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.