A LIST OF WHAT I NEED TO GIVE THANKS FOR AND AM THANKFUL FOR AS THANKSGIVING DAY AND THE HOLIDAY SEASON APPROACHES
I’ll make this list as to the point as I can.
THIS THANKSGIVING DAY – AND EVERY DAY FOR THAT MATTER – I AM THANKFUL TO GOD FOR…
Being alive and breathing
Being in generally decent health
Having a roof over my head
Living in a decent neighborhood
Being able to afford food and drink
Having my house’s electricity working
Having my house’s water turned on and working
Having my house’s heat working
Being able to walk
Being able to run
Being able to talk
Being able to see
Being able to hear
Being able to work out
Being able to move my extremities and not being in a wheelchair
That everyone I know and love, relatives and otherwise, are generally in good health and all of the other things listed above and are doing okay.
and…
That God loves me, has a good plan for my life, will never leave nor forsake me, and most of all has grace and mercy on me and forgiveness for my many sins
That’s basically the gist of it.
As the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes/gravy, macaroni and cheese, pie (most folks associate Thanksgiving with pumpkin pie, but I prefer sweet potato pie), cake, etc. are eaten,
And as the football is watched,
I hope and pray that everyone has a happy and restful Thanksgiving and holiday season!
(See, I told you this post would be to the point!)
The skyline of this country’s second largest city…
For the first time in the 241-year history of Los Angeles, California, a woman will be its mayor.
For the second time in the 241-year history of Los Angeles, California – and for the first time in forty-nine years – a Black person of African descent will be it’s mayor.
As everyone in this largest city in the United States west of the Mississippi River knows,
This was a very close and hotly contested race between Congresswoman Karen Bass and billionaire developer – who designed the Grove shopping center in Mid-City – Rick Caruso,
Who incidentally I wholeheartedly commend and respect for graciously conceding the election when Bass’ lead increased in the last few days, unlike a certain former President-Whose-Name-Will-Never-Be-Mentioned on this blog who as good as incited his worshippers – I mean supporters – to storm the Capitol and attempt to take it over in a violent coup on January 6th of last year.
Now that this mayor’s race is over and L.A. will have it’s first woman and second African-American mayor, which I think is wonderful and exciting,
I thought it would be a good idea to express what I strongly feel Bass needs to do upon taking the Oath of Office at City Hall on Spring St. in a few weeks.
This is something that she needs to get on the ball about on day one;
It’s what I would do if I were elected mayor, and it’s summed up in two words…
THE HOMELESS.
Begin working to house and get off the streets the over 40,000 human beings in Los Angeles’ city limits who are sleeping in tents in camps under freeways and oftentimes on the open sidewalk without tents or even a blanket or bed roll.
Get the funding necessary to help the many of that population who suffer from various addictions and mental illness, which is a big factor in them being among the unhoused in the first place.
In fact,
Bass should seriously consider at least trying to get Caruso, who had a plan to build and covert places to shelters, tiny villages, and transitional apartments which would hold a total of 30,000 beds, to join her administration in some capacity in which he could help and provide funding and his building and constructing expertise to make a dent in this longtime issue that’s sorely needed.
In other words, unite to try and solve this extreme problem.
Because that’s what desperately needed.
Another priority that needs to be made a top priority can be summed up in one word:
CRIME.
Whether Bass enacts a “tough on crime”, increasing the number of police on the streets approach or goes more in the direction of community policing where the residents of a community partner with the cops in the form of starting after school programs and job training programs, which would help get folks off the streets and make them less likely to do outrageous acts like smash-and-grab robberies and blatant robbing, beating and killing people in daylight,
Along with dealing with the homeless issue,
She and whoever in her new administration who she puts in charge of such needs to do something concrete to make L.A.’s streets safe as soon as she’s inaugurated.
If she’s successful in improving the situation in those two issues in particular,
She will be an instant hero.
Needless to say, I congratulate her and wish her all the best!
I like this photo of the sun setting by L.A.’s most famous landmark, the Hollywood sign…
WITH A VOLATILE ELECTION DAY WITH MUCH AT STAKE BEING THIS WEEK
I had stated in my previous post on this blog how sick of politics I was and am, explaining the reasons for such.
I’m still sick of politics and especially the mountainous avalanche of political ads in the mail and on TV for the same reasons that I detailed before, but…
I may have led at least some people to a little bit of a misunderstanding.
Just because I’m sick and tired of the political ads that have bombarded my house for months,
Does not mean that I’m completely 100,000% washing my hands of the whole thing forever.
Or that I will never, ever vote for anything again.
Politics still holds an interest in me, as evidenced by me and my family having already voted by mail a couple of weeks ago.
Which in my view is the only way to vote as I got sick of going to polling places and waiting in lines;
Why go somewhere to stand in line to punch holes in some ballots when you can vote in the comfort of your own home?
