Saturday, November 26, 2016

Ron "Shepherd Book" Glass RIP

Okay, 2016 can officially go fucking die in a fire now.


Book: This should do.
Zoe: Preacher, don't the Bible have some pretty specific things to say about killing?
Book: Quite specific. It is, however, somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps.


We can't blame this on the hair.

2016 has just basically been an incredibly shitty year for celebrities and important people.

Castro Is Dead. Cuba Can Live On If the Right People Do The Right Thing

One of the things I teach about writing in Microsoft Word class is how publishers work with Font Size. Normal reading text is 11 or 12 point font. Book publishers have chapter titles usually between the 24 to 32 point font sizes. Newspapers and magazines usually go between 24 to 36 point sizes for their minor stories under the fold or inside the pages. Anything over 42 point font size is for major news stories.

Anything Earth-shattering - the start of a war, landing on the moon, Hillary getting a replacement server for her email account - and we're talking 72 point at the least. Sometimes the headline banner will take the entire front page.

So when one of history's more pivotal players on the global stage of the last 60 years passes away - a person who was the target of hatred on a scale comparable to Hitler, Stalin, and that guy cutting you off at the McDonald's drive thru - it's gonna be headline news at the largest possible font you'll ever see. I guarantee you the front page of this morning's Miami Herald had to be printed on extra-sized paper to handle this:

Fidel Castro is dead.

You can't begin to imagine, even if you've lived in South Florida for nine or more years, just how hated Fidel was down in Miami-Dade. It was a passion, more fiery than a thousand suns and more dark than a thousand nights. I met anti-Castro Cubans from time to time back when I was a registered Republican at some of the party gatherings - most memorably at a rally for John McCain's Presidential campaign in 2000 - and those guys were rabid about Commies and Fidel.

To quote the Herald:

Millions cheered Fidel Castro on the day he entered Havana. Millions more fled the communist dictator’s repressive police state, leaving behind their possessions, their families, the island they loved and often their very lives. It’s part of the paradox of Castro that many people belonged to both groups.
Few national leaders have inspired such intense loyalty — or such a wrenching feeling of betrayal. Few fired the hearts of the world’s restless youth as Castro did when he was young, and few seemed so irrelevant as Castro when he was old — the last Communist, railing on the empty, decrepit street corner that Cuba became under his rule.
He held a unique place among the world’s leaders of the past century. Others had greater impact or won more respect. But none combined his dynamic personality, his decades in power, his profound effect on his own country and his provocative role in international affairs...

Castro rose to control Cuba by wrenching power from a corrupt regime, promising major reforms and an end to that corruption. But he also delved whole-hearted into Communism and alienated Cuba from their closest neighbors, above all a United States that did not enjoy the idea of a Commie nation just ninety miles away from Key West.

Whatever benefits Castro brought to Cuba, he also brought major civil liberties violations - his record of homophobia in particular was deplorable - and essentially quashed dissent or differing views. He held onto his Communist ideals even after the fall of the Soviet Union by 1991, unable to find enough allies to share that ideology to keep his nation fiscally afloat. By the time he retired in 2011, all he had left was pretty much Venezuela, and that nation is in worse shape (that nation is one bad day away from food riots that could topple everything).

The only thing that kept Castro and his party in power was his open defiance of a United States government that could never abide his Communist ways. To a Latin American culture that never enjoyed the dominant - sometimes arrogant - behavior of the United States, Castro was a quaint middle finger aimed at Washington DC.

What happens next with Cuba, and with the United States, is anyone's guess. But the last four/eight years had seen encouraging signs that relations between the neighboring nations were finally opening.

Trapped in the reality that the global economy can no longer let nations isolate themselves, Cuba under Raul Castro began undergoing various economic reforms aimed at lifting US sanctions. Obama, sensing the opportunity of being the President who ended 50-60 years of Cold War hostilities with Cuba, did lift enough sanctions to signal approval. Both sides made outreach efforts to open up Cuba to travel, which is supposed to allow air travel with regular flights to Cuba and back (there are still some restrictions on who goes and why, but the rules have so many loopholes involved that if you can give the State Dept. a decent excuse they'll let you go). And as of last March, Obama promised that the whole embargo on Cuba will end (although arrangements haven't actually finalized yet).

This could be a huge coup for Obama if he could, within the last two months of his Presidency, work out a final deal with Cuba that would see an end to this sorry and painful split between two neighboring nations. He doesn't have much time, because with Trump entering the Oval Office in January there's no telling how this could go FUBAR. The Republicans, left to their own agenda of petty grievance and bullying habits, could easily refuse sensible compromises and push for even harsher sanctions to try and break the Communists still in control in Cuba.

If Raul cares for his brother's legacy - that some semblance of an independent Cuba still stands apart from the United States even as they reconcile into a partnership that could benefit both nations - he should deal with Obama as soon as possible. If they can get something figured out by Christmas, that would help.

Any deal with Trump would likely involve terrible Trump-owned casinos and massive corruption on a scale even Batista never signed off on. And waiting on a wingnut-led Republican Congress to do anything sane or legal is a bad idea no matter what.

It's turning out 2016 is a historic year all right. Sliding into outright horror if the right people in charge of things don't do what makes the most sense. Just saying, Raul, you'll get a better deal from Obama than anybody else. And Obama wants to get this deal made, he wants to leave office on a high note. Whatever the sticking point is, take a step back and recognize what can be done to fix it, and get the deal done.

History is waiting. The year isn't over yet.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Thanksgiving 2016

Things I am thankful for:

My parents.
My siblings, older sister and older brother and slightly annoying twin brother.
My kittehs.
My closest friends, though few and on many days so far from where I am. I miss them, often. Facebook barely helps.
My professional career as a librarian. I get to help people, I get to solve problems, I get to do research and find out new things that I forget five minutes later.
My personal efforts at a writing career. Getting some of my stories out there for others to read. Getting a few decent reviews (would love, of course, to have more...) here and there. I am thankful I got another NaNoWriMo year of getting past 50,000 words on a novel project (that I know I NEED TO FINISH ONE DAY, DAMN ME).
I am thankful we got eight years of an Obama Presidency, as a measuring stick for our nation to see how a President should behave and lead.

Things I am not thankful for:

Watching my country get taken over by Nazis and Klansmen and total bastards, as the number of assaults both verbal and physical go up while the goddamn wingnuts openly give the Nazi salute. I thought we fought a f-cking world war to get rid of these Nazis. I thought we were growing past the race hatreds of the Jim Crow era. I thought we were going to listen to the better angels of our nature. Apparently, I was wrong. Apparently, there are still millions of total bastards among us eager to prove themselves bastards towards Blacks, Latinos, women, gays and transgender, and pretty much people Not Of THEIR Tribe.
And I am sure as hell not thankful the Presidency is going to get taken over by a known con artist, liar, and bankrupt thief like Donald Goddamn Trump. What the hell, America, what the hell.

