Day of the Hummingbird Night, 11th of Hagwinter, 525 M.E. (Deneb): Looking back now, construction of Cop City, that "training facility" for police to hone their skills not at conflict resolution, de-escalation techniques, and identifying mental health crises but in urban warfare, crowd suppression, and use of large ordinance, was but the first step toward the Stable Genius' call for formation of state militias to combat protesters and probably to suppress voter turnout. 

It's little wonder, then, that protests were dealt with so brutally, up to and including murder, and vilified so viciously in the press. It's no wonder that petitions were ignored and no public referendum was allowed. The State was building its war machine to be used against the people and if you were opposed to militarization of the police, you were considered part of "the enemy within" and persecuted, prosecuted, and indicted. And in the case of one unfortunate person, murdered (RIP,  Tortuguita. Impermanence is swift.

I'm not voting for Dickens' reelection because, as Mayor, Dickens never once stood up for the people. 

Unfortunately, there seems to be no strong contenders running against Dickens. He faces a former police officer, Kalema Jackson, a Republican, Helmut "Love" Domagalski, and a self-described progressive, Eddie Meredith. I'm not voting for a cop or a Republican, so Meredith gets my vote, even though he's been pretty vague about his platform or stances on specific issues. A community activist and pastor, Meredith has said, "The measure of leadership is not in handouts, but it's in hands up" (whatever that means).  "Not in managing poverty but in dismantling systems that create it. If we invest in people, then we’ll all rise.” 

He's doesn't stand a chance in this election, but I'm voting for Mededith because there's no way I'm voting for Dickens and I'd probably misspell "Tortuguita" if I tried to name him as a write-in candidate.