Bye 2020 hello 2021 and 2022??? You never know.

I haven't blogged in a month plus and I'm sorry about that.  There hasn't been much that caught my attention,  the election being the exception and we're probably all weary of that. I usually write a year end blog and I'm a bit early but I'm on the 5th of 5 days in a row off so I'd better blog while I can.

Despite the pandemic and having to wear a mask every day at work and when I go out to eat it's really not been a bad year for me personally. I've done some redecorating and cleaning, or maybe clearing out is a better way to put it. A new roof is coming soon thanks to my dad and insurance.  I had a brief period of panic and wanting to move to Columbia or Charleston or somewhere on my own, I'm starting to look into low income housing options but I've been holding off I need to get back on it.

Sportswise the Gamecocks stunk it up in football but we're getting a new coach and I'm very excited about Shane Beamer. I was so worried that they were going to hire Hugh Freeze and I would have had to withdraw my support.

We did have a weird convergence of NBA, NHL and MLB championships in October this year due to Covid delays in basketball and hockey. A good year for Los Angeles and Tampa Bay. The Chargers are out I think,  Rams are a possibility and with Tom Brady on the Buccaneers now you never know. I really don't have any one team I'm favoring over any other but a Chiefs Packers Super Bowl has always appealed to me as it was Super Bowl I. Very real possibility of that this year or rather next year as Super Bowl LV will be February 7th, 2021.

2021. It reminds me off my late friend James. He died in 1994 (gee what a long time ago). It was around new year of 1992/3 and we were discussing how we didn't like the "3" at the end of the year. It was odd numbers 1,3,7 and 9. 5 was ok i think because it's "half-way" or maybe because it's a divisor of 10 I'm not sure where our conversation went from there but for some reason I like "2021".

Maybe it's because 21 is "blackjack" or the "legal" age I'm not sure. It sounds good though. There's something right about it. 

Then of course politically our attention will mainly turn to 2022. Not sure if any democrats are lining up to run for Governor yet. My hopes are with former University of South Carolina trustee Darla Moore, who is only a "former" trustee because that snake in the grass Nikki Haley replaced her with one of her big donors. It's the freaking "Darla Moore school of business" for a reason. 

Then there's my own little neck of the woods, state house district 17. I was so excited in 2018 when Judi Buckley ran as a Democrat here. I got involved in her campaign, although admittedly a big part of that was being able to have breakfast at "The Cafe at Williams Hardware" once a month dang i miss that place. I've toyed with the idea of running myself just to put a name on the ballot but my tax refund was delayed and I talked myself out of it. I'm openly gay, HIV+ and I describe myself as a secular humanist. That's three strikes against me right of the bat. Plus I live in a house on my conservative parents property no telling what kind of threats they would get let alone me.

There's a side of me though that just wants my name on the ballot once in my life. A bucket list item and I'll admit an ego trip, I have the self awareness to acknowledge that. Then again if I ever do move, maybe it's to a more "blue" part of Greenville county. Although they probably have leaders already elected. So I'm torn. I'll probably just stay behind the scenes and try to encourage someone else to run and help them out. Ok it's 2:45 am. I should get some sleep.  Have a great end of 2020 everyone.  Kick old man 2020 in the ass on his way out!

Come to G.O.P.-esus moment.

I can't sleep tonight for pretty obvious reasons so it's time to put my racing thoughts out in the blogosphere. 

I am of course elated tonight. I was watching CBS this morning after going to the grocery store and getting lunch and some mini bottles of prosecco in preparation for a big announcement. I thought the Army/Air Force game was going to be on but I found out after I checked that it was canceled. CBS News happened to break in during some "E/I" programs I was enjoying to announce their call in the Presidential election. I had a toast with my first mini bottle of prosecco and after watching for a bit took a walk and waited for the Florida Georgia game. That didn't go the way I wanted so I flipped around until NBC Nightly News which came on before the Clemson Norte Dame game. After learning the game would move to the USA Network while NBC carried President Elect Biden's (boy that's nice to type) speech, I decided to stay with NBC and follow the score on my tablet, where I also had the Texas A&M South Carolina game playing. 

Both speeches were excellent and as I watched Notre Dame defeat Clemson in the 2nd overtime,  I toasted the tears of Clemson fans and trump supporters (many of whom are the same). 

I want to say something to any of my republican "friends" who might read this. You need to have what I am calling a "Come to G.O.P-esus" moment. 

When I was young, the republican party was known as the "big tent" party. There was room for everyone.  I have made this analogy before, right now they are a "country club" party. If you're gay or an immigrant or a strong woman, particularly a woman of color; if you support reproductive freedoms, if you don't love guns; they don't want you in their club. It wasn't like that when I was young. Reagan was pro-choice. Most Republicans accepted Rape, Incest or the life of the mother as acceptable conditions for abortion. Reagan recognized that citizens had the right to own a gun for hunting and defense of the home, but that assault rifles were not necessary for either. This attack by Republicans on planned parenthood is ridiculous. Planned Parenthood provides much more than abortion services they are valuable health providers for low income women which includes women of color. 

Republicans and Democrats disagreed but came together to get things done. Democratic speaker of the House when I was young was a man named Tip O'Neil. He and Ronald Reagan disagreed strongly but they got things done for the good of the country. We had bipartisanship. 

Republicans are digging in their heels and hanging on to a 50s sitcom version of America that never really existed. Unless the G.O.P. recognizes and accepts that the country's demographics are changing as are attitudes on social issues they will continue to become more of a minority. Republicans want to hang on to the electoral college because it's the only way they can win without changing their ways.

And I have news for you. Kamala Harris will run for President again, whether it's 2024 if Joe Biden doesn't run for reelection, or 2028. Pete Buttigieg will run again. The future of the Democratic Party is bright and diverse. Recognize it and accept it, or keep fighting a losing battle. That's my advice. You may not like it, but that's where it stands. Ok sleep now.

Sorry Dodgers, it's an AL East thing.

I've had several ideas for blogs over the past two months since my last one, but they seemed to be preachy and more of me venting about politics or it was something that I thought would only interest me. We have the World Series starting tonight, however, and while I have some controversial reasons for who I have decided to root for, it's not really that controversial. I'll start with the results of the NLCS.

