Happy New Year 2017

I guess there is no choice but to look back at New Year's.  It was a very eventful year for Katrina and I.  We lost her father, Sonny, in May.  We opened our own business.  I left a company I had been with for 9 1/2 years.  We sold our home in Clayton and bought a house at the beach.

We attempted the retired life and now I am set to start a new job with a new company, in a week.  We close on a new house in Goldsboro at about the same time.  In the middle of all that, someone stole our travel trailer, so we got to experience what the world of theft and insurance was like.

Lots of stuff.  If you live a boring life, you are either on life support or living under a rock.  You cannot live a life interacting with people and not be entertained, at the very least.  Life is a river, and if you can't figure out how to float on it next to the beer cooler, you can get very, very depressed.  I am not depressed.

There is nothing good about losing someone that you love.  That pain never goes away completely, it just gets easier to maneuver around.  But, the other changes in our life have ended up for the best.

The salon, Kreative Looks, has been a wonderful adventure.  Neither Katrina nor I have ever owned our own business before.  Honestly, never thought that I would.  But, now we do, and it has been a great experience.  Wonderful people, the best people, and a great time.  You could find it intimidating and nerve wracking, but we have just enjoyed it all.  It has not all been easy, nor have we done it all correctly, but we have had the time of our life doing it.

I deserved to leave the position I was in at the start of 2016.  After 5 years of being in the same position, only the boss changing, and with a raft of really significant upper management changes and bad business decisions at the corporate level, it was time to move on.  My life experience had never given me any experience at that situation.  You did not get to choose to leave a ship that was headed to a bad place in the Navy.  You were stuck for the journey until rotation time or EOS.  And, I was stuck in plenty of situations that made it a painful wait for rotation and EOS.

I just kind of thought, if you hunker down and wait, eventually it gets better.   What I discovered is that when your boss has no sense of your value, you have no value.  And, waiting will not increase your value.  All it does is make you stressed, angry and can make you bitter if you are not careful.  It is nothing personal, just business.  But, waiting makes you take it personal, and that gets bad for your health, physically and mentally.

So, after stating my case, when it was clear that I was waiting for something that was not going to come, and I was never going to have significant worth in my boss' eyes, regardless of what title or job they dreamed up for me, I stopped waiting.  Again, business life is business.  I like all the people involved personally, would give them the shirt off my back if they asked.  But, because it is business, you have to be able to calculate your own business profile with some detachment.  I think the organization made a big error, but that is opinion.  Facts were facts and it was me change, or just accept it for the rest of my working life there.

I will be starting a whole new chapter.  Felt healthy and at peace for the first time in a year, when I turned in all my crap and left the property for good.  I think you should take commitment seriously, and my word is very important.  But, only when it is respected and appreciated.  When it is not, then it is a slow kind of cancer on your psyche.  No one should put up with it.  My parents drilled into me that you did not walk away from a good job, good benefits, security for your family.  Except I watched my father do it over and over again, when he felt like he was not respected.

"I can go get a damn job, that is no problem son.  What I won't put up with is any son of a bitch treating me like I don't matter.  When that happens, Joe Hill is going to pack up his tools and hit the highway."

I heard it when he left Guy's, when he left Ritter's, when he left Barnes and several times at Farrish, though he never really left there until the cancer made him retire.  I don't know why I did not actually understand what he was saying until 30 years later and years of stress.  I guess I am just dense at times.  But, when I finally get it figured out, I don't waste any time.

So, my first take away from 2016, you better listen to your inner voice of worth and appreciation.  If you are not getting it, things are not going to get better until you change.  When I changed and said I was not going to take it anymore, and got told to just wait some more, and that I was a stupid waste of time, made the decisions simple and clear.  I have not regretted it an instant.  I can get a job, that is no problem.  What I won't, and you shouldn't, put up with is any son of a bitch that treats you like you don't matter.  You get one life in this life, live it like it matters.

