Okay, so this is important. California has done a confusing thing. (What? Again?) I know! I opened my mail-in ballot. You know, the safest kind of ballot a voter can use? The ones with all of those protections built into them to ensure security? Yeah, that one.

Along with my ballot, I found a little card. One side of the card is emblazoned with the words ‘Business Reply Mail.’ The other side is an application for a thing called a ‘Remote Accessible Vote By Mail Ballot’ or RAVBM. I suppose such a thing has value if you spoil your mail-in ballot, but I don’t like them putting the application in with the other ballot. It could cause confusion.

What it is, see, is your ballot online. BUT… you don’t file the ballot online. You access it online, mark your ballot online, then print it out, put it in an envelope, and mail it (or carry it) in. Meanwhile, filling out the application voids the mail-in ballot the county mailed to you – and you STILL have to get it back by the end of business on “election” day.

My concern is that someone might get confused and think they’re signing up for a new service for future “elections” while filing this year’s mail-ballot, and not realize they’ve voided this year’s mail-in ballot in the process. That would be bad.

We enjoy a secret ballot in this once-great nation so you’ll never know which ‘yes’ box I filled in for Prop 50. To be clear, I oppose gerrymandering. I worry we’re starting an even faster downward spiral by supporting this idea. Worse, I fear that in a nationwide tit-for-tat, Dems will lose.

But I don’t see any other idea that might work. Texas started this when they rewrote their districts with the specific intention of creating five extra GOP seats. It left California little to no choice but to respond in kind. We might lose the gerrymander battle – but this vote, at the very least – reflects an effort. It’s a statement: “We do not agree. We will not acquiesce.”

Personally, I just thought of it as a finger to Donny’s eye and that made it all… wonderful…

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Well, rats! Donny didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize – again! I mean, how many people does he have to bomb, maim, and murder to prove he’s a peaceful guy?

Okay, here is where I should probably mention that all of the hostages in Gaza have been released and people are giving Donny credit. We’ll have to wait and see if it equates to “peace,” but releasing the hostages is a good thing…

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It’s called ‘Inoculation,’ ironically enough. One side ‘inoculates’ an argument by advancing a given position themselves and baselessly blaming their opposition, thereby blunting later criticism when they do what they accused their opponent of doing. Here’s what I mean: Donny spent the last four years whining and moaning about the government “weaponizing the Department of Justice (DOJ)” because they were trying to convict him for all of his crimes. The government, then, was NOT weaponizing the DOJ. They were simply trying to convict him for all of his crimes. They would have, too, if he hadn’t already strategically installed so many corrupt judges.

The DOJ was just doing it’s job. But the point for the GOP wasn’t to whine. The point was to create a story. The idea is, they whined and whined and cried and bitched and moaned and whined some more. NOW, when THEY actually weaponize the DOJ and the Dems say, “They’re weaponizing the DOJ,” the cons will just say, “Yeah, yeah, you didn’t care when we said it, we’re not going to care when you say it.”

MAGA is celebrating these fraudulent, harassment suits against James Comey and Letitia James. They don’t realize that establishing this precedent of weaponized prosecutions could just as easily come back to bite them down the road, too…

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MAGA Mike: “If you look at polling, people’s faith in the federal government is at an all time low. Why? Because they don’t see that it’s being done well.” I have to agree with that. With the GOP in charge, it’s not just being done poorly, it’s downright treasonous…

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It isn’t true on the national level, yet, but I’ve noticed a trend in which Democrats seem to be flipping seats in red areas down ballot. The most notable in my mind was when a Democrat won the mayoral election in Fairbanks, Alaska. Alaska, including Fairbanks, is dependably red. But they voted blue this year, at least for mayor.

Democrats flipped a legislative seat in Iowa, too. They flipped one in Pennsylvania earlier this year. Last May, Democrat Sam Sutton defeated his Republican opponent to win New York’s 22nd State Senate district – a district Donny won by 55 points in 2024.

I don’t mean to overstate it. Dems are also crowing about “over-performing” in other areas. That’s usually a euphemism that means “we lost by less than we lost by last time.” It’s still a loss, but it’s promising.

To me, it’s reflective of the havoc and chaos Donny and Team Evil are inflicting on the country. I mean, c’mon, do you really believe the Dems have improved their messaging and clarified their vision of how to improve the daily lives of Americans? I assure you, they have not. At least, not on the national level. On the national level, Dems seem stuck in “We’re not Donny.” Sure, it’s true, but it’s also not very… informational.

It’s like… people WANT to vote for “We’re not Donny” but you’ve got to give them something more than “not Donny” to vote for. Candidates in these down ballot elections have done exactly that – and they’ve won. It’s a hopeful sign for the mid-terms.

While Democrats and Republicans bicker about who’s doing what to whom, constituents – Americans and MAGA, alike – are getting notices from health insurers informing them of significant increases in premiums. HUNDREDS of dollars in increases. MAGA loves bitching about Obamacare but they’ve sure enjoyed having health insurance these last years.

I doubt any of my MAGA friends are going to confess, to me, their frustration with the wreckage being inflicted by Donny and the Dumbasses. But they will confess it to each other and it might very well play out in the voting booth. Even if they don’t vote blue, not voting at all sends a message, too.

There’s even a possibility the Democrats could lose the redistricting debacle and STILL win enough seats to flip one or both houses of Congress. One can contrive a bright red district, but the bright red voters still have to come out and cast a ballot and I’m not sure taking away health care and creating artificial price spikes is the way to get that done…