I really don't like the Atlanta Braves, but that was not always the case. In 1995, when the Braves had gone from perennial losers to winning the World Series, I was captivated like the rest of the upstate of South Carolina. Back then, Greenville was home to the AA Greenville Braves, and a slew of big names that went on to win the World Series came through Greenville and played here either on their way up to the major league or playing here "on assignment". We had the right to be just as invested as people who lived in Atlanta. There was a problem that I never quite got past, however and that was the Braves use of native American stereotypes and imagery.

I have no problem with the name "Braves". Unlike the Washington NFL teams former mascot, it's not based on a physical characteristic that was used as a racial epithet. It's a positive attribute. The logo of a tomahawk and the terribly racist "tomahawk chop" gets under my skin however as a person who is sensitive to those issues. They are based on a 50's Hollywood stereotype of Native Americans as warlike which is not accurate. So I was rooting heavily for the Dodgers. It has been 1988 since they won it and they have a reputation as being a very pro LGBT organization. "Outsports.com" even tweeted their support and how they hold special regard for the Dodgers pro LGBT efforts. But a longtime friend of mine who I originally met on their message boards reminded me of an issue he takes with the famous (or is he infamous?) former manager Tommy Lasorda. 

Tommy Lasorda, Jr. was the flamboyant son of the former Dodgers manager. While it is well documented that the younger Lasorda frequented gay establishments and died of AIDS, Tommy Lasorda continuously and vehemently denies those facts.. It's something my friend cannot look past and he has convinced me to do the same. I will be happy if the Dodgers finally do win one, but I have reasons to root for the Rays.

Like the Dodgers, the Rays have an excellent record of being supportive of the LGBT community. An article I read online seems to support that, but as it was written by the Tampa Bay Tribune (I think that's the main newspaper in Tampa) it should be taken with a grain of salt. Other sources seem to back that up including the aforementioned Outsports.com however. 

I do have some negatives about Tampa Bay, but little of it is to do with the Rays. Several years ago the Lightning, who I'm sad to say won the Stanley Cup this year, tried to prevent fans of the opposing hockey team from wearing their teams colors or jerseys. I thought that was poor sportsmanship. I also didn't like former FSU quarterback Jameis Winston, or as I call him "Ignoramus Jameis". Tom Brady is the QB of the Buccaneers now and my opinion of his soured after he went all trumpy. I do continue to like Rob Gronkowski however. There's also the fact that the Rays are teasing fans in Montreal by saying they want to play half their season there.

Then there's the fact that the Tampa Bay Rays are in the AL East. When former Gamecock Jackie Bradley, Jr. was first called up to the main roster, I went on Facebook and declared myself a Red Sox fan after years of not paying much attention to MLB. We also now have the Single A Red Sox affiliate Greenville Drive who play at Fluor Field, a miniature version of Fenway Park. I love going to games there, both Drive games and the college games they host. The weird thing is though, unlike a typical Red Sox fan, I don't hate the Yankees. 

Former Gamecock pitcher Jordan Montgomery spent a year recovering from surgery and is now back on the Yankees roster, even helping them win in his last outing. He only pitched 4 innings so he didn't get the official win, but he was crucial. I also like the Yankees Single A affiliate the Charleston Riverdogs who are the only minor league team in the Palmetto state to host a "Pride" night. In fact they were doing so long before the New York Yankees were doing it. I also didn't grow up in Boston so I don't have that life-long hatred for the Yankees built up.

I also have reasons to like the Baltimore Orioles. A high school classmate of mine, who currently lives in DC with his husband spent many years in Baltimore and even wrote for the Baltimore Sun and he is a die-hard Orioles fan. I'm really quite proud of his even though we weren't in many classes together in high school and didn't hang in the same circles. He is a Georgia graduate but his family are Clemson fans and I often tease him about how I will root for Georgia when they play Clemson but he won't return the favor and pull for the Gamecocks when we play the Tigers. 

As for the Toronto Blue Jays, former Gamecock Justin Smoak was with them until recently and I began following them. Also as a liberal living in the dirty, dirty south; I tend to root for Canadian teams anyway. Canada also has a beautiful national anthem, whereas as ours is more "chest thumping" as a Canadian friend on Facebook put it. 

Which brings us back to the Tampa Bay Rays, who I believe have the 29th (of 30) (Edit: it's 28th) lowest salary of any MLB team going against one of the highest. The Dodgers also stole Mookie Betts from my Red Sox and you see what happened to them they didn't make the playoffs in the easiest year to make them with a ridiculous 16 teams in. Part of me is very happy we have the 2 best teams at the end, and not a bunch of Wild Card teams.

So there are my reasons for my changing from rooting for the Dodgers to now rooting for the Rays. As I said, I won't be sad if the Dodgers win, quite the opposite, but my loyalty is to the AL East this World Series. 

Crossroads at 50

I've been a bit stressed out the past few days. I'm turning 50 on August 22nd and it's caused me to take stock of my life and where I am in my journey. 

I moved into this little house in November of 1999 after a nervous breakdown and discovering (although in many ways I already knew) that I was HIV+. Tensions between my parents and I were running high and the decision was made to allow me to live in my Great Aunts old house. My father bought half her land to build the house myself and my sisters grew up in. My Great Aunt Marie (pronounced Mare-E for reasons that always alluded me) died in 1988 when I was on a trip with my high school marching band. 

This house has been terrific for me, but things are starting to break down. The house was built in the 1940s and most of the appliances were as well. The yard is also a big problem as it is overgrown and well beyond my capacity to take care of.

There's a problem, however. 

I love my job at Publix. I've been there going on 13 years now and I'm building quite a nestegg. Publix as well as most retail outlets, however, doesn't hire full time. It wouldn't really work as a cashier anyway, because you have to be so careful about going over 40 hours. They really don't want to pay that overtime. I'm not really qualified to do anything else...that you can legally be paid for...and i don't want to do anything else anyway. 

I've looked into ways to earn money by blogging, etc. but it seems really complicated to me. Most advice I read says you have to specialize, but that's the opposite of who I am. I consider myself a renaissance man and as a person born during the cusp of exposure, varied interests is what we're all about. 

Buying the house for myself has occurred to me, but I don't have that kind of money and I have too much debt to begin with to even consider taking on more.

I have seen apartments listed in Greenville and Greer for less than $1,000/month, some for less than $600, but finding an extra $1K/month is proving difficult not to mention the added expense (even in terms of labor) of moving all my stuff. Ive looked into instacart and shipt, but the interview process for shipt is ridiculous and instacart has no openings right now. Also why spend any more time in a grocery store than necessary? My house is so "lived in" (to put it politely) it's just impractical to consider moving.

