why else would not every jurisdiction that has an election not have the simplest form of expressing our right to vote? Paper ballots either in the mail or at the voting booth with a ranked choice in case of a tie or less than majority.
     A standardized formula for voting in all 50 states would then make any transition through migration by our mobile society, accommodating. Very easy is always a better option than difficult and convoluted. We are talking about the expression of our political will. So if we have a favorite then we can express that without difficulty. Voting should not be a calculus equation. It should be simple math. So after nearly 234 years you would think that simple would have been established and all encompassing. But no, we have too many states that find it more appropriate to make voting harder and more difficult in order to get to the will of the people of that state.
     Why would individual states be making voting harder when it can be done simpler? you don't need a degree in common sense to figure this one out. By taking simple and making it difficult the possibilities that the will of the people can be bent to represent not their will but the will of others is greatly increased. When I vote I don't want someone telling me that I need to vote for someone else. I have already decided my vote and don't need to be in a room full of people trying to get me to change my mind. My ballot is secret and so should everyone's be. This caucus idea is antiquated as a result of paternalism. We don't need paternalism today we need opportunities to guide our own lives as is the result of living in a modern society.

Early voting has started for the caucuses in Nevada. (#4033)

     Some early voting sites had few lines while others had long lines. Either way the voting has begun in Nevada and it seems that there is good interest in the outcome. As each new state finishes their voting and the totals come about my main point of interest will be the turnout. Like I have said for years now I am not as concerned about who our nominee is but in the enthusiasm we are showing at the primary voting booths and general election. I have little to no doubt that our democratic party will turn out for the election and if we do it solidly behind whomever our nominee is then we will take back the White House, the Senate, while holding onto the House.
     This is the scenario I had envisioned for 2016 but we got ambushed by low turnout and trump lies. I don't see that happening again because trump is still lying and most of us can see it now. Plus the problem of low turnout is being addressed well before the general election. I want to see the fruits of the large turnout happen in our primaries so that we carry that enthusiasm over to the general election. There cannot be any rest from getting our voters and message out about our policies. The rest will come on November 3rd when the voting is done.
     Unlike in 2016 when rest was expected we got the reverse and for the last 4 years most of us democratic activists have been relentless in our advocacy for stopping trump from dismantling our democracy. It is tiring work and seems never ending yet it has to be done. There is no other recourse but to fight tooth and nail in order to defeat trump and retake the Senate and many more State houses. It is a big job and if all helped it would be easier, so make sure that your vote is a solidly democratic one and help get others to the voting booth. The beginning we hoped for in 2016 has been delayed and even set back but we can rectify that in 261 days.

Commonalities of slave owners and republicans (#4032)

     I was just sitting back in my chair thinking about voting rights and how hard we democrats have to work just to get an equal right to vote for too many American citizens. The republican party has put up so many barriers to voting that millions of otherwise eligible voters cannot "qualify" to vote. By qualify I mean overcome the obstacles republicans have enacted to keep voting out of reach for too many who would vote against them. You get that correct? The republican party is strategically denying voting rights to those who would vote against them. So instead of convincing those voters that the republican party is their best option, they instead deny them the right to vote.
     I could list the ways republicans deny voters, such as minimal voting stations in heavily democratic areas. The denial of absentee voting as a rule. The difficulty placed on many poor folks who don't have the ID required through republican laws. The difficulty of finding a motor vehicle station open that would supply necessary ID's near where heavily democratic areas are located. Denying out of state students their right to vote unless they have that state's strict ID requirement. No same day voter registrations to vote. No automatic Motor Vehicle update to include new voters. No state holiday to allow for free and unencumbered voting by their states' citizens. Using voting machines that have no paper trail. These are just a few ways republicans work to control who can vote.
     The reason republicans want to control who can and cannot vote is because they have an entitled viewpoint that the rest of us need their guidance. The old slave owners credo that they know what is best for us and they work damned hard to make sure we know it. They are the do as I say crowd not the do as I do crowd. Well we the rest of us are not in need of paternal guidance from the likes of them. The republican party is full of folks who cannot evolve into a future that is modern and enlightened. They are stuck in the old ways of people as property even though they don't call it that. We on the other hand are done with them trying to set our future based upon their past.

