(#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.

(#5729) There is no time for myth and superstition except on Halloween

      I am an enlightened soul. It doesn't mean I am full of knowledge it just means that I know information is logical and aligned with common sense as a value above any myth or superstition. I do not allow myself the safety and comfort of belief systems either. They are well and good for those who need them but my world is the natural real one not some hoped for one after I am no more. I do not use faith as a tool for understanding, instead I use theories, facts and reasoning to analyze my approach in life. How I conclude is based upon factors that I can assimilate within the context of existence.
     My approach is not unique nor is it the most dominant. There are many who use their belief systems to guide them along in life without much adherence to logic and reality. It is almost/or is the fact that reality is not a priority in their calculations. They see the world through their belief and nothing much is ever going to change their view. I won't attribute what I think is their motivation on this posting but I know within me, to be devoid of belief systems, requires me to face reality for whatever it shows itself to be. I am not shy about living in this existence. As long as I am alive I will step into life with a curiosity that demands my behavior to be bold.
     The only safe harbor I have is my will to live with the strengths of my principles and the honor they represent. I know that life for all of us human beings is short and marked by the aging process. As long as I am alive I will continue to learn and acquire knowledge regardless if it benefits me directly. I am comfortable with how I have lived and being myself. There are few actual regrets. We all have wishes and dreams we would like to achieve and experience but setting a goal is not guaranteeing it. I feel privileged that I am able to comprehend that life has been a gift and no amount of me trying to make it into something that is more myth or superstition will change the inevitable that I expect will happen for me.
     

(#5728) We are getting mail in ballots in California

      Ballots are arriving in mail boxes around the state of California. It is an exciting time for those of us who do vote early because it is finally time to put our mark on the vision of our future. For me it is all about saving our democracy but in all of that are good policies and people who need to be our representatives. I have been waiting like most all of us for the first chance to get our hope for our future on record. Once completed the ballots will be stored with our county officials awaiting tabulation. That frees up time for us on election day to volunteer to do election duties.
     In this election the choices are as polar opposite as they could be. Vice President Harris is all in on preserving democracy and helping the working middle poor class. That trump is all in on making himself a king and only working for the wealthy contrasts the two candidates perfectly. Never before in the history of our nation has there been a candidate like trump who is so anti-democracy. He is also not a nice person in that he likes to dominate women and spew explicatives at many different races. He is also a criminal with sentencing coming after this election. A vote for him is a vote for the end of our democracy as he would end the rule of law that is a buffer to keep all of us from harming each other.
    A victory for Harris on the other hand will bolster our democracy, and lift up our struggling working middle poor class. It has been nearly 2 decades of the minimum wage being kept at $7.25 an hour by republican politicians but that will change when enough of us vote for Harris and a democratic Congress. There are so many policies that need to be implemented and Harris is prime to achieve them when she is elected. On a personal note I have been waiting for too long in my life for a woman to actually become president. To me, women are the heartbeat of our species and they know that with logic and common sense their compassion will alter the course of human history to the better.

(#5727) Harris is battling trump at every turn

      Unlike in 2016, Vice President Harris is not giving trump and inch to spread his lies without being right there to counter them. Back 8 years ago unfortunately Hillary Clinton did not shadow trump lies with constant monitoring and he was able to sway just enough to swipe the election from her. Not this time. Harris has learned that lesson and does not give the blubbering buffoon trump any oxygen to himself. We learned in 2016 that the American electorate is not the smartest electorate in the world. Notwithstanding our previous ability to cull out the most egregious candidates in the past, we failed miserably in 2016 by letting a charlatan grifter hold our highest office.
     The price we paid was almost our precious democracy. Even yet our democracy is still in the crosshairs of trump and his republican sharpshooters. But this time Harris is aware of her charge to keep him from ever getting back to our presidency. Harris is relentless in her rebuttals to his never ending streams of invectives full of lies and misrepresentations. She does not let him say what he wants out of whole cloth with impunity. He has to answer for his claims when the unceasing absurdity of his words spill out from his undisciplined mouth. Unlike in 2016 when trump was able to spew to so many without a response from Hillary, he is now monitored and rebutted in a perpetual state.
     The only way to make sure that trump is defeated is to never leave a word he says without giving whoever his audience is a fact check with the more likely truth. You cannot leave trump alone to his own devices because he knows no bounds of civility, respect, nor honor that he won't manipulate for his own advantage, to everyone else's disadvantage. There are 29 days left until the election and the mantra of not sleeping until we are dead is in full swing. There can be no resting on trump when his desperation grows each day. He will work overtime to figure out a way to win because when he loses he knows he will either have to run away from justice or end up in prison where he actually belongs for his numerous adjudicated crimes.

