(#5659) The truth is pain is my constant companion

      I feel like I need to write about this subject. For me and I truly suspect all of us who are older now is that we have learned through necessity that pain will always be with us no matter how we try to alleviate it. Not just the emotional pain of loss and sacrifice but the physical pain that wracks our bodies in different ways. For me it is the assumption that a life lived hard and fast is coming due with the cost of that choice. I think it might be easier to tell others where there is no pain than where there is pain. It is pretty much everywhere within me now. I have pain relief antidotes that are only short term which help get me through the day but are no cure for aging and the body breaking down.
     It is a fact of life that is not expressed clearly enough so that when we are younger we can at least temper our actions and behaviors with some moderation. Working against me was my feeling of being invincible and that feeling giving me free reign to push the envelope of my abilities to even further stress and strain. So much so that now as I am less that young man physically my body is letting me know that it didn't appreciate all that hardship I put on it when it was much more vital than now. The power I once had has been diminished and the agility I built up is now suspect. I move slower now and with more caution out of a sense of knowing that what I could adjust to on the fly when young is no longer an option.
     What is most trying though is the constant pain. Simple tasks are now filled with jabs and aches of pain. What would seem unlikely to hurt just a few years ago now is anticipated with an angst. Getting older requires a discipline that is not understood by too many and obviously not enough by myself. Yet the alternative to getting older is worse so adapting to the pain and the reduction in my behavior and actions becomes my new set of protocols. We all get to our older age from different experiences but the end result is that we do change from young and strong to less so. With that comes the cost of all that youthful vigor. I am not telling anyone to slow down in their living their lives but keep in mind an age reckoning is on the horizon and those fortunate enough to get to an older age will have a cost to pay for it.

(#5658) What the autocrat like maduro shows us about trump

      We can see in real time what a trump presidency would be like just by looking at what is going on right now in Venezuela. Where a large majority of the population has voted against the tyrant, with him in power he is able to thwart that and continue to claim he won the election. Does this vaguely sound familiar? If trump is to get back into power it will be the same no matter what the vote is the next time an election comes around. He will claim like maduro that he won and the results are not to be contested. it is the way with autocrats, remain in power regardless of any silly vote.
     So we who are aware of what trump will do given he already miserably tried an insurrection in 2021, have a duty to our democracy to protect it. We do that by calling out trump and his nefarious plot to destroy our government of democratic principles, you know like equality for all, opportunity for all, one person one vote, freedom from oppression. We who are aware cannot sit silently and hope that someone else will fulfill the duty to protect our democracy. None of us has a pass on the sacrifice it will take to stop the trumps of the world when they are going to ruin what we have built over centuries.
     How the Venezuelans respond to their moment of crisis will be revealing in how the world perceives the importance of overcoming tyranny. I expect that the people of Venezuela will stop their society and its functions in order to pressure the tyrant maduro to relent. The concept of we the people applies here with Venezuelans because when most all the people decide enough is enough is when the change will happen. That can only happen when the people get together and force the issue as the only issue of the days ahead. Just stop what they are doing and congregate at the seat of government where the tyrant is hiding out and don't leave before he does!

(#5657) Project 2025 is a parasitical document that undermines democracy

      The very idea of anti democracy is founded in this blueprint for trump and republicans should they ever come into power. The nuances that went into this deceptive vision are designed to confuse and misdirect intentionally. The heritage foundation and their republican acolytes do not want you to know how full of anti democracy propaganda this project 2025 of theirs is offering. Where freedom of choice is limited to options not a full scope of possibilities. Where gender and race are qualified by degrees of acceptance not a universality. Where poverty is allowed to remain so as to direct many human beings into choices that are specifically unwanted by the more affluent.
     The republican party has over the last 64 years shown itself to be less about democracy and more about control. They have turned themselves into judges of everyone else instead of judging themselves. A condescending approach to society that has only their own perception of what good is at the core of their actions. They do not qualify their approach with honesty, instead they use deception because they know that without deception their designs are flawed and only serve a small section of our society. What is even worse is that their cavalier attitude toward the working middle poor class is a dehumanizing characteristic that can only be described as behavior unbefitting a human being of conscience.
     Currently the leadership of the republican party is distancing themselves from full throated support of this democracy destroying maze of dishonorable guidance but only until they know they will not suffer a cost for its support. We who are not beholden to anything less valuable than our own constitution realize that if republicans get control of the presidency and congress the end of our American democracy will begin immediately. It isn't just my opinion. Take the time to investigate for yourself and trust that our constitution is correct and those documents that would contradict it are not. We have more work to do to perfect our union but throwing our constitution away to make life harder and more unequal is not the path forward.

(#5656) 100 days until the election

      It is a happy time to be a democrat at the moment. What seemed to be a difficult situation with President Joe Biden coming to the realization that he was being outmaneuvered by the criminal trump for reelection, Joe decided to stop and let the next democratic candidate take the reigns. Her being Vice President Kamala Harris. What Kamala Harris has done in the full week since her endorsement by Joe Biden is remarkable. Not only has she secured more than enough of Joe's earned delegates to be our nominee but she has gone out on the offensive and shoved reality into trump's face. All the while fundraising like a tornado.
     It isn't just the switch from Biden to Harris that is the real story on the ground out here in America. It is the enthusiasm that has come with Kamala Harris. She has acquired now nearly 200,000 new volunteers for her national campaign for president. She has garnered nearly 400 million dollars in donations from small new time donors and wealthy donors as well. She is coalescing our democratic party much like former President Barack Obama did in 2008. The similarity is striking in that people are coming out of the shadows with full throated support for Harris like with Obama in 2008.
     In 100 days, late in the evening we will know how this election is trending and for me it won't be a surprise to see similar outcomes in states for Harris like it was for Obama. I am not hinting or predicting how this election is going to go but I do have a vision and it is one of hope and thankfulness for all who are still democratic warriors like our foreparents were who created our great nation. Our American democracy is on the line and that in itself is all we need to know. Protecting our democracy comes first and then fixing it to be better is second. Nothing compares to our democracy. History has shown us that we are living in the greatest form of government ever devised and our foreparents would be proud of us for keeping it alive and evolving toward a more perfect union as we all pursue our happiness without doing harm.

