Writings

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People are not illegal, so let them come and exercise their due process

There has been a lot of fear mongering about the caravan of people headed toward the United States. President Donald Trump has whipped people into a frenzy about how dangerous this group is while providing little evidence.

There’s never enough time for a scandal to play out

Every day I wake up and think, “today I am going to write about that thing in the news from yesterday.” The thing I am thinking about is one of several that came up, but I decided I would research it the next day and make a well-informed post. Then, I read the news and find another six or seven new things to write about.

Done. Done. Done.

I’m so done with it all.

I’m not doing this

On Friday night, I opened several tabs in my web browser about Donald Trump and his latest, idiotic comments about “shithole” countries.

When I woke up Saturday morning, I looked at those tabs, so numerous that I couldn’t read the title tags anymore, and thought, “No. I’m not doing this.”

I wrote a few columns for the paper about Donald Trump before reporters were told they couldn’t write columns anymore. If I were still writing that column, my mental health would have certainly deteriorated. Trump is about to hit his year anniversary as president and he has diminished the reputation of the United States on the world stage, proven he doesn’t know or care about basic facts about the government and has, in general, made life worse for most Americans.

Many countries reacted to his racist comments.

If you ask my husband, he will tell you about Trump’s presidency. “It really is a shitshow. It’s just one revelation and scandal after another.”

I am sure books will be written about the damage he has done to this country, which was already great when he took over. He has made it worse. Amy Siskind has been keeping a weekly list to remind us that this is not normal.

On a weekly basis, the List tracks specific news stories representing eroding norms under the current regime. Taken together, they reveal a nation pushed towards authoritarianism, the wielding of unchecked governmental authority by one person or group at the expense of the freedom of those who oppose them.
How is this possible? Weary from the 2016 election, many voters embraced uninformed obliviousness, unquestioning optimism, or an uncritically visceral reaction for or against the new administration. Instead, Amy Siskind sought facts. The Weekly List was born on November 20, 2016, chronicling Amy’s findings. Originally for her friends and social media followers, the List quickly went viral. The earliest weeks listed fewer than a dozen items. Now, nearly a year later, each week brings with it at least one-hundred new abnormalities.

The list will soon be published as a book. I want to purchase it, but hesitate because I have been watching Amy post her list each week. It’s a dizzying compilation of how things have gone wrong.

Since this is my site and I write what I want, I hesitate each time I think about writing anything to do with Trump. I don’t want my blog filled with his garbage. People who read this site know my feelings on all things Trump. If you follow me on my personal Facebook page, you have seen my angry posts when the president and the GOP have gone too far.

So, today, I will just simply list a few of the things that have angered me or are wrong. For my own sanity, I will refrain, for the most part, from writing about the president, his ignorance, stupidity, and general dumbfuckery.

As for the shithole comments, let me say, I am first, and foremost, an American. I don’t identify with other nations/cultures/ethnicities/etc., because I grew up here. I will probably always have a little bit of New Yorker in me as it is the place that shaped, in large part, who I was to become. However, my ancestors came from American Indian tribes in upstate New York, Ireland, The Netherlands, Germany, England, and if you could trace it back far enough, Africa. At some point in time, most of these cultures and countries were considered “shitholes” by Americans already here.

I am glad there were Americans who didn’t see things in that way and welcomed my ancestors to the shining shores along the East Coast, excluding the American Indians who were already here. They had a chance and I am one of the results of those welcoming arms.

CNN counterterrorism analyst Philip Mudd spoke on Thursday about this issue. I encourage you to watch both clips.

If you want to see a shithole country, read the comments in this Reddit thread. Fix this country before you start criticizing others.

I know people think it’s funny to refer to democrats and republicans as Dumms, Dimms, Democraps, Republicons, and Rethuglicans, and to make up new disparaging words for the GOP acronym, but it really makes me think less of you. If you can’t have an adult conversation without resorting to name calling, I really don’t want to talk to you.

For the billionth time, women don’t come forward to report sexual assault and rape because they are still, in 2018, being asked why they did something wrong. Why did you wear that? Why did you go there? What were you thinking? The focus should be on the dirtbag who perpetrated the crime. They don’t speak up because there are still too many people who shift the blame to the woman, discount her testimony, and/or victim shame.

Shut. The. Fuck. Up. About. Uranium. It’s been explained here here, and here.

Also, have a big cup of shut the fuck up about her emails. Really, ask yourself why it is only the conservatives, conservative media, and Republicans who keep bringing up Hillary Clinton. She lost. She’s not out there whining about it multiple times per day. They are.

This tweet not only sums up what Trump thinks, but what morons/assholes/racists who adore him think.

How do you combat the idiocy and still remain sane? Imagine if I had to correct everything Trump said each day?

Yes, Oprah made a great speech and we should take it to heart, but don’t make her president. People forget she brought the world scam artists like Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz. When she traveled to Europe, she belittled employees at a Parisian shop, shouting, “Don’t you know who I am?” at them when they were closing for the day and she wanted in. She told atheists they really believed in god, but just didn’t know it. She was shocked people left their children outside without fear. She was also shocked in India when people ate with their hands. I don’t want this woman in the White House.

The president is a racist. I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but it’s true. If you still support Trump, you, too, are a racist.

So, as I close more than 50 tabs and “nope” out of making myself angry on just on one single thing Trump did, know that I am reading his garbage every day. While it is painful and frustrating, we must remain vigilant and continue fighting against injustice and standing up for what we know is right.

I’m just going to try to avoid sullying my website with trying to educate the willfully ignorant and someone else’s pathetic excuse for a life and his constant need for attention. There are too many other, and better, things to write about.

Maybe we are like this

On November 4, 2017, a letter to the editor from local resident John Gable spurred controversy in our town. It was vitriolic. I wrote about how we are better than this. Many of my friends and acquaintances would not agree with the racism, bigotry, and general hate of the “other” that has been occurring in the country.

But those feelings of hate have always been there, under the surface, and it’s rising. Apparently, we aren’t better than this and we need to talk about it.

We are better than this

I woke up to my community in despair on Saturday. A letter to the editor in the local paper, the paper where I work at as a reporter, was causing a stir.

The letter, which many people have spread, can be seen below in the screenshot from the Scotts Bluff County Democrats. It is full of hate and ignorance. Its words make me want to leave this town, but I have spent two days thinking about where to go from here.

When will you step up and speak out?

I almost can’t believe I’m writing about Nazis.

Where do we draw the line?

Crass jokes and people pushing the envelope has been, and probably always will be, with us. They were written on the walls in Pompeii and the walls of modern public restrooms. We may chuckle or cringe, but how far is too far? And who gets to decide when we have crossed a line.

In the past week, two entertainers have been accused of crossing the line of good taste. One, Kathy Griffin, has been fired from her job and has lost many sponsorship deals. The other, Bill Maher, has apologized for his comments.

I am embarrassed for my country

My first trip abroad was in the Spring of 1985. My high school French class took a trip each year and I knew I wanted to go. I remember the cost was $1,073 for the ten-day trip. Every penny I earned delivering newspaper went toward that trip.

My French teacher, Mrs. Mazzone, drilled it into our heads we would be ambassadors for America. Our behavior would reflect what people would think of Americans. Careful admonishments were made about how we should act in public and private during the trip and we learned about cultural differences we should expect.

Revisiting a president’s desire to destroy the Constitution

Each day, Americans are faced with the reality of the Trump Administration’s desire to take away our rights or threatening our welfare in some way. On April 30, one of his surrogates, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, said the president is still consideringopening up” the libel laws.

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