Belief

I gained 3.8 pounds over the holiday based on my weekly averages, which is how I measure such things. I expect they'll come off pretty quickly (like this week), and then the hardest work begins: Losing the last 20 pounds. I believe I can do both these things in the 14 week timeframe I have set for myself. 

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I believe President-Elect Biden will be inaugurated to the office of President on January 20th regardless of what tRump and RetRumplicans want or do. I also believe this is absolutely the correct and legal course of action, because the accusations of RetRumplicans have absolutely no merit. They have presented no legally admissible evidence to any court of law (including SCOTUS) which proves their assertions of voter fraud in any state. Their strategy has been to follow the tactic of "If you say it often enough, it becomes true, regardless of the facts." And that strategy is working, and has been working for the last four decades, which makes me fear for the long-term future of the Republic. 

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I believe I will no longer engage in conversation or commentary, or invest emotional or intellectual labor regarding the Conspiracy Theory de Jour, regardless of who brought it up, what their political opinions are, who they support, or the motivation behind the bull-pucky. Bring me provable facts, or get thee gone is the new mantra. I have to thank my pal Juan for this one. Sensible advice at any time. 

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I believe Mitch McConnell is the single greatest threat to the Republic since the Civil War. Thanks, Kentucky!

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I believe the key to my mental health in 2021 is being honest with myself and others about gratitude, mindfulness, and letting things go. Then I must make emotional and intellectual decisions based on this honesty. I think I can more easily make gratitude a habit compared to the other two, but I have some work to do in all three focus areas. For me, the hardest part is achieving "forgiveness" along with "letting go." I'm afraid that's going to take a while. 

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I believe tRump's blatant attempt to fix the election in Georgia is a clear violation of the law. I also believe he won't experience any consequences for his criminal behavior, because at this point in our Republic's history, NO ONE is held accountable if they have enough power and/or money. NO ONE. It's all just political theater to appease the base rather than a true application of the law and justice. 

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I believe I need to continue to invest in my health after I achieve my goal weight, including an appropriate maintenance diet and regular exercise. 

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I will be taking the COVID vaccine one it becomes available to low risk individuals, because I believe in the power of science and the results of vaccines in saving populations from deadly disease (see: Polio, Small Pox, et al). 

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I believe I am deeply afraid for the law enforcement officers who will be trying to keep the peace on Wednesday in our nation's capital. It's going to be a long and dangerous day for these folks, and unlike the violent whackadoos who choose to be there, these professionals have no choice. Stay safe, y'all. Seriously.

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I believe I have never admired our judicial branch of government more. Throughout these election shenanigans, they have, without exception, upheld the law as they understand it with integrity and courage regardless of who appointed them. The judicial is our last line of defense, and their integrity has, in many ways, saved the Republic. 

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I believe 2021 will be a year where I spend more time and money on charitable acts/agencies. Charitable giving has always been a part of our budget, but this year I want to get more personally involved, for a variety of reasons ranging from mental health to a way of paying rent on the bit of earth I occupy. 

By the Numbers

The Colorado Secretary of State certified Colorado's 2020 General Election results yesterday, and then published the statistics regarding how Coloradans turned out:

Total voter turnout:     3,291,548                                 

Mail ballots:                3,092,903 
In-person ballots:       198,645

Democratic:                1,020,321 
Republican:                941,313 
Unaffiliated:                1,276,834 
Other:                          53,080

Female:                       1,683,598 
Male:                           1,554,730 
Unknown:                    53,220

If you're a visual learner, the SOS office also has a handy document with all kinds of charts and additional detail on the statistical values above. 

Things I find interesting: 

• This election had the largest voter turnout in Colorado history. Hurray! We give a damn!
• According to the WashPo, Colorado's voter turnout was fourth in the nation at 75.5%. Only Maine, Minnesota and Wisconsin turned out more voters as a share of the voting eligible populations. That's a record, but that still means 25% of eligible voters in Colorado didn't turn out to vote either via drop off ballot or in person. Boo! 25% of us don't give a damn! (Mandatory voting, anyone?)
• In my own county, the voter turnout was higher than the Colorado average. Douglas knows how to encourage citizens to vote, and then makes it easy for them to do so.*
• Unaffiliated voters had the largest number of votes cast, and we're also the largest percentage of active registered voters at 40.9%, 10+ points above both the Democrats (29.95%) or the Republicans (27.31%). People are tired of the two-party system here in Colorado, and I think this trend holds nationwide. This makes my heart happy. 
• More women than men voted in the 2020 General Election, in every age category. Please don't tell me you need me to explain why this was the case. 
• Younger people (18-34) represented 26.8% of the votes cast and the 25-34 age range returned more ballots than any other cohort. This also makes my heart happy. I'm sick to death of old, white, rich, CIS-gender, straight men having almost exclusive control over the decision-making process for our country. 

So that's the Colorado 2020 General Election by the numbers. I can't wait for the Inauguration, and after that, a return to normalcy. (ARE YOU LISTENING, FOURTH ESTATE? ONCE PRESIDENT ELECT BIDEN TAKES OFFICE, PLEASE DISCONTINUE THE NON-STOP COVERAGE OF THE LYING LIAR OF LIES DIAPER-BABY WHO CURRENTLY OCCUPIES THE WHITE HOUSE. 

I'M BEGGING YOU. 

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*NOTE: Colorado's drop off/mail in ballot program is considered the Gold Standard for this type of process. Not so coincidentally, it was first deployed in Douglas County under the leadership of County Clerk Merlin Klotz. After the new process was deployed, Douglas County ended up with the highest voter participation rates of any County in the nation. So the SOS decided that they needed to get them some of THAT, and therein lies history. Please note that Mr. Klotz is a Republican in a largely Republican county. Election integrity isn't a Republican thing or a Democratic thing, or an unaffiliated thing. It's a Democracy thing, so sit down and STFU about imaginary voter fraud. There is no evidence that it's true, all the cases have been tossed into the dumpster fire that is the tRump Presidency by responsible Judges, and the Loser's attempts to coerce election officials into disenfranchising their entire populations have fallen on deaf ears. IT'S NOT TRUE. And as the Georgia Secretary of State, an elected Republican official says, "Truth matters, especially around election administration." I remember a time when the Republican Party as a whole actually believed that, and I hope they throw tRump into the dustbin of history and return to their pre-Reagan intellectual roots. But leave the racism with tRump, please.