My thoughts, while walking off long Covid and listening to podcasts...a blog designed and meant to be freely associating, on the run, and not perfectly edited:
Weather for the day… 58° and overcast.
Well this is going to be an electic blog today, I can just feel it!
Instagram post for the day is...well? I didn't shoot one today. So I'll include this one from my friends...cartoonist Pat Moriarity and his son Jack's annual SausageFest in Port Orchard, WA which began years ago as an evening of grilling sausages apparently, on this past Halloween Monday night. That's Jack talking about the late famous Patrick Haggerty (who had died the night before the party), of Lavender Country band fame. I liked Patrick. We will all miss him. Especially Jack who's known him since he was young. This post is Pat presenting his son's band's Kiss tribute (only) that night. And this short post is the band getting started. I shot some music videos with those guys in the band and my fellow directors Kelly Hughes and Tyler Darkow, a year ago that have been in some film festivals now.
Here's articles on Deadline, one on NPR, CNN, Seattle Times, about Patrick Haggerty. What's also sad about this is this, "WA’s pioneering gay country band Lavender Country releases first new album in 50 years"
I didn’t walk yesterday, but I walked Thursday, the day before. Today is Saturday, and tomorrow it’s supposed to rain. It said it's supposed to rain today, but there's broken clouds, so I’m walking. Nice to see some blue sky.
I was set at home waiting for lunch time to arrive, multitasking by listening to a professor talk about the history of Winston Churchill on C-SPAN, and writing/editing my new book on my film, “Pvt. Ravel‘s Bolero“. I was just writing about how the film came to be, with a little history about me and how I got around to shooting some other films at this house and my last house and my house before that. Where we were for 16 years and where for a great part of their lives, I had raised my kids until they moved out as adults. Those are good memories. Mostly. Not so much the first year or two there as it was seeing the end of my marriage. But, moving on...
My friend and fellow local Indy director Kelly Hughes had shot some films at that house of 16 years in Suquamish, Washington. Then I sold that house and moved here to Bremerton. First we lived in a big house with my son and his girlfriend and her son. They had the whole downstairs while I had the upstairs with an incredible view. Maybe I’ll include a photo.
Wow, that got off the track of he walk today...
Anyway, one of the guys on the Pod Save America podcast just said, "I think everybody’s pretty much got to remind me to put your vote and forward this point."
Podcast for the day is Pod Save America, November 3 episode, "Last Call for Democracy." Obviously about the midterm elections this Tuesday.
Second podcast today is Political Gabfest, Live From Atlanta! But I don't really mention anything from it in this blog today as I was just finishing up the walk.
Instagram post for the day is...well? I didn't shoot one today. So I'll include this one from my friends...cartoonist Pat Moriarity and his son Jack's annual SausageFest in Port Orchard, WA which began years ago as an evening of grilling sausages apparently, on this past Halloween Monday night. That's Jack talking about the late famous Patrick Haggerty (who had died the night before the party), of Lavender Country band fame. I liked Patrick. We will all miss him. Especially Jack who's known him since he was young. This post is Pat presenting his son's band's Kiss tribute (only) that night. And this short post is the band getting started. I shot some music videos with those guys in the band and my fellow directors Kelly Hughes and Tyler Darkow, a year ago that have been in some film festivals now.
It was a great night as SausageFest always is (Patrick was there last year so it was sad this year without him not to mention, he died only the night before). Here is a newspaper article about Patrick's passing and here is a post on my Instagram of Patrick at Pat Moriarity's art showing a couple of months back in nearby Poulsbo, WA.
Here's articles on Deadline, one on NPR, CNN, Seattle Times, about Patrick Haggerty. What's also sad about this is this, "WA’s pioneering gay country band Lavender Country releases first new album in 50 years"
Well... back to the walkabout thoughts...
I didn’t walk yesterday, but I walked Thursday, the day before. Today is Saturday, and tomorrow it’s supposed to rain. It said it's supposed to rain today, but there's broken clouds, so I’m walking. Nice to see some blue sky.
I was set at home waiting for lunch time to arrive, multitasking by listening to a professor talk about the history of Winston Churchill on C-SPAN, and writing/editing my new book on my film, “Pvt. Ravel‘s Bolero“. I was just writing about how the film came to be, with a little history about me and how I got around to shooting some other films at this house and my last house and my house before that. Where we were for 16 years and where for a great part of their lives, I had raised my kids until they moved out as adults. Those are good memories. Mostly. Not so much the first year or two there as it was seeing the end of my marriage. But, moving on...
