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

Slow-motion Destruction of Life as we Knew It

White identity politics inside of the completely untethered Republican party – that is blatantly anti-democracy and bordering on being rebranded as a domestic terrorist organization is NOT a good thing for ANY PART of America and should NOT be allowed to continue it’s measured, a slow-motion coup on American government.

If you think it ended on Jan. 6 2021 you are sorely mistaken. Jan. 6, 2021, was the virtual BIRTH of this very active continuing assault on the American government, culture, lifestyle, and every citizen’s expectation of FREEDOM and Constitutional protections. Jan 6th was the conclusion of a “trial run”, the last episode in the Trump Terrorizes America series – soon to be followed by the new mini-docu series titled Insurrection leads to civil war.

I am just an ordinary American citizen. I am part of the LGBT community. I am female. Those last two things make me a second-class citizen in this country. I am also a Veteran who served proudly and believed once upon a time that America was a proud, thriving place of Freedoms that were unlike any others in the world. I served proudly thinking that I was part of protecting the constitution and freedom in America, all the while unknowing that many of these freedoms have been under strenuous attack for decades.

Now I am witnessing the success of these well-organized, often funded by questionable means such as foreign actors in the form of countries or foreign leaders. This whole tearing apart of America from the inside by a minority party with unlimited resources has been in the works for decades and we are now feeling the “success” of their plans to end democracy in America and install an egalitarian government.

I’ve heard “nooo, they’ll never get away with doing this, or that…” only to then watch as they CONTINUOUSLY get away with everything questionable and break all the rules, violate laws and do unimaginable illegal damage to our government entities – and are NOT prosecuted or even reprimanded! They’ve packed the courts with judges who are part of their unspoken “organization” so they are never held legally responsible and they can just keep on tearing down our country piece by piece. They have installed the most extreme right wing conspiracy theorists into many positions of power across the nation – one by one.

Their ultimate goal seems to be contiguous uninterrupted control of the country by a conglomeration of right-wingnuts of the white power party, the domestic terrorist organization formerly known as the GOP.. An org that is wanting to control women from top to bottom, forcing pregnancy. They are “against” the abortion of a glob of cells but could care less about the killing of children in classrooms via blowing their brains out with AR15s. They view women as second-class citizens with no bodily autonomy or privacy rights, to be controlled and basically owned by men. Almost daily they are stripping us of our rights quietly behind the robes of a hand-picked (by Federalists) SCOTUS with pre-determined outcomes dictated by the Federalists. They were very very copious in putting this plan together, methodically over time, having patience until we got to where we are right NOW. They have a “new” America in mind and it’s not one of the Constitutional rights or freedom. There is more to come, just watch.

In my 60 years walking this planet the happenings of the last 5-6 years have been astoundingly the worst I could ever imagine and I fear for myself and millions of others who will be targetted in this evolving scheme of the GOP.

Systematic Attack on Democracy

DEMOCRACY DOESN’T DIE IN DARKNESS

The far right is getting very dangerous.

Every week seems to be filled with crisis lately, ranging from climate disasters, wildfires, wars and humanitarian crisis and a pandemic to political upheaval around the globe.

Right wing extremists are becoming increasingly aggressive and using deeper fake tactics –  It’s not just in the USA but globally. And you’re seeing uprisings of the revolution against them and you against them in all the same places as well. Theres an uprising for the people and for democracy going on around the world.  And a full fledged attack against it by a minority extreme right And their puppet politicians..

Redistricting/gerrymandering is going on. states are attacking voting rights one by one, women’s rights are being decimated. Our SCOTUS is right-wing extreme.

This is a war on democracy whether we want it or not. If the war has already begun the other side is fighting a lot harder than we are right now. We need to get our asses fucking moving. We need to raise our voices and our votes.  Oh you don’t think it’s war because nobody’s dead in masses yet?  Talk to the community of journalists that try to report the doings of the world back to us. How many of them have been disappeared, murdered or jailed and tortured in the past year?

We democrats are the majority in this country. It’s time for ALL of us to brush up on our individual state voting laws now on the books, fight for fair voting laws.

Congress is being stupid. They are all wrapped up in the reconcilliation plan, when they SHOULD be pushing through voting rights legislation. The GOP is keeping them distracted from this task while the GOP itself has implemented restrictive voting legislation at the state level in 30 states thus far. They are out there LYING to their constituents, promoting violence and distrust in our voting system with all these FAKE audits that are costing taxpayers millions of dollars. $$$ MILLIONS!!! $$$ OF YOUR MONEY! I don’t understand how these “fiscally conservative” GOP politicians are okay with throwing this money away on stuff that no longer matters…why are they doing it? Because it causes citizens to distrust the election process, it’s a SCHEME they have developed in their playbook of nasty things to do to retake power in America. ALL THEY WANT is TOTAL POWER, not democracy – that no longer matters to them as they PLAN to make the USA an authoritarian state. They no longer follow the law – i.e. not responding to congressional subpoenas for one. They no longer work for their states, they only listen to Trump – who is NOT even a politician anymore!!! Why do they even listen to him? It seems all of the GOP have lost their independent voices and their guts. They’ve become enthralled in the stupidity of worshipping Trump…OR Trumps DOES have Jeffrey Epstein’s little black book with ALL of their names in it…SOMETHING is being either offered or held over their heads, I just can’t believe they are all this incredibly mean and nasty.

