It's going to be alright

So, how are we feeling? If your presidential candidate of choice won the election, congratulations. I hope America does incredible well under his leadership. I believe nobody seeks democratically elected office to do harm. Because otherwise you’d get voted out the next go around. The winner on Tuesday did lose back in 2020.

If your presidential candidate of choice lost on Tuesday, well, there’s a finite end to your perceived suffering. Four more years is just that: four more. It can’t be anymore than that! And then the pages of history will continue to turn. Spend these next fours years focused on yourself and the people around you. Quit social media and go outside to touch grass often (as the kids say these days).

I read that there was a wholesale shift towards the Republican ticket this time compared to 2020. But I think we have to wait for the total vote tally to tell the full story. If Trump got roughly the same amount of votes as his two previous campaigns, and it’s the Democratic ticket that got less votes, then that’s an entirely different conversation. Where did that chunk of blue voters go? It can’t be entirely California…

Is it as simple as it’s the economy, stupid? The stock markets may be at all-time highs, but inflation is indeed pernicious. Even though inflation supposedly normalized this year, it’s not like the inflated prices then went back down, right? The prices merely stopped going up. The grocery budget is still unaffordably high for lots of people. While the President of the United States can’t really do anything about that, it comes down to this: the vibes are bad, so we need something different.

Wasn’t that the case in 2020? Difficult to believe that COVID was that long ago now.

View fullsize

Back and forth.

Vote local

Who I vote for to be the President of these United States really doesn’t matter. Not because the California delegates will vote Democrat regardless (all those tech bros voting for Trump is kind of just pissing in the wind), but because whoever is the President doesn’t really affect me much materially. Now, who is going to be the mayor of San Francisco - that’s the most crucial race as it pertains to my life.

Because the citizenry might elect the wrong person, one who turns out to be super tolerant towards homeless camping on sidewalks, and petty theft done by teenagers. It was only a few years ago when we recalled a district attorney who didn’t want to persecute criminals. Imagine that! That’s like firefighters coming to the front of your burning home and just standing there. The fire has rights too, am I right?

The current San Francisco mayor - London Breed - knows it’s an election year so she is stepping up efforts to clear homeless encampments. The Supreme Court of the United States did our city a solid by allowing municipalities to ban people from sleeping in public spaces. Where will the homeless go, you ask? How about your house? If you’re so concerned about their wellbeing, why don’t you give up your resources?

See: it’s easy to virtue signal when you don’t experience any of the downsides. I bet the residents of the Tenderloin district is happy to finally see some enforcement action towards the homeless problem.

The local elections matter tremendously. Act accordingly!

View fullsize

New view.

No presidency for old man

Ladies and gentlemen, our national nightmare is over: President Joe Biden will not seek reelection this November. Thank you for your multi-decades of service, Mr. President. Think about this: Joe Biden retired from politics before Grand Theft Auto 6 comes out.

Anybody who watched the (first and only) debate between President Biden and Donald Trump can tell that Biden is simply not mentality fit for the job. Not right now, not for another four years. Democrats are no better than Trump supporters if they bury their heads in the sand about this. Trotting out a senile old man and pretending everything is going to be just fine. Hey, vote for our caricature of a fully functioning human, because, you know, the other guy is truly horrible!

Cognitive decline for someone in his 80s is fine, normal, acceptable. You simply cannot expect President Biden to serve competently for another four years. Have you seen how eight years of the presidency has utterly aged Barrack Obama? It would be cruel to make Biden continue on, honestly. He deserves to retire and live the rest of his life as peacefully as possible.

Good news for Americans: our Sophie’s choice between a convicted felon and a senile grandfather is no more! Short of nominating Bernie Sanders (who is even older than President Biden), any candidate the Democratic Party nominates will seem like a breath of fresh air, a ray of excitement. Maybe it’ll be enough to sway those who otherwise would not vote for either Trump or Biden.

View fullsize

Intersecting.

Morning in America

Ah, how nice is it to wake up in the morning and not have to worry about what crazy stuff the President has done this time. It’s a liberation that we have not known for the past four years. The sense that actual competence is in charge, and that ordinary citizens shouldn’t have to constantly worry about the country’s executive branch. Character matters. Kindness matters. And it’s welcoming to see integrity return to the highest office, the leader of the free world.

As we celebrate surviving the four years of Trump, we have to recognize the many that did not. The hundreds of thousands of Americans that didn’t need to die, if only we had a proper response to the coronavirus from the federal government. Folks of rural America, believing a con man can save them from their misery, but with only overdose death to show for it. The friends and family members, figuratively lost to the conspiracy rabbit hole, egged on by the self-affirming mechanisms of social media platforms.

The economy was going great, until it wasn’t. The one excuse that Trump supporters point to to explain away the many deficiencies of his presidency got utterly upended by COVID0019. How Trump must rue the misfortune of the pandemic. A better person would have seized the moment and lead with conviction. Trump only made it worse for himself by each misstep, doomed by the destiny of character that he so lacks.

That’s all over now, turning the page to the Biden presidency. After four years of sycophancy and nepotism, it’s such a relief to see capable people put back in charge. Normal has returned to Washington DC. Hopefully, with renewed effort on the vaccine rollout, normal will soon return to the rest of us as well.

God speed.

View fullsize

Night changes.