So I find myself in the same place I always do when I panic about my future and my living situation. I've got it pretty good. I need to do better in some places but other things I'm just going to have to accept are out of my control. Just do your best Daniel Patten. That's all you can do. Don't be so afraid to ask for help when you need it. And keep at it. You'll be 50 soon. 10 years away from your senior discount at Publix and not that much futher away than being able to retire (although that's probably further away than I think).

I feel better now that I've "talked things out". I haven't really watched any of my normal shows today I've been so preoccupied. Perhaps a nap is in order soon. And I eat like a retired person and it's 4:00. Have a good day everyone. Thanks for reading. 

Like Sands through the Hourglass and hunks in undies.

Rather than climb back up on my soapbox and preach to the choir, I thought I would spend some time discussing what I'm currently watching and one thing I have been watching off an on since 8th Grade. (With my 50th birthday approaching fast we won't calculate how long that has been.)

It started with my grandmother on my mother's side and her 13 (I believe) sisters (more siblings died in childhood if I'm not mistaken). Not all of them lived in the upstate of South Carolina but any time we had a family gathering, everything stopped at 1:00 pm for Days of our Lives (except 4th of July when Wimbledon preempted Days). And of course my grandmother was a frequent babysitter, and i remember watching one episode with her vividly. 

Bo Brady kidnapped Hope Williams on his motorcycle from her impending marriage to Larry Welsh. That hooked me.  DVRs were either then or soon invented and we would watch as a family after school. I got away from it a bit in college, although I remember spats with my boyfriend at the time who was a fan of the Young and the Restless. Our compromise was sometimes watching all of Y&R and the end of Days, or half of Y&R and all of Days. 

I think I missed the original "Buried Alive" storyline and a few others. I was front and center for Marlena's possesion storyline which I still hear about from fans of other soap operas saying how stupid it was. My answer to them is it was (1995) 25 years ago and you're still talking about it.  Who won that one? When i had DirecTV with DVR, the episodes would back up and i would frequently give up. For a while the episodes aired nightly on Soap Opera Network, then they moved to TV Guide Network (now known as Pop!). When that was no longer an option, my pattern became only watching on my weekdays off.

Recent events, however,  have had Days preempted more than usual and I discovered the NBC app a while ago. The episodes on the NBC app typically last 37:30 and it avoids many of the other pitfalls of the network broadcast. 

In addition to frequent breaking news updates, the political ads are just infuriating. Normally they would only be a minor annoyance but the lies and distortions mainly by donald trump and Lyndsey Graham are maddening. Also, I don't know if this is true in other parts of the country, but our local television stations are suffering from a weather insanity. Crawlers across the screen, watch and warning inset maps in the corner and that's if you're lucky. The tiniest little thunderstorm and they're on there in front of their "Live Super Doppler" maps telling you that there's a thunderstorm. In the South. In the Summer. News flash: It's pretty much a given. Interrupt if there's a tornado or earthquake or something. 

A recent storyline on Days has also grabbed my attention.  Ben, portrayed by the gorgeous Robert Scott Wilson,  was kidnapped during a bombing at the church where he had just gotten married. The culprit was Eve, who's daughter he killed when he was the necktie strangler. Eve's plan is to turn the reformed Ben back into the necktie strangler and kill his new wife.

The fact that Ben has been strapped to a chair and tourtured in his underwear has a little to do with my interest I'll admit. 

As the new episodes are released at 8:00 PM, I'm undergoing a slight change in my viewing habits. Tuesday morning I had a 7:30 am shift, so Monday Night Raw was out and Mondays Days became part of my viewing. I'm off this coming Tuesday-Thursday so I will probably not watch Mondays episode until Tuesday although staying up an extra few minutes is also possible. Tuesday night is usually open (if I was off Wednesday All Star Trek on H&I would be my goto, but that will probably change). Wednesday is my big wrestling night and coincidentally long before Wednesday became the big wrestling night it has become, I always had and still have Thursdays off. So in recent weeks I have watched NXT from 8:00-10:00, then gone directly to my recording of AEW Dynamite. With my new goal to watch Days regularly, I may watch Wednesdays Days at 10:00 and save AEW for Thursday. Thursday night is usually a big night for sports and depending on how early I have to be in Friday and what's on etc., Thursdays episode may also have to wait. Friday night is Smackdown on FOX 8:00-10:00 followed by 205 live on WWE Network which usually lasts 30 minutes. That's another TBD and might have to wait until the weekend. 

Today was my first day off in a while that I did not watch Days of our Lives at 1:00. I watched my usual fare, which included an episode of Babylon 5, an episode of Dark Shadows (the original), a 4 episode classic Doctor Who (with some internet struggles) and also listened to some music (it's almost always New Age music to relax). I'm currently watching a hockey game, which a new game has started while I'm typing this. It's just about dinner and pill time, wrestling will be not long afterward. I'm off Friday as well as my usual Thursday this week so plenty of chances to stream my favorites. 

Despite price hike..YouTube TV remains the best service.

To take a break from the political, and because we're a few hours away from opening day, I thought I'd take the opportunity to bring up the recent price hike by YouTube TV. 

While it is somewhat disappointing, I've tried other free (and not so free) trials of other services and none of them match the quality I get from YouTube TV. Other live TV services I've tried constantly skip and freeze, no doubt due to limited internet speed on my "unlimited" data plan.

Of the other services,  Hulu with live TV does not have BBC America which is a must when new episodes of Doctor Who are aired. AT&Ts service, which i believe used to be DirecTV Now, double charged me after i canceled their service.  In order to get both USA and BBC America as well as ESPN on Sling, i would have to subscribe to both the Orange and Blue plans which is $40 and to get SEC Network and ACC Network, I would have to add the sports package at $15. I may be able to get by without the DVR upgrade, that's $5 and still wouldn't compare to YouTube TV's unlimited DVR. I would be up to $60 with no guarantee of the quality. 

The only time YouTube TV freezes or skips is if i don't stay off my tablet while it is connected to my Google Chromecast. The picture sometimes suffers during heavy internet traffic times, but for the most part is very good.

