If the event an election last longer than four days, get immediate medical attention

Who, alas, has delusions of adequacy? Who's rap name could be "Lil IQ'? Is there a village that needs its idiot back? Who thinks Fauci is a type of pasta and Quentin Tarantino is an entrée at Olive Garden? Who is afraid to read Wired magazine because he might get tangled up in the cord? Who thinks Iron Man is a movie about a dry cleaner? Donald Trump, you are the weakest link. Goodbye!

Today is the Day, or One Last Shot

Can you believe it? Election Day is here!

 We have waited so long for this day. We know what it is like to anticipate a holiday or a birthday, but this is different. We have been looking forward to this chance to take our country back from the big orange sociopath-in-chief for four long years. And, yes, I know that we probably won’t have definitive results by the end of the day, and I know that some dark elements of the Republican Party have plans in place to keep Trump in office, no matter what the vote, but the more people who vote for Joe and Kamala and the senate Democrats (not to mention all of those very important downballot races) the harder it will be for any dirty tricks to keep democracy from happening.

 So, this is for the people who

    (a)   Have not yet voted and aren’t sure they should vote today, 

(b)   Are leaning towards voting for Donald Trump, or 

(c)    Are undecided – if there are any of you left out there.

Voting is expressing an opinion and some people seem to think that this is a tomato / tom-ah-to thing. You see it your way and I see it mine.

With some issues – even political issues – that approach might make sense. But in the case of this election – today’s election – the stakes are just too high.

Trump is an incompetent conman who was elevated way above his meager level of talent and ability.

Trump seems to score some points on the right for his confidence and patriotism, and his willingness to fight.

But Trumps arrogance goes beyond confidence to the level where it endangers the safety and health of the country. Trump's nationalism is not patriotic, it is xenophobic. He has hurt our relationship with other countries we used to have as allies. I hope they will be our allies again, after he is gone. A dictator, who breaks rules and goes back on his word to increase his power is now a leader, he is a cheat and a coward.

He is not a fighter, he is a bully. He mocks the disabled and promotes violence on those who disagree with him. He is a coward who mocks the military. Trump is childish, because he throws tantrums when he does not get his own way. He has the vocabulary of a fourth-grader, and a dull fourth-grader at that.

He has told more lies and spread more disinformation than any other US president, ever. Those people with much more patience than I, whose who count those things, say the count is up to 25,000 more than lies and misstatements. Even if it were half that number, it would be a very impressive, but not in a good way.

So, maybe you dislike Trump. He know he is bad for the country, but you aren’t sure about Joe Biden. Maybe you (like a lot of us) started out supporting another Democrat for nomination, but saw Biden take the lead with emotions somewhere on a spectrum from dread to acceptance, or maybe even indifference.

But, please consider these positive attributes of the Biden/Harris team:

(1) Biden actually has plans to provide healthcare to everyone who does not have            traditional insurance. Obamacare is imperfect,  we all know that. Please keep in mind that most of those imperfections were the result of having to compromise with Republican lawmakers when the plan were being written.

(2) Biden will do away with the Trump tax cuts for those making more than $400,000 per year. It is not true that it will raise taxes on everyone.

(3) Biden actually believes in science and logic. He understands that much of climate change is due to human activity. He has not endorsed the more radical tenets of the Green New Deal (I actually think he should go farther, but you gotta take what you can get), but he does understand that we need to produce more energy from renewable sources. Rather than going on some stupid rampage to save dangerous and obsolete coal jobs, Trump is working on plans to lessen atmospheric carbon-dioxide and methane, and to create good jobs in the process. 

(4) Biden wants to be the president of all Americans, not just those who go to his superspreader rallies and chant stupid things like "Lock her up!" and “Fire Fauci!”  

(5)   Biden realizes that the US is part of the world economy. He understands that he will be president of the US, but he also knows that the US needs to be a world leader and not shut itself up in some isolationist's silo. 

