Bill DeWert

Since the mudslinging continues and conflated questions are being asked, how about a different discussion?

Why is there an almost three-month wait between the election and the inauguration? Well, there is the 20th Amendment that determines that, but why? Probably because communication was not the best then. It's instantaneous today.

Surely within a week or two of election results, transition teams have been vetted and could assume the mantle of the presidency by the end of November...maybe the day after Thanksgiving, when most people are off work (I think most people in our class are not working much anyway!) and can witness it on their streaming device.  The two chambers of Congress are most important regarding law-making and decisions (except for war...remember duck and cover?!). The outgoing president will have made pardoning decisions by then also.

So, what's the solution? A new amendment!...not an easy process.

Robert Holmgren

Answering Paul Elmquist's 3 main issues.

Paul: To me there are three main issues we should be voting about and thus choose who can lead us in addressing them: 

1. the existential challenge of climate change and moving to mitigate it as much as we can for our kids and grandkids.

(Hundreds of billions spent to affect satillite derived global temperature readings showing a very modest increase and it has not lowered global temperature one bit.  Even during the worldwide Covid lockdowns there was no downward change.  Billions more will be spent expecting a different result.  President Obama's science advisior Prof. Steven Koonin had concluded that the argument for catistrophic climate change is overblown.)

2. democracy vs authortianship and which form of government we really want

(The currrent US government leadership has worked to remove speech of ordinary citizens on social media that they disapprove.  Going so far as to deny them to president Trump.  Furthermore, the current sitting government has imprisioned non-violent demonstrators who were charged with misdemeanors. The current sitting government has continued to work with local government agencies to convict and imprision their chief political rival while ironically fearing that a next Trump administration will do that to them as well.)

3. human rights, esp. women's rights to their own bodies. 

(Abortion is lawful in every state in the union although there are widely different time limits in most states.  The average limit on abortion in Europe is 16 weeks.  Most states, limit it to around the time a fetus is viable outside of the womb--around 21 weeks.  In California it's at 23 weeks. It is not considered a fundamental right such as we recognize in the constitution.  When Roe v Wade was decided the Supreme Court made the claim that abortion was based on a 'right of privacy' which they could not specify from where that right comes. Even Supreme Court justice Ginsberg thought that such a claim was a legal probem and felt that it should've been decided by states.  Meanwhile our privacy is violated by government by recording every phone call, email, and bank transaction.)

Tom DiPuma

I was going to respond, but Robert took the words out of my mouth and put them back together in a literate fashion....  Thank you Robert..

Save Democracy?  Putin puts political enemies in prison, takes their property,  or just kills them.  He uses a judicial system made up of puppets that his communist party has appointed or "elected".    The Trump family and his supporters have been viciously targeted.   Hillary, Biden, Hunter and various Democratic operatives were shielded from prosecution.  That is a perversion of "Democracy".   

Save the Planet?  The USA produces energy, raw materials and manufactured goods with the least negative impact on the environment of any nation.  The more produced here, the better.  Vote for the candidate that will bring home that production!    War creates dramatic pollution.   Vote for the candidate that has aa track record of peace and limited kinetic action with enemies of the state. 

Freedom of Choice?   When can one kill in Self-Defense?  When is there life?  I don't think there is one answer or that a vote either way in tis election will answer questions like these.  

We were lucky to be brought up in Rockford, go to East High and have the opportunities afforded by a growing economic environment over the past 60 years.   God Bless you all...    

Wayne Christensen

Heather Cox Richardson, "Letters From An American," October 27

"I stand corrected. I thought this year’s October surprise was the reality that Trump’s mental state had slipped so badly he could not campaign in any coherent way. 

It turns out that the 2024 October surprise was the Trump campaign’s fascist rally at Madison Square Garden, a rally so extreme that Republicans running for office have been denouncing it all over social media tonight. 

There was never any question that this rally was going to be anything but an attempt to inflame Trump’s base. The plan for a rally at Madison Square Garden itself deliberately evoked its predecessor: a Nazi rally at the old Madison Square Garden on February 20, 1939. About 18,000 people showed up for that “true Americanism” event, held on a stage that featured a huge portrait of George Washington in his Continental Army uniform flanked by swastikas . . . . "

[https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/october-27-2024?r=dz4z2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email]

Gary Knodle

Thanks, Robert and Tom for jumping in and rationally and concisely vocalizing your thoughts.  In high school, we may have restrained ourselves, out of fear of being ostracized and misjudged. No doubt we are more knowledgeable , more introspective, and not low information voters. 

