The Big Question

Do you love the women in your life? Would you do anything to protect them? Well, there is one very important thing that you can do. Vote for Kamala Harris.

Trump’s policies are killing women. Women who wanted children. Women who wanted to expand their families but experienced serious medical complications.

One day, someone you know will have a miscarriage or an unviable pregnancy. They’ll be in pain, bleeding, desperate. Doctors will want to help, but they won’t be allowed to. Draconian anti-abortion laws will expose them to criminal liability if they take any action to save the woman’s life.

And so this woman that you know, or that one of your friends knows, will not receive the care that she desperately needs.

Picture yourself standing beside her bed, holding her hand as she shakes and cries and wonders whether she’ll live to take care of her family.

Picture yourself at a cemetery watching her casket being lowered into a hole as her children, her husband, and her parents break down in unspeakable grief.

You have the power to save her life. Will you do it? Or will you elect politicians who will let her die?

Sources of Power for Authoritarians

Authoritarians rely on three groups of people to give them power - the True Believers, the Disbelievers, and the Low-Information Voter.

The Low-Information Voter can be persuaded to vote for something that sounds good on the surface.

The Disbeliever refuses to accept that the authoritarian will act on their worst impulses. They assume that the tough talk is rhetoric to get votes. Surely, those things couldn’t happen; they’re too outrageous. And since the authoritarian promises to be good for business and the economy, why not give him a try?

The final group, the True Believers, want the authoritarian to take bold action. They want him to punish critics and expel undesirables. They believe that such action will be helpful to society and to their own fortunes.

What the True Believers fail to realize is that those powers can and will be used against them when the leader no longer finds them useful or sufficiently dedicated.

Leaders with unchecked power have a history of turning on even their most ardent supporters. Think of what happened to Yevgeny Prigozhin in Russia when Putin no longer needed him. Recall what happened to Mike Pence and Michael Cohen despite years of loyalty to Donald Trump. No one is safe from the retribution of an authoritarian leader.

The Grift Agenda

If you think that Trump will lower prices and protect American jobs, why is he selling a $60 Bible that’s printed in China? Are you ready for $15 Trump gasoline and $20 Trump eggs? He’s not going to stop until every product you buy puts money in his pocket.

The Trouble With Tariffs

Imagine that you’re in the market for a new car.

You’ve narrowed it down to two models, a Ford that costs $35,000 and a BMW that costs $40,000. You’re weighing whether it’s better to save $5k by going with the Ford, or to spend a bit more to get the extra features and prestige of the BMW.

Donald Trump wins re-election and immediately puts a 20 percent tariff on all foreign-made goods. The BMW now costs $48,000 due to an $8,000 dollar tariff.

That may be a deal breaker. If the BMW is now out of your price range, you’ll buy the Ford.

On the other hand, if you really want a BMW, you might be willing to pay more to get it, even after the price hike.

But here’s the important point. BMW is not going to pay the extra $8,000. The German government is not going to pay the extra $8,000. The European Union is not going to pay the extra 8k.

YOU are you going to pay it! That 8 grand comes out of YOUR wallet.

It’s not magic money that suddenly appears to help our country. It’s a tax that the government has imposed on YOU, the American consumer.

Consider also retaliation. Europe may fight back by putting a 20 percent tariff on American goods. That means fewer sales, which could lead to layoffs and economic hardship in the US.

Tariffs are a bad idea, a terrible idea, a horrible idea. Tariffs punish consumers and harm the economy.

Vote wisely.

The Cage

Locked in a cage

Of my own making

The stress that I have piled upon myself

A warehouse

Of aggressive expectations

Feeling all the more tense

And urgent

As I sense

That time is running short

I have the key

To unlock the door

To free myself

But have I the awareness

To use it?

Domestic Crime

A migrant didn’t go on a shooting rampage in a Georgia school. An American citizen did.

A migrant didn’t give that kid access to an AR-15. An American did.

Migrants didn’t let the assault weapons ban expire. Americans did.

Migrants didn’t smuggle that weapon across the border. An American store sold it.

Migrants didn’t pass laws that let nearly anyone buy a gun. Americans did that.

Migrants didn’t lobby against red flag laws. Americans did.

Foreign politicians didn’t take campaign contributions from the gun lobby. American politicians did.

Migrant crime? How about we focus our attention on something real, like Americans killing each other in mass casualty events? Because that happens every damned day.

Heart, Mind, and Soul

Don’t do things that make your soul cry, even if they make your heart race.

People like to say “Trust your heart,” but the heart has a long track record of bad decisions.

The heart encourages us buy things that we don’t need, agree to terms that don’t serve us, and do things that we don’t want to do because it’s what everyone seems to be doing.

The heart makes decisions for sentimental reasons. It pairs us with situations that don’t serve us and delays the eventual resolution.

One can argue that making decisions with the heart brings us joy, and that is often true in the short term. If we made decisions with the analytical mind, we might miss out on life’s most rewarding experiences.

Consider trusting the soul.

The soul listens to both the heart and the mind and tempers their perspectives with wisdom and a deep understanding of what is right and wrong for the individual.

The soul understands that fads fade, that impulse purchases are often a bad idea, and that thrills are not always worth the risk. The soul knows when to get out of a bad investment, a dull relationship, or a job that drains your enthusiasm. The soul knows what you should be doing with your time if you want to be deeply fulfilled.

Let the mind weigh alternatives. Let the heart dream big dreams. Trust the soul to make the ultimate decision.

JD Vance and Teachers

JD Vance claims that people without children can't be effective teachers. Apparently, Vance doesn't realize that the nuns and priests who teach at Catholic institutions don't have children. Vance also fails to realize that in the not too distant past, school teachers tended to be unmarried women. Pre-1970s, women with children stayed home while women without children worked as teachers, nurses, secretaries, and a few other traditionally female jobs. It's surprising that someone who wants to take the country back to the past doesn't understand what life in the past was actually like.

The Moment

Before I die

I want to be your lover

To celebrate for real

What we feel

For each other

To kiss your warm skin

As I hold you

Night and day

And treasure

The miracle of love

Before our moment

Slips away

Conventional Wisdom

As we watch the Bidens, the Obamas, and the Clintons speak at the Democratic National Convention, notice what was missing from the RNC. President George W. Bush. Vice President Dick Cheney. Vice President Mike Pence. Presidential nominee Mitt Romney. The family of Ronald Reagan. The family of John McCain. None of them even attended, let alone spoke at the RNC.

Reject the cult. Reject the big lie. Reject the insurrection. Reject the felon. Reject the hoarder of classified documents. Reject book bans. Reject misogyny. Reject weird. Vote for democracy. Vote for Harris/Walz.