Life Adventure

They say that life is a dream. Nothing always goes as it should. I wrote this piece for my online friends to look at without disturbing their feeds much. Too many are already going through their own stuff.

Long story short, on Oct 26th I collapsed at home feeling unwell. Several of you might remember my mentioning my doctor ordering scans of my brain following a similar incident in April. At that time it was found to be slight atrophy to the frontal lobe.

But this was different, with symptoms like TIA which surprised me because I've  a creative and active lifestyle. Loss of balance, numbness on my left side, inability to hold anything on my left. Practically unable to eat. I go to the local ER and get admitted, starting on an interesting journey. I wait a week in isolation until I am scheduled for guided biopsy in my brain.

Half my head looks a mistake with red hair dye. It took me a long time to come out of the anesthetic but I do know that my husband was there and said no worries. 

They told me there are multiple small lesions of indeterminate origin. Several members of my family have had parts of their organs affected by something. Hazards of modern life. People I know seem to be much healthier living in rural areas.

I expect to have diagnosis within a few days. In the meantime I am to be on a raft of meds for the pain and nausea.  I might need to schedule therapy from an osteopath to regain balance. Believe it or not it has taken me over an hour to pick out this message one key at a time.

Take care and I'll be in touch.

Gun Laws and White Men

Hardly a day goes by when we hear about a shooting somewhere in the United States.  Today it was a busy street in Washington DC of all places, where two men were shot in an apparent drive-by.  The situation is only getting worse, particularly when one considers that women who shoot their abusive partners are more likely to end up in jail than men.  Especially if they happen to be Black.

Below are snippets from a Twitter thread by activist Shannon Watts.

"Gun laws only protect white men, part eleventeen million: An 80-year-old Nebraska woman who was tortured and isolated by her abusive husband has been sentenced to eight to ten years in prison for shooting and killing him."

"When Marissa Alexander, a Black woman, was prosecuted in Florida for aggravated assault for firing a warning shot into the ceiling to stop her abusive husband, the NRA was silent."

"The NRA pushes laws that arm domestic abusers (to sell more guns) and then they advocate for victims to protect themselves (to sell more guns), but at the end of the day only white men get away with using those guns for self-defense."

"Staff and vendors at a Forth Worth gun show were supposed to check that guns weren't loaded, but a police report said that didn't happen before a woman was shot."

"The NRA also never weighed in on the case of Bresha Meadows, a Black girl jailed at 14 after she shot her abusive father. She was incarcerated for nearly a year before activists demanded prosecutors keep her case in juvenile court."

"The medical director of the emergency department at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center said that so far this year, the hospital had seen a 40 percent increase in the number of gunshot victims coming into the ER compared with 2020."

The picture is stark. The NRA holds so much political clout in the U.S. that the country has effectively become a free-for-all firearm bazaar.  Many people I know have stated that this is one of the main reasons that they will never visit the U.S. again.

I'm losing hope that anything will change.

Changing the Light Bulb

Just a bit of fun that a friend of mine posted on her feed.

Q: How many group members does it take to change a light bulb ?

1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed.

14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently.

7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs.

17 purists who use candles and are offended by light bulb discussions.

6 to argue over whether it's 'lightbulb' or 'light bulb'.

Another 6 to condemn those 6 as stupid.

22 to tell THOSE 6 to stop being jerks.

2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is 'lamp'.

15 know-it-alls who claim they were in the industry, and that 'light bulb' is perfectly correct.

49 to post memes and gifs (several are of Michael Jackson eating popcorn with the words added, “I’m just here for the comments.”)

19 to post that this page is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a light bulb page.

11 to defend the posting to this page saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts are relevant here.

24 to discuss the merits of LED/swirly fluorescent light bulbs

44 to claim LED and fluorescent bulbs will kill you.

12 to post F.

8 to ask what F means.

7 to post 'Following' but there's 3 dots at the top right that means you don't have to.

3 to say "can't share"

2 to reply "can't share from a closed group"

36 People to post pics of their own light bulbs.

15 People to post "I can't see S$%^!" and use their own light bulbs.

6 to report the post or PM an admin because someone said "f÷×$"

4 to say "Didn't we go through this already a short time ago?".

13 to say "Do a search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs".

1 to bring politics into the discussion by adding that (insert politician of choice) isn't the brightest bulb. This usually takes place within the first three comments.

50 more to get into personal attacks over their political views.

5 admins to ban the light bulb posters who took it all too seriously.

1 late arrival to comment on the original post 6 months later and start it all over again.

Paying the Penalty

There's a Looney Tunes short called "The Ducksters" that satirizes radio quiz shows. The contestant must answer a question within a certain period of time or they must "pay the penalty" - usually a VERY harsh one.

In many places, women are being made to pay the penalty for their reproductive choices.  Although it's true that women are the gatekeepers of their own bodies, they shouldn't be forced to bear the responsibility for what happens to their bodies through the actions of irresponsible men.  More and more states are trying to legislate the kind of health care that women can access, particularly pregnancy-related care.  What's worse is that women who have a miscarriage or have babies that are stillborn, are sometimes still considered to have "aborted" and might face jail time for it.

Men seem to forget that they bear 50% of the responsibility of creating a pregnancy in the first place.  One man could impregnate multiple women in the time that it takes one woman to bear a baby to term.  The simple solution?  If you don't want a woman to get pregnant, then use a contraceptive method.

Not so simple.

Far too many men still cling to the idea of sowing their wild oats.  Having sex as often as possible without consequence.  Such has been used as a weapon of war for centuries: if you want to effectively wipe out another tribe, slaughter all the menfolk and force their women to have your babies instead.  Even the Bible justifies rape by saying that a man who despoils a virgin can marry her if he pays restitution to her father.