Tom DiPuma

We were so fortunate and blessed with opportunities.   College or good jobs after high school graduation, graduate school or good jobs after compulsive military service and companies growing and investing in continuing education, new technologies and management skills development for years to follow...

We learned that if you want people to change any one of their fundamental beliefs or accept new information about the cause/effect of how new products, technical advances or environmental changes impact outcomes - you first had to understand how they processed new information, evaluated it and accepted that it indeed changed his/her/its fundamental belief.   If you were good at helping people navigate that process, you were  usually very successful as a "salesperson".  It is an honorable and rewarding path to take. 

The first thing learned in the early to mid 1970's is that people process and accept/anchor new infromation and ideas in several different ways;

• using emotional intelligence anchored by understanding the feeling of completion and comparative "right or wrong" that your new information evokes,
• using rational intelligence or perfected cause/effect logic to "proove beyond reasonable doubt" that the new information is true and the cause/effect of it you propose is valid, 
• and last, using visual contuniuity or "seeing the events unfold" and producing the outcomes you proposed when including the newly proposed information.

The second thing was that you needed to communicate new information when your target audience ("customer") was in an accepting emotional, rational or open minded state to accept the new infromation.  In simple words, can she/he/it had to be open to taking in the new information as credible enough to try "dry running" how it may "Feel", "See" or "Rationally Impact" her/his/its existing beliefs?   In other words, not distracted or in another state of mind that blocked the acceptance of new information.

The third thing learned was that it/he/she has a dominant method of anchoring their beliefs - one of the three mentioned.above and that if they are in a state of anger, elation or fear - they down acceptance of any new infromation.     The good news is that creating anger, elation or fear AFTER new information is "accepted as valid" CHANGES AND CEMENTS the new belief.   

Organizations competing to cement or change your beliefs and behavior probably emphasize one of those three tactics.  They all can work.  It is more difficult to communicate new information to an "emotional learner" and change their beliefs - because it is really hard to navigate the process of creating a comparitive emotional experience to alter or replace the current belief.    That is why there is so much money spent on creating anger, frustration, and fear of the competing political candidate.   Creating massive negative emotion anchors beliefs in the already faithful. It also sharply alienates those with opposing views or those who are undecided AND learn by reason or visualization of outcomes.    

I can not wait for this election to be over.  It will not end the billions of dollars invested in creating fear, uncertainty and doubt.  Too many entities have a vested interest in keeping that dissonance alive.  It changes and directs behavior.   But at least, it could dial back for a few years...  Isn't it amazing that we are focused more on this election than of the death on 100,000's in the far corners of the world?  (My friends in europe and the mid east have other issues to take their attention.)    Let's hope it does not come to our shores. 

Be safe, take a breath and vote with calm and confidence that you have accepted a reasonable amount of new information about the behavior and intentions of both candidates.  Read at least two sources of news/information from EACH side that vigorously support their beliefs.   In the end, we will probably all make an "emotional" decision, but try reason and visualing by looking back at 2017-2020 through a looking glass - one that filters out the partisan attacks on the adminstration and forces working overtime to create fear, uncertainty and doubt.    That could give you a visual / rational set of outcomes to compare to what we have today and what we could have going forward with either of the two alternatives. 

God bless and Go ERABS!  Or as we chanted - ERA-BS!!!

Gregory Swanson

I'm excerpting a couple of paragraphs from a longer opinion piece by Benedict Cosgrove that appeared today on Newsweek.com. To read the entire article, go to that website.

It's Time to Stop Calling Donald Trump a Fascist

"Say what you will about MAGA, its diversity is impressive.

Election deniers, smasrmy billionaires, hot-for-Armaggedon Christian Nationalists, waterborne Nazis, a shrinking handfull of sadly deluded conservatives, Laura Loomer, Roseanne Barr, Rudy Giuliani - far from a monolith, MAGA is a rainbow coalition of insurrectionists, cranks and pin-striped goons.

Recently, however, more and more observers have taken to painting the movement and especially its sundowning 78-year old leader awith a single, saucy epithet: Fascist. . . .