There is something to be said about the channels added being ones I've learned to live without, but i have already enjoyed episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show" on weekday afternoons as well as "The Golden Girls" on Sunday morning and afternoon. The continuing lack of access to Hallmark Channel has been a blessing in disguise as I no longer stay up late watching the "Girls". I have yet to enjoy "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central as my work and TV schedule haven't really allowed a viewing. I could record it of course but I'm not sure when I would find the time to watch. 

I've also recently been using my Google Chromecast much more than my Amazon Fire Stick. It's been a very long time since Amazon and Google fortunately settled their differences and we can now cast Amazon Prime to Chromecast. I've found that Amazon Prime works as well if not better on Google Chromecast. The episodes, for example, play all the way to the end and through the end credits before loading the next episode; something we classic Doctor Who fans appreciate. With fire stick i had to either hit the "return(?)" button before the next episode or give up on watching the end credits. I also don't often "binge" watch, instead watching one episode at a time. Amazon fire stick can also be temperamental at times of heavy internet traffic. 

I'm holding out hope that YouTube TV will come out with some tiered pricing plans before my bill officially goes up in late August, but regardless they remain my best option for streaming live TV. For the record, I am committed to streaming. I don't want to return to rain outs of satellite or have people in my house hooking up cable and internet. That would also involve changing mobile providers and I'm happy with the status quo. I may just have to bite the bullet on the price hike although Google may lose a lot of customers over this.

Jo No! What a dilemma!

I learned a very interesting thing the other day when i was curious who was the 

Libertarian presidential candidate in 2020.

I know her. It's Jo Jorgensen whose congressional campaign I was heavily involved with in 1992. It presented a bit of a dilemma but this complicates things further. I took the isidewith.com quiz as I do fairly often...

46%. The thing is I don't think my views really changed but in 1992 I was swept along by my friend David. I was also like most of Generation X raised during the "Reagan Revolution". We were raised to hate those "tax and spend" Democrats. So when I came out of the closet as a gay man and learned from my new gay friends that the Republicans did not support my right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness like they claim, I didn't switch over to the Democrats. I met my friend David and much of what happened next would make a great trashy tell-all one day.

So here's the problem. Can I NOT vote for someone who had such a big influence on my life? Can I not vote for Uncle Joe in this crucial election? 

The reason I'm able to consider my vote is because of the electoral college WHICH NEEDS TO GO!

The electoral college allows candidates to concentrate on a few "swing" states and ignore so called "safe states". Of course Republicans want to keep the electoral college, it has benefited them each time. If we went to a popular vote, Republicans would have to broaden their appeal and not just be the gun loving, gay bashing, immigrant hating, tax hating,  women's reproductive rights opposing country club. They might even return to being the big tent party we grew up loving and admiring. 

On the other hand, we anti-republucans in "safe states" like South Carolina have an option of casting a 'meaningless' protest vote.

I love Uncle Joe. There's a reason he's nicknamed that, everybody (well almost everybody) loves him. I really want him to win just like I wanted Hillary to win but fell for what I now believe was a phony vote trading website and voted for Gary Johnson....and I want the orange pussbag to lose. But if I do cast a 'protest vote'....why would I vote for someone I only agree with 46%..when I agree with Howie Hawkins 92%?

I prefer the French system. You have rounds of voting where you can vote for anyone in the first round but you must choose between the top 2 in the second round. 

The gap between the Green Party and the Democrats is a little smaller at least according to my latest survey.  

So I have some thinking to do. I think i may have to overlook my fondness for Jo in favor of Joe. Howie is also in the mix. Oh my 2020 is getting more and more interesting. 

Liberals are Patriots!

I had a harrowing experience driving home the other day. Some trump supporters, obviously upset by my "Democrat" and HRC magnets on my car, began yelling at me and waving a MAGA hat out the window. As the pulled away in a turn lane they yelled "Donald trump....trump 2020.."followed by the N-word, which puzzles me as I am white, I guess they were working on assumption. As if that were bad enough I have to put up with outrageous comments from conservative coworkers. One that was said today is an attitude that I am so sick of.

My coworker told a customer that we may not have "4th of July" anymore "The way things are going ".

I knew what my coworker was trying to say and i almost started throwing groceries at him very hard.

My coworker was advancing the narrative that Democrats are so unpatriotic that we would try to stop people from celebrating the 4th of July. 

BULL...

forgive my language....

SHIT!

Recognizing that our country has not always lived up to it's ideals is not unpatriotic. 

Far from it.

Recognizing that our country can do better is not unpatriotic. 

Far from it.

Republicans also claim to be the party of "fiscal responsibility".

I've seen the memes.

Deficits go up under Republican administrations. 

They go down under Democratic administrations. 

Bill Clinton....lord knows the Republicans have made the Clintons public enemy #1....some of it is deserved. He did wag his finger at us and say "I did not have sexual relations with that woman".

Put that aside. The man had a budget surplus. 

Republicans now claim we can't afford universal health care while there's plenty of money for wars and corporate bailouts. They stop at nothing to try to strip individuals of health care , particularly the most vulnerable. 

Republicans also claim moral superiority. 

How many Republicans have been disgraced by extra marital activities. Or homosexuality while opposing every pro LGBTQ piece of legislation. 'Lady G' for example. 

I came across some information online that suggests that the bible doesn't in fact condemn what we think of as modern day homosexuality. The line conservatives love to throw out "Man shall not lie down with man" actually reads "man shall not lie down with young boy" and where it says "homosexuals shall not inherit the earth", the word used was the word for "boy abusers" or "boy molesters". There was a practice in ancient Greece of the sexual pairing young boys with older men known as pederasty. That is what the bible condemns.  The word "homosexual" was not invented until 1862 in Germany and doesn't appear in print in the bible until the 1940s. This use of the bible to justify discrimination against homosexuals is

BULL...

again forgive my language....

SHIT!

I came across an old notebook from high school the other day. It of course had a "Campbell" bumper sticker from Carol Campbell's campaign for governor here in South Carolina in 1986. I've mentioned in past blogs that i went to elementary school with his son Mike Campbell. Also on my old notebook however is also a bumper sticker for his opponent in 1986, Mike Daniel. Part of the reason is of course Daniel is the name I've always gone by but it also shows how bipartisan we were. We didn't hate people who had a difference of opinion. That's the difference in politics of that time and now. Republicans and Democrats had a difference of opinion then.

Now it's a difference in morality.

(Deep Space) 9 to (Babylon) 5

After about 3 years watching an episode at a time on my days off, early afternoons, etc. I have finally completed my viewing of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine all the way through. I have some observations. 

