commonsensicalblogger

So, here we go again folks.  It’s time for the dreaded government shutdown showdown.  I say shut it all down.  Go completely private sector for 99% of all government services.  Run them all like businesses.  Get out of the rut we have been in of ever increasing taxes to pay for ever more bloated government.

I am hoping that Trump sits back and lets the lawmakers devour each other.  Congress is one of the biggest problems with our country.  They are—almost all of them–only there to get reelected and help themselves.  They regularly vote for crappy programs designed to suck money from people who work, waste 90% of it and then throw the crumbs back to people who don’t work and call them ‘benefits.’  If he will just stay out of it, I think they will maybe eat their own and then we can find some real lawmakers.

Let’s do a constitutional convention of states to get term limitations instituted.  Let’s quit giving these lawmakers big posh budgets and offices.  Lets give them no travel expenses and make them live in dorms.  Le’ts make it a privilege and an honor to serve, not a gold mine.  Let’s get everyday Americans in there to serve.  Why not?  Have regular people who want to serve go to Washington and get things done.

Let’s insist that people from EVERY walk of life are actually represented.  Let Mike Rowe nominate a lot of them…..he has met the salt of the earth people that make this country tick.  NO more lawyers.  Let’s make laws that everyday people can understand and not have to have a professional to interpret them.

Let’s abolish the IRS.  I bet you that if the government let us keep our money and we raised money as private individuals for things like road and bridges and libraries and the military, we would have more money than ever.  We are a giving nation….at least conservatives are.  Liberals aren’t giving, they take.  They say that rich people should give to them….so they can become rich.  Ah, no.  Most Americans will gladly give to help unfortunate neighbors as long as that neighbor is willing to help themselves.  Taxes are extortion, plain and simple.

Public housing?  That needs to be privatized.  Look at the shit holes(yeah, I went there) that public housing projects are for the most part.  It is not only the fault of the government for crappy management of them, it is the fault of the tenants for not having pride in where they live.  Take all the billions we pump into them and build the wall.  Make the projects into private corporations.  Make people who get the housing take care of their abodes.  If they don’t, if they trash them….they are out, period.  Simple.  You take care of your place, you get to stay.  You don’t take care of it…you go.  Make them form neighborhood watch groups to keep the crime out.  Let the ordinary citizens have the authority to push out the troublemakers.  Make the projects beautiful by allowing the good people there to rat out the bad and root them out.  There ARE good people on public assistance, but they are always cowed by the bad.  Reward the good ones.

There is so much we can do as a nation without the government.  I think Trump understands this.  If congress and the rest of the bloated bureaucracy will get out of his way, we could do great things.  Come together and fight this together.  Notice I didn’t say anything abut race.  Race doesn’t matter.  It doesn’t matter.  It is not important.  Good people and bad people are what matters.  We all need to get rid of the bad–even if they look just like us…and embrace the good–even if they don’t look like us.

Trump is a stable genius.  He knows how to run big operations and organizations.  The government doesn’t know how to run anything efficiently.  Who should we trust?  It’s a no brainer.

So, in the spirit of stupid issues that the media go crazy over and mean absolutely nothing, we have Shit Hole Gate……another machination by the media via Dick Durbin to malign our president.  Guess calling him Hitler wasn’t fun anymore, considering that he is a strong ally of Isreal and his daughter and son in law are Jewish.

So, lets go back to tried and true racism.  He is a racist for supposedly–there seems to be some disagreement over what he actually said-calling a spade a spade.  Let’s face it people, Haiti and some African nations are shit holes.  So is Mexico, so is Venezuala…so are a lot of places.  North Korea most especially is a shit hole.  It’s not about race, it’s about corruption.  But don’t expect any Democrat or Liberal or News Agency to get to the meat of the matter.  Most Americans want simple explanations.  Yeah, let’s go with racist.  We beat that Hitler horse to death and it’s not working anymore.

The racist thing isn’t going to work either.  Try as you might, you cannot dig up racist things Trump has done.  He has done conservative things.  Conservatism is not racist.  Many of the most successful black and brown people in this country are conservative……even if they don’t want to admit it.  But, beat that horse until it’s dead liberals.  Sooner or later, it will come back to haunt you.

