Will I Get Money? 

I think if I get a check, and the amount of said check, depend greatly on how rich I already am, how corrupt, and how close I am to the orange man.

And read this. This is a Republican group. Republican.

The Lincoln Project

“‘A self-centered publicity stunt’ / Just how serious is Kanye West’s presidential bid? ”

How incredibly sad and disturbing it is to even think that this is being taken seriously? What does this say about us that this could even be a real thing that people are considering? Another celebirty with absolutely no experience in anything involved in running a country, looking after it’s citizens with intelligence and compassion, understanding the issues, anything? But hey, I’ve seen him on tv a zillion times, so it’s almost like I know him. Right? Wrong!

Where on earth have the thinking, reasoning, working-brains here, Americans gone? What happened here? Too much mindless, contestant-driven tv? Not everything is meant to have a winner and a loser, or stupid tricks and lies and manipulations to stay on the island. This is real life, and real lives are being lost or destroyed due to the actions of this person so many seem to be worshiping.

Did you think a man who has gone bankrupt many times, is noted for his immoral behavior, has had several wives, is clearly not the sharpest tack in the box, who is ALL about the greed, you really thought he would be a good choice to lead the free world, let alone us? Where are you? In some form of la-la land, obviously, where nothing is real and it will all be fixed by the next commercial. Only there are no commercials in real life, and people die when you don’t have the least idea how to manage during a pandemic. You do know he shut down most of the agencies that would be dealing with this and keeping your ass alive, before the pandemic even started.

Every day, I am more and more stunned by the things I see and read, and the absolute dereliction of any form of intelligence my country has exhibited. Willful ignorance. ‘I want this to be over and everything to be normal, the orange man says it is, so I choose to believe him rather than my own eyes.’

I truly am at a loss to understand what is happening here. How did people become enthralled to the orange man, and so willingly join his cult and abandon all reason in the process? This is scarier than an virus.

Had a little, not exactly melt down, but crisis of confidence, maybe? Felt like I was crashing, became obsessively worried about my friend no longer wanting to be friends because she and her husband shop for me and take out the trash every other week, and it’s a burden on them, even though they say they are happy to do it, and a friend dropped me from her life not long after I got fibro, because she said I was ‘too needy’, not that I had asked her for anything, but god does shit stick with me forever. Better today.

Anybody have any ideas how to let go of the fear? That friend and I are still friends, because we talked about what happened, and she has been a great friend since, but always, always in the back of my mind is the idea that if I ask for just one thing too many, or even give the appearance of needing any kind of help, I will be left abandoned and have no one. Difficult childhood. What can I say?

I have downloaded my content, and deleted my account. Now if I could just do the same with Amazon, but that is not going to happen. I need Amazon. Sad, but true. I do feel a sense of relief about Facebook, though. Happy to be done with it. It is insidious and evil.

For a change.  I commented on a blog, and thought I’d share what I said.  Probably said it before but hey.

“I first became ill in September, 1997 and was diagnosed February 1998. It has been a difficult and soul-destroying journey since then, I had to give up my beloved job in a group home, but I am doing pretty well right now. Yay, me. The most important thing I have learned over these years is to listen to my body. If I am tired, I lay down and read on my Kindle. If I am in a lot of pain, same thing, except sometimes, if I’m really lucky, I can sleep through the really bad pain. It’s important to do fun things, because if I’m going to be in pain anyway, why not?
There are only three food items that I can definitely tie to symptoms. First is meat, I feel better if I eat meat. I still don’t eat it a lot, certainly not every day, but when I do, I feel better. Second is sugar. Sugar is BAD NEWS. Next day is always exponentially more pain-filled. Third is artificial sweeteners (except for maltitol) which act the same as sugar. Pain, pain, pain. Maltitol is in Think Thin Bars, and does not efffect me when I eat one of those. One good thing (because I firmly believe that good comes out of everything if you let yourself see it) is that I was already mostly living in isolation, so this pandemic has not really had much effect on me at all. Except I had to give up my homemakers and I only see a friend as we do handoffs through the door when she shops a bit for me. But isolation has not been difficult, because it’s been my life for nearly twenty years. Get through today as best I can, do what I can when I can, and don’t beat myself up when I can’t. Works for me.”

