Crazy Times

Literally. Being away for a couple of days gave me a break from the news but then immediately I had a lot to catch up on. So this is a brief review of some of the insanity or is that inanity that defines the American way.

First up: The Kentucky Millionaire who built a bunker and it failed to do what he built to do – keep his family safe. One dead and the family now lives in an expensive RV for reasons unclear, but it is clear that being crazy is not defined to the unhoused. Oh wait…..

Next: Sex Ed is Grooming. Okay this is now Q’Anon on steroids. I was sure that the original basis of much of this Q person was in fact a woman as she worked for the group behind the “chan” sites and then as the male personas picked up on the bizarre messaging and in turn grew their business from it, the Q thing sort of blossomed into this monolith that fueled much of the Trumptards. The fear of sex and information is a commonality in the South thanks to the Church. And that is the real reason behind the push to end abortion, there has never been a predominant interest in the life of children or these same whack jobs would be advocates for child care, maternity leave, health care and other post natal programs that promote life. It is about sex and the idea if you are fucking you will confine it to marriage and keep your sinning filth in the home. These are people who hate sex, and yes even I am bored with it but hey don’t let me stop you fucking! And with that fear that sex and intimacy is an effort, which they want no part of. Note that they are either breeding maniacs or have two kids which means they fucked themselves out. And I have never met a religious crackpot group that were not one or the other. Birth Control is sex control and sex is the predominant reason behind marriage. Trust me this is the real issue, fucking.

I have always found it interesting that many States take the forefront with regards to these issues, but Tennessee was always just ahead of the curve; however, they don’t get the news coverage on these culture firebrands as does Texas or Florida and I suspect it is because of Nashville. The state is very tied to that city for its income and with that the powers inside that city, while they may share their values fear the loss of money more, so with that much of the oppressive crazy shit is buried. When I lived there the issues surrounding sex abuse, largely in the schools was a major issue and with that the City Prosecutor rarely prosecuted said cases, blaming the Police for their poor investigation skills. But Nashville Schools were dumps and many times focus of investigation after investigation and little was ever done. Look at the timeline of the great reporter, Phil Williams, and his endless investigations in the school district and realize the problems there are serious and they do little more than cover it up. That is the South, hide, obscure and lie if you have to. Do as little as possible take as much credit as possible, that is their mantra. Mine is – What.ever.

Rounding to Third: Guns and more guns. After seeing Damon Wayans at Carolines a week ago where he brought a baseball bat to the stage with him a day later a comedy club in North Carolina found themselves closing early when a patron showed up with a shotgun; then a shooting at a mall in Indiana food court where the mythical good guy with a gun shot and killed the bad guy with a gun. (Some of this needs further investigation and I suspect as in all of these mass shootings, the truth is buried there) A shooting in Houston at an Apartment Complex left four dead; a shooting in a campground left three dead, one being only six; a woman dead after an altercation in a parking lot in Oklahoma; and more heinous facts regarding Uvalde continue to be released that again demonstrate how all of these shootings do not have the full information until investigations are completed. There is nothing in that particular story that has any good element in what.so.ever. And with that one of the few survivors of the Parkland shooting, meaning the shooter himself, is undergoing a sentencing trial which led one of the victims parents to scream out STOP and leave the courtroom. What is Justice in this case? That is not a decision anyone can make easily.

And lastly: I am exhausted with America right now. The endless one upmanship, the belittling and condescension that passes as an arrogant way of telling someone you are smarter and better than they are. I sat in Saratoga listening to the most boring people and I said little other than to remind them as I am on my own I have only myself to be responsible for and be concerned with. I am out to enjoy as a much of life as I can and with that do it as safely and as easily as I can. My conversations that once were as interesting as they were random have been relegated to largely message posts and those who serve me… the coffee person, the Front Desk Clerk, the Concierge at my building. These are not conversations they are more monologues and lectures where I either inform and attempt to have a teachable moment or be funny and witty without much of challenge or intellect. Even podcasts I am finding deeply redundant. Listen to Marc Maron WTF and it is him discussing his anxiety and frustrations about food and his family. In the beginning of the pandemic he lost his partner and his grief and pain coupled with the fear of the future were fascinating studies in how one copes and evolves when you are alone and working through it. I connected to that and much of his pain resonated, his humor not lost on one who feels much the same way, being over 55, being alone, having no kids and facing this odd future did make me laugh and cry. Today I get through maybe the first 5 minutes and unless he is speaking to someone I know and care about I wipe it out. The show with Nikki Glaser was both sad and funny as it was two neurotic comics who are successful and have good lives wax on about their eating disorders, their sexual confusion and fear of relationships. It should be a must listen for anyone going into the therapy business.

