It is the evening before election day. It is in between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. I am not voting because I can't, not a US citizen. In the 2024 election my vote is with Kamala Harris. From what I have seen and heard coming from Trump and his die hard supporters......where does one even start? I am actually in disbelief that there are people that are supporting him.
It is one thing to be a Republican, I don't have an opinion on that and I have nothing against that. But being a fervent Trump MAGA type person, that is something else.
I have no idea what is going to happen tomorrow......I just hope that this thing won't get too crazy and violent. Like can this election not be handled civilized? Is it going to be a "stolen" election again? Another coup attempt on the Capitol Building? I feel that anything can happen and if Trump wins then......it is what it is. Hopefully he won't manage to appoint himself as Potus for life like he has expressed in the past and hopefully he won't execute people that have been against him. What is this, Russia?
Then I also have to remember that the US in not a democracy, it is a Republic and there is a thing called the Electoral College here. In my opinion the Electoral College should be retired. And in this case the Electoral College feels scary.
I read through the Oregon Voter Pamphlet and I really like the Oregon Working Families Party......this is what I want to see.
I looked through both the Multnomah county (where Portland is located) and Clatsop county (location for Astoria) pamphlets.
And then there are people that feel very strongly about the way they do, like this person.
Advertising what he/she (?) believes in to all that pass by this property......Freedom of speech you know.
The sheriff's lieutanant in Ohio practiced his freedom of speech announcing that he was not going to help people that vote Democrat. Yes.....it is actually scary that there are people like this out there. He ain't the only one.
But it is late, I had a traumatic (yes traumatic) day. I am tired, upset, anxious but I have to push through, I know there are people that have it so much worse than me. If you are eligible to vote then I hope you do (or did already).
Last year on October 7 Hamas decided to massacre innocent people who peacefully were enjoying themselves at the Supernova festival in Israel. I won't go into details because with the internet at your fingertips there are many articles to read about what happened. And you should read up on what happened to those innocent that got murdered or taken hostage, a very sad read. Showing how truly evil humanity can be.
Since then there has been many demonstrations and support for Palestine and a lot of acts of antisemitism. I am disgusted by this. I am 100% in support of Israel and I am 100% against all terrorist groups like Hamas (Hamas and Hezbollah are backed by Iran by the way). I can say without hesitation that I hate the ones spreading violence, terror and murdering innocent people. Looking back at history, say since 1950 and forward there is a repeated common thread, mostly crazy men commiting henious acts in the name of their Allah. It is disgusting.
Hijacking airplanes, murdering Israelis at the Olympics, murdering staff running a magazine, murdering writers, plowing vehicles into crowds, knife attacks on random people out in public, kidnapping innocent people, rape.......the list goes on and on, this random violence in the name of Allah is neverending. Brainwashed sick people. HOW do you become this way as a human?
I do not comprehend it.
Yes, I KNOW many innocent people in Palestine have died. I don't have a solution......move the Palestinians somewhere else in order to end this? To some other Arab country like Iran that supports Hamas anyways or wealthy Saudi Arabia. There is enough money in the Arab countries to house all the Palestinians comfortably. But they don't want them. Egypt for example closed its borders to the Palestinians.
Just as a comparison, Poland immediately took in millions of people fleeing Ukraine and a lot of the Ukrainians live in Poland now. And speaking of Poland, as a message to never forget there are several concentration camps still standing in Poland that the Nazis operated during World War II. And there are idiots here in the US and Europe that are antisemitic?
Educate yourself you morons. Go live in Palestine and see how you will like it. Throw on a hijab or a burqa, submit to your husband and Allah, pump out a bunch of kids and know that your daughters will have limited rights. Have fun with that.
And since I am on this subject......if you want to keep your cave man beliefs and fight to death for your God please stay in the countries where this lifestyle is the norm. Do not soil civilized countries with your beliefs, those beliefs DO NOT belong there. I feel so bad for the women, children and animals in countries where basic human rights do not exist and where only men rule and spread violence.
October 7, to all the innocent beautiful people that were exposed to terror - I am so sorry that this happened to you.
