election

2021 So Far

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In the last days of 2020, I took a walk by the beach. It was cold, but pleasant. And as always, I enjoyed watching the moon rise.

Now it’s nine days into 2021 and this is my first post of the year. It’s impossible for me to write a regular post right now. To a certain extent, I thought I adjusted to the pandemic. Thanksgiving alone was difficult, but Christmas was far worse.

And now as I feared, Trump is pulling all manner of shenanigans and we’re in the midst of a coup. He has always called for violence in this country. Going back to 1989, he called for the deaths of five Black and Latino teens in the Central Park jogger case. They were wrongly accused, but he didn’t care.

Not truly conceding that he lost the election to Joe Biden, Trump riled up his supporters to seek justice for him. Through treason. They violently took over the Capitol resulting in five deaths. Just noticing the number five playing out repeatedly here. He wanted five people killed back then and five died recently. That’s odd….

Anyway, now he’s permanently banned from Twitter and most social media platforms because he continues to incite violence. We only have eleven days before the inauguration of Biden and Harris. So much can happen in that time and has already in just a few days.

One really good thing that happened was that Democrats will take control of the Senate after the wins of Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. That was such wonderful news to hear early Wednesday. Then within hours the Capitol was taken over. It’s too much to process. There wasn’t time to enjoy the win.

Trump hasn’t been impeached again yet. But that may happen on Monday. He has not resigned, even though there are calls for it. Pence refuses to use the 25th Amendment to remove Trump, even though the insurrectionists appear to have planned to lynch Pence for following the constitution and not overturning the electoral college vote.

The country is in limbo waiting to see what happens next. I hate this movie!

That’s all I got right now. 2021. Please get better.

December 14th 2020

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December 14th 2020

Today, December 14th 2020, is a day that needs to be marked for history’s sake. And there was even a total solar eclipse that added to the drama of it all.

Election News

The electoral college voted to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to be the next president and vice-president of the United States. Because the current president refuses to concede that he lost the election, this vote feels like the win is cemented. Dozens of court challenges be damned.

Pandemic News

The coronavirus vaccine is finally here! Today, the first doses were administered in the United States and the vaccination effort is happening all over the world. The vaccine is being given to healthcare workers, the elderly and other vulnerable groups first. Since I’m not over 65 and have no underlying health issues, I most likely won’t be able to get it until March or April. But I will be getting it.

December 14th 2020, is a day that I want to remember and one that will no doubt be in future history books.

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Image: YouTube

Quote of the Week: John Adams

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“Posterity!
You will never know, how much it cost the present generation, to preserve your freedom!
I hope you will make a good use of it.
If you do not, I shall repent in heaven, that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.”

~ John Adams

Thinking about the presidential election has occupied way too much of my thoughts. Especially over the last couple of months. And the last couple of weeks. But how can I not think about it?

At the end of September, I visited Peacefield, which is part of the national park system and the historic home of John Adams and John Quincy Adams. It’s not even a ten minute drive from my house, so one day when I was feeling especially distressed, I decided to visit the garden. I walked around and then sat for a bit. Looking at the old house.

And then I prayed. Prayed to the spirits of those presidents to protect this country and keep our democracy. When John Adams spoke of posterity in the quote above, I took it personally. Posterity included me and he was thinking about me and the people in this time.

If these former presidents had any kind of pull with the election, I figured that going to their former home might be enough to get my prayers over to the other side. Autumn is said to be the time when the veil between life and death is thinnest, so I might as well take advantage of the season.

I looked at the magnificent tree in the garden and wondered about all that it has lived through. How long had it been there? Did its roots begin back when these presidents were alive? Did they sit and admire it too?

Joe Biden won the election, but our current president is doing everything to prevent a peaceful transfer of power. He has no respect for democracy. He has no respect for anything. I fear for our nation.

It’s been about three weeks since I last blogged, which is far less than normal. I’ve been waiting for something definitive to write about and to feel less stress about the democratic process. But the stress is still here. When I’m upset, sometimes I stop writing. But that’s the time that I need to write even more.

So I’m writing. But like with the pandemic, we are stuck in the in between. Waiting for the inauguration in January when Biden’s presidency will be real. Waiting for the vaccine, so we can start a new normal way of life without the virus. Just waiting.

Until then, I’ll write for the future. One day, months or years from now, I’ll look back at this post and feel grateful that this period in time is over and our country is still standing. And hopefully John Adams does not regret the pains he took.

AKA Sorority Sister Kamala Harris

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2020 will never be remembered as an easy year. Nor one of the happiest. It certainly isn’t a boring one though. My mom said that Kamala Harris’s nomination for Vice President is one of the most exciting things to happen in a long time. My mom is an AKA, just like Harris, so they are sorority sisters for life.

Growing up, I always knew that my mother was part of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and that pink and green were the colors. Two of her best friends, my godmother and my brother’s godmother are also her sorors and they are all thrilled.

While I never pledged to a sorority myself, being part of the AKA sisterhood has been part of my mother’s identity for as long as I can remember. With nearly 300,000 members, Harris has a powerful force standing behind her and financially supporting the campaign as well. Founded in 1908, that number is significant to the organization.

It’s not surprising, that soon after Harris became Biden’s running mate, thousands of donations in the amount of $19.08 showed up. According a Washington Post article, more than 14,000 of these donations poured in, adding up to more than a quarter million dollars. And the money keeps coming in.

While you may see women dressed in pink and green at some campaign events, you won’t see any AKA symbols, says a Richmond Free Press article. Also, don’t look to see an endorsement of Biden and Harris. As a tax-exempt nonprofit entity, there are limits to their allowed political activity. Keeping their tax-exempt status requires compliance with IRS regulations. Non-partisan voter education drives are generally okay, but not much more than that.