. . . Consider this: As loathgesome as the fascism shaped and practiced in the 1930s and 1940s Europe, Greece's Golden Dawnin the 1980s, President Vladimir Putin's Russia, etc.certainly is, it is nonetheless a functional, considered ideology, with a generally sound internal logic of its own. One can despise fascism while respecting its rigor and its tribalistic appeal.

It is not possible, on the other hand, - or shouldn't be, anyway - for any sane human over the age, say, of 7 or 8 to respect a pathologically dishonest, intellectually bereft, morally bankrupt sexual abuser and autocrat-fanboy like Trump.

If Trump fits within any political tradition, it's a sort of blunt, low-cunning authoritarianism: MAGA, after all, is an authoritarian movement, just as today's GOP is a patently authorian party. But any two-bit goon can be an authoritarian; it takes at least normal adherance to an ideology to be a legit, committed fascist.

Fascist true believers might have his ear. He might bellow fascist talking point at his rallies. He might admire fascists, living an dead. But, far from an ideological warrior, Trump's animatiung principle appears to be bone-deep, reflexive gangsterism wedded to frenzied self-preservation.

How can I stay out of prison? How can I pry more money out of my pathetic cult? How can I destroy those who question mu authority, make me look weak, laugh in my face?

Fascism is a scourge, but it's a known scourge, with recoginzable antecedents.

Trumpism is a new, still-evolving, ultra-right pathoilogy, fueled largely by greed and grievance and positively brimming with malice.

Which prospect should we fear more?"

This. my friends, is the elephant in the room.

Gloria Chostner (Swanson)

Curtis (Curt)) Johnson

Hive already votedHello, all! I've been enjoying reading most of your comments on this hot topic. What i like most of all is that it has brought out a lot of you from the woodwork whom i didnt see at our 50th reunion. Maybe i just didnt get around enough in the vast turnout for those events. Im happy to see that you are still alive, like for example my first friend Tom DiPuma when we were only 3 and 4 years old. Tom, i remember being so impressed with your electric train set. The rest of you i emember from class in high school, such as Bill DeWert from freshman English class and Paul (just had a core dump on my memory of your last name, sorry!) from Miss McGuire's tough college prep literature class. I never was able to answer any of her test questions. My only salvation was my talent in writing themes and in memorizing her vocabulary lists. Despite all that, i loved the old battle axe, may she rest in peace. 

I've already voted. For me, the determining decision relied on the issues, not the puerile (how do you like that 50cent word, Miss McGuire?) personal smears. 

Going back to the 50th, my favorite part was the tour of the Coronado theater and that beautiful rising organ. So many good memories of movies there and sneaking up to the balcony, which always seemed to be closed off.

William Midgett

Is it time for a reality check and a deep breath?  Life will go on after November 5th in spite of the fear mongering by either party.  Let's be thankful for our right to vote as secured by others and entrusted to us.  It is our responsibility to exercise this right  by making a thoughtful choice and supporting the democratic  process.  The class of 64 is special,  just like all the other classes graduating in 1964 in that we have lived through an abundance of global, technological and social changes giving us some perspective.  It's not our group identity, social status or our political mantras  that make us special. Rather, each one of us is special to others within our small corners of the  world, and that our individual acts of kindness/respect shown  toward others (not our religious or political views) will make small but  lasting  differences in the quality of our lives starting right now.

In my neighborhood,  I see lawn signs on adjacent properties supporting Trump or Harris.  I don't expect to see a For Sale sign to appear on either of those lawns on Nov. 6th.  After the election, when those signs are taken down, the real work of citizens/ neighbors continues as we put away the political contempt for one another and begin to build on our shared values and common needs. If we would only invest in trying to understand the "other",  we may discover that we already share a few similar values that will allow us to begin restoring the concept of being united in more than just our name, United States of America.  

My favorite bumper sticker of the summer and for this fall election season  ---- "Anyone can criticize, but can you inspire?"

Linda Bergquist (Johnson)

I have really enjoyed everyone's posts and their ideas -- Let's just say that we all have to get along and Love one another!!  I don't know about anyone else --- but there has been more name calling and that kinda stuff in any election that I have lived thru.  It is time to try and to get rid of all the it's my way or no way!! -- and lets hope that the next elected Congress and President can get back to the way it was when we were  first starting out!!l  Working together for the good on the entire country!!  I also will be really glad when it is all over and we can all be friends again!!

Gloria Chostner (Swanson)

Gary Knodle

The Bible is the Manual. Let's no call it by any other name. 