The waiting (#4031)

     I can't tell you how much I am tired of waiting for the election to get here. Today I actually celebrated almost half of February being gone. Just because I am not only ticking of the days and weeks but the half months now as well. lol. I have to laugh at myself because otherwise I instead would feel miserable. Nothing is going to ease this anxiety I feel about surviving trump until he is actually voted out. Even then he has a about 2 and a half months more of damage he will likely do before he is ousted either voluntarily or physically on January 20, 2021.
     So while waiting and staying informed as to political news I try to stay as busy as I can in order to while away the time. It is the damn waiting that is hard on me and although the activities I immerse myself in outside of politics are good for me they are still not my full focus. How I will survive this waiting time is hard to tell but suffice it to say the half caf coffee is helping. Anxiety is its own detriment without me helping it along with more anxiety. Doing physical projects around this fixer upper is helpful in that there is always something to do and time spent thinking about improvements is time spent away from my utter and deep disdain for all things trump and his enablers.
     Yet wait and wait is not only my cross to bear but others like me who are going mad because they cannot get rid of trump fast enough. I get that and it is such a burden to live with such a rotten evil disgusting human being as our appointed leader. I mollify myself with the thought that each day gets us closer to the day when he will be brought down from his imaginary thrown. As well the punishment he is deserving of will come on the days after his defeat to whomever is our democratic nominee. Even writing these daily blog posts has become somewhat a burden in that I have to face another 24 hours of harm the bigoted narcissist has unleashed upon us.
     

Dumbo donnie and the destroyers (#4030)

     Two very dangerous traits in a human are idiocy and uncaring. We have that now as our appointed president. The manchild has never had to be pushed to excel at anything so instead he pushes others with his anger and his threats. Because he cannot logically reason with anyone who has a basic understanding of logic. There are rules within logic and they are in constant violation when trump opens his mouth to spew his minimally activated mind into words. So what we have with him is not so bad as we normally would be able to shut him down through the procedures of government, normally. But we don't have normal government procedures anymore. The Senate and the Justice Department are headed by two close accomplices of trump who have put our nation in jeopardy rather than defend democracy.
     We had been able to defend ourselves against the slow witted trump up until now with his inability to understand how to manipulate government for his first 2 appointed years. Then with the 2018 election he lost control of the House and found he couldn't bulldoze his inappropriate policies without real obstruction. It has taken him all this time to finally consolidate his power within our government with only just a handful of months left in his appointed term. So he must win or be appointed again in the next election or he will face the consequences of his ulterior motivated illegal acts. With the election primaries now underway there is less chance for dumbo donnie to screw what he hasn't of our democracy so his strategy hinges on the outcome of November 3rd 2020.
     What we have as democrats, who have stood, marched, and voted to deny dumbo donnie any further power to destroy us is about to come to fruition. As we unite behind whomever is our nominee regardless of who it is the momentum we have to usurp from dumbo donnie any vestige of power he clings to is within our grasp. Dumbo donnie will try anything to hold onto power but we who are the butt end of his joke of an appointed presidency have had enough and now is our time to show it. The full arsenal of tricks and suppression will be hurled at us to keep the low IQ one in office but it won't be enough as we the heart and soul of America have no doubt as to dumbo donnie and his destroyers vision of making our citizenry peasants in his kingdom.
     

Turnout, turnout, turnout, Yes! (#4029)

     Yesterday in New Hampshire our democratic turnout for the primary election has done what I had hoped for it to do. It was attended by close to around 290,000 democratic voters which would be an all time high turnout ever in New Hampshire for any primary election. More than who won this early contest for me is how many would be ready to vote for our candidates. The reason being is that the enthusiasm for our democratic party is crucial in taking down not only the target of trump but his enablers in the House, Senate, and state houses. With a huge turnout we can expect a very large purge of republican politicians who deserve nothing less.
     I was disappointed about the Iowa turnout results but it is a small state with a quirky all night voting protocol which turns a lot of regular people off. So just discounting Iowa I was ready to accept the result that New Hampshire would provide. Given that New Hampshire has a regular voting process and uses paper ballots to record it's vote totals. Well I was more than optimistic as the results rolled in and was showing a heavy turnout for we democrats. The closer we got to deciding which of our many candidates was going to win, the greater the number of voters coming out was apparent. I spent the night not watching who was going to win but how many voters would vote.
     To me it is all about turnout, even more so than which of our candidates will get our nominee. I have already pledged my full support to whomever wins our nomination because like it has been noted by many of us I am a one issue voter this time around and it is to stop trump from any chance of a second term, appointed or otherwise. Restoring the dignity and respect of our nation to not only our own citizenry but to the world at large is critical. Our nation is being run by some of the most devious underhanded cruel republicans and their time must be made to end this coming November 3rd. Nothing and I mean nothing is more important right now than the salvation of our democracy and the deserves owed to the republican party and it's snake head.

