(#6412) 73 days until the election...

     With just 23 days until Pennsylvania starts it's early voting for the midterms, the House of Representatives look to be a promising democratic environment. With only a 3 seat republican majority in the House and the frustration and anger at republicans nationwide, the House coming back into a majority for democrats is more likely than not. The other question is the Senate. At the start of 2025 after trump was inaugurated the senate looked like a lock for republicans to keep their majority after the midterm 2026 election. Yet the performance and otherwise lack thereof concerning trump has turned that thinking upside down. Now republicans find themselves behind in polling in Senate seats that should have been safer.
     Not only losing seats in Congress but losing in places unheard of for decades. If trump thinks he is doing a great job with his "stewardship" of America then he needs a fundamental lesson in the difference between fact and fiction. With Senate races in Ohio, Texas, Iowa, Alaska, Maine, North Carolina and possibly more the momentum of democrats could turn these red state seats blue. As to the House, the generic ballot in favor of democrats is averaging up near an 8 point lead. Which could not only reel back that current 3 seat republican majority but dozens more. The political environment today that trump is spearheading is abysmal for him and his acolyte republican party.
     As always until we actually get to the voting time it is just informed speculation. However, if you ask any republican if they would rather be in this environment that democrats currently enjoy, they would unanimously say yes. It is an indicator of some validity and with each passing day becomes more likely to remain. What is still encouraging for we democrats is that through perseverance, nose to the wheel hard work, the current political climate is still getting better for democrats. This election if we democrats and like minded independents and some republicans vote like it is a vital priority to correct a horrible mistake, then what happens when the votes are counted could make an amazing night for democrats and America.

(#6411) 74 days until the election...

      I am going to be optimistic in this post. I usually at best am cautious about our eventual outcome this November 3rd after all the polls are closed. Yet, the feeling inside me is abundantly clear, we are going to wipe out republicans on every level of governorship. From local school boards to county executive offices to state legislatures and state executive offices to Congressional seats. The whole gamut of political positions will be affected by the coming blue wave. Why am I being positive? Because this change of preference from republican to democrat has been going on since just after trump was elected.
     I am not embellishing here. The constant wins by democrats in traditionally close state races and even in republican held positions over long periods of time. The once safe districts republicans could always count on to win are now either lost or in jeopardy of becoming lost. There really is no safe red state anymore. Sure, some republicans in deep red pockets of voters will win but they won't win by margins they have become accustomed. The flip has been building since many realized trump had no intention of keeping some of his really important promises. Many within the maga movement are unfazed by his broken promises but those who gave him the benefit of the doubt are now as angry about him as the rest of us who knew his treachery and voted against him.
     The switch has not been sudden but it has been steadily growing with each passing day. The numbers don't lie when gauging his popularity and policies. He is barely able to keep a third of the population on his side. With each passing day now until the election his popularity is still dropping! Where it will end up when the voting time comes will be reflected in the final counted vote for republicans. That will be the true gauge of his value to we the people. In that light and with the time remaining I cannot see him reversing the downward spiral of his and the republican party's inevitable humiliating defeat. I will still remain overall cautious about how this will end but logic within reality offers no other truth!

(#6410) 75 days until the election

      My main focus now is on musk. What is he doing behind the scenes with his technology that I am sure is smarter than I imagine. He is a piece of shit character so nothing is outside his arrogance to attempt. I am still all about paper ballots just because I don't trust technology for now. Anything promoted at making things easier to count or cast ballots at this point to me is a gamble. I would rather elections officials hire many human beings to count ballots than to have some machine spit out a number that to me is not easy to verify without a visual hand count. So why not start and end with visual hand counts and then proceed to total the votes.
     I will be filing a mail in ballot with my registrar when the voting time starts here in my state. I will be taking a picture of it including the ballot number and how I marked the races. That is how much I am concerned about trump winning the midterms even though he is the most vile and loathed president of all time. Something is afoot when trump doesn't even try to win over our votes. It's almost like he knows he is going to win regardless if everyone hates him. That to me is telling and stirs my caution. I know everyone keeps saying the elections are secure but that is what people would say just as they are being manipulated. I don't trust trump and his self servicing acolytes. Even when I don't have concrete evidence of electoral corruption my gut tells me he has a nefarious strategy!
     There is one way to make sure the machines are counting and tabulating correctly and that is to do a hand count with a machine count. If any machine comes up with a variance no matter how small then it needs to be double checked. I won't mind waiting for a longer election night if we are being more careful with our ballot count and tabulation. These votes are the most significant in the history of our nation and making sure they are counted correctly is the highest priority! Like I said, even if we need to hire a massive army of counters to visually acknowledge each vote then so be it. That we have to resort to this level of caution even while we are counting our votes is unprecedented in this disingenuous trumpian time!

