I don’t.

Never met the man.

Vote for him in 2020?

Yes.

Why?

Because he’s a smart, caring guy who knows how the game is played.

Really?

He’s on the good side of history. Have there been mistakes? Many. Many.  He’s in it for the public at large, not just himself.

The internet is dangerous.

Anybody with internet access can pretty much create any kind of website and have an instant platform to say anything.

Whether it’s true or otherwise.

And if they’re SEO adept, can actually get eyes.

No fact-checking, no vetting, no editors, just sweaty fingers on a plastic keyboard projecting into the cyber-universe.

And because it shows up in your search results, you believe it.

We have trusted newspapers and  broadcast news because that has been the standard. At least for the Boomers.

For me…Walter Cronkite.

No opinions, no leanings, no conjecture.

Just the facts.

But the advent of the internet has subjugated the facts.

And now anyone can say anything, and be believed.

Algorithm evolution has only compounded the problem.

Your personal search results are a product of the searches you have made and the keywords you used.

In an effort to bring you relevant information, you are also subjected to websites that may or may not be reputable.

The search results do not vet, do not fact check, do not verify anything.

It’s up to you.

It’s really easy to want to believe a post/article that speaks to your beliefs.

It’s a little harder to vet. Or at least, it’s a little more time consuming to verify the source of the information.

Especially if you want to believe it.

Please do.

The internet has changed how we communicate.

Which is actually a good thing.

We have access to people we’d never had access to before.

We can actually interact with them.

That’s a good thing.

I’ve had conversations with people all over the world because of the internet.

Learning about other cultures and then having the opportunity to interact, to converse, is amazing.

And, you have to be smart about it.

There is very little in place to protect you against bad actors, or those whose aim is to profit from your ignorance.

More than once…

Taught me skill

Taught me teamwork

Taught me sportsmanship

Taught me humility

Taught me intuitiveness

Taught me respect

Trump tweets incessantly

A constant barrage. Why do you think? (please leave thoughts in comments).

Why does the president of the United States of America feel the need to tweet so much?

I died today. Okay, I didn’t, but if I had, it’d be cool.

My kids are doing alright, got to spend time with all of them recently. So it’s cool.

Abortion is not a Federal decision, or a State decision, it’s a personal family decision.

Crimes are crimes and should be treated as such, but personal decisions, personal, sometimes life and death decisions, should be weighed by the family first.

In cases that only affect the family.

Two and a half years — your age when we met.

Your mom (my high school obsession) called me on Superbowl Sunday 1989.

We set a date to meet, but as would happen repeatedly the following 20 years, drama intervened and we convened days earlier in front of a liquor store on La Paz road in Mission Viejo. She’d driven up from San Diego after attacking your grandmother with a shoe, more on that later, but this isn’t about her.

You were in the backseat.

After a few months, we all moved in together in Huntington Beach, and your mom and I married a couple years later.

I think it’s wonderful that you remember your sperm donor so fondly.

Those times when he:

brushed the knots out of your hair (because you’re mom didn’t have the patience)

held you during the night terrors until you were 4

changed your wetted underwear and bed sheets

provided a home, food to eat and your own bed

taught you that there’s nothing you can’t overcome, especially homework that time when you were giving up, crying on the kitchen table because you didn’t get it, and then you did

video taped every one of your school shows

took you to the emergency room at all hours, regardless

bought the albuterol, amoxicillin, claritol and all the other meds prescribed to keep you breathing

encouraged you to follow your dream

objectively gave you kudos where deserved, and offered constructive criticism where needed

warned you about Sean, let you make that mistake, on your own, anyway, but always watching (yes, there’s things you don’t know)

paid for car insurance, bought you a car, bought you a phone, paid for your phone and usage, even when you upgraded without asking. but that’s just money.

paid for two semesters at the University of Hawaii

Took you back and forth to work, at whatever job, whenever, when asked.

Showed up at your door with the uhaul at 5am, with the contents of your storage unit, already packed, for the Dec. 10 combo garage sale we had planned. In which you made out pretty well, including the meatball sandwich from Lucci’s, while we were making deliveries after a long day.

Oh wait, that wasn’t the sperm donor. that was me.

Me during the day. Me at night

figuratively and literally

During the day, I prefer being anonymous.

Neutral color clothes, no eye contact

swift, direct movements

later, vodka brings the swagger and the attitude

Largely reserved and staying under the radar in public

Apparently I prefer to speak out at night, apparently there are times I can’t contain myself, because I’m apt to first check facebook comments in the morning and am often surprised at what I said

damn

I meant it at the time. No issue there.

Actually, there isn’t anything I’ve said that I regretted.

But there have been times when I regretted that I didn’t monitor the conversation well enough.

Donald Trump: (interview with The Daily Caller – 11/14/2018)

“The Republicans don’t win and that’s because of potentially illegal votes, which is what I’ve been saying for a long time. I have no doubt about it. And I’ve seen it, I’ve had friends talk about it when people get in line that have absolutely no right to vote and they go around in circles. Sometimes they go to their car, put on a different hat, put on a different shirt, come in and vote again. Nobody takes anything. It’s really a disgrace what’s going on.

The disgrace is that, voter ID. If you buy, you know, a box of cereal, if you do anything, you have a voter ID.”

———————————-

I have voted in every election, as long as I can remember.

I have always had to verify my name and address. Including a signature next to my name.

Is this scenario possible?

I do not know what the laws are in other states.

I wasn’t there. I don’t know.

It’s easy to enrage the anti-Trump faction.

Maybe there were legitimate reasons POTUS elected not to honor fallen WW1 soldiers.