PuckHead's Blog
This is where I write about what I want, when I want to.
Tuesday, September 7, 2021
Saturday, January 9, 2021
The Election Was Rigged?
The following is my opinion:
Was the 2020 Presidential Election Rigged to ensure the defeat of Donald Trump?
The short answer: NO.
If the short answer would suffice, the blog would end here. Its far more complex than that.
For the election to have been rigged, several factors would have to take place.
1. Votes would have to be cast illegally, or simply created out of thin air.
Some of the oldest allegations made over the course of American history concern the ones where people vote more than once, people vote after they die, votes were handed out to homeless people, illegal immigrants, etc etc. Was there some of this? Probably. Was there enough of this to turn the election? No.
As for those late ballots and absentee ballots lets just be totally honest and call out two states. Georgia and Pennsylvania. In PA, the state legislature set up the voting rules before 2020, and that legislature was a Republican majority. Did Democrats somehow persuade enough of the GOP to do their bidding? It was more like the GOP set the rules and all the Dem Governor had to do was sign the bill into law. So if the Dems managed to pull off that trick, then what they did in Georgia, with an all Republican state legislature and Republican Governor, is nothing short of a miracle. Obviously there was no conspiracy here.
There was a lack of transparency in both of those states. That's an irrefutable fact that the MSM clearly demonstrated when reporting on the recounts in both states. It doesn't mean that wrongdoing was done, but it does leave doubt about whether things were done right, and that factor alone is unacceptable when conducting an election. The lack of a federal standard for all states to follow when conducting elections for the highest offices in the land also creates doubt, too. That needs to change.
2. Voting machines would have to have been either pre-programmed to change certain results or ignore a set amount of votes for Trump
The biggest allegation was that the Canadian company that supplied voting machines to several states could be manipulated to change vote totals. Lets assume that's true. Doesn't it stand to reason that if those machines were so vulnerable they wouldn't have been used in the first place? And if they were that vulnerable and used and manipulated by the Democrats, then why wouldn't more technical savvy parties, such as Russian Intelligence, have broken into the machines themselves and changed the totals for their candidate of choice. In Russia's case they would have worked in Trump's favor.
3. Officials in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nevada would all have had to been organized ahead of time to conspire either as groups within the state or as a collective.
How would the Democrats have pulled this off, considering Georgia and Nevada are clearly Red States? In order for the steal to have been successful, the states' Governors, key members of the legislatures, etc would all have to have been in on the fix. There would have to be massive complicity with voting officials at polling places, both urban and rural. That many people, and many of them GOP and Trump supporters, willing to screw Trump out of the White House?
4. Judges on both state and Federal levels would have to have been in on the screw job too, and that includes a dozen or so Judges appointed to the bench by Trump, including three Supreme Court Justices.
Every single court challenge on both state and federal levels ultimately failed. The vast majority of the cases were dismissed faster than you can say "Joe Biden", and some of those by Trump appointees. At SCOTUS, none of the Trump appointed justices voted in Trump's favor. At all. One would assume with a 6-3 majority at SCOTUS, Trump should have been able to take every challenge he lost and have them all overturned by the high court, and if he didn't then the evil hateful spiteful Democrats must have gotten one over on them. Or maybe speculation, hearsay and conspiracy theories weren't convincing enough.
5. All of this and more orchestrated by a group of incompetent, over-emotional, Trump-hating Democrats who spent the majority of the last four years bitching, denying, and attempting to remove Trump by saying and doing whatever they could to bring him down, and failed miserably and embarrassingly each and every time.