We have had an eventful 4 months since I left Novo.  Whew.  We have sold our home, that was not on the market when we got a contract for it.  We bought a house at the beach, that has been a true blessing.  We moved and spent the last 60 days up and down I95 and I40, taking care of the salon and trying to do it living in Myrtle Beach.  Yeah, that plan was a bad one.  It didn't work.

So, next week, I start a new job, in a new industry.  We will see if my old tricks have the same impact in a new place.  We are getting ready to close on a new house here in Goldsboro.  It is the exact opposite of what we set out to find.  Originally, we were just going to move into an apartment, no maintenance, landlord to fix everything, just enjoy.  Then, it got to be obvious that the smart financial move with the relocation package was to buy a house.  So we started looking around on our own.  The relo package required me to wait until the relo company got an agent to contact me, so we were just driving around on our own, looking for new house signs.

We had decided to try to find a brand new home.  Neither of us has ever bought one.  It would be available immediately for closing and we would not inherit anybody's past problems.  We kind of liked the thought of getting to be the past problems for someone else.  We looked at small homes, it is just the two of us.  But, we drove into a neighborhood having a neighborhood open house.  We went into 211 first, because it was the first one open.  It felt right.  It is huge, I have no idea what we will do with all the rooms, but it felt right.  We went into 15 more houses, but none of them felt as good as the biggest one we went into.

At this point, I have given up with what I think I want.  I am just working hard to live with what I get from God.  While everyone else in the world seems to find that 2016 was a "bad" year, I can't.  I did not like the political stuff.  But, then, who ever does, all the time?  I felt bad for all the people we lost, in the family, and in the public eye.  But, every year brings losses and sorrows.  The only time that changes is when you are finally one of the lost.

We had tremendous change from the start of 2016 to the end.  I am happier today than I was on January 1, 2016.  I was happier then, than I was on January 1, 2015.  I am pretty sure I will be happier 365 days from today.  I am married to a woman that makes the world happier for me every.single.day.  I am blessed.

While there are things that were very difficult about 2016, and times that were sorrowful and confusing, never once did Katrina or I face those times with fear.  We had concerns, and times when we were burdened.  But, we have not been afraid.  We know, without doubt, that we are blessed and favored by God.  Not because we deserve it or earned it or bought it.  But, because we accept it, and treasure it.  Nothing will ever be able to stop that.

So, Happy New Year!  It is.  Next year's will be even happier.  Don't look back to confirm how bad the days were.  Look back to accept that change is inevitable, and the whole scale is for the better.  I do not know where this New Year finds you.  But, if you feel like you are in a ditch, put some time in prayer and just start climbing.  Put your faith in God's grace, and protection.  You will soon discover that it was not a ditch at all, and that God never let you fall further than He held you.  No matter how bad, how rough or how deep the trouble you have found is, God has a ladder tall enough to get you out of it.

And, if you count your blessings, instead of your curses, it is a much easier climb.  Blessings are like elevators up out of your hole.  Curses are like other people's bricks in a backpack you carry on the ladder.  I prefer elevators to ladders, and I don't carry anyone else's bricks.

It is a beautiful dawn, and a beautiful day.  Hope life finds you enjoying 2017.  And if it doesn't, I hope you decide to make the change and find the joy in it.  That is entirely up to you.  And, in 365 I pray that you found the way to accept the blessings of God.  You will be amazed at how many and how fast they come, if they become what you focus on.  Peace.

Merry Christmas

We had the gift of seeing all 4 children yesterday.  Doesn't happen often, due to life and work and just life, so I treasure it when it does.

I woke up early this morning, and I just wanted to tell you all Merry Christmas.  My wish for you all is simple.  I pray that you all find happiness and comfort today.

However that works, with whoever that means, I pray that today, you put all the burdens and slights and injuries and bitterness away.  For your own soul, for your own peace, please, enjoy the morning, with the freedom of peace.

