Election 2020: All Bets Are Off

Eight years ago, I began this blog as wide-eyed expat who had just arrived in Mexico City. While the occasional post might have been about movies, family members back in the U.S., or travel memories to other parts of the world, the general theme was about my new life abroad – settling in, taking in the sights, navigating my blossoming relationship with a CDMX local, etc. Content was added, on average, once or twice a week.

Fast forward to 2020, the year to end of all years, and I hardly write at all, and just once about Mexico City. I am finishing up six years of Tennessee residency, and wondering what my employer’s recent announcement, that our Knoxville office will be permanently closing next year and all employees in it remaining 100% virtual, means in terms of remote living possibilities should a fish-out-of-water such as myself want to move to a different city.

First things first, though: we have an election to contend with…and it is sure to be a doozy. With a general sense of anxiety in the air, with a pandemic that seems to be rising in new cases, with a passionate #BLM movement that has staked some equally-passionate flames on the other side of the aisle, I feel that the stakes have never been higher.
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End of Days: Election 2016

trump-v-clinton

The 2016 U.S. presidential election is just one day away and it has come down to a knock-down, drag-out between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. One candidate is intelligent and experienced, but also corrupt and incapable of relating to the working class. The other candidate is a liar, a braggart, a failed businessman, a racist, and a sexual predator.

Good times.

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The Three-Ring (Electoral) Circus of 2016

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It is the last day of January as I write this, and in just over nine months, Americans will be able to breathe a collective sigh of relief. I am referring, of course, to the fact that the three-ring electoral circus of 2016 will finally be over.

The race kicked off almost a year ago with just one candidate for each party: Ted Cruz for the Republicans and Hillary Clinton for the Democrats. The early bird gets the worm, as the saying goes, and both Cruz and Clinton have remained at or near the top of the polls ever since announcing their respective candidacies. Soon afterwards, however, the doors to the clown car opened up and ever more campaign rivals emerged. Some had more political experience than others, a few even managed to not come across as batshit crazy (at least not for a little while), but in general, the who’s who of candidates is a veritable potpourri of cray.

The 2016 Iowa Caucus is tomorrow, so let’s review, tongue firmly in cheek:

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