(#5773) Assiduously pressing on!

      I and others are still smarting from the dumbfoundedness of the American citizenry. Yet as the pain of the election results become less acute we behind the force enlightenment persevere. We are not a collection of ragtag individuals and groups that fear intelligence more than we embrace it. We who are the tip of the spear of our own species' evolution will not falter or stop in our quest to improve and expand the human condition beyond the the dark ages of our own past. We see the future with hope and pride so we must go to it! Our fellow citizenry cannot find it within themselves to join us so their attitude is to remain in some kind of status quo limbo.
     Unfortunately, that remaining keeps the rest of us back there with them. So a new way forward is needed. A strategy that beckons even those entrenched in the ways of the past. Is it too late to do it through democracy? We shall find out but we had a rare chance this last election to make our existence and the world at large a much happier place but we instead chose chaos. What will come from the republican control of our society is not encouraging at all. Divisions and repressions are coming and how they affect us is more likely devastating and unsettling. The past belongs in the past, so going back to what was then but cannot work now is a fool's quest.
     Much like denial, the past cannot change. We need to continue to evolve whether that word evolution is popular or not. It is a fact, not a choice! Over generations of life we have seen nations come and go due to choices they themselves had made. Will America, after 248 years of a constitution based upon democratic principles, follow the same path as those other now nonexistent nations? Will we survive our diminution because we gave away our rights to think for ourselves? Being fooled by a conman is nothing new in societies around the world but my own ignorance precluded it happening here. I was absolutely wrong even though I fought against it. Now we who are left to keep up the fight must find a new reserve of resolve to employ in every second we are able going forward.

(#5772) The existential threat to Democracy is here, how will we handle it?

      We now know our worst political nightmare is real and what we will be up against for at least the next four years. I say at least because trump didn't hide his desire to be president for the rest of his life. Even letting it out that his supporters wouldn't need to vote again. If that doesn't foretell him wanting his own dictatorship of America like those he admires like Russia's putin, I don't know what is. He is now assembling a ridiculous cabinet for departments in our government that also foretell those agencies being at risk of elimination. Our society has been based upon the will of the people but now it will be on the will of trump.
     How, those of us who fought so hard to keep trump from getting back into the presidency, we react and defend our democracy will be determinative for the future of democracy. How we, who are not tyrannical supporters, are able to thwart the worst of what trump will try to do to give America the stain of fascism over patriotism to democracy is our task. I do not know how this will work out in real time but I do know that every act we do must be calculated with the ideal that our democracy is greater than any alternative. I know sacrifices will have to be made and I am willing to sacrifice for the sake of our heritage. Those who do not know yet what they have allowed to happen will soon find out and hopefully they too will realize that their mistake must be corrected.
     We Americans have given the reins of power to an absolute bully with sociopathic tendencies. We are in for a hard fight that would have been so much easier had we voted for Harris instead. But now we must do much more to preserve the ideals of democracy. There is no game plan per se at the moment but most of us already know that nothing trump does can be given to him with ease. We must make him work hard for his plan of pain and suffering for the working middle poor class. In two years we will be at the midterms and by then the mood around his duped followers will have changed. They will by then have realized that the claims we democrats made about trump undercutting our democracy are true. Then we will be able to start a political overwhelming of his desires to circumvent our 2028 presidential elections.

(#5771) Very busy next 2 weeks

      I am in one of those intervals of time where my ability to do nothing is severely hampered. I am at the age, 69 now, where the idea of having nothing to do at home but my chores is my favorite pastime. Yet for the next couple of weeks, starting this morning, that will be on hold. I do go in today for work as well as tomorrow. Then the next day appointment for eyewear. Saturday is going to be interesting as the atmospheric storm that is starting here in about 2 hours will begin to relent for a short period and allow me to get outside and assess my work outside.
     Then comes Sunday. I work on Sunday so that day is busy. What would normally be two days off for me on Monday and Tuesday will become temporary work days. The reason is that my normal work days of Wednesday and Thursday cannot be worked so I switched my schedule for this week. After working on Monday and Tuesday I will on Wednesday have Carpal Tunnel surgery on my right wrist. Hopefully that will have no pitfalls and I will be able to go home after the surgery. Of course the following day is Thanksgiving and I am slated to be with family at my niece's home. Which should be interesting since I don't know yet what limitations I will have given the surgery from the day before.
     I do plan to go to work after resting my wrist for the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving and then Sunday resume my work. That is my plan anyway and if it holds to what I think I can do I will have done quite a bit in a short period of time. I am not in the best of health at the moment working through some other physical challenges but I do believe I can make this work and then repeat it with my left wrist in less than two months. Anyway I do look forward to getting back to my otherwise busy schedule of doing nothing in short order. I say doing nothing but what I really mean is I get to do what I would like to do instead of what I have to do.

(#5770) Sydnie Christmas inspires me

     I first heard this video of Sydnie Christmas, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqb6pPYQm1Y&t=760s about a month ago and it did something for me that I will try to explain in this blog post. I have been around music since I was just a young boy. My stepfather had his own country and western band that he performed full time for nearly a decade and a half. I wasn't into country music like I was rock and roll and Motown but being able to listen to the full gamut of popular music at that time helped me to appreciate special songs and outstanding performers. I am far down the road from those early days so hearing performances that actually touch my soul are few and far between.
     Enter Sydnie Christmas. I just happened to scroll past the video on YouTube and then paused after I saw that the video I am including in this link said that she won Britain's Got Talent. I backed up to it because I was just curious enough to know what is popular in 2024. In the video there are the three songs she sang in order to win. The first was Tomorrow from Annie. I watched her stage introduction and performance with a bit of awe. Especially her personality and how it infectiously enhanced her singing. I then was treated by her semi final performance of her rendition of Sinatra's My Way. Wow, explosive to say the least! I was blown away to my core.
     Sydnie Christmas is such a real beautiful person that for me she reminds me of what life is all about. Inspiration is such a inadequate word yet close at least. Her winning version of the song Over the Rainbow was unique and delivered as perfectly as possible given the human condition. I will never be the same person since almost scrolling past her performances on BGT. I am thrilled that I got to see the magic that is Sydnie Christmas. I have called her a Cinderella story and I am not wrong one bit. She is why we all should strive to hope no matter what befalls us. It is nice to be alive and see her incredible no one to someone journey. Thank you Sydnie Christmas for touching my heart with your voice and character.

(#5769) Real men want women to have equal rights!

     Apparently there is a lack of real men in America. I am sure the men who voted against women having equal rights will disagree with me but the evidence is not with them. Real men do not need to control women in order to be strong. Strength is helping to fight against injustices, not perpetuating them. A real man is someone who knows he can defend his own rights but also feels the need to help others defend their rights even if it costs them a price. Real men see the world as it is and wherever injustice exists fights to end it. What real men don't do is take advantage of others so that they themselves can benefit by it. Real men are looked upon with respect and admiration for putting themselves on hold while fighting for equal rights for all.
     It is not complex to want freedom of self for all people. It is actually very simply understood. When we all are able to pursue our own paths in life we are practicing justice through equality, freedom, and liberty. This is what democracy is, equal human rights. So when men vote to deny women the right to define their own paths it is to deny them equal rights. It is injustice and no other contrary definition can apply. There is no reason for all men not to support their mothers, who gave them birth and nurtured them into self supporting beings. There is no reason for men not to support their wives who they have vowed would be their other half. I just don't get men who deny women equal rights and then act like women should be grateful.
     Weak men want to control others and in this case the women are the others. Weak men think they are being strong but being strong does not mean ignoring or muscling tights away from women. Weak men will not allow themselves to grow into real men because they are used to being selfish and do not want to give away their unearned power. over women. Weak men walk a tightrope where they tell women they love them but at the same time treat women like their property. The problem is that women see the lie of weak men and will never give them the respect and honor they might otherwise have earned. Weak men live in an unsettled illusion where they see themselves as more than they really are. Real men never have to worry about illusions as they live in the real world where their souls are content.

(#5768) I am getting my power back

      Yesterday I started to feel like I was over the worst of the gut punch from the election. This morning I am really feeling much better and a bit feisty to boot! Which is what I was hoping for. Less than two weeks from the devastating news and I am almost back to normal. I like the rebound time as I wasn't sure if a rebound would even occur. Yet here I am feeling like fighting for our rights and freedoms with some power. Not my full power but a reserve of it that makes me smile, if only a little. Where I go with my new injection of strength is still undetermined but know this it will not align in any way with those forces that just crushed my soul.
     Apart from reassessing my agenda and how that looks, I will carry some known battles forward. Helping Ukraine in anyway possible will remain. Fighting for our democracy without a doubt will always be my number one mission in life. Nothing about this coming time is of a personal wishlist on my part it is all about how I can contribute to our collective desire to instill equality, liberty, freedom, justice, and fairness back into our social order. There is no time for me to think about what I personally would want in what is left of my life because I don't have a second to waste on my own selfishness. I get by well enough and somewhat better than those who are less fortunate, so no ego here.
     All of this is a new type of experience for me in that I hadn't anticipated being even more a stalwart defender of democracy. I thought, rightly so, that a new generation of determined democracy defenders would step up and continue our fight to improve our society. Yet, it seems that is not the case and more so I am left to improve myself to be even stronger in order to finally defeat the forces of hatred and ego! I needed some time to replenish my reserves and regrow a new resolve to establish who I am and what I must become to fulfill my hopes and dreams for our democracy. What I hope for is a fighting chance to survive the next four years and work to build a groundswell that will not be overcome by deception and greed for power!
     