All human life has equal value (#4028)

     How anyone can segregate or be biased against someone different than them based upon no logical rationale is absurdly inhuman. Racism is taught not a natural human instinct. Sexism is taught not a natural human instinct. These two nefarious paradigms are the product of fear and fear is the last thing we need to guide or lives with. Our innocence from birth is where value in living begins. Never surrendering our principles of fairness, justice, and equality is how the foundation of a proper life is built. No one is better than any other as a rule not an exception.
     Surely we distinguish ourselves from each other in the application of our grit and fortitude, in our drive to be curious about all things, in our effort to physically dominate our weaknesses. But these are endeavors while living, not the arbiters of worthiness above all else. The mere presence of our existence is miraculous and worthy of humbled respect. What we do with our lives as we live often merit considerations of approval or disapproval but are not in themselves more or less equivalent to the worthiness of our individual existence. Our divergent upbringings and other environmental factors are the cause of class status, not the fact of our birth or the fire we have within each of us.
     The idea that we cannot have a society that has the foundation of equality at its core is selfish and brutal thinking. The ancients never guessed how much alike we all are and back then their technology couldn't guide them properly. Whereas today we have the science and logic to prove our equalness and if ever we allow the intelligence of reason, analysis, and conclusion to be our guides we will have begun to build a society that reflects that. Otherwise unfortunately we are stuck with too many who find learning a chore unworthy of their time and space. Ultimately their confidence at being intelligent without doing their own mental work of attaining intelligence has them stuck in limbo with their too many fears surrounded by too many closer to ignorance than wisdom.

The day before New Hampshire democratic primary (#4027)

     Tomorrow there will be 38 weeks (266 days) left until we vote out trump and his acolytes in the 2020 general election. Until then we have our nominating contests filling the time between now and then. With tomorrow all about New Hampshire and the first real election, not a caucus run by the state party, we will have a better gauge on who is leading our party for now. I know that New Hampshire, like Iowa, is a small sample size but it is big enough to get at least a glimpse of what is to come with the next state election.
     There are two more nominating contests in Nevada and South Carolina still to come this month so as we get a glimpse from New Hampshire we are ready to add to that glimpse with the caucus in Nevada on February 22nd and the election in South Carolina on February 29th. So almost each week of this month gives we democrats an idea as to how this coming general election will play out. I say that because not only will we start to see separation between the remaining candidates but most important to me is the turnout. Will our base turn out and vote like our hair is on fire? Because this election on November 3rd is a hair on fire moment in time.
     Not only is our democracy at real risk but our planet that sustains our very lives is being turned into a furnace. So if the turnout does not meet or exceed the same amounts as the last many general election totals we as a species may find ourselves repeating the horrendous example set in 2016. Our base and fellow travelers in the independent and republican parties have to get out and vote in these primaries as a show of force to the powers that be that they are not the chosen amongst our citizenry. Much is on the line here and as I keep saying whomever we nominate gets all of me, no matter who because the greatest danger is the conman in the White House now and nothing short of ending his appointed presidency will suffice.

trump doesn't want disease preparedness (#4026)

     Okay, someone will have to tell me the logical reason for not wanting to be fighting deadly viruses. This is a public health issue so it's vitalness is inherent. So why does the mind numbing idiot trump want to see us less prepared for viruses like the emerging Coronavirus out of China? Anyone? So here is my logical attempt to explain this trumpian reversal of preparedness. It isn't the money per se since the budget for the CDC is dwarfed by the military budget. So it can't be fiscal restraint especially in the face of the massive tax cuts trump just gave the wealthy.
     It isn't that the staffing at the CDC was bloated and needed to be trimmed for reasons due to overlap of work or nothing to do. Every year trump has been in his appointed office he has tried to cut the CDC budget. Yet every year I have not seen any reason for it. How does he base his decision to make what cuts and why? We don't know and he is letting on that I can find. So either he is just ignorant to the problems that the CDC attempts to cure and/or track or he is being advised by others who are not in the loop as to why the CDC is a valued organization.
     I know that trump is for smaller government but the idea that we need less disease control and elimination is absurd! More so than some world war, an out of control deadly virus may do the job instead of ending the human race. I am grasping at straws here but given trump's penchant to put himself first I can theorize that a virus outbreak on our world is less concerning to him if he and his is personally prepared to survive it. I put nothing below what this soulless human wastoid is capable of. Regardless though the rest of us have a problem and we need to act as like Greta Thunberg says that our house is on fire now! Not only with the effects of climate change on our atmosphere and terrain, but in the releasing of deadly viruses from long locked frozen bodies of water.