This just hit today…WTF…Republicans are DEFENDING this shit???? Who ARE these people? They are definitely NOT the GOP that my father used to be proud to be…they’re now a cult of personality worshipping bootlickers who are assisting an insane idiot in trying to overthrow our democracy in lieu of an autocracy where they’ve probably all been promised fat checks and oligarch titles. Sick fucks.

And that’s my 2 cents for today.

Remember…we ARE still a DEMOCRACY. Call, email, write, text your senators and representatives. Google their webpages, lean in and be part of the solution.

Peace ~~ MB

20 years of trauma…and it’s not over

I’m sure you remember where you were at 9:37 am on 9/11/01. I know I do. That moment and the hours that followed, the days that the pile smoldered and you could feel retaliation starting to be more mumbled about. As we each were frozen momentarily in our tracks during those horrific fully televised first moments of the planes hitting the towers, then the falling of those towers – straight down every single one of us changed in those moments. A feeling of collective vulnerability first, we had been attacked full on and all we could do was watch as events unfolded, 2997 the eventual fatality count.

Then the rising anger, calls for revenge and off to war we marched our soldiers…Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria..the middle east, thousands of miles away from home and doing a job no one before had been successful at or wanted to do. Britain tried 3 times, lost and went home every time. Russia, they’ve tried twice in recent history, only to pull out and go home. Why did we think we would ever have any more success in a country that does not want western government or influence? Democracy is not for everyone, and evidently it’s not wanted very badly in Afghanistan as we were shown when they dropped their American made weapons and ran from the Taliban.

In the last 20 years we poured buckets of cash into the war against terrorism. Trillions. Yet, here at home our infrastructure is pathetically tattered with no update in the last 50+ years, homelessness is outrageous, people are hungry, unemployed and sick without adequate medical care and our Congress cannot even get a $3.5 trillion dollar infrastructure bill passed. We’ll sit and allow our money to be squandered on needless war but NOT spend any good amount here at home taking care of our own country; improving our own infrastructure, bringing America fully into the 21st century. Yet we will try to nation build in other countries and not peep about the wasted costs.

People line Christopher Street during a gathering of the LGBTQ community and supporters protesting U.S. President Donald Trump’s agenda in Manhattan, New York, U.S., February 4, 2017. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

Our politicians need a big fat wake up call. Democrats and Republicans alike. Democrats need to stop pussy-footing around and DO THEIR JOBS, discard the filibuster and move on with the business of rebuilding America from it’s neglect and from it’s abuse during the last administration’s time in office.

Republicans need to take a deep, deep look inside their party and DECIDE WHO THE FUCK they are and WHO they represent – oh and try developing an agenda that is not based on lies and cheating American voters, slamming women’s rights, installing inadequate people in all the wrong places, conspiracy theory, and made up bullshit about dems being lizard people. They party looks absolutely FOOLISH.

American citizens have been in a constant state of trauma response for the last 20 years. From the falling of the towers on 9/11/01 to the Texas abortion ban of 2021. We’ve literally been dealing with once crisis after another; one on top of the other, some thing repeatedly through the 20 years. Here we are now, 20 years later just having exited Afghanistan – albeit in not so graceful a fashion for the #1 fighting force in the world – in the midst of a huge heath crisis (covid) that has become a partisan political football. We have 30% of the country acting like children, attacking our capital, refusing vaccines, pushing for authoritarian rule and marshal law and enticing politicians to act like ogres who’s only goal is to end democracy in America.

On a daily basis we have trauma piled on us by what’s going on around us. Mass shootings at grocery stores, movie theaters, concert venues, barbershops, shopping malls, SCHOOLS, work places, and even government buildings. The virus keeps us all in this constant state of trauma limbo…where we are just itching for it to be over and don’t want to get infected! We wear our masks, socially and support President Biden’s 6 point Covid plan AND we fight with the anti-vax, denial and misinformation crowd. We are contending with a party that wants to limit voting rights, end Roe Vs Wade, and deport the Dreamers.

Don’t even get me started on the personal traumas, we’ve all had those as well whether related to what happened 20 years ago or to something totally personal, we all cope with some level of trauma response daily, we’re all still alive and kicking and this is a more difficult part of life in 2021. We can always keep hoping the future grows more calm and becomes more organized for all of our sakes.

