Unfiltered Ocean

America, listen up. I don’t care what party you’re in, what religion you worship, nor do I care what the color of your skin is, nor do I care about your gender. If you’re an American, you know that tomorrow is an important day. Tomorrow is a chance for you to vote for who represents you in the House of Representatives and in your State House. For the lot of you, tomorrow also includes a chance to vote for who will be your State Senator, Governor, other Statewide positions or Senator. These positions, and, who fills them, are important. They decide what kind of taxes you pay and how much. They decide how your hard-earned tax dollars are spent. They decide what priorities our country and our states have. They have more control over our lives that you realize. I know this from personal experience. In 2017, our Congress decided that the Federal Perkins Loan, which was established in 1957 to help low income students pay for college, was no longer needed. In 60 years’ time, o...

This is my final endorsement list for the 2018 midterm elections. Any other endorsements I make will be on my Facebook page. I don't have the time to give detailed information about every single candidate. And I'll admit, I'll probably miss a few candidates that really deserve to be talked about more. However, you can google all of these people. Regardless of my shortcomings on researching the candidates and what not, all of these people that I'm endorsing are good for working class people and are interested in ensuring that all of their constituents have equal opportunity and can live decent, dignified lives. Gubernatorial Races: Alaska: Mark Begich California: Gavin Newsom Colorado: Jared Polis Florida: Andrew Gillum Georgia: Stacey Abrams Hawaii: David Ige Idaho: Paulette Jordan Kansas: Laura Kelly Maryland: Ben Jealous Michigan: Gretchen Whitmer Nevada: Steve Sisolak Ohio: Rich Cordray Oregon: Kate Brown Pennsylvania: Tom Wolf (and John Fet...

This is my endorsement list for the state of Nevada. S enate: Jacky Rosen. Nevada deserves a Senator that will look out for their best interests and that's Jacky Rosen. Unlike Sen. Dean Heller, who first said he was against repealing the Affordable Care Act and then backtracked and has consistently tried to gut it since, Jacky Rosen supports the Affordable Care Act, but also wants to ensure that everyone can afford health care by putting caps on prescription costs and limiting out of pocket costs. Nevada deserves a Senator who won't try to take away their health care, but instead try to make it better. Furthermore, Nevada deserves a Senator who will stand up to President Trump. Sen. Heller not only failed to do so when the ACA was almost repealed, but he also failed to stand up when alleged sexual assaulter Brett Kavanaugh was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court without thorough vetting. Sen. Heller sent a message to his constituents through his vote for Kavanaugh tha...

This is my endorsement list for Senate elections happening all over the country. I will not cover every election, but I will definitely try to cover the elections that matter to me. Senate Arizona: Kyrsten Sinema. Arizona also deserves a Senator who will be pragmatic and balanced. She has an established record in Congress as a moderate. That'll be helpful when dealing with a Republican President (or a Republican controlled Senate). There are things I dislike about Sinema, such as the fact that she voted in line with Pres. Trump's position on legislation 59.5% of the time. However, it reflects her bipartisanship and a very Arizona sense of being a Maverick, like Sens. John McCain and Barry Goldwater before her. Nevada : Jacky Rosen. Nevada needs a Senator who will stand up and protect their health care. Sen. Dean Heller voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Not only that, but Sen. Heller has been a part of the Republican cabal to sabotage the Affordable Care Act at ever...

This is my list of endorsements for the 2018 Elections in the State of Oregon. My endorsements are specifically for the gubernatorial race, Oregon's 2nd Congressional District, and the statewide ballot measures. The races in Oregon's other Congressional Districts aren't competitive, so I'm declining to endorse in those races. Governor: Governor Kate Brown. First, I respect that Knute Buehler is running as a pro-choice Republican. That takes a lot of nerve in this day and age. However, I can't vote for him. Buehler supports Measure 105, which would repeal Oregon's sanctuary law. That alone for me is a non-starter, as law enforcement resources are limited as it is and the potential for racial discrimination is high if police have to start looking for illegal immigrants. Also, I question Buehler's pro-choice record, as he voted against HB 3391, which ensures that abortion will remain legal in Oregon if Roe v. Wade (1973) were to be repealed. Gov. Bro...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints recently decided that the term "Mormon" would no longer be acceptable to use in most circumstances by either members or by non-members. The only acceptable areas of use would be in official documents such as "The Book of Mormon" or in historical context, such as "The Mormon Trail." Instead of calling it "the Mormon Church" or even the "the L.D.S. Church," the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints would now prefer members and non-members alike to refer to it by its full name or in short as "the Church" or "the Church of Jesus Christ" or "the restored Church of Jesus Christ." If I were a member, I would try to respect that decision, as it was told by God to President Russell M. Nelson, who is considered by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to be a Prophet of God. However, I find the new designations, specifically "the Church of Jesus...

This blog is almost exclusively political, with some religious undertones as of late and the occasional pop culture reference. But today, I'd like to take a moment to write about someone I considered a role model. When a celebrity dies, I normally feel some sadness for them. But I get over it pretty quickly because I never knew them personally and like the rest of us, they're human, and all of us eventually meet our maker one way or another. The world continues to spin with or without us. Anthony Bourdain, however, was the epitome of cool. He got paid to travel around the world and try new things, which for an impressionable adolescent growing up isolated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was mind-bending and exciting. He had a dirty, but hilarious sense of humor. But more importantly, Bourdain was open minded. He would talk to people and show the rest of us a snapshot of their culture, which always impressed me. In his Hawaii episode of Parts Unknown, he went to Moloka...