A Blue Tsunami

Our daughter, Bryn, asked me if I was working on a blog after the midterm election, and added “Didn’t I want to gloat?” Quite frankly I did want to goat. I am incredibly happy that the Democratic Party triumphed so thoroughly on November 3rd. Every day Americans, including preachers, teachers, and doctors have been elected to address the needs of our nation.

The Democrats regained the House and the Senate and have full and uncontested control of the legislative branch of government. As part of that control, I am hoping we will see the graft, grift, and corruption of this administration fully investigated and exposed. If they can prove malfeasance and illegal behavior, those people, up to and including the President, should be prosecuted and punished.

Did you see James Talarico’s victory speech Tuesday evening, or perhaps I should say his victory sermon? If you didn’t you really should watch it. Talarico is telling us that it is not a time simply for retribution. Our country has repudiated hate, bigotry, and pettiness and has chosen inclusion, diversity & civility

The average American can no longer afford a middle class life; they can not afford to buy their own home or pay for childcare or college. The rich have been given free rein and tax breaks, while the poor cannot get the medical care they need; and even more egregious, they can not feed their children. Senator-elect Talarico reminds us that we need to love our neighbors and look to caring for the poor, ministering the sick and homeless, and welcoming the refugee.

The New Democrat majority must concentrate quickly on addressing the pressing needs of our country.

They may not succeed in enacting all of the legislation that is necessary, especially with Trump wielding his veto pen, but they have to set forth an agenda of what needs to be done and tell the American public that they are working for them and not the rich and powerful.

Access to medical care is broken in this country; even the middle class can not afford it. Is the answer strengthening Obama Care, or do we need to promise and deliver Universal Health Coverage. Whichever, something has to be done and now.

Climate change and global warming are a threat to our very existence. We can no longer be enthrall to the oil & gas industry, subsidizing them so the world to burn more carbon & pollute our air and water and sicken our people. Green, renewable energy is the only rational option. This administration, with the cooperation of the American automobile industry has ensured the death of car manufacturing in this country. Electric cars are the future, and the Chinese are in control of that future.

In just a few short years, Trump has almost completely alienated America from the rest of the world. We need to heal the breach with our friends and allies. We need to repudiate support for all oligarchs. Stop pampering Putin, and become the friend that Ukraine needs and deserves. They are fighting for our democracy and they must be helped and supported in that endeavor.

Our tax system has been completely hijacked; the rich no longer have to pay taxes, especially if they cozy up to Trump. Our national debt is beginning to consume us, and deficit spending, especially for the military is out of control. At the very least we need to end the war in Iran, and we certainly don’t need to increase the DOD budget by 50%.

Tariffs are ruining our farmers. They must be repealed.

For years, the Republicans have given the rich one tax break after another, threatening our social safety net and growing the national debt. This cannot go on. We are a rich and prosperous country, but the oligarchs and their monopoly are destroying our economy. An equitable tax system will encourage fairness and opportunity. Rescuing Medicare and Social Security is far more important than showing the world how “macho” we are. (Which we are clearly not.)

America is the great country it is because we welcomed immigrants. ICE is a national disgrace. They need to be unmasked, disarmed, and held in check. Protect our borders, but let hard working and law abiding immigrants, documented or undocumented, go about their daily lives contributing to our society and economy.

I wrote those words over the last of couple of days. I believe that there’s so much more that can and should be done, but yesterday, days after the worst of election defeats signaled a repudiation of all that is MAGA, Trump has named Stephen Miller, a self-confessed white supremacist, to be his chief of staff. It is clear that Trump is not looking to work with the New Democrat majority for the betterment of our society. He is choosing to double down on his failed agenda, sowing even more chaos and discord. It is all about Trump and his ego, not about American and the needs of its people.

I had hoped for America that this election would auger a turn to the light, but now it looks like that the discord and madness will continue & intensify. Unfortunately compromise now seems to be off the table, and an out of touch, uncontrolled executive is hell bent on completely destroying our American democracy. Like Bette Davis, America is in for a bumpy ride.

Have You Voted?

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SAO PAULO, BRAZIL – OCTOBER 24: Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva,

I sure hope you have voted! Remember when you had to stand in a long line to cast your ballot? I sure do, but now that we live in Colorado, where more than 90% of us vote by mail, we voted two weeks ago. Now we just have to wait for the outcome & hope for the best.

If you still haven’t voted, you are probably going to have to stand in a line with some of your neighbors, but I hope you will. Our right to vote is one of the most important rights that we have as Americans, and we need to exercise that right! So can we all agree that the voting process works; if you vote, your ballot will be fairly counted and voting fraud is a vanishingly small problem?

