Let Us Be Grateful...

Let us be grateful the year isn't any longer than it is.  I don't
know about you but I barely survived the past 364 days.  And
now, a new year, and a new decade is almost here.  I know
the purists among you will say that the decade doesn't begin
until 2021, but this is my blog, go get your own.

It is unimaginable that we could cram so much into such
a short amount of time, and the bad news folks is, 2020
will have an extra day to bedevil us.  That means 105 more
tweets, and at least 15 more lies. There are some folks who
actually keep track of these numbers, I happen to be one of
them, and I do it just for fun.

But if we can forget all the angst, anxiety, dread, distress,
fear, foreboding, and trepidation, the year did have some
real highlights.  Women made some great strides in 2019.

In January, a record 105 women were sworn into the US
House of Representatives; there was an increase of women
Democrats of 25 and, of course, a corresponding decrease
in women Republicans of 10.

The Virginia Governor's seat and most of the legislature
turned feminine and blue, and with their help it looks like
the Equal Rights Amendment may finally have enough
votes to pass after languishing for almost fifty years, and
fittingly a state named for a woman will be the one to pass it.

And who can forget the US women's soccer team: Dunn,
Lavelle, Lloyd, and Rapinoe, and the other twenty-two
wonderful women who showed young girls across the
nation what can be done if you try.  Those women won
the World Cup, not like the World Series, or the Super
Bowl.  These women beat the best teams in the world. 

The televised hearings on impeachment showed us not
all heroes wear capes, some are regular people just doing
their jobs; Fiona Hill, Marie Yovanovitch, Alexander
Vindman.  They stood up when it counted, risking their
careers, and quite possibly their safety to testify against
what they believed was injustice.

And what of the others across the globe who took a stand
to say enough, enough of tyranny and repression; in Puerto
Rico, Hong Kong, the Sudan, Algeria, Lebanon, Bolivia,
Chile, Iraq, and even Moscow Russia.  People took to the
streets to take back their countries.  One day, perhaps, enough
of those people who do not share in the wealth of America
will realize that they too have a voice.  And if we all put our
voices together, we can, and we will be heard.

And the best way to be heard is at the ballot box this
November.  We can send a message to those who would
disparage us, that we will no longer stand for it.  We will
no longer stand by while the rich get richer and their
employees work two and three jobs just to tread water.
Where only the wealthy can afford the best medical
insurance.  Where students graduate with unsustainable
debt.  We can make 2020 a better year and the start of a
better decade.  So join me.

A new year - A new president!

I wish you all a very Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year.

    I'm just sayin'.