(6)   Biden has served in public office before. Every single president this country has ever had, from Washing thru Obama, has either served in the Military or has served in elected public office, or both. Trump is the first never to have done either, which is just one of the reasons he is so absolutely unqualified to be President. So, there are lots of reasons to vote for Biden besides the fact that he is not Donald Trump, but I tend to think that most people are good, and I think you could just draw a random adult out of the US population and you could make would have a very good chance of choosing a better president than the one we have now.

That's right, Trump is a worse president than an average American just picked off the sidewalk on a Tuesday afternoon. Most Americans do not have the legacy of greed and selfishness that the Trump family has exhibited for the past several decades. 

Some praise Trump for being unpolished. I would not mind seeing an unpolished politician. Both Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson were less than stately and  dignified in certain situations, and I am sure you can name many more presidents of which this is true. But Trump’s lack of decorum goes to an extreme we have not seen in modern times. His manner, which his supporters have labeled a “breath of fresh air” is in actuality am ill-wind of worse things to come if he is should be re-elected.

We have seen crooks and con men before, but we haven't elected one quite as openly crooked as Trump

The Office of the President deserves respect, but Trump does not. The best way to restore respect to the presidency is to get Donald Trump out of it and make sure that we never, ever, ever, even elect someone who even comes close to being as selfish or unqualified or incompetent or criminal as Donald Trump again.

So, if you are registered to vote and you have not, please do so today. Do it early, do it safely, and vote for Joe Biden to other Dems to start the healing process that we so badly need.

Time to Make History

You are living through the History of tomorrow!

 A thought like that will get a “duh” from some and a “wow” from others and a blank stare from the rest of the audience. You can decide on the proportions.

 Students at all levels and grades of education will learn that 2020 was the year of COVID-19. Or, perhaps that it was the first year of COVID, since it probably won’t be over for most of us until sometime in 2021. At least we hope it will.

 They will also learn of the pivotal elections of 2016 and 2020. I am hoping that these elections will mark the years when Donald Trump was voted into office and when he was booted out, respectively.

 As of today, that 2020 outcome has not been decided yet. It will be decided by the people of our country.

 This includes you.

 With your vote, you will be part of history which will not only be studied for decades to come, but will have an impact on determining the quality of life for the vast majority of Americans for those same decades to come. This is it. This is not a drill. This is for real.

 If you have already voted, thank you. If you voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, thank you very much. If you voted for all the Democrats downballot, then a third, hearty thank you. If you are going to do that, then thank you in advance.

 Downballot races are also very important. Biden cannot do the positive things we need him to do if we don’t give him a House and Senate that will pass needed legislation. 

 But, the ballot goes much deeper into the grass than just House and Senate. Your state’s governor and legislature helps to draw the map that apportions the Congressional districts. At this time, much of the country is so Gerrymandered, that we endure a situation where candidates pick their voters. It is supposed to be the other way around!

 I find it interesting that, in this election, the standard procedure for Democrats is to get everyone out to vote, let all voices be heard, let all ballots be counted. This is what I am trying to do now, with this post. 

 The scheme of the Republican party seems to be reduce and restrict the vote. Here are some examples of how they have tried to do so:

 ✔ Reduce the number of polling places and dates of early voting.

 ✔ Reduce the number of ballot drop-off sites to one per county – as they did in Texas.

 ✔ Hobble the Post Office so that it cannot perform its mission of delivering ballots to be counted. If this happens to slow down other mail – greeting cards, medical prescriptions, business correspondence that can’t take place on the Internet, not to mention that blanket you ordered from the Etsy shop someone started after they lost their job to the pandemic – then, well, that is just too bad.

 ✔ Organizing armed groups of “poll-watchers” to intimidate voters as they come to the polls to exercise their constitutional right and duty to vote.