I've never really studied acting. I never did school plays or anything like that so I'm not an expert. The acting on DS9, however,  was out of this world (pun fully intended). I particularly loved some of the relationships in the show, Odo and Quark; Dr. Bashier and Chief O'Brian; Worf and Dax (both Jadzia and Ezri). I didn't think I would like Ezri Dax after Jadzia died, but I found her to be a very sympathetic character. My favorite episode was "Take me out to the Holosuite", because of my love of both Star Trek and Baseball which I wrote about in a previous blog. 

The next logical step of course is to watch "Babylon 5" as it was produced around the same time and a quick internet search will net tons of results on speculation about how Babylon 5 was pitched to Paramount before Warner Bros. picked it up and how similar both shows are. Accusations of plagiarism abound between fans of both shows. According to many of my science-fiction inclined friends, Babylon 5 is the superior show and if that's the case I'm in for a real treat because I have a very high opinion of DS9 going in.

The question now is how to watch B5? It airs on Comet TV and it is recorded/recording on my YouTube TV DVR, however I would have to fast forward through commercials and ignore the big on screen logo for Comet TV. There is a more political question, however. Comet TV is owned by the evil Sinclair broadcasting,  which forces local newscasts of the stations they own to run pro-trump news stories with or without objections from the local anchors and producers. Also in question is the fact that I watched DS9 commercial free and sat back and relaxed while I watched. Comet TV will take a few weeks to cycle back around to Season 1 and i would have to be prepared to skip through commercials. 

Babylon 5 is available on several platforms, but i was pleased to learn that Amazon Prime now offers the full series at $29.99/season. I was short on hours on my paycheck this week, so i will have to wait a little longer to begin my viewing.  It seems more fair to watch it commercial free on Amazon Prime as I did with DS9 even if it costs me a little bit extra. I'm certainly not buying it by the episode at $1.99/each!

So my plan is set. Sometime I also need to pull out my "Firefly" DVD set and give that a watch as well. Maybe while I wait to be able to afford Babylon 5!

Shaving the "Traditional" way, but with a twist.

I'm having another one of my sleepless nights so best thing to do is blog about what's on my mind.

It's early on Sunday May 24th now.

In a previous ous blog, I talked about how I was making more environmentally conscious decisions about my everyday life, the latest change is coming in the form of my shaving routine. 

I have been using Dollar Shave Club for years. My facial hair is so light that i didn't really change the blades often and i built up a backlog. I still have 7 (one 5-pack and another one in another pack plus the one I was currently using) but I decided not to wait. I have made the change to a double sided safety razor. 

After first finding a company called Leafshave and finding their blades too complicated (you had to snap them in half and load 2 or 3 into the razor) I found Rockwell which was a more traditional safety razor. They had several models but the one I liked, the R1 also called "The Rookie", wasn't available on the Rockwell website. I found it on Amazon, however with 5 blades. The next step was "shaving the traditional way". 

The shave kits on Rockwell's website all came with their more sophisticated razors (you could change the settings to a "more aggressive" shave which sounded scary. The R1 is the lowest setting (hince being called "The Rookie") and with my light facial hair it's probably all I need. Because I am a convert to Dr. Squatch soap,  I thought I would try their shave kit.

Traditional shaving involves a brush and shave soap. You soak the brush in warm water (I did that while I was in the shower), shake off the water, circle the brush in the shave soap and then brush the soap on your face.

Here's where it didn't work for me. My light facial hair meant the soap dissipated quickly. It was practically gone by the time i went to shave. The shaving itself went very well...I half expected to cut myself up the first few tries but not even a nick. When i shave this morning I will use the rest of my traditional shaving cream and see how that goes. I ordered some shaving cream from Rockwell and I also had previously ordered a "blade safe" to store the used blades before recycling and a 20 pack of blades. 

I will update this blog later with the results. Until then....

So after 4:00 I gave up and decided to get up. About 4:30 I had a bowl of chili (really starting the day off right aren't I?)

I then showered and shaved using traditional shaving cream and it worked just fine in fact a lot better than the disappearing shave soap. I still need to work on shaving under my chin both on the sides and directly underneath but I learned online it takes practice to get the hang a safety razor. No cuts at all, I think I was right to start with the R1 even if I had to get it on Amazon and not through Rockwell. I think I'm going to like this new routine. 

Open primary means another chance to vote.

I'm not sure if "Blogger" will allow me to post a 4th blog in a month, so this may be delayed until June. 

South Carolina is an open primary state. That means you don't register as a voter for a particular party, you can vote in any primary you wish, as long as you only vote in one. You can't, for example,  vote in a Republican primary and then a Democratic runoff election, but voting in the Democratic presidential primary does not effect ones ability to vote in the Republican primary for state and local offices. I have no contested primaries for Democrats in my precinct,  so I'm considering voting in the Republican primary. 

There are 4 races and 2 ballot questions. 

U.S. Senate 

Lyndsey is unlikely to be primaried out, but of his 3 opponents, 2 are bible thumpers but the other one, Joe Reynolds,  stands out.

I emailed him and got a very nice reply that he believes everyone deserves respect and should be heard and that he is running to represent everyone, not just the Republican base.

He also states in a blog that he did not vote for trump nor would he. He is also a champion of the separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial branches. He's the one vote I feel strongly about. 

S.C. Senate District 5

I really don't care for our state senator Tom Corbin, who once described women as a "lesser cut of meat", but word is his opponent isn't much better. I'd rather see him go down to a Democrat anyway. If that's possible. 

Coroner

I'm rather torn on this one. Parks Evans, Jr. is in or running for his seventh term, and experience seems to be valuable in this case. I'm also turned off by Stacey Owens big sign on my way to and from work. However, Mr. Owens has some mental health organizations and initiatives listed on his webpage and as a person who has had my own battles with mental illness as well as friends who personally dealt with mental illness either themselves or through a loved one, i admire that. 

County Council District 20

This one is kinda personal. The Democrat running is not only a member of the LGBTQ community, but she lead Mayor Pete's presidential campaign here in the upstate. The two Republican candidates both state biblical teachings as their guiding principles, but my information suggests that Steve Shaw may be much more reasonable than Christy Cates Bright. Mrs. Bright is the daughter of retiring councilman Sid Cates who was one of the big supporters of the 1996 anti-gay ordinance, which got "sunsetted" recently but the religious right now wants to enshrine "traditional values" into Greenville county, basically wanting to make Greenville an "LGBT Free Zone". I got news for them. I ain't going anywhere. 