The snowglobe is just to remind me that it isn’t always hot and sticky, thank goodness.  🙂

who was being impeached or on trial, would I be able to specify ‘no witnesses’, or harass someone who spoke?  Guess I don’t understand 1. how impeachment works, and/or why some people seem to get a pass no matter what they do.

From the NYTimes:

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a decorated Iraq war veteran who was a prominent witness in the Trump impeachment inquiry, said he would retire from the Army after the White House objected to his promotion.

We are on such a powerful road to ruin in this country, and no one with any kind of power seems to be actually doing anything to change that.  Puzzled R Us.

I see that the orange man is putting ‘corrupt’ before Joe Biden’s name every time he uses it, like he did ‘crooked’ with Hillary Clinton.  We need a word for him.  Demented?  Childish?  Something catchy that gets the point across.  If we put it out there all the time in all the places, maybe it will have an effect.  One can only hope.  I guess we could just call him ‘Little Donny Trump’, but something with more punch would be good.  I am so fed up with this shit.  We are in a pandemic, for god’s sake, we need someone with brains and guts and insight, not a three-year old in a man’s body.  Where is that damn space ship when you need it?

Good grief, look what I found looking for something to illustrate this. If he really does have dementia, which looks pretty likely, it is not nice to make fun of him, but otherwise, he so deserves it.

Starting the day off right, with this from The New York Times Morning newsletter:

“Jeff Van Drew, a freshman Republican who won as a Democrat but then defected and pledged loyalty to Trump.”

Boy, if that doesn’t smack of betrayal, I don’t know what does.  Faked being a Democrat to get elected, then showed his true self, the one that has drunk the Koolaid and worships at the feet of the orange man.  He should have been recalled or whatever you can do to get a traitor out of office.  I am making more out of this than I should?  I honestly don’t know, but it definitely stinks.

Took two Aleve today, because back, despite a brief respite yesterday afternoon thanks to DD the light sender, is making it very hard to do anything but sit down.  Sending light seems very ‘the truth is out there’ and ‘I want to believe’ sort of business, but damn if it doesn’t work.  Three times she has done it for me over several years, and it has worked each time.  I do not believe in this stuff at all, so it’s very ‘out there’ to me. Here she is, if you are interested: Energy Healing

Did cook breakfast.  I almost never have a cooked breakfast, unless it’s oatmeal, which is basically ‘add hot water and eat’, so not sure that counts as cooking.  Bacon, scrambled eggs with large-curd cottage cheese mixed in, and an english muffin.  And coffee, it’s not day without coffee.  It just stays night for 24 hours.

What horrors am I going to encounter on Twitter today?  And Suckerberg (as DD calls him) is still being a totally despicable human being, so I am going to dump Facebook. I have been working up to it, but I am in a couple of fibro groups and hate to leave, but principles.  You have to live up to your principles, like put your money where your mouth is.  Of course, I fail badly at that one, because I cannot get what I need without Amazon.  Hate it, but it’s true.  My new laptop was 300 dollars more at the other big store.  So Amazon it is.  Catch-22.  It is wrong to support evil capitalists, but you can’t get on without them.  Life is all about trade-offs, isn’t it?

I do get Gertrude’s food from Chewy now.  Free shipping after a certain amount.  Sometimes shipping is as much or more than what you actually bought, so if I can’t get it, I don’t buy from whoever.  This is what got me started with Amazon in the first place.  Prime, with free shipping.

Cool, but very humid.  Have two fans on, one for me and one for Miss G. She prefers to play with the cord, but I do try to keep her comfortable.  When I am reading on the couch, I will say, ‘Gertrude, come sit with me.  Gertrude, up.’ and then I hear thump, thump, thump, and up she jumps.  She galumphs like a miniature elephant.  LOL  She doesn’t always stay, but at least she comes when I call her. She is so cute. Remember when she was so teeny and cute?  I do.  I miss that.  She is sitting on cds. 

