Election Day!

Happy Election Day!

It’s a cold rainy day here on the mountain. On the plus side, at least I’m not having to walk through snow to the polling place and back. Yes, I’ve done that in past elections. It’s been raining enough here that if it was only a few degrees colder we’d have a foot or more of snow.

If it’s raining where you are, don’t let that stop you from casting your vote!

I don’t buy the hyperbole about voting for the soul of the nation. 

In fact I don’t care what your politics are, or your party preference. 

What I do care about is that you vote. Vote your conscience, vote for candidates that represent your beliefs, vote because it’s your civic duty.

If you can’t be bothered to do this one thing, then you have no voice and I’m not going to listen to you whining about the results after the election.

IVoted

Personally, I’m hoping to see Gavin Newsom tossed out, unfortunately here in California that won’t make much of a difference because there are a lot of bad ideas that have ossified into the dreaded, “We’ve always done it this way,” mindset in this state.

I would enjoy seeing Gavin standing there with his hair blown back in surprise. I know it’s kind of a cheap shot but I’d love to see his smug arrogance take a nice uppercut. For clarity’s sake, I’m not advocating physical violence to Gavin, I’m speaking metaphorically about his attitude and arrogance taking a hit.

There was a time when such disclaimers weren’t necessary, these days though, people seem to be searching for anything they can spin into something it’s not.

I pray that Newsom takes such a drubbing that any presidential aspirations he may have, get flushed down the toilet. The whole country knows what Newsom has done to California. I’m hoping that they remember it in 2024 and decide they don’t want the rest of the country to follow California’s lead. Let the wonder that is Kamala Harris be a warning to everyone.

I’ve been fascinated by the Democrat messaging over the past week or so. (Spending hours on end in a car means you listen to a lot of radio.) The message seems almost like they’re expecting to take a major hit. Some candidates sounded like they just expected to win without really putting in the work.

These candidates seem quite surprised that they’re being challenged strongly by their opponents. When asked why their opponent is doing so well in polls they’re unable to answer. To me that speaks to a profound disconnect between the incumbents and their constituents. In a nutshell, that’s the answer.  Many of them appear to be blindsided that their voters are interested in much more basic issues than special interest stuff. Most of us are really focused on basic necessities.

How can so many candidates have missed or ignored that?

The Republican Party appears to have capitalized on the concerns most Americans have. What remains to be seen is if they were lying to get into office or if the candidates really meant what they said on the campaign trail. 

Time and vote counts will tell.

There was a piece in Politico that says in part, “The 2020 presidential election was rife with allegations of voting machine hacks that were later debunked. Yet there are real risks that hackers could tunnel into voting equipment and other election infrastructure to try to undermine Tuesday’s vote.” 

That one was a head snapper. I thought there was no possibility that the election could be tampered with. Isn’t that what we were told after the 2020 election? So what’s changed?

More from Politico

Wireless modems enabling hacks of voting machines or vote tallies

At least seven states and Washington, D.C., use wireless modems to transmit unofficial election-night results to their central offices. These modems use telecommunications networks that are vulnerable to hackers, and malicious actors could exploit them to tamper with unofficial vote data, corrupt voting machines or compromise the computers used to tally official results.

Really? So are we to assume that since the 2020 election which was “perfect and secure”, that some states have taken steps to make the voting process more vulnerable? If these states haven’t made the process less secure, then can we assume that these states were as vulnerable in 2020 as they are today?

Does that mean that law suits filed by Trump which were dismissed as having no standing should be re-evaluated? 

I’m sorry, but I’m kind of a binary guy. Either something is a problem or it’s not, Politico seems to be playing both sides depending on which party wins. How about we just settle for reporting the actual facts, and let the chips fall where they may? That would seem to be a simpler way to deal with politics and life in general. 

President Biden’s speech may have muddied the voting waters as well. Listening to his speech I couldn’t help but think he was setting us all up for endless challenges about ballot counts and election integrity. As if we haven’t had quite enough of all of that over the past two years. What happens when the Democrats become “Election Deniers”? How does that play out?

If both parties become election deniers, does that mean both groups are domestic terrorists?

I’m looking for a change in this election.

I’d like to see someone tap the brakes on the excessive spending in Washington.

Instead of hiking the interest rates to curb inflation, how about we fix the supply chain issues? More products on the shelves and in the pipeline would also curb inflation.

I hope that our politicians pay more attention to the immediate issues that we’re all facing.

Go Vote, and have a good day!

 


The rain has picked up quite a bit. The normally dry creek bed behind the house is roaring, rocks the size of small cars are tumbling down the mountain. It’s causing the ground to shake almost as if there’s an earthquake.