Wannabe dictator trump (#4025)

     This is no surprise to those of us who know how trump operates. It is simple to understand. He cannot stand criticism when he is wrong nor truth telling when he lies. So the purge yesterday of those who provided witness testimony under oath and subpoena. There was at least one federal code broken when trump ousted Colonel Vindman. Yet as we have seen trump can break the law with impunity as the US Attorney General will do nothing to hold trump accountable nor prosecute him for violations of his oath and the rule of law. The attorney general's office is supposed to be non partisan but with trump it is nothing but partisan in his favor.
     Same with the Supreme Court, it is supposed to be a non partisan chamber yet we see once again that the trumps have only put on the bench those who have a loyalty to him, not our nation. So we are in precarious times with the wannabe dictator trump trying his best to shirk the wannabe and actually make himself a dictator. He has even begun the narrative of him staying in office for another 12 years in violation of our constitution. The audacity he projects with little care as to its effect is brash and cavalier. So the next 7 months before the election on November 3rd we all have a chance to make sure that trump is only a one term appointed president.
     I am already confident that our democratic blue wave onslaught is still riding high but that it will even be higher. It needs to be in order for our Congress to also fall to democrats. Then the process of refilling our Supreme Court with objective jurists will be available. There are many ways of dealing with obstruction that republicans have built into our political system once we have them out of power and the sooner we get at it the better for our society. The damage that has been done by republican carpetbaggers is immense but not so densely high that we cannot tear it apart and rebuild it with democratic principles. The sooner the better the wannabe dictator is ousted and subjected to his deserves the better our future in America and the world will be.

Voted today for the primary here in Cali (#4024)

     Talk about it officially beginning! Today I got to send in my mail in ballot with my choices for our democratic party. The beginning of the end for trump is how all of this feels for me. I have been waiting anxiously since the trump appointment to our presidency and today feels like we have finally reached the beginning of the end of his dream to be a lifelong king. I know it is just the primary that I voted in today but it is the momentum I feel from all the marches and advocacies for our policies that I have been part of since day one of the nightmare trump. Sending that ballot back to the election commission is a sacred high I will never tire of.
     Doing my duty to our democracy is a part of it but voting to correct a huge mistake made on November 8th, 2016 is my ultimate imperative. There is nothing more important in my life than to make sure that the trumps of the world and especially those who work overtime to enable him are grabbed by the short hairs and booted out of our political power houses. The disdain republicans have for human life that is not their color or gender is atrocious and is deserving of a much worse than civilized response. The audacity it takes to attend to psycho/sociopathic behaviors as a norm must never be allowed to happen again.
     I am older and surely not expected to survive for many more decades so the future of life on Earth is as prioritized for me as my next breath. We who can still fight like all get out must do so this election cycle so that the protection of our democracy is never to be assailed again by those who would rather spit on us than help us up. The insanity of this time is the narrative of the legacy trump has wrought upon us but on November 3rd., 270 days from now, we can end this black stain on our souls with a vote to elect whomever our democratic nominee becomes. Not only that but to vote for democrats on every ballot everywhere. It is time to settle the dust of trump beneath our feet as we move forward into our enlightened future.