Check out this comic that supposedly was in some Tokyo newspaper. (I found it on Reddit).
Ok....let's see, I would much rather have a latte or a coffee than a soda (in this case Pepsi) and I am currently typing away on a Mac laptop although my very first PC was a HP desktop but since that first computer I have stuck with Apple. I am more of a rainbow flag march person than a church going person. So according to this comic I must be a democrat.
Some background, I was not born in the US, I am not a US citizen so therefore I cannot vote here. Had I been able to vote in the upcoming 2024 presidential election I would hands down without any hesitation vote for my man Bernie Sanders but wait, Bernie is not running so I would vote .....drumroll......DEMOCRAT.
Let me explain why. And most likely I will lose readers now (and that is OK) because a large amount of people are so very divided here in the US on this topic, like you are either a democrat or a republican. Well I am a HUMAN first of all, my identity is not a political party. I float around on the political spectrum but I know what I am for and what I am against. I have friends that are republican, friends that are democrat and friends that don't stand for much politically and we manage to get along.
I don't like how polarized US society is, how much division there is. It is dangerous and unhealthy.
We all know by now that a 20 year old kid tried to take out Trump during a political rally. The bullet grazed Trump's ear and in his own words, he was "fine". One person in the crowd died, very tragic. Plus the shooter. Then Biden withdrew from from the presidential race. Which probably took a lot. So I admire him for that. Right now it looks like it is Kamala Harris and Donald Trump that will be battling for the votes. At this point I do not care who is the nominee for the Democratic Party, I would vote for anyone representing the democrats because I do not think that Trump should be in the White House. There are plenty of high ranking republicans and conservatives as well that oppose of him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Republicans_who_oppose_the_Donald_Trump_2024_presidential_campaign
Does this mean that these individual would vote blue? I don't know. I know that the debates between Harris and Trump will most likely be thrilling. In case you do not know, Harris used to be a prosecutor.
I do not like how Trump has mocked Kamala's name, so arrogant. I do not like how Trump encouraged the January 6th attack (coup attempt) on the Capitol. One police officer tragically died that day doing his job, so many officers were injured and four commited suicide within a year. Shameful. Those people that rabidly ran around the Capitol looking for Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence and were excited to cause destruction walk amongst us in society, that is insanity. I do not like the MAGA crowd that to me come across as unhinged bullies. I do not like individuals like Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert. I do not like how the wife of the man that passed away at the Trump rally mentioned above refused a phonecall from Biden with the explanation that "I didn’t talk to Biden. I didn’t want to talk to him.
My husband was a devout Republican and he would not have wanted me to talk to him.” Like ??? This mindset to me is scary. What did Biden do to you and your deceased husband? Some republicans were quick to announce that it was somehow Biden's fault that Trump got shot. Mentally unstable people listen to that, believe it and that can lead to bad stuff.
When Paul Pelosi got attacked inside his own house by a far right conspiracy theorist that beat him with a hammer Trump thought it was funny. There are many more I do not like Trump examples that I can think of. These reasons and more is why I am would vote democrat in 2024.
Back in 2016 when Trump won the then election I was ok with him as president until he started acting out in ways that I do not agree with. I am sure Trump has a nice side to him in private at home with his children, around friends but another four years of Trump in the White House? Absolutely not. It is enough, just go away and take MAGAs with you.
There are some things on my Barf List. Littering is one. Another is how people handle their trash. In the rather small apartment complex I live it seems like majority of the tenants have zero clue about how to throw away their trash and how to recycle, this is very difficult for them to comprehend. Even though there are instructions posted on what goes where and how to bag and dispose of the trash in the garbage and recycle area, clearly written in English. As far as I know I am the only non American living here and I can read and understand the instructions. Bagging the trash in the appropriate trash bag and tying the bag? That is too much to ask. Just throw away half turkeys (?) not in a bag, put trash in the recycling bins, recyclables in the trash bins, plastic in the glass only bin, glass bottles and glass jars in the bins where the glass should not go, chunks of meat in the yard debris bins......whatever.