You know who is racist and not apologetic at all?  Well, our last President.  He sat through the church services of Jeremiah Wright for 20 years.  Then pretended he didn’t know him.  That man was a dyed in the wool racist, make no mistake.  But when it got reported that he went to all those anti-white hate fests disguised as church services, he just said ” I don’t really have any relationship with Reverend Wright.”  Not those exact words, but words to that effect.  And poof!!!  It was believed, all evidence to the contrary.  Obama is and will always be half white.  He was raised by the white part of his family, because the black part didn’t even live in the US.  And yet, he decided that the black part was more important….hmmm, why would that be????  Oh, yeah, it played well politically.  His blackness got him elected…..even though he’s half white.  Obama had the chance to bring everyone together.  He had the opportunity to say “Look at me, I am half black and half white.  We can get along.  We can prosper together.”  Instead, he chose to push only the black agenda.  To totally forget that his mother was white.

But, back to shit holes.  Yes, indeed, Haiti is a shit hole.  Ask the Clintons.  They raised a ton of money to fix Haiti and Haiti is still a shit hole…….so I guess we need to give the Clintons more money to continue their lack of effort on the part!!!  And Africa?  There are areas of Africa that can legitimately be considered totally uncivilized.  Remember Rwanda?  They hacked people with machetes just because they belonged to another tribe.  This is closer to actual racism than someone calling a shit hole a……..SHIT HOLE.  North Korea is a shit hole.  Of course, you are not going to get a North Korean to say that–they will be shot on sight if they do.  Venezuala is a shit hole.  There is a video circulating of people beating a cow to death because they are starving.  I own cows.  I haven’t seen anyone trying to jump our fence to beat them to death because they are hungry….McDonald’s is right down the street.

And now the omnipresent liberal celebrities are saying that the US is, in fact, a shit hole.  Well, yes, parts of LA, Detroit, Chicago, NY…are indeed shit holes.  What do they all have in common?  Democratic(liberal and socialist leaning) control and corruption.  Hmmm, let’s see what do other shit holes around the world have in common?  Could it be CORRUPTION???  And these celebrities live in walled estates with employees making nothing, likely from some shit hole, but unable to complain because they are illegal.  The US is only a shit hole where we have given in to the liberal idiocy of keeping police out of policing and allowing criminals to take over.

Keep it up liberals.  While all of you are having a dying duck fit over the term shit hole(meanwhile rappers are constantly throwing out the F bomb and talking about raping hoes and such), Trump is dismantling the regulatory monstrosity that past presidents have foisted on this country.  Keep talking, he’ll keep doing.  Sounds like a plan to me!!!

Seems like nowadays, everyone in this country has an ailment.  It’s part of life now.  You must have something you have been diagnosed with.  It helps with all sorts of things–keeps you from getting fired, perhaps gets you disability, gives you an excuse to act like an ass….etc, etc.

The most annoying ones to me, having survived 20 years being married to a substance abuser, are alcoholism and drug addiction.  Oh, but surely I believe it is a disease.  No, surely I don’t.  It is a choice.  I have attended so many AA meetings in support of said spouse.  The ones that were serious about getting better…..got better.  The ones just playing around and pretending continued to indulge.  But they got great ideas at the meetings!!!  Drug addiction is costing this country billions–between healthcare, lost productivity, abuse of spouses and children and crimes committed to obtain drugs, it’s out of control.  People wail and moan, they shouldn’t be sent to jail, they need treatment, they need help.  Of course the relapse rate is almost as high as the recidivism rate.  I think more addicts get fixed in prison than in treatment.  Treatment is not reality.  I have been there as well.  My ex spouse was also put in treatment for drug addiction.  I went to a couple of months worth of post inpatient treatment counselling sessions.  All we talked about was what he needed and how I should support him.  Wait-What?  Isn’t that what I spent the last 20 years doing?  No, I left and he continued with his drug and alcohol abuse, as if there was ever a question that he would.  Drug addicts and alcoholics are just selfish people.  They value their wants and needs above everyone else.

And now lets talk about all the diagnoses for regular everyday emotions today.  How about depression?  Really?  Isn’t depression a normal part of life?  Oh, I have been told that I just don’t understand…..so and so has clinical depression.  This simply means they have good insurance and can afford one of the multitude of mood altering prescription medications available from your friendly college educated drug pusher.  I know a person who is on 3 antidepressants…..3!!!!  She is a former drug addict and alcoholic and likes to remind everyone of this, proudly.  She kicked me off FaceBook for reminding her that she is still a drug addict.  She just gets her drugs legally today.  I think there are so many people in this country now that just can’t stand to feel normal emotions.  How do you know when you feel really good if you never feel really bad?  How bout telling people how to cope without drugs.

