The 2024 U.S. Presidential Election - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

At this time 24 hours from now, results will be coming in for the 2024 U.S. elections with all eyes on the outcome of the presidential election between current Vice-President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

It might take several days for the results to be clear perhaps longer depending on the outcome. But from where I sit the results of the presidential election will be good, bad or ugly.

Good

The only good outcome of the presidential election is a Kamala Harris victory.

In this case, victory entails Harris surviving shenanigans by Trump and his quislings to overturn the will of the people and be inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States on January 20, 2025. Should this come to pass let us also hope there will be no attempt by Trump and his quislings to overthrow the Harris Administration.

It must be said that good isn't perfect. Harris will be constrained both by Congress of which one at least House controlled by Republicans and a conservative Supreme Court. I will also invariably disagree with some of the things a Harris Administration will say and do. Should I be dissatisfied with Harris' stewardship then it is quite possible that come 2028, I might choose a different President. But this is exactly what democracy ought to be. 

Kamala Harris isn't entitled to my vote in four years from now, but she has earned it this year. She has earned it by seeking to help others rather seeking retribution for oneself.

Bad 

A bad outcome would be a Harris victory which Congress fails to certify and sees fit to choose Trump with the Supreme Court bestowing its blessing. Should Congress and the Supreme Court see fit to disregard the free choice of the American people then we shall cease to be a democracy. 

One could argue this isn't the first time this has come to pass with Bush vs. Gore in 2000. But Bush did not stay in power for life and was widely praised for his efforts towards a smooth transition to the Obama Administration. 

Should Trump return to power by dubious means then all bets are off because we would truly be in uncharted territory. Above all else, do not expect Trump to surrender power willingly. Indeed, this scenario would invariably result in massive protests which a second Trump Administration would crush mercilessly. 

There are those such as David French who does not believe that any effort by Trump to overturn the election will end in failure. But that doesn't mean he won't try and as long as he tries one cannot discount the possibility he might succeed. 

Ugly

An ugly outcome would be a Trump win. 

It would be ugly because Trump has made it loud and clear that he is seeking retribution. When I heard Trump say he'd be a dictator on day one, I understood it to be his intention to suspend the Constitution. Should this come to pass, and it survives judicial challenges, then Trump is free to jail and execute his enemies real and imagined, restrict the First Amendment by shutting down the free press, and make himself President-for-Life. 

If a second Trump terms results in Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, the Obamas, the Clintons, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and Liz Cheney being imprisoned and/or executed for treason then none of us are safe. What consequences would I face from a second Trump Administration for posting these thoughts? Would I lose the job I worked so hard to earn? Or would I lose a great deal more than that?

What makes this truly ugly is that we will have freely chosen this path with no hope of going back. There are a great many Trump supporters who despise immigrants, look down upon women and LGBTQ persons and cannot countenance any viewpoint contrary to their own. These are people who are sick of democracy and want to try something else. 

I also believe there are Trump supporters who are still convinced that he is more bark than bite. I should mention I have come across those who loathe Trump as much as I do who are not convinced that he will become a dictator. Over the weekend, I was having dinner with one such anti-Trump friend who after reading Tim Alberta's article in The Atlantic about the chaos at the now infamous Madison Square Garden rally is convinced that Trump is too stupid to be a dictator. 

At this stage, we can ill-afford to underestimate Trump whatever the outcome of the election. Let us remember that Trump tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power once. If we reject him again, Trump won't take no for an answer and try once more.

But if he wins then the gloves are off. The Supreme Court has basically told him he can do whatever the hell he wants. So why wouldn't he? The only way not to answer that question is to not give Trump another chance.

Conclusion

For the moment, America still has a choice, and we can still choose a good outcome. Yet it is possible that we can make the right choice, and it might not be enough to prevent nefarious forces from imposing an outcome not of our choosing. Or we might see fit to burn it all down. 

It remains to be seen which door America will choose to open. I can only we choose the door which won't lock behind us.

On Being Promoted

I wish to share some good news. Tomorrow, I will begin my duties as a Records Lead at the law firm where I work in Boston's Seaport District. 

What this will mean is that I will be involved in billing with our vendors, approving time sheets and supervising records personnel here in Boston as well as in our offices in Los Angeles and in San Francisco. 

