It is 6:47 AM on Thursday October 12, 2017. The air outside is terrible from the fires up in the North Bay. Checking the air quality it is “unhealthful” and the entire Bay Area under the ‘red’ marker for quality.
It smells like a campfire and I find myself holding my breath when I step outside. I wish they would cancel school like they’ve done in other locations although I know the principle is keeping students inside.
Work is pretty busy right now with two upcoming RFPs as well as one renewal that they seem to be dragging their feet on. All of this shouldn’t cause too much stress but it does anyway.
The political situation in the USA continues to be a complete disaster with the current President making an absolute mess of things. What he is doing is highly dangerous, will obliterate US credibility and could ultimately lead to WWIII. In fact many of his own previous supporters doubt he will be able to finish his term. Yet he still retains loyal supporters – the likes of people who just do not have the capacity to understand what is really happening here.
We really could go to war with North Korea and reading a description about the North Bay fires made me realize what that would be like. This person had their house burnt down and said as he stepped outside that morning there were ash, and embers falling from the sky. He wondered if war had broken out. Well, that is what it would be like: all of a sudden we step outside and realize that San Francisco is gone with ash and embers falling all over the Bay Area.
Death seems to be all around with the Las Vegas shooting, having a customer just lose her second son, and reading that a young family member of an acquaintance from high school had also just tragically passed away.
It seems that we’re going through a very bad patch right now which is most likely only going to get worse with the way the President is acting. I only hope that I can look back on this post about a year from now when things have stabilized and are getting better. From where I sit now this is probably not going to happen.
In local news the big issue of the day which is dividing the neighbors on a grand scale is Proposition C – rent stabilization. From what I understand the city is eventually going to tax us even more so that renters can have their rents capped at a very low rate. The cost of living has become so high here in the Bay Area that many people can no longer afford to live here. Important jobs such as cashiers at grocery stores, police and so on are really struggling. However, I cannot support this proposition because I feel as though they are just taking money from one group of citizens to support the other. They say that we won’t be taxed on this but they never really tell the truth on these things. My heart goes out to those who are struggling but I already pay enough tax and just had to write a huge property tax check. California screwed themselves with Prop 19 where those that lived in the same place before the proposition was passed pay a very low rate and the burden falls on us newcomers.
In my experience when politicians promise no new taxes there are always more taxes in store. Many of the roads and sidewalks in Pacifica are akin to those in Mexico and Vietnam and it seems they cannot take care of the obligations they have now regardless of adding even more. So I will break my abstinence from voting and vote ‘no’ on this measure.
As for no longer voting, the current political climate has ruined my will to participate in the electoral process nationally. I’ll still go for the local issues but it seems our political process is failing. People in the USA will vote for anyone these days regardless of competency. I predict we’re now in the era of voting for celebrities who make incredible claims. I want out but there our only option would be Japan and they have their own problems, especially considering what is going on with North Korea these days.
Well, it is now 7:03 AM and I’ve got a busy day today so I better get started.