Nothing more complicated than that.  We all deserve at least one day a year that we don't service all the negative things in our life, and instead focus on the positive and the heart warming.

Merry Christmas, wherever this finds you.  And peace to all the people of this earth.  God left us His peace, and it is enough for you.

GLYASDI

Today

Today is the day before the one year anniversary of my father passing.  It is 10 days before the one year anniversary of my sister passing.  It is less than 45 days to the one year anniversary of my oldest nephew passing.

The next six weeks bring me through a year after one of the most difficult periods of my life.  What do you do?  You have no control over comings and goings, that is the arena of God.  You can only absorb it, survive it.

I am not a sad person by nature.  I don't dwell on what is missing, because there is so much there.  But, not a day goes by that I have not missed my Mama for the last 19 years.  And not a day goes by that I have not missed my Daddy for the last year.  Not a day will pass for the rest of my life that I don't miss them both.

Neither of them would want me to live sad.  They understood that life contains separations, passings.  They knew that because they suffered their own.  Everyone does to some extent.  The price of relationships is longing and loss.  The trick of sanity is to not let longing overcome living, and to not let loss overcome the present good.

I don't know that I have good advice for that.  I am certainly no expert.  I have suffered a lot of losses.  But, I prefer to take the approach that I was blessed with many relationships.  Part of having a relationship is the fact that most likely, one of you will continue on without the other.  Friends, family, brothers and sisters, all of us that connect permanently, live with the knowledge that one will go on and the other will rest.

So, I try not to be sad.  I miss them, all of them.  I do not forget, nor do I ignore the pain.  The pain means I loved and I was loved.  And, it dulls, especially if you focus on the love.  It doesn't go away, and there are still days I have to let it out.  It catches you, unawares.  But, those are short lived moments, because the beauty of what God granted us both, in a relationship that so touched us, is far greater than temporary sadness at loss here.

I am convinced we will see each other again.  I am convinced that we will be whole, and without the baggage that we carry here on this side of the veil.  I look forward to that.  But, there are days where I just have to feel loss and sadness, because I am human.  There is nothing wrong with that.  But, it cannot be my existence.

I have to live outside of that.  I don't understand why's.  I don't understand the unknowable answers.  I don't have the inside knowledge from God.  If I stay focused on those, it will rob me of the joy that these special people brought into my life, all through my life.  I choose the joy.

Nor, am I trying to pass on "wisdom" to anyone else.  I am far from wise.  But, today, I woke up sad, missing them.  I remember Mama holding Emma, crying and smiling.  I remember Daddy laughing at me, leaning on the fender of a car he was fixing.  I remember Wanda and Lorne and I, and sledding down the hill.  I remember holding Tony when he was a fat baby, and that brilliant smile.

I choose those things to remember, because they warm my heart.  This is a very difficult time of the year for many people.  I do not know how to advise anyone.  But, I focus on things that bring me a smile.  I do not ignore the hurt, nor the missing feeling.  But, I treasure the times together that made us happy together.  It is easier for me.  Well, it is bearable anyway.

So, today, I hope that heaven has at least one '58 Ford requiring some love, a place for Mama to hold babies and give them that smile, and a hill for sledding.  And, I hope that they are watching me, so I can feel their presence.  That makes me smile through tears.  I miss them all.

Where the river runs

This time, before an inauguration and before any real events shaped by the newly elected administration, is always a tense time.  The river of American activity runs through the middle of the extremes of this time.

Because the media (I don't like Main Stream, because the actual Main Stream media for the last 5 years has been Facebook and Twitter and made up stories with no founding in journalism, just click ad returns), the supposedly objective media, failed miserably, this time is odd in comparison to the others I have lived through.

When Clinton was elected, half the country was convinced that we were going to fix Social Security, the minimum wage, taxes, and the outsized power of business to the detriment of the nation.  The other half was convinced that the young, pot smoking AntiChrist had just been given the keys to the kingdom.  Honestly, that is what the debate was like.  The only existing outlet somewhat similar to today's biased 24 hour news platforms, the McLaughlin Group, was must see TV.  Robert Novak and Pat Buchanan were predicting the end of the universe and all things Christian.  Bill Press and Jack Germand were predicting we had entered the streets of gold.