It remains to be seen if I will be visiting those offices, but I'm sure that could be a possibility down the road. Should this come to pass, it would mark the first time I've ever set foot in California. At the very minimum, I will need to familiarize myself with California labor law which is even more generous for employees than Massachusetts. Of course, I will also be attending a lot more meetings and mandatory trainings. But this will come with better compensation. 

To say that my return to Boston in May 2021 has proved to be fortuitous would be an understatement. Consider what I wrote in my year-end postmortem on December 31, 2022:

For me, 2022 was my best year in many years. Dare I say perhaps the best year of my life.

I say this in great part because I spent the entire year back in the Boston-Cambridge-Somerville area after having moved thrice between 2018 and 2021. Simply put I am where I want to be.

I also say this because I am in my best employment situation in a decade. It is the first time in a long time where I have been in an environment people where rely on me and where my knowledge and judgment is respected and valued. Granted my position is relatively low on the totem pole but someone has to keep the totem pole sturdy.

Since writing that entry I have continued to maintain the trust of my managers and while building stronger relationships in the firm. Because of this I have now climbed the totem pole a few rungs but remain close enough to the ground to keep things steady.  

Of course, there will be a period of adjustment. How long this adjustment will take remains to be seen. We will be hiring a new Records Associate to take over the position that I hold now in a month's time. It will take time to get him fully acclimated into the scheme of things as well. Fortunately, my managers are patient and understanding. This is key as this is far from a given in many workplaces. 

As the law firm in based in Boston, there is always much work to be done. But better to be busy than not. There are far worse things with which I could be occupying my time.

While I am confident that I will succeed in my new role, I am not without some nervousness in the recesses of my mind. Last night, I dreamed I was working in a grocery store where I was promoted only to have all of my work questioned and delegitimized before I awoke. 

Such worries are only natural. However, I do have a strong base of support at work and have no reason to believe this will change for the foreseeable future.

I suspect most people don't seek out to become a Records Clerk. When I lived in Ottawa, I spent 2½ years as a Records Clerk with what was then known as Revenue Canada. At the time, I was also working on my MA at Carleton University part-time. My ambition was to attain political work of some sort preferably with an elected official or in some capacity with the NDP. Aside from some internships with several NDP MPs and my involvement with the late Alexa McDonough's successful NDP leadership campaign in 1995, I never went far down this path as I had hoped. I did have some job interviews with a couple of NDP MPs, but nothing ever came of it.

When I got laid off from Revenue Canada late in 1999, I set my sights on finding political work in the U.S. Indeed, when I moved to Boston nearly 25 years ago it was as an organizer for the now defunct ACORN. This position lasted all of two weeks.

During my early years in Boston, I worked several jobs in the non-profit sector for a child abuse hotline and later in the vocational rehabilitation field. This did not prove successful either. While I was decent at these jobs, I generally found the working environment to be toxic and unfriendly. 

In late 2003, I found myself working as a Records Clerk once more this time for an insurance company in Boston's Financial District. Until my current position, this was my most successful undertaking as I worked in this role for nearly a decade before getting laid off. I spent a couple of years as a floater before starting to work as Records Clerk in a law firm environment for the first time a decade ago.

During this period, now with a more conservative outlook, I was also contributing articles to The American Spectator earning extra money. I was hoping to parlay this into other ventures. Although my articles would occasionally get mentioned elsewhere and I did a few radio interviews, most of the satisfaction I received was seeing my name online. Of course, I would stop contributing to The American Spectator when Bob Tyrrell told me to stop criticizing Donald Trump. It is a decision I have never regretted. Although I contributed some articles to National Review Online and a single article to The Forward while I was in Atlanta, my writing these days is confined to this space. 

I did attain a Paralegal Certificate from Boston University in 2016 resulting in paralegal work as a contractor for HHS for about a year before that came to an abrupt end. After a lengthy period of unemployment, I found myself back as a Records Clerk with another Boston law firm before transferring to New York six months later for yet another Records Clerk job with a different law firm. Then along came COVID which resulted in me losing that job along with millions of other Americans. Seven months later, I made my way to Atlanta for my first Records Lead position only to return to Boston seven months later. 

Amid all the tumult, I came to accept that I am a Records Clerk and that it was a specialty I could take all over the country but has been put to its best use here in Boston. I have paid my dues and am finally being rewarded for it. This has been a long time coming and it has finally arrived. 