It's time this barbarism stopped.  Ideas making the rounds of the internet suggest turning the tables.

1. Mandatory vasectomy of all men above the age of 13, and only reversing it when that man can prove that he is prepared and has the means to be a father.  

2. Make men who want a scrip for Viagra or other similar ED drug must go through the same gauntlet of invasive scans and questioning that women who are seeking abortion do.

3 Sterilize or imprison people who refuse to pay child support, or who are convicted child abusers.

Either that, or perhaps we go back to the use of the Victorian "pollution ring" that was a jagged metal ring that fit around the base of the penis. It was to prevent the man from becoming aroused for any reason, mainly in an effort to curb masturbation and the waste of sperm.

What?  You don't want other people controlling your body?  Well, about that...

Sadly, the "pro-birth" people believe that the male responsibility for babies ends at ejaculation.  I call them "pro-birth" because they are not truly "pro-life".  They only want the child to be born.  They don't care about the mother and they don't want to pay for that child's medical care, food, education, and well-being.

Here's another suggestion.  Women can withhold sex until their partners wise up.

That might get men thinking with their brains instead of their genitals.

Autocratic Movement

The following is from a Twitter thread by Steve Schmidt, an American public affairs strategist.

America tonight. 40% of the population has $400 cash in savings. Huge swaths of the country lack broadband and our national infrastructure is decrepit. Billionaires who fund their own space programs pay no taxes while the country's senior political leaders who incited an insurrection remain protected by their own coverup.

The concept of truth has been obliterated by a toxic combination of algorithms, misinformation, and greed.  There is an autocratic movement that is large, rich, powerful and on the march. It is maneuvering yet somehow it remains invisible to the people who are nearest it and have the power to do something about it. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned about this through the story of Neville Chamberlain. The story is more complicated than most people have been taught. He was an honorable man.

The 1st World War was a human catastrophe that killed 20 million people and one million Britons. In fact, it can be argued that the British Empire never recovered from that war. A generation of upper class sons was wiped out in the rush to glory that ended in muddy trenches, plumes of poison gas, and vast killing fields. It was unimaginable in the 1930’s that there could be another war. It was unthinkable. It was wished away. Chamberlain wasn’t a bad man or a weak man. He just couldn’t imagine that it could all happen again so he pretended that it couldn’t.

He reached for peace with noble intent. In the end it was the avoidance of the obvious and inevitable that led to a disaster so great that it obliterated the memory of the bloodiest war in human history fought just 25 years earlier. The next war killed 100 million.

Is there not a lesson from this in our moment? History offers lessons. Some people could see the threat clearly and some could not. Some saw it very early while for others it was the last thing they saw. It’s hard to imagine that Trump could come back. It’s hard to conceive that he remains the far and away front runner for the 2024 nomination. Where I live, there is no shortage of TRUMP 24 flags.  It’s hard to fathom that one of America’s two political parties has abandoned its faith in democracy, yet it has.

The Senate is a small club and maybe that’s the problem. Maybe it’s hard to look at someone and comprehend their bad faith. We are in for a long season of fighting over some really big and important things in this country. Orienting towards the ugly truth of what it is we are fighting is profoundly important.

We are fighting an autocratic movement that includes an eclectic multitude of extremist groups; among them fascists, theocrats, white supremacists, and conspiracy loons. They are dangerous and they want political power again. This movement teems with menace and violence. It has killed and it will kill again.

The pro democracy coalition must win the 24, 28 and 32 elections to break this. It will not be easy.

The Insanity of it All

Not being a U.S. citizen, I've frequently been told by people online that I have no way of understanding what their holy Second Amendment means to them.

It's true. I don't.

I can't understand why so many believe that 2A is seen to be more important than the First, or even the entire Constitution.  I can't understand why so many insist that they have the right to bear any firearm of their choice despite the risks that go along with them.  I can't understand why so many shrug their shoulders and accept the increasing annual tally of gun deaths as acceptable losses for their "rights".

"What if the government turns tyrannical and comes to take our guns away?!" they cry.

Remember what happened in Waco TX in 1993?  A few guns can't stop a tank.

Over the past year, there has been a mass shooting in the United States almost EVERY SINGLE DAY.

The overall death toll from gun violence has been more than what would be expected of a war zone.

Perhaps the U.S. is at still at war, but it's at war with itself.  Too many people are needlessly afraid of having their guns taken, their rights abridged, their families endangered... Where have we heard this before?

A quick perusal of recent news:

- A Texas woman shoots at a puppy running loose and accidentally hits her son.
- An Alabama man had his gun taken away after a domestic abuse incident.  The gun is returned to him, and he promptly shoots and kills his wife.
- A toddler grabs a loaded pistol from his mother's purse and accidentally shoots his sister.
- Two runaway teens break into a home, grab some improperly secured guns, and get into a shootout with police.

When will it stop?

It could have been mitigated after twenty kindergarteners were massacred in 2012.  But it wasn't.

At least Canada learned its lesson when fourteen young women were murdered in their university classroom in 1989.

The United States hasn't learned that lesson because it's not willing to learn it.  I doubt it ever will.  Even after an armed mob crashed its democratically elected seat of government, still there are those who insist that it was business as usual.

None of it seems to matter.  What's the definition of insanity again?

Dangerous Precedents

A terrifying thread on Twitter this morning caught my attention: a series of posts warning that the GOP in the United States is not finished with their overthrow attempts, despite appearances.