Kids with ADHD.   Ummmm, I vaguely remember my childhood.  By today’s definition, we all had ADHD.  It was called childhood when I was growing up.  We had limited attention spans, engaged in sometimes boisterous inappropriate behavior, got antsy a lot and were disruptive whenever we thought we could get away with it.  Were we pumped full of amphetamines?  Nooooo…..we either listened  and shut up when we were told or suffered the consequences.  Here’s a clue people–kids can be annoying.  That’s part of it.  They have 10 times our energy and constantly are jumping from on subject to another.  It’s completely normal, yet inconvenient behavior.  If you don’t want to deal with it, don’t have kids.  We have now raised a whole crop of kids addicted to legal amphetamines….think about that for a second.

Anxiety.  Now it’s a diagnosis.  How do I know that? Because the last employee that couldn’t hack it at my business announced on day one that she had anxiety.  Well, honey, don’t we all?  I don’t really know what she meant.  Am I supposed to treat you differently when you  come in and announce that you can’t handle pressure?  That used to mean you were not a good fit for a high pressure job.  Now, it’s supposed to mean that employers are more tolerant of little things like taking 110 smoke breaks in a day.  Call me crazy, but doesn’t nicotine increase anxiety levels?  Isn’t it a stimulant?  Isn’t that what someone with anxiety shouldn’t have?  Oh, pshaw.  Silly me.  I was supposed to gush and avoid all conflict with said employee and go easy on her.  Problem is, I have a really good employee with no official diagnosis that works really hard.  I felt like it was more important to reward and support her behavior than it was to encourage the childish whining of someone with ‘anxiety.’

Is it any wonder people are so messed up when we have turned words like anxiety and depression, which used to be just the way we felt at times, into actual medical conditions?  Life is a roller coaster of emotions for everyone.  Except in very severe cases, anxiety and depression are normal parts of everyone’s lives.  They are not reasons to not work or not participate in life.  They are defense mechanisms to let you know it’s time to change things up.  Now, instead of figuring out why we feel that way and what we need to do about it, we pop a pill that makes us not care.  Meanwhile, if we get these things as official diagnoses, then insurance will pay the drug companies and someone gets incredibly rich….ain’t that a hoot?  What a strange coincidence, huh?

In addition to being an incredibly witty blogger, I am also a small business owner.  I have all of 4 employees.  If I had more, I might have to shoot myself.  I need not look further than my own small enterprise to see what is, in part, wrong with America.

We have become a nation of pathetic employees.  For the most part.  I have to qualify the first statement because I have had and do have a couple ‘keepers.’  I pay them very well for their position, better than my competitors in business.  I have had this business venture for about 5 and 1/2 years.   I have had over 45 employees in this time frame.  Most of them were pathetic.

The sad part about their brand of incompetence is that it is totally within their control to change.  At least half of my former employees could not show up on time.  Ever.  Not late every now and then.  More like on time every now and then.  I fire people for being late.  I realize this is not popular.  I don’t care.  I don’t want apologies. I want you to be here on time.  I don’t care about your personal life.  I want you to be here on time.  I don’t want you to get me breakfast on the way to work.  I want you to get here on time.  By ‘on time’ I mean before we start work.  I once had an employee, who knew he had to be at work at 6:00am call me at 5:57 to say he was on the way.  I reminded him that we started at 6:00am.  He replied, ‘That’s OK because my GPS says I will be there in 8 minutes.’  I think he honestly thought it was close enough.  I eventually fired him.  That was his second day at work.

Another favorite of the hapless employee is ‘I’m trying my best.’  I don’t care.  If your best does not meet my standards, then you cannot work for me.  Period.  It is not my fault and this is not a participation sport.  This is real life.  Trying don’t get it done.  Getting it done gets it done.  This has earned me several comments that I am the worst boss they ever had.  I don’t care.  I care about doing the job right.

If they last past starting time, I often find that employees feel like they can rewrite the rules at whatever job they have.  Hmmm.  I know I gave specific instructions.  Some people who go to work seem to think a boss’s instructions are merely suggestions and if they do something similar, but not what was actually asked of them, it’s close enough.  Yeah, not here.  I get blank stares and more comments of me being the worst boss they ever had when I rightfully complain that they did something I did not instruct them to do.

I am a woman.  I was born a woman.  I don’t like to hire women generally.  They can be the worst employees.  Or they can be your best employees.  Most often, they are the worst.  I can say this, because I am a woman and know how women are.  Women, when criticized, often start crying.  Some do this out of frustration and have no control over it.  Others do it for sympathy.  I am not a sympathetic person.  Remember, I don’t care.  In fact, if you are a woman and cry when I call you out for anything, expect me to get worse, not sympathetic.  If you are a woman and want equal pay, then quit acting like a pussy when you are in the wrong.  Suck it up and get over it.  Women also frequently have children.  They use these children to get off work early, come in to work late, not work holidays, ask for extra money, take extra long breaks, you name it, they use their kids to get it.  If it was legal to never hire another woman with a child, I would do it.  Unfortunately, I can get sued for avoiding some of the least productive employees out there–women with children.