If you don't even remember that show, it was the forerunner to the personality journalist format that dominates CNN, Fox and MSNBC continually.  It would be, actually, instantly recognizable to any Millenial that watched it, except they would have no idea who all the dead people were.

When George W. Bush, (Lets call him Junior, less letters), got elected, Fox News had actual on air orgasms over compassionate conservatism and the advancement of the human race.  MSNBC had an entertaining guy named Olberman, who continually preached the coming of the Apocolypse, Ragnarok and the Fourth Reich.  No, seriously, that was how divergent the "main stream" media coverage was.  However, spiced through it all were actual facts that had been developed, sourced, confirmed and vetted by actual journalists.  Personality cult real news.

When Obama was elected, before the inauguration, there was a period where MSNBC was like soft porn.  Same funky music, same kind of satisfied smiles.  All that was missing was the white sheet drawn up over the nipples and the post coital cigarette.  Over on Fox, I think they held an actual funeral for America.  The end of all time was routinely predicted, followed up by continual surfacing of some new "evidence" of Obama's Kenyan birth.  At this point, we had kind of lost any interest in whether "news" had been sourced, fact checked, vetted, confirmed.  If it sounded good to whatever demographic was buying the stuff being advertised in the commercials, that made it true.

Now, in the new era of Trump, we don't even have the bookend cable channels.  No channel can actually embrace Trump and what he espoused, said, did and is doing.  Fox tries hard, but, after Sexual Predator in Chief Ailes was bounced, they are working hard to find a journalist, if one still exists in America, and figure out how to do that news thing.  That search for facts, truth and the American Way kind of makes it hard to just trumpet Trump (like that?).  So, Fox is left to report their joy at the Far Right appointees that parade in and out of Trump Tower.  MSNBC may have actually televised several anchors performing the harikari ritual.  Most of them have lost their pacifier and make as much sense as a toddler searching for binkie.

You can't even believe the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times.  All of them have been embroiled in some scam, scheme or cesspool of bias.  Admittedly, only on their editorial page, which seems to shock rank and file Americans that they are opinions.  Hard working reporters, doing the unfun and highly tedious work of triple sourcing, on air record, back channel confirmation, development of sources and informants, are painted with the tar brush of skepticism that America has come to give everything but whatever click bait they repost to prove that Obama is holding Bin Laden in Guantanamo to trade to the Martian for pristine birth records in a real state like Nebraska.

It has gotten that pitiful.  And, while I am not any less prone to listening to the side of the story that sounds best to my personal beliefs, I like to think that I work to figure out if what I am told has any factual basis or is, in fact, made up in some small town in Macedonia to creat revenue for some kid trying to get laid in the local night club.  I ignore anything that comes from Breitbart, the Blaze, is cited by Toni Lahren or Rachel Maddow.  There are lots of sources out there, but not all are created equal.

The Cabinet being appointed should scare us all.  Not because it is full of non-government people.  Nor because they have ideological positions.  Every Cabinet has had those exact same things.  What should scare us is the fact that there is a large component of this Cabinet that either utilizes this trumped up "news" and actually can't help themselves but to repost it and put it out there.  What that does is make me wonder if they actually have the skills to sift fact from fiction, or they are knowingly perpetuating false narratives and lending their positional credibility to erroneous material.  That is a text book definition of lying.

See, we all know Trump is no more suited to be President on Day One, than say, Obama or Clinton.  Whereas Obama and Clinton did some homework and had the requisite intellectual curiousity to dig around for a path forward, Trump has Breitbart Steve and Raisin Pringle.  Neither of those individuals has been much concerned with truth, justice or the American Way, in quite some time.  That is wrong.  They are heavily invested in an American Way that includes white people that are far enough removed from their families immigration that they are actual Americans, per their standards.  What they don't know, they will make up to suit their needs.