Just as Adolf Hitler didn't give up after his first coup attempt in 1933, the same goes for the Republicans.  If one were to swap today's GOP with the one that existed six months ago and re-ran the election, there would be an entirely different outcome.  There would be dueling slates from all the swing states sent to the Electoral College.

That's how fast things are moving and it's showing no signs of slowing down.

Many predict that if Trump were to run for President again in 2024, all red states that Biden had clinched with a slim margin would send Trump electors to the College authorized by those state legislatures.  The American Constitutional order doesn't seem to have a good way to deal with dueling slates.  Therefore, Trump might very well seize the office through a House vote.

It's shocking enough that the GOP is openly signaling that they will do this, even if such a move would be massively unpopular.  They will try if given the chance.  It's clear that they are using an authoritarian playbook.  All the Democrats seem to be doing is hoping that it won't happen, which increases the likelihood of it actually happening.

The GOP has learned from its mistakes and found out that so far there hasn't been much of a consequence to attempting to overthrow the government.  So they will be be better equipped and prepared next time.  And the general public might not even notice until it's too late because it's too boring to listen to an explanation of the complexities of an electoral shuffle.

Already there are states that have passed laws to make voting more restrictive and complicated.  Already there are rumblings about cancelling state primaries.  Already the GOP is moving to oust its own conference chair because she dared to tell the truth.

President Biden might be in a tough bind with all this, but the reality is that catastrophe is looming and action must be taken NOW to defuse it.

Minefield Made by Men

I've written many times about the difficulties women have to navigate a patriarchal world that mostly regards them as sexual tools and not people.

This latest article is further proof that we have a very long way to go to achieve true equality.

Intern of Idaho State Representative is now being stalked.

A 19-year old intern who accused Aaron von Ehlinger (R-ID) of raping her was promptly attacked by other GOP lawmakers, doxxed, and threatened with litigation.

What kind of world are we living in now where survivors of rape might be hauled into court for calling out said reprehensible behaviour?  As if they don't already have enough to deal with.  This only adds to the many reasons why women don't report the rapists:

- Not being believed by the authorities
- Having their personal details made public
- Being harassed by relatives and friends of the accused
- Penalties levied in the workplace
- 'Revenge assault'
- Being forced to marry the rapist
- Being forced to have a child conceived by rape
- The accused receiving only a pittance of a sentence if convicted

It's all about protecting the rights and reputation of the individual man or the organization involved, be it a sports team, corporation, church, or government.

A young man caught in the act of raping a woman only got a slap on the wrist because it would tarnish his potential career.  A doctor who raped a sedated patient lost his medical license but got no prison time.  A woman who had actual photos of her own rape was told it wasn't enough to indict.  And so on.

People who try to pass counterfeit money get harsher punishments than rapists do.

Something must change.  And that something is: more women need to step up to the plate.  Protest.  Run for public office.  Buck the patriarchy.  It's already started: Jennifer McLellan is vying to become the first Black female state governor.

Remember Liberia in 2003?  Women forced the country to end the civil war there by going on a sex strike.  Maybe that's what could happen in America too.  Then men might start to get the message.

Counterproductive

This is a rant by a friend of mine, copied from Facebook with permission.

"TFW medical racism, medical sexism, and medical ableism are your long-time special interests, and you see all of this conspiracy around vaccines being the cause of autism, altering your DNA, and now thousands of privileged babies marching in Montreal causing a vaccination clinic to close preemptively on Saturday.

Because besides making things worse RIGHT NOW, you are holding up actually useful research and findings about the subjects you claim concern you.

You are holding up justice and medical equity when you:

Cite real experiments like the Tuskegee Experiment in THE WRONG CONTEXT. Clearly you don’t understand how this horrific experiment was conducted, if you cite it as reason for Black people to not be vaccinated. You perpetuate misinformation, and erase the actual mistreatment Black people suffered.

When you say that vaccines cause autism. This was debunked YEARS AGO. REPEATEDLY. This is currently the go-to in the largest grift related to vaccine misinformation. Scaring parents into “curing” autism, increasing snake oil salesmen’s monetized social media platforms, completely changing the narrative around autism... redirecting huge amounts of research dollars to disprove what we already know, still changing the focus to “why are these people broken” in a lot of research instead of what autistics would like to be researched about themselves.

When you spew all of this unfounded, imaginary bull&^%, I don’t get to learn more about what is REALLY HAPPENING. You don’t need conspiracies if you really want to help make people accountable for science and to encourage people who science well. Good science needs people who have good science literacy, are willing to ask good questions, and follow up on them. Also, people to admit when they don’t know as much as they think they do, to be quiet and find out more until they do.

There are a ton of resources about the science of vaccines and medication, and lots of valid questions about how trials have been carried out in the past, and people still have safety and efficacy concerns. All of this is cockblocked by the crowd who thinks vaccines are part of a world plot.

Because beyond the illogic, you feel the rest of the world is unsafe, but at the moment you are making the world less so. We should still contour research good and bad effects of the vaccine. The first Quebec/Canadian death related to the vaccine occurred in April. This is a low number but it is still important. This was a real person, whose life touched others. While still less risky than other medications that cause blood clots, it’s a concern. Funnily enough, the same people who will point to this, downplay the number of deaths due to Covid constantly. I mean...

Stop it. With your misinformation and lack of logic and super-spreader events, you are going to make other people sick, and you’re also making my friends cry, who have lost people and have family sick right now.

I have a hard time forgiving you for that."

One Woman is Too Many

One of today's trending news stories is the abduction and murder of a young British woman by a police officer as she was walking home.  It has sparked a hashtag war on social media between #NotAllMen and #TooManyWomen.