(#6409) 76 days until the election

      In the past we used to see national elections heat up after Labor day here in the states. However as you may obviously know we are not in normal times. The heating up phase has been since the creature trump was elected and given majorities in both chambers of Congress. He holds slight advantages in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. So he had the ability to pass legislation that has pretty much crippled our egalitarian progress on social and economic issues. He has even had a two thirds majority on the Supreme Court as a buffer to keep his constitutionally suspect legislation intact. However, he has been so severe and greedy in so many ways that even his political advantages have failed to secure his more notorious agenda.
     It is in the failing to pass even worse legislation that has helped give hope to we the people who were on paper at least at a huge disadvantage. We were close to being at his mercy but the courts outside the Supreme Court were not to be bulldozed by his nefarious attempts to further neuter democratic principles. These lower courts exhibited the courage that legislators in his party were incapable of summoning up for themselves. Which also served to give we the people hope that we would survive the overthrow of our cherished democratic nation. As cruel and inhumane as trump and his acolytes attempted to be there has been no permanent damage done yet to our electoral process.
     We have 26 days until Pennsylvania begins their early voting and 26 days left for trump to disrupt that timing. He has no constitutional avenue for subverting our election other than his unconstitutional imaginings. He won't even pretend through lies that he is trying to help we the people. He is just happy enough to call us weak and miserable souls who let emotion interfere with his brand of brutality. What is likely to happen is that he will not get to disrupt our voting and that voting will allow us to end both his majorities in Congress. It will also allow us to end a lot of republican majorities in the states. Even the local levels will see an unprecedent change to governance with democrats winning everywhere.
     

(#6408) 77 days until the election...

      What we are seeing is that a growing number of previous trump voters with a conscience are finally turning away from him. Surely at first they believed his defense of his actions as just politics by the left. Nothing to see hear just keep trusting me was his slogan. But as time and the offences he has committed and the ones he is currently committing have worn down many of his previous voters to the point where now they are undecided and many are jumping off the fence to vote with democrats. It isn't a seismic shift in allegiance from trump but it is a steady albeit stream of discordance attitude that is translating into democratic votes.
     What used to worry me in an elections like this, where the democratic wave had built over time, was nearing the voting time some dramatic event would undercut our wave and give republicans a boost just before the election. I don't feel that this time. Instead I think that these last few weeks are actually going to grow our blue wave election to even higher proportions. Because trump cannot change who he is. He is a creature of monstrous inclinations. He doesn't know how to help those who are not him and his wealthy donors. He is also not prone to accepting sound advice if it interferes with his ego. In other words he will get even worse as a human being as the voting time comes.
     I am still precautious about our chances this midterm but overall I am much calmer about it. Don't get me wrong here, I am steadfast in my resolve to see our democratic wave crush this midterm. But I don't feel the anxiety as in past elections. Possibly because trump has worn it out of me or more likely because he has really stepped in it and there is no getting the stink off his shoes. For the next 77 days though we democrats must continue to do our outreach and hone our policies to fit the narrative that we the people demand of our leaders. As for republicans they will continue to be about nothing and call us every name in the book to make themselves seem less offensive. It isn't working and that is for me a contentment I haven't felt since he was reinstalled into our lives!

(#6407) There is no normalization with trump and that is wrong!

      Our ally Ukraine, who is trying to keep their democracy from the invading Russians, is being undermined by trump. Not only is he playing both sides but he keeps changing the terms of his agreement with Ukraine. What trump is doing in Iran is even more confusing and chaotic. He is using his attack on Iran as a leverage piece in stock market gambling. Not to end the attack he initiated on his own without approval from Congress, but as an ego trip to make himself look like the strongman he so desperately wishes to be viewed as being. In his latest attempt to coddle the strongman cult he has diminished our alliance with South Korea and tried to align more closely with North Korea.
     Between 1950-53 over 36 thousand American military service personnel died fighting against North Korea and many more South Koreans, our allies, also fell victim. Now trump disregards American sacrifices of our fighting for democracy heritage to support the dictatorial regime in North Korea. We know trump secretly admires and colludes with putin and is also in contact with the dictator of North Korea. It is as if we are in an opposite universe on issues of war. and other paradigms not discussed here. We are seeing the dismantling of our American foreign policy under trump and his acolytes like musk who stopped USAID to help keep the vulnerable from dying of easily preventable diseases. Like cruelty and harm are now our priorities and nothing short of that will be tolerated by trumps!
     The best of human nature is not a value with trump. Only the worst of human nature is admired by him. It shows in his adoration of tyrants and strongmen. What was normal, things like joy and happiness, are now replaced with fear and despair! In 77 days our election day will arrive and even better early voting starts in 27 days. That is when we all get to make it known that we are for normal again and not for tearing apart all that was good and great about the first 250 years of American democracy! I for one of many cannot wait for the moment we the people of America get to stop the madness of trump and return our democracy back to it's original intent, "Of the people, by the people, and for the people, a government that serves all the people."-Paraphrased Abraham Lincoln.

