I no longer believe that.
I could say elections have consequences, but we are way beyond that.
Are you reading the three part article on Tucker Carlson in the "New York Times"? It hasn't been on the Fox News site, I've been checking. In other words, a significant segment of the population will never see it, never be aware of the roots in white nationalism of Carlson's words, will never know his tactics, will never know he lied about facts to appeal to his audience. Tucker says it's them against us. Or more specifically, we are the oppressors and his audience is the oppressed. We're ruining their culture. We're changing the fabric of America. I only wish George Soros, Joe Biden and AOC had that kind of power. They don't. Never mind a disorganized Democratic party that is so fearful of offending someone it can't speak English. Ergo Hillary Clinton. A brilliant woman who was castigated for saying she wasn't going to stay home and bake cookies and blinked, who's been parsing her words ever since, trying to get in touch with what people want to hear as opposed to what she wants to say.
That's the lesson of Donald Trump. At least one of them. You can say whatever you want. There are no taboos. And if you speak from the heart you might find others who resonate with your words, and your belief in them will make them believe in you.
But I don't want to get into a discussion of Donald Trump.
I really don't want to get into a discussion of the Democrats, who always say their hands are tied, bringing a knife to a gunfight.
I want to talk about the American people.
Ever since Ronald Reagan the national mentality has changed. It's become about the individual as opposed to society. And almost one half of the population believes that they deserve to be free of the government, even though they drive on its roads and use its Medicare and...the funny thing is these people are first in line for government handouts when a disaster hits their area, which seems to be happening with more frequency because their God was supposed to take care of climate change and so far he hasn't shown up.
So I feel hopeless. I mean the world can surprise you. Black Lives Matter. Zelenskyy. So you never really know what is coming down the pike. But truth is now debatable, facts are fungible and too many people live in silos unexposed, never mind unaffected, by a contrary opinion, which in many cases is the truth. Did you hear about that study, where they made Fox News fans watch CNN? The viewers were stunned to find out what they'd been fed wasn't true, but after the study was done, which the audience was paid for, they went back to watching Fox: bit.ly/38LV2DZ
Not that you read about that study in right wing media.
But I don't even need to go into the falsehoods in right wing media, I will just say that whatever is revealed in the supposed "left wing" media never sticks. It doesn't penetrate the right wing bubble and has no effect on it whatsoever. You might be following these revelations closely, but don't get your hopes up, change is not coming. Especially in a world where Roger Stone is pardoned and tries to rejoin Twitter despite a lifetime ban.
So, have you ever been exposed to abortion? Maybe you've even had one yourself. God, I don't know how you can live in these United States without being caught in the conundrum.
A friend of mine in college had sex once and the woman got pregnant. Thank god she could get an abortion, she flew to New York and had the procedure.
Or there was my other friend from college who previously had endured thirteen years of Catholic education. He was against abortion until his sister got pregnant. Her family didn't want her future ruined, so she had the procedure, she stayed in college, her life proceeded, it was not stopped in its tracks.
Yes, you're not supposed to have the abortion, but then you end up a single mother and are derided. And you can't get a reasonable job because you don't have a college degree. And there are too many people in our country and they're takers. Yes, have that kid, but don't depend on the government to help you. You made one mistake and you need to pay for it for the rest of your life.
As for those railing against abortion, dig deep and you'll find they've had the procedure, or their loved ones have. Talk about the hypocrisy.
And it's not the man's decision, despite old white men telling women what to do. I've had that experience where the period didn't come. Stopped me in my tracks. My girlfriend had had an abortion, I wasn't the father, it came before me, but she wasn't sure she could do it again. I was nonfunctional. I immediately went to the library and read every book on reproduction I could find, looking for a way out.
But then her period arrived.
Whew!
Ever since then I've been the contraceptive police. I don't care if you're bleeding, I don't care what the day is in your cycle, we need protection, I never want to be in that situation again.
And for a long time there, I hadn't had sex with any woman who had not had an abortion. And if they hadn't had the procedure, I never would have met them, they'd have been too busy with their child, trying to make it work.
As for giving your child up for adoption...
No one seems to ever get over that, Joni Mitchell wrote a song about it, you can never get the concept of there being someone of your flesh and blood out there somewhere.
As for adoption... Here's where I'll employ the Trump rule above, I'll speak English. I don't know a single case of adoption that worked out close to those raised by their natural parents. Close friends, they couldn't have been better parents. One of their adopted kids had a baby at a young age and the other had a long history of trouble with the law. Another couple, equally devoted, their adopted child had three kids in a row, started as a teenager. And then there were our friends who adopted a baby of a different race. She was cute, everybody loved her, but then she became a teenager, left home and the story only gets worse.
And of course every child should have a home. Adoption may be necessary. But it is to be avoided. I'm talking about my personal experience, and I have more stories than the ones above, and I tell them whenever a couple is on the verge of adoption. I do not know a single good adoption story. Dig below the surface. Don't just accept what people say. Now my inbox will be inundated with people who've adopted kids. But I've written about this before and I've never gotten an e-mail from a kid who was adopted. Think about it.
