politics Archives - Romey's Ramblings

Explaining Donald Trump To My Kids

January 19, 2021January 19, 2021Romey

We’re in the waning hours of the Trump Presidency, closing a tumultuous chapter of our country’s history. If you follow me on Twitter, you know that there’s no shortage of my opinions of Donald Trump. His (lack of) leadership and virtue has driven me out of the Republican party, rendering the conservative movement into a caricature of moral hypocrisy.

During the Trump era, I refrained from blogging much about him – partly because my blogging output isn’t what it used to be – but also in large part that I used Twitter as a release value for my political frustrations. I also felt that national politics weren’t as pertinent to our everyday lives, and would much rather debate local issues and policies that affect my community.

In our immediate family, we largely avoided political conversations. My daughters were 3 & 1 when Trump’s term began and throughout his Presidency we were careful to shield them from political discourse. We didn’t see any need to expose our kids to that level of tribalism and negativity. Rather than have to explain Trump’s immoral, incompetent, and unethical behavior, we just didn’t discuss him with our kids. It worked pretty well over the years, up until last fall.

Windsor is a largely conservative town, and with the election in full swing last fall, Clara started to notice all of the Trump flags and yard signs on our way to school. Combined with the second-grade social studies curriculum, she became aware that the election was coming and started to ask questions on the way to school.

“Dad, are you going to vote for Donald Trump?”

Oh crap. “No, I won’t be sweetie.”

“It seems like a lot of people are going to be voting for Donald Trump.”

“Yes, it looks like it.”

“Why won’t you vote for him?”

“Well, sweetie, Donald Trump is a bully. He does do a lot of things that people like, but he also likes to say mean things about people he doesn’t like, and treats those that don’t agree with him very poorly.”

“Do you like Joe Biden?”

“Yes. I might not agree with everything Joe Biden thinks, but I don’t think that he thinks people who don’t agree with him are bad. Sometimes people just have different ideas about what’s the best way to do things, and it’s okay to disagree.”

Since the election we’ve seen Trump’s darkest tendencies play out, perpetuating the lie that the election was stolen from him, culminating in the tragic events at the US Capitol. This has led to more conversations with my kids about the importance of accepting the truth and being gracious in the loss. I’m counting my blessings that I was able to still filter this conversation for my kids, and hope that they didn’t pick up on my own fear about this dangerous rhetoric.

I’m not naive enough to expect our politicians to be saints. I realize that every President says things that enrage and galvanize their political opponents, but the toxicity that has seeped into our political system is not sustainable. Trump’s unique superpower is his lack of shame. The ambition of most people is kept in check by their fear of being shamed for their behavior, but this never impacted Trump. Whether that makes him a unique figure or a harbinger of darker times in our nation, remains to be seen. For the sake of my children, I hope that it’s not the latter.

low light photography of armchairs in front of desk

Colorado Voters – Vote No on 113 – It’s more than “One Person, One Vote”

October 20, 2020October 20, 2020Romey

I know we’ve all grown tired of politics and I’ve been trying to refrain from most of the discourse, but there’s one issue I feel compelled to speak out on Prop 113 in Colorado (National Popular Vote Interstate Compact).

I understand that “One Person, One Vote” is a great tag line, but frankly oversimplifies this very complex issue. I would ask all Colorado voters to spend some time and consider all sides regarding this proposition.

If you have the time, listen to this episode of the Political Orphanage Podcast:

If you feel you’ve made up your mind, give it a listen and if none of their points resonate with you, please vote your conscience, but they do a good job articulating many reasons why we have the Electoral College. There’s a segment where they name off the top cities that would form an electoral majority – spoiler alert: Denver’s not on that list.

However my primary motivation for voting “no” on this has nothing to do with whether the Electoral College is right for our republic, it has everything to do with the process this is coming about. Originally this wasn’t even going to be on the ballot, as this was rammed through our state legislative session. The irony of originally preventing the citizens of Colorado to make their voices heard on the issue of democracy is not lost on me. However, enough people objected that the issue is now forced into the public square for debate – like the way it should be.