Why the picture of President Lula in Brazil? It’s because he represents, for me, someone who loves democracy and who has worked hard to represent all the people of his country, not just the rich and powerful. And for all of the rest of us, he will work to protect the Amazon from further destruction and degradation. It is clear that the effects of climate change are terrible and getting worse, and if we destroy the “lungs” of the world, it will be many times worse.

Although Lula was behind after the first round of elections, he never stopped working to ensure that democracy would have yet another chance in his country, and the Brazilian people recognized that and re-elected him by more than 10 million votes.

Tomorrow’s election is equally important.

Happy Halloween

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Happy Halloween to everyone; hope your days is full of treats and no tricks. The Denver Center for the Performing Arts mounted a great exhibit for Día de Muertos (Day of he Dead). We first saw it last week when we went to see a touring show of Beauty and the Beast, which we loved by the way.

We enjoyed it so much that we insisted to Charlie and his buddies, Dylan & Decker, that they had to see it. Our invitation wasn’t greeted with a resounding cheer, but once we got there they really got into the spirit of things. They actually all had some idea of what Día de Muertos is all about from their Spanish classes. I thought I would share some pictures. We are so very grateful that these now high school students are still willing to share time with us.

Larry with Dylan, Charlie & Decker (Not sure what the pose is all about.)

This exhibit and experiencing it with the Boys once again made us appreciate the diversity and vitality of our city, Denver, and to appreciate living in a place where those qualities matter and are important.

Cruising…

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Sue and I have taken a number of TransAtlantic cruises over the last decade; we especially like the days at sea. There is a lot positive to be said about cruising, but there are certainly drawbacks. Over the years, we have become less able to deal with the drawbacks, so we are resolved not to go on another, but I think I said that the last time.

Anyway we flew to the East Coast and met up with Sue’s brother, John, and his wife, Bonnie. our companions for this cruise as they have been in years past. Our ship, the Norwegian Escape was to leave from NYC on September 26th–we, the ship, and a fierce Nor’easter all arrived the night before.

Not to be deterred, we boarded the ship that morning, despite the wind and the rain. Boarding was a nightmare–that’s all you need to hear, but know that it is tough for anyone, and if you are unsteady on your feet and tire easily, the two to three hour wait to board was not what we expected, but by late afternoon, we and are luggage were finally reunited in Cabin 9246. That’s about half way up the the 17 decks on this monster of a ship. Picture a block long, twenty story building floating on the ocean, loaded with 4000 passengers and 1600 crew. (You can see the Escape in the background of the top picture above.)

The weather did delay our departure until the next day, when we finally set sail for Halifax, Nova Scotia, the first port in our 16 day voyage. Halifax is a very nice small city, very worth a short visit. I especially enjoyed seeing the graveyard where more than two hundred unidentified victims from the sinking of the Titanic are buried and memorialized. That evening we turned almost due East, heading to our next port of call, Punta del Gado, Azores, Portugal. (If you look on a map, you will see that th Azores and thus the Iberian Peninsula are just a bit South of East of Nova Scotia, something of a surprise to me.)

We sailed on that course for the next six days, each day we awoke up having gained an hour on the clock and lost an hour of sleep. After five days this begins to tell on you physically. Otherwise, it was delightful being in the open ocean with only the sea and sky about you. One of the best features of the Escape was Deck Eight which offers a 1/4 mile walking promenade completely circling the ship. Most days I was able to walk about two miles, countering somewhat the effects of three rich meals (with dessert, of course) and unlimited bar access. Without this opportunity, I am sure I would have gained 10 pounds or more.

Because of high winds and seas, we were unable to dock at Porto del Gado, so we steamed on to Madeira, Portugal. If you haven’t been to Madeira, you should go. The uninhabited island, which is several hundred miles out in the Atlantic west of the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco, was discovered and colonization by the Portuguese in the early 15th century, first exploited for its forests, then sugar, wine, and finally now as a tourist Mecca. A dormant volcano, it is a green oasis rising some 6000 feet out of the Atlantic, with lovely year round weather and fewer tourists than I feared. We fortunately found a great taxi driver who drove us all around the island in his very comfortable Mercedes van.

Another sea day (and another lost hour of sleep) took us to Gibraltar. Gibraltar, a British protectorate since the 18th century, is not as quaint nor as interesting as Madeira, and the tour we took really didn’t show us too much of the “Rock” or its famous monkeys, but we did have a wonderful English high tea, including delicious scones, strawberry jam, and clotted cream.