(#5726) Living life should be a celebration every day, not drudgery!

      We know from history that life has been more drudgery than happiness. History is the past not the present nor future though. So what can we do to change the course of drudgery like life to a celebration like life? I know most of our human drudgery revolves around resources. If we all had enough money lets say, most problems would cease to exist. I know other problems would appear but my guess is that far fewer would be the result. Which would help far more than it would hurt. So given that logic it would appear that eliminating our chronic immediate problems would go a long way toward making life a celebration like existence than what we currently have now.
     This is not a surprise since most people are trudging toward resources already to at least try to keep up with responsibilities. But even in that trying we are not getting out ahead of the problems we are more like just hoping to stay even and not lose more ground. The system we currently have in how we allocate and share our resources is not a solution to the problem of eliminating poverty and the drudgery it creates. So what do we do? How can all of us wake up one morning and have the wherewithal to eliminate our bills with more left for quality of life adventures and explorations?
     I know we who have always had to fight to pay our bills have dreamed of waking up one morning and looking into our bank accounts and seeing a million dollars in there from some reputable source. Maybe something like that, I don't know. All I know is that if our daily heavy burdens were lifted from us the happiness that would bring would be astounding. Life would truly be a celebration non stop. Wishful thinking is what I am doing here but it does serve a purpose to remind us that drudgery to just keep ourselves alive is no way to live a life that otherwise should be an amazing experience, not some difficult suffering for the sake of existing!

(#5725) Harris needs to be bold and futuristic in her vision of our country

      As this election has tightened with trump, Harris needs to hurdle past him in the polls and the minds and hearts of the electorate. She has already outlined some domestic policies that give us glimpses of her vision but in broader terms we are still waiting to hear her more generalized policies toward health care for all, climate change and foreign policy around the globe, expansion of the Supreme Court and for Puerto Rico and Washington District of Columbia statehood. These are major issues when given context for all will enlighten us as to how Harris will approach democracy and the necessary legislation for it in America.
     In other words, Harris needs to now step out of the shadow of President Biden and tell us her full vision going forward with the confidence and assuredness we know she feels. She needs to know we trust her so that she can trust us to have her back and lay out her vision with an honorable contentment. It is her time now to show us who she is, with 31 days left until the election, as to what she wants for us. It has been a safe haven for her with Joe Biden in the background that initially catapulted her into a slight lead that has stabilized for her until now. But that momentum is spent. It is time for her to open up a new front against the corruptible republican trump by not only staring him down with steely eyed conviction but to offer America her most profound courage in regard to policies going forward.
     She knows what is fair and just in our society and she needs to trust her instinct on that, her handlers notwithstanding. Being real as a person is her best attribute so her drawing her line in the sand is what we are waiting for. She is a remarkable person with an objective mind that draws from humanity and logical reality. She needs to lean into that and know that she is one of us and what she believes in her heart is what we believe as well. Being bold with policies for the future that make sense to the working middle poor class is her best option to maximize voter turnout in her favor. We need her to show herself as herself without the cloak of Biden leaving her in the shadow of it.

(#5724) The soul of America is either still pure or rotten in its core

      I don't know how to otherwise understand what is happening. We democrats are doing all we can to live and exemplify what is best about our human species and the republicans are kicking dirt into the faces of all who are not like them. Yet the pollsters say this election is close. I disagree of course because I am a decent human being who believes the vast majority of us are decent human beings. Yet we still see a consistency over time telling us that too many would elect the scoundrel as our leader than the honest forthright woman who is exceptional in most every way imaginable.
     For me to understand how this can be is for me to suspend common sense and look at this election as if it were some deep rooted problem with democracy. The republicans would destroy democracy and that is not much of a question any longer. It has been buried in the republican agenda for at least 7 decades but is now finally being touted by them as a policy desire. What is so bad about democracy that nearly half the country, according to pollsters, would have it dismantled in favor of tyranny? Is it merely democracy getting a bad rap from the wealthy and their propaganda machinery? Or is there some inherent problem with equality, fairness, liberty, justice that too many feel is unobliging?
     My sense is that democracy is not uncooperative but rather more work than too many want to invest. Which to me seems very odd because I have always known that anything worth having is worth fighting to preserve, or earning through the hard work, and or talent, for success. Is it that those who oppose democracy are willing to sacrifice their freedoms so that they can have others decide their fate for them because of a perceived ease? Are they so enraptured of being led by anyone as long as they don't have to think about it? I have never known the human species to be so recalcitrant toward their own rights to be who they are within what they desire without causing harm. Yet I see too many now who not only wish to be led with their blinders on, much like cattle, but these too many also disregard the ideal of causing no harm by it.