Smokers should not apply for jobs.  They are usually only 10 minutes from needing a smoke break all day long.  They sneak out to smoke every chance they get, leaving their nonsmoking colleagues to do most of the work.  I call them on it and harass them constantly about their stupid habit that costs them ungodly sums of money and costs me valuable time.  Most of them are women with children.  Go figure.

The problem with most employees these days is that they think the employer owes them something.  We owe you only one thing–pay for work.  We do not owe you a better life.  We are not responsible for your life outside of work.  We do not have to do anything but pay you for work.  Your life is yours, not your employer’s.  Unless employed by family–always a bad move–your employer doesn’t really care about your problems.  They have problems of their own.  They have their own families to take care of . They have their own bills to pay.  They don’t expect you to fix their problems.

So, if you want to be a good employee and succeed.  I have a few suggestions that will guarantee you success at any job.  First, get there on time.  If you smoke, stop.  Don’t bring your personal concerns and issues to work.  Follow instructions.  It’s that simple.  Do those things and you will be successful anywhere.

So, I was born white.  I never really considered that this fact gave me any particular advantage in life.  This may be because I grew up around other white people.  They were my competition.  I had to compete against other white people for everything I wanted.  I never really worried about my whiteness until recently, when I was informed over and over that the mere act of being born white is, in fact a crime.

Imagine my shock when I found out that, even though I am not in any way affiliated with or even sympathize with white supremacists, that I am somehow one of them because I am white.  Actually, I am like most white people and we are really more of a pinkish-tannish-yellowish color.  I have seen some really white people and they are kind of frightening.  Now, I don’t know my exact heritage.  I haven’t sent in my DNA , so I can’t learn the customs of my forefathers because, well, I just don’t care all that much……and anyway, I’m white so I must be Nazi spawn or something similar.

Growing up I felt neither privilege or oppression.  I was raised to live with the cards I was dealt.  I was raised to think I could be whatever I had the ability to do.  And that is important.  I was not raised to think I could be anything….that’s not realistic.  Being 5 foot nothing and a little pudgy, I seriously doubt that runway model or basketball player is in the cards I was dealt….although Spud Webb did kinda disprove the height limitation once upon a time.  Now, imagine my surprise when I read that I was born into something called white privilege.  Really?  And what exactly is that ?

White privilege is supposed be a social status I have gained by the mere fact that I was born white and that I don’t deny being white and that I don’t claim to be anything but white(but again, my DNA was never sent, so who knows?).  I evidently won the lottery for social status and opportunity.  Could’ve fooled me.  My white privilege evidently meant I was guaranteed success because everything was rigged in my favor—and yet I am not a super model or basketball player, so go figure.  My privilege is something I should be very ashamed of.  I should admit it sheepishly and apologize for having the nerve to not reorganize my DNA inutero to make sure I was born some other color.  But, alas, bad me just came out white…maybe because my parents were white, but it could also be because I am a racist and chose to be white.

I was born with privilege.  I was born in a country where I could pursue whatever path I wanted to…but I WAS  smart enough to not try the supermodel or basketball thing.  I decided to go to college, like many others and actually completed several degrees and now work in a field of my chosen final major.  It’s not important that you know what major, it could be anything.  I was so privileged  that I had to work my way through all 3 degrees I hold.  I was also privileged enough to borrow the rest that I couldn’t come up with by working in a factory at night and going to school during the day.  I hope you all reading this realize that I am NOT being sarcastic.  I do consider it a privilege to be able to do these things.

So, am I- you may wonder- going to apologize for my whiteness and offer up my job to someone less qualified and less white?  Ah, that would be a big fat no.  I would also not expect any black or brown person to give up what they worked for simply due to the color of their skin.  No decision should be made concerning anything in someone’s life based solely on the color of skin.  No decision.  Period. Is that not the very definition of racism?  To make decisions based solely on the color of skin?

I actually read an article that Farmer’s Markets were designed to force people into ‘white eating habits.’  What? I don’t know what a white eating habit is.  I grew up in western Pa and then moved down South.  Food in western Pa is vastly different than in Georgia…..and guess what?  I found different things in the Farmer’s Markets down here than I did in Pa.  Whether or not the food up here vs. down here is white or not, I’m not sure.  What is it about a Farmer’s Market that says it’s for white people?  Was there a sign?  Is it stamped on the vegetables?  I don’t really understand all this ‘white’ bashing.

