Twenty-One Years Ago

FIRST – 21 years ago, on 9/11/2001, I stood on the open 2nd floor of the barn we were building at the farm I owned with my former partner. I had just heard about the first plane and I thought that we were entering WW3. David and I climbed down the ladders and headed inside the house where we joined Nancy and watched live TV coverage as the 2nd plane hit the other tower. Then the Pentagon. Then the field in Pennsylvania. Stunned, sick to our stomachs, and fearful we all started calling everyone in our respective families. Cell phone lines were jammed, there was trouble getting through to some people as everyone in America was doing the exact same thing in that moment. In that moment the world stood still; stock still. Every life in America changed on 9/11/2001. From those harrowing moments on we knew of “life before” and “life after” America was attacked by terrorists hell-bent on killing as many Americans as possible as quickly as possible.

Almost 5,000 people died that day. And many more became victims as illnesses from the contaminated sites where they were working so hard to find survivors; rescue the living and retrieve the dead, slowly killing them months and years later. Every living American was affected that day. Those who would be born after that fateful day would read about it, maybe someone would try to explain. But no one could ever put into words exactly what happened inside of each of us; how we felt, how we cried and what our worlds were like before that day. Many things we are now used now were not even thought about before the planes hit those towers and souls ceased to exist. Things changed.

Like everyone that day, I was confused, then super sad as I watched lives being snuffed out in real time, then angry as fuck at those who perpetrated the crimes against America that day. We stopped barn construction that day and the barn went untouched for the following couple of weeks, as my partner and I were as stunned and unsure of what was going to happen. Was our country going to war? Who did this and why? Were other places at risk? What the fuck is happening???

It’s a day I will certainly never forget. If you were conscious there’s no way you could forget. It was a pivotal moment in our country’s history, in world history and in our personal lives.

Americans pulled together over 9-11. Our country was at risk. We knew we had to show solidarity.

The next major historical moment in our history would happen 20 years later, on Jan. 6, 2020 when an insurrection against our country was spawned by an egotistical man who could not accept that he lost an election fair and square. He had been working diligently for the previous 5 years to tear us apart, to get us fighting against one another; destroying the fabric of American pride piece by piece. It’s a well-used tactic that Hitler and Mousellini both used when they decided to rip their own countries apart out of greed and power hunger. Trump studied it well. And here we are…our democracy is now at risk. It’s time for us ALL to come back together as American people and fight to save our country from the evil within this time.

There’s a lot more to say, but I need a break.

Pay attention, shit is about to get very real across this country. It’s no longer just one man, he’s built a fascist army of red hats, his MAGA Red Army, who are working at his will to help him become King. We are all just considered to be collateral damage at this point – unless we pull together and do whatever each of us can do to fight back against them. Speak up. Vote. Do not stay silent, that just gives them your permission to continue their behavior in your presence. WE do not have to accept this. WE out number them and love is always greater than hate. Good will prevail.

~MB

Immigration…

Photo by Darren Patterson on Pexels.com

Another weekend gone by. I managed to get some of my garden stuff, did some raking in the front yard – trying to scratch up the front lawn, it’s so pathetic, sort of thatching and readying it for some new fertilizer and re-seeding – bagged some of the leaves I left in the front gardens to protect my perennials through the winter months and generally just got some spring preparation done. It felt good to be out there with my hands and mind in the dirt for most of the day on Saturday. Today, Sunday, it’s been raining all day so I worked inside putting up some new valances on some of the windows – hand-me-downs from Mom, very pretty ones at that!

This weekend’s main trending news was on the border mess, Georgia’s new voter suppression laws signed into law on Friday by Gov. Kemp, and the huge-ass ship blocking the Suez Canal and bunging up trade worldwide. Get ready for another toilet paper crisis, it’s coming! There are other very important issues in the news and happening world-wide, but I need to narrow the scope here for brevity’s sake!

Our southern border with Mexico, the primary land entry into the USA, is currently quite a debacle. It has been this way for YEARS, it’s just that now that President Biden has been in office 60 days it’s somehow ALL his fault…yeah…NO. The whole immigration to America has been a complete mess for 40+ years, so worse than others. Different leaders – in both Mexico and the USA – have handled it in a wide variety of ways. This is MY personal understanding and take on what’s happening down there.

#1 I am NOT seeing ANY GOOD journalistic coverage of this whole issue, beginning in their home countries; starting with when did the “surge” of people, seemingly rushing our border for entry into the country start AND WHY are they coming? This problem did NOT start on January 20th, 2021 when Joe Biden took office and we all KNOW that for fact. It’s been going on for about as long as I can remember! Hell, I recall Reagan dealing with this – until him and the general got caught selling them weapons, ouch. What we need to SEE is a history of the problem and the reasons behind all of these people believing they HAVE to flee their own countries in order to stay alive.

I do not believe that many Americans even know, understand or are aware of why this is happening because all they are “hearing” on the TV is how horrible it is that they ARE coming, how the conditions at the border where we are forced to take these people, house them, cloth them, feed them and provide medical treatment and comfort to a HUGE number of refugees – that’s what they ARE, I don’t believe these people are asylum seekers as much as they are refugees.

Americans have always had open arms for people fleeing to the USA for a better life; our country was founded on immigration. Unless you are native American you ARE product of immigration somewhere along the line. Providing refuge to people is our way, it will always be our way. We have always shown compassion, empathy and love – bestowing special attention to those threatened by violence, death or human rights abuses of all kinds. But there has to be a process and there must be the facilities to handle the numbers arriving – or we’ll just end up like some EU countries who are dealing with huge refugee encampments with squalid conditions.

