Monthly Archives: February 2020

Super Tuesday!

Politics, ,

This is NOT just my usual get out and vote posting. In one week it will be Super Tuesday and for the first time since I started voting way back in 1972 my vote in the California primary will matter. Every time before, when we voted in June, the parties candidates had already been decided. I can not tell you what a bummer that was.

This year California is a player! Sure there are a lot of other states playing but none of them come close to being as big as California in delegate count at 415 up for grabs. An thank God, we are not a winner take all state this year. So your vote is going to mater because to get even 1 delegate a candidate is going to be ‘viable’ what ever that means. The process is both complex and confusing but all you need to know is that your vote matters to every candidate to get to the magic percentage of 15%. (Don’t ask me 15% of what, I don’t know but you can look it up on Google if it is important to you.). So get out and vote!

As for who to vote for, I’m not going to say. Most of the candidates are good people who just might do a good job as President. In fact there are only two I think will not do the job, and I’m not going to tell you who they are. Why? Because this post is about getting you out to vote for the person you think will do the best job. That’s right, not the person who you think can beat Donald J. Trump, not the “Most Electable”, no, the one who will do the best job. The one you think will do the best for you, who you agree with and who will do the things you would do if you could.

So if you are like me and still thinking about it I ask you to watch the debates tonight and see who you like. See who you hate and see who doesn’t do anything one way or another. Then go and do a little research on line, or go talk/text/etc with your friends and neighbors and see what they thought. Then think about just what kind of nation you want to live in. Then vote for the best candidate to bring that about.

VOTE

An Now For Something Different

General, Politics
Foundation

Just to add to all the indicators of the coming/current “Sheldon Crisis” I thought I’d give you some rein to my own “SWAG” (Scientific Wild Ass Guess) on the coming election.

Possible Election Results

Absolute Worst: Trump Wins and the GOP flips the House and keeps the Senate

Worst: Trump Wins and the GOP keeps only the Senate

Very Bad: Trump Wins and the GOP loses both the House & keeps the Senate

Neutral: Trump loses and the GOP keeps the Senate

Good: Bernie Or Biden Wins and the GOP loses both the House and Senate

Very Good: Warren or Butigieg Wins and the GOP loses both the House and Senate

Best: Klobuchar Wins and the GOP loses both the House and Senate

Which of these results will happen I have no idea, as yet.

Not Quite True

Politics, , , , ,
Juggernaut
Juggernaut

One of the great lies being propagated by Donald Trump, MAGA, and the GOP is that he/they are a juggernaut. Totally unstoppable and undefeatable in the coming election. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

If the data we are seeing is anywhere correct the GOP is weaker now that it has been sense 1932. If 2018 wasn’t an indication of the American people disaffection with how the GOP is running things just take a look at how many incumbent Republicans are “retiring”. Not only in the House but in there is even a few Senate. Also look at all the Republican Incumbants in the Senate who are now in an actual re-election contests. Many of them are polling, in their own polls, under a 10% lead over possible challengers. This includes Senator McConnell.

As for MAGA, it has never been much more than a very noisy outlier of conservative politics. Yes, you see wonderful shots of their mass’ at the Trump Rallies, but these shots are all carefully staged. We never hear any figures of where these people come from. Are they local or bussed in? We don’t even know if they are paired to attend or not. We don’t even have an accurate definition of just what a MAGA is, other that they are Pro-Trump, do or die.

As for Pres. Trump himself I can only say two things: He Lies and He Cheats. No one should take anything he does at face value. We must always start from the position that it is not true until independent evidence come to light supporting what he has said. As for his cheating, we have to watch very very carefully everything he and his associates do. Like all people who cheat at Golf, Pres. Trump and the people he associates with they will cheat even when they don’t have to. Just look at what the GOP did in the Iowa caucus. We can expect this kind of antics until after November. Some just pranks to make the Democrats look bad, others not nearly so benign. An not just in battle ground states. Look for it in states like California, or New York, or Mississippi or Oklahoma.

So, the great Juggernaut of the Trump/Republican party is really just a big illusion created by the Great Con-artist, ‘The Snake Oil Salesman’. An every time you hear that Trump is unbeatable say “Oh Yeah? Prove it.”

Orange KoolAid VI

Politics, ,
Orange Koolaid

As things stand now

With the almost totally party-line vote to acquit Donald John Trump last week we are now getting to see just what comes next. For starters we have seen the attacks on the one member of the Senate who was brave enough to vote his own conscious. What is truly amusing is Pres. Trump’s saying that Sen. Romney used his religion to hide behind.

Now I do not like or support Sen. Romney but I do respect him. I respect him when he says he was guided by his religious faith in his vote and I believe him. I have known quite a few Later Day Saints (LDS aka Mormons) in my life and they all took their faith both respectfully and honorably. Not to say there haven’t been LDS who didn’t, just that the one I have met did. I do know this, the Utah LDS will not take this kind of attack sitting down. I can not think of a more seriously wrong place to make such as an attack as where Pres. Trump picked. Pres. Trump has only succeeded in strengthIng Sen. Romney in his home state.

An, now, today, we have the reported resignation of a federal prosecutor involved in the Stone trial over the Pres. interference with the sentencing recommendation we have some more. It is bad enough that A.G. Barr has taken personal control of any authorizations of investigations of Presidential candidates by the JD. It is bad enough that a formal connection between Giuliani and the JD in regards to the Biden/Ukraine investigations. Now we have the ’ham handed’ attempt to influence the sentencing of a personal friend by the President.