((Hugs)) to all. ~ 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

Shifting…

When is covid over Dad???

Taken from Fort Foster…early morning sea smoke on the water.

What an insane way to start the week…insane conspiracy theories, four of them in 1 day….wow

Check out this video, you will be astonished. The flat out lies are just insane!

Then there was the Fox interview of Trump with Laura whats-her-name…I almost exploded watching him do THIS…!!! The video is about 1/2 way down the page, I think you’ll – if you haven’t SEEN this shit yet – be quite astonished to hear ANY world leader speak of his own people like Trump does here – oh, he has only “one people” his right-wingnuts – then there are the 70% of the residents of the USA that are evidently “thugs” and “antifa” and “dark people lurking”….we are the “enemy”…so buckle up a bit tighter, things are about to go full postal…if you get my gist.

My mind wanders so much more lately, fucking covid overload has made me spacey as fuck it seems – at least some days it does. The air is so thick with sanitizer that I rarely even get dirty thoughts these days…hahaha

My pot plants are doing really good now. We’ve not had enough rain this year, along with the lack of good snow cover last winter – which we depend onto fill the underground aquifers yearly – has resulted in very arid summer. My yard is DUST. The grass all died, turned brown and then the top level of dirt , when you walked on it, would create dust clouds it was so dry. Anyway, I’ve been watering the gardens – both flowers and the weed – every day at least once a day, even fertilized everything a couple of times.

It’s been a tough grow season this year…figures, with everything ELSE going wrong this just adds a little twang of being pissed off at the dry environment…even though it’s OUR faults because of global climate change. My pot plants are the Black Sugar Rose hybrids. I bought female clones but they came in late, so I’m behind on the grow. They’ve been in solid ground since the end of July, previously in pots. Won’t be as big as the last grow, but should be quite impressive, especially in quality and potency. The BSR is GOOD high THC content with a good back up of CBD as well. I love the buzz personally.

I am smoking shatter, live resin or sauce 85% of the time these days, the other 15% I use edibles, which I LOVE! I am glad that they are now making cartridges that fit the multi-voltage batteries (need higher heat) containing the live resin and sauces. They’re just awesome and FAR less labor or mess intensive. No rig, no dip stick, no mess. Screw it on and puff away. Perfection in stoneage, the ultra potency of this type of THC consumption is out of this world. Never in the 1970’s when I started smoking weed from Mexico – the old Columbian Gold days – never did we even imagine that our grandkids would perfect the methods of intense consumption. haha….little fuckers, gotta love ’em tho.

I’ve been perusing the depths of podcasting and off-beat sites, videos and delving into the caldron of like minded individuals from across the country. Vetting news sources right now is critical and absolutely necessary. The forces working to disseminate mis-information to you through Facebook, Twitter and even direct emails. Be aware of TV or internet commercials, the subliminal seduction factor flipped to subliminal fear factor is incredulous. Journalism is a frightening dabble at the moment. Lives are threatened and taken daily, mostly from the truth pool. Voices are quieted, headlines are twisted and YOU are the target; your vote counts so much that Russia wants it to be cast in THEIR desired direction, i.e. Trump the Puppet of Prickhead Putin.

The only interaction I have personally had with any Trump related thing is that I gambled in his casino in Atlantic City in the late 1980s. It was quite opulant, just about to the gawdy point in places. Dripping in gold, and later I found out in blood as well. Many contractors were gilted out of money when he had them build the casino and refused to pay many of them, forcing those who COULD AFFORD IT to try to sue him. You know how Trump lawsuits go, they get dropped. Contractors lost money, lost their businesses in some cases and their families suffered greatly as well.

Anyways, I didn’t stay there, I stayed next door at the Playboy, a very, very favorite memory in my data banks. I was a wet-behind-the-ears baby Butch just learning my walk through the universe as my more authentic self – I was still nervous and yet resolved to be out and proud in my skin and in the world around me. I can vividly recall so many individual “moments” of that 4 days; forever etched into the dark matter in my skull as some of the finest, most sensual and most memorable moments of my young Butch dive into the world of women, money and sex. I would dabble in this world on and off for a couple of decades, which direclty coincide with my good ole drinking days, Jack and Coke with a twist of lime, or Tequila…my go-to alcohol loves. Finally I got to that point in life where you desire deeper, more secure, loyal, loving connections and less frivalty. I have memories from other trips, but none compared to that first time in AC.

I digress….back to the blog and out of the inside of my head….but it’s such a pretty place, the colors, the music…the voices…BWHAHA…kidding….but it IS funny AF. The hazard of writing while stoned. I tend to amuse myself and end up sitting here cracking up as I type.