Hoping today goes well.  Not sure what’s on my to do for today.  I made a schedule, which I am only infrequently able to stick to, but at least I can pretend I am getting things done, right?  I kind of think it’s good that I have to depend upon myself instead of homemakers, but on the other hand, there is no way I can keep up the way they could.  So a lot just does not get done at all.  Dishes, clean the bathroom, try to keep things tidy,yes, but vacuuming is not weekly, and mopping just does not happen, and laundry.  I am so over washing things by hand.  But I am not living in a mess, so I can cope.  I have vacuumed with the cannister vac, but it takes me several goes, because I have to sit down til my back stops hurting and a bit of energy returns.  So hallway, rest, kitchen, rest, bathroom, double rest because that’s where the litter box is and I have to move everything associated with it, like extra litter, and scoop, and litter-specific trash bin, and the rug it all sits on.  Half the living room, rest, other half, rest, couch. collapse, put vac away after a nice long lie-down and read on my Kindle session.

God, I love my Kindle.  My first one is eleven years old, and it is wonky, but still usable.  It is my favorite.  Keyboard Kindle. Why did they change it?  Why is it the norm to update, update, update, when what you have works perfectly?  Oh, profit, I forgot.  Apple convinced you that even though your phone still works as well as ever, you really need a newer one, because they really need to get richer. We buy into this crap, too, because it is blatantly obvious by the number of orange man worshipers how easily we are manipulated.

I want to go out.  I want to be one of the devil-may-care, ‘virus?  what virus’ people, but I just cannot.  When you’ve been sick enough that breathing was a real struggle, trust me, you don’t want to go through that again.  Stay safe.  This is not over, we are still in the first wave, and the death rate may be dropping a bit, but the after effects for the living can be life-long and devastating.  Be cautious.  Protect your loved ones, because everything is not just about you.

Pandemic Visualization

This was posted on Tumblr by Wil Wheaton.  Hope he doesn’t mind I ‘borrowed’ it.

Am I the only one appalled to realize how pervasive the representation of those who fought a war to keep owning slaves is in the land of those who won that war?  What on earth.  There are statues of Confederate leaders in Congress.  Their flags on military bases.  Why on earth are we holding them in such esteem?  They wanted to keep owning slaves and fought a war to do so.  What is wrong with us?  Where are the statues of the Nazis?  Oh, wait, if the orange man has his way, I would not be surprised to see them popping up all over.  Where are the statues of the Japanese we fought during the Second World War?  Why are we not revering them?  I mean they lost, too, right?  God, this country is a morass of bad judgement and lack of common sense and just brains. 

Real people, and definitely not orange.

WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 16: U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden share a laugh as the US Senior Men’s National Team and Brazil play during a pre-Olympic exhibition basketball game at the Verizon Center on July 16, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

What does Joe Biden’s platform actually aim to do?

from Joe Biden’s site, joebiden.com)

Legal reforms:

• Decriminalization, rescheduling, and expungement of existing federal marijuana convictions.
• End the federal crack and powder cocaine disparity.
• End all incarceration for drug use alone and instead divert individuals to drug courts and treatment.

Environmental reforms:

• Invest $400 billion in clean energy research and innovation.
• Establish an enforcement mechanism to achieve net-zero emissions no later than 2050.
• Require aggressive methane pollution limits for new and existing gas operations.
• Require public companies to disclose climate risks and greenhouse gas emissions.
• Invest in carbon capture sequestration technology.
• Support research into new nuclear technology.
• Empower communities to develop transportation solutions.
• Invest in electric rail roads and mass transit.
• Embrace the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.
• Demand a worldwide ban on fossil fuel subsidies.
• Name and shame global climate outlaws.
• Pursue a global moratorium on offshore drilling in the Arctic.
• Hold polluters accountable.
• Ensure access to safe drinking water for all communities.
• Ensure that communities harmed by climate change and pollution are the first to benefit from the Clean Economy Revolution.
• Invest in communities impacted by the climate transformation.
• Double offshore wind energy by 2030.