Entering the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an end-run-around of our Constitution. Rather than follow the defined process to modify our living governing documents, this is basically a strong-arm into forcing a group of ideologically-aligned states to bypass the constitutional process. I’m no lawyer, but given that the Supreme Court UNANIMOUSLY ruled against Faithless Electors (Chiafalo v Washingon) last spring, I’m convinced that if this Compact came into fruition, it would not survive judicial scrutiny.

I understand there are valid reasons to oppose the Electoral College, some of which beyond “because my candidate didn’t win the last election”, so let’s have that discussion – in public. Let’s petition our representatives to amend the constitution, convince a ratifiable majority that this is the right thing to do. I’m of the opinion that our Constitution needs more amendments, but re-writing the rules outside of the Constitution is not the way to do it.

Thank you for your consideration. I hope that you treat this issue with the amount of thoughtful consideration it deserves, beyond a bumper sticker slogan.

My 2020 Political Podcast Playlist

September 7, 2020January 30, 2023Romey

Now that we’re less than 60 days until the Election, politics is in full gear for the fall. Since 2015 I’ve been on a steady (and probably unhealthy) increase of my political podcast consumption. As someone who is fiscally conservative, socially moderate, a detester of Donald Trump, I’ve tried to keep my perspective as open as possible, with a wide array of podcasts across the political spectrum.

I wanted to share a list of the political podcasts I listen to, in hopes that if you’re looking for something new to challenge and reinforce your views. If you have any that you really enjoy, please let me know! I’m always up for listening to a new podcast (currently I subscribe to 148 of them!

Colorado state Democrats are destroying the Electoral College

January 30, 2019January 30, 2019Romey

Colorado lawmakers are sparring over a plan to bypass the Electoral College. Here’s what’s at stake.

I don’t know what’s more appalling: that this is being done at the state legislature, or that no one really seems to be covering it all that much. I’m not a fan of knee-jerk, reactive legislation to begin with, but no amount of state laws that you pass will put Hillary in the White House. To make the Electoral College a petty partisan issue betrays the republic and displays a level of partisan toxicity that further erodes our societal foundation.

The irony is that proponents are pushing for making every vote count, but the reality is that laws like this will all but nullify the constituency of anyone not living in an urban setting. All you have to do is look at a population density map to see the disparity between the major cities in our country, and everywhere else.

Any area that starts to look green can simply be ignored by any presidential candidate. For every 1 person you reach in the 20-to-88 zone, you can reach 200x the amount of people by just staying in the cities. Why would you go there to campaign? What would stop a presidential candidate from pandering only to those people? Does your vote even count anymore?

Go look at this list of states by population density, and you’ll find that electoral power would be concentrated into 14 states, with Colorado falling to #21 on that list. Our ballots would now become blank checks to these populous states.

What’s worse is that voters aren’t even getting a voice. This isn’t being part of some national dialog, but rather is being rammed through, state by state, at the legislature level. If our state representatives really cared about voters rights, they’d let the voters actually make the decision.

To those who aren’t fans of President Trump (and I’m one of them), the lesson from 2016 should not be to abolish the Electoral College, but rather that we should avoid elevating the office of the Presidency as a de-facto king of our country. Rather than using our state legislatures to cry “sour grapes”, we should be pushing for our national legislatures to take back their constitutional power. Instead, we seem content to do irreperable harm to our state and country.

Trypod–My Favorite Podcasts 2017

March 31, 2017November 5, 2023Jeromey Balderrama

For nearly 10 years I’ve been a huge consumer of podcasts and have been elated to see it come more into the mainstream over the last few years. The two biggest virtues of Podcasting are the long-form and in-depth conversations that take place, combined with the variety of content. This results in a utopia of great content, no matter how diverse or obscure your interests are.

Some of the biggest podcasts have been involved with TryPod all March, where they ask listeners to invite friends to check out some of their favorite podcasts. I’ve been meaning to post my list of favorite podcasts all month, but what better time to get around to it than the last day of the month? Better late than never I guess.