(#5767) Moving from devastation to resolve

      It is still early days but I am starting to feel the transition from my utter disappointment and the gut punch sensation that encompasses the election result. Don't get me wrong, there is still a dumbfoundedness that will likely never be transitioned from but the cruel and brutal despair that knows what is coming has a way forward. I spoke of this in the last few posts as time. With some amount of time all will come around for me to put this crass and depressing feeling behind not only me but so many like me. Understanding that there is hope in aligning ourselves together to buttress against the worst trump will throw at us is the first line of protection that we will continually add to.
     What has happened has already happened and that helps in making the case that losing any more time to despair is not what I need. Yet my whole being is hurt and needs some kind of salve. Time is usually that salve but too much time is not healthy when a healing needs to take place with some urgency. I am not the only one who is smarting hard from disappointment. The many of us who were with me and others to work to get our candidates elected are all in the same predicament. We must all quickly process our pain and then reforge it into a burning activism that will allow us an outlet to fight with a mettle much stronger than before.
     As I am transitioning to a more battle ready individual I am finding a calmness that I hadn't expected. Instead of being angry and frustrated I am quieter and more ready to be keen and aware. My stature has moved from being shrunk toward being tall. I am not a being who is accustomed to accepting defeat no matter how hard the loss. I am a fighter who has been deeply wounded but it seems the wound is healing faster than I had imagined and I am getting stronger than before. Even though one fight ended in a crushing defeat the next fight is looming. I have a mission to protect and expand and it is our democracy. Not a perfect democracy to this point but my fight is always toward perfecting it. That is my catalyst for picking myself off the floor, dusting myself off, and then charging back into our battle to have every individual person matter.

(#5766) It is going to take a while...

      I am going to be fine in some amount of time. But knowing when is the problem. I just don't seem to want to care anymore about anything that has always been important to me for all of us. But that will pass and I will once again get on my best behavior. For now I am so gutted that it is like I need some kind of catalyst to reconnect myself with myself. I don"t like having to wait on chance or karma or fate but it seems that is what I need to jolt me back to my best self. Even knowing what I need is not enough to get me to it. I just know that in time I will find my way back. Nothing has ever changed in my life about how I care for all of us.
     I suppose it is because all of us have a major group of nincompoops that care only about themselves or have given up being informed with facts and truths instead of conveniences and laziness. Then there are those who are devoid of care for anyone other than themselves and theirs. How I work is that I want all of us to succeed in life even those who are not up to speed on that dynamic. As bright as I see what could be our future I am also aware of the pain and suffering we bring to each other and the darkness it tempers the light with. I am a human being who is emotional and caring. So when those around me are caused pain because of ignorance and/or debased concepts I build up within me a simmering not akin to hope and joy!
     But that simmering within me has no outlet so a nullification process within me needs time to get me back to my clear happy self. With the results of this last election however more time than normal is required. I will be back but not as soon as some are able to bounce back. I admire them for their ability to flush this disappointment in ways that allow them to stand and fight so quickly. I will be there but not at the moment. I cannot even find the joy to write my blog posts. I will not stop in a most foundational way but nothing much more will be coming from me for now. I do miss me and hopefully sooner than later I will be back to having fun and enjoying life as a grateful human being who knows he is fortunate to live in this existence despite its obvious flaws.

(#5765) The struggle is not for the faint of heart

      Yet, even the faint of heart learn to find a way to help. That time is not with us yet however. As we have just learned given a choice we all had to move beyond a lot of the struggle. Instead we not only kept our current hardships but are now allowing new hardships to emerge. Apparently an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is not a motto we Americans can utilize. Let me be clear here as well. We Americans are not some rough and tough creed that can shoulder burdens unlike any other nationality. I can think of one country that is so strong in character and behavior that we Americans pale when compared. The Ukrainians fighting for their very existence now for coming up on 3 years against an overwhelming brutal force.
     But as it is now we Americans must think we are rough and tough because we vote like we don't require any help for ourselves or those who are suffering. Our illogical reasoning is causing the whole of the world to backtrack into a more neanderthalian presence. Using brutality instead of wisdom is our failing but it is the path we are heading down. We will see where this strategy leaves us before we can either change it or fall victim to it. I don't have a clue what my fellow country persons are expecting but it won't be without shame and embarrassment. Yet it seems the majority are not convinced that shame and embarrassment are deterrents. Our arrogance precludes any doubt about what we think and how we act.
     When I say our when talking about the current state of affairs I am talking about the majority who voted for what the next 4 years will bring. Many of us voted against it but not enough. So in for a penny in for a pound. The minority of us will fight against the majority will in any way we can but we are not going to change the inevitable. It will happen and then we live with it until we can vote again to change it. It is my hope that our votes will actually matter but I am not convinced we will ever get a chance to vote again as a democracy without interference from those who do not want to give up power.

(#5764) Like the song lyric says, reach out of the darkness!

     I know that feeling low is a real thing and being in a low place is not healthy. Yet living in reality is what got me there. I am a human being who is affected by things that matter to me and when those things go awry so do I in some way. I know all this so it isn't some mystery to me. It is just how I am. But, it isn't a constant. I am evolving daily so what got me to a low place cannot keep me there because I am not stuck in a status quo type reality. I move on because I am evolving daily. I may not evolve quickly but I do evolve. So as I am meandering in my low spot for now I can already sense a change coming. Time is the best healer for now and the little bit of time that has passed is already working as a salve to my near fatal wound.
     I can feel the inkling of a ferocity that is welling up within me even though it is so slight at the moment. Knowing myself as I do I can be assured that this peek at a coming anger is not an illusion. It is a response to the devastation I have fought against for too much of my adult life. I won't be changing from whom I have always been. What will happen in its appropriate timing is me coming back to work to bring us back once again to a brink where next time we don't fall short. I have had the resolve to get past this type of disappointment and will again restore that energy at my full disposal. I know this because I know me. I am no quitter who will languish in sorrow. Instead I will spend time to decompress and process my failures and then lift my head ready to battle the forces that deny human and other animal rights.
     I am not there yet but I feel the resurgence however little it is for now. I am not one who takes failure well. I have been shaken to my core by it. So as the deep drop of failure has taken me down, the rising back up will also be a climb. But climb I will and when I have resteadied my footing back on solid ground the battle for the soul of humanity will once again commence from my being. My contribution for now is to allow myself some grace to mourn. The sensitivity of this failure has hit me in such an acute way as to nearly dissolve my care for what is correct and good. Nearly, is not completely. As long as there is a shred of decency left in the world I will align with it. So beware those who would unlink equality and freedom from humanity...
     

(#5763) We cannot count on a collective consciousness

      I used to think we were all basically on the same page. Logic and common sense generally in the more foundational ways included. That is what I used to think. It is evidently clear now that there is no collective consciousness that is shared. Sure some of us can find commonality within our foundational understandings but not enough of us to keep us on track to implement that consciousness into social norms. Instead what we have is a disjointed misunderstanding based upon fallacies and intentional deceptions. That we are not able to delineate fallacies and deliberate deceptions from our individual and collective consciousnesses is a major step backward in our human evolution.
     The depth and breadth of our decline is more than troubling it is dangerous. Our species had been on a path of intellectual enlightenment until we found ourselves less concerned with knowledge and more concerned with ease. Even more than ease in this case. It is a laziness of inquisitiveness and a lack of boldness to expand our futures with possibilities. We humans have lost the will to not only survive but to thrive in our universe with a conviction toward discovery. Instead we want to sit back in our comfort and live like kings and queens regardless of the current state of the unanswered problems within our societies. We have in other words reached a plateau that we are not equipped to leave.
     I don't know how we as a species can move further into our evolution. I am so flabbergasted by the end of the road of our species that I am numbed by it all. Of course I am angry and willing to continue on but unless the many of us can awaken from our what seems like to me a stupor, I know I am not strong enough to carry the weight that is getting heavier. I will always do more than my part but others need to at least do their part. It is as if having a purpose in life beyond ourselves is lost on so many that going forward together is now unachievable. I would never have guessed that our current generation would be the one that would destroy the future of humanity but it appears never has arrived.