Even kamikaze turkeys cannot brighten my mood.


Wednesday, November 23, 2016

To the Spammers Hitting My Comment Fields

Piss Off.

Addendum: I should clarify. This blog is getting hit with unusual traffic, every four hours around 34 views like clockwork, and I've started getting Comments popping up for Moderation that are clearly spam (I may be lonely, but even I know a Russian Dating service is a trap).

My librarian blog has the same problem. It's just this is the first time my political blog is getting it.

Putin's army of hackers are getting bolder by the day.

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

It IS Happening Here

I THOUGHT WE FOUGHT A WORLD WAR TO GET RID OF THESE GODDAMN NAZIS.

From the Atlantic:

“Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!”
That’s how Richard B. Spencer saluted more than 200 attendees on Saturday, gathered at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., for the annual conference of the National Policy Institute, which describes itself as “an independent organization dedicated to the heritage, identity, and future of  people of European descent in the United States, and around the world...”

In short: Angry White Folk.

...For most of the day, a parade of speakers discussed their ideology in relatively anodyne terms, putting a presentable face on their agenda. But after dinner, when most journalists had already departed, Spencer rose and delivered a speech to his followers dripping with anti-Semitism, and leaving no doubt as to what he actually seeks. He referred to the mainstream media as “Lügenpresse,” a term he said he was borrowing from “the original German”; the Nazis used the word to attack their critics in the press.

GOD HELP US. This isn't "Alt-Right," like some offshoot of punk rock or something. THIS IS OPEN IN-YOUR-FACE NAZISM.



Trump's election has brought the nation's rot out in public.

And the political party that's now in charge won't do a goddamn thing to stop it. BECAUSE IT'S COMING FROM THEIR SIDE.

The Republican War On Everybody Else just went to DefCon Holy Shit.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

The Damage Already Done, Post-Election Issue

If anybody thought that somehow Trump would improve with the demands of the office, that the requirements and qualifications needed to sit in key Cabinet posts would force Trump to select respectable and effective candidates for those posts, that somehow the debacle of having 60 million Americans vote for an openly known con artist can't get any worse...

Yeah. It's getting worse (via Jamelle Bouie at Slate):

Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump said he would hire “the best people” to staff his administration. If “best people” means experienced politicians, dedicated experts, or even skilled businesspeople, then he’s stretching the truth. Few people with those qualifications are on board for an appointment to the Trump White House. But if “best people” means the hangers-on of the Trump campaign—the white nationalists, petty authoritarians, and conspiracy-mongers—then we’re on target...
...Thus far, to staff his administration, Trump has chosen a white nationalist provocateur; an anti-Muslim conspiracy-monger; and an apologist for a regressive, anti-black politics (and this is before we get to potential appointee Rudy Giuliani, who embodies many of Flynn’s and Sessions’ worst qualities). These are “the worst people,” yes. But they also represent a coherent ideology and perspective: white nationalism.
The thread that ties Bannon’s alt-right advocacy to Flynn’s clash-of-civilizations worldview to Sessions’ skeptical eye toward civil rights enforcement is a belief in the political and cultural dominance of white Americans. Their America isn’t a tapestry or a melting pot; it is simply white. Judging from the presence of men such as Bannon and Sessions, we should expect a Trump administration to roll back any progress this country has made toward inclusion and participation. We should also expect it to empower states to pursue discriminatory policy on voting, to empower local police departments to operate with impunity against communities of color, and to empower those who see Muslims—citizens or otherwise—as threats to contain or eliminate.
As we step into this world—as we enter the age of kakistocracy (note: yeah, someone must have showed him that word too)—we should remember one thing. This isn’t a departure from Trump’s populism. It’s the foundation of it. This is what Trump campaigned on. It’s what he promised. And millions of Americans either wanted it or were willing to look past it. For the targets and victims of Trump’s administration, there’s not much of a difference there...

We're basically going to get a rehash of the George W. Bush years... only worse because Trump is bringing in honest-to-God haters to fill the positions most likely to inflict direct pain on minorities, women, and non-Christian faithful. This is not "The Best and the Brightest", folks. This is not a question of professional expertise. This doesn't have anything to do with "economic anxiety" or the problem of White workers wanting their manufacturing and construction jobs back. This has everything to do with White resentment and outright vindictiveness towards those Not of THEIR Tribe.

And we're getting all of this because the Republicans never owned up to how f-cked the Dubya tenure was. And I'm not the only one saying this (via Sophia McClennen at Salon.com):

Let’s start with the obvious — there is no reason why Trump needs to stay in the White House or do much, if any, of the job. He can take a play right out of George W.’s book and go on endless vacation while outsourcing the job. Don’t forget that during his eight-year presidency, Bush took 879 days of vacation, including 77 trips to his Texas ranch.
And before you celebrate the idea of the orange-faced goon staying away from Washington, remember who Bush left behind to do the work. As Trump assembles his transition team and floats ideas for cabinet members, there is an uncanny resemblance to the Bush administration. Many think that it was the absolutely horrific team that Bush assembled that fueled the disaster of his presidency. Trump shows sign of doing him one better...
...If you really want to feel sick, recall that Bush campaigned as a centrist and was considered a very similar candidate to John Kasich when they were both in the 1999 primaries. Bush campaigned on bringing “integrity and honor” back into the White House. Compare that to Trump, who campaigned on banning Muslim immigrants, building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, and repealing Roe v. Wade. On Bush’s second day in office he reinstated a policy that required any non-governmental organization receiving U.S. government funding to refrain from performing or promoting abortion services in other countries. On Trump’s second day in office he could well nominate a Supreme Court Justice.
There is really no end to the various ways we can look at all that was bad under Bush and imagine how it can be worse with Trump. The Bush administration decimated our founding values, led us into permanent war, destabilized global politics, destroyed our economy and divided our nation. And Bush looks “low energy” when compared to what Trump can do...

It's as though a third of the nation - and nearly every person in the Beltway Media Elite Bubble of Self-Preservation - completely forgot what the hell happened between 2001 to 2008. Especially the years between 2003 and 2006 when the Republicans - with Bush the Lesser in the White House and the GOP in full control of both houses of Congress - were in charge and pretty much generated the Great Recession through mismanagement, obsessions with tax cuts and expensive wars, and mass deregulation that helped the banks destroy the global economy.

And now we're about to get the same shit from 2003 through 2006, with the notable inclusion of our leadership in Trump and his cohorts being goddamn racist sexist assholes. Pardon my Klingon.

This train wreck is unavoidable. And sixty million Americans are the ones who bought the tickets to ride for everyone else to scream in terror as our nation goes off the rails. Again.


Monday, November 14, 2016

Word for the Year And Maybe the Next Four Years...