I just opened a new group on Facebook with some friends assisting in content and collaborating upon which direction we move with the page. I’m fully open to that morphing and twisting through time, all things change, grow and die. I’m psyched about the page in general. I’ve got a tight little team of cohorts and I’m sure I’ll find more fun, creative talent as time chugs on and we all get one day closer to November 3rd.

For anyone interested in joining the group it’s called The Butchuation Room and is a Facebook GROUP not a page, it can be publically located, but it’s a private membership group, just to try to keep things safe for members. I really think it’s going to be an interesting and engaging group. We’re trying out lots of different topics and ways to engage as a community including the use of Zoom meetings and Facebook Rooms. This is NOT a dating site….but I did add a dating topic page just to keep people from posting in the main body of the page with those kinds of searching for others posts.

Here’s my irrational thought of the evening….I think I have the hots for the journalist, Anna, who works on The Young Turks with John. She’s freaking HOT AF…and a blonde, which is interesting for me to find myself attracted to a blonde, not usually my preference. I thinks it’s her incredible vocal control and high intelligence and political awareness coupled with a very hot make up routine. There is no woman more attractive to me than a very smart, intellectual, well versed and knowledgeable smoking hot femme being.

Ok I need to button this blog up, get it posted and get my sleepy ass into lala land, where i can dream of honey on the lips and deep kisses…but before I can go there I need to show you all this particular article on Covid-19 discoveries that are VERY important. Our government doesn’t follow along close enough, good thing some of us DO!

check this out: Super Computer analyzes Covid-19 I think you will all learn some really wild stuff about how Covid-19 affects the human body, why and what you can do to help your own body be more prepared if you were to become infected. Please read and I think you’ll be astounded at this super computer analysis, I know I am!!

Take care. Be SAFE and Wear your MASKS! Especially covering the NOSE at all times, that’s your #1 main way of giving or getting the virus!!!

Peace ~ MB

Utopian Reality…

Day to day, this is how we now live – around the world. Each day we wake take care of the first thing business, get ourselves a coffee and visibly flinch as we reach to turn on the news. Never before has life been this unpredictable for some many at once.

The virus was a naturally occurring disaster, the response to it by our gov’t was a totally disaster of willful ignorance and stubborn egotistical shortsightedness. Trump didn’t want it to affect his presidential campaign or chance for reelection – which he obviously values far more than he does any human life that could be saved if he were to do the right things – so he did what he always does with these annoying things, he pretended the virus was not true, it was “a hoax by the Democrats ” to stymie his reelection bid. With this type of blatant inaction he has not jeopardized approximately 3.3M individual lives of Americans by making us ALL more at risk for infection, severe sickness and possibly the ultimate cost of our lives.

Incapable of putting the needs of others before his own desires, ahead of his feelings and ego. It’s having a direct, very negative affect on how we have been able to respond to this pandemic racing through America and around the whole world. As much as I truly dislike #45 I REALLY wish he could – just for this once – make the right decisions for the country, putting his own need for praise and applause on hold for just a little while to get this under some resemblance of control.

Now, due to our complete lack of guidance and leadership, our healthcare workers are being forced to work in dangerous, unacceptable conditions putting many of them directly in the line of fire for catching the CV19 virus. They don’t all have the proper PPE, or enough of it, and are reusing the one-time-use products. This would be criminal at any other time. The gov’t claim they have “strategic stockpiles” and are shipping products to the states…what everyone is asking is WHERE are these “stockpiles” and WHERE is the product promised? It’s not arriving at the designated places, no matter how many times it’s “ordered” by each state governor. Of course, all gov’t officials – including #45 himself, keep repeating “it’s on the way” “it’s been shipped” “so-and-so is receiving those items tomorrow”…etc…just stalling and avoiding the questions asked about these items and their true availability.

Here in America the desperate calls for PPE, hospital beds, ventilators, etc. is being answered, somewhat, by private companies and our citizens. American ingenuity, some people making masks one by one by hand with whatever materials they can procure on their local markets. We are crowdsourcing efforts to get things moving and into the hands of the frontline workers who need them. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have both pledged $10M to help with these private and personal efforts people are endeavoring. If nothing, this pandemic has brought out so much good from people and companies. We are watching and reading about individual heroic efforts to pitch in and help where it’s needed. We have several state governors who have really stepped up to the plate and taken the lead in hleping guide other states who have less. We’ve also sadly seen the opposite, those who align with #45’s temper tantrum methodology of shame, blame and willful ignorance.