(#5655) trump says we won't need to vote 4 years from now yet no national media mention

      I cannot make this up because it is real. trump said this last night "I don't care how, but you have to get out and vote and again," he added. "Christians, get out and vote just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It will be fixed. It will be fine. You won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians." So not only will his beautiful Christians not need to vote again but he somehow will fix it to make it so. So what is his fix? How can a candidate for public office guarantee that there will be no more voting in 4 years?
     There is only one way that no more voting will be needed and that is if democracy no longer exists. One person one vote is the formula for democracy and that has been our tradition. However with trump's statement to his followers last night it is in fact not trump's tradition. he has often talked about being president for life like his dictator friends putin, xi, and un. So it is natural to think that trump will do the same if he is elected to our presidency. He will disband our constitution and coalesce around his followers, rules for all of us without our consent.
     I did find a Newsweek article that mentions his statement last night but it was the only one I could find. Hopefully there will be others later today and tomorrow but with the national media being so far silent on the subject it is hard to believe they will at the last minute show any journalistic concern for democracy. Our news media is acting and being conspiratorial in denying the general public facts that are important to us that help us form opinions. The national media is now contriving to keep information from us that they think will make us wary of their fealty to trump and the republican party which owns many of their news services. Trust your gut and vote with democrats to save not only our democracy but to clean up media so that it is not intentionally detrimental to free thought.

(#5654) We Democrats are united behind our candidate Harris

      Unlike on the republican side where a conman who is also a felon is running to be president, we democrats are solidly behind our candidate who is a professional law enforcement figure who is also a politician. On the republican side they have a convicted felon, 34 counts of felony charges, a rapist who is at least closely connected with sexual activities with underage girls. Our democratic candidate has no such dirty laundry in her past. All she has done is be a valued public servant willing to help our society as best she can. Not so with the republican candidate. His obvious agenda is to help himself at the expense of the American people.
     So why is this race so close? Well there are many people who believe that the republican candidate is some form of godliness. I cannot get there regardless of any logic supplied yet too many do. Our democratic candidate is a woman of color so the republican party is lambasting her as not equal because of her gender and race. There seems to be a lot of white folks, white men especially, who think that any other race than white is not equal to them. We here in America seem to be poised to let race and gender dictate worth and value of a person. Instead of merit, intellect, and heart. I find that although there are a lot of white promoters of superiority there are not enough to overcome democracy, at this point.
     My sense about all of this is that the loudmouths in the republican party along with their wealthy donors are skewing sentiment, especially through polling. That will not hold up to the test of time. I suspect that the momentum now on the democratic side will keep building and create such a gap in popularity that the democratic party may well be on its way to a wave election. For now the numbers don't show it. However, as time goes by and the logic of democratic policies weighed against republican ones will transform any sentiment for republicans previous to the Harris candidacy away from them and toward democrats and what is better and best about American democracy.

(#5663) The prosecutor versus the felon

      We are having a presidential election beginning with early voting in 56 days. 102 days plus some hours until the actual election date on November 5th but with early voting in Minnesota and North Dakota starting 46 days early, we are nearly in that window. So this tagline of the prosecutor v, the felon is not only appropriate but it is unmistakable. Kamala Harris has been a prosecutor and trump is a felon. so here we are in a presidential election with a law enforcement officer versus a criminal. How this can even be a contest is difficult to imagine but that it is says more about the failure of our society than it does about honor and integrity is revealing.
     By failure of our society I am talking about our principles of living. Whether being a person of good character is actually known to those who are backing the criminal. How can some let a criminal come into the highest political office in our society without questioning his foundational purpose. Believing him is one thing but not fact checking his claims is another thing. Where did the idea of verifying truths and facts go? How come it is easier to believe even someone who has no right to be believed than to ask is this true? How can anyone give the benefit of the doubt to a criminal who has expressed his sympathies with dictator after dictator while dismissing the democratic allies we have built up over centuries?
     In this coming election, now that we are mostly assured of knowing our replacement candidate for President Biden, the facts will matter. Getting more people to believe the facts is our mission and for that we are not thanking the national media who continually downplay the criminal while looking for fault with the prosecutor. But we the people are not fools and cannot be fooled by those national voices that try to tell us that a corrupt individual is better than an honorable one. We the people are going to show not only the national media but those wealthy who control the media that their day of reckoning is coming alongside their corrupted criminal choice and his political party acolytes.

(#5662) I like who I have become

      It wasn't always like this. In fact it has been a long road to ending up here as I am now. I went through a lot of changes to get here and that journey was difficult and at times painful. Like life for most of us, difficult and painful are our trial and error paradigms. In my case I had a good foundation to finally draw from that had been instilled since my childhood. I just had to dig deep down inside me to remember how I thought and felt back then when I was first forming as a person. I was confused for many years over things that didn't logically align. I had an expectation about humanity and society that failed to live up to my expectation.
     I found myself not caring about a lot of things that seemed against me as if I was deserved some privilege. Well I found that road to be a dead end so I got off of it and found a better road. A road where I get to choose who I am and what I want to be within a realistic expectation, not some fantastical one. I found my inner compass and it was always about doing good and fighting against the bad. I feel at home on this journey now because I am living as who I am and not someone who is trying to be something else. I am even keeled about most everything now even the hardships that will come along if we live long enough.
     I am also even keeled about the great things that happen. The reason being I know how fleeting new and exciting can be. But I do smile when I can as a reminder that I am lucky in that I am living as me now. I do not try to create the future under my terms, instead I let the future come to me under its terms. Trying to control anything other than myself is mostly impossible while trying to control myself is a constant work in progress. I get that now. Being a good guy and trying to stop the bad in the world is a purpose of mine that gives me great pleasure and motivation. Life is an adventure and living it as oneself is the goal. Be yourself and join the rest of us as we pursue our happiness while doing no harm.