The debate between Pence and Harris is tomorrow and I’ve been looking forward to it. However, given what’s going on with the spread of the virus around the White House, I’m a bit nervous. Pence was at the superspreader event, so he really should be in quarantine and not out and about. Apparently they will be separated by plexiglass, so that hopefully will make the event much safer.

Every day appears stranger than the last. I cannot even imagine the drama that tomorrow’s debate will bring.

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Photo Credit: Luke Harold | Flickr

The 2020 Ballot In Massachusetts

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🗳️Updated 8/21/2020 🗳️

In person early voting starts tomorrow, August 22, in Massachusetts! Ballots can be delivered to a municipal drop box, your local election office, or any early voting site in your community.

Click here for a listing by city and town with election office addresses and drop box locations!

voting on the ballot

Voting By Mail

Everyone in Massachusetts should have already received their Official 2020 Vote by Mail Application, so that you can receive your ballot by mail. That completed application must be received by your local election office by August 26th. If you want to vote by mail, send the application back as soon as possible if you haven’t already. According to city of Quincy website, if you haven’t received an application, you can download it from their website. The application can be printed and mailed back to them or you can scan it and email it to them.

I mailed my completed application to vote by mail for the primary and the general election, but haven’t received my ballot(s) yet. The state primary is coming up quickly and there have been many recent issues with the U.S. Postal Service, so I’m a bit concerned about returning my ballot by mail.

Early Voting Starts This Week

However, we do have early voting in Massachusetts, so hopefully I’ll receive my primary ballot soon.

Early voting by mail begins as soon as the ballots are ready. Early voting in-person for the state primary begins this Saturday, August 22nd and lasts until next Friday, August 28th. Early voting in-person for the state election will be from Saturday, October 17th until Friday, October 30th. The city of Quincy website has some voting tips to know before you go and has a general voter guide with a lot of good information, like the locations for early voting.

You can also track your ballot online to see if and when received. When I look up my ballot, I can see for the presidential primary in March that it was mailed and received on February 28th. I did in-person early voting. The ballot status says accepted. For the state primary, it shows that the ballot was mailed on August 13th and was not returned. As mentioned before, I have not received my ballot yet. Instead of sending it by mail, I may return it in person.

Candidates On The Ballot

Like me, you’ve probably received a lot of mail recently from the candidates. It gets overwhelming. I’m not familiar with many of them, so I want to research and compare. There’s still time to not only compare information on their websites, but to do some additional research on the candidates as well.

I’m in a few Quincy Facebook groups. From comments that I’ve seen, many people seem to feel the same way and want a place where the candidates are listed together for easy research and comparison.

Online you can look at sample ballots for Quincy to see who is on the ballot for the September 1, 2020, state primary election. The City of Quincy website lists the ballots by political party, ward and precinct. The individual sample ballots open by downloading. You can see a list of the primary candidates for the entire state, divided by party, on the website for the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

A lack of organized listings spurs me to action. Needing a list is why I created Free Yoga Boston. So I’ve decided to do something similar here and list the candidates on the ballot, with links to their websites to easily read more about them. Also, I’ve linked to the website for the current office in question.

Since I’m not reading each sample ballot, I’ve looked at the one for where I vote and for my political party.  Only the contested races, those offices with more than one candidate running, are listed. The current office/description is listed next to the name instead of below, as it appears on the sample ballot.

This information will help me become more informed. Hopefully it will help you too. Feel free to share this post and let me know what you think in the comments!

2020 State Primary Candidates – Democratic Candidates For Nomination

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Senator in Congress (Vote For One)

EDWARD J. MARKEY, 7 Townsend St., Malden – United States Senator

JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, III, 106 Waban Hill Rd., Newton – Representative in Congress

Representative In Congress – Eighth District  (Vote For One)

STEPHEN F. LYNCH, 55 G St., Boston – Candidate for Re-nomination

ROBBIE H. GOLDSTEIN, 346 Congress St., Boston

Register Of Probate – Norfolk County (Vote For One)

COLLEEN MARIE BRIERLEY, 125 Bond St., Norwood

NOEL T. DiBONA, 70 Chickatabot Rd., Quincy – Current Quincy City Councillor at-Large

KATHRYN E. HUBLEY, 44 Marion St., Quincy – Current Quincy City School Committee Member

COURTNEY M. MADDEN, 124 Davis St., Quincy

MICHAEL F. WALSH, 47 Phillips Brooks Rd., Westwood – Current Westwood Selectman

County Commissioner – Norfolk County (Vote For No More Than Two)

JOSEPH P. SHEA, 6 Heritage Rd., Quincy – Candidate for Re-nomination; Former Quincy City Clerk

DENNIS J. GUILFOYLE, 47 Greensboro Rd., Dedham

CHARLES B. RYAN, 24 Conrad St., Braintree – Braintree Town Councillor at-Large

RICHARD R. STAITI, 9 Burns Ave., Canton – Town Moderator; Member, Advisory Board on County Expenditures

County Treasurer – Norfolk County (Vote For One)

MICHAEL G. BELLOTTI, 33 Bayberry Rd., Quincy – Former Norfolk County Sheriff

BRAD L. CROALL, 92 Viden Rd., Quincy

Sheriff  – Norfolk County (To Fill Vacancy) (Vote For One)

JAMES F. COUGHLIN, 36 Netta Rd., Dedham

PATRICK W. McDERMOTT, 55 Dixwell Ave., Quincy – Current Norfolk County Register of Probate

WILLIAM J. PHELAN, 86 Monroe Rd., Quincy – Former Quincy Mayor, Quincy School Committee Member

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*Updated 8/29/2020* Here’s a link to some interviews by the Quincy Democratic City Committee with Quincy candidates.