Ballot Questions 

The first question is tricky Republican wording. The question reads

"Do you support giving voters the right to register to vote with the political party of their choice? "

As I stated at the beginning, the reason why I can vote in the Republican primary is because we are an open primary state. While the Republicans had no problem telling their followers to vote for Bernie Sanders in the presidential primary to mess things up, what's good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander. They want to end that, but worded the question to make it sound like they're giving you something when actually they want to take it away.

The second question is

"Should candidates for public office be limited to having their names listed only once on a ballot for any office in each general election (rather than current law, which allows their name to appear multiple times by representing multiple political parties for the same office)?"

Some examples are candidates running as both Libertarian and Constitution party candidates (which is why I'm no longer supporting the SCLP, the Constitution Party sounds innocuous but they are an extreme right-wing anti-gay and anti-separation of church and state party, the opposite reasons i got involved in the Libertarian party to begin with).

We also have some Democratic candidates accept the nomination of the "Working Families" Party. Some say it confuses voters but I can see how someone may be reluctant to vote for a Democrat, but might vote for the same person as a "Working Families" candidate. I myself one year, when I was still in my "Never Democrat" mode, voted for a Green Party candidate even though he was also running as a Democrat. That also happened to coincide with my "3rd Party" phase.

I can see the benefits of each. But it would be easy and less confusing to list candidates once and have one or more parties listed beside their name. I may vote 'yes' because i don't like saying 'no' too much.

Several ex-lovers can attest to that.

Baseball and Star Trek in perfect harmony!

As I often tell anyone who will listen, I was not always a baseball fan. I didn't grow up with cable TV, so I didn't see the Braves on TBS or any other baseball broadcasts. It wasn't until my father got DirecTV in June of 1996 and the big sporting event at the time was the College World Series that I fell in love with college baseball and soon learned that the school I had rooted for all my life, the South Carolina Gamecocks, were pretty darn good at it. It wasn't until about 7 years ago when Gamecock great Jackie Bradley, Jr. was called up to the Boston Red Sox that i declared myself a Red Sox fan and started attending Greenville Drive games occasionally as well as games when the Gamecocks and/or my true alma mater, the USC Upstate Spartans play at Fluor Field in downtown Greenville. 

My love of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" was also not until later in life. I always had other priorities on Saturdays at the time and only caught pieces of it here and there. A few years ago when i finally caught on to the streaming thing, i decided to finally watch "DS9". I started on the stand alone CBS All-Access app, but soon after discovered it was also available on Amazon Prime with no additional fee.

I'm still not a "binge" watcher. I watch one episode at a time and then move on to something else. I've been watching "DS9" for what must be close to three years now. I have now reached season 7 and recently saw what has become my favorite episode "Take Me out to the Holosuite", which of course combined my two loves.

A Captain of an all Vulcan crew, who we learn later has a history with Sisko, comes to DS9 and ends up challenging Captain Sisko to a game of baseball in a holosuite program he acquired. Through the course of the episode we see Sisko coaching his potential team and hilarious scenes with the crew trying to figure out the rules of baseball. At one point Sisko kicks Rom (station Ferengi bar owner Quark's hapless brother) off the team.

The way the episode plays out next is rather brilliant. Rather than doing the obvious and having the "Niners" win in a glorious bottom of the 9th comeback, what happens in the game actually had me tearing up. Down 10-0, Sisko, having been banished to the stands by umpire Odo, gets acting coach O'Brian to make a substitution. With a runner on 3rd (for the first time in the game), Rom comes in. Sisko reactivates the crowd, which he had requested to be turned off before the game, and while trying to signal to Rom to bunt, Rom accidentally does so and the runner comes home. The "Niners" rush the field and carry Rom on their shoulders. The Vulcan Captain objects, touches umpire Odo and gets tossed out just as Sisko had for the same reason earlier. 

In the epilogue, the "Niners" are celebrating, Sisko apologizes to Rom and a rather irritated (though he tries not to show it) Vulcan Captain chastises Sisko for celebrating what I believe he called a "manufactured victory". The crew are unphased, however and the celebration continues as they jeer the Vulcan Captain. 

As I said I was tearing up for about the last 15 minutes of the episode. At a time when we are sadly lacking sports of any kind including baseball (sorry KBO you're not quite doing it for me) it was a welcome reminder of the power of sports and the ability it has to put smiles on our faces. And tears of joy in our eyes.

and another thing....

When I get fired up I can't sleep and I have to get things off my chest.

I've made similar statements on previous blogs but I'm going to repeat some things. Bear with me. 

We Americans, and this is particularly true for my generation known as Generation X, who grew up idolizing Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, have been spoon fed this idea of rugged individualism since birth. We were taught to believe in capitalism and hate anything different. Government was evil and encroached on our freedoms and I wasn't just drinking that kool-aid I was stirring it and handing it out particularly as a member of the Libertarian party. 

European and in particular Scandinavian countries like Finland figured out long ago that capitalism needs to be held in check. You need a strong social safety net. It's not that capitalism is broken,  it's being exposed. 

America was built on slave labor. White heterosexual males (and some women later on) have been in charge for centuries. It's starting to change. People of Color, women, the LGBT community and immigrants are starting to have a voice. And the white heterosexual "Christian" community is scared. That's why they've latched on to Donald trump. They know he's a crook. They know he's a womanizer. They may even know he's mentally ill. They don't care. He speaks to them. He lies. But he speaks to them. They relate to him.

They come up with conspiracy theories that I have to listen to from customers and coworkers and I can't say anything because my job is on the line.

Did y'all know Nancy Pelosi, the Clintons and Barak Obama went to China and brought the coronavirus to America in order to turn it into a socialist country? Or that Bill Gates created it so he can put microchips in the vaccines? How about the one a FedEx driver told me, that Joe Biden was going to nominate Hillary as his running mate then resign when he became President? 

They believe this BS too. It makes the world make sense to them because they can't believe there's other opinions and ways of viewing the world. 

Ok I think that's it for now. Time to try to sleep again. 

Uncle Joe is in trouble. Is Aunt Elizabeth still available?

I donated to 2 presidential campaigns before each dropped out. Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg. I was kinda holding out hope for this for a while. 