(#5661) Vice President Kamala Harris is our new democratic candidate for the 2024 election

      Karma is spelled Kamala right now. In that the 2016 election was a huge disappointment for we democrats and the intervening 4 years afterward a much bigger disappointment the chance to get some rectification is at hand. Hillary Clinton beat trump in the popular vote in 2016 by nearly 3 million votes but under the antiquated process of the electoral college trump was awarded the victory. As an aside, Hillary did not contest the outcome as she followed the rules that were in place. Unlike trump who didn't follow the rules in place and instead tried an insurrection against Biden when he lost to Biden in 2020 by 7 million votes. A woman of honor in 2016 compared to a man of disgrace in 2020.
     Now that we know that Kamala Harris will be our democratic nominee after President Joe Biden bowed out of the race for 2024. This provides another chance for America, 8 years later, to elect its first woman president. Last night Kamala got more than enough pledges from delegates that were committed to Joe Biden to overcome any other candidate who has not yet entered the contest to replace Joe. None will now that Kamala has filled the void left by Joe. The amazing enthusiasm that Kamala has engendered in all of our party is incredible. She truly is the right person for the right job in the right moment. I had foreseen a blue wave election earlier and now see it much more clearly.
     I expected that Joe Biden would rally our party and like minded independents/republicans against the forces of anti democracy but things slipped away for Joe in the last month. So for him to recognize that a change was needed mid stream was a vision of beauty. Not only are the republicans beyond their own convention but they are stunned by the Harris injection of enthusiasm in our democratic party. The prosecutor versus the criminal is a tagline that is going to hang around trump's neck this whole election and his inability to combat wits with Harris will be his eventual epitaph. What should have happened for Hillary in 2016 is about to happen for Kamala in 2024. Karma Kamala indeed!

(#5650) President Joe Biden for the next 6 months

      I was one who was against President Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race this coming November 5th. Yet what I want is not my ability to make happen. It was Joe's decision. He has made it and now he will be our president for only the next 6 months thereabouts. Joe came along in our American timeline at the perfect time. He saw what a horrible president the republican trump was and knew deep down he could make him a one term president and he did. As president Joe accomplished quite a bit and got our nation back on top of the world in economic output and ending covid related pressures. Joe was a mighty president and I will remember him as transformational.
     But Joe has decided that his time is over and a new leader of America is needed. Not the republican, but his own democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. In far less than a day, Kamala has already galvanized most of the democratic electorate and is quickly galvanizing the forces that control the electors Joe Biden has already amassed during his primary run. On Wednesday the electors will vote to whom to give their votes to and if Kamala can get enough of them she will become the presumptive democratic nominee. As she should as our sitting vice president and the choice of our president to succeed him.
     We who are our here as political commentators know that Kamala has the chops to take down the felon trump. She has right and goodness on her side while the criminal trump has lies and corruption on his. This will not be a fair battle for the presidency because if Kamala is our nominee she will rake trump over the coals of truth and facts for which he will suffer to answer since he has no honorable rebuttals to offer. The prosecutor versus the felon is a true depiction of how this election will go if Kamala is our nominee. Thank you Joe Biden for being an amazing president and for selecting an amazing vice president to follow in your footsteps should the democratic powers that be follow your advice one last time.
     

(#5649) Exposing anti democracy plans of republicans and their project 2025

      Let me start off by telling you that the same people, the heritage foundation, have been working diligently to undermine democracy for over 50 years. Includes such efforts to end all abortion without the mother's consent. Anti climate actions aimed at keeping fossil fuel and other dirty energy at the forefront of our economy. Anti anything to do with LGBTQ rights and protections from bigotry and ultimately harm. Not the least of these is voter suppression. Everywhere in red states that have republican leaders the purge of voters from their voting roles and the obvious gerrymandering to dilute districts in order for republicans to maintain them is ongoing. This is the group that is promoting the new project 2025 for republicans in the next election in 107 days.
     This group is all about religious fundamentalism at their core. They want the men to lead and the women to be submissive to men. That is not equality within democracy so democracy in their eyes cannot be the governing principle ideal. What replaces democracy? An authoritarian theocracy where their belief system, which is nothing like anything ever taught in church in my youth, is malleable to their own interpretation. Where the republicans have concocted a white republican Jesus to fit their narrative of anti white suppression that they incredibly claim is their suffering in life. The republican party has gone beyond the first amendment of our constitution where the separation of church and state is clearly defined. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof:"...
     Those who will feel an immediate suffering will be the working middle poor class. Work overtime will be up to the corporations as well will be workplace discrimination. Workers will lose rights under democracy that will no longer exist. Make it harder to receive food assistance, It removes head start educational programs for children while making it easier to put children into hazardous work conditions. Disbanding NOAA so that there is no more climate data to evaluate. Allow pollution in our underserved communities. Plus many more anti democracy policies This link will let you read for yourself: https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-05_Peoples-Guide-Pro-2025.pdf

(#5648) Abortion as a woman's choice to control her own body stays when we elect democrats!

      Not only are abortion rights protected through democratic policies, women's rights in general will improve. If we elect enough Congressional members we will see the Equal Rights Amendment become constitutionally protected. That we need a constitutional amendment to give women their equal rights with men is absurd in this day and age of enlightenment, yet republicans have yet to evolve to that elevated consciousness. Which is why you hear me constantly telling anyone who will listen to stop voting for republicans. They have not learned enough about humanity to safeguard and improve a more perfect union.
     This election is very simple. Keep our democracy and the equality laws we have up to now installed while also continuing to create more equality laws that give all our citizenry the same rights as any other. Otherwise the equality in our current laws will go away under republicanism while there will be no new creation of laws to grow our equality. The republican party is against equality for all and if you just look at their policies it is as plain as the nose on my face. They are against women having equal rights, they are against foks of diversity having equal voting rights. They are against everyone in the working middle poor class from having the American dream where anything is possible.
     In my heart and mind I know this election will be a blue wave tsunami. Not because of the corporate shill media polling nor the bombastic statements by the current republican carnival barker. But because our mothers, sisters, wives, daughters, nieces, and female friends are not lesser than we men who love and honor them. We stand shoulder to shoulder with them as they do with us and never in my worst nightmare have I ever thought that women weren't as capable if not more than we men. Women are so strong on the inside that they make us men pale in comparison. Because they have learned to endure hardship unlike we men who cannot fathom their depths. We male democrats get that!

