header header

2023    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Fougères - Sept   
2022    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2021    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2020    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2019    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2018    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2017    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2016    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2015                                                                               Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   


The most recent entries are at the top of this page. Earlier entries follow in reverse chronological order.





24.11.2016
We've had our Thanksgiving dinner just now. There's a sauce here - three pepper sauce (white, black and green) that is wonderful as a gravy. It's little spicy with the taste of black pepper and something like a brown gravy taste. Very nice. It comes as a mix and I think it is made by Knorr. Another very common sauce here that is very good and works as gravy is Forestiere (wild mushroom) sauce. Mmmm mmmmmm mmmmmm. For Thanksgiving desert I made a cherry pie using a cherry smushed fruit cup (which is a little sour), some Splenda, some cooked cherries in a can (I had to pit them) and a pie crust from the lemon meringue pie (I put the lemon meringue stuff in a container and froze it). The cherry pie I created was very good and I didn't have to bake it (I did heat it in the microwave for a couple of minutes to meld the flavors). I made bread dressing on the stove top using the wonderful bread from our corner bakery. Très bien! Magnifique! As I mentioned before, the frozen veggies here in France are sooooo much better than in the states because of the wonderful sauces. So with a little hodge-podging we had a delicious variation on a traditional American turkey dinner (but with roasted chicken instead of turkey).

Orange repaired our Internet yesterday so I was able to have my Internet life back and I listened to Christmas music, watched TV shows and posted on Facebook without having to reconnect every 15 minutes. Yay Internet!

Speaking of Internet and Facebook -- I had been talking with John for a couple of weeks about the hacking of the DNC and Podesta emails and the Illinois and Arizona election machines. Some people said that the Illinois and Arizona intrusions were the kind of routine attempts to breach which happen all the time. Others said, no they don't happen all the time to state machines (that we know of), that there is evidence linking the intrusions to Russia and that the evidence of that link is only part of the total evidence which indicates intereference into our elections by a foreign state. With other evidence there could be enough to get a court order to recount or audit the vote. Add to that Trump's and Putin's public professions of support for one another, the same Russian IP address (5.149.249[.]172) hacking the German Parliament, Ukraine, Turkey and the Arizona and Illinois voter databases, and the testimony of Vladimir M. Fomenko and you have a fair amount of evidence to work with. NOTE: Fomenko said that the clients had left a trail through their contact with his billing page adding that he possessed the next step in the chain to bring investigators in the United States closer to the hackers, about 60 I.P. addresses used by his client — the hacker of the state electoral systems — to contact him. He said the addresses belonged to server companies in Britain, Finland, France, Italy, Norway and Sweden. It was these addresses, he said, that he would be willing to share with the F.B.I., if “somebody wants to sort this out.”

This article by one of the experts urging that Clinton reconsider a recount explains that New York magazine's report of his analysis was incorrect and sensational. He explains what he had said to the Clinton campaign, which provides a good overview of the Russian connection to U.S. election system hacks.

"This summer, attackers broke into the email system of the Democratic National Committee and, separately, into the email account of John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, and leaked private messages. Attackers infiltrated the voter registration systems of two states, Illinois and Arizona, and stole voter data. And there’s evidence that hackers attempted to breach election offices in several other states. In all these cases, Federal agencies publicly asserted that senior officials in the Russian government commissioned these attacks. Russia has sophisticated cyber-offensive capabilities, and has shown a willingness to use them to hack elections. In 2014, during the presidential election in Ukraine, attackers linked to Russia sabotaged the country’s vote-counting infrastructure and, according to published reports, Ukrainian officials succeeded only at the last minute in defusing vote-stealing malware that was primed to cause the wrong winner to be announced. Russia is not the only country with the ability to pull off such an attack on American systems?—?most of the world’s military powers now have sophisticated cyberwarfare capabilities."

"Were polls were wrong or was election hacked? I don’t believe that either one of these seemingly unlikely explanations is overwhelmingly more likely than the other. The only way to know whether a cyberattack changed the result is to closely examine the available physical evidence" ?—?paper ballots and voting equipment in critical states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, nobody is ever going to examine that evidence unless candidates in those states act now, in the next several days, to petition for recounts."