Somebody at work told me to look this up:

Kakistocracy.

It comes from the Greek. Kákistos which means "worst" and then Kratia which covers "rule," "power," essentially government.

It's not a newly coined word: it's been around since 1829. The most apt definition is "government by the worst persons". Not exactly a kleptocracy, which is "government by thieves," but it's close.

It's a situation where the people in power are those you can't even trust to work as janitors in the White House let alone run the West Wing.

It's not so much a question of ideology but a question of competence. Where the people being put in power have ANY clue about what the hell they're doing.

There are reasons why experience in government should be a virtue in electing someone for the Presidency: because the system of government - especially the Executive branch - runs by rules, and those rules are there for a reason. Not out of bureaucratic snobbery or power-grabbing but because previous experience and general ethics teach us those rules work.

So here we are getting a President-Elect in Trump whose entire campaign and transition team are demonstrating utter cluelessness about what to do next (from Salon.com and via the Wall Street Journal):

According to a report on Sunday from The Wall Street Journal, Trump’s victory surprised his own top advisers so much so that the team didn’t prep the president-elect in the day-to-day operations of the West Wing. As a result, Trump now needs a crash course in how to do the presidency...
During their private White House meeting on Thursday, Mr. Obama walked his successor through the duties of running the country, and Mr. Trump seemed surprised by the scope, said people familiar with the meeting. Trump aides were described by those people as unaware that the entire presidential staff working in the West Wing had to be replaced at the end of Mr. Obama’s term.

Combine these reports with the previous reports of how Trump failed to grok the intelligence briefings he was getting, and we're getting a guy who hasn't the foggiest clue what being President is all about (hint: it's not about golfing all the time).

Then again, should we be at all surprised that Trump is where he is? He won out in a primary challenge where most of his fellow Republican opponents kept getting facts wrong, had few ideas outside of "tax cuts and deregulate," and couldn't debate their way out of a fight with Trump even when he wasn't at that debate.

The GOP has been demonstrating ever since the tail-end of the Bush the Lesser administration a level of managerial incompetence that should normally shame most political parties into quitting out of common decency and starting anew with a relabeled brand.

Just try to imagine a Trump administration that openly pursues the same leadership model as the administration that mismanaged two wars, crashed an economy by letting banks too big to fail to actually fail, and delayed a response to a natural disaster that killed thousands it shouldn't have.

And Trump is going to be building his Cabinet and Executive officers from the ranks of a political party that can't even pass a no-brainer Farm Bill, that kept fighting over BS issues for headlines instead of focusing on genuine policy initiatives, and was led by arrogant narcissists like Gingrich and Giuliani - both of them likely Cabinet figures - who were never as smart as their press releases claimed.

Here's the terrifying thing: A lot of Americans - even the ones who voted for Trump - know this is coming. It's a train wreck at least two years down the line at best (at worst we're going to get hit with disaster within the first 100 days), and we're already seeing it happen and nobody is going to be able to stop it.

These guys did not win because they were geniuses. They won because they were able to lie and demagogue enough to feed the rage of too many angry White voters.

Here comes the kakistocracy, Angry White Guys. It's exactly what you asked for.


Sunday, November 13, 2016

The Disconnect

Granted, I'm way busy right now catching up on my NaNoWriMo writing, which I'm trying to use as a distraction from the blues I'm getting from the political side of my life.

I've turned off the television, save for Cartoon Network and college football (Dammit Bucs, when you gonna get better?). It's still not helping.

I'm still angry at a nation where 57 million fellow citizens knew what they were getting in Trump - bankruptcy, sexual assaults, racism, incompetency - and still either closed their eyes to it out of party loyalty, a crazed hope that Trump wouldn't hurt them, or they WANTED exactly that.

Well, now. You got it. Along with the majority of us who DIDN'T want that.

I'm going back to writing, see if it can improve my mood.

When I get back, America you and I are gonna have to have a long chat about what you did wrong.

Friday, November 11, 2016

Just Remember America, On This Veterans Day

57 million of you voted for a draft dodger in Donald Trump, who used a medical deferment to avoid getting an A-1 grade on his Selective Service status.

He claimed to suffer from heel spurs.

And then he went golfing.

And then he compared his sexual hedonism as a "personal Vietnam" because he had to avoid all those sexually-transmitted diseases.

This is while 58,000 poor and minority American boys who couldn't get out of the draft died for real in a war sponsored by Dow Chemical.

This is what 57 million of you voted for.

Trump is not my President.


Thursday, November 10, 2016

It's Just the State I'm In

So I saw this from John Cole, leader of the northern Balloon Juice tribe:


I know where he's coming from.

Screw "Bargaining" and "Acceptance". THAT will never happen.

We spent the last eight years of the Republicans being complete bastards towards Democrats, Obama, scientists, teachers, environmentalists, women, Blacks, Latinos, Muslims, and sane people.

And now the Beltway media and Republican leaders are telling us "oh, you need to play nice. We need to unite and come together for the sake of the nation."

BULLSHIT.

Not until Mitch McConnell resigns to answer for his eight goddamn years using Cloture and Filibuster and outright Obstruction to block Obama's Presidential duties at every turn.

Not until every Fox Not-News talking head apologizes repeatedly for six straight months for defending sexual predators like Roger Ailes and his good buddy Trump.

Not until the Republican Party openly admits they were fucking assholes all this time for the sake of winning elections.

THEY NEVER ACCEPTED OBAMA OR ANY DEMOCRATIC OFFICIAL AS LEGITIMATE. And nobody lectured THEM about "playing nice."

Trump is not my President. He never will be. I will never take the side of a crooked bankrupt con artist who sexually assaults women and insults entire ethnicities for shits and giggles.

My President is Barack Obama, long may his efforts be remembered and honored.

Wednesday, November 09, 2016

Angry Moderate Blues 2016 Edition

I was hoping we'd have a sane response to an insane election year.

Instead the madness will get worse as the LEAST QUALIFIED HUMAN BEING to ever run for President will take control of the steering wheel and drive this bus over the cliff.

I'm watching another replay of the disasters I've seen here in Florida since 2010 and 2014: where a depressed Democratic voter turnout - all because the Far Left were having their hissy fits about centrist candidates - led to the Republican candidates winning key elections leading to a goddamn Medicare Fraud in Rick Scott becoming governor and wrecking our state in some form or another. Only now I watched it happen to the entire nation as Trump - a far bigger and more destructive crook - wins on Election Night.

All I can do is look at the polling results and come to the unavoidable conclusion that too many of my fellow Whites are a bunch of racist sexist assholes who sided with a racist sexist asshole to be their President.

This election cycle, we as a nation did not answer to the better angels of our nature.

As a result, everything that Barack Obama did the last eight years gets erased.

His signature attempt to curb health care costs with Obamacare will die on Day One in Trumpland.