(#6406) 78 days until the election...

      In four weeks Pennsylvania begins early voting in the midterm election. 28 days and it begins. I cannot tell you how happy I am to know that trump's voter suppression bill failed. I cannot tell you how happy I feel about the democratic momentum that is sweeping our country. Just know that inside me when I think about the start of our election beginning I feel transformed. Not in despair but in hope. I know to always temper my hope with caution but the feeling inside me is welcome. The time for trump to change anything untoward is disappearing. That doesn't mean he won't pull off some desperate attempt but it does mean the clock is ticking down with him in his anxious pitiful state.
     I have seen enough evidence lately to remind me trump still has his pockets of support that to me is astonishing given his actions. Yet he is like a cult figure to many and they won't let a little thing like reality interfere with their adulation of him. Yet some are and they are speaking out to those around them and causing some fracturing within his base. He is still around 30% supported by Americans which to me is ghastly. How could that many still not see what the vast majority of us see? It is not a promising view of our future when around a third of us are so incapable of being a respectable human being. We are not the great civilization we think we are although about two thirds of us really want to be.
     If it were possible to give trump a truth serum and then ask him to list his crimes only then would his cult begin to understand. Anything short of trump admitting his guilt in his many crimes would his cult turn from him. The lies, the deceptions, the grift, the total lack of empathy toward the human experience outside his own orbit is clear. He may keep trying to mask all these mental deficiencies but there is too much evidence now in the public realm for him to fool anyone clearly outside his cult. That trump will continue to exhibit his barbarism toward humanity is fact. So over the next 4 weeks and more we just need to weather the storm and then vote like cultbusters for our own future beyond him!

(#6405) 79 days until the election...

      Be careful with putting too much emphasis on polling. The types of people polled are stable more middle and upper income type folks. Even people with landlines are still contacted although that percentage is diminishing. Polling usually includes those with high school, college and professional degrees. Another big consideration in whom to contact for polling are the likely voters. Which lessens contact for new voters and those who vote sporadically. I am presenting this as a way to show that polling misses out on the real pulse of our nation as only certain types are more likely to be contacted for polling than a true cross representation of our citizenry.
     Polling is trying to predict the outcome based upon who the pollsters think will vote. Which is why we shouldn't pay too much attention to their predictions. What we should be paying attention to is getting out our vote. The pollsters are not interested in who possibly could vote they are interested in who is likely to vote and then predict their results on that. I get that what they are doing is less representative and more predictable as a way to gauge likely voter sentiment. But the problem is that they mostly only cover those who are traditional voters and less so new voters and infrequent voters. So when we see the pollsters showing close races where our intuition tells us different, just know that if our voters come out and vote those now close races the pollsters are showing will be wipeouts for us when our energized democratic party turns out to vote.
     We have 79 days to mobilize our voters to have a plan to vote, so forget about the polls. Each and everyone of us needs to know beforehand how our ballots are going to get safely and securely to the registrar's office. What we have learned from the trump era is that nothing can be taken for granted, not even our right to vote. So each of us must make sure we are registered correctly and legally able to vote. Nothing in our existence in this time of trump is more important than we democrats and independents who are like minded having a plan to vote. Allow this to be a warning. Many of us will not survive through the next two years if trump is able to keep his majorities in Congress. Please, prioritize this upcoming vote to the highest level!

(#6404) 80 days until the election...

     We all can see the polling numbers for trump are in the very low 30 approval range. We can also see the generic ballot for democrats with a consistent upper single digit to low double digit lead for Congressional races. Yet trump doesn't seem to mind that. The problem with Congressional republicans is that they have hitched their wagons to trump and as trump goes so does the republican party. Now trump is even alienating the military by dismissing their duress as nothing important. Even intimating that they are crybabies for complaining about their uncivilized living conditions on ridiculously extended deployments at sea.
     So trump now has taken a base of voters he could have relied upon for some advantage and turned it into a base angry at him and his administration. It seems that if trump doesn't cheat somehow with musk or doesn't somehow manage to "abort" the election, he will be facing a catastrophic outcome like one we haven't seen since Barack Obama in 2008. In the back of my mind I think trump believes he will overcome all obstacles and win the midterms. But like his history has shown he is more failure than achiever. Like his gambles with casinos and hotels that bankrupted 6 times. Like his 2020 election loss that he is still crying himself about.
     Now just 30 days until Pennsylvania kicks off the early vote for the midterms. What all politicians who are trailing pre election, they appeal to voters through policies that are welcome by voters. Not trump, who is by far in the worst position in a midterm I have witnessed, he is only making we voters more upset at him. He is still trying to take our democracy away even as the voting time is nearly at hand. He is as callous to we the people as he has always been. He isn't appealing to our conscience with answers that explain his punishing us, no, he is in fact condescending and rude about how we are not as great as he is and we should all be grateful that he cares enough to even harm us with his presence.