Russia? Fail. Racist? Fail. Misogynist? Fail. Stormy Daniels? Fail. Ukraine? Fail. For almost 4 years the Democrats cried Foul by crying Wolf. The sad truth is that if the Democrats who wanted Trump gone really believed he was the horrible person they kept screaming he was, they would have calmed the fuck down and let Trump be Trump and waited patiently, and silently. Then, by the time he commits the bad act over Ukraine even the most moderate of Republican senators would have actually listened to the evidence, and there probably would have been more evidence presented, and that could have resulted in Trump's removal from office. Democratic leaders knew at least they would not get him removed and settled for staining his record with an Impeachment proceeding. They never did get over losing in 2016 did they? The anger remained. The hate sustained. But while they were being angry they were also being stupid.
So tell me how angry, stupid people could have orchestrated what would have to be the most complicated, elaborate, and impossible conspiracy of all time?
You can't.
If you still believe the election was stolen, maybe you've become angry and stupid too.
Sunday, November 1, 2020
My Hope For The Coming Days
Be humble in victory.
Be gracious in defeat.
Don't be consumed by your fanaticism or your hatred.
Replace finger-pointing with handshakes.
Replace diatribe with dialogue.
Let the light of our humanity erase the shadows of our division.
You don't have to change your view to understand the opposing view.
Remember no political figure is worth losing friends or loved ones.
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Why I Am Voting For Joe Biden
This is an extremely long post. No apologies offered for my detailed writing below.
I have never in my life voted for a Democrat for President of the United States.
Except once. In 1976. I was 10 years old. It was a mock election in grade school. I chose Jimmy Carter because he seemed like a nice man. He is. What other 90-something year old former president keeps busy by helping build houses for the poor?
From the first time I voted in 1984 through the last election in 2016 I always voted for a Republican. Reagan, Bush, Bush, Dole, Bush, Bush, McCain, Romney, McMullin*
(*- ran as Independent)
That last one isn't Trump. There were reasons for that four years ago. Too many to mention other than I felt he was unworthy of the office, and his Democratic opponent was equally unworthy. I voted for the person who best represented me and my values even knowing he would not win. That's what you're supposed to do in an election for any office.
There's a lot for me to dislike about Joe Biden. On the surface he seems moderate enough even though eight years as Vice President under Barack Obama would suggest otherwise. His choice of Kamala Harris as his running mate I felt was a mistake as she is too far to the left politically for my comfort level.
(For you assholes who think I dislike her because she is a woman and a person of color, stop reading this now and wallow in your ignorance elsewhere.)
While I don't totally buy into the recent "gotcha" story that allegedly involves corruption with his son Hunter, his past plagiarism when it comes to speeches he's given does give me cause to wonder about how original his thinking will be.
Stands the Democratic Party have taken over issues like defunding police make my stomach turn. In general I might understand the left but agree with very little of their overall agenda, and Biden is the flag bearer for them, even though he has claimed the platform is his and not the DNC's. I think at the end of the day they're his handlers more than he is their champion.
Even thinking about voting for Joe Biden now makes me queasy, and yet after all of this for me to choose to vote for him means something is very, very wrong with this country in general and the current President of the United States in particular.
Donald Trump's narcissism is far and away my biggest problem because every single problem he has that is an issue for me stems from this.
Every. Single. One.
His narcissism is such, that he continuously gets in his own way. Decisions he makes, things he says, all stemming from how he feels or how he's made to feel based on questions asked or criticism given.
Never before has a President of the United States worked so hard to control the narrative. I don't recall any president before him, Republican or Democrat, go out of his way to attack journalists who dare to present news which, even when 100% factual but puts him in a negative light, is labeled as "fake news". Trump's almost robot like in the way he responds to critique resorting to name calling and Tweet Rage.
Speaking of Twitter, he spends way too much time on it. Even though I appreciate he uses the platform to bypass the media, clearly he has better things to do than spend hours on end playing on social media especially when it comes to being petty with critics and opponents and spreading misinformation about things like Covid-19.
