During my morning treks through the neighborhood, I’m pleased to see a hint of Autumn colors in some of the trees. It’s so nice to find little spots of beauty.
I’m starting the second full week of a new regimen for combating pain from trigeminal neuralgia – so far with mixed results. The pain is still intense enough to interfere with work and other daily activity, and I’m having significant side effects of weakness, vertigo-type issues, and low blood pressure.
Definitely not a fun place to be, but I will give the plan another week or two before asking the doctor if we should find another plan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A lot is on the line as we head toward Election Day here in the States. Will it be possible to stall, or halt, this trainwreck of bad decisions, policies, and actions that are coming from people on Capitol Hill?
Is a major change in the demographics of our representatives on the way; bringing younger people into the fold, so we never again have to watch a sick, old man be wheeled into Congress so he can cast a vote for his party?
Are we looking at a time when term limits will be established? No more career politicians to amass the kind of power that can then be used for political blackmail.
I sure hope so!!
Early voting is surging in several key battleground states, giving Democrats hope that their strength in midterm polling could translate into a turnout advantage in November.
In North Carolina, more than 1.2 million early ballots have been accepted, a 37 percent increase from the same point leading up to the 2022 midterms. That was reported by in The Hill, pulling from an analysis released last Friday by Catawba College political scientist Michael Bitzer.
When checking online to see when early voting started across the U.S., I found considerable variance in the numbers, that range from 46 days in South Dakota to 5 days in Kentucky. There is no early voting available in Alabama, as well as in Mississippi. However, Mississippi does allow eligible absentee voters, to cast ballots starting 45 days before Election Day.
Voters in New Hampshire have no options for early or no-excuse absentee voting. People there have to go to the polls on election day, which seems absurd and certainly a challenge to senior citizens who have mobility issues that make it difficult to get to a polling place.
Here in Texas, early voting started on October 19th and according to On Point Politics over 4 million votes have been cast with a slight advantage going to the DEMS at 11.8 %.
As we head down the stretch to 4 November 2026, I want to make one more appeal to voters here in Texas to break the stranglehold that the GOP has had here for so many years. It’s time for new, younger people to step into roles of leadership and bring refreshing change.
That kind of change came to Texas in 1991 when Ann Richards was elected governor of Texas.
I even voted for her.
Not because she was a Democrat.
Not simply because she was a woman, although I was thrilled that she was such a strong, smart, articulate lady who didn’t back down from anyone. Her opponent William Clayton was a rich, good ‘ol Texan boy, who obviously had little regard for women as exemplified in his refusal to shake hands with Richards at one of the debates. He also made the mistake of comparing the crime of rape to bad weather, stating, “If it’s inevitable, just relax and enjoy it”.
That example of blatant misogyny was quite a shock to many voters in Texas, which may have influenced a lot of people to cast their ballot for Richards.
Fast-forward to 2026 where there’s another strong, smart, articulate woman vying for the top spot in Texas. Gina Hinojosa bills herself as “A fierce champion of working Texans.” During her ten years in the state legislature, she has pushed the state to invest in neighborhood schools, expand health care access, and lower costs for Texans.
She considers herself a populist politician and eschews big money and corporate influence. According to a recent report by Kayla Guo in The Texas Tribune , Gina may possibly prevail over Abbott.
In the October `16th article Ms Guo wrote, “Though she ranked among the most liberal members of the Texas House over her five terms, Hinojosa has worked to shake her progressive brand by avoiding the culture wars, jumping on bipartisan issues of the moment like data centers and focusing tightly on pocketbook issues and public education.”
The race for who will represent Texas in Washington is also a tight one, although James Talarico is slightly ahead of challenger Ken Paxton.
The GOP, with help from Elon Musk has poured millions of dollars into negative ads that say that Talarico wants to tax people even more than they already are. However, reality is pointed out by Lori Robertson on FactCheck.org In her October 23 article she wrote, “But the truth is Talarico didn’t vote for an income tax. Rather, he opposed a 2019 joint resolution in the Texas Legislature calling for a constitutional amendment to prohibit an individual income tax. Texas doesn’t have such a tax.”
Robertson’s article, Paxton Ad Takes Talarico Taxes Comments Out of Context, is well worth a read. It lays out all the ways that the GOP is manipulating facts to make it seem like Talarico is ready to tax us all into oblivion.
Many Christians say Talarico is spreading heresy in his comment about gender as applied to God. In a 2021 speech in the Texas legislature, Talarico that “God is nonbinary”—explaining that God is both masculine and feminine and cannot be defined by human categories. The Bible does not assign a literal biological gender to God, stating that God is a non-physical spirit who transcends human distinctions between male and female.
James is an eighth-generation Texan, former middle school teacher, and Presbyterian seminarian. As a state representative, he’s led the fight against the billionaire mega-donors and puppet politicians who have taken over Texas.
He has a similar populist philosophy and has said that “The biggest divide in this country is not left vs. right. It’s top vs. bottom. Billionaires want us looking left and right at each other instead of looking up at them.
“The people at the top work so hard to keep us angry and divided because our unity is a threat to their wealth and power. So their cable news networks and their social media algorithms tear us apart.
“They divide us by party, by race, by gender, by religion so we don’t notice they’re defunding our schools, gutting our healthcare, and cutting taxes for themselves and their rich friends. It’s the oldest strategy in the world: divide and conquer.”
The other day I returned my mail-in ballot to the post office, and, yes, I voted for Gina and James and other Democrats.
But to be clear, party affiliation was not even on my list of top five reasons to vote for any of the candidates.
First: Track record of public service. Does what they say while campaigning line up with their history in government? Do they abide by the U.S. Constitution?
Second: Personal and public conduct. Does the person have integrity and a moral compass that appears to work? Can they disagree and still be respectful?
Third: Partisanship: Is their loyalty to the political party or to the people they serve? Are they willing to work toward eliminating the great divide that has turned people into enemies and reach across party lines when it comes to doing something for the common good?
Fourth: Campaign finances. Do they take large sums from corporations who may then influence future legislation? Are they willing to step up to enact legislation to reform campaign financing?
Fifth: Endorsements. Have they come from people who have their own private and public history that I can respect?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before you go, please help me spread the word about my new short story collection.
Second Chances: And Other Stories will be released on 24 November 2026 and now available for pre-order. If you enjoy short stories, you’ll love this eclectic collection. A bargain for only .99 for Kindle.
Romance, drama, comedy, and award winning stories with a touch of literary flair.
That’s all from me for today folks. Please tell your friends and family, and maybe even the clerk at the grocery store, about Second Chances.
Also, if you’d like to weigh in with comments on the election and share some of what will draw you to a particular political candidate, please do, keeping in mind how important it is to be civil and respectful.