When I think of all the water rushing down to the desert floor, I’m hoping that it makes it into the ground and replenishes the aquifers a bit.

Before all the streets and rain culverts, water ran down and soaked right in. On old aerial maps a perfect example of an alluvial plain was clearly visible. Today, with all the streets, parking lots, and pavement, localized flooding is becoming more common at the base of the mountain. Builders and City officials literally paved over the alluvial plain and now spend tons of taxpayer’s money combating the flooding. It would have been simpler to take the hint from nature and not allow building there in the first place.

For all our knowledge, humans miss the obvious more often than not.

I’ve often thought there should be wilderness buffer zones between communities. I picture areas that provide habitat for wildlife and access for runoff to soak into the ground. Zones as I envision them, would provide places for walking, hiking and communing with nature. I’m not talking about miles wide buffers, I’m talking about 1/4 of a mile or so green belts.

I guess the problem is that some people would see wilderness areas as places to dump their trash and do bad things.


Sorry Karen Bass I don’t believe you.

Karen bass

I’m sure that LAPD doesn’t either.

Here’s the super brief catch up on this story. On September 9th Karen Bass’s Los Angeles home was broken into. During the burglary two guns were stolen. These guns were in a safe, the safe was hidden away, and there were other items of value in plain view within the home however these items were not taken. In fact nothing else was taken.

At the time, I thought, “That’s really weird,” but Ms. Bass is sticking to her story. 

We’re supposed to believe that a burglar went straight to the safe, did the work to open it, and only took two guns? This doesn’t pass the sniff test.

That notwithstanding, according to CNN, the LAPD has arrested two men. 

Both suspects have latin surnames and are facing various charges related to the burglary. Something still doesn’t smell right!

With little to no description of the perps, LAPD has zeroed in on these suspects making a spectacularly quick and implausible arrest. This while other crime goes unchecked throughout Los Angeles. How is this possible?

Did the suspects walk-in to Rampart Station drunk and bragging about their burglary to the desk sergeant?

No mention is made of recovery of the weapons, Did LAPD have the suspects fingerprints on file? If so what were these two guys doing out on the streets? Were they on parole? Did they have outstanding warrants? 

I’m sorry Karen Bass, I not only don’t believe you, I can’t believe you. This whole story is simply too fantastic to buy.

To be honest, it looks like you’re trying to cover something up. I wonder what that might be.

I’m wondering if the weapons went missing a while ago and if you simply neglected to mention it to LAPD at the time? I’d be very interested to find out if the ballistics from your weapons matched other crimes predating your September 9th report of loss.

Did you pay these guys to be your fall guys? Will they actually be held by Gascón or will they be released without posting bail? Is this about your Mayoral race? Will these guys be Epsteined or simply disappear? 

If there are crimes matching your guns ballistics which occurred prior to your reported loss, there are only two possibilities. 1) You committed the crimes, or 2) You lied on a LAPD report. Either way you should face appropriate charges and that means an end to your political career.

I know that would never happen even if there was overwhelming evidence of you committing a crime.

I hate it when people in power assume that the average folks are morons.

Wait! Is this for real?

A young man named Cayler Ellingson was run down by a drunken 41 year old over Politics?

Cayler Ellingson was 18 years old!

Shannon Brandt, the 41 year old driving the vehicle told police that he ran the young man down because Cayler was a supposed to be part of a Republican Extremist Group

There is so damn much wrong with this scenario. This happened in South Dakota. A 41 year old (even drunk) is supposed to have better common sense. Older ‘adults’ are supposed to protect youngsters not kill them over something as stupid as politics. Brandts confession to the police parrots Joe Biden’s recent Der Führer speech. Ellingson’s mother is reported to have known Brandt but the young man didn’t know him. 

This developed over some kind of unspecified political argument. Brandt didn’t use a gun, he used a car so I guess gun control is working, oh wait South Dakota is very light on gun control aren’t they?

The information from the New York Post is thin but the article is linked here. There are some other equally light stories floating around. They’ll be memory holed by the end of the week, I’m convinced of that. I think there is a lot more to this story than has been reported thus far. I sincerely question if we’ll ever have the whole story.

Biden has said nothing about it yet. Maybe he should try to mumble through some kind of comment. I doubt he will.

After all, a good democrat voter simply took out the “trash” Biden identified embodied by an 18 year old. This insanity should be laid squarely at the Biden administration’s feet. Equally culpable is the media who have banged on about this minimal threat of widespread MAGA Fascists lurking in every corner of the United States.

Is this where we’re heading? Silencing or killing one group of people who happen to have a different opinion than another group? If we fear our neighbors and are unable to speak freely to each other about differing opinions then we are not Americans anymore.  I don’t know what we are at that point but it’s not a country I want to live in.