(#5647) We democrats will unite at our convention!

      There is a sense that we democrats are in some kind of disarray. Well that is absurd! Every last one of us liberal progressive and a huge amount of independents are solidly against trump so the blue vote is coming and it will come in a wave like election of our nominee. Which I hope is our current President Joe Biden. If Joe feels up to the challenge of leading our nation for the next four years then I am all in on him. If not then whomever we agree to take his place will have the same support from me and most likely everyone else. So we democrats are not in disarray, we are in a moment of discussion concerning an outcome that will be the same regardless of who wins our democratic party nomination.
     The republicans had their convention and it did nothing to most all of us to change our perspective on just how bad republicanism will be for our democracy. Our democracy will not survive a republican presidential administration and the republican nominee has made it clear he wants to be president for life and will do everything in his power to take power from the courts and congress for himself. Let that sink in for a moment. He wants to be king of America and do as he pleases regardless of whom it hurts or destroys. The republican party is now an authoritarian one where the winner of this coming election won't have to face another election in his lifetime. That is what is at stake here, the very life of our 248 year old democracy.
     So in the meantime as our democratic political party has its intra party conversation, a decision will be made before our convention next month in August. Will Joe feel up to the task of carrying our democratic party to victory and then to legislative changes that will set the course for more progressive policies to help the working middle poor class? Or will another equally dedicated to progressive liberal policies become our nominee and defeat the tyrannical forces of republicanism? These questions we will answer over the next 30 days or so. Either way we'll be united in our cause to stop the worst of what has become of the republican party and its narcissistic leader who has already fomented an insurrection on our democracy.

(#5646) Everything progressive is on the line in this election for we the people!

      Every advancement made by progressives and liberals over the last century is at risk of being eliminated if the republicans win this election. I still doubt they will but my doubt is from believing that the American voter is too complex to believe the simple stupidity and false narratives of republican politics. I know there is a small percentage that will never understand the incorrectness of the spell that has been placed on them by the carnival barkers in the republican party but they are far fewer than they would like us to know. Still though we are only approximately two months from the early voting start so the narrative must be clear for the forces that want to preserve our democracy.
     From social security, to medicare, to workday protections, to unemployment, to women's rights, to child labor laws, to education, to racial justice, to voting rights, to the ever changing of America into a more perfect union for all of its citizens. This is but a handful of paradigms that have improved over time because progressive liberals have made it so. Yet this current republican party through its majority on the supreme court is willing to throw all those changes away in order to remain in control of our government and throw out democracy for a form of authoritarian tyranny much like trump's ally putin has in Russia. If you think this is fiction then you are not as wise as you should be.
     We the people is where we are for the next approximately 100 days, after the election we may not be if republicans are given the votes to change our society. It won't be we the people anymore it will be only some of the wealthy and the rest of us will be begging for table scraps. This is no joke nor fantasy. Listen to what the republican party leader keeps saying. He, trump, wants to be president for life and rule on things that don't require a congress or judiciary. He wants to be king and he is the leader of the republican party. So a vote for a republican will justify his quest to throw out 248 years of democracy to be replaced by himself as not governed by we the people but he and his as the only people who matter.

(#5645) Blue wave election still on the horizon

      I still see the blue landslide that may well be. It will begin to show itself as soon a the Democratic National Convention takes place in August. It is early still now with the media playing favorites with republicans but that cannot stand for long as the truth of things get out anyway. By the time our convention rolls around the depth of depravity that is deep within the republican party will be exposed and those who are currently not paying attention will see the illogic of voting republican. Not only is trump a disaster as a human being but his running mate is so flawed when it comes to the truth that he will bend himself into so many shapes to avoid admitting he is without honorable virtue.
     So figuring out the republican ticket will be as simple as trusting your own eyes and ears. With the democrats it is even simpler. We are fighting for the working middle poor class where nearly 90% of all voters reside. So the question on November 5th 2024 is who do you want on your side? Those that hurt you or those who help you? This is why I still see the blue landslide. There are too many who understand that going backwards toward an obedient republican wished for society where women are held as second class citizens is irrational. Meanwhile there are too many who see that the democrats are about economic prosperity for everyone and wish for that to continue.
     As to democracy, there are only the democrats who are fighting to keep it as our governing principle. The republicans are not siding with one person one vote and instead are trying hard to disenfranchise too many eligible voters through gimmicks and tricks that are nefarious in nature and underhanded in application. The blue wave is coming because there are still too many of us who demand that our politicians work for us and not the other way around. We the people means a lot to most of us and we are not about to let go of that for some carnival barker trying to sell us an apple pie made from rotten apples.

(#5644) Under the trump project 2025 the working middle poor class will know misery!

      Even the heritage foundation people admit that they cannot share some parts of their project 2025 with democrats because those parts are too radical. So the republican party is so distorted that they cannot share their vision of America with transparency. There is absolutely one thing I know about the republican party, they take a measure of pride in causing anguish and despair to the working middle poor class. How do I know this? Easy, they never offer programs that will help the working middle poor class with their daily struggles. Instead they offer programs to the wealthy that segue into more pain for the working middle poor class.
     I know that I am constantly saying the republicans, especially trump, want to end democracy and create some kind of theocratic/authoritarian form of government where they never have to relinquish power. I find that so disgusting and anti American that I do keep saying how the republican party is no longer a party that believes in equality, fairness, justice, nor the pursuit of happiness for all its citizens. I am sure I am not complete in my listing here either. Yet they continue to deliver this nefarious desire to harm more than help. None of us should take for granted that republicans will be laughed at for trying to take our democracy as they have shown they will go to any length to make it happen.
     The prescription is clear. When the voting time comes there cannot be one vote cast for republicans from anyone with even a modicum of decency in their character. The behavior of republicans is a behavior that is closely identified with some other regimes around the world that take from society but don't give back. They are anti liberty and anti human rights. Their disdain for self rule, which is a hallmark of democracy, is baffling since they are trying to use democracy to destroy democracy. Yet that is the playbook of the republican party. Destroying democracy this election will allow republicans the opportunity to end all other future elections where we the people vote to decide our own fate.