First you need to know that my podcasting obsession may be a little out of control. I currently subscribe to 87 different podcast fees, and this is after recently pruning my subscriptions. It’s certainly not practical to listen to 87 different podcasts (although some of those are currently dormant or don’t produce content on a frequent basis), and so over the years I’ve adapted my podcast listening strategy. Typically I am an obsessed completion-ist, feeling that subscribing to a podcast meant a commitment to hear every episode. That then evolved into a “must listen” list, where I selected the top podcasts that I wouldn’t miss. Today, I treat my Podcast feeds more like a radio dial: there are shows that I’ll always grab as soon as they’re available, and have developed a lower tolerance for entertaining content and may stop listening to a podcast mid-episode if it doesn’t interest me, some shows I’ll just skip all together and wait for the next episode.

As I’ve said before, there are great podcasts for just about every interest that you have, and as such I listen to podcasts about Politics, Sports, Pop Culture, Photography, Drumming, Music Business, Comics, Technology and Development, News and Comedy. Currently the majority of my listening is steeped in news and politics, where I’m striving to get a vast array of opinions. I politically consider myself a fiscal conservative and socially moderate Republican, that is currently questioning my party affiliation. You may notice that many of the political podcasts are more mainstream or left-leaning, in my attempt to understand different viewpoints.

So without further ado, here are 31 Podcasts for 31 Days (in no particular order):

1947 Meet The Press Podcast

News, Politics Interviews – Weekly

Why I Listen: Hosted by Chuck Todd, the podcast enables him to dive deeper into compelling topics that interest him.

Accidental Tech Podcast

Technology (Mostly Apple) – Weekly

Why I Listen: Geeky tech talk that dives deep into mainly Apple issues, isn’t afraid to go deep in the weeds with nerdy topics.

Can He Do That?

Politics – Weekly

Why I Listen: This Washington Post podcast is focused around Donald Trump, with a fair analysis of recent controversial decisions and behaviors.

Comic Geek Speak

Comics – 2-4 Per Month

Why I Listen: One of my oldest podcasts to remain at the top of my rotation. Some really passionate and nerdy (and I mean that affectionately) discussion-based podcasts. They cover a wide array of comics, but my favorite episodes are their deep-dive “spotlight” episodes on characters and their eras.

Ctrl Walt Delete

Tech – Weekly

Why I Listen: Really thoughtful discussion on the latest technology topics. Essentially Nilay Patel and Walt Mossberg discuss Walt’s recent column. This podcast has grown to be one of my favorite tech podcasts, and has really made me develop a significant amount of respect for Walt Mossberg.

Deadcast

Sports – Weekly

Why I Listen: Recently back from the dead, this NSFW Podcast gives hilarious discussion on sports and some pop culture.

DIY Musician Podcast

Music Business – Weekly

Why I Listen: Put on by CDBaby, this podcast gives me a lot to think about when it comes to musician marketing, outreach and growing our band. I appreciate that their topics are varied, yet apply to working musicians.

Exponent

Tech/Business – Weekly

Why I Listen: These guys are probably the smartest and most insightful analysts I listen to. My mind is always blown by the richness of their discussions. Most of it is based in consumer technology business models, but I’m left with a lot to ponder after each podcast.

Fatman on Batman

Comics – Weekly

Why I Listen: Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin talking all things comics. Despite the name, they’ve branched out far beyond Batman and talk all things comics/geek culture. The language can be NSFW, but is often my go-to podcast when I’m trying to catch up on the latest comic news.

FiveThirtyEight Politics

Politics – Weekly

Why I Listen: Extremely insightful analysis on political numbers, polls and recent political happenings. The analysis is very fair and the hosts do a great job of taking a dry subject and making it entertaining and accessible.

FoKnowsPhoto Raw Talk

Photography – 2x Monthly

Why I Listen: I’m a huge FroKnowsPhoto fan. Honestly a lot of my photography approach is shaped by Jared Polin. What I most appreciate about this show is that it covers photo news, happenings and issues that professional and budding photographers face. The show doesn’t get too far into the weeds, but is extremely entertaining. Their newest format with Todd took a while to grow on me, but it’s really matured into an insightful and entertaining show.

Here’s The Thing

Interviews – 2-4x Monthly

Why I Listen: Thoughtful interviews done by Alec Baldwin – yes, that Alec Baldwin. He goes to great depths with celebrities from all over. I leave each show learning more about both Alec and his subject.

