Change Happens Quickly (when it's supposed to happen)

 That's the blog entry.

  Get Pocket (Jeff Haden) : When I was in Sasebo, there was a Japanese guy (Tomonaga, if I recall correctly) who taught Japanese to the Americans. I think it was a volunteer thing he did as a hobby. His day job was working on base in some capacity that I didn't have contact with him. Teaching to sailors comes up against the problem that they miss class when the ship is gone. Tomonaga came up with 200 sentences that were common things one might say. Each week he'd go through ten sentences. But he'd teach each sentence by saying this is how you modify it to say something similar. It was a pretty good way to teach, better than the more traditional methods. And apparently now there's research to explain one aspect of it that made it better. Although, " Making Out In Japanese " deserves a mention as non traditional language education too.

  270 To Win has called it. The win was less than decisive. The establishment Democrats got their preferred POTUS candidate and their preferred VP candidate. They ran the campaign they wanted to run. With the exception of Tennessee (Marquita Bradshaw) and West Virginia (Paula Jean Swearengin), the establishment Dems got their preferred candidate in every US Senate race. Establishment Democrats got their preferred candidates in the lions share of US House races that were seriously contested. And Trump's reelection campaign was disrupted by a pandemic, bad economy and a hostile media. Even under the "best case" circumstances, the performance of establishment Democrats was lackluster.

 Go fuck yourself.  You suck at winning elections, harm reduction and dozens of other things connected to politics.

portraying the PRI as revolutionary in Mexico, or... portraying the LDP as revolutionary in Japan, or... portraying the Congress Party as revolutionary in India. These fuckers are the establishment. There may be times when making a temporary alliance with the establishment serves a purpose. But don't pretend you're being revolutionary when you make the deal.

 So, November 3, 2020 is the U.S. election date for President, Congress & other stuff. What is the best case scenario? 1. There is no violence. 2. There is no interference with the right to vote in other ways. 3. The votes are counted in an orderly manner that does not invite allegations of corruption, malfeasance, incompetence or cheating. 4. The Democrats achieve 3/5 super majorities in both the US Senate (60 seats) and the US House (261 seats). 5. Left candidates for President get 15% or more of the vote. 6. Trump wins re-election with about 41% of the vote & Biden gets significantly more, eg 45% of the vote. 7. And various positive referendums pass, eg Illinois amending the state constitution to allow graduated income taxes. This scenario will force Democrats to actually govern in Congress. Nancy Pelosi has got shit out of the Democratic majority in the US House. And Chuck Schumer leads the Democrats like he's got 39 votes on his side, not the 47 (45 + 2) votes he actua

 Photo taken today by me, rights reserved. 

 All photos by me, rights reserved. I call it "Creepy Jack-o-Lantern", taken October 26, 2020. "Skeleton Rides Rocking Horse", taken November 1, 2020. "BLM Pumpkin at North Park University", taken October 25, 2020. "Dead Man's Lawn party, taken October 29, 2020. "Jack Skellington In a Children's Swing", taken October 31, 2020. "Happy Jack With Eyebrows", taken October 31, 2020. "Trump, Bitches!" taken outside Bateman polling place October 31, 2020.

 Photo taken today, by me. Rights reserved.