(#5643) My departed brothers Jim and John

      My two older brothers have left this existence. My brother Jim passed away after he had just turned 50 in 2002. My brother John passed away just this past May at the age of 70. I have been thinking of both of them this morning for whatever reason and it struck me that I need to talk about them in this moment. First off Jim, the eldest of us was the leader of the children in our family. He lead through his curiosity about life and his smile that could make your heart warm up in seconds if it was directed at you. It wasn't until later in life that I got to spend any mature time with Jim but it was special given his sudden departure from life. He took me under his wing like he most always did and gave me his time, attention and love when that was what I needed.
     My next eldest brother John was the free spirit. He heard his own drummer and didn't take to conventional ways unless they made sense in ways that often mystified me. That was johnny's nature, to be different than others in a better way. He was like a magnet to those who could see his charm and character and he could light up a room just by walking in. I got to spend the last of his nearly 8 years with him in my home as a housemate. He both astounded me at times and infuriated me at times but never was he less than who I admired and loved. John was a force, like Jim, but both in different ways. I have so many thoughts in my head about my 2 older brothers while neither is here to talk with me anymore.
     Having 2 older brothers helped me along in life when I was young. Not having 2 older brothers now is so different for me because they cannot be who they were in my life and that makes for a big void. As the third sibling I got to see both my brothers throughout the entirety of my life since we were born not far in time from each other. It is strange to be here in existence without them yet I know that time will have us all when it is our time. Yet, I will continue to exist and remember my older brothers with an occasional laugh at the moments we shared that now only exist in my memories. My mind is what links us now even though the heart is sad. I was fortunate to have both these two brothers and I will endeavor to bring to the forefront the lessons in life they have both left with me.

(#5642) Early voting starts in 68 days

      We are nearly at the start of the early voting period. With Minnesota and North Dakota starting in 68 days less than 10 weeks from now it will begin. The next day, 69 days from now, Mississippi, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming will start their early voting process. The campaigns are now in full on mode to get their messages out and what is clear is that democracy is on the line especially with project 2025 being forwarded by republicans seen as the main threat to democracy. Not only that but the republican nominee has made it clear that if he wins he will not likely leave the presidency during his lifetime however long that lasts.
     President Biden, the democratic candidate, is all in on democracy. Which is one person one vote. He knows that we the people need democracy, like our founding foreparents knew was the best form of government to exist and fought like crazy to bring it into being. The American manifest destiny of democracy is threaded throughout our 248 year history. Letting republicans destroy that legacy left by our beloved ancestors is akin to undermining the one great thing that makes us the greatest country on the planet. The fact that republicans don't like other races that are non white, nor do they equate women with being equal to them, nor those who are not wealthy, is their ill foundation. So why would anyone vote for a political party that has such a disdainful condescension?
      Apparently playing on fears is the recipe for the republican party and those who vote for republicans are either as mentally unaware of the complexity of their desires or are all in on destroying our democracy. Whatever reason there is for voting for a republican cannot excuse what that enables them to do to our democracy and fellow citizens. A democratic vote is a vote for equality, liberty and the individual and collective pursuit of happiness, as long as no harm comes to other(s), While a vote for a republican is a vote for repression, denial of rights, and the only pursuit of happiness allowed must be approved by the republican leadership. It seems clear that in 68 days a verdict on all of this will start to be rendered and then we will know the fate of America!

(#5641) If putin goes down so does trump!

      Here is another reason to support the democratic effort in Ukraine. The invasion by putin is his centerpiece for keeping himself in power but if he is tossed out of Ukraine not only will he be a world pariah waiting to be captured for his war crimes but he will also have failed the Russian people. Once the facts of putin's failure in Ukraine becomes known to Russians they will not let him off the hook for wasting their children and treasure. That putin will be brought down from power is a fact and that will also signal the end of trump and his alliance with putin. Without putin reinforcing trump in so many areas of his politics and economics trump will become a pariah himself to the vast majority of Americans.
     There is no greater concern on earth in this moment than the success of Ukraine against the war criminal putin. It cannot be that a failure as a human being like putin should be given any advantage to remain a world leader. He has to go down for his crimes and his senseless slaughter of his own troops and Ukrainian civilians. That he influences other potential world leaders is an abomination and must not be allowed to continue. The west needs to seize this moment and end the stalemate it has allowed for Russia to remain in Ukraine for literally no justification. Fear is not a justification it is only an embarrassment to those who see bravery beyond fear and do the courageous thing instead.
     Let Ukraine do what it needs to do to end the scourge of putin and in that the scourge of trump will also crumble. It is win/win when putin and trump are not making decisions that affect the rest of us. Ukraine for their part are as great a force for democracy that exists so let them continue to prove it by releasing the restrictions that hamper them from ending putin and by extension trump. Democracy is not something we negotiate. It is instead something we demand and in the demanding of it we must put up our fists and fight should anyone tell us no. With putin and trump off the world stage the chances for democracy to grow improve exponentially.

(#5640) Russia must be made to stop in Ukraine now!