(#6403) 81 days until the election...

      The trumps are ramping up their oppressive efforts through more lies and more activity to harm our citizenry. Instead of offering us citizens programs and reliefs we seek from our daily grinds the trump cabal is trying to control us with brutal tactics against our citizenry and immigrants. The lies are in the ads they are running everywhere trying to tell us that our economy is doing great and prices are good. Well it is a strange way to lie to us since we all feel the burden of the increasing costs in our daily lives. Yet the many gullible among us will be swayed due to other nefarious republican ingrained factors of antidemocracy biases.
     The brutal tactics are the armed thugs posing as ice agents who are less about catching criminals and more about removing people of color. Their thuggery is daily and after a time instills a sense of doom and fear along with the trump strategy to scare us away from voting. What it should be doing is the opposite. Making us even more determined to vote him and his inhumane creatures of obedience to him out of office. Pennsylvania begins the early voting in 31 days. That is now just under 4 1/2 weeks. 571 days ago trump took office and we have survived that to this point. So another 81 days of him is doable if we just keep our eyes on the prize of voting against every republican on every ballot.
     Whatever all of us who are against the wannabe tyrant trump can do to make sure we are voting is our highest priority. I can envision some day that voting day will be a national holiday but until that time we each must treat our voting as a national holiday. Even if we have to miss some work or interrupt our schedules. The easier path is early voting where available that way two things get accomplished. We get our vote done and we get it into the voting registrars office safe and secure. I track my early vote ballot and get updates from the registrar when it is accepted and in the queue for counting. We all have to just make it through these next 81 days and do what we need to do to end the nightmare of trump and his power grab over our lives!

(#6402) 82 days left until the election day

      In 32 days some Pennsylvania early ballots will be available. This is how close we are to the beginning of the voting for the midterms. As it stands now nothing legislative nor by executive action is available to trump to try to alter our election. So what could possibly be left to him as a weapon against we the people of America? Somehow suspending or canceling the election due to some imaginary or made up excuse. We are ready for that as it really is his last desperate ploy to keep from being crushed in the election. He keeps playing that he is doing well with the American people but we the American people know this is an obvious lie.
     In 36 days Minnesota and South Dakota will begin their early vote with Vermont and Virginia following the next day. So staying acutely aware of trump maneuvering in these next 5 weeks will be the priority of all of we the people. Whatever scheme he and his decrepit advisors formulate we the people will have to be ready to respond. Nothing can be taken for granted when trump knows his agenda to not only destroy our democracy but to annihilate our current civilization will be ended. The natural progression of our democracy and civilized world is under attack and will become even more unstable if we do not stop trump at this midterm.
     The federal courts have been the bedrock of protecting democracy since the republican majority chambers within congress have generally abdicated their power to the wannabe king trump. The courts by and large have been solidly defending of our Constitution. Even though the not supreme court has been much less so they at least have not been all in on trump demands. No doubt we will need the full federal court system in these next 5 weeks to make sure trump doesn't try to pull some extraconstitutional gambit to circumvent our absolute right to our elections. With nothing left for trump to do to try to rig the vote his way he will try to stop our election from happening  We shall not let him!

