I know it’s cliche, but all politics are local works on many levels. Unfortunately, the clown show that will soon be the federal government, full of corruption and misinformation, is going to bring hell to the USA and the world. Many innocents will die unnecessarily for many reasons (Ukrainians, Gazans, pregnant people, etc.) just to suit the ego of a few people, and in particular one extremely flawed man in decline. I predict mass incarceration and police brutality will be emboldened, together with the racism that promptly saw the harassment of Black people with texts asking them to pick cotton the day after the election.

If there’s any good news from my perspective about the 2024 elections, it’s that with local politics things went the way I had hoped. I supported my friend Andrea Sorce for mayor of my city of Vallejo and she was victorious, even though I like the other three candidates and have known two of them for a while. Our new state senator I got to meet on election night at Andrea’s election party and he remembered me from our zooms and emails, which was nice. Christopher Cabaldon is a gay half-European/half-Filipino guy just like Shea and was a very successful mayor of West Sacramento. Cassandra James is northern Vallejo’s supervisor officially now, although I’m not her constituent. Similarly, my friend Alex Matias is for District 1 in northern Vallejo, but he was victorious. My new city councilmember, Tonia Lediju, is my friend and she was uncontested in her bid to run for that office.

I am grateful to live in this state (California) but really done with the USA experiment. I have had so much respect for those who have served in the military including so many in my family (soon to be five generations). However, American pride is really gone when I think about how the electorate in disproportionately powerful states are invoking the worst of the puritanical roots of this country’s political origin.

Yes I’m lucky that I am eligible for European citizenship, even though Italy itself, the country through which I can obtain that citizenship, has a fascist bitch at the helm. However, that country still has universal healthcare and a high standard of living, even based on my own family’s prosperity. Almost all of them have a vacation home in addition to their primary home, which they own. They work far fewer hours and have vastly more time off from work.

I woke up this morning considering throwing my US flag in the garbage. I used to insist on having it out for every holiday that was appropriate to show that a liberal like me would still always identify as American. I don’t think I can bring myself to do that again, even if the next president is a butch, full melanin, indigenous Latina trans woman. I would say, “great,” but it will never reverse allowing Bush 2 to get the popular vote the second time because he used racist electoral college methods to steal the presidency the first time. Very similarly the name recognition of Felon McRapist was something the ignorant American electorate gravitated to rather than another overqualified, experienced, and competent woman.

Cults are a real problem and misinformation is rampant. Things are not going to get better, but the white supremacists will go to the ends of the earth to maintain their power.

He doesn’t know what a tariff is. He doesn’t know what a socialist or fascist is. Everything is a word salad and the man is declining, with a 39-year-old nutjob as his VP pick.

What could possibly go wrong?

As president of Glen Cove Community Association, I had the privilege of being asked to present a question to the mayoral candidates of Vallejo at the Alliance of Vallejo Neighborhood Associations, which took place at JFK Library near city hall.

You can find me in a few of these pictures taken by others at the event:

Shea, the dogs, and I visited Quarters Cafe on Mare Island to meet up with some activist locals.

Go Andrea!