I'm with Mr. Halderman on this.

Here are more links with useful info on hacking of U.S. agencies.
1)    A group of voting scientists -- including University of Michigan's J. Alex Halderman and voting rights activist John Bonifaz -- alerted the campaign that Clinton's tallies fell 7% shy of expectations in counties that used electronic voting machines.
2)    UC Berkeley statistician Phillip Stark and MIT professor and cryptographer Ron Rivest called for an audit
 to double-check and ensure hackers didn’t manipulate our American election results.
3)    How Russia Hacked Computers to Influence the Presidential Election
4)    Meet Fancy Bear
5)    Shadow Brokers leak list of supposed NSA controlled computers in China, Russia  Oct 31, 2016
6)    The Shadow Brokers

Another tool now being used to counter Trump election is to encourage "faithless electors" to change their vote. Some of my friends are strongly encouraging signing a Change.org petition toward that goal. I don't think this will give Clinton the votes needed to win but I think it could change enough votes from Trump so that he will not have 270 vote (a long shot) and thus Congress will select the President. Even then it is a very long shot, I believe, but Congress could select a more moderate Republican to be President (such as Kasich).

Among the choices that are possible I prefer Hillary Clinton because I don't think she will enable a Republican Congress and I think the Congress will be more obstructionist than they have been against Obama (because they hate her much more) so anything else she does (such as expanding war actions) will be difficult. However, Obama used drones to kill a lot of civilians and the obstructionist Republicans didn't put a stop to that. I strongly believe that with a Republican President there will likely be more bombings than under Democrats. We need to stop the Democrats in many interventionist (and other) actions rather than hope that Republicans will do better. They won't.

And what the ... Hello?? ... old people, people needing health care and poor people voting for Republicans??? Seriously … what the? Are you NOT PAYING ATTENTION???? Republicans have clearly stated that they intend to eliminate all safety nets and allow businesses to prey on the weak and the rich to get richer at the expense of the poor and middle class by redistributing wealth upward through tax policy and cutting services.

OK enough of all that for now (just for now). Let me wish you a HAPPY THANKSGIVING and Happy Holidays to come. BIG SMILE!!

Kludged Cherry Pie


23.11.2016
I've been using Free Orange as my Internet service for the last 2 days and the connection drops out every 5-15 minutes. I am trying to do things without using the Internet but I find a heavy need to look things up. What did I ever do before the Internet? We have an appointment for Internet repair people to come today. Our wait window is only 4 and one half hours. When they were going to put in our new electric meter they gave us an 8 hour window and failed to show up twice. Then I insisted on no more than a four hour window and they showed up just after that window. Customer service here is not like in the states. Remember when we all would complain about 4 hour wait windows?

They don't celebrate Thanksgiving here (of course) and even though I'm an atheist and sensitive to the horrendous exploitation of native Americans by the European settlers, I always did celebrate Thanksgiving. What can I say -- I LOVE turkey. I used to go to Renaissance Fairs anticipating wandering around gnawing a hunky smoked turkey leg.

I don't cook as well as French restaurants do but I can make a meal comfort food meal. We're picking up a roasted chicken. I'm making mashed potatoes and bread dressing, mushroom gravy (from a mix), thawing out some frozen veggies (you would not believe how good the pre-cooked veggies here taste). Sauces! Such delicious sauces! For desert we are make-shifting a cherry pie from tarts and cherry compote. I haven't seen pies in the local stores or bakeries or patisseries. I haven't looked for them at the big stores yet. There's a big Casino not too far from here (and a smaller one on the corner). The big Carrefour is farther so we don't go there as much. Plus bringing home a full rolley bag can be extremely difficult on a full bus or trolley.

Last year for Thanksgiving John and I had kebabs and walked on the Promenade. It rains a lot here in November (like fire hoses pouring many times) so catching a clear sunny day is a treat at this time of year. Those treats do come, however, tonight and tomorrow (Thanksgiving Day) there is a 100% chance of rain with a UV index of 0, so we may not walk on the Promenade. The temperature is going to be 65°F, though, so not cold.