Food waste. Like WTF is this? Did you just buy a whole salad only to throw it away? Packages of unopened salad dressing just put there to be discarded. Lots of left overs here. I very rarely throw away food. Food scraps in the form of potato peels or apple cores, bell pepper cores etc go back into nature. Is is frightening how much good food is thrown away daily. It is disrespectful to the animals that died in order to end up at someone's plate. I feel the same way about fruits and vegetables. Something grew and I decided to eat it, so I will do my best to honor that. And then of course.....some people would be extremely grateful if they did not have to go hungry. And some people just don't give a fuck.
Public laundromats........yikey. One of the laundromats I used to go to (I do not have a washer and dryer in my apartment) had warm water, like a bit warmer than lukewarm half of the time even when I selected and paid for hot water. Yes, hot water costs more. I pointed that out but these places are not always staffed so there is like nobody to talk to about an issue most of the time. Plus they told me that they never clean the washers on the inside. They considered the washers to be clean enough due to laundry being done. Whaaaaaat? So I found another laundromat, in a "nice" area. They supposedly clean the washers here on the inside once a month. Wow. Progress I guess.
There are often some colorful individuals there......doing their thing. The super wash with hot water is $4.25 for 22 minutes. At least three of those minutes go to the washer filling up with water, draining the water and then the spin cycle. Do clothes get clean in 19 minutes or less? I don't think so.
This is not how Swedish tvättstuga worked when I lived in Sweden. The hot water is always HOT and I don't know if 22 minutes is even an option. That is like a pre-soak.
Since a while now I have been doing my laundry at a friend's house, she has a very nice full size washer with no agitator and a nice dryer. THANK YOU dear friend, my life has improved because of this. My laundry comes out clean and fresh. It really does make a difference where and how you do laudry. I like my stuff a certain kind of clean when I do laundry and laundromats can be very gross.......apparently I am not the only one that think so.
I love reading on Reddit, so many topics to dive into. Anyhow.....I had to copy one of the responses. It could had been me writing this except I would had added that the guy took his clothes off, everything and briefly stood around nekkid before he found a pair of pants to step into. Later he needed help to zip up his back pack so I helped him of course. Good thing I am not a pearl clutcher. I mean, I get it......You had to wash the pants you were wearing so you took them off, after all we are all naked underneath our clothes. Perhaps I should get naked at the laundromat as well but charge $, then I can use whatever I make to do my laundry. $4.25 is kind of a lot.
"When I lived in Portland I was doing my laundry at a local laundry mat and this homeless guy who was well known in the area with hair so dirty it formed thick disgusting dreads that his his skin infected, hairy face. You could literally smell this man coming from at least six blocks away if the wind shifted. I’m not kidding or trying to be rude I do feel for his situation in such a damp area. Even having access to clean clothes out there feels like they are always damp even out the dryer. Anyway I watched him come into the laundry mat and load his sleeping bag and other clothes all reeking with filth into a dryer and dry them so he could be warm…. These places are unintended and homeless people will take advantage of whatever they can and I’m not judging them for that, it’s really not their fault but it’s a reality. I made sure not to use the same dryer but I left Oregon with a skin infection regardless and I’d never had that issue in my life. I knew I couldn’t be sure he hadn’t already used every dryer in the place over time without them being cleaned I mean it was a crapshoot."
I do NOT use the dryers at laundromats for this very reason. Prior to using my friend's washer and dryer that is. I take all the clothes home, hang dry most. IKEA has good drying racks. Anything that needs to go in the dryer I take back home and put in the two dryers the tenants in my complex have access to. I am fairly certain that the tenants here put their laundry through the wash before putting it in one of the dryers.
Check out this comic that supposedly was in some Tokyo newspaper. (I found it on Reddit).
Ok....let's see, I would much rather have a latte or a coffee than a soda (in this case Pepsi) and I am currently typing away on a Mac laptop although my very first PC was a HP desktop but since that first computer I have stuck with Apple. I am more of a rainbow flag march person than a church going person. So according to this comic I must be a democrat.