Our next stop was Melilla, an autonomous Spanish city in North Africa. Again we found a taxi driver who drove us around the town and countryside, even showing us the very tall stone wall and barbed wire fence that separates the city from it neighbor Morocco. Very recently, Melilla and a similar autonomous city, Ceuta, have been subjected to waves of Moroccan youths swimming from Morocco to the city seeking refuge. Most have been sent back home, but some have gained temporary refuge, all adding to Spain’s recent political instability. All was quiet when were there, and we enjoyed a peaceful glimpse of life in the “European island in Africa.”

John, Sue and I in Melilla–lovely coastline.

The next port where we chose to go ashore was Ibiza, Spain. Ibiza is well known for its nightlife and electronic dance music club scene in the summer, which attracts large numbers of tourists. The island’s government and the Spanish Tourist Office have worked toward promoting more family-oriented tourism. Our lovely taxi driver, Susanna did point out to us several “discos” as she called them, as we drove around, but we much preferred the Old Town and its medieval homes and churches. She was a delightful host, and I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to converse with her in Spanish.

We enjoyed Ibiza, but we were disappointed with Palma, Mallorca. The island is clearly being swamped with tourists, especially from cruise ships, like our. The day we were there, it was impossible to get a cab, and we were told that the hop on/hop off bus would not pick people up and left a number of people stranded. We did manage to see an interesting finca, Els Calderas, which reminded us of some of the haciendas we have seen in Mexico over the years.

Mallorca, I think epitomizes a real problem greatly exacerbate by the cruise ship industry. In the past, cruise ships were much smaller and primarily carried well-to-do people from one place to another, often in luxury. Today, the ships seem to be on steroids, seemingly growing bigger ever yea with each iteration. Instead of carrying 900 passengers, some of them carry four or five thousand passengers and 1500+ crew. Image being Venice or Mallorca or Santorini and four or five of these behemoths descend upon your community day after day. No wonder some of these places are beginning to push back. Cruise day-trippers really bring relatively little to the local communities.

Barcelona was our last stop, and we had a lovely time there, despite the crowds. Recently, there have been demonstrations against tourists and tourism in the city. After taking in a tour of La Sagrada Familia, I can well understand the sentiment. We had previously visited the beautiful church about a decade ago and were fortunate enough to view it when there were only a few fellow tourists, so we could appreciate its beauty and grandeur. My brother in law, John, had wanted to see it again as he had heard that it was to be finished this year. It isn’t and won’t be for another twenty years. This time, the crowds were horrendous and daunting, diminishing one’s appreciation of the architect, Antoni Gaudí, and his dream of a church to glorify Jesus and the Holy Family. Should you visit Barcelona, I don’t think I would recommend touring it.

That aside, I would have to say that our short two day visit to Barcelona was a wonderful end to our adventure. We very much enjoyed our hotel, Arc La Rambla. As the name implies it is located on La Rambla, a beautiful pedestrian street that winds through the old part of the city. La Rambla, however, is currently being torn up, to replace failing utility lines and bring the area into the 21st century.

That aside, we had some lovely meals, delicious gelato, a stroll through the most incredible outdoor market, and great sangría. And the highlight of our stay has to be our two hour TukTuk tour of the city, led by a recently arrived immigrant from Georgia (the country, not the state). He and his wife spent years saving money and filling out forms to qualify to emigrate. But they are happy; life is a lot freer in Spain than a Russia dominated Georgia.

We saw so much of the city, often up close and personal, we and were able to avoid the hordes of tourists, for the most part. We laughed so much as we rollicked along through Barcelona’s busy streets and then climbed to the highest point in the city for a spectacular view of the city. What a nice way to finish our stay in Barcelona and our Cruise.

Sometimes I have to pinch myself. We have had so many incredible opportunities to see and enjoy this beautiful world of ours.

Remember me?

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Somehow, time has gotten away from me, and I realize that it has been a couple of months since last I posted. It’s not that I didn’t think about it or begin a post in my mind almost every day, only to find a something else more pressing taking up my time and energies.

Are you as obsessed with the mid-terms as I am? Being the lifelong liberal Democrat that I am, I am hoping against hope that the prognosticators and pollsters are right, and the Dems will take back both the House and the Senate. The legislative branch needs to be empowered to curb the excesses of this autocratic executive.