The Not All Men supporters are missing the point.  Yes, we understand that not all men are predators, but from a woman's perspective, they might as well be.  From an early age we are taught to not dress provocatively, to carry our keys in our fingers, to not go out after dark alone.  Why are boys not taught to not harass women?

Even the media narrative focuses on women.  "So many women were raped last year" instead of "how many times men raped women".  "How many girls were harassed" instead of "how many men harass girls". And so on.

Ask almost any woman and she will tell you a story.  I have many, starting from when I was FIVE.

I was in Kindergarten. A boy in my class chased me, and other girls, so he could flip their skirts and see their underwear.  Complaints to the teacher were met with the 'boys are boys' argument.  I never wore skirts to school again, except for my high school graduation.

When I was 12, two boys in my Grade 7 class bullied me regularly and stole my lunches when the teacher wasn't looking.  I complained and the teacher told me that they were only doing that because they 'liked' me.  I developed trust issues toward boys and men after that.

When I was 18 I was on the bus going to meet a friend.  A man sat next to me, tried to put his arm around my shoulders, and flirted with me.  I pretended I was deaf and signed some ASL, and he moved away.

I was 20, a friend of mine was getting married.  Her fiancé approached me one day, grabbed my hand and forced me to touch him, telling me that my friend 'didn't like to do that'.  I yelled and pushed him away.  When I told my friend what a sleaze her fiancé was, she didn't believe me and married him anyway. (They had a messy divorce a few years later.)

I was 22, my then-boyfriend had invited me to his place for a home-cooked dinner, and then expected something more afterwards.  I refused.  He pinned me down on his bed (he was a large man) so I couldn't leave.  He told me 'I'm raping you' and laughed when I tried to escape.  I had to bite him on the face to get him off me.

When I was 28, my then-husband would come up with any excuse to watch me get dressed, peek in on me when I was in the shower, and sneak up behind me for an unwanted tickle or grope.  When I protested, he would accuse me of not giving him enough 'attention'.  His demands nearly cost me my job, as I arrived at work late several days in a row after being guilted into giving him what he wanted early in the morning.  Our divorce papers cited irreconcilable differences, but the reality was that I had a nervous breakdown due to the sexual and emotional abuse.

Reaching a healthier mental state took years and two rounds of therapy with psychologists.

I'm proud to say that now I'm a much more confident woman, but the haunting memories will always reside in the back of my head.  I don't fear men, but I still find myself being careful.  It'll probably take a very long time, if ever, for women to not need to watch out for themselves at every step.

Overprotection

The estate of Dr. Seuss has decided to no longer publish six of his books due to stereotypical imagery that many people might find offensive.  It's certainly within their rights to do so, and they feel that it's in line with modern sensibilities.

I understand why, but I also have to ask: what are you so afraid of?  That people might take these images as commonplace?  Or that the images might actually cause people to think about their attitudes?

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence was banned in many countries until 1960 because of its sexual language and use of then-unprintable four-letter words.  That book is tame in comparison to many published works today.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was heavily censored because of its depictions of class systems and racial injustice.  Now in many places it's taught as part of the high-school curriculum.

The Harry Potter series was banned in many places because of the depiction of "witchcraft".  Seriously?  It's a work of fiction.  It's no less an espousal of magic as, let's say, the Xanth books by Piers Anthony or the works of Edith Nesbit.

The mathematician and satirist Tom Lehrer once sang, "When correctly viewed, everything is lewd."  I've always taken that to mean that anything can be found offensive if one looks hard enough, and that seems to be happening with increasing frequency.  Not to mention the hypocrisy of challenging certain works while leaving out others.

If we ban Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men for vulgarity and racism, why not ban Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice for its slander of Jews?  If we ban Huckleberry Finn for its use of the N-word, why not ban the Bible for its portrayal of slavery and the patriarchal domination of women?

Where does it end?  Should The Flintstones be censored because one of the episodes depicts a judo instructor with squinty eyes, big teeth, and an accent?  Should The Honeymooners be banned because Ralph Kramden frequently threatened his wife?

Just because sensibilities evolve doesn't mean the past needs to be removed or erased.  We have to accept that in certain eras and cultures, people are portrayed in a certain way in some people's opinions.  We don't have to share those opinions.  Instead, use them as a teaching moment to say "this is wrong now, and here's why".  Don't sweep it under the rug.

Some have said: "A disclaimer on a kids' book?  Really?"

Yes, really.  There are disclaimers on the Looney Tunes, on many TV shows from the 60s and 70s, and even The Muppet Show (which had an episode removed from the lineup because the guest was later convicted as a sex offender).  I grew up on such shows and could well understand the difference between uninformed attitudes and satire, but many people do not.

Instead of locking "objectionable" material in a vault, people need to be taught how to think for themselves and view the world in the shades of grey that it is, not in black and white.

Incidentally, Dr. Seuss also wrote Horton Hears a Who, that declares "A person is a person no matter how small" and Come Over to My House that offers "Some houses are marble, some are just tin, but they're all alike when a friend asks you in".  It's entirely possible that he became aware of his own questionable content during his frequent travels and wrote certain books as a kind of implicit apology for what had come before.

Try to understand the work for what it is, not for the perception or the politics.

The Right Side

My grandfather was part of an Antifa organization. It was called the Canadian Army when he was in World War 2 and fought the fascists and the Nazis in Europe for the freedom of the world. When did being anti-fascist become a bad thing?

Here's a helpful guide by my friend Melanie, if you are still not sure which side to be on.

Clarifying, in case anyone you know is, um, confused? A helpful rule of thumb I borrowed from a friend.

