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veronica_richHello darkness, my old friend. I thought you were banished in late 2008, when my fellow white voters proved they might be xenophobes, they might still be racists, but at least they were cognizant enough of basic economics to be frightened by any more years of warmongering, wealthy-enhancing Republican policies leading to another crash like the one that September, that they were willing to give a nearly unknown black man a chance at the wheel.
Speaking of said man, judging by the photos that've come out, I have never been as happy to go on vacation as the Obamas. That man dropped back to his mid-40s in those photos; I swear his hair wasn't even gray anymore. (Never take my favorable judgments to mean that I think he's perfect. There are things I feel like he could've fought harder for and things he continued or started that I didn't care for, but the difference between someone like him and a Dubya or a Trump or a Nixon is I felt like he was making an effort to do the best he could for the country as a whole. Ditto with Joe Biden, who I've actually developed more respect for in the past decade than I had in the mid-2000s, to be honest.)
So much now just seems like ... well, insult to injury. Doesn't it? Trump and his cronies/handlers/masters (because I can't figure out WHAT Bannon and Conway are to him, to be blunt) just come across as working as hard as they can, as fast as they can, to fuck over the ideals of equality and liberty and justice. And the Republicans in Congress are fairly coming all over themselves to help. My Republican senator's voicemail catches his messages these days. I can still reach my Democrat one and House rep, of course, but I'm not sure how much good it does to preach to the choir when the choir is the voting minority.
Let's see what the latest is. Transgender people are being kicked out of the public restroom of their choosing. It almost makes me want to go use a men's room just to see what happens, except men's rooms are usually grosser than women's (there was a time when I was still ignorant enough to make trans jokes about 20-some years ago, and also worked at Taco Bell and had to clean the restrooms, when I would've cracked wise that the reason so many men wanted to identify as female was to avoid going into the men's room). I remember having to cover events as a journalist 17 years ago and regularly being at the same things as this one transgender reporter for another publication, and nearly every time having to use the bathroom while she did as well. I didn't know enough at the time to use "she" and "her" properly, and I still wasn't bothered by being in the same room with her/him/her (as I switchingly called her) while I adjusted my bra or washed my hands. She was usually trying to figure out makeup or fuss with her scarf and didn't give a damn about looking at me anyway.
I mean, shit son. I would tell people who are uncomfortable with the idea of being in a public bathroom with someone who has or had different genitals at some point, stop thinking about things you've no right to anyway, and the problem disappears. You're welcome.
We also have the protesters removed from the Dakota Access pipeline site. My sister showed me a photo last night of the ground there set fire; it was the saddest thing I've seen in a while. Just the whole situation is incredibly sad and frustrating. Here we have the same thing that's going on almost with Keystone XL - a very few people stand to make a profit from it, so it's being sold falsely as a job-maker and money-maker for the wider populace. What's really going to happen is either/both of them ARE going to leak or burst or be damaged at some point and WILL contaminate the ground and water and wildlife being attempted to be protected, and the owners will not be charged nearly enough as a fine to punish them or make them want to close up shop and remove it. That's what sad; the frustrating part is knowing all this and watching it unfold at the hands of crooks and opportunists put in power by 60-some-odd million of the dumbest motherfuckers I have the misfortune to call my fellow citizens. I have, in my life, known many conservatives and for most of my life I was able to get along with them despite our differing opinions and tastes; even when Dubya was in office, while I was angry with them, I could still get along and find common grounds.
Now? I have lost all patience, all care, and all give-a-damn. I'm nearly 45 and I'm through with making nice and giving people the benefit of the doubt. You didn't vote for Trump because you're racist and you did it in spite of him being a racist pig? Too bad; you're a goddamn racist. Own the title. You voted for Trump but you say you wish he'd stop tweeting because he says stupid shit? THAT'S BECAUSE HE THINKS THAT EXACT STUPID SHIT AND ACTS ACCORDINGLY - if you only have a problem with what he says out loud but not with the thought and non-speech actions that stem from that reasoning, you are a useless cunt. Pretty much the only way I get along with people I have to, that I know vote Republican no matter what these days, is by not discussing politics. At ALL. My boss and I don't talk about it (which is pretty odd for newspaper editors, but I assure you it IS doable), for instance.
The one thing that heartens me is that loud people are giving lawmakers an earful, and that there ARE Trump voters who are too ashamed to gloat or even admit to it. I work with an entire office of them. Now, not everybody where I work voted for him. I know this. But the ones I'm reasonably sure did so, have not said one word at least within my hearing range. I don't know if they're ashamed or if they're just not getting exactly what they expected out of him, or they're afraid of being lynched by the rest of us, or what. Whatever it is, I'm good with their self-censure - I hope they keep their goddamn mouths shut about him forever.