(#6401) Too much propaganda in the media

      The idea of reporting things coming from people who lie as a rule without checking the veracity of their statements is just parroting the lie. I see this so often, as it appears too many in the media would rather duck their heads and report what they are told. We used to think of the media as a check on lies. Now we think of media as complicit in the lies. What purpose does the media serve when they too often pass along lies as news? The only purpose is to be a conspirator to the liars. It isn't just the media who are supplicants to the liars it is politicians as well who know they are supporting wrongheadedness but continue to do so.
     This coming election, if it isn't foiled by some outlandish attempt by trump to create a false flag operation, will go a long way toward tempering trump's power and hopefully restore some dignity to the media. Otherwise the media will end up converting into a complete arm of propaganda too afraid to tell the truth. Right now we need all media influencers who understand our democracy is being torn from us to put themselves on the front line. In life, there are times when our nation needs each of us and now it is the time for the media. Instead of soldiers fighting on some life threatening front line it is the media who must hold the line against tyranny. There will be casualties but at least not with bullets coming at them. Being a part of team democracy requires all of us to do whatever it is we do to protect democracy.
     As for the rest of us who are fighting to protect our democracy the voting time is the perfect way to fight back. There are other opportunities to sway voters and that time is always in the now. But the real swayers of the voters are the media. We need our honorable media to step up and take on the ugly behemoth who would take our honor and principles to replace them with cowardice and subservience. Those in the media who do put themselves in harms way are our brother and sister patriots to democracy. That will never be forgotten much like our fellow Americans who sacrifice in the service of our country. We cannot be shy when our time to stand tall against the forces of tyranny come calling. It is our duty and one we all should be proud to honor!
     

(#6400) 84 days and counting...

      Like with Iran, trump knows he is in danger of losing Congress at the midterm election. This is not like normal elections we have had since I have been alive. This election is full of right out in your face desperation by trump! Which is to say he will do anything he can not to suffer the loss of Congress. His disenfranchisement bill is not going to happen as of this writing. His poll numbers are still cratering with every demographic with the exception of his core loyalists. With Congress on recess until the beginning of September, the odds of any election interference legislation passing Congress before mid September when the early voting starts is impossible.
     So if we eliminate election interference legislation what remains for trump to change the inevitable? With each state on guard for voting machine rigging after the claims from previous trump tantrums, that shouldn't be a factor. So what else could be possible for trump to conjure up? I am of the opinion that trump is not beneath nefarious activities to secure his now slight majorities in each chamber of Congress. He in my mind is very capable of triggering some kind of feint or false flag operation to create enough chaos so as to declare an emergency so dangerous as to shut down the midterm election. That would be a last resort type strategy but well within his demented mind to attempt.
     The problem is that we who are not his blind followers know this about him and are actually prepared for something like a false flag operation to scare us into canceling the election. In other words we won't be caught unaware of the possibility since we are at the threshold of the coming election. His now childlike manipulations are not very well thought out and should literally be easy to recognize. What trump should be aware of and will still disregard is that he doesn't have the power to postpone nor cancel elections. Elections are run by the states not the federal government. That doesn't mean he won't try but the immediate lawsuits will bring trump back to reality and at that point, several states will have already begun to early vote.

(#6399) 85 days and counting...

      Somewhat of a misnomer 85 days and counting appears to be. Because in 39 days early voting begins in Minnesota and South Dakota. Then in 40 days Vermont and Virginia begin their early vote. Now being completely accurate in 35 days Pennsylvania makes absentee ballots available for in person so technically Pennsylvania begins the early vote process first. All this to say that 85 days is not the beginning it is rather the day of the end. On the 85th day votes from everywhere will be accumulated and later that day tabulated. As it stands now we democrats are riding a very high blue wave but is contingent on us coming out to vote. The republicans are aware of this and will do everything they can to stop us.
     We democrats are running on policies that we the people desire. The republicans are not doing that. Instead they offer little to no policies for we the people and instead choose to try to divide we democrats. So here is the choice. Vote for democrats and see real benefits coming back to us and staying with us or vote for republicans and see real benefits continue to be taken from us with no new ones to replace them. It doesn't seem like a difficult choice to me as having an easier existence is better than struggling in a harder existence. So just so you know, republicans know this.
     Since republicans know that democrats have policies that work for we the people the strategy of republicans is to divide us from each other. Right now we democrats are strongly united against republicans but we are vulnerable to attack by republicans about our democratic differences. Yet the differences within our democratic party are well within democratic theory. The cause of the republican party is outside of democratic theory. They have chosen to become authoritarian and at times tyrannical toward fascism. The differences between the gamut of policies within democratic discussions is still about helping we the people. Not so with republicans, they are working to destroy the democratic values that help guide our nation into a more perfect union!

(#6398) Remain focused on the fascist threat!

