ELECTION of 2020

For what it's worth, here are my picks. These are, of course, my opinions. They are based on a ton of research from a wide variety of progressive to center content providers, conversations with Democrats of all persuasions, a few Eisenhower throwback Republicans, and my own beliefs in how I want the world to run and who, at this moment in time, can stop the madness and begin to heal. I do not see this as the time for radical change. I see this as a time to stop the bleeding and I think Biden can do that. He will bring some boundaries, plans, protocols, a sense of community and unity, and new normalcy back to this divisive country. He will stop the madness so we may open the door for the next generation.

I can only list what is on my ballot so you're on your own for your own local, city, and state reps and assembly.

Candidates:

President - is there any doubt? BIDEN/HARRIS

US House of Reps: District 30 - Brad Sherman

State Senate: 27th District - Henry Stern

State Assembly: 45th District - Jesse Gabriel

County DA - George Gascon

Judges of the Superior Court: #72: Myanna Dellinger / #80: Klint James McKay /

 #162: David D. Diamond

LAUSD Board of Education: District 3: Scott Schmerelson / District 7: Patricia Castellanos

LA Community College: Seat 1: Andra Hoffman / Seat 3: David Vela / Seat 5: Nichelle M. Henderson / Seat 7: Mike Fong

City & State Measures:

LAUSD Measure RR - YES - will upgrade schools and equipment

LA County Measure J (Reimagine LA) - YES - divests at least 10% of the county’s locally-generated unrestricted revenues and directly reinvests that money back into Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities.

State Propositions:

#14 - NO - no oversight, no revenues for public, needs 70% majority to make any changes

#15 - Big YES - closes one loophole in Prop 13 - does NOT affect homeowners or small business - 40% of funds go to schools (this is where the best Education system we used to have used to get its money)

#16 - Big YES - overturns the disastrous prop 209 from 1996 and restores affirmative action protocols

#17 - YES - if you did your time and paid your fine, you should get to vote again

#18 - YES - if you are 17 at the time of a primary but will be 18 by the Nov. election, you should have the right to vote in that primary.

#19 -  NO/YES - closes one loophole but opens a bigger one and mainly benefits realtors - difficult because it would help owners who got burned out in the short-term - coin toss  - I'm leaning yes because of the recent and ongoing fires

#20 - Big NO - want your DNA taken for a misdemeanor? want 51 non-violent crimes reclassified to violent? want even more crowded prisons?

#21 - YES - prevent unfair evictions

#22 - NO - no protection for workers: no healthcare, fair wages, sick leave, unemployment, etc. The big companies (Uber, Lyft, Instacart, etc.) want this so they don't have to pay the workers benefits

#23 - YES/NO - does not go far enough to fix the parasitic dialysis industry BUT it represents a real challenge to the industry’s efforts to consolidate power. soft Yes.

#24 - YES - complicated 52-page proposition but will strengthen CCPA (a good thing) and will begin the process towards more consumer privacy

#25 - NO - replaces cash bail with an even more restrictive system — handing enormous power to judges, probation departments, and racist/classist “risk assessment” algorithms to imprison defendants before trial, which essentially automates racial profiling. Democrat Party supports it because of SEIU but ACLU says no - I'll go with ACLU on this one.

That's it. Please go to lavote.net to see where your early voting centers and secured drop off ballot boxes are, step by step mail-in instructions, etc.

There is no denying the importance of this election. I have lived a while and have watched the Republican Party of Eisenhower my father used to belong to, descend from a fiscally conservative but somewhat socially conscious party to an elitist, Wall Street/wealth-comes-first, racist, authoritarian cult. Nixon to Reagan to Bush II to Trump has been a steady decline from the ideals of the Preamble and any form of collaboration towards shared common goals into party and power above all else. Truly, the future of our democracy is at stake.

VOTE

Critical Race Theory

 Maybe we should know what CRT is before everyone on FB starts spouting off their opinions.