Some background, I was not born in the US, I am not a US citizen so therefore I cannot vote here. Had I been able to vote in the upcoming 2024 presidential election I would hands down without any hesitation vote for my man Bernie Sanders but wait, Bernie is not running so I would vote .....drumroll......DEMOCRAT.
Let me explain why. And most likely I will lose readers now (and that is OK) because a large amount of people are so very divided here in the US on this topic, like you are either a democrat or a republican. Well I am a HUMAN first of all, my identity is not a political party. I float around on the political spectrum but I know what I am for and what I am against. I have friends that are republican, friends that are democrat and friends that don't stand for much politically and we manage to get along. I don't like how polarized US society is, how much division there is. It is dangerous and unhealthy.
We all know by now that a 20 year old kid tried to take out Trump during a political rally. The bullet grazed Trump's ear and in his own words, he was "fine". One person in the crowd died, very tragic. Plus the shooter. Then Biden withdrew from from the presidential race. Which probably took a lot. So I admire him for that. Right now it looks like it is Kamala Harris and Donald Trump that will be battling for the votes. At this point I do not care who is the nominee for the Democratic Party, I would vote for anyone representing the democrats because I do not think that Trump should be in the White House. There are plenty of high ranking republicans and conservatives as well that oppose of him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Republicans_who_oppose_the_Donald_Trump_2024_presidential_campaign
Does this mean that these individual would vote blue? I don't know. I know that the debates between Harris and Trump will most likely be thrilling. In case you do not know, Harris used to be a prosecutor.
I do not like how Trump has mocked Kamala's name, so arrogant. I do not like how Trump encouraged the January 6th attack (coup attempt) on the Capitol. One police officer tragically died that day doing his job, so many officers were injured and four commited suicide within a year. Shameful. Those people that rabidly ran around the Capitol looking for Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence and were excited to cause destruction walk amongst us in society, that is insanity. I do not like the MAGA crowd that to me come across as unhinged bullies. I do not like individuals like Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert. I do not like how the wife of the man that passed away at the Trump rally mentioned above refused a phonecall from Biden with the explanation that "I didn’t talk to Biden. I didn’t want to talk to him. My husband was a devout Republican and he would not have wanted me to talk to him.” Like ??? This mindset to me is scary. What did Biden do to you and your deceased husband? Some republicans were quick to announce that it was somehow Biden's fault that Trump got shot. Mentally unstable people listen to that, believe it and that can lead to bad stuff. When Paul Pelosi got attacked inside his own house by a far right conspiracy theorist that beat him with a hammer Trump thought it was funny. There are many more I do not like Trump examples that I can think of. These reasons and more is why I am would vote democrat. Women's reproductive rights are important to me as well.
Back in 2016 when Trump won the then election I was ok with him as president until he started acting out in ways that I do not agree with. I am sure Trump has a nice side to him in private at home with his children, around friends but another four years of Trump in the White House? Absolutely not. It is enough, just go away and take MAGAs with you.
A few years ago Oregon voters voted YES on Oregon Measure 110 which decriminalized drug possession for own use, any drug. Since then fentanyl has swept the nation. In fact the leading cause of death nationwide for people age 18-45 is fentanyl. Of course I got that info from the world wide web, it is not like I have interviewed experts on leading causes of death in the US. Best to not do drugs. But people do drugs, that is just how it is. Unless you live in a country like Japan, Saudi Arabia or N Korea or some place where there is zero tolerance to all illegal drugs and the penalties for drug offenses are harsh. Sweden too has zero tolerance but people do drugs there but you won't face the death penalty or ten years incarceration if you get caught with heroin for personal use for example.
With Measure 110 open drug use became kind of normal around Portland. Random people would sometimes come into one of the clubs I worked and smoke drugs in the bathrooms (meth and fentanyl supposedly). I have seen people get high on the streets here and seeing people completely passed out in the middle of sidewalks all over Portland is nothing unusual. You don't know if they are dead or sleeping. I should add here that people were coming in to one of the clubs I worked at in Alaska and smoked meth in the bathroom. So this is not some sudden Oregon issue due to Measure 110.