But will the election matter? What tricks and schemes does Trump have up his sleeve. Are we going to see ICE agents surrounding important polling places; scaring off voters and reducing turnout? Will Speaker Johnson refuse to seat newly elected representatives? Will Trump let loose another assault on the Capitol? If so, who will stop it this time? The Capitol police: do you think that they will be willing to to step into the fray after seeing this president pardon the perpetrators of J6? Then of course, there is the National Guard, which has been wandering DC’s streets this last year or more; I’m sure they could be relied upon to protect democracy and the rule of law.

Pick your conspiracy. Whichever one you find most convincing, but don’t doubt that this administration will do something to try to derail democracy this election.

In my defense I haven’t been totally idle this last month. Sue and I, along with her brother John and sister in law Bonnie, have just returned home from nearly three weeks cruising the North Atlantic and a short stint in Barcelona. (The photo above is of me with the Rock of Gibraltar in the background.) We had a good time and visited some places we had never been, and I want to share some pictures from that excursion with commentary, but I think that will have to wait a few more days.

In the meanwhile, don’t forget to vote. Your party affiliation is not important; what’s important is your right to vote in a free and fair election. Don’t surrender it.

Seventy-Eight & Counting

I was born on July 18, 1948; somehow I have managed to chalk up 78 years, mostly through dumb-luck, good genes, and the gift of good physical and mental health.

How does it feel to be 78 you might ask? Pretty good, for the most part. I certainly don’t feel like I am 18, 38, or even 68, but I can still be physically active and enjoy walking and dancing–but am crap at swimming. I never was much of a runner and please don’t ask me to run a 100-yard dash, but otherwise.

In the last decade, I have had some medical scares, open-heart surgery six years ago and a detached retina a couple of years ago. I almost certainly wouldn’t be alive today and definitely would be blind in my left eye without modern medicine. My dear Mother will turn 98 on July 22; she really has better genes than me, I think.

It’s scary facing getting older—Mom drove until her early 90’s and lived on her own until she was 95, but these last three years have been very difficult. She had to move into assisted living, and her health seems to degenerate almost daily. Her macular degeneration and glaucoma have robbed her of most of her sight—image not being able to see the face of your loved ones much less the food on your dinner plate.

Mom can still walk but needs to use a walker to keep from falling, and someone of course has to help her to get from her room to the dining hall. Still, she is almost always upbeat & cheerful. But getting old is not for sissies, as they say, and I am not really sure that I will be able to meet the advancing years with her equanimity and stoicism.

But until that time comes I hope to be able to greet each day like the gift it is. There is always something interesting or worthwhile to do and friends and family to love and cherish. What a lucky man am I!

Erin & John on their way to Barbados

After a lovely visit of nearly two months–or Home Leave as the State Department calls it, Erin & John left Denver on Saturday After some required training in DC, they will then fly to Barbados on August 8th, where they will be posted for the next three years. After Cuba, they are hoping, as are we, that it will be a rewarding and enjoyable experience. We hope to visit them in the late fall.

On Sunday, Charlie left for a two week summer camp experience at Camp Chief Ouray. This is his fourth or fifth summer, and he always loves it. We’ll miss him, but know that he’s having a lot of fun!

Happy Birthday America

I count myself so lucky to have been born an America. Our country remains the envy of the world and a paradigm of freedom and democracy for all. But I feel like Benjamin Franklin who was asked while exiting the final session of the Constitutional Convention about what form of government we had created, he replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

Can we keep it? I hope so, but we are facing an existential crisis. The upcoming mid-term election will be a test for American democracy. No trumped up emergency can keep us from voting and from having all votes fairly counted. These next five months will test us all, and we must not come up short.

If you are looking for a way to celebrate this 250th birthday of the USA and learning something about our history and struggles as a nation, let me recommend, 250 to 250, a series of 250 videos created by the historian Heather Cox Richardson. Each video is just about a minute in duration, but in that minute you learn something about important events and people in our history and culture. Enjoy!

And have a hot dog for me!

Summer

I love the light that comes with Summer. When I wake up at 5:00 am, it is so exciting to look at the light just peaking in around the curtains in our bedroom. I know immediately that I won’t be able to go back to sleep, and that’s OK, because there is always something that needs doing!

Answering that email from a friend or relative that I managed to read, but didn’t have the time or energy to reply to.

Going to the Babble app and do my Spanish or Italian lesson for the day—they get you hooked by telling you that your streak is now 20 or even 200 days long & you can’t not do it today.

Plunking on the electric piano, always with the headphone, so no one else can hear.