Economic reforms:

• $15/hr minimum wage.
• Bankruptcy reform.
• Paid family leave.
• Paid sick leave.
• Protect and expand union rights.
• Repeal the $2.1tn Trump tax cuts.
• Increase taxes by $1.4tn on top earners.
• Hold corporations and executives responsible for interfering with unionization.
• Aggressively pursue employers who violate labor laws.
• Ensure federal dollars do not support employers who engage in union-busting.
• Penalize companies that bargain in bad faith.
• Make it easier for workers who choose to unionize to do so.
• Ban state “right to work” laws.
• Create a cabinet-level working group that will solely focus on promoting union organizing.
• Ensure that workers can exercise their right to strike without fear of reprisal.
• Empower the NLRB to fulfill its intended purpose of protecting workers.
• Eliminate non-compete clauses and no-poaching agreements.
• Put an end to unnecessary occupational licensing requirements.
• Expand protections for undocumented immigrants who report labor violations.

Health care:

• Medicare-like public option.
• Allow Medicare to bargain for prescription drug prices.
• Increase the value of tax credits to lower premiums and extend coverage.
• Limiting launch prices for drugs that face no competition.
• Limiting price increases for all brand, biotech, and abusively priced generic drugs.
• Allow consumers to buy prescription drugs from other countries.
• End pharmaceutical corporations’ tax break for advertisement spending.
• Expanding access to contraception.
• Protect and defend a woman’s right to choose.
• Restore federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
• Doubling America’s investment in community health centers.
• Expand access to mental health care.

Infrastructure:

• Invest in historically marginalized communities.
• Encourage the adoption of electric vehicles.
• Invest $10 billion into transit projects that serve high-poverty areas.
• Increase funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by $2.5 billion per year.
• Invest $20 billion in rural broadband infrastructure.
• Invest $100 billion to modernize schools.
• Invest $10 billion in a new Cities Revitalization Fund.
• Quadruple funding to provide small manufacturers with the technical expertise needed to compete in a global economy.

Electoral reform:

• Introduce a constitutional amendment to eliminate private dollars from our federal elections.
• Enact legislation to provide voluntary matching public funds for federal candidates recieving small donations.
• Propose a law to strengthen our prohibitions on foreign nationals trying to influence federal, state, or local elections.
• Work to enact legislation ensuring that SuperPACs are wholly independent of campaigns and political parties.
• Increase transparency of election spending.
• End dark money groups.
• Ban corporate PAC contributions to candidates.
• Prohibit lobbyist contributions to those who they lobby.
• Reform funding for national party conventions.
• Require that all candidates for federal office release tax returns dating back 10 years.
• Prohibiting foreign governments’s use of lobbyists.

Ethics reforms:

• Prevent the president or White House from improperly interfering in federal investigations and prosecutions.
• Increase transparency in DOJ decision-making.
• Empower agency watchdogs (Inspectors General) to combat unethical behavior.
• Establish the Commission on Federal Ethics to more effectively enforce federal ethics law.
• Prevent the president, other senior Executive Branch members, and Congresspersons from being influenced by personal financial holdings.

Policing reform:

• Ending private prisons.
• Investing $300 billion in community policing training.
• Investing in public health and education.
• Create a new $20 billion competitive grant program to spur states to shift from incarceration to prevention.
• Expand federal funding for mental health and substance use disorder services and research.
• Expand and use the power of the U.S. Justice Department to address systemic misconduct in police departments and prosecutors’ offices.
• Invest in public defenders’ offices.
• Eliminate mandatory minimums.
• Eliminate the death penalty.
• End cash bail.
• Stop jailing people for being too poor to pay fines and fees.
• Ensure humane prison conditions.
• Invest $1 billion per year in juvenile justice reform.
• Incentivize states to stop incarcerating kids.
• Expand funding for after-school programs, community centers, and summer jobs.