The number of people crossing our southern border daily is fluctuating between 3-5000 DAILY. Where do we EXPECT to PUT these people? I don’t believe we even have enough structure to get roofs over all of their heads! It’s going to take TIME and WORK and PATIENCE – from not only US Americans but from the refugees themselves, who should be cooperating to the max and helping us get this figured out and done.

We need buildings, perhaps even a whole military style “base” to handle our southern border influx and all southern border immigration. The base needs to have an intake center, a court with 20+ courtrooms and immigration judges as well as attorneys. The base should have cafeterias, barracks style living for singles, pod style living for family units. There are other things it will need too, but we HAVE to start looking at things like THIS to get this under some sort of manageable control.

I can see thousands of good paying JOBS in building a few of these immigration bases. I would bet that many of these refugees would like nothing more than to have one of those jobs helping to solve some portions of the problems. Construction, food service, laundry, etc…they could fill many of these jobs! WE MUST GET CREATIVE!

As far as stopping them from coming, good luck. That’s just not going to happen. They will always come. Until the horrible conditions in the Latin triangle are remedied the people will continue to flee the violence, poverty and sure death to try to save themselves and their families.

**Additional Notes:

“To respond to the unprecedented spike in arrivals of migrant children traveling without parents or legal guardians, the U.S. government is on track to open at least nine emergency housing facilities within President Biden’s first three months in office. The Trump administration operated three influx housing facilities over four years, and only one of them is currently active.” (Article Link) Mar. 25, 2021

What is happening at the US southern border? This is a terrific, well written and easily understandable article by the IRC (International Rescue Committee) March 24, 2021. The IRC is a non-partisan NGO that provides much assistance and coordinates to provide housing and care for many of these asylum seekers at our southern border. I highly recommend doing some reading on their website and considering donating to lend a hand. We all need to try to be part of the solution!

This issue is very important to me – I wish it were to so many more! These people are fighting everyday to survive, to come to America and make a better life and they are willing to DIE trying to do it. Americans sit here and throw rocks. Bitching and moaning about immigrants while they seriously have NO IDEA what these people are up against in their home countries. We have lost our way; empathy is dying. We sit here in our little red, white and blue cocoons and pretend this doesn’t affect us – unless we have some weird thought that “…MAYBE they are getting something I’m not!” Then they freak the fuck out and turn into uninformed idiots. I wish I could be part of better educating people about stuff like this, I don’t get why people are not more interested in what is happening in their own country and why…just baffles me.

I’m off for the night. Get my first covid-19 shot tomorrow! Yay

Peace ~ MB

Democracy Under Siege

Every day I think I have seen it “all” with the demolition of our federal government and the rise of authoritarian rule in America. Then either Trump, Barr or the GOP Senate does something even lower and more illegal, more against the “rules” we’ve always operated by, and more evil to the people of the USA – particularly those already busting ass to make it work any way they can. It’s like they are enjoying tearing our country apart; relishing the cries of the citizens and ignoring ALL that is clearly turning us away from democracy. It’s terrifying. And it SHOULD terrify EVERY American citizen and all of those living in America legally or illegally. EVERY ONE of US need to be fighting back, it’s time to rise up in defense of American life, liberty and our vague pursuit of happiness.

The American dream has now become a nightmare and Trump & Crew are happily pushing the boundaries, breaking down the laws, and taking authoritarian control of what used to be the Federal Government in the USA,

I don’t know where to start to even think about how to fight this; what my part needs to be and where to begin to exert any influence I am able to exert. We need hard leadership, we need to come together as citizens and show our power – and we DO have power. We actually have far more power than they do, they are just scaring all of those who are unaware of the actual powers that citizens in a democracy have and can use to end sieges such as this. They were carefully and copiously fitted into the US Constitution and the Federalist papers explain things very articulately.

I think that the candidates vying for the Democratic nomination need to have a BIG meeting of the minds. They need to regroup, come together as a solidly unified fighting force to beat the Republican assault on Democracy, ignorance toward our laws, and illigitimate stances on vital issues of national security. We must eliminate their lock step advance toward full autocracy NOW; form an inpenetrable wall and bring all of us supporters together as one unified body that will return integrity, respect and LAW and ORDER to the USA. I do not believe that any one of those running – and 3 of them are spectacular – can do this alone. Unifying the Democratic party into one solid grouping is vital to beating the GOP’s drive and eliminating the threat of a fascist take over of the American government.

Many groups have formed since 2016’s horrible election and it’s disasterous results, to fight the threats to all of our prided insititions, such as the Congress, National Security, Ecology, Pollution, Corporate greed and rampant corruption being played out by the Republican party in every way, shape and form they can think of to destroy us, to weaken our will and to keep us from revolting, speaking out and rebuffing their plans. It is hard to know at this point whether this is a internally coordinated sabotage effort or if this is being fueled by foreign influence, such as Russia and Putin or China, No.Korea, Syria and the Saudi Arabian murderous regime.

The continued effort on our parts, as American Citizens alarmed and affected by this whole mess, to form legitimate groups and fight back is essential. We must build on these groups, work together and stay united against the GOP rise to fascism and autocracy. I am imagining a central entity will arise from our efforts that will assist in aligning us all for the proper, non-violent fight ahead of us all.

As Rachel Maddow said on her Wednesday evening show, “What do we do NOW?”