      There are some among we democrats that seem to have lost sight of the goal of defeating fascism in 86 days! Instead they are focusing on differences in our democratic coalition. Apparently they wish to fight it out now over which coalition within our democratic party deserves a voice. So instead of recognizing that the differences within our party are minor compared to the major differences we have with the republican party and their drive toward fascism. It seems that the strategy of republicans to sew discontent within our party is gaining some traction. When you consider that the overwhelming evidence of polling is strongly against republicans you at least can understand why they would be desperately trying to sew discontent.
     It is one thing to know it is a desperate attempt by republicans to change the narrative of a blue tsunami type wave election they are facing. It is another thing to disregard that knowing and to use the republican strategy instead to fracture our own party before our uniting has defeated republicans in November. Some within the democratic party are so intensified by their own selfish opinions that they would sabotage the solution to the very fascist threat we are currently facing. Trying now to litigate and insinuate what may happen in 2028 is so counterproductive to what we are trying to accomplish in 86 days. The republican party has one strategy of dividing us to spare their coming defeat and some of us have unfortunately bitten on the bait!
     We are human beings and prone to making bad judgments and mistakes. Yet the simplicity of what we democrats need to do over the next 86 days is absolutely clear. We must remain united in our focus to defeat republicans. Which means we must vote for every democrat on every ballot. We must amplify our differences with the republican party and keep applying pressure on them when they keep trying to harm our American we the people democracy! Our only job over the next 86 days is to bring as many voters into the democratic party as we are able so that when the 86 days are up there are many fewer republicans in positions of power. When we do that the very real threat of fascism will wane and wither. That is our purpose and nothing else matters until that feat becomes reality!

(#6397) Purging republicans and big money out of our politics is the answer!

      What is the question? How do we fix our society and our economy! For right now removing as many republicans as we are able on November 3rd is the beginning. Then when we have enough power in both chambers of Congress we remove big money from influencing our politicians. If it takes until the presidential election in 2028 to elect a powerful democrat who will lead the charge on removing money from our politics then so be it. But the longer it takes to reverse the power of corporations, individual wealthy, and big company money the harder it will be to accomplish! Those big money power influencers are not going to go easily so we must have enough support to force them out.
     Which is why in 87 days we need to pull off a major surprise and unseat republicans where they think they are safe. We need our blue wave tsunami to be massively overwhelming. Tremendous majorities in each chamber of Congress is what I hope and actually expect. I have been waiting for decades to live to see our American electorate wake up to the promise of our founding. Where we the people demand our representatives reflect the will of all of us and not just the will of the powerful. I want to see like with Hungary recently, a massive turnout for every democratic candidate on every ballot. A true renaissance of enlightenment toward liberal/progressive policies.
     As a former drinker of alcohol who was in denial about how to quit, I finally learned that never drinking alcohol again was the answer. Not drinking alcohol has worked well for me for now over 20 years. Just like every year for decades voters have been voting for republicans expecting a different result. It is time to stop with the denial and actually give votes to democrats and see what they can do to improve our lives. The republicans have failed miserably so many times that there really is nothing to lose by giving democrats a chance. What you will find though is that we democrats actually fight against the forces that keep us dissatisfied and discouraged. Together with about 80% of the vote for democrats we can wipe out republican control and begin to end big money in our politics!

(#6396) Ukraine still standing tall despite no missile defenses

      The people of Ukraine are my hero! Their civilization is not being admired by me as necessarily being some intellectually advanced civilization like the early Greeks but instead by their resolute steely-eyed determination to maintain freedom and liberty from the tyrant putin trying to overthrow and kill them. Talk about standing up to a bully! There is little in the reality of our human history like this. Certainly nothing in our modern history. To be clear here I am not saying the Ukrainian people are not capable of enlightened  intellectualism, it is just a comparison to paradigms that drive the point home. Ukraine is the master of the Universe right now in the realm of courage and wit when facing enormous odds to survive and succeed.
     These last nearly four and a half years have reinforced my belief that good as a rule will always defeat the evil that some use against us. The power of the motivations in our hearts and minds is the greater impetus against all other dishonorable impulses. Even the disjointed security the United States has offered doesn't deter the Ukrainian people from their purpose. The European Union and NATO have stepped in to do as much as they can reasonably do but without some key components of defense the United States has makes Ukraine vulnerable when those components are being withheld. That trump started a ridiculous war with Iran as a distraction from internal US issues trump has put Ukraine in a difficult position.
     With the focus coming off Ukraine and its struggle to hold back the Russian dogs of war invading their country, the needs of Ukraine to protect itself are slipping out of immediate notice. This helps putin as he takes advantage and fires missile after missile at Ukraine, both at military targets and criminally at civilian targets. Ukraine being little able to do anything about even one of them. But Ukraine endures the missile onslaught because they know they will soon have defenses and they are not quitters as is evidenced by their courage. When this invasion of putin is finally put down the history books will reveal the nature of his defeat. They will recount the many acts of bravery and persistence the Ukrainian people displayed in order to remain an amazingly admired free sovereign nation!

(#6395) We should be fighting for our future adventures, not just to survive!