The difference between rich people doing drugs and poor people doing drugs is that rich people can basically be functioning addicts for as long as they want while poor people run into issues like losing their job due to addiction, homelessness and how they are going to support their drug habits. Had Hunter Biden not had the money his family name has amassed I think he would be living in a tent somewhere or be dead by now.
I personally know a very wealthy guy here in Portland (richer in dollars than most will ever be) that is an alcoholic with not a single worry in his life. Well, he probably has some worries but nothing close to the worries that most people have. He has a huge home that is paid off by the family trust money, does not work, gets a monthly "allowance", spends most of his days doing not much of anything. The everyday chore is basically getting booze and frying up a large steak. He lost his driver's license years ago cause he crashed his car into another car (driven by an attorney) while drunk. Got off with a slap on the wrist because he is wealthy. Lost his license but still drives. And drives drunk. Yea.....
So yea there is a huge difference here in the US between the treatment of rich people and their addictions and poor people and their addictions.
Recently a modification to Measure 110 got passed here in Oregon, House Bill 2645 which criminalizes posession of fentanyl, even small amounts. Because a very small amount of fentanyl is lethal. Let's see what changes that will bring.
I am downtown Portland volunteering on an almost weekly basis since almost four years now and I have seen some stuff.
I have a lot of empathy for the homeless. This is not only a Portland problem like some seem to think. There are homeless people all over the US. At the same time that I have empathy I also feel annoyed and frustrated with what I have seen.
What can be done if anything to deal with these problems? I read the local news and the opinions on issues from the people that live here. One of the biggest complaints the people that live in Portland have is the homeless issue with the tents and the RVs all over and all the problems this brings. Some say that taking away the resources is the way to go because that forces people to hit rock bottom and only when you hit rock bottom you will want to make a change. I don't know, this is not a black and white issue. I would have a hard time denying somebody food and water if they needed it.
Portland is now building tent cities and small homes areas where the homeless will be asked to live so they do not live on the streets or the side of the freeways and roads anymore. I think that this is a good idea but some of the homeless are angry and comparing these places to concentration camps which I think is a ridiculous comparison not even worthy to discuss. And there are in fact some people that rather live on the streets instead of some form of housing.
It is so easy to judge but a lot of the people living on the streets have mental health issues, they self medicate with drugs, many people that were shuffled through the system as foster kids end up homeless. Remember, that person was once a child. Many children live terrible lives filled with abuse. Not such an easy and straight road perhaps to become a successful and functioning person after having a trauma filled childhood.
I do think affordable housing is super important. Rents are way too high in Portland and other places too. That should be illegal. Some people can't afford to live in an apartment even with a full time job, it should not be like that.
I feel strongly that an early start educating teenagers about family planning is important. I also think that active drug addicts and alcoholics should not be allowed to reproduce until they are completely clean. If you can't take care of yourself, you cannot take care of a child. Being a child's parent is the most important task a person can ever take on and if you are not equipped to go on that journey you have no businesss putting children to this already over populated planet. Rights to reproduction should also be immediately terminated for life if a person commits crimes against children and animals, like pedophilia, child abuse/neglect and animal abuse. To me that person should no longer be allowed to be around children and animals. There are no excuses in my eyes for people like that. Yea I think having children should not be somebody's automatic right just because you have sperm or a uterus. The planet IS over populated. There is no need to put more children into the people pool unless you are able to be a great parent and even then the outcome is not guaranteed.
So Australia recently legalized clinical prescribing of MDMA (often called ecstasy) and psilocybin. Oregon passed Measure 109 a few years ago which allows for the use of psilocybin in a licensed psilocybin center. I personally have very positive experiences with both MDMA and psilocybin. And no I do not use drugs or drink alcohol on a regular basis, on the contrary. The prices to use psilocybin in a theraputic center in Oregon are outragous, I am not sure how many clients these places will actually attract. I have seen numbers like $500 for a microdose and up to $3500 for 4 grams of psilocybin. Also only a certain kind of psilocybin is permitted. Too bad that the Feds closed down Shroom House here in Portland last year.
I strongly believe in the amazing qualities of psilocybin and MDMA which I think can do wonders for humanity if used with care.