What’s next, Pardons? If so I hope he does it before November.

Orange KoolAid V

Politics, , , ,
Orange Koolaid

It’s not over till it is Over.

Or What Now?

So the Impeachment and Trial of Donald John Trump, President of the Unites States of America is over. So what can we expect now?

I am not going to talk about all the bad/dark things we can expect from Pres. Trump, MAGA or the GOP. This is already being discussed by others to ad nauseam. I’m going to talk about what we can do to counter act these actions.

The first thing is to stay positive. While MAGA and Pres. Trump has won this round the game is still on. The second thing is to not only VOTE yourself but to get out the vote of others. Unlike all of the elections I’ve been involved in since 1968 I’m going to say the vote to get out is the anti-Trump, anti-MAGA and anti-GOP. Get out the vote not only in the general election in November but also in your sate primary. Each and Every Vote is critical.

Why I’m saying this is not the usual election rhetoric. This election is the most important I’ve seen since 1968. Democrats need to put forward not only a candidate that represents out ideals but also can lead the way in a great anti-Trump/MAGA/GOP wave. The GOP needs to be shown the error of their ways in not only nominating and then electing this Orange KoolAid but their total lack of ethics and morals in rolling over for him.

What can we need to counter?

There are three thing we, as individual voters need to look out for and can actually be effective apposing.

  1. Alt-Facts: When ever we come upon “Alt-Facts” (aka out right lies”) we need to call them out with actual facts. Don’t forget to cite your sources, this is critical. Yes, I know the MAGA will not be effected but MAGA is not even a majority in the GOP. Who we are doing this for is for the mass of ‘independents’.
  2. Dirty Tricks: This should go without saying but I think it needs to be said. The GOP has been the past masters of Dirty Trick for the last 75 years and they now have a Leader who ‘Openly’ see nothing wrong with them. So it is up to every Voter who truly believes in open and fair elections to call out every instance of a Dirty Trick. It doesn’t mater Right, Left, or center, it is up to us to say we will not stand for Dirty Trick in our elections.
  3. Keep the Faith: America is strong. She has been thru times as tough as this before and come out the other side better for the struggle. MAGA wants you to give up. It wants you to believe that it is too powerful, too Omnipresent, too omnipotent to fail. This is just another lie they tell us to keep us down.

So fear not! All is not lost, not yet. Each and everyone of us who love this country can do our little bit. First and foremost, don’t give into despair for that is exactly what Pres. Trump, MAGA and the GOP want. Next fight back, but fight back smart. As my Dad used to tell me “if you get back up after being knocked down. You have lost the fight.” We lost this round and they think they have us on the ropes. Now is the time to show MAGA and all the Trumpian bullies just what we are made of.

So Can We Do?

As I am a computer ‘geek’ I will start with the problem of the Internet and Social Media. Let’s not wait for the Government nor the big corps to address this problem. I’m calling on all the Techno-Geeks out there to attack the problem our not being able to accurately identify who is actually posting what. Let’s get apps out there that can quickly and clearly identify the ‘true’ point of origin of any posting on Facebook, or Twitter, or eMail.

I am calling on them to create apps that will allow users to identify ‘Deepfakes’ and all the other ways we were manipulated in 2016. We need apps that will prevent the kind of ‘Dirty Trick’ pulled in Iowa this past week. Let’s create apps that will help us counter all the voter suppression tactics so beloved by the GOP this past decade. Need I go on?

Some may say that this is an impossible task. Well, you be surprised on how many “impossible” things I’ve seen done with computers since 1969. So, to all the Techno-Geeks out there I say “Trump and MAGA say it is impossible for anyone to stop their miss information campaign.” I say “Are you going to take that lying down? Are you going to let people who have no idea what is meant by a ‘Sever’ tell you what you can do or not do?”

Well Are you?

All But the Shouting

Politics, Rants, ,
Dead GOP

When I was younger we used to have a phrase “It’s all over but for the shouting.” Back then it was all over even if there was still time on the clock. In the late Sixties we started to say this at the start of something, like an election, to say the ‘fix was in’. An so it is now with the Impeachment of Donald John Trump.

Those of us who watch these kind of things knew that Pres. Trump and Senator McConnell were doing everything in their power to get the ‘Fix’ setup in the Senate. It now looks like it truly is ‘All over but for the Shouting”. In fact it seems the only question is will Donald Trump start the shouting at the “State of the Union” or not. I know not what others think, but for me, I’ll wait and see what happens. Also for me what comes after is much more important than the victory celebration of the MAGA.

One of the major arguments made by the GOP was that the “right and proper” place to decide the question posed in the Impeachment was actually the election In November. While I don’t agree with the argument I do agree that with the ‘Fixed’ trial the only place America can correct this travesty of justice is the election. But unlike either the GOP or their MAGA brethren it is not just the -re-election of Donald J Trump that is at stake here. We, the people, must show every one of the Senators who voted to suppress witnesses and then to not convict just what we think of their action.

What must be done is just what happened 46 yeas ago in the election of 1974. Only more so. Every one of the Senators who voted for the ‘Fix’ every Representative who played a part in the farcical actions in the investigation need to be voted out of office. While I do not expect this to happen I do hope and pray that we will witness a wallowing of both MAGA and GOP elected officials that will make the election of 1974 look like a close run thing.

That said I promise you here I will be doing everything in my power to get everyone out to vote. An unlike most election I will not say I don’t care how you vote, just vote. No! This election is much more important than any other in my life. This election is a vote for “Truth, Justice and the American Way”.