(#5762) Marking our existence with time and behavior

      For too many the idea of our lives having some meaning beyond our own imagination is lost. I and others like me do not dismiss or ignore this idea. First let me explain what I mean by time and behavior. Time as we know it is a human construct to differentiate the changing present. Logic helps us to define time as either past, present, or future. This is important in that we are not without a capability to understand those things around us that are in continual change. By ascribing a definition of knowledge to impetus and catalysts we at times are able to predict somewhat a future round of events. Like know trajectories of space objects and if they will strike our planet in devastating ways.
     Being able to know the future in predictable ways is a benefit to the survival of our species if that is what we should choose to care about. We have built paradigms of tools that hold steadfast to logic and common sense. We have done this with our understanding that time is the key to formulating equations that remain on an even flow of consistency. For me time is more than a human construct. It is a value to the placemark where we humans exist. Another value is behavior. I am no one who believes we live in a test tube, observable by forces of perfect intellect. Yet I do believe that for me I am at a point in my life where the undefinable can be shaped through a quest for a higher order of enlightenment. I look at it this way. I am not convinced that my being able to reason, analyze, and conclude is an intentional irrational capacity.
     That is just me however. I do not adhere to tales that give me comfort, but I do imagine that an evolution within the time we human beings exist is a goal worthy of considering. I know the Universe exists and I within it. That is all I know so any preposition I would entertain must be within that parameter. That is my take on time and behavior. Time helps me to differentiate while behavior defines for me what it is to be my best human being. That is all I can contribute but it is honest and real. I hold myself accountable through what it could be like to be an honorable conscious being. There is no higher trait to me in existence than to fulfill the ideals of time and behavior within our Universe.

(#5761) I will never stop hoping for the better of human nature

      So the question now is what is the better of human nature? Compassion and curiosity. These two human traits underpin every post I have ever posted on this site. We care and we wonder. What happens when we don't care or wonder? We become the worst of what a human being will become. Much like today in our politics. Where we look to blame and punish those who are weaker and vulnerable because we collectively don't have the courage to shoulder our own responsibilities. The motto of being lesser is fine with too many of us according to the latest national voting. I am so disappointed that words are not enough to describe the gut punch I feel.
     I as an elder human being who had always thought the better of our species, now cannot justify that. I cannot say look at that achievement as evidence of our amazingness. No, I instead have to say I am sorry for my species for being so self centered and insensitive that we again collectively are choosing to harm instead of make small sacrifices for the good of all. The culprit of selfishness has become a cult like worshipping to those who somehow tell themselves they are better than other human beings based solely on some form of privilege. They feel like they deserve more and others are not allowed. Greed is also part of that selfishness and for me to understand it I find it is a lack of compassion and curiosity that has led them to that form of contradiction of theirs that is founded on fear.
     I want to make this point very clear here. I am older and clearly much closer to my end than from my beginning. So my future is not so much going to be affected as much as those who are just starting out in life. Yet I am a warning sound to those who will listen. Curiosity and compassion will fill our lives with the best of who we can be while fulfilling our capabilities to be bold and courageous with conviction. There is nothing in the world like knowing we are living as the best human being we can be despite our occasional failings. Life is short and there is not much for us to glean from to answer the great questions about life but know this! When we are living in our most honorable form we exist as a mighty being that finds happiness and contentment wherever we go and for however long that journey of ours lasts.

(#5760) Even in disaster evolution happens

      As I sit here 3 plus days later I still feel numb. Which to me is still processing even though I am going nowhere. Numbness is what I have to go through to get to something else that involves me feeling like I have been gutted like a fish ready to be thrown on the flame. Where all my emotions reside, my guts, is what has to begin again from the eviscerating gut punch that will then become a void. In some amount of time I will start to feel somewhat normal again with a new resolve bolstered by the axiom that whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger. I have been here before. Several times actually. In 2016 I went through this in a most similar way. Other times earlier in my life as well with personal relationships that absolutely caught me off guard.
     So I know this emotional phenomenon. Although I am older, I am more seasoned with experience. Which should make passing through this transition much more understandable. Yet it is the disappointment that doesn't change in intensity. But I am no novice so I will evolve to come out of this with a renewed vigor to live life with the correct principles and honorable deeds I expect from myself. In the meantime I am going through what I need to do. This numbness is at least a calm place. I know I tell myself that I should just stop caring about this existence with a naive innocence, but I don't. Because the lens of innocence is where real maturity and wisdom is revealed.
     Those who say that reality is harsh and cruel are the ones who have resolved themselves to it or are its architects. I am not one of those. I want a smile on my face and to do no harm. How hard does that sound to do? How correct does that feel to live like that? But existence does not bend to my perspective so I must endure the realities that affect me and how they make me feel. Like right now, numb! I will not surrender to those who have allowed the worst of who we are to define us. I will not allow those who cannot imagine to create what the many of us know is possible. In time I will grow into a new man with guts that fully function again. But for now I am of little use until I am back to being the best of me.

(#5759) I almost stopped this blog

      I have now posted more than 5758 blog posts since I first started in 2009. More than 15 years of almost daily blog posts. I missed on less than 10 days but posted 2 blog posts the following day of each missed day to make up for the missed days. So essentially 15 plus years of approximately at least 300 words of writing a day. Not an easy feat. Yet to get my thoughts down into some kind of record was my goal. I liked seeing how my thoughts end up as words. Well, I am not liking how my thoughts end up as words given the horrendous outcome of this last national election. I am not as enthused as when I first began, sadly.
     I think of myself as a good person who wants everyone to have that thought about themselves. Yet I find myself in a world where the less caring are more involved in the direction of our future than the more enlightened who just don't seem to care. It is an anomaly that the less courageous and brave among us are the ones who are the most vocal about how we need to stop evolving as a species. They are more cruel and brutish in their mindsets and are determined to see that any enlightenment is only allowed under considerations that do not involve the most basic concepts of liberty and freedom. Which is in contradiction to the democracy that they were given.
     I understand that growing our democracy is necessary, yet the ones who do not want our democracy to grow are all about shrinking it. I am even concerned that the end of our democracy is a reality with the outcome of this election. Which in summation is likely why I feel like ending my continuation of this blog. Yet here I am writing it with a bit of gusto as a way to explain how I feel. I suppose each day going forward will give me more insight into what I will do but for now I am stuck between the thought that my thoughts don't seem to resonate like I thought they would even though the principles of democracy and the intelligent evolution of the human species is the only quest I have ever been on.

(#5758) I have nothing this morning

      There will be no complaining nor finger pointing from me because I just feel hollow inside. Nothing brewing in me but dumbfoundedness. I have little to no cares left to give except that I have to go to work today to resume my unfulfilled existence. I have hopes and dreams within me but for now they are on hold. Just the one foot in front of the other cadence I need to continue. I have not lost my smile nor my characteristic behavior, although tempered, still there. So that is how I continue. I just meet each scenario that presents itself to me with as much good willed gusto as possible. I know changes are coming but for now they are not clearly defined and in that vacuum I will exist.
     I am not different from the many of us who expected more from all of us Americans. We really let too many of us down while as well dismissing the hopeful feelings of the world who look to us to carry the banner of freedom and equality. The numbing will eventually fade and a new rallying will emerge but for these early days the hope of our American democracy has taken a big hit. I will apologize to the world and my similar minded fellow Americans who fought hard to keep our democracy intact. We did not fail to organize and present our arguments for preserving our democracy to all who would listen. The problem is that even though hearing our plea for justice and honor it was not acted upon. Too many did not bother to give their voice to a vote so we lost by default to the monsters who will now have their way with us and the world at large.
     We just went through terror from 2017 to 2021 but it seems that we Americans are not able to remember the horror of that time perpetrated by the same person who is now going to do an even more cruel job of it for the next 4 years. I would say we deserve what we do to ourselves but not all of us. Some of us are constantly reminding our citizenry of what is nobly possible and we are not given the respect of that effort in votes. Instead we are ignored and then the worst comes about. I know we Americans have been given great things from our foreparents but it seems that we are unable to appreciate them like they deserve to be appreciated. The hardships are coming again instead of the great things that could have been. Self inflicted wounds seem to be the new American motto.