My friend and fellow local Indy director Kelly Hughes had shot some films at that house of 16 years in Suquamish, Washington. Then I sold that house and moved here to Bremerton. First we lived in a big house with my son and his girlfriend and her son. They had the whole downstairs while I had the upstairs with an incredible view. Maybe I’ll include a photo.
Included photo from my picture window at my previous house
Then after two years I moved a mile away to where I’ve now been for the past three years.
I had shot a film in college that I am detailing in my new book. I shot my first documentary in 1993 (25th Anniversary of Lost In Space) which was cablecast around the greater Seattle area on Viacom cable. Since then I have helped Kelly Hughes on some of his films.
I had shot a film in college that I am detailing in my new book. I shot my first documentary in 1993 (25th Anniversary of Lost In Space) which was cablecast around the greater Seattle area on Viacom cable. Since then I have helped Kelly Hughes on some of his films.
We moved to Bremerton and I shot a short film, “The Rapping“ (think Edgar Allen Poe, not Rap music), with my son, since we were just at the house there and could shoot whenever we were ready.
I moved a to this new, smaller house and I shot my film “Gumdrop“, a short horror, based on one of my previously published true crime horror stories. A true story I had been told about by my university abnormal psych professor.
Which won some awards internationally at film festivals. Then while suffering from long Covid I tried getting back into filmmaking and I came up with an idea for, "Pvt. Ravel's Bolero”, a historical documentary and filmic poem. That film because it allowed me the opportunity to work as I could, when I felt up to it, and finish at my own pace. With no actors or no schedules. My first day working on it lasted only about an hour because it was all I could do for the day. Because of long Covid. I spent six months in post production on that film, after years of research I based at all on a poem I had written with the same title, back in 2014. That film is still winning awards at film festivals around the world. Each film I produced seems to win more awards that the previous film. So, maybe I’ll try to keep it up…
Anyway, one of the guys on the Pod Save America podcast just said, "I think everybody’s pretty much got to remind me to put your vote and forward this point."
Wait. He said that? I'm editing this later in the day now. Hmm... I would just say I pity those who are voting for MAGA Republicans. (I'm sure the podcast was talking something about THAT) I understand their mindset and how they got there, sure, though I don’t think many of them understand. Obviously Trump and Fox News, et al, have done everything they can to surreptitiously inject false information into a bubble so big people look around and believe it’s reality. The problem is and the problem always is with fascism that at first it all seems like fun games and cathartic and reasonable… Until it’s not. And that’s where you get that quote about how first they came for this or that group when I said nothing but then they came for me and suddenly it was scary and only then I realized my mistakes too late! Obviously some fascists will always love their fascism. And those are the ones who at the end of Italy in World War II and in Germany and other countires (Japan) along with those who supported the Nazis & the Japanese Emperor, and their collaborators, or worse… Is exactly why those people were then judged and punished after the war. So, just don’t be those people.
Ballot drop boxes and polling places... Regarding these intimidating or at least they try to pretend they’re intimidating, although they look pretty silly, those MAGA “poll watchers“ and “ballot box observers“, especially the ridiculous armed ones… First off, unless they’re gonna shoot me on the spot... I’m not intimidated. I just find it very comical in a "Keystone Cops" sort of way. I would suggest, if you have to use a ballot box, take a friend and have them at least pretend they’re filming those clowns. And while those people are trying to film you, or to make you notice how they're trying to get your license plate number recorded, do the exact same back at them. It doesn't even have to be real, although I would suggest doing it for real. But when you’re being intimidated, intimidate them right back. If they escalate and it gets out of hand, call 911. For myself? I mailed my mail-in ballot in over a week ago, or whenever it was, but it was the next day after I got it. I put it in my mail box and our nice postal lady picked it up. MAGA freaks out about a secure drop box, but about mail in ballots in each voter's own mailbox? Nothing. Nada. No fear whatsoever! Whatever...it's all just stupid distractions and time wasting. And the meek shall inherit the earth and the dumb can have the Republican Party.
Podcast is now talking about President Biden's speech this week and President Obama‘s speeches. They’re talking about how people want to hear about the economy when the issue of a democracy is far more important. So here’s the thing, whether you elect Republicans this Tuesday or Democrats, the economy is going to get better. Maybe not so much if Republicans get in. Listen to what they want to do! When a Republican governor candidate says only Republicans will ever be elected again in my state if I get elected. What the hell is that? It's not democracy. Democracy is how the people have a say in things. Regardless how little you think they have now, in an autocracy you've got no say. Look at Russia's faux democracy with their petty dictator Putin doing whatever he wants. Their people don’t want war. Their people don’t want to attack their friends, relatives and loved ones in Ukraine. Russia is waking up. Slowly. When’s our MAGA gonna wake up? Every fascist state that’s been elected into office hasn’t lasted. Certainly not without a lot of abuse, restricting or ending civil rights, and harming and murdering its citizens. States should not murder their citizens. Which is why I’m against capital punishment. Except for those like Donald Trump who try to murder the State. That’s...kind of an exception.