My suggestions are:

1. Remain calm, but vigilant, aware and educated on every move they make.
2. Join you local chapters of “Resist” “MoveOn” ACLU, and make sure you are registered to VOTE!
3. Pick an institution or two that are under attack by the GOP and co. and get behind them, write letters to your Senators, Congressmen, local officials and anyone in any position of authority or power associated with that institution. Example: We must inundate Pelosi with demands for the impeachment of Bill Barr, current AG, and Mitch McConnell. Call for their censure, investigations into their activities that are favoring King 45, etc.
4. Call your Senator daily. Switchboard number is :
5. Go to local and regional protests. The GOP administration is calling for elimination or limits on protesting in 18 states thus far! This is a direct attack on our 1st Ammendment rights.
6. Write Op Ed pieces for your local news sources, online or print. Submit them! Contact good reporters at those organizations, ask them to write on various stories that are related to the destruction of our vital institutions in America, such as the courts, the DOJ, judges, election protection, women’s choice rights, etc. Get behind your journalists
7. Support and protect our nation’s journalists everywhere. They are being retaliated against and directly attacked, many fear for their lives and the safety of their families because the GOP Administration is super hostile toward journalists – especially those who report the TRUTH and not the “fake news” or made up “facts” that come out of our White House – YES OUR White House – not theirs!
8. Attend as many local gatherings concerning the most vital of issues.
9. Join Facebook groups – local, regional and national, to stay on top of what is happening.
10. Create your OWN local groups, hold house meetings, church meetings or find free space to meet and discuss what’s happening and what we all can do. Review current words from the WH and news reports, organize local protests, or organize trips to Washington DC for larger protest events.
11. Before reposting news articles remember to fact check through Snopes.com for truth and accuracy. Try NOT to repost or fall for any untrue, FAKE news reports.
12. Don’t repost ANY video of #45 telling LIES to the camera and thus the American people, this just promotes his FAKE NEWS and ignorance, hatred and hostility.
13. Don’t argue with his supporters, in person or online, they just don’t listen and will not change.
14. Take care of yourself and your loved ones. Make time to disconnect weekly and just be in quiet space to regroup, maybe take a nature walk, or go to the beach, a museum or art exhibit. Just get away.
15. Remember, we are ALL going to fight this evil TOGETHER. You are NOT alone in your angst and concern for all that is happening to America.

I would like to get feedback and input from everyone. Tell me what’s going on in your neck of the woods, what are you doing to stay aware and prepared? What concerns you MOST? Are you registered to VOTE? Please like this post if you ARE registered!!!

Much Kindness to ALL… ~ MB

Fake F*cking News America

Fake News.  It’s a term we hear EVERY DAMNED DAY here in America.  It’s a new kind of term, one developed by the current MORON occupying our Oval Office: Donald J. Trump.  What DJT actually “means” by screaming or tweeting “FAKE NEWS” is that the news is actually TRUE, but it’s in disagreement with what he WANTS people to believe.  It’s sick, and it’s completely CRAZY.

Our great journalists and reporters bring us the news and reliable, honest news agencies stand solidly behind them, yet our “President” has the audacity to deny actual FACT BASED reporting of events, conversations, e-mails, TWEETS, and photographs, videos and audio recordings.  The man is full-on batshit crazy!!!  He’s working for Russia, it’s obvious, and cajoling with mobster-style attorneys, racist pig lobbies, like the NRA and the RNC.

He’s taken money from foreign governments, and may possibly be illegally occupying the White House due to direct Russian assistance.  White House bought and paid for in Rubles.

The political landscape in the United States right now requires about 4 of the 2’x3′ Walmart white-board material, all glued (or taped) together and that’s the kind of surface you would need to lay this out – if you use rather small photos – I can’t imagine what the FBI’s board looks like on this Cohen case alone!?!!!  It’s become a giant ball of fucked-up shenanigans!

Watching the newscasts is like watching a reality TV show, or a really, really deep episode of Law & Order and Scandal all balled together.  It’s disgusting and shameful to the American people.  THIS is NOT what we wanted, or expected when we held our 2016 presidential election.

It’s been about 2 weeks since I typed the above paragraphs, and things have continued to rapidly decline -as if it wasn’t already bad enough – here in the USA.  It’s just crazy and out of control.  Our government is no longer “governing” but is spending all of it’s energy destroying our country, fighting amongst themselves, stealing from the tax coffers and creating complete mayhem in the press.   It’s fucking scary.  It’s NOT right or normal.

I fear that we are in far more serious trouble here than ANY of us realize or think.  People are becoming numb to the news coverage or having trouble believing what is right and what is wrong, depending on what news outlet they choose to watch.  The government has the Trump channel now and Fox News to spread they hate and propaganda.  Just like Nazi Germany decades back….what the fuck America???? What the holy fucking hell are we going to do about this?  Are we really going to allow the white supremacist, bigoted Nazi fucks in our White House and around the country, run the show now?  Are we really going backwards in time and humanity here?  WTF???

America in Crisis

The Republican party of the United States of America (GOP) is retiring, resigning and being thrown out like trash at an alarming rate; flinging the doors open wide for the Democrats who will most likely be replacing them and taking over Congress and the Senate.  Our House is on fire, and the rats are running.

I have some fairly liberal views, yet part of me is also conservative.  I’m more conservative when it comes to budget issues, the military, and protection of our homeland, but absolutely liberal when it comes to issues of environmental protection, renewable energy strategy, healthcare for all, and having a transparent, ethical governmental body.  Some of me is even Socialist…we SHOULD all care and take care of one another – no one benefits from isolationism, classism, economic bullying or closed borders.

