Friday in Book Seven: Reconstruction 2020

I woke up at 2:30 to the dog whining. I got up to let her out and she ran to her toys and started chewing on her nyla-bone. Okay. Whatever. You go ahead and chew on that, I’m going back to bed. But when I got back in bed, Nala ran to the bedroom and started whinning again. So I asked, “Do you wanna go outside?” Her tail wagged and she bolted out of the room. So I got up to let her out. She grabbed her nyla-bone and then came over to the door. I took the bone from her and opened the door. She stuck her head out, smelled the air, and sat down. Inside. So I closed the door. Walked back to bed. Got in bed. Once again Nala jogs into the bedroom, sits next to the bed, and whines. So I get up, open the door to the outside, she leaves. GOOD. If you need to potty, go do it. Twenty minutes pass and the dog is still outside. Fine. I’ll just have a really early breakfast, then. Make an egg sandwich, start eating it. BOOM Dog is at the door. Should have known as soon as the smell of human food was in the air, she’d come running. Finish my breakfast, let the dog in, and I walk back to bed. I make sure to shift my alarm clock start time because I’m not waking up at 5 or 6 after all of that. Nala stays in the living room, chomping on her nyla-bone. You go get it, girl.

I woke up around 7:30 and my body was ridiculously stiff. Like… magically stiff. Not like, “Oh well, that’s life.” No, this was… something has significantly changed in the atmosphere stiff. So I peek out the curtains and yup… it is snowing. I’ll admit… I did a quick “UGH! Then why should I go to work?!” in my head. You see… today there is nothing on my Calendar. AND last night, I got an e-mail from the judge that my Monday is cancelled, too. Soooo… my calendar for Friday and Monday is now empty. Do I really want to take my stiff, sore, aching body through the snow to sit at a desk doing nothing for 8 hours? I decided that it really was required. After all, I’d been working from home quite a bit on Fridays because they are a dead day and not being in the office today would make it look like I just actively chose not to come into the office on Fridays.

So… I cam into the office. And it is still snowing. And my list is mostly........ “Prepare for Next Thursday and the Thursday after that.” Followed by “Contact your attorney to verify Separation Process”. And that is my whole Friday schedule. So… I’ll probably throw some memes up here… write whatever comes to me during the day… read PB Bookmarks… and call it a day.

RANDOM STATEMENT:

So… I’m really serious about losing that damned weight. But the science of weight loss specifically proves (repeatedly) that weight loss is achieved through managing intake. Exercise is good (and important) but absolutely everything I’ve looked into says that exercise is to diet as kitchen sink is to ocean. So I need to really pay attention to what I’m eating, when, how much, all of that. Which does create the smallest of irritating problems for me.

I’m facing three separate problems herein.
(1) I don’t want to spend an hour cooking. When I come home from work, I need to walk the dog. That takes an hour. If I have anything like laundry, vacuuming, dishes, or other house work to do… cooking for an hour means I’m doing nothing but chores until I go to bed.
(2) I need to make sure that what I’m eating is healthy and preferably makes enough to have some leftovers so that I can have a healthy lunch the next day as well.
(3) The grocery stores of the area are NOT the grocery stores many of you are familiar with. I wanted to do a recipe that involved a pumpkin squash. Pumpkin Squash is not available in this county. Read a recipe that required “Ginger Rice” not available in this county. I mean… this is deep into strictly Hy Vee Essentials, Fareway Whatevers, and Wal-Mart cast offs. NOT that I think “Whole Foods” is the only place to get anything but the mid-west “fancy grocery” would be Whole Foods and the nearest one is back in my hometown. ANOTHER PIECE OF EVIDENCE* that I grew up in the Fashion, Wealth, Education, and Cultural mecca for the damned state.

KIiiiiiiiiiiiiind of went off on a tangent there. It’s just… THIS IS WHY Rural Iowa has the obesity problem it does. The communities are financially strapped; all we can get out here is “bare minimums”; so people buy “quick, fattening” at the store or hit up McDonald’s. So… maybe… I don’t know. MAYBE I should consider doing a meal kit service of some kind. Those allegedly range from $7,000 per year up to $50,00 per year. And I spend roughly $8k on food as it is now. Though, that is with Martha still in the house. I’d hate to spend $8k on just me. So maybe meal kits are out.