By the way, regarding Obama's speech this week, take a look at that speech in a clip where he’s talking about Republicans who have said, openly stated, that they want to end Social Security. They've also said they want to end the VA because our promise to our veterans isn’t worth shit, apparently. And they want to end Medicare. And they don’t want healthcare for all. Anyway, look at Obama when he talks about that. He talks about how our parents and older people, like myself, as I am of that and I’m on Social Security, I’m on my retirement from my job, which isn't gonna make it for me, without my Social Security and my VA. But in that speech, Obama is not just saying it. He’s not just stating the party line as we see with MAGA Republicans running for office, those who you know most of them don’t believe in it. Except for some of the dumb ones. But Obama is genuinely pissed off and angry, very angry at that idea like the rest of us are, taking away from us the things we paid into over our lifetimes. And taking away our civil rights. All for a theocratic notion of authoritarianism and keeping one party forever in power. A vocal minority who don’t deserve power, or being an American citizen. Which frankly, they’re trying to destroy, while denigrating the quality and import of being a citizen in this country. They really don’t even deserve that which they’re trying to destroy. Like I said, fascists who embrace fascism always end up regretting it.
Now about Social Security… When I look at my statement, my history, I’ve been paying into Social Security since 1969. I was in ninth grade. Working after school. I’ve been putting my money into it and all of that was hard-earned. The first half of my life with a lot of physical labor, the second half with a lot of stress, emotional duress and intellectual exacerbation. They want to take that away from me? That’s theft, outright theft by the State. If they want to do that? What they need to do is to make a new pact with young America. Everyone who paid into Social Security should get their money back out of it, one way or another. Or it's theft. Preferably paying it out until they (we) die and then giving the overage to their descendants as is appropriate and legal. And they need to come up with a new plan, offer that to all citizens and have them not just have legislators vote on it. But they need a vast majority to agree to it and then go through their entire lives going forward, not expecting any help when they retire.
Ballot drop boxes and polling places... Regarding these intimidating or at least they try to pretend they’re intimidating, although they look pretty silly, those MAGA “poll watchers“ and “ballot box observers“, especially the ridiculous armed ones… First off, unless they’re gonna shoot me on the spot... I’m not intimidated. I just find it very comical in a "Keystone Cops" sort of way. I would suggest, if you have to use a ballot box, take a friend and have them at least pretend they’re filming those clowns. And while those people are trying to film you, or to make you notice how they're trying to get your license plate number recorded, do the exact same back at them. It doesn't even have to be real, although I would suggest doing it for real. But when you’re being intimidated, intimidate them right back. If they escalate and it gets out of hand, call 911. For myself? I mailed my mail-in ballot in over a week ago, or whenever it was, but it was the next day after I got it. I put it in my mail box and our nice postal lady picked it up. MAGA freaks out about a secure drop box, but about mail in ballots in each voter's own mailbox? Nothing. Nada. No fear whatsoever! Whatever...it's all just stupid distractions and time wasting. And the meek shall inherit the earth and the dumb can have the Republican Party.
Podcast is now talking about President Biden's speech this week and President Obama‘s speeches. They’re talking about how people want to hear about the economy when the issue of a democracy is far more important. So here’s the thing, whether you elect Republicans this Tuesday or Democrats, the economy is going to get better. Maybe not so much if Republicans get in. Listen to what they want to do! When a Republican governor candidate says only Republicans will ever be elected again in my state if I get elected. What the hell is that? It's not democracy. Democracy is how the people have a say in things. Regardless how little you think they have now, in an autocracy you've got no say. Look at Russia's faux democracy with their petty dictator Putin doing whatever he wants. Their people don’t want war. Their people don’t want to attack their friends, relatives and loved ones in Ukraine. Russia is waking up. Slowly. When’s our MAGA gonna wake up? Every fascist state that’s been elected into office hasn’t lasted. Certainly not without a lot of abuse, restricting or ending civil rights, and harming and murdering its citizens. States should not murder their citizens. Which is why I’m against capital punishment. Except for those like Donald Trump who try to murder the State. That’s...kind of an exception.
