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State of Toro Blanco: Coming Back Plans for 2025 and Beyond [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-03-05

I've spent a lot of time since the election reflecting. It's been eight and a half years since I joined Daily Kos. I signed up in June of 2016 because I was worried about our country and wanted to do what I could to make a difference.

Watching Trump win re-election, with the popular vote no less, shook me to my very core. It made me question everything I've done, the point of it all, and what to do next. It was easy to feel like the past decade has been a complete waste of time and effort. I won't deny sinking into despair quite a bit. All of this was against the backdrop of some major personal and financial turmoil that stretched across all of 2024, which by the end of the year had left me nearly broken.

There are broadly three ways we can take this news:

1. Fight: resist and push back

2. Give Up: retreat into selfish self-interested behavior

3. Give In: switch sides and abandon your principles

For me, #3 has always been off the table. It's what separates us from the elected Republicans.

#2 is no better. I have people in my own life who gladly chose it, but I won't. Even if I hadn't publicly come out I still couldn't live with just closing my eyes, plugging my ears, and pretending everything is fine as long as I'm not being hurt...yet.

So, for all the rending of garments and insufferable self-pitying bouts of despair, if #1 is the only option at some point it's time to get to work.

I've been up to a lot over the year or so I've been on a sort of writing sabbatical. Here's what's coming this year from me:

ROAD TO 185

I started this series to track my weight loss journey, and I'd like to pick up where I left off. I started out weighing 355 pounds. Here's a picture from 2020:

And here's me last month, at 245 pounds:

Nope, not a typo: 110 pounds and counting, over halfway there!

TORO BLANCO MEDIA

I'm partnering with some friends and colleagues to start producing some video content. Here are some of what’s coming soon:

SERIOUSLY, HOW MUCH THOUGH?

Credit this one to a right wing, pro fossil fuel influencer ranting against tipping. Everything else he said was crap, but one thing stuck out to me: his request to "just tell [him] how much [things he buys] actually cost".

My wife and I talked about how angry the answer would make some people, but it's actually a good question that I think would drive home not just how bad income inequality is HERE, but EVERYWHERE.

In this series, we'll investigate how much things cost, now, versus how much they SHOULD cost, and try to examine just how unfair things are. Fair warning: things get scary once you go upstream and start factoring in overseas exploitation. Prepare to hate yourself for eating chocolate.

WHAT’S GOING ON?

The elevator pitch for this came courtesy of a friend of mine: “A weekly Garrison Keillor-type show where you explain what's happening in the news and why we’re going to be okay”. I’ve spent a number of years as the office “news savvy” person who was called upon to explain and break down the news for people who didn’t quite understand the sound bites and snippets being thrown at them by the 24/7 media. If you’ve ever read a story making headlines and wondered “But why does this matter?”, this is the show for you.

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 SECONDS

A brief global news roundup, the top headlines from all over the world you might have missed but should still know, in less time than it takes to brew a cup of coffee.

And lastly, in addition to working on my first fiction novel (hopefully to be finished this year), there will be essays, gonzo journalism, and profanity-laced rants...everything you’ve come to know and love from me.

Stay tuned for more details! Thanks to everyone who has been there for me through thick and thin.

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