Obama's foreign policy efforts to end Iran's nuke deal will get shredded, most likely by a return of harsh sanctions that will drive Iran back into their WMD program, thus ensuring the neocons get their nice little invasion plan going for 2017. Depending on whether Trump gets to drop a nuke or three on Syria and Iraq to show them who's boss. Not to mention every early attempt to open Cuba back up will get shut down. In the end, EVERY effort Obama made to repair our nation's standing with our NATO and Asian allies will take a huge blow. We'll end up siding with Russia, God help us.

Obama's efforts to improve equal pay for women? Gone. Obama's efforts to protect women's health? Gone.

Obama's efforts to grant gays equal rights under the law when it comes to serving in the military, and with gay marriage? I am expecting the Far Right to be especially gleeful about bringing down the hammer on this.

Business regulations that Obama got signed? Everything gets deregulated on the Republican platform, remember?

All that effort to repair the economy, to bring down unemployment below 5 percent? I guarantee you the coming slash-and-burn Ryan budget is going to do exactly the same thing the slash-and-burn budgets in 1981 and 2001 did: ruin job growth and lead to MORE unemployment.

I had hoped, I wanted to believe, that every person who voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012 realized that his legacy was at stake with this election, that voting for Hillary at the least would have ensured Obama's administration would have a more lasting impact. Instead, voter turnout dropped. And some of it was more than just the Republicans' efforts at voter suppression. Despite all the early voting returns suggesting an uptick in overall turnout, instead we got a wet blanket.

Just enough Dems and Indys and Moderate-leaning Republicans were so put out by Hillary that they ignored the virtues of having her as President and ruined everything.

If there is any bright spot to this dark week, it's that certain things are now unavoidable.

For one thing: Trump will self-destruct. He always does.

The second thing: The Republicans will self-destruct. They are repeating the same mistakes they've made in 1981 and 2001 with their god-awful budget plans and deregulation desires. Each time they created massive economic upheaval, scandal, and self-immolation. There's a reason why I'm still sticking to the argument that the Republican Party is dead even though they've just won a major election. The Republicans are dead because they keep falling back onto the same zombie ideology that never worked, and they can't break free of that extremism to where they will evolve and survive. This will not really end well for the Republicans.

Sadly, here's why this week is one of the bleakest our nation's ever seen: The Republicans win the long game of securing the federal courts, especially with filling the Supreme Court vacancies. Mitch McConnell deserves a special place in Hell for his obstruction this past year, denying Obama's nomination for the vacancy, but McConnell got what he wanted: there is no chance now of the Democrats filling the top legal bench with Left-leaning jurists, and the Republicans can easily fill this ninth seat and any other vacancy that pops up during the next 2-4 years. Clarence Thomas is reportedly keen on retiring: Anthony Kennedy (key swing vote) and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are both well past retirement age. Trump can well fill three seats maybe four if he makes it to one term, and do so in a way to affect the Court for another 30 years.

It pisses me off not enough Democratic or Moderate voters realized that was at stake.

It pisses me off that too many Americans eagerly backed a racist sexist con artist like Trump, seemingly out of sheer spite for the entire nation.

What the hell, America.

What.

The.

Hell.

/deep sorrowful mood swing

No.

No.

No.

Tuesday, November 08, 2016

Liveblogging Election Night 2016

LIVE from somewhere in the middle of the lunatic asylum known as the I-4 Corridor of the Sunshine State, it's a majorly-stressed Moderate voter watching the early returns and freaking out over the Presidential race and the Senate races.

It's 7:36 right now. Florida is currently too close to call. That's usually because the major population centers of Miami/Dade and Broward Counties along with Orlando and Tampa-St. Pete metros haven't checked in yet, during which we can hope that the turnout for Hillary picks up.

AAAAAAUUUGGGGGGHHHH I just wanna see more Blue on the maps right now.

Check for constant updating as often as possible.

Update 7:43 PM: did you see that Nevada judge just shred the Trump lawyer trying to stymie the early voting efforts? If Hillary wins and she gets a friendly Senate, any chance Judge Sturman gets on the short-list for the Supreme Court?

Update 7:49 PM: The biggest problem with this part of the evening - just after 7 PM when most East Coast polls close - is waiting for enough results to come in for the networks to "comfortably call" any states one way or another.

For some reason, Kentucky and Indiana finished up early and their results are in ahead of New Hampshire and Maine (but not Vermont) so I'm currently looking at results that say Trump 24 - Clinton 3. Which is why I'm going AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHH for the moment.

Dammit Kentucky, you should know better than this. /headdesk

I hope to God 8:30 PM gives me better numbers.

Update 8:00 PM: MSNBC is evaluating the Florida counties, showing Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Hillsborough counties going YYYUUUGGEEELY for Hillary. She's currently leading Florida 50 percent to 48 percent.

MSNBC is calling Illinois right off the bat at 8:00 PM, along with Massachusetts and New Jersey and Maryland. They're calling Trump states with Alabama and Tennessee and already Oklahoma. Hold on, they're calling a ton of states. BRB.

Update 8:15 PM: Goddammit. MSNBC is saying Rubio's gonna win the FL Senate race. He's up 51 percent over Murphy at 45 percent. What's happening there - if Hillary's still leading over Trump - is that the Republicans refusing to vote for Trump have no problem voting for Rubio.

This is gonna suck. This makes it likelier the Senate won't flip, which if Hillary wins means a shit-ton of obstruction.

I pray to the Old Gods and the New the other Senate races that can flip will go Democrat. We need 51 Senate seats at least.

Update 8:52 PM: There's apparently a lot of ballot-counting left to do in Broward and Dade counties - AGAIN - to where the close race here in Florida is STILL too close to call. I'd like to think that the results from those remaining districts will be what catapults Hillary over Trump with enough wiggle room to prove she won, rather than deal with a redux of the godawful 2000 recount.

If there's ANY good news out of Florida it's that the two big state amendments are going the right way: the Medical Marijuana amendment is going to pass, and the Solar Monopoly amendment is struggling in the results (it shouldn't get the 60 percent needed to win).

Update 9:05 PM: It's pretty much over for Amendment 1 here in Florida, the Solar-Utility referendum isn't going to make that 60 percent cutoff. Decent moral victory there.

On a local note, my boy Charlie Crist is winning his Congressional District in St. Petersburg, so at least one of the good guys will win here in Florida.

Update 9:22 PM: I know that in a lot of mid-sized and large states that Trump is leading only because the smaller rural counties that lean Republican are the first to report in, so it's skewing the early turnouts. But I cannot wrap my mind around how so many places are still going for him. This is insane.

We're STILL waiting on precincts from Broward and Dade (and maybe Hillsborough) to report in.