I pray every day that President Trump will be successful.  But, I worry every day that it is not his goal or his focus to be successful.  I don't think he much cares about the economy except as it is reflected in the success of his brand.  I am positive that he does not give a crap about anyone that is not in his social circle, except in how he can "bless" them and strengthen his brand.  It is kind of creepy.

I don't know what it means long term.  But, there are very few actual dictates on what a President has to do.  We have been lucky to usually have good men, that cared for the state of the union.  Some were ineffectual and some were corrupt.  But, most gave an effort to not appear to be solely concerned with actual profit, personally.  We don't live in that time any more.

The river of America runs through our conversations, which are mostly on line today.  It has always been where the river of America ran.  We miss the genteel time when it was at the pace of the Post Office.  It gave us time to think, to consider.  It prevented the immediate emphasis of hurt, anger and indignation to color our words and discourse.  No longer.

Now, at the speed of your internet connection, you are able to weigh in.  Facts be damned, either you are pissed or you support it 100%.  Life doesn't work that way, and after reflection, you usually end up thinking, man, I should not have said it that way.  Of course, we never post that, because we are human.  But, it is true.

The river of America used to run clear and deep and while we were on opposite shores, we were not afraid to wade the river and meet in the middle.  It was clean and it didn't hurt.  Today, the river is green, polluted and it actually burns and hurts to wade out in it and come to consensus.  We did that all on our own.  And, we can't figure out why nothing happens, why nothing works.  But, without thought and consideration, nothing works, except fire fighting.  Fire fighting is necessary.  But it is a terrible way to work every day.

Maybe, just maybe, we all work to see what the facts are, before we condemn, cuss and belittle each other.  Maybe we consider someone of a different opinion as worthy of listening to, taking seriously, even if we never agree.  Maybe we act like the Founders assumed we would and treat each other like adults.  Or, we can follow the President Elect's lead, and refuse to accept facts that contradict our public narrative.  That is what we will figure out in this Presidency, and it is going to be a painful figuring.

Things to consider

Look, I picked the election wrong.  It is no secret and I will 'fess up to what I called.  I am not overly sorry that Hillary didn't win, as that would not be much better, in the opposite direction, than Trump winning.  However, I said before the election that Trump was completely unprepared, unsuited, unqualified and incapable of being President.

Let's look at what we have to go on so far...and I get it, he is not President yet.  Please, I understand the calendar.  But, hear me out and think about my observations.  Especially if you support Trump, because you are the only power we have as a nation, that the President Elect understands.

Out of a nation of 330 million souls, approximately half of which are politically aligned with Trump, 165 million souls, and Jefferson (like Jefferson Davis) Sessions is the legal eagle to run the Justice Department?  A guy that could not get confirmed as a federal judge, in Alabama, 30 years ago, during Reagan, because of racist statements and evidence, he is the right choice for AG?  He has not practiced law or been in court in 20 years, but he said good things about Trump and stood out there for him.

Michael Flynn, a guy that got fired from the DIA job (military replication of the CIA), because of assclownery, is the right guy to advise the most militarily powerful leader on the planet, in terms of intelligence.  A pick so bad, it has to be for a job that requires no Senate approval, because that aint happening.  But, he said good things about Trump and stood out there for him.

Speaking of approval not happening, there is Steve Bannon.  Let's not call him a white supremacist.  That kind of minimizes what he is.  He is the megaphone of every creepy, racist, militant, sick society of hate power groups, all across the nation.  The Joseph Goebbels of our nation.  And, yes, considering all the Heil Trump, and one armed salutes happening, I think it is appropriate to make that comparison.  Again, a pick so bad, it can't get near the Senate.  But, he stood behind the scenes and lined up the all the hate groups for him.