(#5723) Like Harris says, "Our unity is our strength, and our diversity is our power"

      When we as a society are united it is a thing to behold. I know when I am all in on something there is a specialness to my behavior and actions that I can feel as strength. In my youth when I was in high school I was fortunate to have been bussed to a high school with full diversity. If I hadn't been bussed I was scheduled to go to a primarily white school with practically no diversity. I was in one of those in junior high school so I had already experienced that dynamic and was comfortable with that association. So when I was in high school I had to open myself up to new experiences that diversity exposed to me.
     Like all at first there was a feeling out process where uncertainty eventually was replaced with a new confidence that I could be a human being in and amongst other human beings. My perception was changed from the unknown to the not only known but not different from my own experiences. I found that the diversity I was in alliance with was broadened by my new experiences. The foundation was the same as with my all white associations but now included different races I now knew with an equal footing. For me the diversity present within our school became such a force due to tensions during that time that a melding of togetherness overruled any apprehension about cultural differences.
     All these years later I still embrace that diversity I was inculcated with to the point of knowing my life was forever changed for the better because of it. When it comes to the races of the world I know for a fact that there is only one race, the human race, and our diversity truly is our power. This election is personal to me. I see Harris as a culmination of the decision to bus me and others like me all those decades ago to change the unknown to the known. She is like all of us in that she understands that unity is strength and diversity is power.. For those who didn't get the gift of bussing in order to assimilate with other races believe me when I tell you that it was powerful growth with a mindful awareness toward knowledge building for the better.

(#5722) America's promise to the world

      I know this much, the promise of America is to inspire and protect those who desire the fulfillment of democracy and individual rights. Our American promise is to all in the world to strive forward to a better existence. Without the chains of the past that shackled us to demands and service not within our scope of freedom, liberty, justice, and equality. We human beings are not property any longer in this enlightened reality yet there are still some who would not go forward into freedom without prejudice. There are some who see the world as their opportunity to control and manipulate to their desires devoid of any others' concern.
     Those who would destroy the intent of democracy are not without the ability to try with forces that are at times formidable. Which is why we who love the concept of democracy and its ever hopeful process of improvement must never relax in the face of the democracy destroyers. They are easily identifiable. They are tyrants, those who support tyrants, and those who have little emotion about anything that is positively indelible to the best of our human natures. We have such examples now in our American politics with republicans and their standard bearer trump. We also have other world examples like putin in Russia and maduro in Venezuela. Tyrants who would only protect themselves at all costs.
     Yet the tyrants are not much in the face of the rest of America and the world. We who are the majority in America will overcome the forces of tyranny displayed by republicans much like the world will eventually bring to a close the destruction by Russia and the deranged madness in Venezuela. Time is our ally in bringing America's promise to the world and even to ourselves. But we cannot lose the vigilance it takes to overcome the forces that are eager to take from all of us so that they can feel some unnatural sense of fulfillment. We are civilized in our societies and as such must act and react with bravery and courage to oust those who threaten us despite our fear of their perceived outlandish claims!

(#5721) October is finally here

      One more full month before the 5th of November. I am sick and tired of the anti democracy, anti women, anti everyone not white, welching trump and his sycophants! Give me Kamala Harris every day of the week and twice on Sundays! This election is a farce if we don't elect Harris. She is not only a nice person but she genuinely cares for everyone who needs help. Unlike trump who is the ultimate selfish personna. Not only is he selfish he is also cruel and brutish. He doesn't mind at all causing pain and suffering whether it helps him or not. He is incapable of care and compassion unless it is a strategy to help himself.
     What is even worse than his individual bad habits and behaviors is that he is more than willing to demolish our democracy in order to turn our nation into a cash machine for himself and his acolytes. He will do whatever he wants if he is elected. Not what we Americans need, no, what he wants. That is our future if this traitor to democracy is allowed anywhere near the seal of our presidency. Brave human beings all over the world will be compromised to the tyrants of the world because trump aligns with tyranny not freedom for all. The failings of the republican party are so deep and wide that the majority of republicans are all in for letting trump destroy our democracy.
     What must happen instead is all those of us who believe that equality, liberty, justice, fairness, opportunity, and freedom are first and foremost as priorities for governing must vote for Harris. That the welfare of our citizenry is the highest priority for any and all elected officials and that no elected official is to be regarded as above the law. Our democracy, even in its imperfect state, is still head and shoulders above any other form of government. So there will be no equivalent replacement for our democracy once it is gone. That is the choice in this election. On the one hand Harris will continue the perfection of our union while on the other hand trump will rip our democracy from us and replace it with his self aggrandizing form of self enriching chaos and force a servant status on the rest of us.