The world can see that right this moment my country is in a state of chaos and public crisis.  We are a country divided.  Divided by race, economics, religion, sexuality, social status, and a myriad of other cultural issues.  Our leadership has deteriorated beyond what we ever imagined possible.

Our infrastructure is in a state of decay, crumbling and killing people.  Our national debt has skyrocketed into the trillions.

Farmers’ crops are rotting in the fields of California due to lack of migrant farm workers due to their fear of our government and the government’s cruel immigration policy enforcement.  ICE agents lurk in bus stations and local parks.

Eighty thousand “Dreamers” live in fear and limbo, not knowing if tomorrow they will be deported to countries that they know nothing about and have never even seen to remember, countries that are at war-torn, impoverished, crumbling and ruled by corrupt leaders, gangs, and drug cartels.

Our military is being spread around the globe, fighting in places that none of us have ever even heard of in some cases.  They’re being forced to the Mexican-American border to assist with what some think is a “crisis” of people flowing by the millions across our borders – this is NOT true, actually illegal border crossings are at a 40 year low and our current 16,000 border patrol agents are doing a remarkable job in successfully apprehending illegals more now than ever before – because they have better tools to do so!  NOT because crossings are up!

It has been proven beyond a doubt that the Russians interfered in our 2016 election processes, not only in our presidential election but in about 31 state ballots as well.  Yet, there was $125M set aside to deal with this issue, and to date not ONE PENNY has been spent to do so.  THAT is a crime all by itself!  Someone should be held responsible for that lack of action.

Cyber-security is a joke to America.  There is NO cyber-security.  Our power plants are at risk, water systems are vulnerable, electrical grids could be taken down in a nan-second, and even our personal information has been pirated by Cambridge Analytica via Facebook to the tune of over 87 million peoples’ profiles.  Cambridge Analytica is the company that was hired by Trump to aid in his election campaign.  Coincidence?  I think not.

We currently are living under the rule of a man who believes that being “President” of our country means that he is above the law, untouchable, and can do anything he chooses without repercussions or consequences.  He does not even have a vague understanding of our country’s Constitutional articles, amendments or laws.  Now, he could depend upon assistants, advisors, aides, and attorneys for guidance, but instead he has chosen to dismiss, fire or force the resignation of almost all of them.  He tells us he doesn’t need a National Security Advisor because he can advise himself – a man who received 5 draft deferrals and who has NO military experience whatsoever.  And who does not read; who does not like reading so chooses not to read but to listen to a very biased, shadowy news station on his television set.  His idea of “governing” is to send out harassing messages via Twitter on a daily basis, usually starting at 4am every day.  No one can control him.  He refuses to listen to anyone, takes no advice and is belligerent in making the point that he is always “right” about everything.  He admits no wrong, ever.

This man is racist, sexist, a misogynist, unethical, immoral and just downright rude.  He has NO “people skills” at all.  He believes women are inferior beings to be used for sex and to wait on their men.  Any woman who challenges him politically is instantly on his Twitter shit list and he will harass and degrade her forever.  His opponent in the election that he stole in 2016 is the prime example.  He mentions her almost every day on Twitter, always in very demeaning terms and with vitriol and hatred.  He’s obviously very threatened by smart women and wishes to silence all women as a result.

There are not enough hours left in my night here to go on and explain all of the other unbelievable, crazy, chaotic, vulgar and consequential nonsense that is happening here in America right now.

I think I have made my points above and that you, dear reader, get the gist of what I am trying to convey.  We are in trouble.  And the leadership that is currently running this country is destroying it quickly, more and more so every day.  All of those in positions of publicly appointed leadership (Congress, Senate, Cabinet members, Department Heads, Governors, etc) seem to be frozen in time.  They either cannot or will not take action to save us.  But they are streaming out of Washington DC to save their own asses by the hoards, leaving a leadership vacuum in their wake.

No one knows what to do, or how to control our lunatic “President” who’s positioning himself to become America’s first Dictator.

So, if you live in another country and you ask your American friends why we are letting him destroy our country, please remember that we are not “letting” him do anything.  He has basically got us all hostage.  His dispersal of hate, his corruption, immoral behavior and lying rhetoric have us torn in half and unable to convince our representative to go against him in any way.  Russia is pulling his strings, that we KNOW this and it is obvious to us all.  We march, we write, we call, we march some more….we are screaming and hollering at the top of our lungs. all to no avail.

It’s very frustrating, scary and even dangerous for many of us.  But, we are Americans.  We’ve been through hell and back before.  We will overcome this somehow.  We will find our way out of this mess, it’s just going to take some time and perhaps a lot of pain – for every American, whether they know it, acknowledge it, or not.

These are very trying times.

Peace.  ~MB

3-24-2018 The Wave of CHANGE Has Begun.

 

It was an INCREDIBLE day in America.  March 24, 2018.  It will go down in history as the largest, best organized and most peaceful protest march and/or events of all time.  Trump’s inauguration PALED by like 25 less times the attendees as the March for Our Lives 2018.  I add the year because I know there will be a yearly march until this issue is solved.  Not only specifically the gun reform issue, but the entire mess of NRA purchased politicians and lobbiests in Washington DC.  This new “Generation of Change” is growing stronger by the day; today being the beginning of the fight, not even close to the end.

Watch Emma Gonzales in her speech at March for Our Lives 2018 here.