By the way, regarding Obama's speech this week, take a look at that speech in a clip where he’s talking about Republicans who have said, openly stated, that they want to end Social Security. They've also said they want to end the VA because our promise to our veterans isn’t worth shit, apparently. And they want to end Medicare. And they don’t want healthcare for all. Anyway, look at Obama when he talks about that. He talks about how our parents and older people, like myself, as I am of that and I’m on Social Security, I’m on my retirement from my job, which isn't gonna make it for me, without my Social Security and my VA. But in that speech, Obama is not just saying it. He’s not just stating the party line as we see with MAGA Republicans running for office, those who you know most of them don’t believe in it. Except for some of the dumb ones. But Obama is genuinely pissed off and angry, very angry at that idea like the rest of us are, taking away from us the things we paid into over our lifetimes. And taking away our civil rights. All for a theocratic notion of authoritarianism and keeping one party forever in power. A vocal minority who don’t deserve power, or being an American citizen. Which frankly, they’re trying to destroy, while denigrating the quality and import of being a citizen in this country. They really don’t even deserve that which they’re trying to destroy. Like I said, fascists who embrace fascism always end up regretting it.
Now about Social Security… When I look at my statement, my history, I’ve been paying into Social Security since 1969. I was in ninth grade. Working after school. I’ve been putting my money into it and all of that was hard-earned. The first half of my life with a lot of physical labor, the second half with a lot of stress, emotional duress and intellectual exacerbation. They want to take that away from me? That’s theft, outright theft by the State. If they want to do that? What they need to do is to make a new pact with young America. Everyone who paid into Social Security should get their money back out of it, one way or another. Or it's theft. Preferably paying it out until they (we) die and then giving the overage to their descendants as is appropriate and legal. And they need to come up with a new plan, offer that to all citizens and have them not just have legislators vote on it. But they need a vast majority to agree to it and then go through their entire lives going forward, not expecting any help when they retire.
People need to be aware of a change like that over their lifetime. Not just when they are retired, when they are about to retire. So they plan to do this to people in long-term care homes who are so old they can’t get out of bed, or are ill but all of which who will die there. Who is going to pay for that if their Social Security and Medicare go away and their VA is shut off?
If there’s one thing Republicans are expert at, it's to say things in their soundbites to get votes, power and money, but aren’t very well thought out long term (or immediate term). And so they end up not implementing those things, which is basically lying to their voters. Or carrying them out and further wrecking our economy and our civil rights. It's getting pretty old, really.
By the way, that whole last paragraph above? That is about democracy. Protecting citizens against that kind of autocratic bullshit. They kinda see democracy at shoulder length, way off in the distance as some ideological conceptual idea of democracy. So too many don’t care about it, especially MAGA types. But that’s not what democracy is. Not functional democracy anyway. Democracy is there for not being run over by the State as they did in the USSR. It’s about Stalin not slaughtering millions of citizens because he’s paranoid. Nixon got paranoid at the end. Trump was getting paranoid at the end. Give him a second term see how paranoid he gets at the end of THAT. Especially if he were able to somehow put off his upcoming indictments for the crimes he’s committed. That’s where Putin is at now, terrified to leave office because it’ll come back on him. That’s what happened to Yeltsin when Putin took over. Yeltsin made Putin president to protect himself and his family because of his crimes. Putin‘s looking at the same situation, only worse because he’s been in power for over 20 some years. Because he slaughtered people in other countries. Because he’s had people murdered in other countries, in the most horrible ways. We’re going to see the same crap with Trump, which we were starting to see at the end of his first term. But he wasn’t desperate like he will be at the end of a second term. Or the end of his third term. We don’t need anyone as president or king for three terms... or life. I would say we don’t need anyone for longer than two terms. After that they get too cocky and careless. We probably also need some term limits in Congress. They could be long terms. With SCOTUS, too. We need to end this crap where you die in office from old age. Ruth Bader Ginsberg, loved the woman. But her dying really screwed up America since she died as a Justice on the Supreme Court. So that position ended up with not someone she would have wanted. How does that help?
If Republicans win on Tuesday, please change the name of the Republican Party to the MAGA Party. Now they may do that anyway, because they’re just coming right out and saying the stuff they couldn’t say, even 10 years ago, or five years ago. Just come out and admit who you are. If the majority of Americans see you as fascist or like the Nazi party as it ramped up to take over Germany in the 1930s, maybe that's who you are. When most of the decent world sees you that way, maybe you just are. Maybe you are. And Republicans, seeing Democrats as if they are fascistic or Hitler? They’re just making shit up like a third grader on a playground who’s being called out for being a bully (because he is a bully) but his response is what? To say, "No! You’re a bully, you’re a bully! Good grief. It’s embarrassing that grown adults in positions of power or running for positions of power, are acting like immature children. Unbelievable
Podcast just had a good point, we need to go from being "the protectors of democracy to the reformers of democracy". It’s true, because some of MAGA who are were pissed off, is about democracy needing reformation. We’ve all felt that. First off, the Money in our politics needs a vast reformation. Toxic capitalism being allowed because of lobbyists and big money being allowed in our elections. That’s got to change. We’re never going to please some of this MASGA crowd. But we can certainly make changes to lower them into a sense of "all right, I guess I can handle this, then. It seems reasonable to me anyway."