      I find it telling that the US media is all about telling Joe Biden, the fierce defender of democracy to step down. While not at the same time chastising trump for his anti democracy statements and actions. There it is in a nutshell. The corporate media has struck a bargain with fascism and is now willing to forego our democratic roots. The America we once lived in as children is no more. There is a scourge in the republican party highlighted by trump but the roots of it has been dormant for decades. The rot of republicanism is here now and in full display for all to see.
     The republican party has been playing the long game with keeping our society from enlightenment just so that they could better control those who do not now have critical thinking skills. What does this have to do with ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Everything! Ukraine is a symbol of democracy trying to keep its right of self rule. If we don't stop the putin madness then we are enabling him. Justice is a word that has few definitions. Give Ukraine all that it needs to justly end this putin led cabal of democracy destroyers then we will see that our own democracy will strengthen. Otherwise the republican party through its disgraced leader trump will find a way to turn our shining city on a hill into Moscow.
     Ukraine has a plan to end Russia now and we in the west are not being helpful to Ukraine. We put restrictions on the weapons we give them despite the advantage that gives to Russia in its continued onslaught of Ukraine. Democracy under Ukrainian control is going to be magnificent. But to get there the Russian invasion must be made to stop and putin must stand trial for his thousands of war crimes! I know that fear plays a part in how we decide to let Ukraine use our weapons but fear is nothing if we lose it all in reality. The time is now for bold action with courage and then let the chips fall where they may but only through bravery will we be able to claim that democracy is for all people not just for those who can easily defend it!
     

(#5639) I almost forgot to post today

      I have been very busy today. I started out very early at about 4:30 this morning out to get gas for all my empty gas cans I use for the riding lawn mower. Since returning after 5 am back home I got to arranging the back yard for preparation of mowing and yard sweeping. I had to mow along side the house with my rechargeable battery mower and weed eater to get that small area done. Once I was done with that and policing up the whole of the backyard of doggie land mines it was almost 8 am and time for me to crank up the riding lawn mower. I have been away for several months so the care of the yard motor tools had dropped off but not enough to thwart me from getting them operational.
     After charging the battery of the gas driven riding lawn mower I was able to mow the tall growth down and afterwards hook up the yard sweep to the riding mower and sweep up most of the cut growth and the thistles and foxtails that seem to grow around here in plentiful amounts. By the time I had finished it was well after 10 am and I was feeling the heat as it was already around 99 degrees when I got back into the house. The back yard looks a lot better having been cut and effectively raked. I was beat tired though and after the refreshing shower I took a nap because that is what we older folks do when we get up early to work. I also am working on a legal issue and that took up several hours this afternoon. Plus I am now plugged into working next week for two days a week.
     I wanted to take another nap but just happened to notice that my blog page was still up on my computer tab. I have missed 9 or 10 blog posts over the last more than 15 years on the day that they were supposed to come out and to make up for it I always have posted 2 blog posts the next day. Most of the missed blog posts were due to sickness of an overpowering nature but sometimes I do just get too busy and forget my protocols for posting. normally I post early in the morning but of course early was not happening today and later almost didn't happen either. If you want to know how it feels not to post it is almost like a depression of sorts. It does not sit well with me when I for whatever reason procrastinate my daily posts.

(#5638) The national media is letting democracy down

      Follow the money, always. The national media is now owned by corporations who are beholden to their shareholders. These shareholders are of the wealthiest in our nation. They have so much money that they can afford to spend it without ever missing it so that is what they are doing. But why Carl, why would a bunch of billionaires waste money on media when it is not profit inducing? Like Occam's Razor, the simplest answer is usually the most likely. Because he who controls the information is given so much more authenticity, regardless of being factual, than those who just shout out the truth!
     You can see the lack of truth concerning trump and republicans when all you hear is negatives about democrats. The national media has already moved on from the insurrection by trump and his plans to be king of America. They don't care that a jury of his peers has convicted him with 39 felonies. The national media does not care that trump has been found guilty in a civil trial of rape against at least one women. None of that matters to the national media and their shareholders. They are more concerned about how to continue to enrich themselves and how trump and republicans give them an unfair advantage they fully expect to cash in on.
     The national media is not objective like we would expect them to be instead they subjectively slant their stories toward the perceived wrongs of democrats while glossing over the factual wrongs of republicans. Their intent is to keep republicans in power so that they can enjoy the continued utility of controlling the masses as they deem most profitable for themselves. Democracy is at stake here in this election and the national media is saying nothing. They don't care about one person one vote. They care about control and they will do the trump and republican bidding to keep the power with republicans regardless of how many factual truths they omit nor the amount of trump lies they allow.

(#5637) A recent surge in democracy!

      In Britain there was an overwhelming victory for the forces of democracy. The right wing in Britain is about irrelevant now as it has ever been. The same can be said for the french in their election. Their right wing thought they were on a path to victory until reality came down hard on their heads and they too find themselves as irrelevant. Now another surprise out of Iran. Not long ago a hard right religious leader was killed in a helicopter crash and his replacement is a hard turn left from his policies. This new Iranian leader is open to dialogue with we Americans and is more tolerant of women's rights.
     This has all happened within a few months and if anything foretells of a shift from the brutal hard right policies of denying rights to the beginning of protecting rights. We Americans may well see the same type of watershed moment that is visible in the present as it occurs. A fatal moment occurred in 2023 when Roe v. Wade was eliminated. Fatal to trump in that he has taken much of the credit for taking the right of women to choose their own destiny and destroying that right. He is now this year trying to walk back some of his most defamatory comments about the downfall of Roe v. Wade but women are not that simple as to forgive him his enormously condescending role.
     With the dishonorable destruction of Roe v. Wade under trump's belt he is now the figurehead of project 2025, which is another afront to not only women but men who stand with women as well. With that backdrop, it is easy to see that there may well be an avalanche of voters against the right wing of trump and his accomplices in the republican party. This coming November is shortly upon us and I can sense the enormity of the event among all those who are aware of the consequences. I will not be surprised at all to see further right wing political destruction here in America with too many who know that democracy itself is at stake. With less than 100 days until the voting begins I do believe that not only will democracy be defended in the vote but that the American hard right will go the way to irrelevancy that they have in France and Britain.