Update 9:55 PM: There's been almost no activity over this hour because the large precincts are still not reporting in. What's terrifying is that Trump is still just ahead by thousands of votes here in Florida that he could conceivably win this state.

It's looking like Trump could win Ohio after all. Virginia and North Carolina and even Michigan are now in play.

It looks like it was wishful thinking that Trump was losing support of Republican voters. He's doing just fine getting turnout. I'm sick to my stomach right now.

I honestly cannot see my nation this evening. It's been consumed by a raging racist sexist monster.

Wanna know the funny part? The financial markets, the ones that supposedly LOVE Republicans for their tax-cutting deregulatory ways, are currently panicking because they know goddamn well Trump will be a disaster in the White House. Not just the trade wars he's going to ignite before he even gets in there but because the Republican economic agenda he's going to sign off on won't work. Dow Futures is collapsing faster than how the British Sterling Pound fell after Brexit.

AND HOW THE HELL CAN NEW HAMPSHIRE AND MAINE STILL BE TOO CLOSE TO CALL?!

Update 10:25 PM: we're STILL waiting on Florida results from the major counties down south. We're still waiting on Georgia and North Carolina and Virginia too.

Bad news from North Carolina: The Senate race there went to the Republican Burr. We're not looking good on the Senate seats at the moment, even if Hillary can pull off a win tonight.

Just seeing so many voters for Trump right now, and it sickens me we're seeing that many racist or clueless voters out there.

I worried this election would go like the Florida governor races in 2010 and 2014 where Rick "No Ethics" Scott won despite clear evidence of his corruption and incompetence. Trump is pretty much like him, only more vulgar, racist and sexist... and TRUMP IS STILL DOING BETTER THAN HE SHOULD.

Update 10:40 PM: I kind of don't want Florida results any time soon. I'm absolutely terrified that somehow Trump does better in South Florida than he ought to and that he somehow wins this state by 150 votes. /vomit

Update 11:15 PM: I'm seeing now that the Tampa Bay Times and other outlets are saying Trump won Florida.

I'm honestly disappointed. I thought we were seeing bigger turnout among voters, that we'd be seeing more Democratic votes, that we'd be close but at least it'd end up with Hillary winning our state.

And now we're on the precipice of Trump winning the whole damn thing. He's taken Ohio, he's taken North Carolina. All of a sudden Michigan and Wisconsin are in play. Nevada and Arizona might not go Democratic after all.

We're looking at the likelihood of a President Trump tomorrow morning.

...

What the hell, America? What the goddamn hell did you decide to do?

I can't stay up any longer. I'm too depressed to focus any more.

WHAT THE GODDAMN HELL, AMERICA


This Election Matters. It's November 8 2016. VOTE DAMMIT.

I see in your polls the same fear that would take the heart of me.
A day may come when the courage of men fails,
when we forsake our Facebook and break all bonds of Friendster...
but it is not this day.
An hour of Tweeting and shattered shields,
when the year of madness comes crashing down,
but it is not this day!
This day we VOTE!!
By all that you hold dear in this Great America,
I bid you stand, Citizens of the United States!!!

CHARRRRRRRGGGGEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so it wasn't an epic battle that awaited me at the polling precinct this morning.


But the parking lot was busy this morning.

The line itself wasn't too long inside, they had eight columns for ballot pick-up by last name (this is one of the few times I'm glad I'm not in the long lines for As, Ds, Ls, Ms, Ns, and Ss) and then 10 booths for filling out your ballots.

 Tell history and the state of Florida I did my duty! I voted Hillary, I voted Pat Murphy for Senate, I voted Dem ticket straight down because guess what Republicans, I ain't voting for obstructionists who won't do their jobs.

Voted NO against the Solar con job.

Vote YES for Medical Marijuana.



So. I voted.

I just want to make sure, YOU ALL VOTED TOO.
Get to your polling precinct today if you haven't voted early.
And volunteer to help out. There's a lot of people who can't drive or walk to their precincts. You can volunteer to drive voters to where they need to go and help them get in line. You might wanna check out My Ride To Vote site about getting a ride to your precinct.

GET THE VOTE OUT.
THIS ELECTION MATTERS.
And for the LOVE OF GOD don't vote Republican. Not this year. Not until they break away from their racist and sexist voting base and wake the hell up to the 21st Century.

VOTE.

VOTTTTTTEEEEEEE!!!!


Monday, November 07, 2016

The Last Day To Panic If You Like

Panicking? Who says I'm panicking?!


Just a little nervous and agitated and horrified we're one vote away from a goddamn bankrupt sexist racist con artist in Donald Trump being in the White House. WHY SHOULD ANYBODY BE WORRIED?!?!?!?!?!


Granted, I'm feeling a little better right now reading up on the last-minute news on the Early Voting surge we had in Florida. Turnout was higher than in 2012 for early voting, which foretells a likely higher turnout overall by the end of Tuesday night. The last-minute turnout of Black voters - who seem to wait for the last Sunday to vote as they organize at their churches and head to the ballot booths en masse - combined with a higher turnout of Latinos is heartening. I'd like to think that with solid returns from Dems and Left-leaning Indys that Florida will go for Hillary.

I'm really heartened by this William & Mary poll that had around 28 percent of registered Republicans in Florida voting FOR Hillary. That's incredible: the partisan nature of party affiliation rarely allows that much crossover. By comparison, Mitt Romney had nationwide about 93 percent support of GOP voters with only 6 percent flipping to Obama. If this division in Florida reflects the overall voter turnout - some state Republicans might be all-in for Trump, others might have more flipping to Hillary - then Trump is seriously toast. Considering how unpopular Trump remains even among Republicans, he could be losing many more voters than Romney did and Romney lost the general election. (I haven't seen any comparable losses for Hillary, who seems to have the Democratic base locked up).

So in terms of Hillary, I'm feeling a bit okay. Where I'm stressing out are the down-ballot races for Senate and House. Kinda know that the House may not be winnable thanks to gerrymandering, but there's a slight probability a voter turnout surge for Hillary in key states combined with women voting against Republicans (out of spite for Trump and other ills the GOP inflicts on women) could make those "safe" districts moot. Thing is, the fate of the House is outside much of what I can do other than voting here in Florida for the Congressional Democrats.

It's the Senate that bothers me. Some of the final pundit predictions are leaning towards the whole thing literally going 50-50, which is simply nerve-wracking (and it may mean each Senate bill has to have the Vice President issue tie-breakers). There's some polling suggesting the Republicans might keep the Senate. If that happens, especially with a Hillary win, we're going to face open and unending obstruction on everything: The Republicans will never "allow" Hillary to win (they hate her more than they ever hated Obama), and will spite the Constitution to do so.

