Enter the Pride
My evening last night was characterized once again by the Democratic primary debates, this time the second bunch of ten candidates -- and this time it included the two front runners, Joe Biden (snooze) and Bernie Sanders (he can go fuck himself). It also included one of my two front-runners (just behind Elizabeth Warren), Kamala Harris; and the man I briefly thought I might consider but won't anymore, Pete Buttigieg. I still like the guy and I think he's very intelligent and capable in the right context, and President of the Unite States is clearly no more the right context for him as it is for Beto O'Rourke -- both those guys are far too early in their careers and really need to stay in their lane for now.
Furthermore, there's a bit of a sheen of disappointment to Buttigieg, given he's the mayor of yet another city embroiled in controversy over the fatal police shooting of a black man by a cop who did not have his body camera on, in a police force whose lack of diversity is far from matching the community it's meant to serve. These are tricky things largely out of one mayor's control, but, the way I see it, Pete Buttigieg being an amiably intelligent gay guy certainly doesn't preclude him from propping up institutional white supremacy, whether it's what he intended to do or not. The litmus test for him is whether he is responding to criticisms about it properly, and at the moment I'm not especially convinced. Combine that with his lack of statewide or federal leadership experience, and I'd be far more comfortable with him working with someone else who has been elected president, than with him being president himself. The guy is overreaching, and he's doing it at a very inopportune time for a local community that needs him.
The same could be said of Beto O'Rourke, frankly, though for different reasons.
Anyway, last night also had a couple batshit choices, "author" Marianne Williamson (who?) and "former tech executive" (huh?) Andrew Yang. To be fair, Yang was less batshit than just plain irrelevant; Williamson was truly batshit. On the upside, she sure generated a lot of delighted discussion about her on Twitter, where people are digging up gold from her own Twitter archive.
When I posted asking who the fuck Marianne Williamson even is, Laney left a kind of carefully measured response: She met the qualifications just like the dude who is an ex tech executive. Fair. But, I also agree with what Beth posted after the debates were over: Tech guy and Williamson ... you can step down, you’re dismissed. Indeed.
So between the two evenings, as I also already posted, that leaves three viable contenders in my mind: Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and -- and this was the one breakout for me personally as a result of the debates -- Julian Castro. I have a hard time imagining Castro actually ascending to the presidency, but then, what the fuck do I know? I once would have all but staked my life on the expectation that Donald Trump could never be president, and look where we are now. Every day is like we're living in a movie version of the future that ten years ago would have been dismissed by everyone as implausible.
In short, anything is possible. Even the defeat of President Fuckwit in 2020, implausible as that, truly depressingly, seems to be right now.
Shobhit worked again last night, and while the debates played on TV, I made pizza for dinner, half of which I left in the microwave for Shobhit, as well as a mug of chai I made for him. I drank my own chai while updating my budget for the next two weeks, instead of finishing the photo captioning on the Flickr album for Britni and David's wedding like I initially intended. The debates themselves went on for two hours between 6pm and 8pm Pacific, and both nights those two hours flew right by. I almost watched something else afterward but bagged that idea and went back to the bedroom to work on my budget instead. For some reason, that actually interested me most at the time, because apparently I am a dull geezer accountant at heart.
I did still finish the captioning this morning. I'm happy finally to be caught up on the captioning of photos for recent events -- Shobhit's and my anniversary; Britni and David's wedding; Fremont Solstice Parade -- so I won't be behind going into Pride Weekend. I'll be taking plenty more photos tonight itself, at Trans Pride Seattle.
I saved half my pizza from last night to have at home for dinner tonight. There's a fair chance I will wind up going out somewhere with Gabriel tonight at some point (I figure the odds of that right now are about 50/50), but I'm still going to take Shobhit's suggestion of having one drink before heading out, just to head off too much possible spending on drinks later. And, I'll have already had my dinner. I also already made a plan with Laney to bring pack lunches to have as a picnic somewhere tomorrow at the Capitol Hill Pride Festival, so we don't spend money eating out tomorrow either. I want to save where I can, and God knows how much I'll wind up spending with Jennifer and Matthew and the kids in town Sunday. Ivan is also officially scheduled to come visit next weekend, so I budgeted for at least one dinner out with him then as well; who knows what else might go on with him.
[posted 12:19 pm]