Education:

• Two years paid public universities and college or job training for those making less than $125k/yr.
• Create new a federal grant program.
• Double the maximum value of Pell grants for low-income and middle-class individuals.
• Make a $50 billion investment in workforce training.
• More than halve payments on undergraduate federal student loans.
• Stop for-profit education programs from profiteering off of students.
• Crack down on private lenders profiteering off of students.
• Allow individuals holding private loans to discharge them in bankruptcy.
• $10,000 across the board federal student loan forgiveness.
• Forgive all undergraduate federal student loan debt for borrowers who attended public colleges and universities, as well as historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and private minority-serving institutions (MSIs).

Immigration:

• Repeal Trump era restrictions on immigration
• Prioritize deporting threats over deporting hard working, upstanding members of the community.
• End child separation and prolonged detention.
• Reform the asylum system.
• End public funding for the border wall.
• Protect DACA recipients.
• Hold ICE and CBP agents accountable for inhumane treatment.

From Antique Sugar in Phoenix, Arizona.  They have a sign which says:

“If you choose not to wear a mask, we respectfully ask that you postpone your visit. We will be happy to debate the efficacy of masks with you when this is all over and you come in to sell your dead grandmother’s clothes.”

Something not as good:  My great days are over for now.  Yesterday was take a day off from everything, because up all night and slept through midday, today am in a fog.  Better tomorrow?  (Sigh)

We have a Republican governor.  A Republican.  Every day I am amazed by him.  Not perfect, but who is, and yet he has done a great job for us.  I am impressed.

Doing Great in Mass So Far

It is hot, and it is sticky, and I am baking bread.  Because I can.  After so long of being pretty incapacitated, something has gone right for a change and I am able to Get Things Done.  Cleaned the frig, reorganized it and the freezer, cleaned the counters, vacuumed the entire house including the couch, did some hand laundry, and it’s only Thursday.  Started on Monday.  Whatever is happening, I plan to take advantage of and enjoy it while it lasts, because all of us with this fibro thingy know things can change in an instant with absolutely no warning.  So yay me for right this minute.

The New York Times, which I gave in and subscribed to, because they are doing great coverage, asks ‘Why Does Trump Put Russia First?’, and I think I know the answer.  I can imagine Putin telling Trump what a great guy he is, a great leader, and great human being, and Trump lives for praise and validation.  It’s all he has, anyway.  The massive ego, masking an even more massive insecurity.  You could almost feel sorry for him, if he wasn’t such a horrible excuse for a human being.  No decency here, folks, no ethics, no integrity, no character, just self-aggrandizement and hate for anyone who doesn’t think he is the second coming.  Well done, America.  You have let your hate send us on the road to losing our democracy and our freedom, because being free to hate openly is just so satisfying, isn’t it?  See the vids of the Karens, if you need proof.

But it is a beautiful day, in spite of hot and sticky, and I am getting things done, and I have hot dogs for dinner.  I like hot dogs.  New England style buns, buttered and toasted in the iron skillet while the hot dogs cooks in that same skillet.  Green relish, French’s mustard, and celery salt. It’s the New England way.  🙂  Happy Jean is happy today.  It’s my second DD’s birthday, too, so a red letter day over all.  Wish I could visit with her, but virus.  You all remember the virus, right?  Judging by the behaviour of people I see from my windows, I have my doubts.  I read today that there is a group of teenagers having a contest to see who can get sick first.  Parents, please, what are you doing to your children that makes them this reckless and stupid and uncaring and I have run out of words.  Bad parenting.  Bad, bad parenting.

Contest

Still happy.  Not going to let morons ruin my day.  Me and Miss G are just being chill.  Well, not chill exactly, but hot and sticky in an okay way.  She is just on the rocking chair.  Didn’t even want to play that much.  It will get better.  Autumn comes eventually.  🙂

Up early, quarter to eight.  Slept well, cause I took an Aleve last night.  Was having a lot of pain.  Flare?  Okay so far, but Aleve is twelve hours and that’s not up yet.  We’ll see how it goes later.  Hoping to vacuum, which was on yesterday’s list but back was hurting too much.  Did get some other things done, though.  The hand-off with the homemaker took seconds, and I put away frig/freezer items and just left the rest on the counter.  Will move them in a couple of days.  Lots of hand-washing.  Caution, caution caution.