Walking to the community garden plot to see if you need to water today or shake your head at how the bunnies are able to climb up on the raised bed & nibble your lettuce, squash or ripening tomatoes. The nice thing about walking is that I can listen to my current audio book and thanks to the public library, I almost always have one in progress and a couple on my hold shelf.

Back to the summer light. It is especially nice in the early morning, before the sun climbs too high in the sky and it is too uncomfortable to venture out of the shade, especially here in Colorado. Fortunately, even on most summer days, it is good to be out in the fresh air, especially if you can find a nice shade tree to sit under.

Just yesterday, Sue and I drove over to City Park, parked near the pavilion, and carried our new camp chairs to our favorite tree and settled in to eat our chicken salad sandwich lunch—it’s hard to imagine a lovelier day. The sun was high up in the sky & the temperature was 90+ but with the lovely breeze blowing over the lake, we couldn’t imagine anything better.

Charlie, our grandson, is 14 this year; he has entered puberty, so he has suddenly begun to shoot up, his voice has changed, and there is hair sprouting every where. The other day we picked him up to take him to a dental appointment, so it was just the three of us, no friends or other family members.

He, of course, had his phone in his hand, but we were able to get him to put it away and talk about his summer and how he feels about starting high school in the Fall. It was good to hear his thoughts and plans and his obvious excitement about his life and interests. After the checkup, we offered to take him to Hapa, his and our favorite Sushi Restaurant. Seated at an outdoor sidewalk table and over the lovely meal, we covered a lot of topics; I even got him to laugh at one of my “Dad jokes.”

And Boy, can he put away an Unagi Magi roll or three!

Corruption

I can recommend a recent article in the NYT authored by Michelle Goldberg about the GA Senator running for re-election, Jon Osoff. One of the most powerful aspects of his campaign is how he is focusing on the rampant corruption of the Trump Administration, something that concerns me greatly and something that I think our traditional media, including progressive voices like the NYT, does not focus on enough. Perhaps because Trump has now lost himself & our country in the quagmire of Iran, we can hope that Congress will find its way and begin to hold him and his administration accountable for all of the all of the evil that they have sown.

The transactional nature of this president means that almost every thing that Trump does is done to enhance either his bank account or his image, all the while he is hollowing our government and democracy.

Just a few examples of the graft and corruption of the Trump administration include:

Trump and the Trump family’s weath has grown by as much as Three Billion Dollars ($3,000,000,000.) Yet, Congress has done nothing to investigate or question this increase in wealth or how it has come about. How is it right for the president’s son-in-law to be negotiating a Middle East peace deal when he has millions of dollars worth of investments in the area?
The settlement of Trumps’ sham lawsuit against the federal government. In exchange for dropping his claim, the Justice Department under his control will establish a $1.8 billion fundfor “victims of lawfare,” as Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche put it. This will be a slush fund for Trump’s allies — presumably January 6 insurrectionists and others already rewarded with a pardon. Although the acting Attorney General has said that this slush fund will not be created, Trump, himself has said he thinks it should be, so the issue lurks about waiting for the President to launch it once again. Ans even if the slush fund is killed, Trump’s and his family’s grant of immunity from prosecution over any tax evasion inquiries remains intact. This alone guarantees that Trump’s ill-gotten wealth will not be questioned.
Trump, his family, and even members of his Cabinet are profiteering in the Stock Market:
- In recent months, as Paramount and Netflix vied to buy Warner Brothers, Trump bought stock in all three companies. Now the Justice Department is considering whether to approve Paramount’s purchase of Warner Brothers. This is a billion dollar scam to reduce the viability of our free press.
- Trump “scooped up shares” in the data firm Palantir. Soon after, he abruptly praised the firm. “Palantir Technologies (PLTR) has proven to have great war fighting capabilities and equipment,” Trump posted, even highlighting its ticker name. “Just ask our enemies!!!” All this while Palantir was winning big federal contracts.
- He invested in Oracle while brokering its deal to buy TikTok.
- Among Trump’s biggest purchases has been Nvidia stock, which has seen steep increases after the U.S. government cleared 10 Chinese companies to purchase its advanced chips, in a big reversal from earlier national security concerns.
Most of the private investors in Trump’s “White House Ballroom” have lucrative government contracts which they wish to protect or continue or are being investigated by the government for some wrongdoings and hope to have the investigations stopped or paused, as many have been.

And there is so much more. Our government and democracy are being destroyed daily by this corrupt administration. So where are the hair on fire reporters and politicians? It is time that we all stand up for freedom & democracy.

Larry's Blog for Friends & Family

Ramblings–both physical & mental