Huge numbers of our population believe in a complete alternate reality. Alternate facts as it were.

But just as intensely as I believe they are deluded, they think I am the one who is deluded. Maybe I am. So how can I be confident in my perception? It can be quite difficult.

But, I have found that in times of political confusion, particularly when emotions are running high and creating tunnel vision, the presence of Nazis can be an extremely helpful indicator.

If I am attending a local demonstration or event and I see Nazis… neo-Nazis, casual Nazis, master race Nazis, or the latest-whatever-uber-mythology-Nazis, I figure out which side they are on. And if they are on my side of the demonstration? I am on the wrong side.

It is tough to argue moral equivalence when I am standing next to a Nazi. Look to my right. Is there a guy wearing a 6MWE (6 million wasn’t enough) t-shirt? I am on the wrong side. Look to my left. If that guy is wearing a Camp Auschwitz t-shirt? Wrong side.

Are speakers being applauded for referring to things that Hitler got right? Wrong side.

Team-spirit face paint and hat with animal horns? This is actually an unclear indicator that could mean anything, but safest to keep my distance from that guy anyway, even at a football game.

However, I can always, always, always rely on the presence of Nazis as a guiding light through a fog of disinformation. Some things are relative, and politics can absolutely have its opposing sides and grey areas.

But evil and good are absolute. As are the lessons of history. So, just look for the Nazis, and make your own decisions.

Patriotism or Fanaticism

I among many of my fellow Canadians were frozen to the news on Wednesday afternoon as reports came of a mob storming the U.S. Capitol building.  But it was not surprising.  The signs had been building for months, with grievance and calls-to-arms posts all over social media.  My first impression was that either the Capitol Police were woefully underprepared, or they were complicit, as quickly shown by videos of officers calmly removing barriers and walking away, allowing insurrectionists past the perimeter.

After the fact, what I call the Holy Book meme is making the rounds again. The top photo is of a young woman carrying a Bible and a gun against a backdrop of an American flag. The bottom photo is of a young woman carrying a Qur'an and a gun against a backdrop of ISIL flags. The caption reads: "Is it just me, or is Republican Christianity starting to look a lot like extremist Islam?"

I've never really understood the correlation between guns and holy books, because the two should not go together.  But many religions are studies in hypocrisy.  They instruct believers to love their fellows, but at the same time, anyone who does not believe like them is to be eliminated.

Religion, by its very definition, is extremist, exclusionary, and hostile to competition.  The entire history of Christianity is marred by extremist behaviour: the Crusades, the Catholic persecution of the Huguenots, the Irish Troubles, and many more.  All monotheism is flawed in this way.  This is why I am not a religious person.

When one looks at the online profiles of many Trump supporters, they tend to espouse devout Christianity.  They somehow righteously feel persecuted, or feel that it's "God's will" and use that as an excuse to behave and think as they do.  They'll be "saved" if they behave in that manner, regardless if it happens to be against the law of the land.

Many politicians know how to exploit this.  Take the disaffected, the shunned, those on the fringes of society, the angry, the isolated those that don't "belong" and give them a banner to join together under, a sense of camaraderie or belonging.  Then exploit their grievances, foster their anger, and point them toward a target.  The attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result.

The absolute mockery and hypocrisy of someone carrying a "Jesus Saves" sign as they rushed up the steps to the Capitol proved that these people are the new ISIL, on home territory.  They should be treated as such.

It has been pointed out that if Wednesday's mob had been a BLM protest, there would have been a bloodbath.  Instead, the mostly white male insurrectionists were able to breach the seat of a democratically elected government, vandalize the place, and take chummy photos with the police officers inside.  All while members of said government were cowering in fear under their desks.

In the past we've seen similar events in other countries and thought that it couldn't happen here.

Yes, it CAN and HAS happened here.  Which is why we need to be more vigilant and less divisive.

Dramatics

It seems that my 2021 is beginning on a bit of a sour note.

I found out this morning that I'd been blocked by and/or lambasted by several people for simply asking questions about an alleged incident of "drama" that occurred on a favourite content creator's platform.  Said incident had caused several other mutual friends to abandon the platform in disgust and say things like "they'll get it when people start abandoning the platform in droves".

I did not witness the incident in question, which is why I asked about it.  If one can't understand the underlying issue, one can't take steps to not repeat the same mistakes.

Now I understand that some people don't want to discuss such things on their public feed.  I also understand that everyone has their own viewpoint of certain things.  But to block or ignore the issue entirely is not the way to solve things.  Since when has asking questions become grounds for censure?  It's not like this is top-secret info we're talking about.

My original query on a fan page for said content creator was seen by numerous people, but the only person who deigned to reply wrote "I thought we weren't supposed to have drama here? I'm out."  This prompted me to delete the message and ask to be contacted privately about the issue.

I will guess that part of it is that most people don't know the whole story and don't want to answer for fear of making things worse.  But those who do know the whole story aren't talking, which isn't any better.

"Drama" in whatever form exists everywhere and we have to learn how to deal with it in a healthy and effective manner.  We can't wear rose coloured glasses all the time.  That's not how the world works.  Denying hardship doesn't make you a better person.

It's Time to Stop

Doctors and nurses who've treated Covid patients are dying from Covid. Hospitals are running out of space and equipment. All because too many people are refusing to do the right thing in the name of "freedom" and "privilege". The following was copied from another page, author unknown:

From my friend and neighbour.

- I am an Emergency Physician. I am on the front line of the COVID tidal wave. Every shift I place myself, along with my colleagues, my friends, in harm’s way to do what we can to help those inflicted with this unique virus sweeping the globe, our communities, in a way we have never before seen.