Jay & Miles X-plain The X-men

Comics – Weekly

Why I Listen: This is probably my favorite podcast. As a closeted X-men fan that got into comics in the early 90’s, this is definitely in my wheelhouse. The level of depth in the recaps and analysis is impressive and entertaining. It’s easy to take for granted just how much work Jay and Miles put into each episode.

Mission Log

Star Trek – Weekly

Why I Listen: A weekly Star Trek episode recap show.As a Trekie who’s seen every episode at least 4 times, I love revisiting the show each week and thinking about the show’s messages, and whether it holds up. If you love Star Trek, you’ll be deep-diving into their archives.

NPR Politics

Politics – Weekly

Why I Listen: Insightful center-left analysis of the latest political happenings. I appreciate the context that is offered for the current issues.

On The Media

Politics/News – Weekly

Why I Listen: A left-leaning look on the ways culture and media impact each other. This show is well-done and thought-provoking, although it’s definitely gone to a darker place since the election.

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Pop Culture – Weekly

Why I Listen: Witty and insightful discussion on the latest movies, TV shows, and pop-culture happenings. The shows are the perfect length and provide the perfect depth and analysis of the topics. This show is basically Cliff-Notes for Pop Culture, so you can give the illusion that you’re still hip.

S-Town

Narrative – One-Time

Why I Listen: This is the newest edition to my feed, recently replacing the Missing Richard Simmons podcast. This is done by the same group that put on Serial once upon a time, and is done in the same story-telling format. I would call this a cross between “human interest’ and “guilty pleasure”.

Whistlestop

Political History – 2x Month

Why I Listen: Hosted by John Dickerson, this podcast provides some historical context to recent political events. This helps you figure out whether you should freak out about latest political developments.

Startup

Tech/Business – Weekly

Why I Listen: A fantastic narrative-based podcast that covers the world of starting and growing a business.

Talk From Superheroes

Comedy/Comics/Movies – Weekly

Why I Listen: An extremely funny show where comedians discuss and recap new and old super hero movies. What starts off as hilarious observations ends up with some very insightful reflections on the movies.

The Axe Files

Politics Interviews – Weekly

Why I Listen: Former Obama advisor David Axelrod interviews political figures from all sides of the political spectrum.

Bill Simmons

Sports, Pop Culture – 1-3x Per week

Why I Listen: One of my longest-tenured podcasts dating back to the BS Report, Bill ;Simmons has some very entertaining interviews.

The Daily

News, Politics – Daily

Why I Listen: A new New York Times podcast that I listen while showering each morning. It’s short, well-produced and very topical.

The Talk Show w/ John Gruber

Tech/Apple – Weekly

Why I Listen: Interesting Apple-focused tech discussion.

West Wing Weekly

West Wing TV Show – Weekly

Why I Listen: An entertaining and insightful recap of West Wing episodes, with Hrishikesh Hirway and Josh Malina (who was on the West Wing in Seasons 4-7). They land interviews from various cast members, including Aaron Sorkin himself.

TWiT

Tech Analysis – Weekly

Why I Listen: One of my longest-tenured podcasts for tech news discussion and analysis. I have to admit that I listen to this one more out of loyalty now, with my listening being determined by who’s on the week’s panel.

TV Avalanche

TV Pop Culture – Weekly

Why I Listen: A TV critics podcast about the latest and best shows. I’m a big fan of Alan Sepinwall and am glad to have him back in Podcasting.

Upgrade

Tech News, Apple – Weekly

Why I Listen: Another Apple-focused tech discussion podcast. I’m starting to see a trend with most of my tech consumption being Apple-focused. I’d like to think this is more coincidental in my search for insightful tech discussion, but some may be influenced by my tech consumption as an iOS user.

The Weeds

Political Policy – Weekly

Why I Listen: Intelligent left-leaning political policy discussion going in “the weeds” on issues.

The Weekly Standard

Political Discussion – 1-2x Weekly

Why I Listen: Conservative political discussion and analysis of current events. The Weekly Standard is definitely pro-Republican, but not necessarily Pro-Trump, which makes for some insightful commentary.

I would definitely invite you to give any of these 31 podcasts a try, especially if any of the interests are in your wheelhouse. If you’re already into podcasts, I’d love to hear any recommendations you may have.