I get that perhaps a few more white people are successful than some of other colors.  There are still, however, white people in this country that live in abject poverty.  Where exactly is their privilege?  Why isn’t it considered Black Privilege for Beyonce to be as successful as she is?  Aren’t we unabashedly reminded often that white people have less musical ability or rhythm than black people?  If this is really true–and just ask most black people, they will tell you it’s true–isn’t that a privilege?  Since the NBA is populated with mostly black athletes, because white men can’t jump, isn’t that a privilege?

What they whole issue nowadays boils down to is not black and white, it’s jealousy.  When you look at other people who have more than you, you can a couple of things.  You can angrily say it’s not fair and cry yourself to sleep and wake up the next day with nothing more.  You can lash out the person who has more and make their life miserable.  You can steal what they have so that you now have it.  Or, now here’s a thought, you can find out how they got what they got and decide whether or not you are willing to do what they did to get there.

I think all of us in this country are born very privileged.  It’s up to you what you do with that privilege.  Whining and crying because someone has more than you is a losing venture.  Someone will ALWAYS have more than you, just as someone will ALWAYS have less.  If you can’t be happy with what you have, look in the mirror to determine why, at least here.  There are places on this earth where privilege does exist between groups of people and where you can never succeed unless you were born into this privileged group.  That is just not the case here.  Here, we are all blessed with American privilege.

Do you have health insurance?  It’s a valid question these days.  And, if you do have health insurance, does it cover your expenses?  Chances are, if you are gainfully employed in the middle to upper income brackets, the answer to the first is maybe, and the answer to the second is a resounding no.

I do not have health insurance.  For two middle aged adults with no current serious health issues, the premiums 3 years ago for the Bronze(ie crappy) plan was over $20,000 a year with a $7,500 deductible each.  I passed.  I have paid a fine every year.  So far, it has been a good decision because I have not gotten sick.  My husband went to the hospital a couple of months back–uninsured, for chest pain.  It turned out to be nothing, but the bill was still around $3,000 all told.  It would not have met the deductible, so we paid out of pocket.  They gave us a discount because we did not have insurance and could make a down payment…..yes, a down payment on chest pains, you heard that right.  Luckily, we are frugal, and although not rich by USA standards, we do keep emergency cash around.  So, even with last year’s fine of $2,600, I didn’t pay out what I would have for the deductible of 3 years ago.

After checking prices 3 years ago, I didn’t check again. Why should I?  Things have only gotten worse.  By now, after increasing my income by a modest amount, I have little doubt that I would have been charged even more, with an even higher deductible…..I will not do it.  Perhaps, it will ruin me.  It certainly could.  If I get cancer or have a bad accident, I will be wiped out.  I will have worked for 40+ years for nothing.  I have to take the chance though, because I refuse to pay what surely is now $30,000 a year in premiums.

So, meanwhile, there are people in this country who have never worked, or at least never paid taxes and they can get subsidies to reduce their premiums to something they can afford.  Those people are dwindling as well.  Insurance companies are learning that the ACA is a lose-lose.  They are leaving.  They are jacking up rates.  They cannot offer different levels of coverage like they used to.  They can only offer the all inclusive plan the government requires…..whether we need it or not.  Very soon there will be places in this country where nobody can afford health insurance.  And then what?

What is this.  Let’s just pay the doctors and the hospitals.  Let’s go back to a day before the ridiculous idea of insurance.  It was never meant to help us.  It’s not in the best interest of the insurance company to pay for everything.  It’s in their best interest to pay for less than we pay in premiums.  It’s a business.  Businesses must make money.  Everything has to pay for itself.  It’s ok to make money.  I don’t fault them.  It worked for a while, but not if you really got sick, then the companies got stingy.  Go figure.  We all had a false sense of security with our low premiums until we got sick.  Now, nobody has any sense of security except for welfare recipients and illegal aliens….go figure.  Even Medicare recipients have to pay premiums….wait, what?  Don’t we have money deducted from our paychecks every week to pay for our health care when we are old…go figure.