As they say on the podcast, the fact that we went back to lobbyists seven years ago and "ear marks", is bullshit. Citizens United? Gotta go. Toxic capitalists calling themselves legislators? It's got to go. They also said, if we want them to care about democracy we’ve got to make them feel like we’re willing to change our democracy. It could be they don’t really wanna get rid of it, they just don’t like how it is. None of us like how it is. Except those who are benefiting from at the most. The wealthy, the powerful, certainly too many legislators, Trump, too many mostly Republican governors.
Dammit I’m seeing tiny raindrops every so often now!
Apparently, when they polled people who said they were worried about threats to democracy, when they drilled down on that, it was mostly about corruption. Why didn’t we see this a year ago? 10 years ago? In the 1990s when Newt Gingrich started to use old Soviet KGB disinformation tactics to subvert the Republican party, evolve a "tea party" which morphed into a MAGA Party morphing into a cult of hero worshipers for a moron and failed businessman and failed reality star in Donald Trump. All we’re gonna get after Trump is somebody who’s better at being that kind of bad.
Again the podcast has a good point in why we’re drip bleeding Democrats to the Republicans. Because when you’re poor or working two jobs and bouncing from motel to motel because you can’t afford a house, no one is addressing that issue. Other than by saying "democracy is at threat". While the Republicans are lying saying they’ll take care of them. They may not know any better and shift to the Republicans. Republicans are going to fix it? They don't give a shit. They just want your vote. As with Trump who just says whatever you want to hear according to who you are in that room with him at that time. Then he has your vote and goes to say the opposite to somebody else. He (and they) dissemble and mumble and lie in such a way that when questioned, they can come back later to say they didn’t mean that, or, that’s not what I said. If you go and prove it or if a reporter goes and looks it up, those people are not gonna see that report in an hour or a day or a week. So much of this is about how, "A Lie Can Travel Halfway Around the World While the Truth Is Putting On Its Shoes."
“We have ceded the reform (of democracy) issue to a group that is full of corrupt Republicans.“
It’s ironic how the 2000 election actually was stolen and yet we backed down. Maybe shouldn’t have. But we did it because we didn’t want to cause some kind of constitutional crisis. Then in 2020 in what was the most secure election in history, without the problems of the 2000 election, we had a president who was begging for a constitutional crisis, begging for an insurrection, dying to apply martial law and somehow become King Trump. I’m sorry, but what kind of foolish ignorance is that who supports someone like that?
Remember, it wasn’t that long ago, just this year that Mitch McConnell openly admitted the big Republican problem in this election was their low quality of candidates running for office. He and Trump often say exactly what’s going on. And yet, the right people never hear the right message. While the wrong people sure hear the wrong message.
Warnock vs Wallace. You need a great football player, go with Walker. But not now! He’s beyond his prime. A prime that should never be in public office. Warnock is hands-down better candidate no matter what your belief system is. Unless you’re a Nazi of course. Or you just like stupid people. Or you’re really into automatons which actually the Nazi party built: "Follow your orders or will shoot you" And they blindly followed the orders to slaughter tens of millions of human beings, all for their ridiculous beliefs. The Christian nationalist beliefs by the way. Who the FBI tells us are our biggest domestic threat now, in our white Christian nationalist... Aericans.
The SCOTUS ruling allowing Republicans to make abortion illegal, which then happened almost overnight in some states, would’ve served America better had it happened in October. The only thing I can say pro SCOTUS about that is that we had 50 years to fix it in Congress and we failed to do it. Because we got lazy, thinking we were covered. Especially nowadays with these Republicans, don’t believe you’re covered. This was a knife fight Republicans carried guns to and are happy to shoot you in the back. I think though, Democrats have bigger guns. They just never realize it. Why do Republicans keep doing so well as a minority? It’s just like with cops and robbers. Police, or Democrats in this case, have rules to follow and decency they want to adhere to. Republicans, just think it's win at any or all costs to any or all others, as long as it's not them. They’re happy to break laws, mores, morals, rules, traditions, when they're the traditionalist conservative party. Maybe the Hypocrisy Party?