(#5636) Why women need to reject the republican party

      These 12 states have not ratified the Equal Rights Amendment that would make women equal to men in our society. Here is the list and tell me if anything seems familiar about who these states are and who represents them through politics. Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah. Other than the very recent purpling of Arizona and Georgia, the other ten states that refuse to authorize the Equal Rights Amendment that would guarantee women equal rights with men in divorce, property, employment and other areas are mostly solidly republican strongholds
     The ten most republican states will likely not, excepting possibly North Carolina by my calculation, ever allow women to have equal rights with men even though we live in a democracy. So why would any women vote for republicans when republicans treat them as second class citizens? Women all over the world have shown that they are not only equal to men but often are much more. So why would women let men tell them they are not worthy? This is but one historical area that has for the last over 100 years failed to be ratified because an amendment like this needs 38 states to agree to the amendment to our constitution. Well we now have 38 states but the time limit set on the total has gone by and now must be waived and then voted upon in the Senate to make women equal to men in our democracy.
     We need more democrats elected to power so that women can finally realize their equality, through the Equal Rights Amendment. Another reason to not give republicans your vote is that republicans recently dismantled the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade of 1973, that gave women the right over their own bodies. Instead now republicans have taken away the right of women to decide their own fate. Another obstacle for women that makes them less equal than men. If republicans have their way women will find themselves shut out of divorce, legal, and employment protections aimed at moving them back into the kitchens and nurseries where republicans condescendingly believe they belong. Do not ever again give your vote to a republican whether you are a woman or a man!

(#5635) Republicans cannot control curiosity nor can they control compassion

      I have stated many times in this blog that curiosity and compassion are the true natures of our species. We have had to evolve and survive but the core of who we are is that we want the answer to why and we have love in our hearts. These two things, wonder and care, make up everything that we do that is correct and good. We must as human beings live who we are! There are too many people in the republican party who see us not as free human beings pursuing our happiness but as reflections of who they want us to be. They are willing to make us suffer in order to fulfill their desire that we be not who we are but who they think we should be.
     I am able to say these things about republicans because I hold facts and truths dear to me. If I didn't hold facts and truths dear to me I wouldn't care about how the republicans are about to steal your true natures and make you into troubled beings. I would just go about the last half of my life doing what I think is correct and not care about what will happen to you. Fortunately though, I am no selfish being. I am instead a caring one who does have his compassion in his heart and his wonder in his mind. I am living as a purely true human being, wondering and caring about the things in life both, animate and inanimate, that I can help to make for a better existence. I know things are often uneven and out of perspective to great ideals, which is why I am striving to help even them out.
     The biggest problem with republicans is that they are not happy. If they were happy they instead would be living happy lives. Not trying to make others suffer because their unhappiness makes them dull and uncaring. Their lives are wasted because they do not see that whatever rules and restrictions they put on themselves is for them not for others who have the same right to live as they please. The republican party is one of ruling others so that they can satisfy some inner desire within themselves. Life isn't like that and the only cause that will come of it is chaos and more suffering. The republican party has yet to learn this lesson and if the rest of us are wiser today than yesterday, the republican party will soon learn this lesson well!
     

(#5634) The exception is not the rule

      I am coming to grips with my own mortality. I am fine as to any mortal infliction but my body is telling me that the days of bygone are truly bygone. I spoke earlier in a blog post about my new normal being aches and pains that are not subsiding. Well last night once again reminded me that those aches and pains are still predominate in my ability to sleep. There was no comfortable position for me to assume that alleviated the aches and pains. Well maybe just long enough for me to fall asleep and then within less than an hour be awakened by the uncomfortable aches and pains in a more acute way. Tossing and turning to find a combination of positions that would allow me to sleep beyond minutes is also my new normal.
     I know I exacerbate my own discomfort by doing the chores that need to be done here. Nothing can help with that since I am the one responsible for getting those chores done. I accept that I must find ways that use more physics and less brute force in order to give my body a break and I am working hard on that. Yet there is only so much physics can do for me since I am the driver of the actions and they come from me. Yet I can still control the actions and limit them even further in order to keep from over exerting and tiring out the areas of my body that are most afflicted with the aforementioned aches and pains.
     The stifling heat is another factor and it is a bit much for me to be in the outside doing chores. I do take my chores seriously and instead of procrastinating with them I get them done early while the sun is still low in the sky. I will be outside in a moment as I finish this blog post and within an hour be back inside where I have other work to accomplish either inside the house or out in the covered patio. Either way though using my strength is part of it and that is where I do the least effective preventative care for myself. Such is life, we all have our burdens to cope with and solve so me and my aches and pains are no exception, instead we are the rule.

(#5633) No trump insurrection in Brittain

      Last night when the conservative party in England was handily defeated by labor forces the handover of power was like all handovers of power in the United States until trump lost in 2020. The conservative prime minister called the new labor prime minister and congratulated him on his victory. Such is the manner from someone who is honorable in defeat. We cannot say that about trump since he has no honor in him even when he was electoral college appointed with nearly 3 million less votes than his opponent Hillary Clinton in 2016. If a peaceful transfer of power is what you would expect from free and fair elections then look to the British to remind you of how it is done.
     Do not look to the insurrection on January 6, 2017 from trump on how it is done. The trump insurrection was a vile attempt to kill off his opponents in Congress, including his own vice president, because they followed the rule of law instead of trump's rule by any means necessary. When we the people are allowed to vote under our democracy we become the final arbiters of who won and who lost. Not some fantasy trump concocts so that he can keep the power he thinks is his for life. We in democracy do not adhere to such mental deficiencies that place ego and compulsion over rules and facts. It is an honor for me to see the British take on the part of our American democracy and teach us the lesson we seem to have forgotten.
     People of good faith are still all around us while people of bad faith continue to lie and deceive to change our hearts and minds. But there is nothing new under the sun as Solomon said so nothing the liars and deceivers can try to tell us will change the fact that we are the power in the United States not the wealthy nor their outlets. One person one vote is a tried and true method of democracy and as long as we the people continue to vote our common sense and heartful minds, they will guide us with the ideals of democracy and the pursuit of happiness it promises. Improving our society through laws that give us hope through merit and hard work while also allowing for an equity throughout that favors no one above another.