 ✔ A bunch of pickup trucks and other vehicles, flying Trump flags, clustered around  a Biden-Harris campaign bus on a Texas highway. At least one truck moved in front of the bus, forcing the bus to slow down. Harris and Biden were not on board the bus, but I wonder how many of the drivers thought they were, and thought they were intimidating the candidates.

 ✔ Two years ago, Floridians overwhelmingly passed Amendment 4, which grants voting rights to those who have been convicted of nonviolent felonies and who have served their sentences. Or, it would have done so, except that Republican-appointed judges have not allowed for the act to take affect for most of these disenfranchised citizens. They have decided that these sentences include the payment of fines and costs before the felons are allowed to vote. This is tantamount to enacting a poll tax – which should be considered illegal – and, to make matters worse, they make finding out how much is owed and to whom very difficult or impossible for most of these unfortunate would-be voters.

 There are so many other examples I could give you, but I don’t think that is necessary, but you get the picture.

 Donald Trump has done everything he can to turn the United States into his dictatorship, and I don’t expect that to stop if he happens to finable another four years.

 So, the moral of the story is: vote! If you have voted, then encourage others to do so.

 This country needs Joe Biden as president and the White House needs a good cleaning before Joe Biden moves in.  

 

RIP, RGB

 Never say to yourself, things can't get any worse.

 Because they can.

 I just saw the news that Ruth Bader Ginsburg has passed away at 87 years of age, and I am just sick about it.

 This is a tragedy. Not only has her family and the country and the world lost a wonderful human being, but, this great lady was one of our last hopes for the country. There is now a much greater chance that Trump will be able to select another right-wing judge to the Supreme Court, furthering its balance toward totalitarian extremism, the destruction of our fragile environment, the erosion of individual liberties, and increased power for corporations.

 May Ruth Bader Ginsburg rest in peace. May our people do everything in our power to turn the Senate and replace Donald Trump.

Panic at the Shit-Show

Most of us have heard the tapes fames reporter Bob Woodward made of his conversations with Donald Trump.

 (All right, they probably weren’t tapes. They were probably digital recording of some sort. But people are calling them tapes, so we will stick with that word. Hey maybe Woodward is an old school guy, with boxes of cassettes or even reels labeled “Trump1” and “Trump 2” and so on.)   

 Now that you have heard Trump say that the Coronavirus was much worse than even the most “strenuous” flues, and that young  people are quite susceptible to it, we have to admit that Trump lied to us all about this very important topic.

 He said he didn’t want to cause aa panic. Let’s face it, Trump’s not wanting to reveal how bad he knew the COVID-19 virus really was is a bit like your doctor’s not telling you about a very treatable cancer in its early stages, because he doesn’t want to worry you. After all, if you get worried, you might select a different doctor or you might not be able to do your job as well as before, and you might not be able to pay the doctor’s bill.

 The principle of Freedom of Speech does not cover shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater – unless there really is a fire. Catch that theater fire early, when it is small. Dump your five-dollar Coke on it if you have to. Get people out of there and out of harm’s way.

 Trump did none of those things. We now knew that he knew about the fire, and let it rage out of control. Trump said he did not want to cause a panic.

 But Trump has shown that he isn’t all that opposed to causing a panic. He tried to cause a panic about the massive caravan of brown people who were going to storm our southern border. Now, he wants you to panic because Black Lives Matter and Antifa are going to burn down your city. Or, worse yet, they want you to panic because black and brown people might want to buy houses in your neighborhood and – you guess it – live next to you.

 Panic and fear can be very useful if they get you to the polls to vote for another four years of terrible and erratic leadership. Panic is bad when it might alter people’s behavior, cause them to wear masks, cause them to socially distance from others for a time, in order to eliminate the threat. That might hurt the Stock Market and make the Sociopath in Chief appear weak.

 There is no need for panic. Follow safety guidelines, keep your hands clean, and make sure you have a plan to vote Trump and his House and Senate panderers out of office.