Politics Corner October 6

   

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photo mine

My new American Express card showed up a day late and it's been surprising how complicated it is to update my finances.

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Politics Corner October 5

   

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photo mine

I guess at least we're not in Siberia. We just  have measles and magnetic personalities.

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Politics Corner October 4

   

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photo mine

If I knew that this was happening in Milwaukee I might have done something rash. Trump scum think they can talk trash about Harley-Davidson in Milwaukee. That's a firm red line. And you would think that even dumb ass Sean Duffy would know to keep his mouth shut. Nope. He doubled down on blaming Canada for dairy tariffs. The first time Trump put dairy tariffs on Canada Wisconsin took a huge hit. That was a US Representative from northern Wisconsin, by way of MTV's Road Rules. He was a dumbass then. He's a corrupt dumbass now. [WISN]

via WISN

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Politics Corner October 3

    

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photo mine

I'm at Harvest Fair. Tell me how the Republicans fell apart today.

via Pinterest

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Politics Corner October 2

    

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photo mine

Big Bend is safe for now. [Texas Tribune]

via Texas Tribune 

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Politics Corner October 1

    

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photo mine

I've spent too much time today worrying the Cornell rape case. Yesterday it was capital punishment. I'm not bringing you good news but I hope that different bad news will suffice.

There is was a law that mandated that states attempt to integrate people with disabilities into general society. This was too much for states like Texas who sued the federal government. Trump's "Justice" Department declined to defend the law and now a judge has struck all references to integration. This leaves people with disabilities at the whims of the states. States like Texas would be free to lock people away in sanitariums rather than allow them a dignified life. [NPR]

via NPR

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Politics Corner September 30

    

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photo mine

Money's too tight to mention.

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Politics Corner September 29

    

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photo mine

Sometimes I doubt my commitment to Sparkle Motion.

photo mine

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Politics Corner September 28

    

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photo mine

Sometimes the Great Lake has its own ideas.

photo mine

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Politics Corner September 27

    

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photo mine

As the brow furrows. [ProPublica]

 via ProPublica 

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Politics Corner September 25

  

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photo mine

I have plenty to talk about. I watched the first Brendan Fraser mummy movie tonight and Imhotep reminded me of a dessicated Trump until he started collecting body parts.

I saw the Footloose musical last night and was surprised to love it. One big change was that Ren and his mom were black. It was never addressed and yet it was always present. As half of an interracial couple, that is exactly how life is. It's almost never an issue at home. It's almost never not an issue when we're out. We were front row center so it was easy to turn around and see how white everyone was.

The theater has a thrust stage, the director is a choreographer so the cast was almost dancing in our laps.

via NightOut

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Politics Corner September 23

   

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photo mine

The Swifties are coming from inside the house and I'm about to scream. I'm understanding P!nk's point of view right now. No. No one else is allowed to tell me what makes me angry. No one else is allowed to tell me what drags back long buried fears, terror, dread. This is my history. It shaped who I am so if you like me now then know that I will accept NO excuse for using "Patient Zero" in a pop song. Ever.

You wanna dance on Trump's grave? Good. So do I. That'll probably piss off a lot of people and I won't care. Trump deserves all of the shit he gets and more. Putting "Patient Zero" into a zombie movie? That's apt even though with 11% on Rotten Tomatoes they didn't do it right. It still blames the victim but this one started a zombie apocalypse so whatever.

The original "Patient Zero" was made up by Randy Schilts for his early history of the AIDS Pandemic. How early? The word AIDS hadn't clicked yet. People were still calling it gay cancer or GRID -- Gay Related Infectious Disease. I believe Schilts had good intentions and meant to show how a virus in one part of the world could have devastating consequences worldwide. He did not even write it in such a sensational manner as say The Hot Zone. He didn't have to. The story was dramatic enough.

And the Band Played On had a culture shifting reach. It terrified those of us at risk. It emboldened all of our enemies from the President down to the school board. The media was rolling in ratings demonizing us. Our families kicked us out to the street to die. Major cities lacked hospitals to take us in. Insurance would not cover us. The government only might step in, might, after we exhausted everything we owned. And then we were given poison because no company would research treatment and the government outright refused to pay for research because we "deserved to die."

ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) had a slogan: Silence = Death. It's corollary: Action = Life. It was true then and it's still true. It applies to many more things than just AIDS. I live my life by that. I live my life in honor of those who have gone before me. And I sure as hell ain't gonna be silent now.

I was there.

my best friend Jay had bones broken by Chicago police

we didn't find out until after waiting hours for him to be released from jail

Sandra Johnson, being interviewed in the still

she was awesome, we went to Atlanta to protest at the CDC

this is the world we lived in in the shadow of "Patient Zero"

we were the enemy

our lives meant nothing

if the virus didn't kill us then the police and all of society was waiting in line

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Politics Corner September 22

   

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So it's fall. Shall we talk about how far we've fallen? It seems that we've done nothing but that. At the moment the press is shocked, shocked I say, that the leopards are eating their faces. There is plenty of blame to go round but the press must bear the bulk of the weight for where we are now. If they had treated Trump remotely like they treated Biden then Trump would have been politically weak. If, when covering Biden falling off his bike, they pointed out that Trump has likely never attempted to mount a bike and there isn't a bike that could carry him, then maybe they would not have hounded Biden out of office. Looking back it seems clear to me that Biden intended to resign when needed and install Harris as our first female President. But the press wanted Trump. So we got Trump. Suddenly the press does not like leopards.

photo mine

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Politics Corner September 21

   

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One of the reasons that the wedding last Saturday was one of the happiest that I've been to? This was their first dance. It was a production but a loose one and they relied on each other to get through it. I laughed and cried all the way through. I wasn't the only one.

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Politics Corner September 20

   

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photo mine

You would think that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department would find it easier to comply with the court order banning racial profiling and requiring monitoring of the department's behavior until they can show three consecutive years of good behavior. You would be wrong.  This dates back to a lawsuit against then-Sheriff Joe Arpaio in 2007. Current Sheriff Jerry Sheridan was Arpaio's Deputy Sheriff and has long been deeply connected to the racial profiling. It's no surprise that Trump's justice Department wants to end the monitoring and leave the county's million and a half Latinos at the mercy of the unrepentant Sheriff's Department and the militarized ICE. [ProPublica]

via ProPublica 

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Politics Corner September 19

   

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Politics Corner refuses to hear bad news. I'm at a very happy wedding. So happy that I was willing to dance to Eric Clapton with my partner. "Wonderful Tonight" but still fucking Clapton. It didn't hurt at all.

photo mine, cake theirs

 

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Politics Corner September 17

   

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I'm feeling like a rose.

I'm feeling like an orchid.

Politics Corner September 16

   

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Enough is enough.

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Politics Corner September 15

   

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Someone needs to invite me to a formal event. Nothing since before COVID.  I'm running out of space to put things that I want to wear.

I'm focusing on first world problems because all the other problems, personal or worldly seem unsolvable at the moment. It doesn't mean that they are. Distraction can be nice.

photo mine

Glamor by Michael Calloway

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Politics Corner September 13

   

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Still being judged. I think this will go on as long as Trump and cronies make decisions in my name. I don't know if I will ever rub out that stain.

photo mine

judgment nature

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