I just had a weird thought… Republicans built a wall trying to hold back democracy. But there was, of course, a leak. And Trump rushed right up and shoved his dick in it.
What squirted out of that little hole, accumulated a bunch of really disgusting people on the other side who wanted to switch to be, some Democrat to Republican, some Independent to Republican, with some Republicans who came out of their shells and entered that hole, rushing right up into... Trump's prostate. And unsurprisingly, they’ve loved being there ever since.
Podcast had another good point that if you’re denying polls and the scientific data that's the political version of denying climate change. Yes polls can be wrong, but there’s a lot of data out there and a lot of science to tell you a lot about what’s going on. Really, what their better telling us is what's trending and when it’s used to be something more specific, it starts to fall apart. You have to know what you’re doing. That being said, I studying statistics at university. I know, I know, people love to say things like there's statistics and there's damn statistics. Or you can make statistics tell any lie you like. But that's avoiding one obvious truth. Statistics can be like magic to give you accurate forecasts that are stunning in their accuracy. I've proven it myself using statistics where I gathered my own data, drew up my own formula and the results were stunningly accurate. Like magic, they foretold the future. I kid you not!
Republicans:
“Democrats rely too much on data.“ Well, do pilots rely too much on radar?
For those in the bottom half of the economic classes, especially the lower economic class, and such, who really believes Republicans are going to save you? Republicans are famous for saying to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Not for them, but say "others" need to do that (so as to not bother them, or cost them money, even if it saves money...yes, it's bizarre and at times, stupid). They’re very anti-Socialism. While Democrats are not pro-Socialism. Social programs are about people, society, social issues that are programs designed to help. How that's "Socialism" is beyond me (AND Republicans). Socialism is a political doctrine that has nothing to do with it. But if you think Republicans are the ones that are going to save the economy? Damn, that’s just dumb. People need to realize it's ignorant and naïve because they're believing Republican lies When if they look around at the Republican's platform over the years, what they say has nothing to do with helping those leaving the Democratic party because they think Democrats won't help. When they’re really our best shot. The good news? Just maybe all this transition period is a paradigm shift that will lead to fixing... that’s a stupid word, "revamping" )maybe?), our democracy And our country. But the best America has right now? It’s better we disband the Republican Party, throw many of them in jail who need to be. OK. It’s actually just a very few of them, but those in positions of power who also have many following them. Just take the Democratic Party, split it in half and call the conservative side, anything but a Republican Party. Because that’s dead now. They killed that a long time ago. And remember the Democratic Party of today was the Republican Party of Lincoln, because they switched back in the late 1800s. And if you don’t know about that, well, go look it up.
Damn, I’m just finishing up my 4th mile. I thought I could make five but suddenly the air turned cold and there’s a huge black cloud moving overhead from the Olympic Mountains, with all that cooler, moist air from the Pacific Ocean. And it’s supposed to rain today. Well maybe four is it today?
This photo is what I'm wearing today. It’s not raingear…but very comfortable for a walkabout today.
Democrats need to remember (while Republicans are welcome to forget this, when Republicans come back to be an American political party, then they can remember this to), no matter how bad things look leading up to the end of an election, the worse it looks, the more you need to vote, and the more you need to vote against the nonsense. At this point in time, that would be...the Republican Party.
So, that’s what it is. From the podcast...Republicans want to privatize Social Security. As they say, "cut the knot" on seniors. Good grief! Fuck those people!
By the way, that whole last paragraph above? That is about democracy. Protecting citizens against that kind of autocratic bullshit. They kinda see democracy at shoulder length, way off in the distance as some ideological conceptual idea of democracy. So too many don’t care about it, especially MAGA types. But that’s not what democracy is. Not functional democracy anyway. Democracy is there for not being run over by the State as they did in the USSR. It’s about Stalin not slaughtering millions of citizens because he’s paranoid. Nixon got paranoid at the end. Trump was getting paranoid at the end. Give him a second term see how paranoid he gets at the end of THAT. Especially if he were able to somehow put off his upcoming indictments for the crimes he’s committed. That’s where Putin is at now, terrified to leave office because it’ll come back on him. That’s what happened to Yeltsin when Putin took over. Yeltsin made Putin president to protect himself and his family because of his crimes. Putin‘s looking at the same situation, only worse because he’s been in power for over 20 some years. Because he slaughtered people in other countries. Because he’s had people murdered in other countries, in the most horrible ways. We’re going to see the same crap with Trump, which we were starting to see at the end of his first term. But he wasn’t desperate like he will be at the end of a second term. Or the end of his third term. We don’t need anyone as president or king for three terms... or life. I would say we don’t need anyone for longer than two terms. After that they get too cocky and careless. We probably also need some term limits in Congress. They could be long terms. With SCOTUS, too. We need to end this crap where you die in office from old age. Ruth Bader Ginsberg, loved the woman. But her dying really screwed up America since she died as a Justice on the Supreme Court. So that position ended up with not someone she would have wanted. How does that help?