I was brought to tears by the speeches, especially that of Emma Gonzales.  Everyone knows her because she’s got a very Butch haircut, and the lobbyist from Maine who was running for office called her a “Skinhead, lesbian” on National TV and made her a big item in media reporting.  Emma didn’t ask to be famous.  And she didn’t want to bury 17 people she knew and loved to be famous.  Emma is the victim of the Parkland shooter.  The emotional scar on that kid is tremendous, and she and all of her classmates and school mates will forever be altered in personality, emotion and reactionary senses.  They did not ask for any of this.  But, since they were forced into this situation by our lack of sensible gun laws, our lack of action, the greed of politicians, the NRA and a boy who bought a weapon of war legally on the streets of America.  They didn’t ask for this, but they got it.  Now they are going to bring in into the light full force.  Change is coming; it’s coming on the back of Emma Gonzales and every other shooting victim in America, their friends, relatives, associates and colleagues will all join the fight…Emma is going to inspire America, and CHANGE will happen.  I am certain of it.

Change that happens slowly is a more difficult kind of change to endure; no one “likes” change but there come times when it’s not only necessary, but it’s going to happen, so you try to get out in front of it a little bit if you can.

Our country is broken right now.  It’s shattered into a dozen pieces, and each has it’s own personal war with the government.  Being an out Butch and part of the LGBT community I have already felt the creeping dread and fear for what this “Regime” and it’s “Dictator” have in plan for me and my kindred spirits.  I got myself a bit wound up about it the other night, and thought about it far too deeply.  But with all of the erasure of the gays and lesbians from the public sphere, ie the US Government website took down the page on LGBT Americans on the VERY FIRST day of Trump’s presidency – Jan. 20, 2017.  And from THAT day forward it’s been downhill for our equality in this country.

This last Friday Trump’s people drafted and sent out a memo basically banning all Transgender people from serving in our Military.  It also means that anyone who is already enlisted is in eminent danger of being thrown out.  There has been talk of the fucking “death penalty” for being gay…in America!!!  WTF.

Mike Pence is openly hostile in his very conservative, evangelical views of the LGBT community.  And we have ALL witnessed how emboldened Trump and his cronies have made some very sick, al-right people to openly discriminate, segregate and humiliate people who are “different” from their idealistic Anglo-Saxon images.  We’ve seen a steep up-tick in hate crimes across this country since 1/20/17…it’s like the country has gone crazy.

Trump has instigated people to choose sides, pick battles and fight against each other.  Murder has become just another normalized daily blip on the news…along with corruption, lying, cheating, extortion, embezzlement and outright corruption.  America is being held hostage, and I do believe that the Parkland shooting will be forever known as the “turning point” in REAL CHANGE in American politics and government.  It’s time for change, and it’s now going to happen.

Civil rights marches, led to Vietnam war protests, to Gay Rights Marches of the 90’s, and the Million Man marches, Marches on the United Nations, and today we witnessed and participated in the March for Our Lives in 2018….Change has come from protest; prolonged repeated protest works best…followed by VOTING for CHANGE.  David Hogg, 17 yr old Parkland student and witness to the deadly shooting of his classmates, said today that it comes down to 3 things.  Register to Vote.  Educate and inform yourself, and VOTE.  

Vote for Change.  Vote for a good kind of America, where people care and we get along.  Vote to get dirty money out of our political system, to keep a separation between church and state, and to protect our children from suffering the horrors of weapons of war.  Vote for sensible gun reform.  Call your state senators, legislators, representative and every politician you can reach and urge them to either get on this band wagon or face a very sure public down vote at the polls.

And…THAT’s my 2 cents for today.

Rock on Parkland Florida.  Go Eagles!!! ❤

 

Women’s March 2018…Portsmouth NH

OMG…SO MUCH HAS GONE ON SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THIS YEAR! It’s far too much to write about all in one blog.  I’m searching for what to write about first.  And I do apologize to my regular readers for not being more “on the ball” with posts, but I’ve just not felt the “drive” to write; or when I DO feel it it’s either late at night and I need to sleep or I choose to do other things with the time.  I really need to set aside a specific block of time daily for just sitting down and writing.  Yes.  That is what I will do.  Beginning tomorrow.

Yesterday was January 20, 2018 and the Women’s March 2018!  And it was an almost indescribably AWESOME show of strength, solidarity and love!  I had been looking forward to the march for the whole year, and I again marched in Portsmouth, NH, same as last year!  This year I marched with my sister.  We also met up with my niece and her friends, and saw lots of other people that we knew.  Plus new friends were to be made too!  The day was perfect. Temperature was hovering around 45 degrees, and it was partly sunny.  We parked on the Maine side of the Piscataqua River Bridge, the Memorial Bridge and walked to Portsmouth, on the New Hampshire side.

Memorial Bridge

Lobster shack with bouys

As you can see from the pictures here it was a nice calm day on the river, I love the sleepy little lobster shack covered in bouys there, just waiting for it’s fishermen to return to fish!  This bridge was just built a couple of years ago, and has become quite the pride of the area.  It’s usually lit up at night with awesome fiber-optic lighting, which turns all kinds of colors.  It’s a draw bridge, which means the middle span of the bridge rises up in the air to allow river traffic to pass under it.  This is critical, as the Piscataqua River is a very vital economic port.  We have oil storage areas, cable and wire, gypsum wall board and scrap metal businesses along with lots of other smaller venues.  On our way home we got caught on the Portsmouth side with the span in the up position, see the below pictures…there was an Irving Oil tanker coming in with a load of heating oil for the seacoast area.  #2 Heating Oil is our main fuel for heat up here.