We are there when someone comes in with that tickle in their throat, or their fever, or their cough, worried that this is it, that they have contracted COVID, despite their best efforts at avoidance. We are there to reassure them that they “aren’t that sick”, that things look good; right now. We see the doubt on their faces when we send them home to isolate, to await their test result. Is it? Isn’t it? Will I get worse, will I infect those around me? Have I already done so?

We are there when those already diagnosed come to us feeling worse. Is this the start of their decline? Is this chest pain, this shortness of breath, this difficultly laying down to sleep, this ongoing fever something to worry about? Am I going to pull through? Am I well enough to go home? Are you sure? What if I get worse? Will I know? We see their fear, they give us our trust. They want us to give them good news, they fear the worst. We fear it too. We remain optimistic. Because they need us to.

We are there when the worst-off need our care. When they reach the point where the virus has overwhelmed their lungs’ ability to oxygenate their body, we are there. We walk them through the process of what comes next. We have you, we’re going to do our best. We see them try to remain calm. They know. We know. Is this the end?

Then we are there at the head of their bed, staring down at the sedated face of someone’s loved one, about to place a tube in their throat to try and assist their breathing; knowing that it may not be enough, that they may yet succumb. We do this and we move on. Because we have to. Because others need our care.

Don my PPE, doff my PPE. Wash my stethoscope, my hands, what have I touched? Better wash again. Next patient. Remain vigilant, don’t touch my mask, sanitize my work station. Am I safe to take a drink from my water bottle? Can I take my mask off in here? Is in in the air? Carry on.

It’s exhausting. It’s terrifying. We’re tired, we want it to be over. But we go on. Because we have to. If not us, then who? I do my job, I go home, I hug my family. I hope I don’t bring it there. I’m afraid.

But then I hear of those who are rallying against the affront to their freedom that is, of all things, being asked to wear a mask. To do their part. To be a good citizen to protect their fellow man. You can’t tell me what to do! It’s just a virus.

Then why is it not? Why is it all so different? What am I so afraid? Why won’t they listen? Why can’t we all just do our part to stop this? Why won’t they?

I feel slapped in my face. I am there. We are there. We WILL be there when it’s your turn. Or your family. Your friends. We don’t ask your stance on masks, or distancing, or shutdowns when you come to us. We just are. There. To help all those we can. Until we can’t. Until we have to decide. Who lives today, who dies. Who can’t we treat because the hospital is full; when there are no more ventilators?

So please, stop. I can’t. I won’t. I will be there for you, when it’s your turn, because that’s what I do. So STOP. Stop slapping me in the face with your denial. Stop making a mockery of my sacrifice. Your rallies, your signs, your rights, your privilege...

Stop. Because I want to stop. I want it all to stop. But it won’t. Until we all decide it’s up to us. Up to each and every one of us to do our part. To stop being selfish and look around. To see.

It’s time. To stop...

Wrong Equals Right

Written by author David Gerrold, reposted with permission.

"Aside from the fact that Donald Trump's behavior is, by any reasonable standard, insane — aside from the fact that the man is severely emotionally damaged — aside from the fact that he does not understand the concept of rules and law —

Aside from the fact that the man is the single best example of a bad example, totally unfit for the office —

The best way to understand his current mindset and the actions that follow — the man is cruel and stupid. He needs to be the center of attention. It doesn't matter what kind of attention, he needs to be the center.

He needs to be right.

Now, you can't be right unless you're making someone else wrong.

Got that? He needs to be right — so someone else has to be the villain.

So after he finishes ranting about Clinton and Obama and Biden — actually, he's pretty much done ranting about Clinton and Obama and Biden, because the election is over — now, his targets are all the Republicans who aren't supporting his attempts at a coup d'état.

Any Republican who isn't supporting his fake-believe claims of a rigged election is now his enemy. Any Republican who even admits Biden won fairly is the enemy.

And it doesn't even matter if he intends to run in 2024 or not — as long as he can stir the shit, as long as he can con the rubes into donating to his cause, as long as he can tweet like a rabid honey-badger, as long as he can be the center of the firestorm, he will keep on keeping on. Because it's not about accomplishing anything at all — it's about the pretense that he's important, and the best way (in his deranged mind) to be important is to have everybody fighting over him.

He's not even in it to win it — he's in it for the fight. Because as long as he's fighting he can pretend he's winning.

As others have pointed out, and very eloquently, the way that game plays out, the more he attacks the Republican party, the more he destroys its effectiveness on a national scale.

There were some who predicted as early as the spring of 2016 that the ultimate cost of a Trump candidacy would be the destruction of the Republican party. That seemed like wishful thinking to me then. It still feels like wishful thinking.

Frankly, the Republican party has become nearly impossible to kill — because there is no Republican party any more, only a machine that functions to the whims of religious fanatics, racists, robber barons, and the terminally stupid. The party has been on a long miserable slide into dementia since long before Ronald Reagan's visible decline. The result is a fascist conspiracy looking for a democracy to hijack.

Others have said that Trump is merely a symptom, that the real disease is the Republican party. Yes, you can make that case. But right now, it looks like Trump is no longer a symptom, but a malignant tumor that has metastasized and what's left of the party is coughing up blood.

This all goes back to Fred Koch who funded the John Birch Society. Richard Nixon's disgrace created a power vacuum in the party and the radical right was ready to fill it.

Trump took advantage of the opportunity they created.

The party had the option to disavow Trump in 2016, but they made the same mistake the German robber barons made when they got in bed with Hitler. They thought they were going to control him. Grover Norquist once bragged that all he wanted from a Republican president was someone who would rubber stamp whatever the Senate sent him. I guess that's what they thought they were getting. Uh-huh, sure.