      We democrats are sick and tired with being overwhelmed with survival strategies that republicans continually thrust at us! We can take care of ourselves when the living field is constant and fair. But republicans don't want us improving our lives, they want us troubled and struggling. It seems absurd I have to make the claim but there is no other explaining the outcome. Why won't republicans help all of us like we democrats try to do? The only reasonable explanation is that they don't care about all of us. Which to me is an afront to humanity and should be dealt with soberly. Forsaking our species based upon lesser faulty traits like selfishness and fear are abhorrent to modernity and altruism!
     Our species has survived our worst natural obstacles and we are now in the starting blocks of our next great race, that being adventure. Yet some in power are reversing our victory over survival and making us replay it again for their what? Amusement? Greed? Psychosis? I cannot tell you because my mind and heart are not infected with what they have absorbed so thoroughly! Here we are as a species that has conquered nature in many ways and are now at the threshold of new horizons ahead. Waiting, waiting, waiting! The worst part of the waiting is the reason. Because we don't have the correct leaders in so many systems that should be charging ahead.
     In some cases on our planet there are those who would take us back from new adventures into shackles and chains so that their outside reality warped view of the world becomes dominate. They would again have us live and suffer under selective survivor oppressions. Not treating each and every human being with dignity but with disgust. Their view of the world is not heralding in rational and amazing adventure opportunities, but instead dull and disharmonized subjugation. They would have all the rest of us begging for their crumbs while they expect our adoration! They are our next obstacle to overcome and let me be perfectly clear they will be experiencing their well deserved comeuppance!

(#6394) I am a nearly 71 year old progressive liberal

      I am not one of the corporate democrats that have been tempering our party from establishing full liberal policies. I want universal healthcare. I want livable wages from large corporations and companies along with a much higher minimum wage. I want it made easier to vote than harder. On that subject the Tuesday of national elections should be a full national holiday. I want our education system to grant anyone willing to continue their higher education far more opportunities to do so along with trade schooling. I want an overhaul of our current political allowances with public funding of elections and shorter periods of campaigning.
     I want territories that are ready and willing to become States within our Union to be able to do so with a process that helps them instead of ignores them. I want our national policies concerning democracy to be bolstered as top priorities for engagement. I want us to spend our progressive tax contributions that we should receive fairly in improving society and the world instead of focusing on militarization. I want to preserve our planet by developing and installing new technology to replace the planet and atmosphere harming post industrialization techniques. I want our constitution to protect equality, while also restoring equality of human rights wherever and however they are unabridged.
     Our politics has become corruptible witnessed by this current administration. Laws governing participation and behavior within our elected positions need to be written within honorable and principled intent. All these few items I have listed throughout this post are critical to the liberal progressive vision. There are many more and as time will allow when we do take back the reins of our democracy we will be able to articulate and present them for policy advances. I am not one of these jackals who sees our human being future through the eyes of lesser selfish traits. I have always been a progressive liberal because it ensures not only the mind of our species but the heart of it as well!

(#6393) For the most part the courts are preserving the rule of law

      The only caveat to my title is that the not so supreme court is less about preserving the rule of law than installing their own republican majority idea of it. Their logic is to move laws away from some but not others. The pattern is clear in too many instances. The most obvious infractions here center on presidential immunity and women's rights. When the republicans on the not supreme court ruled that trump could exercise immunity when no one else is  allowed that dispensation then the rule of law became arbitrary and not universal. When the not supreme court ruled that women are not individuals capable of determining the future over their own bodies like men are afforded then we have unequal interpretation of the rule of law.
     The lower courts for the most part are steadfast in defending the rule of law as applicable to the intent of the law and its equal application. Our nation will owe a debt of gratitude to many justices who stood up strongly in favor of the rule of law and its importance to our democracy. I say that as someone who believes we will survive the ambitious overthrow of our democracy by trump and his republican coconspirators. In trump's world we the people should not be allowed to have elections where republicans are in danger of losing power. His whole schtick is keeping himself installed in our presidency for as long as he lives and then to pass it down to whomever he deems appropriate.
     In less than 7 weeks the early voting will begin and for me it is an anxious time. I have seen where popular sentiment turned to disappointment too many times so even though the mood of the nation is strongly with we democrats the proof of it won't be here until election night on Tuesday November 3rd. I know trump will do everything he can to lessen the coming blows to his  majorities in Congress but I expect the courts to keep him from dishonesty. Yes, even the not supreme court is included in this. They see the writing on the wall and the survival mode part of their nature doesn't want to make decisions so close to an election that is obviously meant to negatively sway legal protections for voters at the threshold of the election.

(#6392) I made myself learn how to fight because I got tired of getting my ass kicked!