(#5757) Very sad

      I had hoped we as a country were ready to move forward on equal rights for our women. They are human beings as well and deserve every right that any man would have. Yet it seems it is not to be this time either. Coincidentally it was trump who denied both, Kamala 2024 and Hillary 2016, with his interpretation of a macho man. He isn't macho in the sense of strength and decency only in cruelty and divisiveness. Yet it seems he has rightly gauged the American electorate at its core since he has pulled off another victory. His unfailing disdain for all things that do not herald him as some kind of savior will be a brutish penalty for we who are defenders of democracy will have to pay.
     It is early this morning so I am still wrapping my head around the disappointment of again losing an opportunity to build upon the principles of equality and justice but it seems that America is not the beacon we had hoped we would be. There will be some changes to our form of democracy and it will be a lessening change not an expansive change. The trump people will work to dismantle more freedoms and liberties over the next at least 2 years. What that will look like given no unforeseen events will add to the disappointment many of us share. It rather sickens me that the real despots of the world are celebrating the trump victory and our allies are left wondering what to do about us now. As if they didn't have enough to worry about with putin and xi and their cabal of like minded tyrants.
     This post is not one I looked forward to making but despite my preference to ignore it for as long as I felt this disappointment I knew I had to at least say something about what happened last night. I won't do the comparison with 2016 because that is just piling on more injury. I will say though that I will fight on and continue to work to get my fellow countrymen/women to understand that harm is not the answer to whatever ails us. We must not make pain for others because we are angry or indifferent. our species is an amazing phenomenon but unless we recognize our unique value to each other we will go by the wayside with all other species who have had a chance to evolve into something much more enlightened than we currently exhibit.

(#5756) 0 days left

     We have arrived at election day. 82,713,594 as of last night around 10:30 pm, this was the early vote total. What the election day total will be is still to be determined but I suspect that it will be huge. Either huge or small it is here and what it tells us by the end of the day will have an effect on whether we keep our democracy or not. I and others have been sounding this alarm bell for decades concerning the direction of the republican party. They finally got the candidate they wanted who is more sociopath than empathetic. He is an image they prefer to project as strong and brutish. A brute who is not about what humanity demands, only what lust, greed, and power may provide.
     On the other hand we have the democrat who is so kind and helpful that she is the polar opposite of what the republicans drool over. Their cruelty is there credo, while compassion is ours. We who are democrats and now showing more independents stand behind what is best about our people. The welcoming spirit that is encouraging and positive. We democrats realize this about existence, it is short in duration for our individual beings so living in a just and respected world is an imperative. We do not waste time on being cruel to people because we can be like republicans, we instead focus on how to help others achieve their dreams like we wish to achieve ours. Again, life is too short to be doing harm.
     Today is the day we who have not voted get to go and express our voice about our present and future. Tonight is the time when we count those voices in the form of votes and see how we are to proceed with our American dream. The pursuit of our individual and collective happinesses is taking shape on this election day and may we all be gifted with another 4 years of forward evolving democracy. That is my hope and I do believe the hope of most Americans. We will know soon enough as there will be no more voting after tonight. The American dream of democracy that our foreparents fought and died for is on the line today. Us even having a chance to vote to protect democracy is a testament to the past efforts of our foreparents that allow us to honor the love of their great sacrifice.

(#5755) 1 day left

     This is the last day before the election tomorrow on Tuesday. If you need to vote tomorrow and need to call in sick or unavailable then do it if it means you won't be able to vote. Missing time from work if it comes down to that is far more important because of the stakes of this election. Every single vote matters when we are in an all out blitz to save our democracy! Every vote matters! It seems that the forces of destruction to our country are not going to stop regardless of how vile and oppressive they are so we who love our freedom must never give them a chance to take from us the most precious gift ever given by our foreparents. Freedom is ours, not some billionaires backed tyrant's idea of how to control us!
     As of this morning more than 78 million votes have already been counted as cast. Which is approximately half of the total votes cast in 2020. This is a remarkable number and shows that our electorate is keen to get their votes secured as cast. Now come election day the lines will be long in some areas but a large portion of those people who would have been in those lines will not be there allowing for shorter wait times and more participation. Early voting is proper when some states make it hard to vote. We cannot practice our democracy fully when we allow voting obstruction of any citizen from having a voice in their future.
     1 day left to do something until election day is upon us. I will be paying attention to turnout rates all day tomorrow while also listening for any obstruction by right wing republicans who make it a point to deny voters access to the voting booths. I do believe proper precautions are in place and ready to be implemented wherever they are needed. The necessity of caution is caused by the violent rhetoric the republicans seem to foster. We democrats and independents will not tolerate being bullied or otherwise dissuaded from voting. The one single right we have is to exert our lives into our own existence and we in America do that through voting. If anyone sees obstructive behavior anywhere please contact the authorities and continue to demand your right to vote!

(#5754) 2 days left

      With 2 days left until election day it seems that the floodgates may be opening for a Harris landslide. Appears is the key word here. With the new Iowa poll stating that Harris is actually up 3 points has triggered a mad defense by the traditional pollsters who vehemently disagree. I find it interesting though that the trump friendly pollsters, who are lacking a genuine objectivity, are jumping to try to destroy one of the most accurate pollsters over the last 10 years. Instead what I find is a chaotic group of trump friendly pollsters reacting to their own failures by blaming someone who is a tried and true prognosticator.
     It is all just polling and not actual votes but polling does give us an indication as to the mood of the electorate. I have already expressed my opinion about the trump friendly pollsters and their inescapable bending of facts to fit their narrative. So I don't give them a lot of credence. But like all things I will at least listen to their grievances before dismissing their illogic. The Iowa polling does reflect the general mood of the country given the nasty and disgusting behavior of the right wing candidate trump. From Shakespeare's play Hamlet, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks”, sufficiently covers how I feel about nate silver et al. The trump friendly pollsters are working overtime on this Iowa poll to make it seem like an outlier when in fact it seems more true than not given the ongoing enthusiasm for Harris.
     We are down to 2 days left until election day arrives. The pro Harris Iowa poll is a harbinger for things to come. It establishes an inkling into our mindsets that even nate silver's own admission of a polling error may end up with one of the candidates winning in a landslide. Albeit, I don't think silver was alluding to Harris but despite his preference for trump, contrarily, we are seeing and feeling a landslide for Harris much to his chagrin. We the good common people of America are not beholden to those forcing their opinions through narratives of illogic that financially benefit them. Instead we are sure and true in our simple quest to keep our democracy safe and protected with a leader we can be proud to call President. By my reckoning that President will be Kamala Harris.

(#5753) 3 days left

      This is the last weekend before the end of voting on Tuesday. The majority of us who have been anxious to cast our ballots are now focusing on doing what we can to help Harris get across the victory threshold. Whether knocking on doors in swing states or calling voters in swing states and everywhere else a Democrat needs extra help to secure a victory, our mission is coming to an end Tuesday evening. One final push to get every voter to vote is here and we all need to do what we can to make sure we have done all we can. There is no do over after Tuesday so now is the time to finish what we started and then late Tuesday evening wait for the counting of votes to begin.
     Several ongoing historic events are about to unfold and like most things American, they will be trendsetting events. I will leave them for now and wait until we actually get them before elaborating but suffice it to say this election may well be unlike any we have ever had. The two candidates will continue their closing arguments for why we should give them our votes this weekend and on into Monday. Come Tuesday the campaigning will wind down with either or both candidates pushing their message out into the public square as voters are voting. This election has been so consequential to our form of government that hopefully more voters will have voted to reflect the immensity of the moment.
     In 3 days the votes will start to come in and the majority of us will be watching from wherever we are to see the fruits of our hopes achieved. I know this will be difficult to watch for me because it is so deeply personal to me as an advocate who has spent much of his life doing what I can do to keep our democracy alive. Nothing in this existence as a thought of any higher order compares. My life and how I feel are personal to me but our democracy is even more than personal, it is worthy of me existing in the first place. So when I see threats to it there are no bounds to my approach in life that would keep me from dropping everything I am doing to put my full attention into combating the threat. The value of our democracy goes well beyond merely existing. It is why I exist! Vote for Democrats everywhere!

(#5752) 4 days left

      This is it. We are in the home stretch with the finish line just in front of us. Like any foot race the last several feet are the most critical. We cannot relent in our full out sprint to the finish. The only way to make sure we democrats with Vice President Harris win is to forget about that finish line and run full speed until we are well past it. There cannot be any slowing down for fear that we will be caught from behind. I expect us to win handily but I know better than to believe that until the race is done. Then we can tabulate the votes and see our result. At this point all we can do is give everything we have and leave nothing in reserve.
     There is still time to knock on doors in battleground states. There is still time to phone bank everywhere we can for the sake of not only electing Harris but to give her both a House of Representatives and Senate majority. We can get our vote out by helping our friends and neighbors get to their voting precincts for in person voting. We can use our voices in our communities to uplift the vision of Harris while denouncing the disparity of republican talking points aimed at dividing us. Our commitment to electing Kamala Harris to the presidency must not falter however we are doing whatever we can to elect her. We must not give up on our quest for a Harris victory until we actually have it.
     There is too much at stake. Either we build on the sound democratic principles established in our constitution through amendments and laws or we destabilize all our nation has strived and fought to achieve. Harris will keep our nation on the pathway of equality, freedom, justice, and opportunity while trump has pushed ahead with his plan to destroy our rights and freedoms by undermining our constitution. That trump wants to make himself a sole ruler like his tyrant friends by subjugating our citizenry under terms he defines, is in contrast to Harris who wants us to define our terms and she will through the constitution, defend them. The choice is remarkably simple, either we elect a wannabe tyrant or we elect a true defender of the people!