I disagree that Trump single-handedly destroyed the economy. That's a lie the Biden camp is happy to sell to anyone willing to buy into. Governors in most of the 50 states acted to stem the spread of the virus and those lockdowns were the largest contributing factor to the slowdown. That being said, Trump's handling of the pandemic did contribute to the economic downturn and if he had listened to the medical experts early on, if he had attempted to cooperate with states who needed federal assistance - especially states headed by Democratic governors who he deliberately shunned, and had he simply been honest about what he was told about Covid-19 at the onset, I believe that our economic situation would be nowhere near as bad, and that we could be seeing real recovery by mid-2021. One can only speculate as to how many lives may been saved, but I believe had Trump been humble and led by example when it came to masking up in public many people would have stayed safe.
Trump's conspiracy claims aren't as far fetched as they may seem. A significant number of Democrats had been targeting him since the night he won the election and never relented. Their hatred of Trump only played into his hands allowing him to cast doubt over allegations of Russian collusion, and targeting the Bidens in Ukraine. He was only emboldened by this, and when Russian collusion could not be proven beyond reasonable doubt, and the rushed impeachment trial failed over the Ukraine issue. "See I told you so!" coming from Trump under these circumstances were enough to bring his base of supporters even closer and to feed his narcissism even more.
Russia, Russia, Russia. I don't believe for a moment Trump colluded with Vladimir Putin, despite the irrefutable evidence that Russian intelligence very much interfered in the 2016 election and that interference benefited Trump, from the DNC email hack exposing the screw job committee heads put on Bernie Sanders to ensure a Hillary Clinton nomination, to the memes and "news articles" that spread vile stories and misinformation and promoted division amongst Americans. Putin is far too smart to have worked directly with Trump or anyone in his campaign because if they had colluded and been caught, which would have been likely, even the most hardcore Trump supporters could not tolerate a US President appearing to bend the knee to the Russians and Putin knows that better than just about anyone. When the time came to confront Putin over his and his government's misdeeds in the 2016 election especially when the FBI had the goods on Putin to hold over his head, Trump simply had a chat with Putin, asked if he's responsible, was told no, then announced to the world he believed Putin. Remember Trump had long since fired James Comey from the head of the FBI and replaced him so there was no reason for Trump to believe they were conspiring against him. The fact Trump took the word of an adversary over an organization devoted to protecting the United States speaks volumes.
You can see that for yourself.
Treating our allies poorly doesn't help either. His outrageous actions at the G-7 summit, his threats to pull the US out of NATO, his Border Wall rhetoric, his forcing negotiations with Canada and Mexico to replace NAFTA have contributed to making this country look bad in the eyes of our closest friends. Weakened alliances only encourage countries such as Russia, China, and Iran to chip away at those long-standing ties.
Most recently, and most disturbing of all, is Trump setting the stage to reject the results of the election and even suggesting that people go to the polls to observe others, hence voter intimidation. Also, despite my own concerns about the overwhelming number of people who will be voting my mail - several times higher than usual - Trump continues to cast doubt about the legitimacy of the election. No president or presidential has ever done that before. Even Al Gore, who held onto hopes of winning in 2000 during the Florida vote debacle, ever questioned it after the issue was settled. Clearly when a leader appears to want to tear down the one element of a democracy that makes this country a democracy, the ability to freely elect someone, that simply cannot be tolerated.
I thought about voting for an independent candidate or a third-party nominee. If this were like 2016 that might be the way to go. The circumstances are so different now. The stakes are far too high to leave things to chance. Clearly this is an either/or vote, and any vote not for Biden works to favor Trump.
I don't like Joe Biden but I got to know him for 8 years as the Vice President.
I don't like Donald Trump and I got to know him for the last 4 years as President.
This election isn't even about choice anymore for me. It's about necessity. It's about protecting our country.
Donald Trump has proven himself to me to be unworthy, unable, and unfit to continue as our President. He did not live up to his oath of office. He threatens the fabric of our democracy,
Whatever I may dislike about Joe Biden, I believe that he will at least attempt to clean up the mess that Trump will leave behind, attempt to heal the divide where he can, and at least smooth things over with our allies while sending a message to our adversaries that the great experiment of 2016 is over.
