Here’s something they do “understand.” Conspiracy theories and the power they have over an election. Danny Silk, a leader at Bethel Church, has posted QAnon-related ideas and hashtags on his Instagram account. Silk did not respond to requests by CNN for comment.

To be clear, QAnon is not a thing except on the internet. There is no secret guy “Q” working in the government to expose the “rampant pedophile ring” that exists that you’ve never seen. It’s not a Save the Children thing. And Trump is not going to shut down the government and give a signal for mass arrests by our military inside D.C.  That’s what people who believe in this garbage think is going to happen…soon.

What’s a rational person supposed to do? Vote! You can return your ballot by mail, or, like me, take it signed on your official envelope, to an official drop box. Go to  www.elections.co.shasta.ca.us for official info from Cathy Darling Allen, County Clerk and Registrar of Voters. Do not drop your ballot in anything that is not official. The GOP in So. Cal is being sued by our Attorney General, Xavier Becerra, for tampering with ballots by using un-official “boxes” they’ve created to cause confusion and make you feel insecure about voting by mail. I used the official drop box at Redding City Hall, right next to the Utility Drop Box, and across from the new-ish cop shop and in the mist of the official fountain. It’s a sturdy white, metal box with a slim slot that you can’t get your hand through in case you dropped your utility bill in by mistake. And no one else can either.

At that info website, you can “register” to track your ballot and get official info about where official boxes are. Be official.

What are you writing about? Yes, try and write. About anything, couple sentences, every day if you can. And you probably can.

I’m writing about a serial killer case that landed in my lap while I was working at the Public Defenders office years ago. I begged for that case, even chased my boss at a party after I read about the arrest in the paper. My boss was “taking a break” from the death penalty biz, but I was determined. I was in my final year of law school and knew more than I’d ever known about running death defense. My boss had already received the police reports of the arrest in his “off time.” He told me over a gin and tonic, that I was not to work on the case. He said the evidence already found and the condition of the bodies the investigators had studied strongly suggested and evil, sadistic man operating for years under the radar, who was also a manipulative bastard that my boss didn’t want me around, reading about, or getting near even with bars and bullet-proof glass between us. He didn’t think he could be around the bastard, either.

The case went to the Conflict Panel of attorneys outside of our office and the guy who caught the case was actually an old boyfriend of mine who I worked with when he was second chair on my first case with the PD’s office. Didn’t stop me for a minute. Well, maybe a minute. We didn’t part ways very amicably. I left the restaurant table, him with his mouth open, when I shouted at him for the umpteenth and last time, “Don’t call me naive!” He was a decent guy, an admirable screw, handsome and well-dressed, but his arrogance was too much. The sentence that preceded my stage exit was, “What did I ever seen in you?” and his response was to open his arms as if to say, “It’s obvious!” Did I mention he was really handsome?

So I worked on the case anyway. It was fraught. It turned out that the guy, the bastard, was married with two kids, and worked as a Handy Man who worked as an extra in County Offices even mine, and drove his own white van. A van I’d seen in my neighborhood. He was so ordinary, though, he could blend in anywhere. That was his edge. And our problem.

Let us know what you’re writing. Post it in comments at the website or on our Facebook page. It has been said that if you say it out loud (or post it), you will be more likely to finish you piece. I dunno, but it can’t hurt your resolve!