With all of this madness going on all around the world it’s difficult to imagine what life will be like when this finally comes to an end – who knows when that will be. The UK is seeing infecion rates double every 3 days. The USA now has the most cases in the world, and although we have over 100,000 known infections doctors and scientists claim that in reality there is most likely 3 times that number. Some countries, like Iran, are suffering devastating loss and have little to no medical help for their people, citing a lack of hospitals, supplies, doctors and nurses and other support services. Yes, it’s a very scary worldwide mess. Everyone has every reason to be frightened, for themselves, for their families and for their friends and co-workers. All we can each do is work together and keep trying to make it through this horrific time in history. That’s all we can do.

Personally, it’s been hard to write lately because the pace of things is so furiously fast. Things seem to be just exploding here in the USA. With the daily death rate continuing to rise and the pressure of seeing people so distraught when they cannot be with dying loved ones, I feel emotionally overwhelmed and at a loss for words much of the time. Meaning well, I plan different blogs out but then when I sit to write different things come from the tips of my fingers and brain than I had originally intentioned.

I have been working like crazy around my property to keep my mind off of things. I’ve been taking the dogs for walks over on the old town farm property, exploring, taking photos, watching birds and trying to think about better times. I’ve written letters to old friends, made calls to people I haven’t talked to in ages, and checked on my family and friends daily as well. My Facebook friends lists are fairly extensive because of my blogging and vlogging over the years and sadly now I am being notified daily about people dying from the virus. Yesterday alone it was 4 people from my friends list that passed away. Sad. Scary. I am ready for this to STOP.

Be well my friends. Practice social distancing and take care of yourself and your loved ones. We will get through this, just keep caring and doing what YOU can do.

Love to all. ~MB

Jpeg

Trump’s Biggest Failure to Date…Corvid19 epidemic

Trump’s unprecedented and very unfortunate mishandling and misinformation campaign about the corona19 viral pandemic we are now in the midst of – the BEGINNING of according to the scientists and WHO, CDC and Dr.Anthony Fauci, our very top doctor and scientist who is TRYING to warn the government as well as us living here in America – CANNOT be allowed continue.

The GOP, Republicans or the Trumpacrats, whatever they are calling themselves these days, MUST take control of this man – their so-called “gift from God” and empirical leader – before he does any MORE damage, causes MORE deaths by continueing to speak his misinformation, lies, made up “alternate facts” and BAD advice he seems to HAVE to go live on TV to spread to the American people – SOME of whom actually BELIEVE what he is telling them.

In this specific case, the health, welfare and the REAL LIVES of Americans are being put in very serious jeopardy due to Trump’s visible, well-known inability to understand science, by him calling it all a “hoax” if it doesn’t line up with whatever he concocts in his head on any specific day and his continued denial to the people that this is as SERIOUS and can be DEADLY to so very many people here and around the world.

Let’s put Trump’s idiocracy aside and look at the Republican party that stands silently, firmly and stupidly in full support of Trump for SOME WEIRD UNKNOWN reasons – we all have our theories of the reasons that these politicians back him like he is God, My theory is that he and Bill Barr obtained Jeffrey Epstein’s “ledger of clientele”, with specific notes of names, dates, likes/dislikes in sexual desires before he was conveniently found dead in his cell. This dynamic duo, Trump & Barr, are holding this book over the heads of the entire male Republican Senators and Representative as a threat to “out” them all publically if they do not FULLY cooperate with EVERYTHING that our “president” and his personal attorney, AG Bill Barr, tell them to do or make them say, write, do or defend for Trump – even if it is illegal, immorral, unethical or just plain WRONG.

No matter WHAT Trump does, says or demands they quickly bow down to his wishes like little boys worshipping a superhero. I find it revolting to watch these men continually belittle themselves so radically and publically for a man who would throw them to the wolves given the opportunity. Yes, I truly believe (as do many others) that Trump and Barr are holding SOMETHING HUGBE over the Republicans, one day it will be brought out into the light and we will all understand, but NOT forgive them. The TRUTH always comes out in the end. Always. Perhaps it’s karma or maybe it’s just plain justice.

I have no proof of this “ledger” theory, the only way to prove it would be to demand to SEE that ledger and the other evidence gathered from Epstein’s properties, banks and other devious connections around the world. Doesn’t anyone else wonder where all of this stuff went? Where IS it NOW? Who has it and who has access to it? I would LOVE to KNOW the answers to these questions as well as others about Trump and Mr. Epstein’s relationship and connections – both personal, sexual, and financially. ALL aspects of their days of running together and abusing their privilege as very rich, famous highly protected men of power SHOULD be investigated and factually reported.

We KNOW they were close friends for decades and that they have BOTH been jointly charged with some very serious sexual crimes, such as rape and assault on children as young as 12 yrs. old more than once or twice! Yes, minor girls ARE still considered to be CHILDREN. It’s high time to shed some sunlight on this dark partnership, especially since it concerns us because this man, Trump, is our PRESIDENT. As his constituents, we all have a right to KNOW who Donald J. Trump REALLY is and WHAT he has done – good and bad – with his power throughout his life. He loves to dig up dirt on others but is highly secretive about himself, somehow believing that the rules don’t apply to him for some reason I don’t understand – does anyone?