I'd much rather see the Senate flip with a decent majority to the Democrats. I'd much rather see Murphy beat Rubio here in Florida, and the Dems winning in Nevada and New Hampshire and Missouri and North Carolina and Illinois and Wisconsin (FEINGOLD!) and it's possible Louisiana might grant the Dems a shot (they go by run-off with the top two vote-getters) and... and yeah. There's a lot of wishful thinking there.

To my mind, a sane election result should look like this for Hillary:

Utah going to the not-Trump GOP candidate McGuffin, McGruff, MacAndcheese, you know, that guy...
I'm hearing that Iowa and Ohio may flip to to Trump depending on turnout, and I worry about North Carolina where the voter suppression effort may have a real effect on the final tally, but I'd like to think sanity will prevail where it needs to, and that Trump is going to lose that many voters. Still, I know we can't take this for granted... I know, I KNOW...

I'd love the Senate map to end up like this:


Click the map to create your own at 270toWin.com


I'd like to think the voter surge in Florida - combined with the improved polling Murphy gained on No-Show Rubio this past month - means that Florida gives Hillary both the national win and a friendly Senate.

So that's me, that's where my head is at tonight.

Tomorrow morning, I vote.

Tomorrow, many of us vote.

Vote well. Vote wisely.

HINT: That means FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T VOTE REPUBLICAN.

Here's hoping the panic ends Tuesday night.

Update Wednesday morning: ...

WHAT THE FUCK AMERICA.

Sunday, November 06, 2016

The Last Rally: Obama's Final Call To the Crowd to Vote

It was a thrill getting to see President Barack Obama, even if it was from a distance. It was great to hear him live, with the response and cheers of the crowd.

The rest of the rally, though, let me just note that getting into the baseball stadium at Kissimmee was a headache and getting out when the rally was over a complete damn nightmare. I swear to the Old Gods and the New that the Osceola County law enforcement don't know a damn thing about traffic control. Look, I know traffic in Florida sucks, but it's something about the Orlando drivers that are freaking psychotic sons of... grrrrrrr, I'm still in a mood.

Anyway. I documented the atrocities.
Told you. Traffic getting into the Osceola Heritage Park = headache


 They had us parked a fur piece away that required walking. I think I got my calorie burnoff for the week taken care of.


 And this was just the line to get in. It looped around outside the main gate about ten times.

The rally organizer who planned this: "Hey, let's have an outdoor rally in Florida where it's rainy weather like 750 days out of the year or so. Oh, it's only early November, surely the bad weather would have passed by now..."

The main gates into the ballpark. Secret Service checking everybody going in for any dangerous items like paper signs. Oh, wait, it's not a Trump rally, so those posters we were carrying in were likely not gonna scare anybody...


The was the crowd about 30 minutes into the rally, well before the main guests had showed. Unlike Hillary's rally last week, there were no lineups of guest speakers to keep the crowd stoked. We were all pretty much waiting for Stevie Wonder (wait, what?) and Obama himself...

I wondered why they were holding this rally at a baseball field that could only hold 20,000 or so instead of the larger football stadiums within Orlando's city limits. But then a familiar plane flew across the horizon a few miles away, and I understood that the baseball field was within range of the airport so that everybody can see Air Force One fly by...

Oh man, here's the video of it:

My smartphone camera isn't all that great with zoom and stuff, so it's too grainy to get a good view. But everybody else saw it and that's why you're hearing the cheers.


In the meantime, here's Stevie Wonder!

Stevie wrapped up his concert after a few songs - "Higher Ground" and "Superstition" were highlights - and then we waited for Obama to show. While it was a bit annoying that I was part of the late crowd that were forced to stand in the upper deck area for the entire rally, I was in an incredible spot to see the Presidential detail ride in from the airport:


At which point it was just a matter of waiting for the main man to show. In the meantime, Senator Bill Nelson - oh, hey, I seen that guy before! - made the introduction alongside candidate Pat Murphy to get the crowd pumped up. 

They talked about getting Murphy elected this Tuesday so that he could be part of the Democrats' attempt to knock Republicans out of control of the Senate. They made a solid case about how they'll actually do work - unlike being a no-show like Rubio - and vote on nominations for office rather than obstruct as the GOP promises.

And then it was time... to welcome... to the stage...








And then the rally ended to Bruce Springsteen music, and the parking lot filled with people refusing to stick to proper exit routes causing massive traffic jams to where it took more than an hour to get onto the main road. I swear, a place where there's just one gateway in or out is a bad place to host a rally. Rage rage rage.

(Edit: I originally thought Sunday was the last day to campaign. Obama is still campaigning this Monday)

Tuesday is it, folks. On the most election of our lives to stop Trump from destroying everything good and decent about our nation, and to stop Trump from wrecking the global economy and our strong standing among our allies.

Get the vote out, Florida. Vote for Hillary, vote for Murphy, vote for every Democrat on every ballot seat.

Get the vote out, America. Vote for Hillary. Vote for Democrats to the Senate and to the House and to your state legislatures and governorships. We need to break that obstruction and put into office people who will do their elected duties to serve the public trust.

VOTE THIS TUESDAY. Stay in line once you get to your precinct. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. Don't get discouraged if you're there for hours. You can stand up against any suppression effort, you can make your voice known.

VOTE.

Saturday, November 05, 2016

Hoping for One Brief Respite In This Year of Madness (and the Madness Yet to Come)

Was everybody seeing this stuff and acting as though they weren't? Was insanity just a matter of dropping the act? - Susanna Kaysen, Girl Interrupted

I may have mentioned before, I've always been sober. I think I've also clarified that I never said I was sane. Well, not fully sane or insane otherwise. I know I'm off-kilter, but still high-functioning and trying what I can to be helpful to the world.

There's a lot on my mind right now. Some of it is NaNoWriMo, it IS that time of the year after all, and while I'm doing what I can to finish enough chapters / sections of my superhero 'verse stories I'm still tempted with the idea of writing about this entire past year (and further back) of this year of madness we've all endured.

I've been helping out with the local Hillary campaign to Get Out The Vote to ensure enough voters are at the polls to make things matter. I've seen what happens here in Florida - 2000, 2010, 2012, 2014, now - when there's terrible turnout and only the crazy ones show up (to vote in crooks like Rick "Medicare Fraud" Scott). I feel I haven't done much, just canvass a handful of local neighborhoods, and I can only hope I'm part of a larger group of Pro-Hillary supporters who are doing what they can to ensure Florida does not flip to Trump.

That's been the maddening thing this whole time. Ever since he dominated the Republican polls back in 2015, it's been frustrating as hell to watch around 40 percent of everyone around me - on the media, the Intertubes, the real world - just get suckered into Trump's con game with him this massively corrupt black hole crushing everything into one big disaster.

In three days, maybe two now, this particular madness will end. The general election happens on Tuesday. There will be some finality to that when the ballots are truly finally in.