      Trial and error made up a lot of my life. When I was younger and couldn't get necessary advice from others I had to try to figure things out on my own. Trial and error was my course because back then we didn't have the world wide web for research. So as I began to try to deal with bullying for example I would try to avoid the confrontations. That only worked until I was caught out and then I cowered and allowed myself to be humiliated. The shame and utter feeling of cowardice permeated everything afterwards. So I had to change my response. Instead of weakening at the knees I attacked. Soon I found that the bullies ignored me because I wouldn't let them have their way with me.
     At first my attacking was miserable in that I was emotional and flailing about with disregard to any technique. But initially that worked. But I knew I would need to learn how to put my dukes up with some strategy. So I learned. Not just how to attack but how to defend. Fighting is the complete package when learning. How to ward off shots while also making shots of my own. I am no pugilist at heart but when the fighting time comes I know I am prepared as it were. I was thinking about my early days of being bullied and there were plenty of them because back then I hadn't made up my mind to fight back. I was scared and hated the idea of not only being hurt but of hurting anyone else.
     But I grew to know that not fighting back was a much worse outcome. So when the bullies come into my life either foolishly or through psychotic tendencies, I stand up to them! It is still scary as it should be but I am no mark to be hit without a fight. The same pattern is within our current politics. The bullies come into our safe spheres and threaten us with behaviors and actions that either cower us or rile us up. I am well into the riled up paradigm and it doesn't matter to me the danger when I sense a greater importance. Much like Nathan Hale and his "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.", I am here to fight against the loathsome who would take from us our opportunity to pursue our happiness.

(#6391) No true news on mcconnell, the tarps are still up, and another day of market manipulation

      We really do have larger concerns than these 3 at the moment but for me they symbolize the dysfunction that republican rule creates. They take our rule of law and bend and twist it until it almost becomes unrecognizable. That is not the purpose of the stewardship of our democracy. They are nefarious ulterior actions, petty tantrum responses, and thievery in broad daylight. These 3 circumstances to me show just how arrogant and immune to responsibility that the republican party has become. They don't serve we the people, they exploit us through division and resource manipulation.
     The one pressing of the 3 is the mcconnell situation. Today is August 2nd and after August 3rd the republican duplicity concerning the mcconnell true life/death situation becomes moot. The republican party can claim a victory over truth and fact with their deception to gain a political advantage. It isn't necessarily the outcome they achieve as such, it is the lying and dishonor they practiced to achieve it. They don't care about manipulating the truth, but to me it is everything that is wrong in our politics. We elect people to serve us who take an oath to our constitution. When they do neither is when we the people had better out a stop to it.
     Like the mcconnell gambit, the tarp over trump's name removed off the Kennedy Center is just plain petty. An embarrassment to we Americans who should never have given him our leadership. The market manipulation thing is like the mcconnell coverup, it is criminal and at some point the advantages and grift from it will make its way to a courtroom among several other offences of equal or greater concern. When I was an older teenager I thought living through nixon was the worst we Americans could do electing a man with a lack of good character. Well obviously I have been shown in my later years that nothing has been worse than a trump presidency. We still have a ways to go but for me he will not make it any better, only worse!

(#6390) We know what to do with our vote now we need everyone to do it!

     It will  be impossible for anyone to rig our votes if we all come out to vote. Like what happened in Hungary, too many said enough for any doubt to be sown. If ever a political party needed a smack upside it's head it is the republican party. That smack will take the form of everyone of us voting to replace every republican in office that is up for election. We may not replace them all given gerrymandering but we can replace a huge majority of them. It isn't just democrats who are riled up over this. It is independents and republicans who were lied to about what was going to occur under trump. So the groundswell isn't just about politics it is about humanity, ethics, and decency!
     For most all of us the trump term so far has been what we expected when he surprisingly won. We knew the disaster to come and after the shock of him being declared the winner we began to dig in and oppose him on every level. As to those who believed him or were indifferent enough to actually vote for him they have another experience. They expected him to keep his promises and be less vitriolic to boot. What they have found, with some still finding out, is he readily willing to break any promise if it doesn't benefit him. As to his vitriol, that has even gotten worse. His core base is still with him for nefarious and ignorant reasons but even that cultish cabal is dwindling.
     We must all remain keenly, and I mean deeply aware, that trump is motivated by keeping power. So even if we vote at 99% he will still try to deny the fact of it. But what won't happen is any doubt about our vote. Because we know that we voted to limit his power and if he tries to negate our vote the streets will be filled with torches and pitchforks, metaphorically, or not to confront him! We the people have been patient with trumps and have given them much leeway. However that time has passed and now we are ready to demand our right to contain him when the voting time comes. He had better pay heed to our determination or otherwise he may not like the eventual cause and effect of it all!