I just now got back from shopping for Thanksgiving and I found some lemon tarts and apple turn-overs at the corner bakery which will do just fine in place of pie. I ate one of the lemon tarts already. Patisserie heaven!

Danny is due for his annual vaccine booster so we're visiting the vet this afternoon. John carries Danny in a backpack kitty carrier. It's cute. The last time we went to the vet the rain was pouring and the wind was strong. Because of the wind my umbrella turned inside out and broke. Danny got wet because I couldn't shield him with my broken umbrella. I got a new umbrella for €2 when we were in Rome. So far it's holding up. The winds today will be light so I think I can use the umbrella without event. I added some plastic over the top of the backpack to help keep Danny dry. He has mesh side windows that will be open so he'll have air circulation.


22.11.2016
John and I went to Ma Nolan's Irish Pub in Old Town (Vieux Nice) to meet my friend Cynthia. She's a Lefty's Lefty with a big beautiful heart and some strong, compassionate opinions. She has children and grandchildren living in Lebanon so the laissez faire attitudes most Americans take to war and bombing children and their families in other countries is horrifying to her. Of course it is, as it should be to all of us.

On the way home from Ma Nolan's we saw more Christmas decorations out on the streets. There were giant fat stars over the streets of Place Massena and many bright decorations in the stores. I put up a few more home decorations and we'll set up the tree very soon. We now have a Santa flag on our door which reads "Welcome Friends" and our Frenchie neighbor across the way gave us a thumbs up. I got all excited. I thought they didn't do thumbs up here. She doesn't speak English and we speak extremely poor French so I wasn't able to ask questions about the thumbs up practice here, but if any of my Nice friends know the scoop on that, please fill me in. Thank you!

At a restaurant in Rome John had a soda when I had a beer. The waiter snickered and said, pointing to John, you have a soda (or something like that) and she has a beer. At Ma Nolan's the waiter also snickered when Cynthia ordered wine, I ordered beer and John ordered cranberry juice. Waiters in the states wouldn't do that because they want a tip. It's funny, though, to both of us. Perhaps a lesser man might feel threatened by such stereotyping. But hell, we're in Europe now. Go ahead - be quirky people. That's part of why we are here!

Today John told me that as we left Ma Nolan's he saw only 2 women in the place beside Cynthia and me. He said there were about 50 burly guys in Rugby shirts. Maybe that's why the waiter snickered at John? Silly waiter.

Cynthia reminds me a bit of my peacenik friends in Boston, Ric and Tammy. They were very active members of the Green party when I met them in San Diego in 1998. A few months later I was helping start Activist San Diego which has grown into an amazing vehicle for social justice in San Diego. Ric and Tammy (and John) came to a meeting I organized to solicit volunteer help for the website. (BTW -- the Trump University trial is taking place in San Diego, so ASD has organized protests for Nov 28 at noon PST). After that our friendship grew and I learned a ton more stuff about Greens, lefties and many issues I had cared about for years. Ric (another Lefty's Lefty) taught me a lot about Instant Runoff/Ranked Choice voting, limiting campaign cycles to weeks instead of two years, state funded campaigns and more. Following some of the elections in Europe I see that many of those models (or variations of those models) are used here. In the U.S. more cities and states are modifying their primaries and their winner take all systems. The "winner take all" electoral college voting system is a custom and not a Constitutional requirement. States are allowed to designate how electors in the state vote but those methods must abide by the Constitutional requirements. One of the requirements of the 12th amendment is that the votes are vested in the electors, not in the parties. So faithless electors are right in line with Constitutional requirements and it is the states who may be violating Constitutional law by penalizing electors who do not vote with their party. Article II and Amendment 12 of the Constitution are the laws governing the structure and function of electing the President and Vice President of the United States.

For those wanting to learn more about what is law and what is custom in the U.S. on various government levels here's a good intro to Voting and Election Laws and History "Know the laws that protect your right to vote and govern the elections process. Find results of past federal elections. Learn how voting methods and habits have evolved."