We used to hear about tort reform.  Not so much anymore….those lobbyists did their job.  You can sue any drug company or hospital for anything you want and probably win a settlement.  This is why aspirin in a hospital costs $100 a tablet.  It’s not because doctors and nurses are overpaid.  It’s not because hospitals are overstaffed, just the opposite.  It’s not because of the gourmet meals they serve.  Go figure.  When Duey Suem and Howe blow into town and win a $50 million dollar settlement for a supposed ‘bad drug,’ who do you think pays for that?  The drug companies?  Bwahaha..they just raise the prices.  The malpractice insurance companies?  They just raise the premiums.  No, the person who pays for these money hungry lawyers is the consumer.  Many of these class action lawsuits have thousands of people involved.  The lawyer has you sign a paper consenting to be a party to the lawsuit.  Say they have 50,000 people who all agree and the total settlement awarded is 25 million dollars.  Sounds like a lot right?  To the law firm it is….say 50%.  12.5 million to them.  To the 50,000 people, $250 each.  You read that right.  So, who was really helped????  Certainly not the people who are part of the class action.  Class action lawsuits aren’t like the movie Erin Brockovich.

Americans need to realize when they sit on these juries and award these big judgments, they are helping the law firms mostly.  Maybe, every now and then and individual gets a big settlement.  Then the company declares bankruptcy and nobody gets anything…..go figure.

So, lets just pay the doctors and hospitals.  You are allowed to do that.  Call them up.  Tell them you don’t have insurance but you do have money.  Save that premium money.  Not in some ridiculous government controlled HSA…which limits what you can spend it on.  Save it in a jar or a box or a savings account you control.  Understand that it may be a disaster.  There is always that possibility.  Nothing in life is guaranteed, not even good health.  Most of us will be fine.  And you will feel much better not worrying about if your insurance company will pay for things.  You sure as hell won’t be able to come out of pocket for your healthcare if you pay the premiums, you will be broke.  The best way to fix this broken system is to kill it.  Euthanize the whole screwed up system and have a novel idea…..lets just pay for what we use.  How ’bout that?  What a novel idea.  Go figure.

I am really struggling with a way to write about what is going on today.  The world, especially the U.S. is in a peculiar and disturbing phase.  People are saying all white people are inherently racist just because they were born white….but isn’t this racism?  Saying that all people who have a certain skin tone share certain characteristics solely because of their skin tone?  Is that not the definition of racism?  And it is not just black or brown people saying this, it’s white people.

I was raised to treat each person as an individual.  Regardless of where they came from, what color their skin was, what religion they followed.  If they treated me decent, I treated them decent in return.  If they were nasty to me or in general lazy and worthless, then I had only contempt for them.  I grew up in an area where there were very few black people.  One black girl in my entire high school.  So most of the people I viewed as lazy and worthless were white.  I had no opinion about blacks or hispanics because I was never around them.  Then I moved south.

So now I am surrounded by black people and hispanics all day, every day.  For the most part, they are just like the white people I was surrounded by growing up.  Some good, some bad, mostly just people I don’t even notice.  I would say that most days, I have more interactions with nonwhites than with whites.  I don’t look at them and think any differently about them than I would a white person.  If I go to Zaxby’s and get bad service, I don’t care what color you are, I will complain.  If I go to Zaxby’s and get great service, I smile and say thank you.

I get why nonwhites hate being labelled.  I totally understand that SOME of them are unfairly portrayed as lazy, stupid, etc.  But some of them ARE lazy, stupid, etc.  The same way they don’t all like to be lumped together, neither do whites want to be lumped together.  Being born white did not confer some special place in life, unless you were born white and RICH.  Labeling other groups all as one entity is never right.   Yes, I am sure that racism exists in the white population.  I am just as sure that it exists in the nonwhite population.  I worked in a factory for 6 years while in school.  I was one of  only 5 or 6 white women that worked there.  I was treated better by the black women than what they termed ‘high yellow’ women that also worked there.  I didn’t coin that phrase.  I also didn’t understand their animosity towards someone characterized as part of their group.  That is a form of racism.  They were judging her by the color of her skin.

Turning the tables may sound satisfying.  Making sure whitey gets his may sound like fun.  It doesn’t solve your problems though.  If your problem is poverty and lack of education, how does labeling all white people racist fix that?  Wouldn’t energy be better spent trying to make sure education was better and finding ways to deal with poverty that actually work?  All these protests and the money spent on them have not helped one person out of poverty.

 

So, it’s been a while since I last wrote anything and wow, have things changed.  If you are a Democrat, the sky has fallen and Armageddon is imminent.  If you are a Republican, well, your are just not sure.  Your guy won, but the world has gone to hell in a handbasket since.

It is a new world where a sitting president is NOT a politician.  Who ever thought that could actually happen?  He doesn’t care about making other lawmakers happy or appeasing the media.  He only cares about his agenda.  If you listen to CNN, his agenda is bigotry, islamaphobia, homophobia, war mongering, sexism……and whatever else they think is bad.  If you actually listen to his words—-and that means you listen to them without 20 people interpreting them for you and you listen to them in context and you listen to the whole speech–then perhaps you might see an agenda that is geared towards making this country a super power again.  He wants to make it an economic super power, a military super power.  He wants us to be leaders again.  This is a big deal.