My little kindle is dying.  The battery is virtually dead and goes from a full charge to empty in seconds.  Works while plugged in, but reboots itself often.  It’s the one after the keyboard one.  Still has the side page turners. Why did they ditch those for that horrid touch screen?  Why, Amazon, why?  My keyboard Kindle, which is my oldest, is losing ground fast, too.  I am not using it now.  It’s my most favorite one.  I have a second one, but it is not in great shape either.  I think I bought it used, just because I was desperate for a backup keyboard Kindle.  They are easy to hold and use.  Oh, well, nobody cares what works for me, just what is the newest, shiniest thing they can come up with, regardless of how much a pain it is to use.  Complaining already, Jean.  For shame.  It’s too early for this.  This is my first Kindle.  I love it to bits. I bought it September 23, 2011, and it has had many, many, many hours of use.
I accidentally discovered yesterday that my new laptop IS backlit, you just have to hit F5 to turn it on.  It’s cheery, having a backlit keyboard. Cheery is good.  Speaking of which, here is something I posted as a comment a while back, and I think it applies to right now.

“I’ve found that the older I get, the more I realize how little all the crap really matters. Things come, things go, political situations included. I’ve lived through times of war, threats of nuclear annihilation, riots, progress, regression of progress, my country turning into idiots (still in the midst of that one, actually.) I’ve figured out, for myself at least, that the purpose of life is to live. To get as much enjoyment out of every moment that you can. Look at the sky, notice the clouds, the color in the trees as the sap rises, the new leaves, feel the breeze, enjoy the comfortable sofa, savor that cup of tea. In other words, be aware, every moment. Don’t live in the past, don’t live in the future. Now is all there is. Do as much good as you can, in however small a way that is available to you. Stick a dollar in that can on the counter, smile at people, be polite. These things matter. Let go of the things you have no control over and focus on those that you do. Make someone else’s life better by being kind, listening, helping when possible. These things help me, especially when it looks like the world is just going to hell. I believe every generation has thought that the world was going to hell, and we’re still here. Enjoy your life. It has a tendency to end at some point, and you don’t want to miss any of the good stuff along the way.”

What do you think, dear readers? (You are out there, right?)  How are you coping with the mess this planet is in?  We humans have done/are doing a really poor job of keeping it habitable for ourselves and the other species, who are no less important than we are, in spite of what your religion might teach you.  It is home to ALL of us, and none of us have the right to ruin it for the rest of us.  But we do. We are.  We have let greed become our only reason for being.  So many people trying to do the right thing, but so many more not caring at all if it’s right or not, so long as it’s profitable.  We are such a disappointment. If there IS a god, I wonder if he’s doing a serious rethink about us.

I used to think that there would come a point when enough of us would get a clue, you know, what they call a ‘tipping point’ and things would change.  Not looking good for that, is it?  The cretins have crawled out from under their rocks and are doing their best the screw things up for everybody.  Objectively speaking, the planet would be so much better off if we just wiped ourselves out of existence, but then we wouldn’t be here to see how great it could be. Technically, we are parasites.  Did you know that?  The earth is an interconnected ecosystem.   This depends upon that depends upon something else.  But nothing in the ecosystem is dependent upon us for survival, we just take and take and use the resources up and destroy the environment, and kill off other species willfully, but we contribute nothing to the survival or well-being of the other species or the planet as a whole.  Or even to the survival of ourselves.  You think I’m wrong?  Just look around you.  See what we are doing/have done.  Virtually everything is destructive, not constructive.  Not helping, but destroying.  It can be very depressing, but you have to hang on to hope, I think, or what’s the point of it all?  Better life in some afterlife?  Seriously?  This is where we are, when we are, and if we do not behave responsibly and do the right thing in every instance, if there is an afterlife, we will not be going to the good place.  Not.