Cactus and Voting Rights

The mammalarias bloomed yesterday in response to the recent rains.  We saw a couple on the bike ride, and a neighbor sent us this photo.  They're tiny little cacti, and the grow in some of the worst locations, but they seem to thrive with just a little water.

Yesterday was a sad day, filled with the thoughts of what could have been.  Maybe the corona virus would not have been so terrible if we'd had decent leadership.  Maybe the right to vote would have been better protected under a different president.  Perhaps the economy would not have contracted by 31%, the worst in the history of the country.  Had Secretary Clinton won the electoral college, I think we'd all be better off.  But no, we got the orange man.

The comparisons were particularly blatant when watching the three former presidents speak at Representative John Lewis' funeral.  President Obama was on fire, calling out the fact that people are still being beaten and tear gassed, the vote is still suppressed and inequality is still the norm.  He got some flak from Fox news for injecting politics into a eulogy, but these words directly bore on the life of John Lewis.  So, sit down Tucker Carlson.

President Obama's eulogy is on youtube and you can find it here.

The situation at the Post Office continues to deteriorate.  In the name of cost cutting, sorting machines are being turned off early, forcing the hand sorting of mail.  Mail is being left on the floor to be delivered the next day.  The backups of undelivered mail are building, with no real way to fix it under the current directives of Postmaster DeJoy, notorious multimillion dollar Republican donor.  It's voter suppression on a national level.  AZ has early voting ballot drop off, we're going to be doing that instead of mailing them in.  WAPO did an article on the entire postal debacle.

There is no excuse for this.  AZ, a red state, has excellent tracking software.  I know when they received my primary ballot, when it left signature verification and when it was counted.  It's ridiculous that not all states have this capability.  The orange man has zero plans to protect the election - today he proposed that only ballots counted election night should count.  Think about that.  That's after floating the idea of delaying the election yesterday.  Thankfully that is getting zero traction with the Republican party.

In news of acquisition, I finally broke down and bought a new phone.  It's a Samsung Galaxy A51.  I was leaning toward a Google Pixel 3A until the guy at the Costco kiosk told me that if I had been using an HTC, that moving to a Pixel would be painful, different operating system and all that.  Plus, it's been on the market for two years, and after two years getting upgrades is difficult.  They don't transfer files for you anymore.  You have to download a Samsung app, Smart Switch.  After activating the app on both phones, you put them next to each other and the old phone pushes the files you want to the new phone.  It worked, but some cursing and swearing was required.  So, hopefully the next time a coyote poses for me, I can get a decent photo.  I made a screen saver, I feel very technically competent.

 So, that's what's shaking in the hot west.