OPINION: 2020 Election Observations

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OPINION: 2020 Election Observations

By Trevor K. McNeil

How Did This Happen?

It is a question that has been asked before. Though as we get closer to Election Day and things might still go either way, it is still a productive exercise to try and figure out how we got to where we are today. Particularly with so many Trump Voters, particularly in swing states, suffering industrial strength buyers guilt.

No Easy Answers

The answer seems obvious. All the Trump voters are backward, racist, sexist, idiots who don’t know what’s best for them. A ‘basket of deplorables’ as Madam Clinton once put it. This is a mistake. Not only is it reductionist and prejudiced, the very things most accuse Trump of being, it is also wrong. I don’t mean wrong in the modern sense of things that make people feel icky. I mean it in the far more basic, Aspie way of false as according to the evidence. There are simply too many people of various groups, including those whom Trump has attacked, supporting him for this to be the whole story.

Ears Plug, Eyes Closed

If anything, the less savory things Trump has said or done are incidental to his support. Not that what he did doesn’t matter. It does in terms of general morality but a lot of things are a matter of priorities and he has other aspects that outweighed his misconduct. At least in the minds of those who prioritize such things. One of the things a lot of critics overlook is his focus on jobs. Particularly in places like Michigan. A state in which things have been so bad for so long, the condition of cities like Flint have been referred to as ‘economic terrorism.’ A situation which makes it easier to understand Trump’s support despite his desire for a border wall or his opinions on where it is okay to touch female strangers. Even if they ‘let’ you.

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EARTH SONG Michael Jackson

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EARTH SONG by Michael Jackson

Time is running out. We only have one mother, let’s work together to protect her. One of the greatest challenges of the 21st century will be climate change. The Calamity Politics jukebox choice of the day is the Michael Jackson hit, “Earth Song.” Watch for the upcoming Calamity News and Politics videocast with David Shadrick on Climate Change. The Democrats have a plan to reduce pollution and plan to make a huge commitment to reversing climate change. #VoteBlue2020 #RidenWithBiden

Poetry Morsels By Jack Babcock

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Jack Babcock is a long time friend of Calamity News and Politics. Jack is a poet and writer. If you’ve visited CNP before you have probably seen some of his postings. Today is a good day to laugh a bit and not take things too seriously.  You can find Jack Babcock his poems and how to navigate to his Amazon site at this link:

You can find him at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=jack+babcock&ref=nb_sb_noss

POETRY MORSELS

by Jack Babcock

 

the bird

the birds
wings cut the sky
another bird proud
has his own
way to fly
cutting the sky
hovering over his nest
as if to say
I am the best
His wings cut the sky
Amazing you and I

 

Bed

I saw on the tube
An ad for a bed
King sized

I’m single bed Jack

It would be nice to do things in two

2.
doing things in one tho is nice
no petty quarrels
no intrigue no spice

one is just fine for now
two is too many maybe

my uncle used to say
that he was a lone angel

so be it. I’m an angel. Jak

 

living

what’s the point of living
if you can’t
smoke a cigarette
drink a beer
blow some dope
or
drop some acid
what’s the point
Author’s note:
14 years of sobriety

 

baseball

illness

I have 3 illnesses

Schizophrenia
Diabetes
Acute kidney disease

3 strikes 3 strikes and you’re out

But I feel pretty well

 

https://www.calamitypolitics.com/2019/02/13/mental-illness-i-m-prism-by-jack-babcock/

https://www.calamitypolitics.com/2020/09/14/fire-by-jack-babcock/

HUMOR: The Perils Of Pumpkin Spice

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HUMOR: The Perils of Pumpkin Spice- 

It’s Not Everything Nice

By Anna Hessel

  

Falling Leaves

The air is turning cooler, the trees are a beautiful kaleidoscope of bright, harvest-toned colors, and with this a bevy of everything pumpkin spice.  I am more of a cute sweater, ankle boots, apple cider donuts, and taking pictures of fall foliage type of person.  I really don’t need pumpkin spice candles, air fresheners, Oreos, milkshakes, cakes, butters, jellies, iced tea, marshmallows, bread crumbs, cereal, oatmeal, pancakes, toaster pastries, deli meat, cheese, lotions, soap, shampoo, facial wash, hair mousse, muscle rub, shoe polish, toilet bowl cleaner, dog biscuits, cat food, kitty litter, glass cleaner, laundry detergent, fabric softener, cologne, after-shave, lip balm, nail polish, cuticle remover, mascara, floor wax, drain cleaner, toothpaste, or super glue.  I’ve even seen a pumpkin spice pandemic face mask – really?

Pumpkin Spice Overload

What ever happened to plain old pumpkin pie, smothered in a half-can of Fat Free Reddi Whip?  I honestly don’t find the necessity to drink pumpkin-flavored java – make mine a decaf, skim, mocha latte, please, to sip while enjoying a pumpkin pedicure and a pumpkin muffin.  Perhaps a slice of homemade pumpkin bread with buttercream frosting, however, I prefer to brush my teeth with something minty fresh, not tasting of sugar and spice, that is certainly not nice.  If I tried to serve Purina pumpkin spice to my cats, they would simply hiss and turn over their bowl.

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The Lincoln Project: #Trump Is NOT WELL

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#TrumpIsNotWell: by the Lincoln Project

The Lincoln Project is the creator of my favorite 2020 election ad videos. The crew at the Lincoln Project are former Republicans. The never Trumper crowd and thank Zeus for them. There seems to be a ruthlessness in the Republican soul that the Democrats can’t match. Eric Trump was on FoxNews and he questioned Joe Biden’s mental capacity. The folks at Lincoln got busy and put a montage of Trump photo clips together, showing Trump as sadly incapacitated. #SaveAmericaVoteBlue. #Vote Joe.

Health Care Options

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Health Care Options

By Trevor K. McNeil

The Tangled Web of Healthcare

It has come to my attention that some potential leaders in the United States of America (a.k.a. “The Greatest Country in the World” and the a.k.a. “Free World”) are considering reform to their currently mostly private, insurance-only approach to healthcare. A system which allows for medical professionals, who have sworn an apparently empty oath to ‘do no harm’, deny America’s cutting edge medical technology to anyone who can’t pay. A situation from 1968 sounds laughable, but it is the system the Republicans want to return to. After being shot 3 times doctors refused to operate on Andy Warhol until he signed a check to cover the costs. The three bullets embedded in his torso notwithstanding. Yet there are many, particularly on the Republican side of the aisle, who act as though the likes of Obama and Biden are proposing the revival of eugenics into mainstream practice.

Terror Tales

There are lots of stories, most with the flagrant exaggeration of a campfire terror tale, spoke by a drunk high schooler, about ‘state controlled medicine.’ A system, it should be noted, that has enjoyed great success in every industrialized, western nation, except America, since the 1940s. Even a small island nation like New Zealand easily out-paced the great and powerful U.S. of A. in terms of accessibility to medical care. New Zealand also reported better statistics than the U.S., on infant mortality rates and  over-dose death rates. Do people have to wait? Yes. Then again most of them survived and there don’t tend to be people dying at home of burst appendix because they have no health coverage. Which is more than can be said for “the land of the free.”

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