Tom DiPuma

Curtis, What a chuckle!   I know you enjoyed knowing that you sent us to the dictionary - well probably some of us - that didn't assunme you were referring to hand sanitizer!     To save evreyone time: 

Puerile refers to something that is immature, silly, or trivial123. It can describe behavior or writing that lacks seriousness or maturity.

Your note brought back some memories of Patti sampson and Billy Wales - both neighbors and early friends.   I hope you are doing great.   

Barb, I am with you on all of the vitriol (not as good as Curtis's choice) and have hopes it tones down after the elections.  I am a little less optimistic, since there is a "Vitriol - Industrial Complex" with vested interests in keeping us in a steady state of anger and anxiety.  It is a powerful way to manipulate, modify or solidify beliefs and control behavior.  Just ask anyone familiar with abusive relationships and how thay start or stay seemingly locked in place for so long until something drastic happens to expose the danger it causes.    Maybe it use in  this election cycle has now gone too far to the extreme and it has been exposed as a the worn out, disrespectful and abusive cynical tool it is.  

Good thoughts to you all.  

Gregory Swanson

Bill and Gary, here's the deal - in my case, and that of hundreds of millions of other people, well, we have a different operating system, so your manual, which I'm sure works for you, isn't really applicable for the rest of us. And, that's as deep as I'm going to go into religion on a public forum.

Bill DeWert

Greg and Gloria...Does everyone have a truth that is THE truth? That's called secularism or anarchy...take your pick. Just a word from The Word (or "Manuel" as Gloria calls it)...from David, father of Solomon, the wisest man on earth, from Psalms 14:1-The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." and from Ps 53:1, the EXACT same words. So you have a choice while you're still on this earth. I'd urge you to take it! 

With love and respect...

Robert Willey

Gary you don't sound like someone who has Jesus in their leart. What do you think Jesus would have thought of DJT. One should find a way to put morals ahead of some percieved financial gain. Examine your heart and stop acting like a CHiNO (Christian in name only). Love was the message. Not demeaning and name calling and showing disgust of other human beings. What is you religiion good for if you forget how to love. 

Gary Knodle

You don't know me. Sorry to disappoint you Robert, but I have believed in the Bible and Jesus Christ since day one. The Bible, like our Constitution, is not outdated.Christ did not turn his back on Sinners. And it wouldn't hurt Harris to turn to Him. Jimmy Carter may have been the only moral Democrat President, in the last 64 years. Also, as background, I was lucky enough to  spent 2/3 of my college in private colleges with no Marxist professors.  

Four years of Donald Trump was 1000 times better than Biden/Harriis. I live in Texas. The economy under Trump was great. Low inflation, low gas prices and low food prices, low unemployment and the most secure border in decades(maybe since Eisenhower). Do a little research on Harris outside of the corrupt, left-leaning, major media channels, and you might learn that she was raised by a Marxist Father, who taught at Stanford and lives a block from her and never even gets together with her. He didn't even attend the DNC when she was nominated.   I could go on but she can hardly put two sentences together. She is not from the middle class as she said   Growing up,in Canada, in an upper class neighborhood, she attended high school in Canada, she was indoctrinatted in socialism and how capitalism in America was bad.   She lacks education in American History. I'm not sure she has any sense of what America stands for.  

We don't know who Kamela Harris is. She has not expounded on any of her proposed policies or programs and, as border czar, she has flooded the labor market with low priced and low skilled illegal alien laborers , taking jobs away from many low skilled  workers who are American Citizens. She wants to give amnesty to all these illegals, give statehood to DC and Puerto Rico, adding 4 more Democrat  votes in the Senate to control the Senate and add 4 additional Democrat appointed Supreme Court justices to destroy the balance of power in the Supreme Court.   After that, where will be no two-party system and we can all go down the primrose path to Communism. Great legacy to leave our children an grandchildren.  Let us pray for America. We need a non-politician , like Trump to help put America on the path to prosperity. We know the good, the bad and the ugly about Trump, and many people don't like him because he tells it like it is. 