Would “a little meat and some veg” be a healthy meal? Cuz… cooking some chicken and nuking a bird’s eye bag seems to be in my future.

It is funny. As a Conservative, I thought Carville was “emotional, boisterous, and unprofessional.” But now as someone that genuinely wants Trump out… not just for political reasons but for reasons of Global Safety, Environmental Protection, and Good Taste… I have to agree with this interview:
Sean Illing
Why are you “scared to death” about the 2020 election?

James Carville
Look, the turnout in the Iowa caucus was below what we expected, what we wanted. Trump’s approval rating is probably as high as it’s been. This is very bad. And now it appears the party can’t even count votes. What the hell am I supposed to think?

I’ll just say it this way: The fate of the world depends on the Democrats getting their shit together and winning in November. We have to beat Trump. And so far, I don’t like what I see. And a lot of people I talk to feel the same way.

Sean Illing
What’s gone wrong? Who’s responsible?

James Carville
I don’t know. We just had an election in 2018. We did great. We talked about everything we needed to talk about and we won. And now it’s like we’re losing our damn minds. Someone’s got to step their game up here.

Sean Illing
What does that mean?

James Carville
In 2018, Democrats recruited really strong candidates, really qualified candidates. And the party said, “This is what we’re going to talk about and we’re going to keep talking about it.” And you know what happened? We fucking won. We didn’t get distracted, we didn’t get deflected.

Sean Illing
Give me an example of what you mean by distractions.

James Carville
We have candidates on the debate stage talking about open borders and decriminalizing illegal immigration. They’re talking about doing away with nuclear energy and fracking. You’ve got Bernie Sanders talking about letting criminals and terrorists vote from jail cells. It doesn’t matter what you think about any of that, or if there are good arguments — talking about that is not how you win a national election. It’s not how you become a majoritarian party.

For fuck’s sake, we’ve got Trump at Davos talking about cutting Medicare and no one in the party has the sense to plaster a picture of him up there sucking up to the global elites, talking about cutting taxes for them while he’s talking about cutting Medicare back home. Jesus, this is so obvious and so easy and I don’t see any of the candidates taking advantage of it.

The Republicans have destroyed their party and turned it into a personality cult, but if anyone thinks they can’t win, they’re out of their damn minds.

Sean Illing
I wouldn’t endorse everything every Democrat is doing or saying, but are they really destroying the party? What does that even mean?

James Carville
Look, Bernie Sanders isn’t a Democrat. He’s never been a Democrat. He’s an ideologue. And I’ve been clear about this: If Bernie is the nominee, I’ll vote for him. No question. I’ll take an ideological fanatic over a career criminal any day. But he’s not a Democrat.

Sean Illing
You know people are going to read this and say, “Carville backed Clinton in 2016. So did the Democratic establishment. They blew it in 2016. Why should I care what any of them think now?”

James Carville
People will say anything. And first of all, Clinton won the popular vote by almost three million. And secondly, the Russians put Jill Stein in front of Clinton’s campaign to depress votes. And thirdly, the New York Times a week before an election, assured its readers that the Russians were not even trying to help Trump. And then they wrote 15,000 stories about Hillary’s emails.

But back to Sanders — what I’m saying is the Democratic Party isn’t Bernie Sanders, whatever you think about Sanders.

Sean Illing
A lot of threads there. First, a lot of people don’t trust the Democratic Party, don’t believe in the party, for reasons you’ve already mentioned, and so they just don’t care about that. They want change. And I guess the other thing I’d say is, 2016 scrambled our understanding of what’s possible in American politics.

Are we really sure Sanders can’t win?