Front Door Christmas flags (outside and in) Me and John with Christmas cushion and Owlie


21.11.2016
Our Internet went out this morning and some people were pulling cables up the wall next to our apartment so I asked if they were working on wee-fee. The worker spoke to me with the help of one of the students who lives upstairs (Axel). During the time he was helping us I asked if he liked to play ping pong and I showed him our table. He said he has played and that would be good. We can rotate among the 3 of us or just one of us play against him but if there is another potential ping-ponger out there let me know and we'll arrange a meet. Axel is in school and has some work he is involved in at the moment so I suspect it will be a few weeks before we'll have a ping-pong get together. Meanwhile John and I will practice.


20.11.2016
I started decorating the apartment for the holidays. I don't have 1/10th the stuff I had in Eugene, but that's a good thing. The place is looking really cute with Christmas cuties handing from every doorknob, wall stencils, holiday nightlites, toys and a tree (soon to be up and decorated). The living room has large windows across one side under which I out a bench with some Christmas pillows. Very cozy for now but the tree will go there soon, so the bench or the cushions will be moved.

I've been listening to a YouTube Holiday music playlist (when I'm not listening to Learn French with Vincent) and I'm feeling the holiday spirit much of the time.

Of course the election results are still horribly depressing for us and for our friends. I've been sharing information that I think will be helpful but the upcoming increase in oppression of low or no income people, atheists, racial minorities, women LGTB and so many others is frightening and depressing. All my life I'Ve tried to get away from bullies like those who are now running the U.S. government. Some people are working to sway electors from supporting Trump, some are doubling-down on human rights support and others are pinning hopes on (and strategizing for) Congress being a gatekeeper to Trump's abuses. For example, John McCain said, "I don't give a damn what the president wants to do. We will not waterboard."

Seven Republican Senators"(Ben Sasse (Nebraska), Jeff Flake and John McCain (Arizona), Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Lindsey Graham (South Carolina) either opposed or withdrew support from Trump in the general election. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is a libertarian who recently told The Washington Post that he was disinclined to support Trump's reported favorites Rudolph W. Giuliani or John Bolton for secretary of state."

Some of the more hideous proposals or personnel nominations by Trump can be stopped with the Cogress we have now. With the newly elected Democratic Senator from Lousiana there are 48 Democratic Senators. Only 3 Republican defections are needed, along with unified Democrats, to block Trump. It could happen. At least some of the time. I don't want to see Democrats make life easy for Congressional Republicans by any stretch but I'd like to see them make a few friends where it is possible.

Additionally, Trump has already backed down on several of his most extremist promises: the border wall is now a fence (which was already authorizd by Congress and Obama, the repeal and replace of the Affordable Care Act is now reform, the Muslim registry will not happen, deporting 11 million undocumented immigrants will be 3 million (which is about the same as Obama's number) and will be achieved through enforcing existing laws.

To my dear friends who are suffering from the election, please take good care of yourselves. There are several paths forward. If you can, please work for Democratic governors every year. Next year, 2017, has 2 elections (Virginia and Maryland) and 2018 has 36 governor's races (big stakes). Those governors will control redistricting in 2020. Electing Democratic governors will go a long way to reversing what the Republicans have done these last several years. Love you guys!

Home Christmas decorations Hallway Christmas decorations Kitchen decorations
Living room decorations Entryway Shelves Decorations Entryway Closet Doors


19.11.2016
John and I went to see Animaux Fantastiques. It was in English but the graphics had been modified to have French newspaper headlines and a few other French touches. And it was subtitled in French.

I loved the movie. There was a tiny plant creature named Pickett who was a lot like the baby Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy (a very silly movie). I love Groot and the baby groots at the end. They are so cute. But Eddie Redmayne was adorable too. He played Newt Scamander who was so sweet in so many ways. A newt is a salamander, thus the play on words but the name "Newt" is "Norbert" in French. The subtitles wrote "Norbert" whenever someone said "Newt".

Johnny Depp has a cameo in the movie as Grindelwald, an eil wizard like Voldemort, only at an earlier time by several decades. Depp will have much larger roles in the later movies of the series.