Now we have these allegations against Joe Biden. He has a history of questionable behavior towards women to begin with and the right is having a field day. I read an article online tonight that made sense but may be hard to swallow. The easy way out of this is for Joe Biden to drop out. The democratic establishment does not want Bernie Sanders to be the nominee. Somehow,  they don't seem to object as much to Elizabeth Warren. 

I know she has the 'Pocahontas' tag to deal with. Nominating a woman, however,  rules out any sexual harassment questions. Maybe that's a double standard and don't put it past Republicans to try to stir something up but it won't stick. I would also love to see Mayor Pete take on Mike Pence in a debate. 

Another solution would be to make Mayor Pete the nominee, he has no skeletons....he's not really old enough to have any. I thought he was the best candidate of them all anyway. 

I see no other way forward. I'm fairly certain the Democrats will hold on to the House and pretty sure we'll take the Senate. I am terrified, however, that even if those things happen, maybe even getting rid of Mitch McConnell and/or Lyndsey Graham in the process, the electoral college could give trump another 4 years.

And do you think he'll stop there?

I'll take the Coronavirus with a slice of Lyme disease.

After finally, after some controversy after 1 failed attempt, Greenville county council "sunsetted" the 1996 anti-gay ordinance.  Is that the end of it? No because now an attempt is being made to put a question on the November ballot basically asking citizens of Greenville county to reaffirm their hatred of the LGBTQ+ community. 

I had a glimmer of hope when an openly gay man announced his intention to run for my district's county council seat. Then after being friends with him on Facebook for a few days and having my Facebook feed flooded with disrespectful and dismissive memes targetting Bernie Sanders. While I am supporting Joe Biden as the best candidate to lead us to victories all the way down the ballot,  and while this person was perfectly respectful to me, his attitude towrds Bernie..referring to him as a communist in one post....just strikes me as not being the kind of open minded individual i want represtenting me.

Just a few hours ago, i had a FedEx carrier not only deliver the wrong package to my house, but decided to share with me his conspiracy theory about Joe Biden picking Hillary Clinton for his running mate then resigning so she could become President.

Meanwhile we've got the coronavirus canceling sporting events,  which makes me worry about the Lady Gamecocks being able to pursue a championship. As I'm about to post this, the notification came that the NCAA tournaments have been canceled. I've also got customers getting mad at me because i can only sell them 2 bottles of hand sanitizer or packs toilet paper; which people are hoarding for a virus that doesn't cause diarrhea. 

We have people getting mad at Joe Biden for telling a gun nut he's "full of shit" when our "president " curses all the time while golfing and tweeting between covering up affairs with porn stars, all while the religious right praises him.

It's just a constant struggle here in the upstate of South Carolina and while i would love to stick my middle finger up and say goodbye to Greenville and hello to a more progressive city like Columbia or Charleston, I'm financially unable to do so. 

I was born in Columbia, SC but my family moved to Greenville county when i was still an infant. We moved to Taylors when i was about 6 years old and apart from a short stint at a friend's cabin in Columbus, NC, I've lived out here ever since. This is my home, yet i constantly feel unwelcome in my own backyard. I feel like an outsider even among other outsiders. I am just getting fed up. I'm tired of fighting for things that I shouldn't have to fight for.

I just realized this is a very gloomy blog. I'm trying to come up with something positive to end on but nothing comes to mind. I'm ok, I really am, I'm just really down right now. I'll carry on as usual. 

Uncle Joe is back!

So I've been home from the USC Furman baseball game for a few hours (South Carolina broke the 1-1 tie with a waa run shot in the top of the 12th and won 3-1.I was following some Super Tuesday results so I was already aware that Uncle Joe wa see having a good night but it's really getting fascinating. 

If you follow me on Facebook, you know I'm a progressive. I was the proverbial "Bernie Bro" in 2016. I really didn't have anything against Hillary Clinton- when she won the nomination I expected her to win and I was disappointed when she didn't. 

I've seen the arguments against Bernie Sanders winning the nomination and the counter arguments in favor of him and I see merits to both arguments. There's a reason why we refer to him as "Uncle" Joe. He's beloved by most of the electorate. Bernie is polarizing. I absolutely agree with both Bernie and Elizabeth. We need universal Health Care. We need to at least bring the cost of college down. We need to eliminate student debt. But this idea of rugged individualism; this sink or sink capitalism; this "pull yourself up by your bootstraps (which is actually a physical impossibility) is so engrained in the American psyche that some people will never in a million years vote for someone who self-identified as a socialist, even if they add "democratic" to the term.

The superdelegates are going to ensure that Joe Biden is the nominee if they can. The "Bernie Bros" are going to be upset. So how do you placate them?

On election night in 2018 I started to turn my attention to 2020 and my first thought...and I posted it on Facebook...was a Biden/Warren ticket. Bear with me here.

If Uncle Joe is the nominee (or Bernie for that matter) it's almost a foregone conclusion that a women will have to be the VP nominee to try to make up for the disappointment of not having our first female president. 

Other possibilities are Kamala Harris,  who challenged Joe in an early debate,  and don't forget the original rumor that Joe was going to announce before hand that Stacey Abrams who be his running mate. 

Or how about a real longshot....Michelle Obama. You could really but the Obama/Biden collilisio back together,  only it'd be Biden/Obama this time. A little far fetched I'll admit but I can dream.

THIS blog is not made of recycled materials.

I've been wanting to write a blog because it's been a while, but I didn't want to repeat myself.

I thought about writing about the upcoming South Carolina primary and why I like all the candidates and even though I'm a progressive at heart, I'll be voting for Mayor Pete, but I decided not to.

We're  on the the road to Wrestlemania. I thought about doing another wrestling blog, but no. I need something else. 

I thought maybe I'd blog about the shows I'm watching now, but that would just be recycling and old idea. 

Recycling? I've been making some environmental changes recently. AH HA!

I live in an unincorporated area of Greenville and I don't get city garbage or recycling services. We have to pay for our own. When my family first moved out to Taylors,  we had to take our trash to the dump ourselves, but private trash services started popping up. I used to take my trash to my parents bin, then when I got more financially stable I started paying for my own service. I also used their recycling service which is every other week whereas the trash is weekly. Our pickup day is Thursday barring a holiday during the week occasionally shifting it to Friday. 

The price for their recycling service went up recently,  and my bill at the beginning of the year was almost $100. They also changed the frequency of billing which explains some of the increase, but it was too high. I stopped my recycling service with them and started investigating local recycling centers. I found one in Greer that seems easy for me to get to, but I have had so much else to do on my days off lately, I haven't found the time yet.