The Republican party has drunk the capitalist Kool-Aid of assuming that labor is the enemy. Nope. The people who roll up their sleeves and go to work are the real creators of wealth. If you want to have a healthy economy, you have to make sure that working people have enough money to spend on goods and services, because that's the real engine that creates jobs. BTW, the 40 most successful economies on this planet are the ones with strong labor movements.

The damage that Trump has done to America is on a scale comparable to the Great Depression and the Spanish Flu pandemic. We will be a decade or longer recovering from Trump's insanity. Even worse — as long as he continues to stir the shit, as long as the polarization remains at dangerous levels, the processes of recovery and repair will be further hindered. As long as the Republican party continues to believe in its own delusions, the processes of bipartisan governing will be next to impossible.

This is why I believe Donald Trump must be held accountable for every crime that he and all of his enablers have committed. Not just all of his recent attempts to tamper with a federal election, not just his various financial frauds and tax evasions, but also his federal crimes as well. (Yes, I know about the possibility of preemptive pardons — they might not be enough.)

The only way to break the power of the Trump cult will be to break Donald Trump.

He might be damaged, he might be insane, he might be in the throes of dementia. I don't care. If he is not held accountable, then his ability to create havoc will remain unchecked.

January 20th cannot come soon enough."

Shortened Lives

Written by journalist Carmi Levi.

"December 6, 1989. 31 years ago, 14 women were murdered at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique because a single man couldn't, wouldn't accept women succeeding as engineers.

I remember the night like it was yesterday, remember the stories of journalism school and newsroom colleagues who covered the massacre. How so many lives were ended, and so many others altered forever.

I'd like to think that misogyny has been resolved in the ensuing decades, but I'd be wrong. The stifling patriarchy that normalized the anti-women behaviors at the root of this tragedy took root long before one failure of a human being picked up a high-powered rifle and singled out his victims because of their gender.

We haven't learned a thing. And saying nothing ensures it will continue to happen. In headline-grabbing mass murders like this, or in individual cases that don't necessarily merit annual reflection. But should.

Why the tree? [Posted photo of a tree] Because 14 brilliant lives were snuffed out before they had a chance to unfold on their own. Because so many stories failed to play out as they should have. Because the branches of life were cut before the canopy could even be formed.

To think what should have been. To think how our continued inaction dishonors their lives."

The Waiting Game

Written by political historian Heather Cox Richardson.

And still, we wait. But not really, because the outcome of the 2020 election for the American presidency is clear. The Democratic ticket, headed by former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris, is ahead in the key states of Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Arizona. Biden does not need the electoral votes of all of them to put him over the 270 electoral votes he needs to win. It appears mathematically impossible for Trump suddenly to retake control of those states.

Tonight, with Harris beside him, Biden spoke to the nation. He acknowledged it is frustrating not to have a declared winner in the election, but urged people to be patient as election workers count every ballot: a process at the center of our democracy. He promised that he and Harris are already at work, receiving briefings on the coronavirus pandemic and the faltering economy, and that the country had its work cut out for it with those issues, along with climate change and systemic racism, but that we could solve them if we work together. Once again, he called for unity and promised to govern for everyone, not simply for those who had voted for him. Biden had intended to make a victory speech, but the media seems oddly reluctant to call the election. That reluctance is odd enough that people are speculating as to why, suggesting that media administrators are afraid of the president’s fury or eager to milk the cliff-hanger situation for viewers. My own guess is that, with the president lashing out at what he insists without evidence is a fraudulent election, they are determined to have all the votes counted before making a final call. For Trump is, indeed, lashing out: at his lawyers, his aides, election officials, and his opponents. He is allegedly having a hard time believing he lost. He clearly intends to continue reshaping the government while he retains the office of the presidency: in the three days since the election he has gotten rid of the leaders of the three agencies in charge of the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons, the regulation of natural gas and electricity, and aid to foreign countries. Administration officials did not give a reason for the ousters, but it seems clear he is purging the administration of officials he considers insufficiently loyal. Trump’s supporters are also having a hard time believing he lost. A top campaign official used his own texting company to send out thousands of text messages telling supporters that the Democrats were stealing the election and urging them to rally in Philadelphia to protest. Two heavily armed men drove from Virginia and showed up Wednesday to attack the counting center in the city. Supporters have also forced an election worker in Atlanta, Georgia, into hiding after a right-wing YouTuber posted a video of him throwing away a piece of paper and claiming it was a ballot. The video, along with the worker’s personal information, went viral. According to Richard Barron, the elections director for Fulton County, the worker was, in fact, properly discarding an instruction sheet. This election was not particularly close, but pundits warn that the fact that 70 million Americans voted for Trump and 74 million and counting voted for Biden shows that we live in two very different Americas, and that, for all his talk of unity, Biden will have a hard time finding common ground with Trump supporters. Pundits suggest that the two different political ideologies in America are about values and principles, but it actually seems that the primary difference between the two camps is between those who are living in a fictional world, created by generations of right-wing media, and those who are living in the real world, the so-called “reality-based community.” According to political historian Rick Perlstein, a scholar of the right, talk radio host Rush Limbaugh has been telling listeners that Democrats have stolen the election, and urging his listeners to abandon the Republican establishment, which did not sufficiently back Trump. Entertainment personality Alex Jones is more extreme. He showed up to the Maricopa County, Arizona, counting center, where he told the crowd that “The Bidens are Communist Chinese agents” and urged listeners to fight “those scumbag Nazi bastards.” Jones owns a far-right conspiracy theory website aptly named InfoWars. According to an article by Veit Medick in Der Spiegel, about two-thirds of his income comes from the merchandise he sells to combat the conspiracies he talks about. The Republicans’ alternative reality is quite literally deadly. Although 82% of Trump voters believe the pandemic is at least somewhat under control, today America had more than 122,000 new infections, and more than 1100 people died. An analysis by the Associated Press shows that 93% of the 376 counties with the highest numbers of coronavirus cases per capita voted for Trump. That deadliness might, in the end, create common ground with the Democrats who urge mask wearing and social distancing. “I think there’s the potential for things to get less charged and divisive,” Dr. Marcus Plescia of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials told the AP. On October 25, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the White House was no longer going to try to control the pandemic, but was instead going to focus on finding drugs and a vaccine to treat it. Tonight, it came out that Meadows and four other White House aides have contracted the coronavirus. The people who knew were told to keep it a secret. Meadows has been participating in White House events this week—including a gathering on election night—without a mask. Addressing the right-wing media's construction of a false narrative for its supporters seems crucial to restoring sanity to the country’s politics. How that might play out is unclear, in part because Trump’s extremism seems to be driving a wedge into the right-wing ecosystem. Limbaugh and Jones are following Trump, but QAnon, which promised that Trump and the military were in control and that Trump would ride to victory, is suddenly adrift. Believers thought he would bring “The Storm,” which would destroy the pedophile-cannibals in the Democratic Party. But now, Trump is losing and “Q” went silent after the election until tonight, when it simply told followers to stay strong. In contrast to Trump’s true believers, Rupert Murdoch’s media empire is turning on the president. The New York Post is dismissing the Trump family’s claims of a fake election, and the Fox News Channel was the first to call Arizona for Biden on Tuesday, undercutting Trump’s ability to claim a premature victory. Tonight, looking directly at the camera, Laura Ingraham gave a monologue on her show about how Trump should leave the White House with grace and become a party kingmaker for the future. Ingraham appeared to be talking to Trump supporters, but it was clear she was talking directly to Trump himself.