On the way to the movie John and I snapped a few pics of the Holiday decorations that are just starting to be lit. We were across from the large shopping center "Nice Etoile". There are many stores and restaurants nearby - it's a highly commercial area, so the decorations are put up a few days earier than i other areas of town. Rue de France, near our home, is a tourist area and has holiday lights strung along and across the street -- but they aren't lit yet. Last year the holiday street lights were lit the last few days of November, so it should be soon that our area of town grows brighter.

From "Animaux Fantastiques" Ruth and early Christmas decorations


18.11.2016
In yesterday's blog post I said John wants more rain than we have here in Nice. As it turns out, Nice has a good amount of rain, but nearly half of it falls in 10 weeks (late September, October and November). In the summer months, from mid June through mid September, it rarely rains here but the humidity is still very high - close to 80% year round. During hot weather that is oppressive. In Lyon the humidity is near 80% in the winter but only about 55% in the summer. The temps in Lyon are usually only 5-10°F cooler than in Nice. Lyon weather averages. Nice weather averages.

For me the drawback to staying in Nicee is that I want a house and housing costs are quite high here. Still, we're going to look inland a bit and at small towns along the coast. John doesn't want to live in the city - or at least not where we live now - because of auto exhause, dog poop and cigarette smoke. I'd like to avoid those too but I've been happy living here and I am glad to have had this experience.

Our first house in Eugene was on the edge of the city on a hill. Driving to downtown took about 10 minutes and our home was surrounded by tall pines trees and wildlife such as deer, turkeys, racoons, squirrels and a variety of birds including finches. It felt very mountainy. We both liked that, as did the cats (kitty TV through the large windows). One thing I really like about Nice is that so much is within walking distance from our home. I'll miss that if we don't find something at least somewhat similar. I'm sure it's possible to live where the traffic is less but still reasonably close to movies, malls, restaurants and a large body of moving water.

Here's a map of major cities and rivers to give you an idea of which areas interest us. Map of France.

Looking at housing prices. Lyon has good prices, a bit more rainfall, a wide flowing river and animaux!

I started practicing French with Vincent (Ven-sohn) on YouTube. He's very likeable and the lessons are well paced, everything well explained and I'm starting to make more progress. He even has a series to help you "Learn French While You Sleep".

Also, the Google Translate features on my phone work better than they did a year ago. It easily understands spoken English and French (and translates them to text and speech). The photo app works MUCH better than it did a year ago. I can take a photo of almost any text, even in a darkened room and it gets the transltion right every time. I don't need to stabelize the camera as I did last year. Go Google! I'm using the app for Android but there's one for iPhone too. Google Translate.


17.11.2016
John went to a doctor's visit for a checkup and to get new prescriptions. When he went to the pharmacy to fill his prescriptions he discovered that France does not have any 81 mg aspirin (but remember, you can buy codeine over the counter here). Amazon.com won't ship the children's aspirin to France and although Amazon.fr does have some for sale, they are 54 euros for a bottle of 200 tablets. So we'll just buy regular sized tablets and cut them in quarters.

France has very different products in the grocery stores from the United States. Many products are impossible to find so we substitute. We substitute ricotta cheese for cottage cheese, for instance.

One store nearby has an "exotic foods" section where we can find some American products like Betty Crocker cake mix, cream of chicken soup, Dr. Pepper, pork and beans, salsa, soy sauce, canned spaghetti and other American "delicacies". We are always amused when we check out the "exotic foods" section in neighborhood stores. We aren't complaining about not finding American products here. We knew that we were moving to another continent (Big Smile). Part of the adventure we love so much is being surprised by these realities.

I finally decided I don't want to buy an apartment (because of invasive cigarette smoke, noise, and other intrusions that come with too close neighbors) but that's all we can afford in Nice. John wants more rain and trees and animals (like squirrels at least). I need for the significant precipitation to be absolutely no more than 6 months out of the year. I prefer being on or very near a reasonably large body of moving water (a large river will do) and we both want to be near the TGV (and I'd like a large airport nearby).

We've begun, in earnest, collecting info on housing in other cities around France. We'll be in Lyon the second week of December and we'll at least get a feel for some of the areas of town. Later we'll visit Montpellier and small towns near there and in other regions of France.