I had not known Ms. Glaser until FB Island where that thankfully is a delight of idiocy and moron supremacy that I need right now. So to listen to her comedy and in turn her own personal struggles I got much of what she said about sex and connection and how women view their sexuality and their intimacy tied to sex itself and men do not, they in fact disconnect from the two and immediately disengage once the act is complete. She insisted and I agree that women should not have sex until they are friends and familiar with the man and then have sex as they will find it by far more satisfying. She even feels girls should resort strictly to giving blow jobs or hand jobs if they feel compelled to offer sex to a boy as a means of building attraction. There is a big no from me on the sucking dick and fine with the hand job as it is utterly disease free and safe sex in every way. I am sorry but not getting oral cancer to suck a dick and the same goes for men, just finger bang or hand jobs or mutually masturbate. The era of sex is over and clearly we are going to have to start at square one to educate and inform and if you cannot love yourself you cannot love anyone else.

And with that Marc shared that he was in a friendship with a woman, and I recall this discussion at Red Bank when I saw him there, about wanting a “girl” friend who fucked him, had dinner with him (maybe not in that order) and then left and did not stay over, see him every day and remain monogamous in that type of arrangement. He is now in that that type of arrangement and he acknowledged that she is younger, he did not say how young but if she stays over she sleeps in another room. She has to be 30 as no woman over 35 would put up with that bullshit. Again it is challenging when you have no kids, no real baggage to find partners on the same page but even that would be stretch for me. I might do the dinner part, maybe even the fucking and would leave but I doubt that. I did that and hated it so I am over it. The reality is that while I was hit on by a man that night at the restaurant I and oddly Marc ate at after the show (although given his food issues that must have been interesting) I felt nothing, kissing this man, nothing. I wanted to go to my hotel room and sleep. I am not sure I will ever feel anything for a man again. So there you go folks note that again most of the Pro Life/Anti sex crew are all well into their 60s and cling to the past as a part of the problem. They still blame the Hippies! The observations I made at Saratoga with these couples in their 50s only made me feel relieved that I was not a part of this. I recall my ex husband and his theory that the Moon landing was a Conspiracy, the fame obsession aka the asspirational (intentional misspelling) that he carried with him. He is like many I meet, toting their fake or real Vuitton bags or wearing their Gucci shoes and the insatiable need to be “famous” be that on social media or just someone who matters. I have all of those things but rarely use them and feel compelled to let everyone know I have them, I get it. I really do. With that I seek respect and dignity and to speak and be spoken to in a manner that reflects that. And with that I am so grateful to not be married as I suspect I would be like one of the couples, parroting my Husband’s idiotic viewpoints and beliefs. I recall when I realized I had married a jerk I began to spend less time at home, and when he was there I wasn’t and so forth. My dog was the one thing that I truly loved during that time.

In my conversation with my Concierge yesterday he was shocked how few people actually speak to people professionally and they have college degrees! He is from Africa and migrated here years ago and was educated in his country but like many many Immigrants his degrees could not be substantiated as he was designated a refugee and this led him to working here. His story is not different than many despite the shortages of medical professionals, they are forced to return to school to get an American degree. Or what I call the most expensive piece of paper you will ever buy. I am sure that most if not many who possess a degree, myself included, have found it utterly useless and utterly a waste of time and money. Others and those are largely the graduates of “elite” Universities who are not any smarter but are better connected and in turn have better opportunities in which to work. The endless studies that profess that those with a degree earn more in a lifetime needs a little more detail there as it is based on Social Security data. And again women are fucked right there as many take time away from the workforce and may end up in work that will often pay less. This does not paint the full picture as it is frankly all theory as we know that flows in economics and trends dictate the pursuit of a degree but that degree may not be what the field you end up in and with that make even more so does degree and type matter? What school? What was the base salary? What profession? What was the network connection that enabled the gig, and so forth. The reality is that connections matter more and the doors are open via an alumni association or through a friend and family. So say Bob goes to University of Illinois and gets a Business Degree, with that where does he go to work out of school? What was his base salary? (Cause it ain’t what you think) If Bob was named Jane was that the same salary? How did he find said job? Recruited or applied? But that fact is shoved down our throats to the detriment of many who have expensive degrees and are Barista’s at Starbucks. Hence the union drive. We often equate worth with one’s financial stability. They are not the same.