For 8 years under Obama, we watched our leader apologize and give away power.  We cannot effectively help anyone if we are not powerful.  If we want to negotiate for someone who has found themselves at the mercy of some third world maniac, we had better have a big stick to back it up.  It doesn’t mean you have to use the stick, but you better have one.  Try negotiating with an armed robber if you don’t have a gun…….

So, the big stink since last weekend is that Trump said both sides were to blame.  Both sides were violent.  And people went nuts……why?  The went nuts because he said what everyone else was afraid to say.  He did say that Nazi’s and their ilk were bad, but he also said that there was plenty of blame to go around.  He never said that a Nazi sympathizer was justified in killing a woman, but you’d think he did by the way the news has covered it.

Charlottesville is a grand example of the Brave New World.  It’s a prime example of history being sacrificed in the name of hurt feelings.  People claim that they can’t walk past a monument without feeling oppressed……REALLY?  Maybe they should see a therapist.  Triggering is the new hobby for Americans.  They are triggered by something that hasn’t been relevant for years and years……Guess what?  It is now.  Had they ignored the monuments, like they ignore history in general, most people wouldn’t even realize they were there.  They walk right past them without reading the inscriptions or anything.  The way to kill the Confederacy is to let it die by indifference.  But congrats triggered snowflakes, you have given it special status now.  Like Japan with Pearl Harbor.  A famous quote about that was ‘you have awoken a sleeping giant.’  For 8 long years, white people or should I say sane people(because they are many, many black, hispanic and Asian, etc people who feel the same way), have chuckled at the nonsense of the fringe left.  Poo pooed it as crazies who, crazy though they are, wouldn’t directly affect them or their lives.  Then, around 2013 or 2014, it became increasingly apparent that these nut jobs had the President’s ear and many in Congress and local government as well.  And the idiocy became law in many cases and sane people said…………

The sane people said, enough is enough and elected Trump.  Flawed though he is, he rings true.  The more the media and Democrats try to paint him as a demon, the more he looks like the man for the job.  A man who doesn’t back down when ridiculous nonsense is said about him.  He just goes forward with his agenda as a single minded machine.  Because he is not a politician.  Maybe, just maybe, other politicians will realize that we are tired of being patronized and lied to and having our pockets picked.  That we are a generous and loving nation, but not a naive or stupid one.  The more they try to make Trump look bad, when he has done nothing wrong, the stronger his support will get.  The media and all the haters have made him the most powerful underdog in history.  People love an underdog.

OK, since I was recently accused of being a narrow minded homophobe, I might as well go full bore.  I looked up the percentage of the US population that identified themselves as transgender.  These figures came from an LGBT organization that published the figures on Wikipedia.  I am sure they may be somewhat inaccurate, but not totally wrong.  They estimate the percentage of the US population consisting of transgenders is between .3 and .5 %.  That’s between 1/3 and 1/2 of a person in every hundred, or 3-5 people out of every 1000.  Not a majority no matter how you slice it.  Let that sink in.

Now, the other 90 odd percent of the population who are not , are supposed to completely change to suit them.  In what world is this fair?  This country is ruled by majority votes…..we vote for elected officials who then vote on laws.  What determines which politician gets elected?  A majority vote.  What determines what laws get passed?  A majority vote.  So, the majority of people in this country would rather not give any man access to the ladies room legally.  They can still go in  if they look the part—no ogre is going to grab crotches at the door.

Let’s not get so ridiculous about  inclusion that we completely ignore the wishes of the majority.  I certainly wish any ill will on any gay or transgender man or woman.  I don’t want them persecuted or beaten.  I don’t really worry about them all that much.  I don’t feel threatened by them in any way.  It’s the deviant men I worry about.  The men that think having sex with little boys or girls or animals or forcing sex on an unwilling partner is OK.  Are these men everywhere?  You betcha!!!  To pretend that changing a law allowing them access to a totally female area will not make it easier  for them to prey on women is ridiculous.

Women get raped in bathrooms now, when it is clearly not OK for a man to be present in the ladies room.  What do you think will happen if we say it is OK for men to go into the ladies room and all they need do is say they identify their gender as female?  I have been chastised and told that no man would blatantly go into a ladies room and rape someone in broad daylight.  Really?  At my age I ahve learned not to underestimate the depravity and evil out there.  If not allowing men free access to the ladies room prevents just one rape, isn’t it worth it????