If Republicans win on Tuesday, please change the name of the Republican Party to the MAGA Party. Now they may do that anyway, because they’re just coming right out and saying the stuff they couldn’t say, even 10 years ago, or five years ago. Just come out and admit who you are. If the majority of Americans see you as fascist or like the Nazi party as it ramped up to take over Germany in the 1930s, maybe that's who you are. When most of the decent world sees you that way, maybe you just are. Maybe you are. And Republicans, seeing Democrats as if they are fascistic or Hitler? They’re just making shit up like a third grader on a playground who’s being called out for being a bully (because he is a bully) but his response is what? To say, "No! You’re a bully, you’re a bully! Good grief. It’s embarrassing that grown adults in positions of power or running for positions of power, are acting like immature children. Unbelievable
Podcast just had a good point, we need to go from being "the protectors of democracy to the reformers of democracy". It’s true, because some of MAGA who are were pissed off, is about democracy needing reformation. We’ve all felt that. First off, the Money in our politics needs a vast reformation. Toxic capitalism being allowed because of lobbyists and big money being allowed in our elections. That’s got to change. We’re never going to please some of this MASGA crowd. But we can certainly make changes to lower them into a sense of "all right, I guess I can handle this, then. It seems reasonable to me anyway."
As they say on the podcast, the fact that we went back to lobbyists seven years ago and "ear marks", is bullshit. Citizens United? Gotta go. Toxic capitalists calling themselves legislators? It's got to go. They also said, if we want them to care about democracy we’ve got to make them feel like we’re willing to change our democracy. It could be they don’t really wanna get rid of it, they just don’t like how it is. None of us like how it is. Except those who are benefiting from at the most. The wealthy, the powerful, certainly too many legislators, Trump, too many mostly Republican governors.
Dammit I’m seeing tiny raindrops every so often now!
Apparently, when they polled people who said they were worried about threats to democracy, when they drilled down on that, it was mostly about corruption. Why didn’t we see this a year ago? 10 years ago? In the 1990s when Newt Gingrich started to use old Soviet KGB disinformation tactics to subvert the Republican party, evolve a "tea party" which morphed into a MAGA Party morphing into a cult of hero worshipers for a moron and failed businessman and failed reality star in Donald Trump. All we’re gonna get after Trump is somebody who’s better at being that kind of bad.
Again the podcast has a good point in why we’re drip bleeding Democrats to the Republicans. Because when you’re poor or working two jobs and bouncing from motel to motel because you can’t afford a house, no one is addressing that issue. Other than by saying "democracy is at threat". While the Republicans are lying saying they’ll take care of them. They may not know any better and shift to the Republicans. Republicans are going to fix it? They don't give a shit. They just want your vote. As with Trump who just says whatever you want to hear according to who you are in that room with him at that time. Then he has your vote and goes to say the opposite to somebody else. He (and they) dissemble and mumble and lie in such a way that when questioned, they can come back later to say they didn’t mean that, or, that’s not what I said. If you go and prove it or if a reporter goes and looks it up, those people are not gonna see that report in an hour or a day or a week. So much of this is about how, "A Lie Can Travel Halfway Around the World While the Truth Is Putting On Its Shoes."
“We have ceded the reform (of democracy) issue to a group that is full of corrupt Republicans.“
It’s ironic how the 2000 election actually was stolen and yet we backed down. Maybe shouldn’t have. But we did it because we didn’t want to cause some kind of constitutional crisis. Then in 2020 in what was the most secure election in history, without the problems of the 2000 election, we had a president who was begging for a constitutional crisis, begging for an insurrection, dying to apply martial law and somehow become King Trump. I’m sorry, but what kind of foolish ignorance is that who supports someone like that?
Remember, it wasn’t that long ago, just this year that Mitch McConnell openly admitted the big Republican problem in this election was their low quality of candidates running for office. He and Trump often say exactly what’s going on. And yet, the right people never hear the right message. While the wrong people sure hear the wrong message.