Speaking of said man, judging by the photos that've come out, I have never been as happy to go on vacation as the Obamas. That man dropped back to his mid-40s in those photos; I swear his hair wasn't even gray anymore. (Never take my favorable judgments to mean that I think he's perfect. There are things I feel like he could've fought harder for and things he continued or started that I didn't care for, but the difference between someone like him and a Dubya or a Trump or a Nixon is I felt like he was making an effort to do the best he could for the country as a whole. Ditto with Joe Biden, who I've actually developed more respect for in the past decade than I had in the mid-2000s, to be honest.)
So much now just seems like ... well, insult to injury. Doesn't it? Trump and his cronies/handlers/masters (because I can't figure out WHAT Bannon and Conway are to him, to be blunt) just come across as working as hard as they can, as fast as they can, to fuck over the ideals of equality and liberty and justice. And the Republicans in Congress are fairly coming all over themselves to help. My Republican senator's voicemail catches his messages these days. I can still reach my Democrat one and House rep, of course, but I'm not sure how much good it does to preach to the choir when the choir is the voting minority.
Let's see what the latest is. Transgender people are being kicked out of the public restroom of their choosing. It almost makes me want to go use a men's room just to see what happens, except men's rooms are usually grosser than women's (there was a time when I was still ignorant enough to make trans jokes about 20-some years ago, and also worked at Taco Bell and had to clean the restrooms, when I would've cracked wise that the reason so many men wanted to identify as female was to avoid going into the men's room). I remember having to cover events as a journalist 17 years ago and regularly being at the same things as this one transgender reporter for another publication, and nearly every time having to use the bathroom while she did as well. I didn't know enough at the time to use "she" and "her" properly, and I still wasn't bothered by being in the same room with her/him/her (as I switchingly called her) while I adjusted my bra or washed my hands. She was usually trying to figure out makeup or fuss with her scarf and didn't give a damn about looking at me anyway.
I mean, shit son. I would tell people who are uncomfortable with the idea of being in a public bathroom with someone who has or had different genitals at some point, stop thinking about things you've no right to anyway, and the problem disappears. You're welcome.
We also have the protesters removed from the Dakota Access pipeline site. My sister showed me a photo last night of the ground there set fire; it was the saddest thing I've seen in a while. Just the whole situation is incredibly sad and frustrating. Here we have the same thing that's going on almost with Keystone XL - a very few people stand to make a profit from it, so it's being sold falsely as a job-maker and money-maker for the wider populace. What's really going to happen is either/both of them ARE going to leak or burst or be damaged at some point and WILL contaminate the ground and water and wildlife being attempted to be protected, and the owners will not be charged nearly enough as a fine to punish them or make them want to close up shop and remove it. That's what sad; the frustrating part is knowing all this and watching it unfold at the hands of crooks and opportunists put in power by 60-some-odd million of the dumbest motherfuckers I have the misfortune to call my fellow citizens. I have, in my life, known many conservatives and for most of my life I was able to get along with them despite our differing opinions and tastes; even when Dubya was in office, while I was angry with them, I could still get along and find common grounds.
Now? I have lost all patience, all care, and all give-a-damn. I'm nearly 45 and I'm through with making nice and giving people the benefit of the doubt. You didn't vote for Trump because you're racist and you did it in spite of him being a racist pig? Too bad; you're a goddamn racist. Own the title. You voted for Trump but you say you wish he'd stop tweeting because he says stupid shit? THAT'S BECAUSE HE THINKS THAT EXACT STUPID SHIT AND ACTS ACCORDINGLY - if you only have a problem with what he says out loud but not with the thought and non-speech actions that stem from that reasoning, you are a useless cunt. Pretty much the only way I get along with people I have to, that I know vote Republican no matter what these days, is by not discussing politics. At ALL. My boss and I don't talk about it (which is pretty odd for newspaper editors, but I assure you it IS doable), for instance.
The one thing that heartens me is that loud people are giving lawmakers an earful, and that there ARE Trump voters who are too ashamed to gloat or even admit to it. I work with an entire office of them. Now, not everybody where I work voted for him. I know this. But the ones I'm reasonably sure did so, have not said one word at least within my hearing range. I don't know if they're ashamed or if they're just not getting exactly what they expected out of him, or they're afraid of being lynched by the rest of us, or what. Whatever it is, I'm good with their self-censure - I hope they keep their goddamn mouths shut about him forever.