Memorial Bridge up position

Oil tanker coming in

Tanker passing under bridge span

Pretty cool huh?  I thought so!  I am glad it was such a great day and that I could get these pictures to share on here and to have for my albums.

So, we marched….or rather we RALLIED!  Our gathering was a Rally not a March…we didn’t march anywhere, but gathered and rallied in the very center of the city, in front of the old North Church.  And it was electric!  The Seacoast Resistance came together wonderfully!  As did so many hundreds of other rallies and marches around the USA and around the world, denouncing the hate and bigotry, the sexism, racism and xenophobia of the Trump administration, and the effects it is having on us as citizens, and the world too!  Here are some pictures from the rally.  They are captioned, if you click on them it will give you a description.

Me and my sister Patty

For my Grandchildren sign

Crowd shot

Me and family members

Crowd shot

Crowd shot

looking downtown, steeple is the North Church

Bitches against the patriarchy

United we stand!

As you can see, it was a great turn out, plus a really nice weather day and I had the best of company on my adventure!  #RESIST

So, while we were marching in protest and to show our numbers and strength, the federal government shut down as they bickered over a stupid wall between the US and Mexico, immigration, DACA and a short term spending plan….and they remain shut down as I am writing this.  This has been the least productive year of presidency in our country’s history.  Nothing, except for a tax cut for the uber rich, has gotten done.  No fiscal budget, no immigration reform, no infrastructure, no health insurance plan….nope, just a bunch of school yard type bickering and name calling and stupid tweets. I’m so ashamed of my government at the moment, but that will ALL change in November when the Blue Tsunami takes over America…Democratic Socialism is on the rise!

This is all the energy for writing that I have for tonight.  I am doing great, although I am sick with walking pneumonia at the moment – but on the mend and on meds!  Nola and Lulu are awesome as well, they will be happy for Spring to arrive in a few weeks so they can spend more time outside.

So, did you march or protest yesterday?  Tell me about your day!

Peace!  ~MB

Code Red: Republican Tax Attack

It’s become very hard to live in America under the current President and his administration – albeit an ever-shrinking administration, it’s still got it’s key assholes in there making things worse by the day.  Tillerson has been dismantling the state department; eliminating women, people of color and anyone left from the Obama administration.  And he’s not re-filling the positions, he’s just leaving them empty.  The “plan” it seems, is to shrink the government.

Smaller government is not a bad thing, but when you do it like it’s currently being done it becomes a real problem.  We are left without key positions filled.  Ambassadors to foreign countries for one example.  We have very few ambassadors left.  Trump tells us that we don’t need anyone but him, he’s enough and he’s it.  He is trying to “micro-manage” every aspect of our complex democracy and we are suffering from his narcissistic need to do it.

He’s cutting back or eliminating some very key departments, like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), any agency working on LGBT issues, women’s issues, minority issues.  Some of them are: Planned Parenthood, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for Humanities (NEH), Minority Business Development Agency, Economic Development Administration,  International Trade Administration, Office fo Community Operated Policing Services (COPS), Office of Violence Against Women, Legal Services Corporation, Environment and National Resources Division of the Justice Department, UN Governmental Panel on Climate Change, Office of Electricity Deliverability and Energy Reliability, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Fossil Energy.  All viable agencies that serve and protect America and us as citizens.  (reference article in Time.com)  He is also now seeking to cut millions from counter-terrorism funding…right after the attack on NYC.  Yes, deep cuts to funding to our Department of Homeland Security…just doesn’t make any sense!!!

Trump is a creepy, authoritarian moron.  He’s hell-bent on erasing ANY trace of Obama’s presidency.  He is the #1 consumer of FOX News (which is now banned in the UK and Canada for false/fake information distribution), and Brietbart.  The man is so entangled with the Russians that he can’t even piss without Putin’s permission.  He’s under MAJOR investigation for collaborating with the Russians to win the election of 2016.  As are most of his close allies and staff.  The man is a clear and present DANGER to the United States.  He obstructs justice, he violates the emoluments clause daily, he verbally promotes violence, he says racist and bigoted things, often tweeting them to the world.  He insults foreign leaders and ridicules our long-time allies. He has moved America into last place in the arena of world respect.  And his #1 trait:  HE LIES CONSTANTLY.  He seems to lie so much that even HE believes his own lies!

Right now Trump is trying to jam a new “tax reform bill” through our Congress and Senate and into law.  The bill is horrendous to say it mildly.  It’ is completely geared towards making the wealthy even MORE wealthy, by eliminating tax deductions for the rest of us, and giving HUGE tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals and corporations.  The bill eliminates deductions for teachers buying stuff for the classroom, eliminates the deduction of state and local taxes (resulting in double taxation), eliminates deduction for interest on student loans – and makes them claim the loans as income!!!  And that’s just SOME of it…I can’t even go into everything here….I am furious.

In the bill they have hidden a repeal of Roe vs. Wade, naming a fetus as a viable human being – thus redefining the start of life.  They have hidden a break that now will allow churches and religious groups to donate to political campaigns and candidates, and making their donations deductible!!!  A serious breach of the division of church and state!  He’s snuck in steep taxation on renewable energy sources, such as solar and hydro power – he claims coal is “clean”, proving how very ignorant he truly IS.  There are also tons more of these little “sneak ins” in the new tax scam bill.  It’s not just a big fat tax break for the rich, but it’s a giant attack on the middle class and poor here in America.