James Carville
Who the hell knows? But here’s what I do know: Sanders might get 280 electoral votes and win the presidency and maybe we keep the House. But there’s no chance in hell we’ll ever win the Senate with Sanders at the top of the party defining it for the public. Eighteen percent of the country elects more than half of our senators. That’s the deal, fair or not.

So long as McConnell runs the Senate, it’s game over. There’s no chance we’ll change the courts and nothing will happen, and he’ll just be sitting up there screaming in the microphone about the revolution.

The purpose of a political party is to acquire power. Alright? Without power, nothing matters.

Sean Illing
What’s the answer?

James Carville
By framing, repeating, and delivering a coherent, meaningful message that is relevant to people’s lives and having the political skill not to be sucked into every rabbit hole that somebody puts in front of you.

The Democratic Party is the party of African Americans. It’s becoming a party of educated suburbanites, particularly women. It’s the party of Latinos. We’re a party of immigrants. Most of the people aren’t into all this distracting shit about open borders and letting prisoners vote. They don’t care. They have lives to lead. They have kids. They have parents that are sick. That’s what we have to talk about. That’s all we should talk about.

It’s not that this stuff doesn’t matter. And it’s not that we shouldn’t talk about race. We have to talk about race. It’s about how you deliver and frame the message. I thought Cory Booker’s “baby bonds” plan was great and the kind of thing the party could connect to people’s actual lives.

We have one moral imperative here and that’s beating Trump. Nothing else matters.

Sean Illing
So your complaint is basically that the party has tacked too far to the left?

James Carville
They’ve tacked off the damn radar screen. And look, I don’t consider myself a moderate or a centrist. I’m a liberal. But not everything has to be on the left-right continuum. I love Warren’s daycare plan just like I love Booker’s baby bonds. That’s the kind of stuff our candidates should explain and define clearly and repeatedly for voters and not get diverted by whatever the hell is in the air that day.

Here’s another stupid thing: Democrats talking about free college tuition or debt forgiveness. I’m not here to debate the idea. What I can tell you is that people all over this country worked their way through school, sent their kids to school, paid off student loans. They don’t want to hear this shit. And you saw Warren confronted by an angry voter over this. It’s just not a winning message.

The real argument here is that some people think there’s a real yearning for a left-wing revolution in this country, and if we just appeal to the people who feel that, we’ll grow and excite them and we’ll win. But there’s a word a lot of people hate that I love: politics. It means building coalitions to win elections. It means sometimes having to sit back and listen to what people think and framing your message accordingly.

That’s all I care about. Right now the most important thing is getting this career criminal who’s stealing everything that isn’t nailed down out of the White House. We can’t do anything for anyone if we don’t start there and then acquire more power.

Can I say one more thing about the cultural disconnect?

Sean Illing
Sure.

James Carville
I want to give you an example of the problem here. A few weeks ago Binyamin Appelbaum, an economics writer for the New York Times, posted a snarky tweet about how LSU cancelled classes for the National Championship game. And then he said, do the “Warren/Sanders free public college proposals include LSU, or would it only apply to actual schools?”

You know how fucking patronizing that is to people in the South or in the middle of the country? First, LSU has an unusually high graduation rate, but that’s not the point. It’s the goddamn smugness. This is from a guy who lives in New York and serves on the Times editorial board and there’s not a single person he knows that doesn’t pat him on the back for that kind of tweet. He’s so fucking smart.

Appelbaum doesn’t speak for the Democratic Party, but he does represent the urbanist mindset. We can’t win the Senate by looking down at people. The Democratic Party has to drive a narrative that doesn’t give off vapors that we’re smarter than everyone or culturally arrogant.

Sean Illing
A lot of Democratic candidates don’t talk like that. Warren doesn’t talk like that. Sanders doesn’t talk like that. Buttigieg doesn’t talk like that. Cory Booker never talked like that.

James Carville
Warren knows her stuff, and I’m particularly hard on her, because she was the star pupil, the one who was smart, had a good story. But I think she gets distracted and loses her core anti-corruption message, which resonates. With a lot of these candidates, their consultants are telling them, “If you doubt it, just go left. We got to get the nomination.”