5 days until New Hampshire democratic primary (#4023)

     It is a Thursday morning now and when next Tuesday rolls around we will again be watching a state elect it's majority choice for our democratic nomination. I love this time of year in that the general election is fully underway with our nominating processes. The trump appointed presidency is now being notified of it's challenge and eventual defeat. The beginning of the end for trump has begun although Iowa made a mess of it to kick off our blue wave. Even though historically the number of democratic voters was lower in Iowa I don't hold much weight to it because of the caucus format and the little populated state of Iowa.
     But next Tuesday is different. There it will be an actual first vote count that will determine our nominee which will mirror the general election process. The turnout to vote in a normal way should be much more intense and I expect the numbers to be on par with New Hampshire's turnout in 2016 or even actually higher for New Hampshire. The Granite Bay state is no haven for democrats nor republicans so it will be curious to me whom receives the largest amount of votes. There is more scrutiny on the democratic side of things given we actually let our candidates debate each other whereas on the republican side the ceding has been done to the appointed trump.
     Despite that gap in enthusiasm the difference in actual voters showing up and voting for their political party will be a gauge that we all will look to in order to see how our blue wave is performing. It is as much a critical criteria as whom ends up with the most votes. Our democratic enthusiasm to defeat the embarrassing man/child is and will remain throughout the primaries a priority. Getting our voters out to vote is our best offense in ending the current nightmare and next Tuesday for me is when it all begins.

Fake it until you make it is a trump trait (#4022)

     We know that trump is incapable of feeling the truth of things that are beyond his own acceptance. So instead of being embarrassed or ashamed about most things in his life he just pretends that he and those things are great. Much like with his appointed presidential campaign, he is faking his be best moments until the election. What the rest of us have to do is not to believe a word that he says. The facts and truths of things are where we need to look and do our research the old fashioned way by actually doing the research without taking anything as fact from sources that would or could fake us out.
     Given the information on the Internet it is almost impossible not to be able to research data and facts. So make it easy on yourself and spend some time finding out what the truth really is. I have heard and seen enough from trump to know that he cannot tell the truth at least 90% of the time. Which means that at least 90% of the time he is lying about or misrepresenting the truth. But everyone is not me and have spent less time verifying the incorrectness of trump. So find out for yourself and then ask yourself if the policies he has passed and the executive orders he has given and rescinded are your priorities and principles. First ask yourself if separating families at the border for long periods and then putting up for adoption children who have parents is your cherished principle.
     Then ask yourself if giving tax breaks to the wealthy at the expense of social programs designed to help average Americans is another policy or principle that you honor. As important ask yourself if denying climate change and it's deadly effects is something you can rally behind with trump. Does it make sense to you to keep old dirty energy policies subsidized with government funds is a position you would take when subsidizing clean and green energy makes more sense especially when clean and green energy will reduce the effects of climate change. Racism and sexism aside as trump prerogatives, wouldn't you rather have an American society that put all of it's citizens as a priority rather than what trump does with just his wealthy donors?

The pause (#4021)

     I was so excited yesterday to have finally reached the day when the first voting for our eventual democratic nominee would take place. All of us should have been informed of how the voting went in Iowa last evening but there was a glitch in the electronic reporting application. So as that is getting sorted out some 10 hours later we wait and wait. The pause as I like to think of it is just that, a pause so that we can make sure that the results from last evening are reported accurately. Personally I don't like the fact that the mechanism for reporting the results wasn't detected through a trial run and for that the head of this election process is to be held accountable and should be fired.
     If my one job was to report results from the caucus and that job was underperformed then I would expect to be let go. Nothing new here except that the job this election head didn't perform properly affects the whole of our democratic nation at the moment. No hiding from this error in judgment. Be that as it may, the wait now for the fix to the glitch is what the rest of us are faced with. So let the proper authorities work the glitch out or go to another reporting process that is accurate and then release the results so that there is no doubt as to the accuracy. Surely some will call for a recount if possible given the pause but if so even the recount should give the same result.
    It is almost like a silver lining in that our attention is now on all voting to be accurate going forward. Each and every state election head should be doubling up on making sure that their voting and reporting apparatus' are properly functionable. With all that has happened since 2016 and the questions that arose of foreign and domestic illegal influence the more vigilant we are the better for our votes being counted and reported correctly increase. So as this pause lingers on this morning look at it this way. Iowa and it's antiquated caucus system is a very small sample size for how our nation will vote so don't be overly angry at the error in the process but do be more vigilant in how our votes are counted everywhere else going forward.