AND this “tax reform” will increase our federal deficit by $1.4 to $1.7 TRILLION dollars over 10 years.

Less than 20% of this country even “likes” this tax bill.  And even they aren’t understanding just how horrible this will make things here in the USA.  It could cripple our country, plunge us into a huge recession and cause much unnecessary suffering by millions of people.

People making $40K a year will see a tax hike.  While people making $1M a year will see a huge tax cut.  HOW does that make any sense?  How is that fair and equitable???  Even our Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says this bill is NOT GOOD.

All Democrats will vote against this new “tax reform bill”.  It will be passed into law – IF it is actually passed as is – by ONLY the Republican party.  THEY WILL OWN THIS PROBLEM.   It’s the Republican Tax Attack.  And they are DETERMINED to RAM this through, making it law before the end of the year.  Trump claims it’s going to be a “Big, beautiful, very beautiful, Christmas present.”   HE LIES!!!  And LIES some MORE!!!

They are rushing this bill through so that it cannot be properly vetted and debated as it should be.  They don’t want people to figure out just how sneaky and conniving they are being with this bill.  They don’t want us to know how bad things are.  It’s trickle-down economics.  We have tried it before with Reagan, and it resulted in a recession during the 80’s, remember?  This bill should NOT be passed into law.

If you have read me this far and are as angry as I am take some time today to CALL YOUR SENATOR!!!  Google your Senator and speak up against this Republican Tax Attack!!!

I’m done.

Peace.  ~MB

 

Harassment, Trump and Babble…

The weekend has been relatively uneventful.  Lots of napping with my dogs, puttering around the house at various chores like laundry and playing on the computer.  I am finding that winter – or cold weather in general – keeps my energy level down and I don’t have much motivation to do anything outside the house.  Although, I did venture out twice over the weekend.

The first trip was on Saturday morning.  I put the dog’s coats on them, packed them into the Envoy and off we went to the church Christmas fair.  I had promised my mom and the church ladies that I would check out their fair, so I did my duty and went.  I actually spent about $10 on a couple of sweet little snowmen (made by my Mom) and a pair of handmade mittens (only $2!) and some peanut butter fudge (couldn’t resist!), so I didn’t do bad.  I also stopped at the Christmas craft fair at the Lion’s club, where I found mostly jewelry being sold.  Nice stuff, but nothing I was really interested in right now.  I picked up some homemade dog cookies though, and the dogs loved them!

Sunday I ventured out after noon time.  Big mistake.  I forgot that today is the Sunday before Thanksgiving and I went to the grocery store.  It was a MAD HOUSE!  The parking lot was FULL, and the store was just INSANE!  I got my coffee K-cups, some cranberry-cinnamon goat cheese (which I LOVE) and some dog treats (can’t forget those!) made it through the crowd to the express lane check out and go the hell out of there!  The dogs, again dressed in their adorable hoodies, were waiting patiently in the truck.  Friday I had taken them to the park (Dead Duck Inn) and let Nola run her guts out while I walked around with Lulu safely leashed.  I wanted to do that again today, but it was VERY windy and cold outside.

I’ve been spending time online lately and I’ve been overwhelmed with all of the various wide-spread sexual harassment stuff.  It’s just been overload, if you ask me.  It’s like the snowball effect, and it’s growing larger by the day.  I have all these mixed up thoughts about it all.  I think that sexual harassment has become so common place in today’s world that we often overlook most of it.  Then when it becomes “THE” issue of the day, and everyone is talking about it, we see all sorts of examples of it and opinions of what we each think.  The conversation has gotten so loud that we are all talking over each other at this point.  Someone needs to write a kind of new citizens’ “code of conduct” so that there’s a baseline for what is and isn’t considered harassment.  We are certainly seeing that stuff that was tolerated in the past is no longer okay today.  There are generational differences, cultural differences and power plays all involved.

Personally, sure I’ve experienced sexual harassment in the past.  As a woman I think it’s just part of what I’ve come to expect from some men.  I’ve also been harassed about being lesbian, being Butch, and being a Democrat.  I have a misdemeanor assault charge on my record for decking a dude that grabbed my ass. I round-housed his ass, knocked him out cold.  But I accidently didn’t see the cop watching….so I got charged, regardless that it was a reaction to having my ass grabbed!

I wish it would all settle down.  We all need to sit back and take a deep breath.  I’m not saying that those who have experienced any sort of thing like sexual harassment should “forget” it or “forgive” it, but I also think that some of the acusations are a bit petty.  Like “he touched my breast when he hugged me”…that’s a little vague, and maybe he didn’t mean it intentionally, maybe it was accidental.  I don’t know what the fuck to think!

I do think that there are certainly varying “degrees” of harassment coming out.  The Roy Moore stuff, where he was exerting his power as an adult in a position of authority to seduce underage girls is NOT acceptable in any way, under any circumstances.  And the acusations about Trump are not to be taken lightly either.  And the fact that Trump support the pedophile Moore, is just sickening.  They would rather have a pedophile in office as Senator than a Democrat.  Pathetic.  And we have to listen to all this bullshit until December 12 when they hold the election in Alabama.

Sexual stuff has long been part of our make up.  We often play or tease one another, and generally it’s all in fun.  I’ve been known to touch a few tits in my time, or grab an ass here and there….in fun and to amusement – – in no way to “harass”  Sure, I’ve told bad jokes, or made angry phone calls.  But when does it amount to harassment?  My answer would be: when it’s done with the intent to make the other person feel uncomfortable, to bend them to your will, to exert your personal power (whatever it may be) over that person to “make” them do something that they do not want to do.