Betsy DeVos, noted not for being an educator, or even all that talented an administrator, but especially noted for being one of the biggest enemies of public education in this nation, she gets picked for Education.  Nothing to be construed there, except that the disadvantaged that rely on the public education system for their unbelievably small shot at the brass ring are about to get even more disadvantaged.

Ben Carson, at least with enough integrity to understand the stakes, is being mentioned for Housing and Urban Development, and is concerned he doesn't have the ability to do the job.  Weird, but thank God for one honest man.  He wanted to be President, but HUD is too much for him.  Go figure that one out, and you are going to be able to interrupt Trumpery for us.

Nikki Haley, who is a fine governor, actually has done a decent job, but is governor of South Carolina.  I live here.  That is akin to being governor of Wyoming on the international stage, but she gets an appointment to be ambassador to the United Nations.  Sorry, but that is about as unqualified a pick as there exists.  And, I appreciate the talent and skill of Nikki Haley as an executive.  She is a very credible pick for HUD, Transportation, Interior.  But, it is like picking me to be the guy singing lead for your band.

Now there seems to be some debate between Rudy Guiliani and Mitt Romney for Secretary of State.  Good God, Romney looks like a good choice suddenly, though he has zero experience whatsoever in foreign policy.  He must have stayed in a Holiday Inn Express.  But, compared to Rudy, he is fricking Kissinger.  That is where we are people.  We have bad picks that look good, only because there is credible evidence that it is possible to pick a fruit cake, dementia patient on every foreign government's payroll.

Look, I pray every day for our President Elect.  I have a lot of skin in this game, just like you do.  I have no desire to see him fail, because that failure involves a lot of pain for me and my family.  But, this is like watching Rutgers play football and assume because they have red jerseys it is like watching Alabama play football.  This is not how responsible and reasonable government works.

The fact is, no one likes the breadth and sway our federal government has over all aspects of life.  But, just because we don't like it, does not mean we can just chuck it all and ignore it.  Even if you want rid of the Department of Education, which I hear constantly, there are huge implications to our country in that goal.  It can't just turn off tomorrow.

Well, it could.  If you want a picture of that, take a look at water quality in Flint Michigan.  The state took over and turned off the municipal actions.  And, pretty much just let it flounder.  Now, thousands and thousands of kids are lead poisoned.  Not at risk, not potentially.  An entire generation of children, in one of the most economically destitute and devastated parts of our nation, are forever burdened with the impact of lead poisoning.  Unfortunately, these kids are predominately kids of color or poor economic prospects, guess that made it okay.  And, the governor responsible for that?  A Republican that no one considered capable of being the Chief Executive.  See there things have precedents, real time, real life.

That is what the rest of America will look like, if left to the cast that is being assembled.  These are people that are woefully unqualified and unsuited for the task they are being given.  The Justice Department is not just about whether or not we investigate cops that shoot people for no damn reason.  It is the most powerful arm of the Executive Branch.  It is the most potentially intrusive, armed force on the planet, not beholden to a federal military command structure.  They actually control more guns and troops than the Department of the Army.

Those of you that were part of electing Trump, you owe the future of our country at least this much.  Start showing that you are not satisfied with the third tier picks already put out there.  Because it gets worse from here.  We have not had a completely and utterly ineffective Executive assembled, since 1928.  Herbert Hoover, and a collection of insignificants that were utterly incapable of the tasks in front of them.  We went from record highs in the stock market and economic growth after the election of one of the most "revered" Republican politicians since Roosevelt (TR).  Within a year, we saw Black Friday, the stock market crash and free fall into the Great Depression.  The next worse, George W. Bush, and his cast of clowns and Sith Lords.  Remember how great the economy looked in 2008 and 2009?

That is what happens when a President assembles a team of hangers on, B List players, amateurs and political lackeys.  The only people this President Elect will listen to, are those that filled up the polls he saw and listened to.  If you were one of the people that he actually saw and listened to, I hope that you realize what he is doing now.  Elections have consequences.