Warnock vs Wallace. You need a great football player, go with Walker. But not now! He’s beyond his prime. A prime that should never be in public office. Warnock is hands-down better candidate no matter what your belief system is. Unless you’re a Nazi of course. Or you just like stupid people. Or you’re really into automatons which actually the Nazi party built: "Follow your orders or will shoot you" And they blindly followed the orders to slaughter tens of millions of human beings, all for their ridiculous beliefs. The Christian nationalist beliefs by the way. Who the FBI tells us are our biggest domestic threat now, in our white Christian nationalist... Aericans.
The SCOTUS ruling allowing Republicans to make abortion illegal, which then happened almost overnight in some states, would’ve served America better had it happened in October. The only thing I can say pro SCOTUS about that is that we had 50 years to fix it in Congress and we failed to do it. Because we got lazy, thinking we were covered. Especially nowadays with these Republicans, don’t believe you’re covered. This was a knife fight Republicans carried guns to and are happy to shoot you in the back. I think though, Democrats have bigger guns. They just never realize it. Why do Republicans keep doing so well as a minority? It’s just like with cops and robbers. Police, or Democrats in this case, have rules to follow and decency they want to adhere to. Republicans, just think it's win at any or all costs to any or all others, as long as it's not them. They’re happy to break laws, mores, morals, rules, traditions, when they're the traditionalist conservative party. Maybe the Hypocrisy Party?
I just had a weird thought… Republicans built a wall trying to hold back democracy. But there was, of course, a leak. And Trump rushed right up and shoved his dick in it.
What squirted out of that little hole, accumulated a bunch of really disgusting people on the other side who wanted to switch to be, some Democrat to Republican, some Independent to Republican, with some Republicans who came out of their shells and entered that hole, rushing right up into... Trump's prostate. And unsurprisingly, they’ve loved being there ever since.
Podcast had another good point that if you’re denying polls and the scientific data that's the political version of denying climate change. Yes polls can be wrong, but there’s a lot of data out there and a lot of science to tell you a lot about what’s going on. Really, what their better telling us is what's trending and when it’s used to be something more specific, it starts to fall apart. You have to know what you’re doing. That being said, I studying statistics at university. I know, I know, people love to say things like there's statistics and there's damn statistics. Or you can make statistics tell any lie you like. But that's avoiding one obvious truth. Statistics can be like magic to give you accurate forecasts that are stunning in their accuracy. I've proven it myself using statistics where I gathered my own data, drew up my own formula and the results were stunningly accurate. Like magic, they foretold the future. I kid you not!
Republicans:
“Democrats rely too much on data.“ Well, do pilots rely too much on radar?
For those in the bottom half of the economic classes, especially the lower economic class, and such, who really believes Republicans are going to save you? Republicans are famous for saying to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Not for them, but say "others" need to do that (so as to not bother them, or cost them money, even if it saves money...yes, it's bizarre and at times, stupid). They’re very anti-Socialism. While Democrats are not pro-Socialism. Social programs are about people, society, social issues that are programs designed to help. How that's "Socialism" is beyond me (AND Republicans). Socialism is a political doctrine that has nothing to do with it. But if you think Republicans are the ones that are going to save the economy? Damn, that’s just dumb. People need to realize it's ignorant and naïve because they're believing Republican lies When if they look around at the Republican's platform over the years, what they say has nothing to do with helping those leaving the Democratic party because they think Democrats won't help. When they’re really our best shot. The good news? Just maybe all this transition period is a paradigm shift that will lead to fixing... that’s a stupid word, "revamping" )maybe?), our democracy And our country. But the best America has right now? It’s better we disband the Republican Party, throw many of them in jail who need to be. OK. It’s actually just a very few of them, but those in positions of power who also have many following them. Just take the Democratic Party, split it in half and call the conservative side, anything but a Republican Party. Because that’s dead now. They killed that a long time ago. And remember the Democratic Party of today was the Republican Party of Lincoln, because they switched back in the late 1800s. And if you don’t know about that, well, go look it up.
Damn, I’m just finishing up my 4th mile. I thought I could make five but suddenly the air turned cold and there’s a huge black cloud moving overhead from the Olympic Mountains, with all that cooler, moist air from the Pacific Ocean. And it’s supposed to rain today. Well maybe four is it today?
This photo is what I'm wearing today. It’s not raingear…but very comfortable for a walkabout today.
Democrats need to remember (while Republicans are welcome to forget this, when Republicans come back to be an American political party, then they can remember this to), no matter how bad things look leading up to the end of an election, the worse it looks, the more you need to vote, and the more you need to vote against the nonsense. At this point in time, that would be...the Republican Party.
So, that’s what it is. From the podcast...Republicans want to privatize Social Security. As they say, "cut the knot" on seniors. Good grief! Fuck those people!
Cheers! Sláinte!
