Happy Birthday, Leatherneck!
Guess who turned 247 years old today? That's right, the United States Marine Corps. Former and active duty Marines worldwide know that when you join the Corps you will always bear the privilege of two birthdays. As we used to say in the Marine Corps, every day is a holiday and every meal a feast. Semper Fidelis!
On to other subjects...the elections are over, which means no more political ads overflowing the mailbox, and the end of televised attack ads. I can't speak for radio, as I tune into Sirius XM. And, praise the heavens, no more BS popping up in my smart phone messages regarding candidates for office.
One message in particular came from the Gabe Vasquez camp, a politician of whom I have a low opinion. Here is the message (with the sender's name and phone number deleted because I'm not into doxxing):
Hi John, this is XXXX, a volunteer with Gabe Vasquez for Congress! Gabe Vasquez has worked with communities across this district for years and knows they need someone to fight for them in Congress to lower costs, create good paying jobs, and always put New Mexicans before party politics. Can we count on your vote to elect Gabe to Congress this November?
The response:
Not a chance. I would never vote for a left leaning socialist who spells America "Amerikkka" and wants to defund the police. He is despicable.
It appears Vasquez barely won the 2nd Congressional seat by a slim margin despite the gerrymandering of the Democratic-controlled NM Legislature, which revised the 2nd Congressional district boundaries to include more Democrat voters and ensure an easy victory. The legislature said it was all legitimate and based on census findings (rrriiiiiiigghhhhht) and redrew district boundaries all the way north to Bernalillo County. With conservative ranchers, farmers and oilmen stretched across the southern portion of NM, the 2nd district has been a traditional Republican stronghold despite liberal Las Cruces in the center, although Democrat Xochitl Torres-Small won in 2018 but then lost it in 2020 to Yvette Herrell.
Vasquez wants to defund the police, eliminate oil and gas jobs (those being the most significant monetary contributor to the NM economy), has deleted numerous tweets regarding his left-wing socialist agenda and justifying the 2020 riots that rampaged across this country. He has also said that white people are the cause of all the problems in America today. For anyone wanting to label this information as right-wing FOX News propaganda, here is the article from CNN describing his chicanery (and, yes, I was shocked that this actually came from CNN):
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/14/politics/kfile-gabe-vasquez-new-mexico-deleted-progressive-tweets
So how do people like Vasquez get elected? Any number of reasons, really, although most of it boils down to voter apathy. Approximately fifty percent of people eligible to vote in New Mexico stayed home. It is unfortunate that people don't get out to vote but not surprising. Predictably, the biggest whiners and complainers about the economy and inflation will undoubtedly be those who are too lazy to make a trip to the polling station. And if you voted for Vasquez please don't whine about high gas and grocery prices, because you put a candidate in Washington who will support Biden's policies.
Semper Fi.