(#5751) 5 days left

      It is down to crunch time. Already over 60 million American voters have cast their ballots. There is only this week left to cast an early ballot outside mail in voting. So make it count America. We need every voter to engage in this election so that our democracy has a real fighting chance to survive the onslaught that republicans have been manipulating. If you have a mail in ballot that you are ready to fill out and mail back in you had better deliver it to a drop box or your county elections office to be sure that it is received on or before November 5th. I say this every election that voting early is your best guarantee that your vote will be added to the count.
     I don't know all the states that toss ballots if they are received after November 5th but just know that there are some. If you want you can forego mailing a ballot and instead go to an early voting site and vote that way or go on election day and fill out an in person ballot. However you vote just make sure you get it done. You don't want to be left out when you are the object of some dastardly deeds waiting to be done by republicans. Protect yourself from republicans because they won't protect you. When trump said that this would be the last election his supporters would have to vote in he meant all of us would lose our democracy so that he can crown himself a king.
     Those of us who know trump and his intentions have been sounding the alarm even if it makes us sound a little bit crazy. I don't care what others think of me so me sounding a bit crazy is fine as long as the warning is heard. Other warnings coming from different folks adds to the context that maybe the many of us are not a little bit crazy but are trying to get the message out that the national corporate media is hiding. They have their monetary reasons for being silent about the attack by trump republicans on our democracy because the national corporate media is owned by his supporters. So here I am with my fellow normal average citizen compatriots using every facility we can utilize to let others know that a vote for trump is a vote to take our democracy away.

(#5750) 6 days left

     Harris had her closing argument at the Elipse in DC last night focusing on trump and his instability. What trump did a few nights earlier at Madison Square Garden in NY was nothing short of a hatefest. Harris has shown that she is the adult between these two regardless of trump being nearly 20 years older. He is like a child who cannot have his way and she is like a diplomat, always willing to find a way for all to be happy. The contrast between these two is as different as different could be. So now the question is as the early vote is streaming in a mile a minute, who is going to win? I don't like predicting these things but I know how I feel about it.
     The last time trump was up against a very impressive woman he squeaked out a victory because of low voter turnout and the antiquated electoral college . Well that will not be the case this time. Voting is on pace to equal or set new records over the last voting records just set in 2020. So low turnout cannot help trump this time. His platform includes a blueprint project 2025, that would curtail rights and increase costs for the working middle poor class. Not a well thought out positioning if he was thinking about attracting any other voters other than his own dwindling base. Harris for her part is actually offering the working middle poor class many incentives to help them cope with the demands of their lives.
     Harris is courting previous independent and republican voters to her side through demonstrating that democracy is being undermined by trump. What trump is doing instead is alienating voters that he needs to have a chance to pull off another close victory. He is up against high voter turnout and he is losing opportunities for support. His chances of victory are getting fewer by the day. Yet we all remember 2016 and if that isn't still fresh in our minds then the threats to our democracy from trump should be. Too much is at stake here so there can be no letting up until after the last vote has been cast. Even then vigilance is required because if trump gets a hint that he is losing the vote on election day, he will cry foul and say the election was stolen from him.

(#5749) 7 days left

     A week from today our nation will be spending the day casting ballots in all 50 states. Unfortunately we do not allow residents of our territories to vote in presidential elections. However, the residents in our 50 states who are citizens will have a final chance to have their voice heard through the process of voting. It will be nearly half our voting population on the 5th of November out to vote since nearly half will have already voted in early in person voting options per state and vote by mail options per state. It is dawning on me that it is finally come to this point where we are through with the campaigning that has been going on for nearly 2 years. In 7 days the vote will begin to be totaled and presented to us to show who will be our next political representatives.
     For us to finally be near the end will be welcome. I don't think we need anymore time to try to figure out for whom to vote. All of us pretty much know who these candidates are and what their intent is for us and/or themselves. I don't have to tell you here which candidate stands for what as the opportunity for that telling is non stop. With 7 days to go that telling will increase exponentially as the candidates and parties try to get their closing arguments for the case to be elected. In this new era of falsehoods and misrepresentations it is always the voter who must wade through what is what. We have to spend some time delineating between fact and fiction and balance that with our level of trustworthiness.
     One thing I think I know about all of this is that if we all take our duty to vote seriously then we will get this election outcome correct. If we don't take it seriously and don't bother to vote we may well get the least acceptable outcome. To me we the American electorate, when we engage in our own democracy and our duty to it we most always get it correct. We are not perfect but we at least strive to be as perfect as is possible. When we do make a mistake we learn from it and then move on to a better solution. I trust the American electorate to move us forward together, without a devaluation of our democratic ideals. In 7 days we will begin to know the outcome and from there stand proud because we did our duty to our foreparents who gave us this most outstanding democratic form of one person one vote government.

(#5748) 8 days left

      The implosion of trump these last few weeks has been baffling. I get that he is mostly an idiot with little regard for others but his constant missteps and self inflicted wounds are appearing to be more strategic than accidental. He is sabotaging his own campaign yet still tries to present one that is important to him. Almost as if he is fighting inside himself between two opposing desires. Does he want to win or does he want to lose? I know it makes no sense because if he loses he is prime for his crimes and their sentences. Again, baffling. Yet if I consider him being cognitively impaired it kind of makes sense. He is losing his ability to segue sensically between thoughts.
    Not that his sense was anything to be emulated. I expect that I am not the only one who is having a problem trying to figure out how his actions and words will help America if he is elected president. As each day closes in toward the final casting of ballots it is becoming clear that he is losing. Which for me is a beautiful thing. A necessary thing as well. He is anti democracy in that he is for America's enemies instead of America's allies. He also wants to cripple our constitution in ways that would give him more power than our other branches of government. I have seen selfish people before and he is one of them. Not one who would be happy to help others. I don't see the value he would bring to the greatest democracy on our planet.
     8 days left is a very short time. Yet Kamala Harris is like a whirlwind campaigning with an effervescence that is admirable. She knows the stakes are make or break for our society. She also knows that our nation is divided and she is empathetic to that. She has a plan for our moving forward together that addresses our immediate physical needs like food and shelter. With 8 days left the momentum is clearly on Vice President Harris' side. Our nation and the world in 8 days are hopefully going to be lifted up with such hope and action that the worst of what is happening now will start to falter. With a Harris victory I see our species gaining a step forward instead of with trump, a step backwards.

(#5747) Nine days left

      It is 9 days before the election and already 40 million plus citizens have voted in our election. I would not be surprised if that number doubled by November 5th. It is a new era we are living in where making it easier for our citizenry to vote has become generally available. It makes sense to cater voting to fit the needs of our modern society where the busyness of our lives often leave us with little time on a specific day. We are not yet at a truly easy to vote paradigm but we are getting closer. There are too many republicans who spend most of their time trying to make voting hard for American citizens because they are trying to limit voting in areas where citizens are less likely to support their agenda.
     That is not how traditional electioneering has generally been. Normally the political party seeks to offer policies that attract voters to their platform of ideas. We still do that within our democratic party. What the republican party has been doing for many decades now is obstruct non republican voters to allow their voters to squeak out victories in gerrymandered districts. That is tailoring tht voter to the party instead of tailoring the party to the voter. We democrats tailor our party to the voter, but republicans do not. It is becoming evident to even the most undecided voter that there really is a difference in the two parties as to their vision for our future. The republican party wants to run our lives without our consent. The democratic party wants us to cherish our rights so that we can protect them.
     In a short explanation, republicans want to rule over us with their opinion of what we need. Democrats want us to rule over ourselves through consensus and agreement. It really is that simple. Freedom is actually a word that has meaning. We democrats want us to be free to choose who we are and we want the liberty, equality, and protections to live as who we are. Democracy allows us all to be who we are and that is what we democrats are defending. The republican party has become less about democracy and more about obtaining power in order to rule as overlords instead as equal citizens. Do not give your voice and power over to the republicans who would only demand that you be who they want you to be instead of who you want to be! Vote for every democrat on your ballot early or on November 5th.