Political News
After the Trump election everyone is hungry for some happy political news. Here's some good news for political progressives in America. "The Revolution Is Back" Bernie Supporters Launch Multi-State Bid To Take Over DNC.

Also Keith Ellison is running for DNC chair and is endorrsed by Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Harry Reid, Communication Workers of America, Tammy Baldwin, John Conyers, Ed Schultz, Move On, Michael Moore, some state Democratic party chairs, and other progressives.

The good news on the local (French) political front is that Emmanuel Macron has declared his candidacy. It was expected that he would. Macron is of the French Socialist Party and is one of the most popular politicians in France.

The bad news is the rise of Fascist parties in Europe and Putin's interference in European elections. Rising European Fascists Welcome Trump Victory

France has two-round runoff voting (similar to the way Californians now vote).

Here in southern France about 30% of the population supports Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front party. The National Front is extremely anti-immigrant. Le Pen is running for president next year. The National Front has received loans from Russian banks owned by Putin to finance their operations here in France.

There are many political parties here, but the three strongest are the Socialists, the Republicans and the National Front (the National Front just became a strong party a year or two ago). The Socialists are in power now, but are weak and unpopular because they have not been able to completely turn around the 2008 recession. They will probably be knocked out in the first round and it will be between the Republicans (very much like the US's Wall Street Republicans) and the National Front.

And some good news for the world -- former French President Sarkozy has proposed a carbon tax on U.S. goods if Trump backs out of the Paris climate accord. Sarkozy is running again this year in the Republican primary which will be held on November 20.

I'm finally starting to get a serious about learning French. Part of that is due to what a friend from DA (Cynthia S.) said to me at my Halloween party - that I'd be happier if I knew the language. Also, previously I made excuses that I had plenty of time and would eventully get around to learning the language. We've been here more than 13 months -- it's time I got around to doing that. Yesterday Cynthia told me that local firemen came to her place hawking hunky firemen calendars and that they might be by my way. Cute.

I've posted a ton of stuff on Facebook about the election, Putin's interference in the U.S. and in European elections, about Facebook allowing fake news sites which try to pass as real news and other stuff. If you want to read some of it go to My Facebook posts.

Our doctor's office building The "exotic foods" section of our local supermarket where you can find American foods. More "exotic foods" like Betty Crocker.


11.11.2016
Yesterday, my brother-in-law, Philip, posted this on Facebook. He got it from someone else. I modified the original slightly and re-posted it.

If you wear a hijab, I’ll sit with you on the train.
If you’re trans, I’ll go to the bathroom with you.
If you’re a person of color, I’ll stand with you if the cops stop you.
If you’re a person with disabilities, I’ll hand you my megaphone.
If you’re an immigrant, I’ll help find you resources.
If you’re a survivor, I’ll believe you.
If you’re a refugee, I’ll make sure you’re welcome.
If you’re a veteran, I’ll take up your fight.
If you’re LGBTQ, I won’t let anyone tell you you’re broken.
If you’re a woman, I’ll make sure you get home okay.
If you're tired, lean on me.
If you need a hug, I've got an infinite supply.
If you need me, I'll be with you.
If I need you, please be with me too.

Here's a great video about how to safely help victims of bullying: Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes Will Likely Increase. Here's How Not To Be A Bystander.

I remember standing up to a bully in the first grade and being totally shocked that I had power. The bully backed down (he was bullying another kid, a boy). Be safe and help others be safe.

Today John went to get some blood work done for a checkup next week. He likes the people at the lab because they are gentle vampires and they are helpful with his learning French. The lab is about 4 blocks away from our home and we both enjoy the short walks to complete chores while marveling at ancient architecture. John took a couple of pictures of the lab and a neighboring building - just for you - so you can see what we experience every day. The lab is in a fairly modern (for Nice) building built probably in the 1970's. Directly across the street was a beautiful, older (1800's) office/residential building (a building type that is very common here in Nice). These older buildings are not "museum pieces" - they are fully utilized. John is enamored with these scenes of the old with the new and has often marveled at that integration.

