Impeached

I just wanted the U.S. House of Representatives vote on two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.

It’s only the third time in history a president has been impeached.

I watched it gathered around the TV with my daughter, watching as the votes came in and waiting for it to hit the magic number (thank goodness for PBS where the vote count was broadcast silently with no blathering commentary).

I wrote about impeachment before, and my view hasn’t really changed. Though I did notice that instead of directly responding to any of the charges and saying he didn’t do it or it’s not wrong or it’s wrong but not impeachable, they made a whole bunch of ridiculous arguments. Perhaps my favorite was that the economy is doing well, so you can’t impeach Trump.

(Look at ’em, Trumping away!)

The Day’s Gonna Come

It’s a dark day for the United States when a president can so brazenly flout the rule of law, and even worse that a political party will blindly allow him to do so. I don’t have much hope that Senate Republicans will do the right thing and remove Trump from office.

They’re going to wish they did, because a reckoning is going to come.

My daughter’s social studies class watched some of the impeachment speeches in the House today, and she came home so incredulous about the ridiculous things all those old, angry, white men were saying (and she’s not wrong on that lack-of-diversity slam). It’s not even like we’ve talked that much about impeachment in our house. She figured this out on her own.

I think voters can figure it out as well.

(Well, I hope they can. I hoped the same thing in 2016 and was proven so horribly wrong.)

So What Now?

  • Call your representative and thank them for a ‘yes’ vote or let them know how you feel about a ‘no’ vote (or a ‘present’ vote, ug, Gabbard).
  • Call your senator and ask them to vote to remove.
  • Find out who’s running in your area, for every level of office, and get involved somewhere, somehow.

Murray Trudell, 1925-2019

My wife’s grandfather passed away last week. The funeral is tomorrow and we’re heading back to Green Bay for it. We were just there for Thanksgiving and planned to go see him for lunch on the day he died.

It always strikes me that I don’t have much experience dealing with death. I haven’t lost many people close to me, and I haven’t been to many funerals.

I’m reminded of some thoughts on grief from Melanie Walby at a recent event I attended:

Not everything happens for a reason. Some things just suck.

Life will still be good, it will just be different.

Continue reading Murray Trudell, 1925-2019

THanks for Supporting West St. Paul Reader

Back in May I launched West St. Paul Reader. It’s a hyper local news site focused on my town of West St. Paul. It exists thanks to the generous support of a lot of people, from my initial Kickstarter backers to my current Patreon supporters.

It’s been a wild journey, and I’m very grateful for it.

I’ve been writing about West St. Paul here on my personal blog for a while. I think it started in 2014 when we had a hotly contested mayoral election. And it grew from there. It was always a hobby, but it was taking more and more of my time. I write for a living, so that was kind of a problem. I wanted to do something more official and more sustainable. There were stories I just couldn’t tell because it was a hobby. I wanted to do something more.

But I wasn’t sure if it would work. I’ve had a lot of not-so-great ideas over the years that didn’t go anywhere. So I launched a Kickstarter campaign with some trepidation.

It only took five days to hit the initial goal. And it went up from there. That initial boost literally kickstarted West St. Paul Reader. From that initial support I was able to hire a local designer to create a logo, pay a writer to do a post on local taco joints, and hopefully pay some more writers—because it’s important to pay people for their work.

It’s also important to me that West St. Paul Reader is sustainable. I enjoy doing it, but it’s not a hobby. It’s part of my business. It takes a lot of time away from my regular freelance work—and I’ve got bills to pay.

So I’m incredibly grateful to see the ongoing support grow through Patreon. This is a way to support West St. Paul Reader through monthly payments. In return, it helps keep people informed, there are patron-only updates, and other extras.

When an email notification of a new patron comes through, I’ve pumped my first in the air or run a victory lap around my office. It’s exciting because it means this thing is working.

And that has meant some strange and wonderful things. Such as:

For a total of 83 posts.

So to everyone who has made West St. Paul Reader happen, thank you.

If you want to join the team and support West St. Paul Reader you can become a patron.

Taking Stock of the 2020 Democratic Canidates

So I opined on impeachment last week (and I have to say, it feels much more urgent and possible this week), and in the midst of the inquiry the Democrats have another debate. Seems like a good time to take stock of the 2020 candidates.

More than anything, I just want to note my thoughts and moods at this moment in time.

In general, I don’t follow the horse race that closely. I don’t watch the debates, but I do pay attention to where things are at. I’ve had my eye on a few candidates, but I haven’t felt ready to jump in with support yet. The overwhelming number of candidates feels ridiculous (sheesh, go run for Senate!), but I do feel like there are plenty of contenders here that could win and I’d be happy to support.

Continue reading Taking Stock of the 2020 Democratic Canidates

The Impeachment of Donald Trump

I’m sitting here in the first week of the public impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump in the House of Representatives. With so much news and commentary flying around in today’s fast-paced world, it’s hard to capture how we’re actually feeling in a given moment. Rather than adding to the noise, I’m hoping to just capture my thoughts in this moment.

Momentous

First, it’s hard to come to grips with how momentous this moment really is. Impeachment gets thrown around a lot and it’s been threatened against nearly every president. But it’s usually pretty fringe and not taken very seriously.

So to have an impeachment inquiry supported by a majority in the House and public hearings happening, that’s big. It’s only happened with three presidents before, so—as we might expect—Trump is really in a unique class here. Which is not a good thing.

Continue reading The Impeachment of Donald Trump

This Is Who We Are

My wife and I were visiting a church on Sunday. I’d been there a few times, and it was my wife’s first time there. After the service, as we were heading for the door, someone came up and said hello.

There was the usual awkward small talk. Then the woman said, “That’s my wife over there. We came to this church in the ’90s, when it was a real step of faith, whether or not we’d be accepted. Well, when we could finally be officially married, this place was packed to the rafters. That’s the kind of place this is.”

Something to that effect.

I hate visiting churches. But it’s incredible when a single moment can cover over a bad sermon or boring music or a painful encounter. A simple moment that says, ‘This is who we are.’

Rarely does it have anything to do with church marketing.

Turning on the Heat 2019

It’s time for the annual charting of when I turn the heat on.

This year is a bit different because I didn’t actually turn the heat on. I was up north with Milo at a state park and came back to find the heat on.

So I’m told it was 52 in the house. Which seems reasonable. It’s been rainy and cold, and I noticed it was 62 in the house the other day.

Probably about average. This is the third time that Oct. 5th has been the day we’ve turned the heat on 17 years, so that’s something.

Here’s the historical (i.e., nerdy) data:

A Tour of Tragedy

This summer during my annual trip to Kansas to spend time with family, I took a trip of my own to Colorado. I have a hard time resisting the mountains, and this year I caved. But I took a detour on the way to out to visit two historical sites. It was a tour of tragedy.

Less than 50 miles apart in Eastern Colorado are the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site and the Granada Relocation Center, known as Camp Amache.

Continue reading A Tour of Tragedy