And then Biden gets in and blocks out good candidates like Cory Booker or Michael Bennet or Steve Bullock by occupying this mainstream lane. There just isn’t enough oxygen and they couldn’t get any traction. But these are serious people, professional people, and they could’ve delivered a winning message.

Sean Illing
Are you confident that any of the remaining candidates can beat Trump?

James Carville
I don’t know, I just don’t know. I’m hoping that someone gets knocked off their horse on the road to Damascus.

Sean Illing
Buttigieg seems to model the sort of candidate you think can win.

James Carville
Mayor Pete has to demonstrate over the course of a campaign that he can excite and motivate arguably the most important constituents in the Democratic Party: African Americans. These voters are a hell of a lot more important than a bunch of 25-year-olds shouting everyone down on Twitter.

Sean Illing
I take all your points about power and the Senate and the need to be a majoritarian party. I just wonder where the limits are, especially in this media ecosystem where even the best Democratic messaging gets deformed and bastardized in right-wing media and thus never reaches the people Democrats need to reach, or at least doesn’t reach enough of them.

James Carville
I think the other side wants us to think there are no swing voters, that we’re doomed and it doesn’t even matter if you have a message because you can’t reach anyone. I think that’s bullshit. I think that’s a wholly incorrect view of American politics. But look, if no one’s persuadable, then let’s just have the revolution.

Falling into despair won’t help anyone, though. I mean, you can curse the darkness or you can light a candle. I’m getting a fucking welding torch. Okay?

And I hope that this is something that is excellent for them as opposed to a nightmare for them; as I could see it going both ways.

Here’s something:

So… as you yourself may be presently aware (family guy reference)… I have a few dating apps on my phone. Bumble, Zoosk, Tinder, OKCupid, and POF. Obviously, there are trillions of these apps. I could also download Match, Clover, Hinge, eHarmony, Badoo… just to name the ones that immediately come to mind. Based on recommendations and research, I gave OKCupid money. Now… this is not the “I’m ready to take dating apps seriously” entry. As promised, that won’t come out until at least Martha has moved out of my house. No, this is just the primary analysis factor. Because… I tend to like the women of Bumble much more… Tinder is a classic for a reason… there tend to be a lot more Iowans on Zoosk… and Clover is starting to sound like a maybe. But here’s the question I’m trying to wrap my head around. Well, questions.
(1) When is it appropriate or best to give money to a dating app? All of these apps exist to make money so I believe that all apps give “false positives” to unpaid members in an effort to entice them to pay in order to “discover who sent you a message and/or respond to the messages and/or see who likes you.” SO… admitting that I think every app uses shady practices to entice financial commitment… how does one decide when to become a paying member?
(2) Considering the above, how does one narrow down the proper app for Membership?
According to what I’ve discovered… Zoosk may be better for local women, Tinder may be better for a wider range of experiences (hook ups to relationships), and Bumble has (hands down) the best women of any dating app I’ve used past or present. Which would suggest that Bumble is the App I give money to BUT FOR the issue that in Bumble, women make the first move so in all reality, it could be an app where I give money and don’t even have so much as a conversation with someone.
(3) Is it ever worthwhile to be “membership level” on multiple dating sites? I mean… I can see how if you have an abundance of expendable income, why not.... but being a paid member on multiple sites can get into the hundreds of dollars range. How does one approach this “One or many” quandary?

Again… I’m not… like… “ooo, gotta succeed at this right now” in any way. But I’m definitely thinking like… as we get closer to the summer? Say, when I’m in Okoboji… it’d be cool to match with a girl and take her to a restaurant or something. Or when I’m in Corallville in August. Or perhaps even when I’m in Japan in October. And definitely if I muster the funds, vacation time, and hutzpah… to hit the UK next year!