I do agree with my critic that the issue of pedophiles attacking young boys is not being addressed.  I am certain this happens frequently and I really don’t have any idea how to prevent it, other than dads or older brothers always going into the restroom with little guys who can’t protect themselves.  Pedophiles are typically cowards that are not going to challenge a grown man.  They, may, however, feel like they can challenge a woman with a small child in the restroom.

Keep it real people…….should Granny really be forced to KNOWINGLY  have men in the ladies room with her?  Is that fair to her?

I believe many stores already have private one stall bathrooms that can be utilized by anyone.  Is this not the best solution?  For a man who has not completely transitioned and still looks male, he may not be welcome or safe in either restroom.  Wouldn’t he/she be more comfortable in a private restroom?  Why try to ram this down everyone’s throats?  It is not what’s best for the transgenders.  It brings them to light and gets everyone looking for and at them.  It will stir up anger towards them that did not exist before.  Making this a big deal makes it an issue no one can just turn a blind eye to anymore.  Now all the real haters have a target.  Congratulations LGBT community.  You have effectively alienated the majority of the population when it comes to transgenders.  The majority of the population was blissfully ignorant that they were using women’s rooms.  Now they will question mentally ,and possibly confront, any female that looks a little mannish.  You’ve done well at creating a cause to chant and cry about.  Now you can be the center of attention and appear to be heroes.  And for what?  For the right to pee sitting down?  What a ridiculous fight this is and how ludicrous it is to cause people who have done nothing to hurt anyone to loose money and work.  The people of North Carolina are being punished for a law that was passed by the legislature.  I figure most of the people don’t really care.  But, as Erik Erikson says, “you will be made to care.”  They will be punished economically, even though most of them never did or said anything against any transgender individual.  They have been demonized for being the gender they were born as.  They are somehow horrible because they chose to keep the parts nature gave them……THE HORROR!!!!  And they prefer not to change clothes or in any other way disrobe in front of a member of the opposite sex unless they are in a relationship with that person.  What awful people.  They must be punished.  And they are being punished.  But I get the idea they are not going to back down this time………

 

So, seems like more and more in this country it’s not about what we are, it’s about what we want to be.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have dreams.  It’s great to strive for change in life, especially positive, progressive change.

The problem is that people want to be something they can never be.  Yes, I will go there.  No matter how much you want to be a gender that you were not at birth, at the end of the day, you are still genetically that gender.  I know that many people who have transitioned can easily pass for their chosen gender.  This doesn’t matter—born with a Y chromosone, always have one….at least for now.  Who knows what science will be able to do in 50 or 100 years.  Born short–you will always be short.  Born white, you will be white…..etc, etc, etc….the list goes on.

There is a movement today to let everyone be who they THINK they should be.  When did this country or the world for that matter, distance themselves so much from reality?  What is wrong with being who you were born?  Why can’t you be happy with what you were born with and interpret it in a unique way?  People seem to be incredibly unhappy with whatever they were born as.  Is this what we teach children nowadays?  To be so unhappy with yourself that you would endure hours of painful surgery and recovery and a lifetime of hormone treatments just to be something you think you should be?  Why not tell children instead that they can be whoever they want as long as they work with what nature(read God) gave you?  Wouldn’t people be a lot happier?

I think TV and the internet to a large extent has totally ruined the idea that you can be OK with yourself.  I look in the mirror and see an average person, and I am OK with that.  Many people look in the mirror and see someone they are so unhappy with that they mutilate their bodies to become someone else.  The problem is that you are still you.  That incredible unhappiness is likely to crop back up at some point in your life because what you changed was superficial.  You are still you.  If you had a Y chromosome, you still do.  Live with it.

Now, if you still insist on spending money that most people don’t have to become a dream of yours, that’s your choice, but did you really change anything?  Our bodies are really just clothing for our souls.  What your body does or does not look like means very little in the long run.  We will all get old and crinkly and then what?  Oh, I know, people also spend millions trying to cheat old age–won’t work.  Nature always has the last say.  We all get old and die, unless we die young.

Why not look in the mirror and say, ‘Not perfect, but OK?’  Wouldn’t we all be a little happier?  Really don’t listen to the voices outside.  People on FaceBook, TV, critics, etc.  None of their opinions matter.  NONE of them.  You can be yourself and still keep what nature gave you.  People DIE from plastic surgery.  Is it worth it just to LOOK different?  Because that’s all it is–a look.  Inside you are the same and always will be the same.  That’s not a bad thing.  Being ashamed of who you are is tragic, really.  Being ashamed enough to let someone rearrange your body parts is, in my humble opinion, STUPID.