This pandemic is a disaster. The biggest part of this disaster is our governments complete and utter failure in response and handling of information dissemination about the virus. Our federal government’s response has been very slow, disjointed, disappointing, confused and is turning more deadly with every passing day that the president and our federal government remain in this disjointed, confused and unorganized state. They are very unsure of WHAT to do, WHEN to do it and HOW to handle this properly, et. We do not have testing. We did not and still DO NOT have ANY PLAN for how our country will handle or deal with a health crisis of this magnitude. Our president blames his predecessor as he always does when he can’t find anything else to tell us. Trump FIRED the branch of our Homeland Security team that was specifically focused on infectious diseases, outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics should they, or when they, occur in America – and in the world. So, of course our government, who are supposed to be working for the good of all people in America, is nowhere near prepared or ready to protect us, prevent more infections, advise people properly and quickly, provide accurate tests, provide the right number of tests, handle the coming medical care crisis looming in our future due to Coronavirus19. Let’s HOPE that we are not going to be stuck in this predicament until many more die and someone in another country find a cure and saves the world. It’s certainly NOT going to be America. We lost that opportunity when Trump fired the scientists and doctors who were preparing for scenarios like this one we are now contending with now in our lives.

We need very aggressive testing, we need the feds to get out of the way and let the highly skilled, knowledgable, researchers, laboratories, scientists and doctors and all of those with the abilities help us through this mess. Individual states and state leaderships are working overtime to do the job that the federal government and our president FAILED to do or be ready for as they should have been. The federal government must give them the money and resources to do their job and find a vaccine that will work in the most timely manner possible. And we KNOW that this will take 12-18 months minimum, maybe longer.

In the meantime, we the people must unify and try to deal with these infections with whatever we can to minimize the virus’s effects and prevent as many deaths as we can until there is a vaccine. Trump and our federal government representation FAILED us as Americans. We are now basically going to have to figure out what is “true” and what is “false or fake” information and share that widely among ourselves through whatever means works – emails, social media like Facebook, instagram, Youtube, Google and any others out there.

We must take care of ourselves -it’s been thrown completely upon us to do so – and be aware of all of those around us, specifically reaching out to those at the highest risk and making sure they understand how to keep themselves as safe as possible, what to do if they feel sick, and also help each other as much as we can with whatever we need. Things are going to get tight. It’s not going to be a family picnic by any means.

This is serious and important and we must be fully aware and properly informed about our personal and family risk factors. Then we each have to make decisions of how to prepare ourselves and our families in the case that one or more in our individual households or living quarters become sick. There really is no other option now.

Our government dropped the proverbial ball, Trump fired the entire department that used to keep us aware and protected from these kinds of things, like SARS and Ebola in the past, and we are now screwed into handling this the best way we can, which will be by unifying, coming together to help each other through this and to take care of those who do get sick as best we are able to do with what little information or support we may have or get from others in China, S. Korea and Italy about how to stop the spread, protect ourselves and others, treat patients that are sick, take care of those who need help getting through this themselves and continue to SCREAM at the president and our government for eliminating the office that was specifically supposed to be protecting us to begin with!

Trump said tonight on live TV that he “takes no responsibility” for eliminating this group of dedicated people who were protecting us. He even called the question about why he did it “a sick question” and you could see him visibly cringe that it had been brought up in the news conference. He now claims that he didn’t even know about it, that someone else did it. He is a LIAR. He said we didn’t “need” that group and eliminated it to get more money for his stupid border wall and to line his family’s pockets. His ignorance and GREED stink like a dead skunk.

Just remember, if anyone in YOUR family becomes sick or dies due to Corvid19 you can thank Donald J. Trump, God of Republicans and personally acclaimed perfect purveyor of hate, knower of ALL – or so he also claims. HE is directly responsible for the disasterous delay and non-existant reliable response to this nasty pandemic – which he was informed and KNEW about way back at the beginning of January 2020….but he said it was a democratic hoax to hurt his bid for reelection – all he really cares about is money, power and how things make him “look” to other world leaders. He believes he is some kind of king and can do no wrong in the eyes of the rich, famous, dictators and autocratic leaders we all know of and are not fans of due to their barbaric treatment of their own people. He’s emulating them. Right down to perhaps allowing many die for his egotistical stance.

In the end my biggest unanswered question is WHY do Republicans continue to protect this man, who is obviously NOT concerned about this virus except that the “numbers” are hurting “his stockmarket” and he takes NO responsibility and has NO PLAN and NO ANSWERS for why we have no test kits, where the test kits are, who is making them, who will get them, and WHEN they will REALLY BE AVAILABLE to ALL providers that NEED them – hospitals, doctors, community partners, etc.