We have no way of knowing details about anything unless we ask and we dig and we do neither. We talk at each other and not to or with each other. We are busy drawing our dividing lines and that seems to be with regards to how one votes. Funny I don’t have a problem with whom you vote for, I do if you do not read, listen to music, watch a movie, go on a trip and have a thought that isn’t your own.

So it appears that my story may be like this one. A tragic tale of someone at the brink of his life found dead and alone. At least I will have lived one.

Abort!

That word is ripe with connotations. This is the definitive from the Oxford English Dictionary: an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning. But with it comes another form of meaning: The abstract meaning or intention of a term, which forms a principle determining which objects or concepts it applies to.

With that yesterday’s premature leak of the Supreme’s and their thoughts and likely ruling on what was once thought the presumptive regarding Roe v Wade has now changed. The reality is that history behind this issue is much more complex and ongoing since that decision was made in 1973. And at the time the future Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg was already in the camp to believe that it would never secure the rights to Abortion and for women to make independent decisions regarding their bodies and their choices regarding pregnancy. And with that I agree. It was always tenuous and the story behind Roe had its own challenged history and with that the Attorney for Roe, Sarah Weddington died this year so it marks another end to that chapter in history as well. And that the current decision to leak its likely repeal was not the first time such occurred, as Roe itself was as well. But understanding Norma McCorvey’s personal history to this landmark case is critical in understanding what the women who brought the case, the woman the figure of this case, and ultimately a board of men as that is what the Supremes were at the time, came to the conclusion that vested it that decision was that of the right to privacy. If so, that decision should be the same when it comes to all decisions in life; with that, the reality today is we seem to have little of it anytime we pick up a phone, surf the web, buy a product. Privacy is a value we have long since lost and sacrificed and with that freedom of choice is just an expression that means little. Ask the Mask/Vaccine crowd about that. Today I read another strawman argument to vaccines and abortion. Hey fuckwit you can choose NOT to be vaccinated and that is just an equally life changing one that can change not just your life but anyone around you and with that pregnancy is just the same and ultimately is the decision of the one in that position in which to do so. They are not the same and they are just the same.

With this change it pushes the decisions back to the States, which have been doing as such for the past few years. The GOP long pushing the concept of Federalism where States Rights trump Federal ones often explain many of the more interesting laws and decisions states have made this past decade, which include Voting Rights, Gerrymandering, LGBQT rights, Reproductive rights, and refusing federal monies to expand Medicare/Medicaid or in fact doing so by requiring medical insurance under the law as established by the Affordable Care Act. There were even some states with hands out over pandemic relief and others who simply refused them on that principle. This is where we are moving to, a quasi democracy ruled by a Federalism belief.

Federalism is a type of government in which the power is divided between the national government and other governmental units. It contrasts with a unitary government, in which a central authority holds the power, and a confederation, in which states, for example, are clearly dominant.

While the Constitution addressed only the relationship between the federal government and the states, the American people are under multiple jurisdictions. A person not only pays his or her federal income tax but also may pay state and city income taxes as well. Property taxes are collected by counties and are used to provide law enforcement, build new schools, and maintain local roads.

Throughout the 20th century, the power of the federal government expanded considerably through legislation and court decisions. While much recent political debate has centered on returning power to the states, the relationship between the federal government and the states has been argued over for most of the history of the United States.

The constitutional framework

Although the Constitution sets up a federal system, nowhere does it define what federalism is. However, the framers of the Constitution were determined to create a strong national government and address the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation, which allowed the states too much power. In terms of the balance of power between the federal government and the states, the Constitution clearly favors the federal government.

I put that definitive summary of this as again this is what I call the work-around when I find myself blocked to access by conventional means. And the GOP if they were to run both Houses of Congress and the Presidency along with the Courts they would throw that concept out the Constitutional window. The reality is that is closer than we think with each passing day, and January 6th was titular to that without intent and deliberation. What was somewhat a fringe concept and movement is now in fact an actual galvanized movement throughout the GOP and many State Governments, see the South as a prime example.