One of the first things John said to me after learning about the election was "at least we have health insurance". The healthcare that John and I receive here is good, cheap and guaranteed. We know how fortunate we are. For many years, as entrepreneurs in the states, we paid up to $500/month for health care premiums. For a while I couldn't get any coverage at all because of pre-existing conditions. With Republicans in charge of all branches of government and with them vowing to eliminate the Affordable Care Act, I know those, or worse, circumstances will be the norm soon. We aren't old enough yet to be eligible for Medicare so we really have dodged a bullet (or canonball) by moving here.

My medical lab in a 1970's era building Across the street from the lab
a beautiful ornate building from the 1800's.


10.11.2016
About the election.

These next few paragraphs are a bit complicated so, if you want more explanation or if you see errors in what I've written, please send me an email with your question, suggestion or concern. I'll get back to you quickly.

In 2 years we can start electing more Governors, Senators and Congress people who are progressive. One-third of the Senate seats (more than 2/3 of which are currently held by Democrats) and all of the House will be up for re-/election. In 2018 there will probably be 13 competitive Senate seats and 11 of those are now held by Democrats. We need to start working on that now - especially the governors' races. The 2020 census will allow realignment of some of the Congressional districts which were gerrymandered to huge Republican advantage in 2010. Our ability to do that re-alignment is in the hands of progressive governors, so we must elect more of them.

In 2010 Republicans were able to gerrymander districts in 2/3 of the states because Republican governors had been elected to that many seats (state governors draw Congressional district lines). The objectives of the Republican governors redistricting in 2010 was in line with the objectives of Republican state legislators in 2011-present who changed state voting laws so as to disenfranchise as many potential Democratic voters as possible, especially the poor, students, minorities and women (via married vs 'maiden' last name regulations).

The Democrats dropped the ball in the years before 2010 allowing Republican governors to be elected in those 2/3 of the states which gave those Republican governors the power to gerrymander Congressional districts right after the 2010 census.

To re-balance Congress Democrats need to elect enough governors so that Congressional redistricting better representats the constituents in each state. The best result would be that there is no gerrymandering anywhere in any state. Since redistricting is controlled by states, rather than nationally, level impartial redistricting isn't likely to happen anytime soon. Several voter advocacy groups are calling for independent re-districting (but on a state by state basis, usually requiring state constitutional amendments, making this approach unlikely), two-tiered voting, ranked choice voting and districts with more than one representative.
Fair Vote, Aug 14, 2015
Simple Steps to Remove Gerrymandering
Can an Algorithm Eliminate the Unfairness of Gerrymandering

Meanwhile, Democrats need to win many more gubernatorial elections to help re-balance Congressional Districts but also to help the people living in those states get or maintain adequate health care, worker protections, women's reproductive health services and civil rights. We can start with the two governor seats which will be open in 2017 and then the 36 in 2018. There are only 2 gubernatorial elections in 2017. Those elections will be held on November 7, 2017, in the states of New Jersey and Virginia. Both incumbents are term-limited: New Jersey, Chris Christie Republican and Virginia, Terry McAuliffe Democratic. In 2018 there are 36 gubernatorial elections (9 Democrats, 27 Republicans and 1 Independent) with significant opportunities for Democratic gains.
Obama, Holder to lead post-Trump redistricting campaign
Barack Obama Is Coming to a Statehouse Near You
Eric Holder named chair of new national redistricting effort

09.11.2016
Sigh

We were supposed to join our fellow ex-pat Democrats this morning at the Negresco, to celebrate Hillary's victory. John and I had been coughing a lot the last several days but we were getting much better until ... (((sigh))). Even though it hadn't been officially announced, it was very clear by 3 AM (Nice time, which is Eastern +6) that Trump had won the electoral votes by a wide margin.

We had trouble sleeping last night and, of course, each time we woke we checked the election results, which caused additional stress, which made it even harder for us to sleep. Our coughing got worse. I'd been taking codeine (did I tell you codeine is over-the-counter here?) but John hadn't. So we missed the Election Watch breakfast at the Negresco. Marion told me the crowd was large and they supported each other. I wish we had been there to support and be supported too.


01.11.2016
Today is la Toussaint (All Saints Day), a national holiday in "secular" France.