(#5746) 10 days left

      I have noticed the beginning of the nefarious expected shift by nate silver's 538 election polling forecast model to show the race tightening. Not that the race is tightening but as an absurd strategy silver is doing it despite the momentum Kamala Harris is still creating. The reason why is that silver is showing he is bought and paid for by a wealthy republican who will pull the strings of his puppet silver to get trump close enough so that when trump loses, which everyday seems more likely, trump can claim that the race was again stolen from him. For trump it isn't about actually winning, although that is his preferred outcome, it is about appearing to be close to enough to win, then claim fraud, while still losing.
     That is the mental deficiency trump is laboring under. He has to either win or come close enough pre election to make a demented case that the election was fixed against him when he was either tied or leading in the pre election polling. That is where silver is functioning as his backstop. The republican party has been in on this from the beginning so make no mistake, there are no innocent republican candidates running for office. The importance of the republican affiliated polling that has been flooding the 538 algorithm are designed to narrow the Harris lead to a tie or, even better for trump, a slight lead. The independent polling has consistently showed Harris with a 3 to 4 point lead which belies this obviously ridiculous maneuver. However the republicans persist in their illusion.
     There is a solution to this mad numbers game being played by trump and his wealthy republican overlords. It requires the many more of us who are not republicans to vote in numbers too great to falsely narrate. By overwhelmingly voting for every democrat on our ballots we who are not trying to steal the election push past the point of doubt and make any claim by the loser trump to get a serious look at his coming claims of unfairness, moot. A blue tsunami wave election is just what our democracy needs and is very much doable even with only 10 days left until election day. Back to reality, each and every day trump does even more head scratching actions that leave undecided voters with no comparison to Harris who is stalwart and predictable as a viable and commanding option.

(#5745) 11 days left

     It is becoming apparent to me that the only October surprise this time around is going against trump and his lackeys. Before I move on with that point I want to make another one real quick. 4 Star General John Kelly was said by trump to be weak and stupid. John Kelly was trump's chief of staff. So if John Kelly, according to trump, was weak and stupid how come trump gave him a massively important job within his administration? Either trump is lying about John Kelly because John Kelly is now supporting Vice President Kamala Harris, or trump is terribly bad about appointing reputable leaders to our government. Either way, whether trump is lying or is a bad judge of character, trump comes out looking like muskrat shit.
     Anyway, back to any kind of October surprise happening, it is all seeming to be coming apart for trump. I can see a couple of narratives that will serve to cut the legs out from under trump right now. The ties between musk and putin are starting to be revealed as one detrimental surprise and the other for me which isn't really a surprise to anyone who understands the heartbeat of our nation, that independents are breaking heavily for Harris. I mean really heavily. Exit polling on voters who have cast their ballots already are more than willing to announce that they are voting for Harris overwhelmingly. Another anecdote is that an unprecedented amount of current and former republican leaders are publicly switching their allegiance from trump to Harris.
     In 11 days we will begin to see if all of this affects who wins. In my mind this election is closing well for Harris and trump is like a wounded animal snarling and snapping with the realization he is not going to win. Still though 11 days is a long time in politics so we who are fighting for the true manifest destiny of our nation must keep our nose to the wheel and focus hard on doing anything and everything we can do to bring our candidate home with as large a victory as possible. We must make sure that trump cannot play the victim card with any credulity. We must win this election and then win the post election. We do that by creating the largest blue tsunami election we have the power to influence.

(#5744) 12 days left

      The groundswell for Harris is real. The pundits and pollsters refuse to both acknowledge it and factor it into their polling models but it is real and strong. Many of us have been saying that the national media wants a close race and if they have to manipulate the narrative to fit that scenario then that is what they will do. The national media is not primarily concerned with informing the public about current events. They are about shaping opinion that benefits their sponsors and owners.So we the people, who are learning now and transitioning away from traditional national media, have to put up with their corruptible models as data points, at least for now.
     However the transitioning away is happening as we speak and other forms of non traditional media are filling the gap. We have to stay attuned to it when we recognize it and then adapt it to our information gathering sources. Logic will always help us to find good information because we can apply logical formulas to the information that tests its validity. Many second tier news organizations show their loyalty to democracy so those should kindle your interest first. Protecting and defending democracy while promoting further democracy in the world is the base from which I begin. It is my foundation for all things political.
     With 12 days left there is only one candidate and one political party that is anchored in democracy and that candidate is Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic party. All others are variations of a worsening of individual and collective rights already achieved. With Harris those rights will not only remain but will increase. I have early voted for Harris and all Democrats on my ballot. As a lifelong member of the Democratic party I know the heart and soul of us. We want the best we can achieve for all of us. How could anyone not want that as a normal functioning human being? Well I know one reason and that is the mental illness of psychopathy, which has found a home in the republican party. 12 days left to voice your opinion through your vote. Speak well with your power!

(#5743) 13 days left

     I want to talk about the current voting. It seems that for some reason the vote by mail count in Georgia, particularly the 5 big Democratic strongholds are showing underwhelming returns on their early mail in votes. All other counties are showing strong returns but not the 5 big democratic counties. I don't know what to make of that? It seems way to coincidental for the democratic counties to be underreporting while the rest of the state is averaging above a 50% return ratio. Are there some shenanigans going on? Georgia is already suspected of undermining voting opportunities but have the republicans in Georgia gone a bridge too far in having something to do with the low return ratio in the 5 big democratic strongholds?
     I am just guessing at this point. It may be that the returned ballots in those counties have not been added to the totals yet for some logical reason? I don't know but what I do know is that I am suspicious of anything that is obviously out of whack when it comes to voting. The next few days should alleviate my concerns but if not then the shit will be hitting the fan in my outrage. I will leave it at that for today. Other things are going on that have me somewhat angry about not only suspicious polling but the inability to understand that likely voters are not the only voters who are voting this time. There are millions of women who haven't voted in the last few elections who are voting this time. Yet the pollsters refuse to consider the impact this will have in their prognostications.
     All of it is to make sure we democrats are on edge. None of the anomalies ever seem to go against the republicans. Strange that, not! The rigging of elections for the wealthy to get there preferred outcome is not new and has always come at the expense of the working middle poor class. Well I can only think of one solution for this election and that is to ignore the media. Yet watching over the counting of the ballots is necessary as we have seen. There has only been one political party that makes things unfair in a constant way and that is the republican party. Which is why I rail against them from the top of my lungs. If something bad is going to happen with no one taking the blame then it is a republican ploy. Because although we democrats do occasionally make a mistake, we are quick to own up to it, unlike republicans who are only quick to blame someone else.

(#5742) 14 days left

      With two weeks to go we democrats are primed to finish strong if we keep up our momentum focused on our policies and turn out our vote. We are on the correct side of offering the American people a better life going forward. I won't talk about what republicans want because it doesn't include anything for we the working middle poor class that is positive and helpful to all of us. but we democrats are the opposite. We have a bevy of policies aimed at helping young and old people start their lives and wind up their lives with hope instead of crushing debt and debility. Homes and educations are expensive and we democrats are looking at the ways to lower each of those and many other costs around the family unit.
     We democrats are looking to secure a better future for the many of us who have traditionally been left out of the American economy. The republicans see us as necessary evils and keep us at arms length from the opportunities they wish to only secure for themselves. Again, I don't want to talk about republicans but in order to give a perspective I must include their vision as a contrast to ours. We democrats want equal representation within our democracy, republicans do not. We democrats want women to have autonomy over their own bodies, while republicans do not. We democrats want the American working middle poor class to have a livable wage, republicans do not. We democrats want democracy to be spread about the world to help all the people's of our planet, republicans do not.
     In 14 days we democrats will start to see the fruits of our labors as they relate to keeping our democracy. We will triumph in this cause with the help of many women and like minded men who believe that women are the arbiters of their own bodies. That the freedom to exist as an individual human being is as important as any freedom anyone else can claim. That the liberty of life is indivisible and not subject to arbitrary rules men may ascribe only to women. That justice in our society must prevail over the injustice some claim as a privilege. That the fairness of all things cannot be devalued to favor one over the other. That the pursuit of happiness is an ideal that all would share despite the differences and prejudices some lay at others feet. We who vote for democrats will help herald in the correct stewardship our nation is so desperately in need of at this time in space.

(#5741) 15 days left

      Stop reading the polling sites. For the most part they are not being honest about their methods. As more and more votes are cast the polling becomes less significant and more manipulative to power and money. So let those sites do what they will do and you do what you need to do which is to engage in any effort you can to get another vote for Harris. For me I am feeling a groundswell for Harris and a mirage for trump. The mirage for trump only shows up in the polling so remember that pollsters are beholden to their sponsors which for the most part are not real friendly to democracy. I say that with some anger because these influencers are doing a disservice to our citizenry with an eye toward deception.
     How they think they can change our minds is beyond me but try they do try. What they, the pollsters, don't understand is that we do understand the stakes we are facing in this election. They want to discourage us and dampen down our enthusiasm for a better future but they are not smart enough to know that we get their plot and are well beyond it being anything other than disappointing. Regardless though of their intent our intent is steadfast and continuing. Especially with early voting underway nearly everywhere in our country. We are getting our voters out with many working non stop to knock on doors and calling on phones to contact those who may not vote and remind them of their own voice through voting.
     15 days left until election day is not much time. So we must keep our focus on the importance of facts and truths being told and explained in understandable ways. It is paramount to saving our democracy and improving our future. None of us can take this election off and hope that others will get us across the finish line. We all have a duty to our democracy to do something. No matter how large or small that something is it must be something! Our heritage as Americans demands from us a respect for the sacrifice of those who came before us that has been passed down from generation to generation. This is our time now to rise up and defend our freedoms and liberties with whatever we can muster. The pride and joy that comes from standing up for what is the best about we Americans can never be matched by anyone or anything that would destroy our precious democracy!