Of course, there are no guarantees. We are 48 hours away from a presidential election. Should we see fit to return Donald Trump to the White House, the future of the United States and the world changes irrevocably on both the macro and micro level. If Jeff Bezos can kill a Washington Post editorial endorsing Kamala Harris to stay in good standing with Trump, then what could happen to a Records Clerk with a blog, however obscure, which is less than complimentary to the Orange One?

Well, I will cross that bridge should it come. At this point, I can only deal with the things with which I have some measure of control and as long as I can do that then this promotion will be a success. With that, I look forward to tomorrow.

White Sox Name Venable New Manager to Bring Them From Rock Bottom

(via The Associated Press)

The Chicago White Sox have named Will Venable to be their new manager. 

The Chisox, of course, set a modern MLB record with 121 losses in 2024. The season was split between Pedro Grifol (28-89) and Grady Sizemore (13-32). 

It is curious that the team wasn't prepared to give Sizemore more of a chance given that he was popular with the players. Despite their woeful record, the team did go 8-6 over the past two weeks of the season including wins in 5 of their last 6 games. 

In some ways, Sizemore and Venable are very similar. Both men are 42 with Venable's birthday taking place two days ago. Sizemore played in MLB for 10 seasons while Venable played in MLB for 9 seasons primarily with the San Diego Padres. Sizemore ended his playing career after the 2015 season while Venable finished his in 2016. 

The difference is that Sizemore never expected to be a big-league manager. It was only a year ago, Sizemore was a $15 an hour intern with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Whereas Venable has been groomed to a be a big-league manager. After spending part of the 2017 season in the Chicago Cubs front office, he would join the coaching staff the following year spending two seasons in the dugout followed by two seasons as a coach in the Boston Red Sox dugout before becoming associate manager of the Texas Rangers last year earning a World Series ring under Bruce Bochy's wing. It was only a matter of time before Venable was going to be hired to manage a ballclub.

It would be an understatement to say that Venable has a very tall order in front of him. It remains to be seen if the roster will warm to him as they did Sizemore. Of course, one can be a great communicator, but a manager's words go out the window after the losses start piling up. As such, what are the front office's expectations for Venable to turn the team into a contender in the AL Central? Venable has a multiyear contract, but that could mean two seasons. White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf is nothing if not fickle.

Then again, Will Venable is already a baseball lifer. His father, Max Venable, played in MLB for 12 seasons as well as in Japan, South Korea and in the Dominican Republic and his son went with him everywhere he went. In a sense, Will Venable has been preparing to be a big-league manager his whole life.

Dodgers Best Yankees to Win 8th World Series Title

Congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers who defeated the New York Yankees 7-6 in Game 5 of the World Series to win their 8th championship in franchise history. 

The Dodgers were down 5-0 in the fifth inning when Yankees miscues by Aaron Judge and Anthony Volpe as well as a miscommunication between Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rizzo on a Mookie Betts groundball sparked a five-run rally. The Yankees would regain the lead on a sac fly by Giancarlo Stanton, but the Dodgers would answer with sac flies from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts to give the Dodgers the lead for good. 

To the surprise of no one, Freddie Freeman earned World Series MVP tying a World Series record with 12 RBI which was originally set by New York Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson in the 1960 World Series when the Bronx Bombers fell short to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Freeman hit HR in the first four games of the World Series including a walk-off grand slam in Game 1. He actually homered in six consecutive World Series games going back to 2021 when he was a member of the Atlanta Braves. 

Even diehard Yankees fans were hard pressed to root against Freeman, who aside from being among the most beloved players in MLB, had to leave the team during the summer to address his 3-year-old son Max's ordeal with Guillain-Barre syndrome.

The Dodgers won the first three games of the series. Although they were blown out last night 11-4, the lone Yankees victory was marred by a couple of lame fans who tried to rob Mookie Betts of his glove. 

All 8 of the Dodgers' World Series have come in the past 70 years. The Dodgers won their first World Series title in 1955 against the Yankees while they were still based in Brooklyn. Their remaining titles have been in L.A. - 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981, 1988, 2020 and now 2024. Of course, the championship in 2020 came during the COVID shortened season in which no fans were permitted during the regular season with limited seating capacity in Globe Life Park in Texas and no celebration to boot. So, actually this will be the first time L.A. gets a World Series parade in 36 years. 