And in my home state of California, there were some important offices and measures that needed deciding.
While I won’t state who or what I voted for,
As a moderate Democrat; on a scale of one through five, five being extremely liberal and one being extremely conservative on a MAGA, worshipper of the former President-Who-Shall-Never-Be-Named-On-This-Blog level, I rate myself as a four,
If you are a fellow resident of California, Southern California or Los Angeles County, I think you can make some decent guesses as to what bubbles I colored in on my ballot.
There’s one thing I realized, which I touched on in my previous post;
Generally speaking, people vote for those folks and measures that they feel will make their lives better and solve all of their problems and their community’s problems, depending on their personal philosophies or political sentiments.
In other words, depending on whether they or where they live tends to lean “red” or “blue”.
Maybe I’m wrong or off, but,
No matter whether a liberal or a conservative is in the White House or the Governor’s Mansion in your state or representing you in the Senate or the House of Representatives on Capitol Hill, or represents your city as Mayor (there’s a pretty big election for that in the city of Los Angeles where the two candidates, Karen Bass and Rick Caruso, are in a dead heat),
The problems that are facing all or at least most of us like,
Poverty
Homelessness
Crime, including mass shootings and hate crimes
An extremely wide wealth/income gap between the “one percent” and the “99 percent”
Climate change and the issues like extreme weather; the heat and cold that goes with that
The poor, women and people of color, and LGTBQs still getting looked at, seen by, and treated by too many people as a “lesser” to the point of being needlessly killed by authorities
Still exists.
Don’t get me wrong,
I’m very concerned about what will or may happen of the Senate, the House, or both, flips from Democrat to Republican control after these elections.
But after having been a voter for approaching forty years,
My conviction that things will just be great and prosperous if I and enough voters vote for the right people has lessened.
I also understand once and for all that no matter who gets elected or what measure passes or doesn’t pass,
There will be a substantial number of people who will be unhappy, upset and just plain angry over the result;
Check out a clip of what happened at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021 if you don’t believe me.
So,
As far as I’m concerned regarding politics, the political scene, and these elections,
It is what it is.
I’ll just see what unfolds after all the ballots are cast and counted.
LAMENTING THE WAYS IN WHICH I AM WEARY OF SUCHAS THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS APPROACH
I’ll do my best to make this as short as simple as I can…
I’m tired of the endless TV commercials ordering us to vote for this person or that person,
Ordering us to vote yes on this or no on that.
And those ads that trash the opponent of whoever the commercial says to vote for, detailing the sleazy things he or she did that justifies him or her not getting your vote;
Even if what they’re saying is true.
I’m also tired of all the talking heads on all the news channels going on and on and on about this candidate and that candidate and how (in this case) the House of Representatives and the Senate is likely to be controlled not only by the Republicans, but by those Republicans who are the far-right, 2020 Presidential Election-denying, worshippers of the former President-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named who will at least try to turn this country into an totalitarian state where no one but white, wealthy, conservative, (far right) Christian, heterosexual males will have rights.
And I’m really tired of all the mail begging me to vote for this person or that measure that has invaded my house every day for a couple of months.
Particularly since I’m getting more and more convinced that although I consider myself a liberal-moderate and a solid Democrat,
They have not done nearly enough, and the GOP has not done anything, to solve what I feel are the worst problems that this country faces;
Poverty/homelessness
Wealth inequality
Lack of complete, 100,000% equality and fairness to those who are people of color, women, and LBGTQ,
In other words, it seems to me that it hasn’t mattered whether Obama, Biden, or You-Know-Who has sat in the White House,
It wouldn’t matter if Gavin Newsom or some right wing conservative sat in the Governor’s Mansion in my home state of California, and,
It wouldn’t matter if Karen Bass or Rick Caruso sat in the mayor’s office at City Hall in downtown Los Angeles;
Those people who are of color, female, LGBTQ, poor, and/or worship someone other that Jesus would still catch h**l in my city, my state, this country, and the world for that matter.
And not only is such the case,
It promises to be more so if the Republicans, who the pundits at CNN, MSNBC, and the other news channels project to win big next Tuesday, do exactly that.
Not that they have already been catching h**l with the people already in office; though it may be a little less h**l than it would be if the conservatives ran things, they’re still catching h**l nonetheless.
More and more, I’m convinced that it will take God and God alone to solve the problems that I listed earlier in this post.
It will take God alone to see that everyone is housed and has enough money to live on without worry.
It will take God alone to see that no one will be victimized by anyone, the police or otherwise, because they are Black, Latino, Jewish, or LGBTQ, and…
It will take God alone to see that complete equality and justice is a reality.
BOTTOM LINE:
I wish these political ads and stories would just go away.
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