(#5632) Nothing but shame for republicans today!

      The majority of us are going to celebrate the fight we had to claim our democracy 248 years ago. A too large minority will not. Instead they are configuring how to steal our democracy from us and turn America into a fascist, tyrannical nation. So as they pretend to give a fuck about democracy today while smiling and playing at being proud Americans, they are not. They will wave their American flags but not with the gusto of protecting that flag. They have other flags that are more important to them. Symbols of nazism and confederacy where death and slavery has corrupted them to pursue.
     These illiterate and nonsensical people do not believe that all human beings should have equal rights. They are of the mindset that only white evangelical, and I use the term evangelical in it's worse imagining, have equal rights. All other are less so and much more like the property of the confederacy or worse the human waste of nazi concentration camp mindsets. I remember the days of when we honored those who sacrificed their lives for the rest of us to have a democracy that was ever evolving toward a more perfect union. Where we all could pursue our happiness as long as it did no harm to others.
     We don't have that now. What we have is a selfish large minority that can only see themselves as rulers of America and not any room for the melting pot ideal that got us to being the greatest democracy history has ever recorded. What kind of person does it take to want to destroy 248 years of the most illustrious form of government beholden to only the people it serves? What kind of person is demented enough to think that self rule is worse than being ruled by a tyrant or a king? How far down the evolutionary scale are we dropping because there are lazy ass people who are nothing but selfish asses who do not care that all people are created equal? We will soon find out come November 5th.

(#5631) Democracy is on the line this coming election

      If you have not figured it out yet that trump wants to end democracy in America then truly you are out of touch with reality. Not that occasionally being out of touch with reality is a bad thing but only occasionally. You would have to be out of touch with reality as a rule and not an exception to have missed the connection of trump to liking tyranny over democracy. Although trump would not liken it to tyranny despite the fact his pals in Russia and North Korea are tyrants. He sees himself more as royalty and therefore king-like instead.
     Our American revolutionary war for independence declared by our Continental Congress on July 4, 1776 is what is at stake here as the republican party has seen fit to undo 248 years of freedom under democracy so that the republican party can control all of America without any dissent. So any vote for any republican at this point is either badly misplaced judgement or a direct link to wanting the end of democracy and instead a tyrannical rule regardless of how it is phrased. So when I say democracy is on the line I am not embellishing or being grandiose about my statement. I am merely stating a fact!
     I have been railing against the republican party for most of my life and now the culmination of that railing is about to become either a fact or a fiction. This next election on November 5, 2024 will tell the world of who we are. Either patriots to democracy or sycophants to tyranny. We, all of us on that election day, will be the final say. I am getting too old now to be the voice in the night and day for all to hear much like Paul Revere and his ride through the night and day, warning us all of the impending battle to come. But others need to be that voice in the night and day because the outcome of this coming election is about to end the history of democracy in America much to the outrage of our foreparents who fought, bled, and died to protect. Are you a patriot to democracy or a follower of a liar who would be king?

(#5630) The hours are running together

      I know that my life is of little consequence in the big picture of the current harm in the world but it does affect me personally and I suppose it is worthy of discussing. Because of the nature of the things I am trying to accomplish down here it is incumbent upon me to expend a tremendous amount of energy. Nothing much new in my world yet new in one way, my health is a factor now when it wasn't so much before. I have been battling the heat down here in Sacramento to get things in some kind of order. I am winning that battle but may lose the war if I don't stop trying to do everything too fast.
     I have been able to get some sleep which is critical to me feeling like I have energy and that so far has been good. Yet the strain of the work here is heavy and taxes my physical body. I am enduring it and overcoming the physics with intelligent design but that only gets me so far much like pulleys and levers help in their way. So far so good though but there is much more to do. I expect to be called into work tomorrow if others have been doing what they were going to do but if not then another week to rest and get more done here at the house then fine with that also.
     I rarely complain about my physical health but I am under some aching and pains like never before. It isn't like they go away with rest either. So getting used to being plagued with the constancy of the aches and pains is now my new normal. I don't medicate for the sake of feeling better unless my doctor prescribes so until I see the doctor again I will keep on keeping on with lesser fun for the tasks still ahead of me. I do know this though, I am relentless in my persistence. I will get what I need to do done and then hope that other things fall into place so that I can determine if my future lies here in Sacramento or back up into the Seattle area. Time will tell.

(#5629) Back to my old routine

      Getting resettled into an old familiar pattern is going to be my new normal over the next several months. Things are playing out back to the way they were before I left for the Seattle area 3 months ago. I have work to do here and it is already starting to shape up since the moment I got here. My work and day schedule is already figured and now must be implemented. I have some other issues with the property but again, yesterday a possible solution appeared. I was just going to spend the day with close family yesterday and get some sleep after a long day of traveling but as fate would have it there is no rest when solutions come knocking on the door.
     I can get some more rest today and be happy about it as I can see an end to what I want to begin before I even start. Which is a very good thing from my weary perspective. I don't know how things will turn out but that they are turning is good. As for my animals who have been taken care of here in my old home it is like I never left them for those 3 months. They are all over me and that is the kind of reunion I had hoped for. It is funny with animals. I assumed they would think like me and give me what for as to leaving them back then but it isn't like that they just saw me and sniffed and then it was like I had never left. I am very grateful for having them in my life and in my presence now.
     What the future holds for me is what I hope will be the best that can be yet I know that so much is out of my control. But I am an optimist and see the world through that lens. With much to do here and accomplish I am sure that focusing on that will help other areas of my life to become much clearer and understandable in the best tradition of doing what is right and good. I never change from that ideal. Living life on honest terms so that all that I do is reflected out as such. As an aside, sitting here at my old desk is really a comfortable way to start my first full day back in my old home.