Change, in a bad way, is preferable to chaos.  A guy that won't take intelligence briefings, tweets about some Broadway actor, and can't find high calibre people for big jobs, is what chaos starts out as.  These are things that impact us every day.  All of us, but most significantly those with the least power or voice to defend themselves.

We all know that.  Yet, here we are.  Want to know why people are scared?  Want to know why people protest?  Because there is reason to be scared.  If you are the kind of person that would be okay with me taking your appendix out, this probably doesn't bother you.  But, if you are the kind of person that would go find a surgeon to do that job, maybe you should pay attention and make some noise here.

Just saying.

President Trump

Made myself write that.  The only thing that encourages me out of that title is that it is not Madame President Clinton.

Unfortunately, it is not what I predicted.  There is a bit of pride that stings in that.  But, you know, I got it wrong.  Along with a whole bunch of others, we all got it wrong, looking at the electorate.

That is the bad part for me, ego wise.  The bad part for us all, is that the only marker we have as to what this new era will be like is the campaign.

Drain the swamp, the one in DC.  Say a bunch of stuff, that no one really will hold him to.  Except the folks that came out of the hills, the backwoods, the farms and the rural areas.  Those folks are going to remember the Wall, Mexico paying.  They are going to remember stop all Muslims from immigrating.  They are going to remember 25 million jobs.  They are going to remember bring manufacturing back. Bigly.

And, no disrespect, if you voted for Trump.  It was your right, and more people exercised their right like that than did not.  I am not going to argue he is not the President, nor do I hope that he does poorly.  He is going to be my President in January, too.

The fact is, he is going to be the single most powerful person in the world.  He will have the ability to at any point, turn to the mid level military officer that is never going to be more than a few steps away, and tell them launch.  They produce the machinery of power, and the order goes out.  The nuclear complex is built on not asking why, or should we do it, it is built on asking is the order authentic, and acting, if verified.  It is a terrifying prospect.

Let me give you some history.  In 2000, I was in uniform.  Swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.  Obey the orders of the President and officers appointed over me.  November 2000, the country elected a man intellectually incapable of the job.  We all knew, were kind of in on the joke.  Don't worry, he'll surround himself with smart, knowledgable people, that are in the establishment.

We got Cheney, Ashcroft, remember them.  They built a governmental system that was broken.  Regardless of ideology, they lied to Congress, the American people.  Hell, they lied to Colin Powell and got him to lie to the world at the UN.  Just to get involved in a war in Iraq, instead of focusing on Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda.  We are still there 15 years later.

If you don't remember, or weren't aware between 2001 and January 2009, the other cool things they did for us, were to completely tank the economy, like Great Depression tank it.  How?  They removed themselves from the marketplace, let the corporate entities regulate themself.  They sold subprime loans, wholly unethical practices, built a big chunk of the American economy into overvalued real estate, which, when it collapsed, nearly took down the auto industry with it.

Elections have consequences.  Electing people that are "different", change agents, has consequences.  I don't think Trump is as dense as George Bush turned out to be in reality.  More worrisome, I think he is as vain, trivial and clueless as he has portrayed himself through this election.  But, that is what I think, and not what I know.

I pray I am wrong.  And, I pray that this works out.  I fear that it will not.  This is no longer a middle finger to the world, this is real.  Every single word, action and sign that Trump shows from this moment on, will cause ripples through the global economy and the world.  Every single word, action and sing that Trump shows from this moment on, will be acted upon by other players on the world stage.  There are not any do overs.  There are not any oops moments.

It is an awesome responsibility.  I don't know that it is going to turn out well.  I pray it will.  But, there is an incredible and truly scary host of things that could not work out well.  That is the risk for every new President, regardless of background.  But, never before have we spent 17 months reinforcing to a man motivated by the reinforcement, that he should ignore completely, the folks that know the answer.

Did not sleep well.  Hope I worry for nothing.  Pretty sure I am not.