The election starts today (#4020)

     With Iowa voting on their preferred democratic party candidates the election is underway. All elections start with primaries and Iowa is first up. This has been a long awaited day in that the voting is real and will determine in the long run whom our democratic candidate will be. Although the general election on November 3rd. is still 274 days away that time will fly now as we are all focused on whom to nominate to beat the idiot appointed president. Back when it was more than 1400 days until the next general election I thought it would take forever given his never ending daily attack on our society and our democracy but look at it now, just 274 days.
     What with the midterms in 2018 and our democratic wave that hit large and hard and the state elections in 2019 with some mighty fine results I feel that we are still in the wave era of democratic victories to come. What I really look forward to is surely the executive and senate chamber changing power but beneath that the state races where we democrats have a real shot at adding heavily to our wave totals of 2018. Because no election in the foreseeable future is as important as this coming one. Not only to end republican criminal activity and democracy busting policies but to control the establishing of the boundaries of the 435 districts that make up the House of Representatives.
     That every democrat that is registered to vote should vote but also vote straight party ticket. All democrats on every ballot should receive all votes from all democrats and even all independents who lean left. We the democratic party cannot afford to lose one vote in any race being challenged or defended by a democrat. This is now the time for our democratic party electorate to unequivocally come out and support the democratic party. As the results of Iowa today begin to show who has won there we can begin to get a picture of the totals that participate and measure those with totals in the past. We will know if our blue wave is still riding high by the sheer numbers of who vote for our nominees.

Defenders of the indefensible (#4019)

     When racism is defended we lose. When criminal acts are defended we lose. When women are treated as less than equal we all lose. When the ignorance of not seeing that no good comes from defending the wrongs in society is celebrated then we all lose. Defenders of the indefensible are currently in control of our nation and we are all losing because of it. What to me is most disappointing is that our elder statesmen for the most part refuse to recognize that our youth are going to inherit our existence and we are not listening to their pleas of change for the better.
     This is not the old people's existence, it is all of our existence, both young and old. So why do we as older people not allow our youth to have as much say in their future as we have in our limited present left? When Greta Thunberg says "Act as if you loved your children above all else" are we the older generation incapable of doing this? Most of us would tell anyone we love our children above all else but our words contradict our actions. Our youth have no negative labels of disparagement as arguments but we elders do. Our youth see no division in our racial makeup but we elders do. Our youth see no inequality between men and women but our elders do. So why would we elders be better suited to decide what the future will be for our youth?
     The short answer is that we elders are not better suited to decide what the future should be for our youth. Another answer to a question here is that we don't love our children above all else. What we elders do love more than our children is our own sense of entitlement and authority. We elders generally are more about ourselves than we are about anything outside our personal skin. We are selfish and greedy. A horrible legacy combination to lay on our deathbeds and the still living threads of our children. We the elders in this world would rather defend the indefensible than to admit we are not equipped to lead our species and planet into it's more natural evolution. I will admit it here and hopefully other elders will do the same wherever they are and give our children a much bigger say in how their future will survive them.

Elections have real consequences (#4018)

     It was no surprise to me that republicans would get into line in their utter disdainful treasonous protection of trumps. This is why I fight so hard to get democrats elected everywhere. Because we democrats although imperfect are still striving to be less imperfect. With republicans it is not the same. They are all about power and money and protecting that power and money. So when I see the progressive liberals within our democratic party fighting and threatening to not vote or vote for trump or some other unelectable party I get a bit frustrated. We have the most dishonest uncaring republican party in power right now and we democrats can't seem to recognize that it is the republicans who are our greatest threat to democracy. Instead we fight amongst ourselves.
     I know that some infighting must take place during the primaries and this time around I hope that the infighting ends when the nomination of our single candidate begins. I don't care who we nominate, progressive, liberal or moderate. It doesn't matter to me because whomever it is must win the election on November 3rd. The very idea of trump being appointed again is unconscionable to me. The disaster it would bring would not only be for the next 4 years but for decades to come. The trees had better not hide our view of the forest because the forest is on fire and we need every one of us voting to put this republican forest fire out.
     It doesn't end with trumps being kicked out of our White House. There are many senators, congresspeople, and state house republicans who also need the bottom of our boot on the rump of their public ass. Our society is in jeopardy of further sliding back into the survival of the fittest model. This is so unnecessary given that we are such an advanced modern society. Moving forward with little resistance while making sure our citizens are prepared for a hopeful existence is and should always be our most pressing priority. There are many ills in our society that need to be cured but they won't be cured as long as we avoid doing the hard work of ending republican rule and reinstalling democratic participation.