For years the GOP courted business and again here is where the Supremes come into play with the Citizen United ruling or as Senator Romney once said, “Corporations are people too.” Okay then. And with that the large tax incentives, subsidies and tax laws were passed to further court and enable corporations to wield much power in the halls of Congress but more importantly at State levels. I use Nashville Tennessee as my prime example. They were a poor state with low levels of both voting and education and with that they began to court foreign industries looking to manufacture in the US and they began with the Car industries. They were right to work states, non union, had no income tax and of course were willing to throw whatever it took to get them to move plants there. Naturally they did not have the trained and educated workforce in which to employ said businesses and with that the great migration you have seen to move into that area has been replicated throughout the South. You see the same with Amazon and their locations for their mega warehouses and in turn how those are selected and at what costs to the community in which to do so. Elon Musk has done the same with Tesla and Space X and he is not the only one as Oracle is now locating a campus within Nashville and the city is doing whatever it takes to ensure that transition is smooth and the money flows. Again if Oracle thinks that there are enough local talent swimming in the pool to fill the jobs they are “supposed” to have in which to receive said incentives, think the shallow end as they don’t. Which means drawing in larger talent and the only way is through H1B1 Visas and the I or Immigrant pool that supposedly the Conservatives hate. Well they do but not if they are going to work, remain in their insular communities, have no voting rights are not citizens, and the Visa is temporary and can be revoked or renewed within or without reason. We love our Immigrant workforce as they can be the “invisible” force in which they cause no trouble so there won’t be no trouble. The Model Minority Myth.

And that brings me to another subject about Abortion and the reality is that the White Supremacy movement are afraid of the declining numbers and reproductive rates of white folks, long the majority. And with that the Replacement Theory, which is largely Anti-Semitic in tone, extends out to any race that may be the ones taking the ‘jobs’ and place in society once held by White and particularly white men. With abortion being denied, the next step is birth control and I see the morning after pill as their next target with more to follow. And yes folks “back in my day” getting a Condom meant going to the Pharmacist to request them. And even in my day there have been Pharmacy’s denying to fill women’s Birth Control pills under religious exemptions. Will it include Viagra? Ah yes the cake has been left out in the rain as they are not baking it for any of those weddings either. Remember that companies under the Supremes are now permitted to deny certain health care coverage, aka Birth Control, under said exemption. So what now does this mean? Well with the White Nationalists this enables them to breed and ensure their place in society. Note Hungary’s Oban on this issue:

Mr. Orban announced one of his most ambitious plans yet: Any Hungarian woman with four or more children will no longer pay income tax.

Anything to avoid immigration.

“We are living in times when fewer and fewer children are being born throughout Europe. People in the West are responding to this with immigration,” Mr. Orban said in a speech on Sunday.

“Hungarians see this in a different light. We do not need numbers, but Hungarian children.” But Mr. Orban, a far-right leader, has said he does not want the color of Hungarians to be “mixed with those of others.” He led European opposition to refugees during the 2015 migration crisis and has boxed himself into a rhetorical corner that now makes it difficult to change direction.

And that would be the dream to finally eliminate the need of foreign born workers being here at all. The reality for Immigrant families whose children born here of those would lose that right to Citizenship as it would likely be the first, if not only, Constitutional Amendment that the GOP would endorse, the Equal Rights Amendment not so much. As it is that very one that RBG cited would be a better way to ensure reproductive rights that Roe could not. And that warning stands clear now:

The roots of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s criticisms of Roe can be found in her litigation from the 1970s. Ginsburg first articulated her view that “disadvantageous treatment” on the basis of pregnancy is tantamount to sex discrimination in a 1972 case, Struck v. Secretary of Defense.

Ah yes and her unwillingness to step down and enable Obama to secure the seat to a more liberal Justice fell away and today we have the religious right ready to secure a brand new world. But ego is a disease like Covid that seemingly infects the members of Government in ways that is way more insidious. Note the endless stories about Senator Diane Feinstein and her mental decline. Not the first, the last or the only but this is our Government, out of touch and out of their minds.

The truth is that while the Racist community share a dislike of abortion with their Evangelical brotherhood (the Venn Diagram on that one is a significant overlap) they do so at the reality of who are seeking abortions and in turn have long had a significant problem in doing so – women of color. That has long been an issue and now the very thing that they fear – colored babies – may in fact be the larger norm as these are the women who cannot take time off nor have the resources to cross state lines and do so safely and privately. So Tucker Carlson what have you go to say about that?

I urge anyone who has not read the extensive coverage regarding Tucker Carlson and his platform to message the White Nationalists do so. I heard a year ago on 60+ a story that discussed his role and influence in communicating a thought process on these concepts post January 6th, since that it has largely expanded in tone and influence. The New York Times did a lengthy two day, two part story on Fucker Carlson and with this I suggest you too watch and listen to the messages and the fear that he inspires in his audience. It is all largely due to the beliefs he possesses but that he also embraced after years of failing in varying platforms on varying networks. And with that a Star is Born by finding the most hideous of historical framework of America and shitting it out like a baby with diarrhea. And he is a big fucking baby. Shame he wasn’t aborted.