(#5740) 16 days left

      How bizarre it is to see the addled trump speak about subjects best left to the deviant perverted in our country. Yet he is closing in the polls according to the now infamous nate silver. I take it all with a grain of salt since I know that trump is disgusting and nothing much at all that is uttered by him is of value to the working middle poor class. Yet the money and power people in our country are rooting for trump through a disingenuousness they can manipulate and narrative with spin. As much as that is scary in our society the illusion of anything good about trump is just that, an illusion. We the working middle poor class are going to the voting booth with one thing in mind, defeat trump for good.
     Our goal is to get Harris to the finish line with as many votes as can possibly be cast with common sense and inspiring messages of hope. We are all in for Harris and nothing trump or his henchmen like muskrat can do will deviate us from our mission. For us this is not unlike war. We know the cost of losing our democracy to a wannabe tyrant and we know that we each have the power to control our own vote. One vote is not a lot of power but when combined with the majority of us that one vote becomes part of an astounding amount. Astounding enough to lift Kamala Harris to victory and finally bring justice to the victims of trump et al and their arrogant criminal behavior.
     A little over 2 weeks from now the election date will arrive. I would not be surprised if by then half our nation will have voted in the early voting period. The sooner we democrats and like minded independents/republicans cast our votes for Harris the better the utility of resources we have can be focused directly at voters who have not cast ballots yet. We democrats are greedy in that we want all to have the best of what Harris can do for us so getting all the votes we can is a positive value. Being efficient with our strategy to win this election requires us to vote early and then get every hesitant voter out for us on election day. We will win this because in our hearts and minds we want what is best for all of us and that means that democracy survives with a Harris vote.

(#5739) 17 Days left

      The desperation with the republican party to image up a mirage of respectability is laughable. Their cabal of millionaires and billionaires can only spend money, they can't do magic well enough to trick us anymore. Those of us who are beyond any doubt about what this election means for democracy cannot be baffled with their bullshit or dazzled by their phony pyrite brilliance. We are steadfast in common with the ideal that the freedom, equality, liberty, fairness, justice, and opportunity provided by democracy cannot be replicated by anything else the snake oil salesmen within the republican party can muster up as an illusion.
     I still have some, but not much, faith in the opposing party in general to do the correct thing this election and distance themselves from trump. If what I think will happen, that about 10% of republican voters will vote for Harris the democrat then this election is over before it even started. Yet that is only a hope of mine not a proven reality. So what must continue is we democrats doing everything we can to get out our vote and get the still unsure voter, voting for democrats. Whether we win by one vote or 10 million is not the point here. Winning is, because there will likely not be a do over in 4 years. The republican trump has made clear that this will be the last time his voters need to vote if he can win this election.
     Using trump's own words is our guide to what he will do and no amount of cleaning up what he meant will ever change his intent when he spoke them. Take him for his words and then decide if you are willing to let go of our democracy so he can become a king. That is what we are voting on right now. Whether we give trump and his bootlickers our democracy or if we keep our democracy and have Kamala Harris lead the defense of it. I will take Harris every time. She is not going to deny us our rights as free human beings. She is not going to make us suffer for some desire trump sees as his destiny. She will protect democracy so that every child growing up in America can pursue their dreams without being told by trump to get back down into the lower and punishing classes of no advancement.

(#5738) 18 days left

     Two and a half weeks from now and then the counting begins. There are already 10 million votes cast and compiled awaiting a count on November 5th. There will likely be nearly 150 million votes cast this election with maybe even more given the stakes of what the outcome could portend. Those who possess the right to vote will feel the pressure to vote in this moment unlike any other election. 2020 was a pivotal election and the numbers for the voter turnout were epic. I am not sure we can get that many to replicate the awesomeness of that turnout but with the stakes being what they are I truly am expecting an amazing turnout that could well be higher than 2020. 
     It is my opinion on this but I expect that the voting electorate will deliver a Harris victory with the highest vote count of any politician in any election ever. It is my gut feeling of which I can only offer anecdotal evidence. Roe being shot down by trump and his acolytes in Congress is one of those anecdotal measurements. Another is his project 2025 that begins to suspend life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for too many of us. The brutal and cruel arrogance of the republican candidate is another piece of evidence that does not bode well for him. We on the other hand have a candidate that is compassionate and intelligent with a heart full of concern for all regardless if they vote for her or not.                                                                                                                   There are 18 days left for our nation's electorate to cast their votes for the person and party most like them. I expect many will vote according to that formula with some others voting for her because they cannot stand him even though they are in his party. The Independents will most likely decide this election and from what I can see or predict is isn't close when looking at Independents and their desires. The differences in the two parties is clear and distinct. The republicans are not nice people who would sacrifice to help others. Whereas we democrats are nice people who believe that helping others who need help is not only a duty to humanity but it is a requirement for those of us with honor and the principled and ethical vision of democratic values.

(#5737) 19 days left of this building optimism tempered with some anxiety

      Truly this election has been difficult to compartmentalize. It is front and center in every aspect of our lives. So dealing with it has found me doing some things that lift my spirit when I start to feel a bit apprehensive about the outcome of it. With 19 days left it is finally going to be coming to an end but more importantly the outcome is the priority. If I knew we were going to prevail I would bask in this time and at times I feel that way. Then the other shoe drops I don't feel so confidant and the nerves start to heighten. In both scenarios I still know that each has its basis in reality so keeping them in perspective is the key to my mental and emotional health.
     I do like the position we democrats have with 19 days to go. Our candidate is fierce and intelligent while theirs is a muddled mess of incongruency. Regardless though there are too many who would vote for him no matter what he said or did. Which makes this election so uncommon. Normally the candidate with the clearest logic on the subjects that matter the most to us has a good edge in the voting. But not with the cult of trump and his republican followers. They are unfazed by reality and instead are enamored with the personality of biases and prejudices they allow into their own lives.
     I am older now and as such must deal with situations and circumstances with less vigor and hubris. Instead I find my emotional center line and straddle that line for the sake of sanity. I know which side I am on but to keep a balance I must not get too excited nor overwrought over the dynamics of this election. I see the wisdom in keeping a straight face when confronted with ridiculousness for the most part. When I am unable to hide my rage or hope I quickly recover to again understand that in 19 days this will come to an end and that end is as I see it right now filled with joy over a Kamala Harris presidency. Feeling good and a bit anxious is doable and that is where I am at right now.

(#5736) 20 days left to make the case for Harris

      All I care about is highlighting Kamala Harris' vision for America and the world in general. I won't be offering anything from her opponent well mainly because he is not offering anything much for me and my colleagues in the working middle poor class. We are what is important to Harris. She wants to help us get into homes, care for our children, have more spending money on important life sustaining activities. She truly is our champion! In 20 days the votes will begin to be counted and the tally will start to show who has won. as it stands now the favorite is Harris but we cannot trust anything to luck, happenstance, or percentage calculation.
     There are many doing the hard work of knocking on doors, calling households, sending postcards, etc... to give Harris a chance to pick up at least one more possible vote. When you realize that there is no certainty in this election you also realize that every vote counts. Every opportunity to talk to someone who may vote for Harris is a most necessary priority. To keep our democracy moving toward its more perfect destiny we must not only protect it but we must advance it. Vice President Harris is the only candidate that is committed to not only protecting the values of our democracy but she is committed to expanding democracy everywhere in the world it may flourish.
     Kamala Harris came from the working middle poor class so she is one of us who has not forgotten the struggle it takes to rise up into positions of responsibility. All of us within the working middle poor class have to struggle to advance which is much different and harder for us than it is for those who are born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Those who are that fortunate should also be democrats willing to help all achieve at least a modicum of what they were born with. But sadly most of the silver spoon crowd do not like to help others. They appear to only want to keep helping themselves regardless of what it does to those who are not fortunate like them. It is sad that the wealthy feel so much greed and lust for all instead of feeling humbled by their own good fortune at birth.

(#5735) 21 days until the election!