It is a moment in time when millions of (especially white) Americans have finally come to realize that 'systemic racism' exists and the first step towards getting rid of it is to recognize the privileges one group has over another and the bias built into systems to keep that group in power over another in economic, educational, business opportunities, and equal justice under the law. It does NOT mean your accomplishments are any less for all your hard work, it means that others did not get the same chance as you and if there are impediments and unfair practices built into institutions to hold others back, then those protocols, procedures, rules, laws, and behaviors need to change. The President has decided that it would be unpatriotic and unfair to help the country recognize the past inequities and immoral oppression of another race for the benefit of essentially white, christian, property-owning men (the only people who could vote during the creation and founding of our nation) and that it has continued in many forms for the last 400 years to become institutionalized (systemic, get it?). Therefore, he has ordered any trainings for federal employees that use CRT to be stopped. Do we need any clearer case for the existence of white privilege than he? We need to look at our scars and still open wounds and begin to heal and make it right, not lie, deny, and ignore the infection. Article from Purdue University for a good overview of the theory https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/critical_race_theory.html

Another article with an overview and access to opposing viewpoints:

https://www.thoughtco.com/critical-race-theory-4685094

What it might look like in a classroom.

     Numbers don't lie and I am sick and tired of politicians and media mouthpieces saying that "the American people have spoken" as if some vast majority of the voting public agreed that the Donald should lead us into the Promised Land. A mere 26% of the voters in America supported him. (see the math below) That is no mandate. That is no cry for radical change. That is barely a quarter of the nation that wants something different.
     Remember those numbers as we move forward. There are more of us that do not want to watch the last 8 years dismantled. There are millions of us Boomers who are willing to get back in the trenches to fight any rollback of Medicare and Social Security. There is room to reach out to those who feel disconnected from the success most of the bluest states have enjoyed.
     Most importantly, there is an astounding 41.6% of the populace that did NOT vote. Were they put off by what so many thought were two bad choices or are they so disenchanted that they feel it doesn't matter who is in power? Did they not receive an adequate education of what it means to be a citizen? Do we need a more vigorous curriculum to teach future generations what it means to be part of a civic society and democracy works best when it is participated in? Have we all forgotten that it is a government OF the people, BY the people, FOR the people?
     Of that 26%, a tiny, but very vocal, minority, are blatant white nationalist racists and should not be given any airtime as it lends legitimacy to their backward viewpoints. Yes, they are free to voice their hatred but they should not be given a place at the political table as if they hold a legitimate viewpoint. We kept Stein and Johnson out of the debates and essentially off the airwaves because they never reached the 5% they needed, why would we give airtime to a minuscule, virulent minority? I don't see speakers from the Communist Party or Anarchists of America on any of the talk shows so why do I see these cavemen with their misguided ideas about race laughing about the Heil Hitler sign and being given an opportunity to rationalize their thinking on national TV? They should be shouted down and drowned out with indignation every time they rear their ugly racist heads because America has no place for that kind of ignorant bigotry.
     Numbers as of 11/27/2016: Here's the Math:
231,556,622 eligible voters / 58.4% voted: 134,765,650 / 41.6% did not: 97,000,000
Stein and Johnson got a combined 5,249,432 (4.1%) which leaves 129,516, 218
last count has Hillary at 64,637,563 (50%) and Trump with 62,409,389 (48%) leaving 2,449,266 outstanding which are mostly from solid blue states which would imply that Hillarys numbers will still go up.
SO, take away the 4.1% from Stein and Johnson from the original 58.4% that voted and you get 54.3%. Hillary: 50% of 54.3 = 27.15% / Trump: 48% of 54.3 = 26%
Trump was elected by 26% of the eligible voting public. Barely a quarter.

You can believe what you want, but you can't tell me what to believe.

http://deadstate.org/mike-pence-believes-the-earth-is-6000-years-old-and-he-wants-to-teach-that-to-your-kids/

this is an article about Mike Pence. I think it is important to do our due diligence and understand what the people who are taking power believe in as those beliefs will influence their policies. I started with this article and then did more research and have found that he is, in fact, a true believer in 'intelligent design' which is a semantic term created during the Bush administration to replace 'creationism'. It made it sound more scientific and therefore they could try and make us teach it in public schools. It never got off the ground but Pence is a true believer. He is a VERY conservative Christian and from many interviews and speeches I have heard and read, he takes the bible literally. He also does not believe in evolution. If he wants people to learn of these theories in their church, so be it, but keep it out of public schools. We teach Science in school, not religion.

"A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment. Such fact-supported theories are not "guesses" but reliable accounts of the real world."

I have no problem with someone believing what they want as that is one of the basic rights guaranteed in our Constitution. 

 "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;..."

There is a clear precedent for the separation of church and state and we need to keep a vigilant eye on any legislation that brings the church, specifically Mike Pence's ultra-conservative, orthodox Christian kind, into public schools.

I have decided that Facebook is not the place to have political discussions so I have revived an old blog I started 6 years ago. This is where I will rant and rave and express my political views without having to worry about trolls.