I had already started to make some small changes. I have a tumbler from the Human Rights Campaign that I try to take with me and just have ice water with my lunch. The tough part is remembering to take it home after work or take it with you went I walk from the parking lot to my car. I try to take it to my car on my break as it's in my hand on on my mind.

When I do forget it, or I want something else, I buy aluminum cans and not plastic. This limits my choices on zero sugar drinks, the normal choice is Sparkling Ice caffeine. 

I bought a camping fork and tried to use it instead of plastic but I left 8t somewhere. Perhaps I should buy one and take it with me to work as well.

I'm also starting to investigate more environmentally friendly products I use every day.i frequently get ads in my Facebook feed for these products and I've ordered a few.

The first one that caught my attention was "Dr. Squatch" soap and shampoo. Most commercial soaps and shampoos are made with the same chemicals that are in dish and laundry detergent. "Dr. Squatch" is also in natural bars which eliminates plastic bottles. I have made my first order but I missed that they have a starter kit. 

Another product that caught my eye was "Who gives a crap?" toilet paper. It comes in a box with individually wrapped rolls using 100% recycled paper., no plastic wrappers. They also make other products like paper towels which I will get in my free trial. I have also for several years used bath poofs, which wear out and have to be thrown out. I am going back to washcloths, and I need new ones....an excuse to shop! Also in the comments a suggestion was made that the paper wrapping makes funny gift wrap. I'm a bagger not a wrapper but it could do instead of tissue paper, but which lead to funny ideas about my nephew's birthday presents. (It's not until Cinco de Mayo but I'm a planner when it comes to gifts).

I've looked at laundry detergents. I'm currently using pods and my latest purchase was Myers which is plant based. It doesn't smell bad but it's not very fragrant. It also doesn't fully dissolve and it leaves little chunks which sometimes make it into the dryer and rattle. I need to do more investigating on that issue. I've read that powder is better than anything else. 

I don't have any more thoughts on the matter. I'm contemplating breakfast and whether to go shopping before work at the Publix closer to me or wait until closer to my shift at my store and shop then. It may be IHOP then shopping at Publix at Thornblade closer to my shift at 10:30. Have a good day and if you recycle any of this, some credit would be nice.

Vote for the person not the party.

I don't normally like writing two blogs so close together,  mainly because I've learned I'm only allowed two a month but I've had an epiphany today.

So often I criticize Republicans for putting party above principle. I think it's an apt criticism with so many Republicans in Congress particularly the Senate refusing to be impartial and supporting Donald trump even though the evidence against him is overwhelming. I was about to commit a similar transgression. 

I've blogged previously about my plans to vote in Greenville county's Republican primary for sherriff despite being a pretty solid Democrat. I voted absentee on Thursday for Darrius Hall, the only Republican African American in the race. Democratic candidate Paul Guy spoke today at the North Greenville Democrats meeting and I was going to vote for him in the March 10th election simply because he is a Democrat. 

I found Paul Guy to be inarticulate. He made a joke about former sheriff Steve Loftis,  who's son was just wonderful to me when I first started working at Publix. His wife was a frequent customer,  I often helped her to her car with her groceries. 

Paul Guy also repeated the popular misconception that Marijuana (along with cigarettes and alcohol) are "gateway drugs". I smoked cigarettes for 10 years, I've smoked marijuana a handful of times and while I've never been a heavy drinker,  I've had my share of alcohol. And I never once even thought about trying anything else. It's true I've never really put my self in a position to be faced with such temptation, but I disagree strongly with this characterization of drug use.

I looked up Darrius Hall's Facebook page and within hours he accepted my friend request. There will most likely be a runoff in the Republican primary. I'm hoping if it comes to that, I can vote for Darrius again.  A.T. " Tommy" Smith is likely to be the eventual nominee. Even though I think there some dirty doings going on with other candidates signs and acting sherriff Johnny Mack Brown, Tommy graduated from Wade Hampton High School and USC. (That's the real USC--South Carolina if anyone in other parts of the country are reading this.)

I hope people will heed my advice. Don't just vote for someone,  especially a local candidate,  on whether they have (R) or (D) beside their name. Do your research on candidates you are considering voting for. Go to local events if you can, I know it's hard for us working folks but when you have a chance, go. I hadn't been to a NGCD meeting in a long time but I went to hear Paul Guy speak and yes, I was disappointed but I learned. I'm making a more informed decision now.

Why $15/hour is not "burger flippers owning yachts".

So with my "Santa" money I was able to get my oil changed today but that's about all. I had to stop them from the almost $900 in recommended maintenance. I was given a laundry list of maintenance I need to have done on my car. Here's the thing..

I'm certain that if i were able to afford to have more regular maintenance done on my car, not as much would have to be done the next time.

I saw a meme i really liked on Facebook recently.  It's  about the difference between a poor man and a wealthy man buying boots. A wealthy person can buy one expensive pair of shoes and it will be the best and last a long time. A poor person, however, has to save up to buy a new pair of shoes and has to buy a cheaper pair, which wears out sooner so they have to buy new shoes more often.

I've even heard coworkers of mine in political conversations use the "burger flippers owning yachts" analogy when discussing a proposed $15/hour minimum wage saying it's too much. That's not the case at all. It's about things like my current situation,  not being able to have regular maintenance on my car leads to more costs down the road. Being low income is expensive. My tax refund is most likely all going to go to maintenance on my car. 

And when did we decide in America that some occupations are more "worthy" of a living wage than others? There was a time in this country when a fast food job was just a job after school to earn extra money but that's not the case anymore. Those jobs are now how people earn their living. This idea that somehow,  for example,  the fact that I'm "just a cashier" means I'm lazy or did something in my life to deserve to have to struggle to make ends meet is ridiculous. It took me a long time to find my calling in life but I believe I have found it. I like my job as a cashier. I don't see myself doing anything else for a living. Does that mean I should have to struggle to pay my bills? Does that mean someone sitting at a desk is more worthy of a good life than me? I don't think so. 

The cost of living has skyrocketed since the 1970s but our wages have remained stagnant. I used to drink the Libertarian Kool-aid on minimum wage laws but not anymore. Our minimum wage needs to be raised not so "burger flippers can own yachts" but so that people can live a decent life, can afford basic necessities and not "just get by" but thrive.