But I know the madness won't die. It will just turn into a different, nastier monster. Trump's ongoing - and unproven - cries of "rigged" elections that feed into the ongoing Republican efforts to suppress minority voters will see to that: even if a majority of voters on all sides accept the results of a Hillary win, there will be just enough of Trump's followers who never will. Worse, there will be enough Republicans in Congress and in the state governments who have already pledged to obstruct her in every matter - essentially expanding their current obstructionist habits - as though they will never see her as legitimate.

Of course, if Trump wins he and the Republicans will drop all pretense of "rigged" elections and declare it a great moral victory that will continue on the Grand Reagan Revolution of 1000 Years. The elections only count when Republicans win.

I so want this crazy to end this Tuesday, with a large enough victory - a resounding thrashing of the Republican party at all levels of government - to make the GOP Obstruction moot. It'd be nice to think that will happen. Instead I'm biting my nails over whether or not Hillary can even win (GODS HELP US IF TRUMP DOES) and whether or not the Democrats claim the Senate (to at least free up court and executive nominations). I'm stressing out over whether my own home state of Florida stays Blue after two election victories by Obama - the polling is saying one thing, the early growing turnout of Latinos is saying another - because if Hillary wins Florida it's a good sign Hillary's winning the whole Electoral College.

And I'm recognizing that the post-election will remain crazy either way: A Trump victory that will pretty much signal the end of the nation (He will raid everything for his own pocket, subvert every law, destroy every norm, and leave our economy a smoldering wreck before he's even sworn in); a Hillary victory that will signal escalation of hostilities with a Far Right that will never accept her in the Oval Office.

Madness. Takes it toll.

There is only one sane response to all this.

Go see Obama at a Florida rally. One last chance to see him standing there as President of the United States, to thrill in his rhetoric, to cheer with the crowds. As always a student of history and politics, this is a Must-Do before his tenure ends.

I hope to bring back pictures and videos.

A brief respite in the middle of the last days of insanity.

P.S. GET THE DAMN VOTE OUT FOR THE DEMOCRATS IN EVERY COUNTY AND EVERY STATE.

Friday, November 04, 2016

Florida: The Last Weekend to Early Vote for 2016

This is FRIDAY! FRRRRRIIIIDAAAAAYYYYY!!!

But before you get out in the streets and clubs to party, just take a moment to get out the vote and VOTE EARLY if you can.

The last day to vote is set for Sunday November 6th. I would definitely check with your county Supervisor of Elections office to confirm the dates and times, as well as confirming where to go for Early Voting. Since I live in Polk, best I can do is show you this county's. Note to voters: You GOTTA Early Vote in YOUR county, no crossing the county line from Pinellas to Pasco to get your vote in! Okay? Okay.

After this Sunday, the next time to vote will be TUESDAY NOVEMBER 8TH.

JUDGMENT DAY.


Not that there's a lot of pressure on this or anything but uh FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T VOTE REPUBLICAN.

Thursday, November 03, 2016

Brexit: Not So Clean, Not So Tidy

Well, when last we heard of the Brexit Debacle of UK, the British Parliament was on the verge of collapse, the British economy was tanking (although it rebounded onto a shaky perch on the cliffs of insanity), and Infidel was kinda pissed at me for making apparently flippant arguments about England going balls-to-the-walls crazy.

In the middle of all the strum und drang of the 2016 Presidential Elections (FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO NOT VOTE TRUMP, ahem had to be said), some of the Brexit stuff had slid by, but it's come back into the news because one of the tricks the Conservatives in Parliament were trying to pull off to avoid accountability on this mess just blew up:

Parliament must vote on whether the UK can start the process of leaving the EU, the High Court has ruled.
This means the government cannot trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty - beginning formal exit negotiations with the EU - on its own.
Theresa May (the Prime Minister following Cameron's fall from power over the Brexit results) says the referendum - and existing ministerial powers - mean MPs do not need to vote, but campaigners called this unconstitutional.
The government is appealing, with a further hearing expected next month...

The Tories were trying to pull off a Pontius Pilate Maneuver: Wash their hands of the affair and let other people do the heavy lifting and take the blame.

That's because the public response to the entire Brexit issue makes it clear that anyone holding this hot potato when the music stops is going to get burned.

The economic implications alone should terrify people. The value of the British coinage - as they call it the Pound Sterling - took a huge hit right after the vote and the current signs are that it will continue to suffer. The value of your currency impacts on trade and tourism in big ways. Also, their own banks - some of the biggest financial institutions on the planet (London is bigger than New York as a capital of finance, for us Yanks to comprehend) - are threatening to relocate to Europe rather than stay in the UK. This can become a serious hit on the nation's ability - for people, for businesses, for the government itself - to deal with any loans, debts and overseas financial transactions.

This getting messier, not easier. As well it should, because the people in power who let it come to this need to answer for this mess.

This fight over the Article 50 rule is getting to the point where the British government is going to have to call a General Election (it's traditionally every five years, but emergency situations warrant calling this out of cycle. They're not regimented the way we do it here in the US). Considering how the Brexit ruling has stirred up all the wrong passions - violence against Immigrants and minorities have ticked up, the fringe politicians are stirring up even more threats, the generational and geographic disparities are more riven than ever - the next election can end up a greater pile of chaos with the wrong people in power. Just think of what it would be like if Trump, uh Boris Johnson ended up as the last Tory standing...

Now you know why the British are openly airing these kinds of ads:


Uh, no. We're not voting for Trump and you lot need to break out the brooms and sweep your own damn messes up.

Sorry, Infidel, but seriously it's their own damn fault.

Update: aaaaaannnnndddddd Infidel's blocked me.

Wednesday, November 02, 2016

All My Friends Are Heathens, Hope They Vote...

I love the friends I have gathered together on this thin raft/
We have constructed pyramids in honor of our escaping/
For this is the land where the Pharaoh died... - Jim Morrison lyrics, WASP (Texas Radio & the Big Beat) by the Doors 

I have to admit I exist in an echo chamber of my own.

I tend to read the same blogs over and over - check my Links tab up top on this site's menu - and draw from them the same messages and warnings (which are "Republicans are insane," "Republicans are idiots," and "Republicans are insulting").

I tend to chat with the same people on Twitter, and with the same circle of online friends I made through Ta-Nehisi's Open Threads back when he hosted them, and had that carry over to places like Facebook.

My own blogging appeals to a particular audience - Hello, Crooks & Liars readers - and I tend to link to and get linked by the same bloggers writing on similar issues with similar world-views.

So, there's that. I'd like to think I'm honest enough to admit that.

Because the problem is in the real world away from the Intertubes and the echo chamber of "ZOMG Republicans Are CRAY-CRAY" it gets so damn lonely.

I happen to live in a state - grr, Florida - that drives me crazy with asinine voting for, well, asshole Republican leadership.