Heart and Soul

From a Facebook post by author David Gerrold.

Even as Joe Biden closes in on an the most important election victory in our lifetimes... we still have to acknowledge that we have lost the hearts and souls of 68 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump.

Maybe some of them are simply die-hard Republicans. Maybe some of them are caught in the Fox News cycle of gaslighting. And maybe some of them are just too stubborn to admit they've been conned. But there are people with more on-the-ground experience than I have who have said that a large part of Trumpism is "sticking it to the libs."

Okay, you stuck it to us. The price you paid for sticking it to us was a pandemic that has killed a quarter-million of us. The price included a crashed economy, assaults on your social security and your health care, and a lost opportunity to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. The price included a loss of international authority. You stuck it to us, but at what price? The nation is poorer, sicker, and weaker.

Those 68 million people are not going to change their minds any time soon. They voted the way they did because they're afraid and anxious — afraid of the future, afraid of the shifting demographics, afraid of not being the superior race anymore, afraid of situations where they no longer have a sense of control. Afraid and desperate.

The job — not just Joe Biden's job, but the job of the entire Democratic party — and not just for the next four years, but for a couple generations to come — the job is going to be rebuilding the moral heart and soul of the nation.

We survived the Great Depression. We won WWII. We beat polio and smallpox. We put men on the moon and we've had a space station orbiting the Earth for two decades. We are — when we want to be — the *can-do* nation.

We can rebuild our roads and bridges. We can build a high-speed rail network (which will reduce carbon pollution by an order of magnitude.) We can shift to renewable solar and wind power. We can provide health care for everyone. We can provide affordable education for everyone. We can end poverty and homelessness. We can do anything we set our minds to. We have the resources, we have the know-how, we have the people.

All we need is the commitment.

And if Joe Biden can simply reawaken our national sense of purpose, that will be the first step toward reawakening our better angels.

We are going to have to speak to that future if we want to end the destructive effects of Donald J. Trump.

Medical Protesters

The following was written by Kristen Ann, a nurse in on the front lines in Pennsylvania.

"I've been trying to keep my mouth shut recently regarding anything to do with Covid and staying at home. However, after the weekend I just had, I can't. I am PISSED OFF.

People are out PROTESTING the stay at home order. PROTESTING! I wish every protestor could step into my shoes for one shift. Just one. And I believe you would change your mind on protesting and you would be THANKFUL you're able to stay home and be safe with your loved ones. I worked at my per diem job Saturday and Sunday night. The hospital is Covid central with more Covid+ patients then not. We wear Tyvex suits for our entire 12 hour shift. When we come out of a patient's room, our "Covid buddy" wipes us down with bleach. We wear N95 masks and face shields for our entire 12 hour shift. I did not pee or eat during my entire shift Saturday night. I watched a 52 year old stable patient decompensate and code within an hour's time and I tried unsuccessfully to revive him. He died alone in his hospital room.

Sunday night, our staffing was terrible. I was on a unit with 12 patients and only 1 other nurse. It took me three and a half hours to complete a typical 1 hour med pass because I had 6 patients who were all Covid+ and 4 of which do not just swallow pills like you and I do. I was sweaty, hungry, tired and felt defeated because I felt like I couldn't adequately care for my patients. So, if you want to protest and you don't believe this pandemic is real, please sign a DNR and do not seek medical care if and when you get sick. Because by not following the stay at home order, you are basically saying 'f*** you' to all healthcare workers. And I want so badly for my response back to be f*** you, too. But rest assured, when you show up at the hospital unable to breathe, I will care for you because that is my job and I will do anything in my power to make sure my patients are okay."