And if the Dodgers look to the sky during the parade they might see Fernando Valenzuela smiling upon them as they sing Randy Newman's "I Love L.A.".

Terri Garr Brightened Both the Big and Small Screen

(YouTube screenshot)

This afternoon, I learned of the passing of actress Terri Garr. She had been afflicted with MS for more than two decades, a condition which would eventually force her retirement. Garr would have turned 80 next month. 

Despite being away from acting in the last decade plus of her life, Terri Garr's performances on the big and small screen endure because her presence brightened not only the proceedings but the medium in which they were presented. She made already great films like Young Frankenstein, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Tootsie even better with her warmth and wit. Her frequent appearances on both The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and especially Late Night with David Letterman were always showcases for her droll wit. Garr kept both hosts on their toes, and they liked her for it.

I remember when Garr appeared on Letterman some years after her MS diagnosis. It was difficult for her to move around, and one could not help but feel for her under the circumstances. But her mind remained razor sharp. There was no pitying her. Terri Garr lived a good life and her talents shall live on. R.I.P.

NDP Hangs on in B.C. While Falling Short in Saskatchewan

More than a week after the people of British Columbia voted, the governing NDP has narrowly prevailed yesterday although it remains unclear if they will have a one seat majority or form a minority government with the Green Party. Either way NDP Premier David Eby has a little margin for error.

I will give B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad and his party for one thing. They reject election denialism. I just hope this view continues to prevail among right-wing political parties in Canada should Donald Trump be re-elected next week. Authoritarianism and authoritarian sentiments have a way of spreading. 

Meanwhile, more than 1,100 miles east in Saskatchewan, the NDP fell short as the conservative Saskatchewan Party won its fifth consecutive majority government last night and second straight for Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe. However, the NDP acquitted itself well. While the Saskatchewan is leading and elected in 35 seats, the NDP is leading and elected in 26 seats under new leader Carla Beck. The Saskatchewan Party dominated in rural ridings while the NDP's strength came almost exclusively in Saskatchewan's two largest cities - Regina and Saskatoon. 

Canadian political junkies not satiated with three provincial elections in Saskatchewan, B.C. and in New Brunswick will get a fourth when voters in Nova Scotia go to the polls on November 26th. In a shocking move on Sunday, Nova Scotia's Tory Premier Tim Houston called a snap election only three years into his mandate amid promises of a fixed election next year. It will be interesting to see if Nova Scotia voters punish Houston for his gambit or if he is counting on the opposition vote between the Liberals, NDP and Green Party to be sufficiently divided to give the Tories another term in office. 

Watching election returns in Canada's provinces is, at least for the time being, infinitely more relaxing than watching our own elections.

Today I Voted For Kamala Harris & Tim Walz

 

Today, I voted for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

I had originally planned to wait until after work on Election Day to vote as my precinct is a very short distance from my home. But I decided I want to get this over and done with now. So, I went down the Main Branch of the Cambridge Public Library this afternoon and cast my ballot. 

This wasn't a tough call.

A Harris Administration will govern America in a way which improves the lives of people while preserving American democracy.

A second Trump Administration is not interested in improving the lives of people nor preserving American democracy. It is about seeking retribution against enemies mostly imagined. In the course of seeking this retribution, a second Trump Administration would, among other things, suspend the Constitution giving it the ability to arrest, try and execute their political opponents, shut down the free press, restrict free assembly and speech and otherwise make the lives of Americans as miserable as possible.

Again, not a tough call.

It isn't to say I would agree with every measure implemented by the Harris Administration. I am not without concern regarding how a Harris Administration will approach Israel. However, I am prepared to support the candidate in favor of preserving American democracy. Indeed, if I am dissatisfied with a Harris Administration then I am under no obligation to support it in 2028. Should we choose Trump there is a very reasonable chance there will be no election in 2028. Or if we do have an election in 2028 it will more closely resemble the sort of elections held in Russia. 

This is not a chance I am prepared to take. So, I voted for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

What the rest of the country will do 9 days from now remains to be seen. 

But, for the moment, there is a chance the country will make the right decision.