Like him or not, Trump has the guts and a plan to turn America around. Trump's record speaks for itself  and  we were better off under the Trump Administration. Pray to God to help Trump save America  

Tom DiPuma

I was going to stop posting - but making the morality of either Harris or Trump the deciding factor of my vote makes no sense to me.  The shame of a male leveraging his power to serve his passion also requires a woman willing to use sex to serve her passion or in some cases her career goals.   It is unfair that a woman is in that position - but also unfair to the male competitor for the position she gains from that encounter (think of the highly qualified male who was seeking the District Attorney role Kamala was placed onto by her "mentor". 

Harris was a wiling participant in that bargain she made with the then married Willie.  Trump is accused of using his position unethically to serve his passions.  I have decided to set those "character flaws" aside as a determining factor to determine which candidate I vote for to manage and direct the assets and power of the USA and instead, will look to their capabilities and leadership track record of actually accomplishing complicated and high value outcomes.    I hope you all do the same.     Unfortunately, both candidiates have a poor resume regarding thier history of ether using sex or power as a tool to further their immediate or career needs....  

Robert Willey

I am uneducated but I guess the story about Harris is not known to be true, but the stuff we know about DJT in past times would have eliminated him on day one. The complete breakdown in what we thought was true and mattered is affecting our entire society. We didn't have this ugliness until the Tea Party started it, and its going to take a tremendous change to make us friends again. I never really thought that such a large segment of society would give up on the scientific method and decide that truth is what they wish it to be. Do you want your grandkids to be exposed to the kind of speech that DJT is hurling out. We could use a little taming down, but I guess when Rove showed that nastiness wins we got stuck with it and as long as it works it will stay with us. And last but not least do we really want anger and lies to send people into the streets with guns. Ouch! We could use a little dose of reality.

Gary Knodle

Which story?  I'm not one of them, but I have friends who are Democrats that I can't even talk to them about anything political without jeopardizing our friendship. It's very sad.

All we can do is pray for our country and pray that things don't get out of hand .  

Robert Holmgren

It is laudable that voters take into account the moral rectitude of candidates for office.  Many pro-Trump and anti-Trump voters are concerned about his speech and behaviors.  Arguments have been framed around expectations of Christian teaching.  All of which is fair game in political contests even if those challenging Christians are not Christian themselves.  However, much of this concern is merely in favor of a different political outcome.  In otherwards if the same claims were made against a favored candidate morality would no longer be a concern; As was the case in the 1996 election when President Clinton was the target of the moral argument due to his immoral past.  

Gary Knodle

We may be the last generation to grow up with a good education. It's a shame. We had government classes and civics classes, and history classes, that we're not revisionist history. The kids growing up now don't have the chance that we had to succeed in life or as a human being, and I lament that fact. We had teachers who tried to, and still values in us. We had teachers that we could look up to. We had teachers who wanted to teach instead of indoctrinate. We got an education that Titus value of reading entitles value of learning. I always kept in mind. The reason for me going to school was to learn how to learn, and that was accomplished 
 

Although it's nice to have a leader who is moral, that is something that we haven't always seen in our lifetime. We may have only experienced two moral and righteous Presidents , One from each party.

If we make it through this election, I hope that they break up the monopoly that certain corporations have over the media. That might end some of the corruption that exist, and we might actually get real news, rather than fake news.
We have many crises in this Country;:However, one of the worst is this open border, and the fact that other countries are dumping the dregs of society on us, emptying the prisons. It was just reported that an illegal alien sexually assaulted for children in Louisiana. This problem is not gonna go away until the illegal aliens go away. In the early 20th century, we had all kinds of legal immigration that came through Ellis Island, and were major contributors to the growth of the United States. There was no welfare given to these legal immigrants. They were released to their relatives with the understanding that if they did not make it, the relatives would take care of them and help them.
actions speak louder than words. Under President Eisenhower, 7 million illegal aliens were deported. It can be done again. That would be a first step into helping our economy and saving our country. Patriots unite! We have to think about the United States first.

Gloria Chostner (Swanson)

Robert Willey

When I refer to moral issues with DJT I'm noting he cheats at golf. For god's sakes who is so sick to cheat at golf. He stiffs people he hires to work for him. He refuses to pay his debts. He still owes Phoenix big money for rally there and the same in other cities. He cheated in his business to get preferred loan rates (proven in court). This man has no moral compass except the almighty buck. That is his bucks. Why does anyone worship this heartless person. Hugging the flag does not make you a patriot. Avoiding war with heel spurs does not make you a patriot. So what is going on ? I guess we all hear what we want to hear. So be it. See you on the other side of Nov 5. Good luck!