This topic is a really tough one.  I don’t know who has the answers, or what all of this focus on it now will lead us to.  Just be damned sure when you are “flirting” with someone that it’s wanted and not harassment! Jeez, it’s enough to make a Butch a little nervous…like we needed any more reasons!

I haven’t been talking much about Trump in my blogs lately, because he’s in the news 24/7 getting plenty of attention – just like he likes it.  He’s the most embarrassing representation of the United States, and the disdain for him and his administration grows by the day here.

Right now they are trying to ram a huge billionaire’s tax bill through that is going to lead us into the next great depression.  Mark my words.  If it passes in any thing close to the form it’s in now, it will devastate our economy and send us into a depression.  But it will make Trump and his cohorts, his donors, the 1% of Americans who own the 90% of the wealth in this country, even MORE wealthy.  And the rest of us will suffer severely.

Trump is positioning the US for war with N. Korea.  Today he announced severe sanctions to further cripple the economy and food supply of the N. Koreans.

He tried to lift a ban on elephant trophies that Obama had put in place.  We as a country are not allowed to import any part of an endangered species, as a trophy or pet.  But Trump wanted to lift this ban.  Why?  Because it was an Obama law.  And because his sons are “big game hunters” – or pussies if you ask me.  Only cowards hunt endangered species, or farm-locked animals.

Today a $900billion dollar Russian oligarch owned yacht – yes, $900 BILLION – cruised into a slip in a spot about 8 miles from Trump’s Mar a Lago home in Florida.  Trump is due there this week for the holiday.  Coincidence?  I think not.  The Russian oligarch who owns the yacht is said to be Putin’s right hand man.  I’m sure he’s here for a meeting with Trump, or one of his sons, or his son-in-law, Kuchner.  I don’t understand if we have legal sanctions against the Russians (since Aug. 30, 2017) WHY they are NOT being upheld?  WTF is a Russian yacht doing being allowed even NEAR this country???  Treason I say, Treason.  The mere fact that the Trumps hob-nob with Russians is enough to make me want to vomit.  He’s selling out our country lock, stock and barrel.

I go to court tomorrow afternoon to address my violating my bail conditions, the charge from last month.  Hopefully my attorney will keep my ass out of jail.  I’ve done everything I can do to prevent that.  It’s up to the lawyer and the prosecutor at this point.  Wish me luck.

I’m off to bed.  Tell me, what do YOU think about the multitude of sexual harassment claims in the news?  Do you think there should be a “time limit” on accusing someone of these types of things?

Peace.   ~MB

 

 

 

Taking a Knee During a National Anthem

Colin Kapaernick chose to take a knee during the playing of the national anthem at an NFL football game, it has cause huge uproar and much discussion in this country about patriotism, racism and loyalty.

Today, September 24, 2017, the whole country tuned in to watch and see what all of the players were going to do today at the NFL games.  Who would take a knee, and who would support them.  Yesterday Trump lashed out at the NFL, at Kapaernick and anyone else he could think of.  He called them “sons of bitches” and called for the NFL to “fire them” for their protest.  Trump seems to be more concerned with football than he is with running this country.  Obviously he has no idea what the fuck he is actually supposed to be doing in Washington DC.

I served my country in the US Army for 6 years so that people like Colin would have freedom.  I do not see his taking a knee in protest of disproportionate killings of black men by law enforcement, with no justice when it’s due, as being disrespectful to the flag.  I see it as him protesting something he truly believes is wrong with his country.  It’s his right to express himself.  And those players who choose to suppor thim by standing with their arms linked have every right to do just that – support him, and make their voices heard as well.

The United States is in such incredible turmoil right now. In my 55+ years I have never seen anything like what is happening all around me right now.  I fear that things are brewing to become very volatile in the near future.  There is so much talk of race and racism, and I’m hearing it from so many places.  Blacks aren’t happy with whites, whites aren’t happy with blacks, Hispanics feel like they are being thrown out of the country, Asians also fear deportation and violence.  It’s crazy, it’s sad, and it’s scary.  And our “president” Trump is leading the charge to make it as bad as possible for everyone.  He particularly likes to strike out with his hatred of black athletes and Hollywood stars, with his hatred for immigrants pulling a close second.

Just because you do not agree with someone else’s opinion doesn’t mean that you should deny them their freedom of speech.  Freedom means that everyone does not have to have the same thoughts, feelings, opinion, or methods of expressing themselves; it means that we have the right to be individuals and are free to express ourselves as such.

I personally choose to stand for my national anthem.  That is MY choice.  I also choose to support those who make other choices.  As long as one is not desecrating the flag by shitting on it, burning it, altering it in anyway – like putting swastikas on it – and being generally purposefully nasty and outwardly disrespectful to the flag and my country, I am tolerant of civil protest and personal expression.  I do not see Colin Kapaernick’s kneeling as protesting the flag, I see it as it is…his protesting the lack of equal treatment and equal justice in this country.

This video shows both what Trump said, and what Obama’s response to this is…well worth watching.

 

I am proud to be an American.  I am proud of my flag, and what it stands for, and I am thankful to all who have served and who have fallen protecting our freedom.  I am also proud to support peaceful protest and tolerance of other’s opinions.  I stand with Colin Kapaernick and support his right to kneel and his personal reason behind it.

What do you think?  Do you have an opinion of this?

Peace.  ~MB