Republicans need to get real with themselves and their constituents and FIRE Trump, ignore his idiotic statements, bad information and lies, and find a new leader that can restore some of the dignity to their party – and our country. Oh wait…only a Democrat will be able to do that, the GOP has no need for dignity and ethics anymore. Those are characteristics of Democrats and Independents in America now. Good luck GOPers…keep believing the lies, we can write your epitaphs accordingly.

Protect yourself and your loved ones. Check in on your neighbors. Perhaps even create a neighborhood care plan so that everyone is checked on during this trying time, especially those who live alone and are in the higher risk groups for infection with this icky virus. It could bring you new friends even!

My next blog will be HOW to have some fun while being vigilant and caring during this health crisis.

In the meantime, wash your hands, cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze and stay the fuck home if you are even a little sick!!! Do it for you. Do it for your elderly Granpa or Nana. Just be smart.

Wishing you ALL good health!!!

~MB

Impeachment is Inevitable

A third-grader can tell you that lying is wrong, that bullying is wrong, and that you have to follow the rules, or there will be consequences. Yet, #45 and his cronies are working hard AF to convince American citizens that this unethical, immoral and criminal behavior/actions is “perfectly fine” for #45 to do because HE does “not” have to follow ANY rules, laws, customs, treaties, etc due to the fact that he has deemed himself, with their blessing, the King of America. Even his lawyers have gone to court and defended this position of complete, ultimate immunity. The judge was even perplexed. There has not been a ruling in that case yet.

We currently have NO way to hold this president and his cohorts responsible for all of this corrupt and just plain BAD conduct and illegal actions. They continually defy legal Congressional subpoenas and claim everything #45 is doing or has done is “normal” and “perfectly fine” for him to do. They ignore the law, the US Consitution, and the voices of their constituents that do not mime their own. The more they are permitted or allowed to “get away with” the MORE corrupt they appear to become in words and deeds. There seems to be no guardrails to maintain any sort of respectfulness or integrity in our government – and this trickles down to state and local levels. As elected or appointed officials in all parts of the government or any position of power in America see this coming from the top they are emboldened to adopt these practices themselves falsely believing they too are “above the law” as long as #45 is in charge. Thus they LIE and CHEAT to ensure that they are able to KEEP him in office, regardless of the harm and destruction he continues to do to America and the world at large.

I believe that all of this will get worse and worse until the citizens of the United States stand up and put a stop to it. Politicians are not going to stop this themselves or at least not without the anger and outrage of their constituents aimed directly at them like and M-16. The voice of the citizens HAS to become loud and clear in all of this chaos. We must retake our government, defend and protect our Constitution and uphold the rule of law so that NO ONE is ABOVE THE LAW – including the sitting president and his cronies. NO ONE.

Blatant evidence of deep corruption inside of #45’s campaign, staff, aides, family, and friends is outrageous and incredible to witness. WHY and HOW are these specific people seemingly immune to obeying ANY and ALL laws of the United States? If any one of us citizens ignores a subpoena there’s a warrant for our arrest issued immediately. I thought that was the LAW…I didn’t know you could pick and choose when you wanted or didn’t want to obey the law. This is currently the model for the Trump administration across the board. He’s even claiming his family and friends are immune to all prosecution…ALL prosecution – including murdering someone in broad daylight on 5th Avenue. Nope, can’t even take the gun away or investigate the crime at all until he’s out of office. Does this make ANY sense to ANYONE out there, other than whatever kind of weird sense it makes to Trumpers?

Trump and all of his GOP supporters in various positions of power have now been “outed” for the corrupt bribery of Ukraine. The evidence is overwhelming. The people testifying are pristine in character and are well regarded top-level government employees. Trump and his cronies have no defense because the FACTS are publically available, so instead they are trying their damnedest to discredit “procedure” used, to tarnish the reputations of people involved in telling the truth (which they thus far have been completely unsuccessful in doing) and using “schmear campaigns” against ANYONE who dares speak against Trumpy. He calls everyone – particularly the “never Trump” republicans – human scum. Yup, human scum. Nice huh? That’s what the President of the United States has called citizens of his OWN country, people he is supposed to represent, protect and make proud. IF Trump stays in office long enough he will make it illegal to speak against him and he will stifle our freedom of speech – just like EVERY murderous dictator he so admires. The man is a tyrant in training and he is becoming more dangerous every day he is allowed to remain in the White House.

The 25th Amendment MUST be used NOW. Especially if McConnel refuses to allow him to be removed after being impeached for some of his more recent crimes – both high crimes and misdemeanors – which is exactly what McConnel is saying he is going to do! I am SURE the Trump Foundation will reward him generously for his cooperation and compliance with Trump’s wishes and orders. Trump is hugely unfit for the office he holds. It’s obvious to everyone with a brain, conscience, and pride in this country.