I've had to cope - poorly - with the likes of Rick "Medicare Fraud" Scott winning the governorship. TWICE. /full-on rage

The last ten years or so of my life have been living in particular Florida counties that are die-hard conservative, not exactly safe havens for Moderate ex-Republican Apostates like meself.

I drive past signs for bad actors on the political stage, for the likes of No-Show Rubio and Chris "Bridgegate" Christie back when he was the favorite flavor of the month. I see far too many Confederate bumper stickers on these coal-roller supertrucks with Trump signage far too often.

I work in a place where the people are nice but their political world-view is unquestioning conservatism. There are literally churches on every corner in this nice quiet friendly town and far too many of them are surrounded by neighborhoods where "Trump/Pence" yard signs dominate the "We Live For Christ" yard signs.

It's nerve-wracking, and isolating, where I can't comprehend how or why so many people around me would be so willing to defy their own faith - which preaches against greed and deception and sexual depredations - to back a crook like Trump all because they can't listen past their own echo chambers of "Democrats are godless heathens" and "Hillary is the real crook, lock her up."

I mean, I kind of know that in the larger sense most voters are partisan simply by party affiliation: they can't really go against their own party, even if the candidate in question is clearly someone as horrifying as Trump. I've been there. It took me years to get past by first awareness of how dark the Republicans were getting - back in 1992 - to finally break off my party affiliation in 2003 and move onto the relative sanity of No-Party Affiliate. Expecting Republicans today to vote against Trump is akin to expecting them to tear off their own arms.

Still and all, here I am in the middle of a Red county in the middle of a state that in theory has more Democrats in it but still leans far too Republican too often. Here I am in a place where the polling is schizoid, where I can't feel comfortable enough about Hillary possibly winning Florida - a major step to deny Trump even a fool's hope in Hell - and coping with the dread that Rubio could win and give Republicans a chance to retain the Senate (OH GOD NO).

The election is six days away, now about five days, and for all the worry I felt back in 2012 when Obama was fighting a close race against Romney in this election cycle I'm feeling twenty times worse.

It should never have been so close THIS time, either.

All I can hope for is all my friends in our wonderful heathen not-so-crazy echo chamber of supporting effective and competent governance. I can see some of them already voted early, and I hope the rest of them vote soon and vote well.

And I hope all their friends are heathens who vote.

So, It Has Come To This. Game Seven As the End of the World...


From the Revelation of Buck O'Neill 8:1-6

1 And when Shoeless Joe had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in that cornfield in Iowa for about the space of half an hour.
2 And I saw the seven Fielders which stood before the Manager; and to them were given seven gloves.
3 And another player this one the Catcher came and stood at the plate, having a golden mask; and there was given unto him much body powder, that he should use the deodorant with the prayers of all saints upon the home plate which was before the Pitcher's mound.
4 And the chalky dust of the deodorant, which came with the prayers of the game attendees, ascended up before the Manager out of the Catcher's hand.
5 And the Catcher took the home plate, and covered it with dirt of the Wrigley Field, and cast it into the earth of Cleveland: and there were Voices on the PA, and Thunderings in the stands, and Lightnings in the upper decks, and an Earthquake felt all the way to San Antonio.
6 And the seven Fielders which had the seven gloves prepared themselves to ground out.

IT'S THE END TIMES PEOPLE.

I woke up this morning to radio chatterers talking about how rigged it all was, but I found out they weren't shilling Trump's latest campaign points about losing this election, they were talking about a rigged Game Six in the World Series so that the Chicago Cubs play the Cleveland Indians in a Game Seven.

See, Game Sevens are like GOLD in the pro leagues. Hockey, Basketball, Baseball... Anything that goes to the FINAL GAME and the FINAL OUT, where EVERYONE knows EVERYTHING is on the line... The TV and radio ratings for such a game are through the roof.

And the word is, the Cubs/Indians Series has been great for ratings.

That's because we're honest-to-God watching history. Of all the teams in pro baseball, these are some of the teams with the longest histories and the darkest, most painful jinxes.

It used to be the Boston Red Sox were the most jinxed team in sports - the infamous Curse of the Bambino - but after winning a Series in 2004 they're no longer the team to feel pity for.

No, that's been the Chicago Cubs - haven't been to a Series since 1945, haven't WON since 1908 (?) - and then the Cleveland Indians - haven't been since 1997, haven't won since 1948.

Cleveland's bad luck has been the source of one of the better baseball movies out there, Major League (avoid the sequels, the original was best).

Chicago Cubs' bad luck is so ingrained into the American culture nobody even remembers thinking of them as winners, despite all the fan love the Cubbies (and beloved park Wrigley Field) get.

Other baseball cities don't have this as bad, save for Washington DC home of the maligned (and long-gone) Senators (thrice!) and always-second-best Nationals (who used to be the sad-sack Expos).

So here we are for Game Seven. Between two jinxed teams, looking to break those jinxes. And only one of them can.

So here we are for the End Times.

Because this is how God rolls, son.

Did you think the Good Lord is gonna let Chicago Cubs or Cleveland Indians off the hook? End all that heartache? Granted, one of these teams' fanbase will carry on the Great Sorrow, but the energy and happiness released by the victors will drown out any Sorrow across the nation.

And God can be both merciful and cruel.

Look at the rest of the world. Wars and rumors of war. Plagues. Mayans refusing to build a new calendar to replace the one that ended back in 2012. Celebrities dying at an alarming rate. An American Presidential election that defies, no worse denies all sane reason.

This is it, people. THIS IS IT.

The Yellowstone Caldera is raring to go, I can feel it. I CAN FEEL IT.

Also, I think the Cubs are gonna win this in the 10th Inning, 4-3.


Tuesday, November 01, 2016

Seven Days Until November 8 2016

To the Old Gods and the New, help us.

I'm still nervous about how this is all going to end up.

The media keeps telling me Trump's polling numbers are going up.

GOD NO. WHY?

It should never have been this close. Hell, Obama vs. Romney should never have been that close, and yet it was and I was nervous all the way up to Election Day itself.

There seems to be good news about the Early Voting, in that turnout among most voting groups are up - except for Black voters in certain states like North Carolina, gee how COULD THAT have happened? /sarcasm - and I'd like to think that higher turnout favors Democrats.

Still, why the HELL is Trump even polling above 30 percent now? After all this time, all this yelling and screaming about how wrong, how corrupt, how inept he is... there's still that many people buying into his con game?

The madness of 2016 will never make sense. Not in a hundred years, not in ten years.

If any of us survive that long if Trump wins.

GODS HELP US.

Get the vote out if you got Early Voting. Get your absentee ballot in if you got vote-by-mail.

Vote for sanity and a smoothly-working government. That means DO NOT VOTE FOR REPUBLICANS who will break it all and obstruct everything out of sheer spite.

Please. PLEASE.