      Three weeks until we know if democracy survives in America. I say this matter of factly because it seems that too many in our nation are not aware of the threat. They go about their business like all will be the same in 21 days. I can only scream at the top of my lungs for so long and then I weary of the effort and toll it takes on me. If I were younger I would be very afraid of what republicans are going to do with our democracy. I am not younger though. I am older more toward the end of my life than that long ago time when I was just starting out. I was fortunate like the last 200 years of our society that lived within democracy and its opportunities and guaranteed rights.
     I cannot say the same for us after these next 3 weeks. If the majority of us don't protect our democracy by crushing republicans at the voting booth then the future will see the end of American democracy and the world become more tyrannical. It isn't just in America where democracy will wither and die but it is in the rest of the world where now they are trying to shake off the shackles of tyranny. Their efforts toward democracy will collapse along with America if the republican party wins this election. Not only will democracy decline if republicans win this election but so will knowledge and its enlightened thought. The cruel, ignorant and lazy will be leaders and dictate their desires to the rest of us.
     Our dreams of advancing the human experience into our manifest destiny will stop. The growth of humanity over the millenniums has been to seek out new truths and learn from the past. What republicans want us to become will negate both. They want us to stop learning and to live in the past. They think that it would be much easier to control us in ways they think benefits them the most. The republican party is showing itself as a master who must rule over all. They are not about innovation and creativity for all, instead they are about obedience and servitude for most. If this picture of republicans controlling other human beings reminds you of being herded like cattle then you do understand what it will be like if you allow republicans to destroy our democracy!

(#5734) Kamala Harris and every Democrat on your ballot deserve your vote!

      I am done playing nice with republicans and their piece of shit enablers. They are out to destroy our democracy so that they can have power and control with the benefit of becoming filthy rich. The price we the working middle poor class will pay is more poverty and debt with less opportunity to pursue our dreams. The republican party is full of weasels who would steal what belongs to all of us so that they can have it without sharing. They hate democracy because democracy won't let them dominate and terrorize others for their own pleasure. The republican party is backing sexism, racism, and classism so that people who are now free will become like property.
     If you are voting for republicans you are dead to me. I will not associate with souls who would willingly serve a wannabe tyrant fulfill his dreams of cruel and brutish egoism. We have 22 days left to make sure that trump, the pitiful destroyer of democracy, is defeated so voting for democrats in every contest on your ballot is your answer to republican pillaging. Enough of this being silent and letting the bullies of the world have the public stage. We who are decent human beings should not allow the worst of what humanity spawns to dictate what our future will look and feel like. I will not abide anyone who is unaware of the consequences going forward.
     You are either in for being a democratic principled patriot or you are the enemy of us. Take your side and be prepared to either win with us or lose with republicans because with republicans you will lose both ways. The trump republicans don't care about you they just need your vote on November 5th in order to destroy our democracy. The republicans almost destroyed our democracy on January 6th 2021 but it seems that too many Americans are quick to forget their treachery. Shame on republicans who will not defend our democracy and may they meet a similar fate as other treasonous conspirators of our past. I am not sure this post will get past those that censure truths and facts about republicans but here goes!

(#5733) I am equal parts intelligence and emotion

      I live from my mind and my heart. My mind is all about learning and applying logic to it. I am no real creator type per se but I do love my imagination. It helps inform me about perspective and keeps me on balance. With my mind I live to understand how all we humans can live in a world that is finite. We all are unique in our characters and personalities so imagining a societal structure that allows all of us to pursue our passions and clever innovations within a boundary of acceptable behavior as an imperative. Which brings me to Democracy and its ability to satisfy our society as a whole and we individual humans within it. Being wise to what all of us needs to prosper and grow is a value beyond any other social structural consideration.
     Then there is my emotion. My heart, for me and the people, other life, places, and things I encounter serves to ignite wide ranging sensations. For the most part my heart is sensitive to all manner of love and care, yet some emotions are not happy but instead are reactions to pain and suffering. My reactions to love and care and pain and suffering bring me to the same place however, that being compassion. I may get angry with hurt to myself or others but I want to fix that pain and suffering caused by hurt. As with love and care I want that to be part of my life as a rule. So whether good or bad I want the best from those to conclude in joy and happiness.
     Often it is difficult to square my mind with my emotion but I do find a way to square them. On a continuum of emotion is hardness and softness. My mind tells me an act is cruel and brutish and deserves a hard response. Yet my heart opens up the minutiae of the behavior. My mind in collaboration with my heart will then compromise to come to a conclusion that takes into account more than just the singular act. Those are the tricky compromises. Many are not and are simply what they are. Our environments dictate much of our behavior and informs our knowledge as a duty. We all need a safe haven within Democracy to help us along in making the right choices for not only us but by extension the rest of us as well.

(#5732) 24 days until the most important day in the history of democracy since our revolution

      I am a one issue voter this election. Saving our Democracy from a dictatorship. One the one side there is Kamala Harris fighting to preserve and strengthen our Democracy and on the other side is a wannabe tyrant who is as uneducated as any modern day president in American history. You would think this election would be a landslide for Harris and in some scenarios it may well be, but not according to pollsters. I question these pollsters lately since their models seem to include a large amount of republican affiliated polls. Without those republican partisan polls the outlook would be much rosier given the non partisan polls are favoring Harris.
     Neither here nor there though. Regardless of what the polls say the only way to give your all is to work right up until the election is over and the votes have been all cast. There is no scenario where doing less than all we should do is comfortable. There is no one around me, even at work, who don't at least think I am a democrat. The people I am respectful of and associate with are so varied that there can be no doubt as to my being inclusive and helpful to all. I don't have to advertise my political affiliation although I will when the opportunity is even close to arriving because I live my political aspirations as a way of life.
     I have already voted and our state election officials in my county here in California have an app. that notifies us when our ballots leave the election office to the postal service, then to our homes, then back to the postal service, and finally back to the elections office with a notification that they have our ballots and the envelopes themselves are among the counted as returned. That is how important it is to me and many like me so that we can know our ballots are actually among those that will be part of this historic election. We know that democracy is being threatened and our response is our vote. There are other important issues within our free society that will be addressed with a Harris victory, but overall the imperative is to defend our democracy from republican trump and his ego driven tyranny!

(#5731) I will conquer obstacles to achieve success-My fortune cookie

      I know this little phrase is just some pep talk but I like it this morning. I have no obstacles I am in need of conquering at hand but maybe later in the day something will appear. I wish I could conquer stupidity here in America but that is out of my reach at the moment in the best of hopes. If only an awakening would occur but even mentioning anything to do with woke, wake, or awakening now sets off in a bad way the people in most need of it. I don't know how to rehabilitate the concept of awareness but it is in need of repair. Not with those of us who understand that life is all about learning new things so that we can move past the old things that are no longer true or viable.
     We who are still counted among the woke are keenly aware that we are under attack by those who find learning too difficult to administer in their own lives. They would rather be unaware yet opinionated. Their opinions take the place of facts and make their lives easier because their opinions align with their limited considerations. The axiom that ignorance is bliss comes to mind. Much like those who refuse to know facts and truths, opinions serve them regardless of the rules of logic. Somehow they think that having followed the rules of logic and a modicum amount of common sense to get where we are progressing today toward being an amazing nation, are now not needed to continue.
     How the segue of nonsense to other nonsense works is beyond me because I find it violates the continuum of rationality. We simply cannot piece together incongruent thoughts and present them as not contradictory premises toward a conclusion. We the people of our planet have striven for a form of communication that is acceptable to all of us. We achieve this through logic. Where one set of facts follows from another set of facts. The common sense of this is universal or was until just recently when many in the republican party and those who were historically anti enlightenment sought to defy logic and instead accept irrationality. How they do this is to dismiss truth as fact and instead replace truth with fallacy. That way they can bend whatever thought they are presenting as an alternative fact without needing to be verified.

(#5730) Did the hurricanes and tornadoes give Florida a wake up call?

      The aftermath of both weather phenomenons is now upon us. Those who were affected in Florida are coming out into the day to assess the damage that they have had to endure. Many are traveling back to their possessions with apprehension and hope. What they find will surely be a mess however the size and depth of the mess is yet to be determined. That will be their focus today, to find out what they are facing for the next many weeks and months of cleanup and restoration. But in the back of their minds they must now be questioning if this is not over yet. When is the next major weather phenomenon coming?
     In the past Floridians had understood there were weather related problems that were consistent but manageable. Now they know that the intensity and direction of weather phenomenons are not predictable nor manageable. A new chapter in the weather that affects them is being written and they must be wondering if they will be part of that story or not. Will they think about pulling up roots and moving to less intense weather devastations or will they do something that I hope they will do. Change their outlook on the catastrophes that are inherent within climate change. Floridians elected a governor who has mostly eliminated the phrase climate change from state law. It is rather silly on the face of it because denying an event does nothing to mitigate it.
     It is my hope that the smart people of Florida will finally see out beyond the political rhetoric of their current representatives and make the necessary changes in the next 26 days to rectify how the state of Florida combats the root cause of climate change and its worsening effects. Having just lived through an event like the last two hurricanes and hundreds of tornados I would hope that reality would overrule incorrect political rhetoric. It would seem to me that the last few weeks in Florida, although terrible and with unnecessary loss of life, can serve as a wake up call. Those who have survived may be given the motivation to change their thoughts and actions toward addressing the causes of climate change instead of the denial of said climate change.