There now is incontrovertible evidence of at least “some” of his corrupt orders, gross abuse of power and outright lies to Congress and the American people. From the Mueller report, we also know he has done all of these things in the past as well. Yet, if we just deal with staying specific with the corruption of Ukraine bribery deal, which is out and on the table now with many highly credible witnesses, there is plenty of reason and evidence to impeach and remove him from the office right now.

I believe that a president who is under criminal investigation or who gets impeached should NOT be allowed to run for re-election. Period. There are plenty of witnesses to the call and the events before and after, to impeach him now. We don’t even need Bolton or any other testimony, truth be told. The impeachment, which will be broadcast live on national television, will be a real eye-opener for many people living with their heads in the sand. How anyone can NOT be concerned about this is beyond my understanding. This is super important and vital to the survival of democracy in the republic of the United States of America. Not removing him says to all potential future leaders that they can defy a co-equal branch of government, there will be no oversight, and that they can use whatever means they choose to ruin our country; no holds barred. Just imagine what that will mean for our country. Just fucking imagine.

Those are my thoughts and observations. Give me ONE good reason WHY not to remove this idiot…there isn’t even one. Good or bad for the country right now, we HAVE to do this! We have to do this for the coming generations, for the children of today and the grandchildren of tomorrow.

Peace. ~MB

A Real President’s Last Flight

On November 30, 2018 at 10:10 George H.W. Bush, our 41st President, went to be with his beloved wife Barbara and the 3 yr old daughter they lost to leukemia, in his heaven. 

Bush 41 was one of only 2 Republican candidates that I ever voted for to be President of the United States of America; the first was Reagan.  Yes, in my youth I was more Republican leaning. I didn’t know any better and I was raised very strictly by a very Republican father, plus add my military bearings and viola! I voted Republican for those two presidents. Then I started to pay more attention to policy, economics, legislation and how government operated. My thoughts on these things changed with time, evolving always.

#41 got thrown a good amount of adversity during his 4 year tenure as President. He was a soft sort of man, kind and gentle, but quite determined to do what was right for our country. Unlike the current person who holds the office now (won’t even mention his name out of respect for #41). Bush conducted himself with the utmost of dignity and respect to our country.

He was a WWII naval fighter pilot who flew 58 combat missions and was shot down by the Japanese and rescued after 4 hours in the water. He served as VP to Reagan for 8 years, as a Congressman, as an ambassador, CIA chief, and diplomat, among other positions. He served the USA his whole life, from the age of 18, honorably and with the highest of dignity. He came from a privileged family, born into money, but he chose a life of service. I respect him for that and I thank him.  I may not have always agreed with his policies or his decisions, but I know he made them in the name of what was best for America at the time and not what was best for him or his family. He was a REAL president.

I remember when the Berlin Wall came down. I was fishing out in western Massachusetts with an old friend and had brought along my radio to listen to the event. I knew it was a HUGE thing that was happening; the end of the Cold War, during which I had served. The tearing down of that wall represented freedom from the cruel oppression and separation that it had come to symbolize for so long. I remember the shivers that went down my spine that day as the crowds yelled “Tear Down That Wall!!!” over and over and the sledge hammers pounded away until the wall fell in ruins. Germany was reunited. The Soviet Union was done. We won the Cold War, without firing a shot.

I’ve been watching the reflections on #41’s life and his legacy. Even though he was a 1 term president, he proved that even 1 man with 1 term can make a difference in the world. His body now is laying in-state in the Capital Rotunda in Washington DC where the public is invited to pay their respects. Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018 has been declared a National Day of Mourning, and is the day of his funeral in DC.  Then he will be taken back to Houston, where his family and close friends will say good-bye before burying him next to his wife, Barbara. 

The precision and grace of the military ceremony has been great to see.  Quite the honor for him and his family, thanks to all of those military men and women involved for making this a fitting and dignified ceremony. 

Sully, his service dog, escorted his master’s body back to Washington. The photo of him guarding the flag-draped casket before they departed is so sad. The dog knows his master has gone ahead of him, and he’s dutifully taking the last watch. His mission with #41 is completed. Sully will move on back to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in DC and will become someone else’s dedicated companion and assistant. Whoever gets the honor of his service will be very blessed. 

So, good-bye George H.W. Bush, our 41st President, and one I respected and who showed millions how a real president carries himself and represents our great country. He was a damned good Commander in Chief. May others who come after him look to him as a shining example of modesty, honor, bravery and compassion for people. Rest in Peace President Bush, you deserve it now. CAVU, Mr. President. Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited….fly on.

Peace and Kindness.  ~ MB