Election Prediction

Kind of a weird Sunday.  We are about 48 hours from voting starting in the election.  Honestly not happy to see either major candidate win.  Neither of them are what I think this nation deserves.  But, that will not change the outcome.

On November 9th, Hillary Clinton will have been elected President of the United States.  It will mark 6 popular vote victories for Democrats in the last 7 elections (yes Gore won more votes).  It will be because a huge plurality of urban and minority voters rejected the Republican nominee AGAIN.  It will most certainly not be because the Democrats nominated someone that should have won the Presidency.

Maybe after the election, I will go into the deep details as to how the Republicans will have lost 6 of the last 7 popular votes at a national level.  But, today, just wanted to formally register my prediction.

Michigan, Democrat.  Nevada, Democrat.  Pennsylvania, Democrat.  Colorado, Democrat.  Florida, very close but Democrat.  North Carolina, Democrat (HB2, will also produce a Democratic governor and Senator).  All of the "battlegrounds" may go Democrat.  Iowa and New Hampshire, I don't know.  Ohio will probably go to Trump.

Trump will win all the places that have less people than wildlife.  And lose, significantly, the urban areas and deeply populated portions of the nation.  All the places that you have to win, to win the Presidency, he will lose, by huge pluralities.

They are both horrible, flawed, unworthy candidates.  Almost any of their challengers in the primaries would have been preferable and better.  But, big money and crazy angry got the candidates they wanted.  And, here we are.

The worry I have, as a person that has been registered Republican, has been a fairly reliable Republican vote since 1985 when I was old enough to vote, is that the party is broken.  There is a huge divide between the Republican Party and communities of color.  There is a huge divide between the Republican Party and urban populations.  In control of the party, there is now a heavy layer of people without the ability to see the forest for the trees.  They will look at the results of this election, and spend 2 years doing nothing, investigating, digging, rehashing, continuing to ignore the populations that are growing, that have real needs.

The country will never again have as high a percentage of white men as it does today.  The country will never have as high a percentage of rural voters as it does today.  The country will never have as many evangelical Christian voters as it does today.  The country has already seen the Boomers fall out of the largest voting block in the nation.

Because of that, the narrow sliver of the platform that Republican leadership is teetering on, is incapable of delivering a national election.  The reality is most of America is just fine with gay marriage.  Most of America does not see common sense gun control (no fly no buy, mandatory background checks, limits on high capacity magazines) as the death of the Second Amendment.  Nor does most of America want to see the end of the Second Amendment, they just don't want their kids shot by some nutjob with a gun they should never have access to.  Most of America does not see people of color as dangerous.  Most of America hates terrorists, but also knows several people that are Muslim and not terrorists.  Most of America lives in places that have to worry about crime rates, drug issues and piss poor infrastructure that require investment, every single day, in their neighborhood.

That is just a reality of numbers.  Either the Republicans figure that out, or they will hold on to a red crescent from Idaho to Alabama that deliver 150 electoral votes in Presidential elections and that is it.  It is that simple.  Nothing will stop the continuing change in demographics in this nation.  There will not be another 1950's, and that is not so bad.  In the 50's, there were still signs that said whites only and colored only.  In the 50's, most people suffering a heart attack died before they got to the hospital.  In the 50's, we were still living duck and cover.

Things are better, all over the world, all over this country, since 1950.  That is the message that both parties, but most especially the Republicans, better get out of this election.  The culture wars are going to be very costly, if they continue.

We will see if I am right or wrong in less than 48 hours.  But, I say Hillary gets above 308 electoral votes.  And, that the Republicans found a banner to follow that was so bad that it resulted in the most hated candidate (other than their own) to ever run for President, still won.

I don't know if they will ever admit to losing.  That is the thing that worries me most.  Even in the midst of a historic defeat, there will be a denial of the results.  All cooked up because they have seen, the smart political folks who are paid to know what is going to happen, what is coming.  That has generated the whole it is rigged line.  Pretty sad, pretty bad and pretty much all there is left.