Strange interlude: The Chive had a “most memorable porn quotes” thing today. I know nobody cares but I did want to share mine just because it is so… likely… tame. It was a clip of “college student in uniform rides professor”. It was a very verbal blond and I don’t even remember the visuals (as I’ve said, I’m an audio guy). But she was really into it, moaning, panting, screaming, then all of a sudden she just screamed Yes, fuck, yes! I’ll be a good girl for you. Oh, I’ll be a good girl for you! and I found it strange but incredibly erotic. Like… the idea that she was enjoying herself that much AND that the sex was so good she wanted to be a good girl for the man she was riding. I always just thought that was so hot.





Grumble. So… obviously, I see terrible shit. Like last night. I still have the image of that dying horse in my mind. I can still hear the little girl from the video shrieking “Mommy no, stop it, you’re hurting me, please mommy no!” And that shit is absolutely awful nightmare fuel. But as always… the stab in the chest can be dealt with. It is the long burning, constant, annoyance issue that drives into the brain.

2017- 3 children are brought to the attention of DHS. Mommy is an alcoholic who brings a never ending string of abusive boyfriends (all of whom are alcoholics or drug users) into the home. NOBODY is watching the children. We find the 3 year old going from door to door asking for food. The State intervenes.
2018- I’m hired and take over the case. We work our asses off. We get mom almost to a place where things are okay. Then she moves in with her current boyfriend. Stops paying attention to the kids entirely. The kids are back on the streets while Mommy and Boyfriend are endlessly drinking. The State stays involved.
2019- Mom has become passionately hostile with all State Workers. Will not give up her parental rights but also, clearly, isn’t willing to parent. Mom announces her plans to move out of State. Her (through her attorney) fill out all the necessary paperwork to present the legal argument that, when they move out of state, Iowa loses jurisdiction on the kids. Mom and kids move out of state in October 2019.
2020- JUST GOT A PHONE CALL. Mom and kids are back. Kids haven’t been allowed to attend school. Mom keeps sending taunting text messages to her Iowa DHS worker saying “I’m back in Iowa, bitch! Can’t do nothing to me!!”

And technically? According to Iowa Law? She’s right. She can prevent her children from going to school for the rest of their lives and unless we can report to the DHS Hotline active abuse or neglect… there is literally nothing that we can do. The previous case is officially closed. Without new credible allegations of neglect or abuse, the State can’t get involved. Children not attending classes, by law, does not rise to the level of “neglect or abuse.” It can be frustrating. This is why, often, speaking to my father about things is aggravatingly upsetting. Because he hears of something like this and says, “Fucking democrats! This is what you get when you get fucking democrats getting in the way of justice.” And I have to (always fail) to get him to sit down and actually LOOK AT THE BLOODY EVIDENCE!

The Republicans of this state moved to make it harder for Public Schools to “force attendance”. Their reasoning was to allow parents to home school, private school, or charter school. But they wrote the law stupidly. It does not state “If parent can prove that Child is enrolled in education”… it states, The State can no longer criminalize or penalize truancy.
The Republicans of this state moved to make it harder for The State to “intervene in the lives of their citizens.” Their reasoning was that the “nanny state” the Democrats want would force the government into every area of your life and that should be resisted at all times. But they wrote the law to basically hamstring any legitimate attempt for a State Entity to intervene because “government is bad”.
The Republicans of this state moved to defund as many of the “government programs as possible” because they needed to make budgetary room for tax cuts to Big Agriculture and Big Money Donors. So, while CEOs in other states are receiving MASSIVE benefits from their “donations” to the Iowa Senators and Representatives… we’re still begging for a Crisis Response Team… because we don’t have one for this county!

SO… yes, Dad… and all the other Die Hard Iowa Republicans who hate how this state is being run and yet vote for the incumbents every year because “at least Republicans believe in god!” As you sit there and stew about how the Democrats are ruining your state… please keep voting for people like Kim Reynolds, Craig Johnson, Amy Sinclair, Tim Kapucian, Joni Ernst, and Steve King. As shit keeps getting worse and you keep screaming that it is because of the Democrats (who haven’t been winning) maybe right before your own face is consumed in the mud of poverty, irrelevance, and despair; you may take a moment to say, “If we didn’t like what was happening, we could have changed it!” But I doubt it.