That's why I will be voting for Joe Biden. I don't want to. There's just no viable alternative.
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
My view on Trump - Part One
Saturday, April 11, 2020
Sunday, May 12, 2019
My Battle of the Bulge. Part I
I'm standing on the scale at home, and the number says 331 pounds.
New Years Day is the day where people attempt to make resolutions. Most of the time it's about weight. Eating better, getting better, whatever the case may be.
Jodi and I had committed to going low carb and eventually keto in an effort to lose weight because truth is we need to.
I didn't want to do the low carb diet. Diets had always either failed me or I failed them and in either case it didn't seem like there was compatibility between me and a weight loss plan. Aging is a bitch too, with lower testosterone levels and hardly anything resembling metabolism as part of that package I was resigned to the fact I would always be on the heavier side. Its not as though I didn't care I just felt there was nothing that would actually work.
I promised Jodi I would do this with her; that we would do this together, and I began to scour the web for recipes that were tasty but fell into the low carb ballpark. Lucky for me I'm one of those people who will eat something that tastes good and find very little that doesn't taste good.
Even with that, there was the issue of commitment. Could I stay true to this when I hadn't done so with other attempts before? Am I finally ready?
I decided if this was going to work I had to have a few things going for myself. I wanted to do this on my terms.
So the first rule was to cut out the one thing I know I would want more than anything. Potato. It's kind of a prerequisite to cut out all sugars and starches with low carb, but I know taters are the one food that would wreck me and my effort. If I let myself have a little here and there then eventually I would be making excuses to have it all the time. I had to quit it cold turkey.
Second was not bringing home soda (or at least no longer buying 12-packs and cases). Next to the taters, this was a commitment I needed to make some major effort on. I drank way too much soda and even at work I do. But I didn't need to do it at home as much. I felt by substituting sparkling water in place of soda (the unsweetened, natural essence flavored kind) at least that would help cleanse the body more.
Third rule was counting carbs and reading labels. There's no way to avoid all the starches and sugars but knowing what I am eating and what it's made of does make a difference. Low carb recipe books are all over the place and people post tons of keto friendly and low carb recipes to try. Again with my agreeable taste palette this was a win win in order to try new things or old things new ways.
The fourth rule was Cheat Day. A day where if I went off the beaten path and ate pretty much whatever I wanted I would do so shamelessly with the understanding that there's only one day like that per week and the other six are on the up and up. This rule has been mostly followed. I have added a cheat day here and there but even then I still never went too far overboard.
The fifth rule was all about motivation. Focus on CAN, not CAN'T. I always looked at diets as negative. Worried about what I can't have and can't do. It's easy to get discouraged with that mindset and having a setback. I believe that CAN'T leads to WON'T and WON'T leads to NEVER. On the flip side I believe that CAN leads to WILL and WILL leads to ALWAYS. So I chose to push forward.
My first cheat day came just two weeks in at the company work party. The spread was pretty rich and extremely tempting. I was down 8 pounds at this point and while I didn't feel much different I felt good about the progress. I actually behaved through dinner being conscious about what I ate... until desert. A scoop each of vanilla and mint chocolate chip topped with caramel and hot fudge. Man that tasted so good. After that, I stopped at Taco Bell. I stuck with my rules and got right back on the horse the following day.
Along the way there have been a few other cheat days. In each case, I never let the guilt get to me and continued to focus on what I needed to do the rest of the week.
It's now May 12th.
I'm standing on the scale at home and the number says 281 pounds.
I'm still clinically obese and I still have a long way to go to get down to a healthy weight.
I've been blessed with a tremendous support system. My wife, my family and my friends have all been pushing me to keep going. I know now that I can do this. I have shed 50 pounds in 4 1/3 months and I'm not slowing down if I can help it.