And all those religious people jumping through hoops to have kids. What did that comedian say? God decided you weren't supposed to have kids! What's good for the goose...is never good for the gander. I can bend the rules in my favor, but you can't. And are the rules just to be broken? Did you read the exposé on Trump's business practices/taxes in the "New York Times"? I read every word, and I'm a lawyer and can understand it. And this guy is gonna skate completely, after undervaluing assets, funneling them through his kids. If I did one tenth of what Trump did I'd be in jail right now. But the rules don't apply to him. He said this when he was running, but it didn't make any difference, he was speaking up for the little guy, oh give me a break.
So what happens now?
So I was talking to a lawyer from Hot Lanta. He said if he lived in Texas he'd have to move. He's got a transgender kid. Just like every family has a gay member. If you don't think so then you don't know, someone has not come out.
And Elon Musk criticizes Bill Gates for his appearance. And that's an understatement. Didn't we learn that in elementary school, that you're not supposed to make fun of people's looks, because they don't have control over them? But Elon's rich so he can say anything. He needs more free speech. Which he exercised, settled with the government for breaking SEC rules and now wants the agreement voided, he thinks different now. Just like failing a test and insisting to the teacher you're entitled to take it over. It's not your fault, you weren't thinking straight.
But I'm lucky, I live in California.
Tech in Texas, Florida? Forget the "news," read the business press. People ain't movin', they want to be where everybody else is.
And you can get an abortion in California. There's a level of freedom that doesn't exist in so many states. Blow back, I don't care, you don't live here.
But if you do... You're sick of standing up for the whole damn country. Trump wanted to make California have less strict auto emissions. We're supposed to dumb ourselves down to the lowest common denominator.
I thought there was progress. God, you can get an abortion in Ireland, but not in the United States. What's next, scarlet letters around women's necks? Stocks?
And all these Republican elected officials, behaving badly, but they're still in office. It's incomprehensible, then again I live in California. As for real estate prices, you're probably not reading that house values have gone up steeply all over the country. Furthermore, you're not aware that hedge funds are buying whole neighborhoods so citizens can rent but not own, can never get ahead. Affordable housing is not solely a California problem, it's a nationwide problem!
As is the lack of an abortion.
Man I voted Democratic. But Mitch McConnell put his hand on the scale and denied Barack Obama a Supreme Court pick. Doesn't Mitch realize he's undercutting much of the public's belief in government? He thinks he's winning, but...
But what, that's what I want to know. What's going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
A stealing of the election in 2024? By Trump or some other Republican? When is it going to be too much for the Democrats, too much for the majority of the population. You can't read a math book that references different cultures, but in truth public education has been starved so much that many graduates know little, can't even understand when their futures are forfeited.
But I'm preaching to the choir.
But the right wing pays attention. Believe me, I'll get more e-mails from them. They're the correction factor, trying to make the rest of us afraid to speak up.
But change only happens when you speak up.
But in today's America, unless it affects you directly, you don't bother to speak. And the truth is if you have enough money, the rules don't apply to you, you can find another way to not only get an abortion, but so much more.
So life as I've known it is changing right in front of my eyes. And there's not a single thing I can do about it. Hell, you can protest against the elimination of abortion, but the same people who invaded the Capitol are literally gonna shoot the doctor providing the abortion, even if it's legal. These are our heroes, the doctors who still perform the procedure.
But it's open season on minorities. Anti-Semitism is way up. If you're not white, with a long history in this country, beware...Asian, Black, doesn't matter, it's fair game to criticize you. And you can't fight back, because then the offenders will say you're proving the point.
So what happens?
NOTHING! These old white men are taking away your rights willy-nilly to satiate religious zealots and those who want whatever the left doesn't want.
As for the pulpit... Did you read the story about the evangelical pastors preaching that the election was stolen: nyti.ms/3P3Iw3E Even the Republican Senators know this is not true, but they're afraid of Trump and his minions, so this fabrication can be given credence. Just like QAnon. On their surface they're both laughable, even Trump's guy said it was the most secure election ever. But that doesn't matter.
I'd say to be very afraid. But you've got fear fatigue. You feel hopeless. They keep telling you to vote, to change the system, but we do this and they say our vote doesn't count, and no change happens anyway, maybe there's a momentary finger in the dike, but then the water keeps pouring through.
I feel sad for the younger generations.
I feel sad for those who have children.
I remember when being a music fan meant you had long hair and were against the war, you were enlightened. That's no longer true. Then again, we haven't got any seers as stars, anybody to look up to, whose words make a difference. Money talks and we're the living proof.
I could explain how the Supreme Court got this way. Talk about the advance planning for decades, the formation of the Federalist Society, but you just want to watch streaming TV and eat gourmet food and fu__.
But that brings us back to the main problem. You're better off getting addicted to online porn, at least if you make a mistake, you won't sacrifice your entire life.
It's so depressing that most of society has disconnected, giving these wankers their way.
I don't know what to do or say. It makes no difference. I have no power.
And that's where we are today.
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