I Plan to Be Here Now for the 4th of July Weekend. No Travel. No Buying Gas. No Airport Madness. I'm Already Here and it's Great!

In my Suburban neighborhood, the families go out in the middle of the street and set off fireworks... It's a giant block party... And out in the middle of the street is probably the safest place to play with fire... Considering that it's hot and there's a drought and California has tendency to burn like crazy... 

I'm certain that on TV news there will be reports of people who are unhappy at the airport... They should have flown on a Jefferson Airplane instead... DUH... 

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“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Rich White Men are created equal, [NOT Blacks, Women, Indians or Landless Peasants] and that they are endowed by their Creator [Named Jesus, Allah, Yahweh, Odin, Thor, KRSNA, Buddha or a Thousand Other Names] with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” [Unless your Pursuit uses Marijuana or Psychedelics as a Sacrament] - DANG... So Many Disclaimers... Was This Written by a Freaking Lawyer?

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And then I read on the internet... 

https://www.tumblr.com/power-handmaiden

When I was in high school I had a literature teacher who had a policy of unlimited extra credit. All you had to do was read a book by a notable author (his discretion) and have a little chat with him after school to prove that you read it. No limits, no need for variety (one month I decided I really loved Kurt Vonnegut and just read everything of his I could get my hands on).

Yes, I was tearing through books constantly, and talking to this teacher at least weekly. Because even though I always loved reading as a kid, literature was always a very weak subject for me in terms of a teaching-to-standardized-test school setting (I just do awful on "what color were the curtains" type multiple choice questions. Those details don't stick in my memory THEY JUST DON'T). But that didn't matter for this class. I could just read my way out of any bad test score. I have always had fond memories of how I "fudged" my way through that class and "abused' the extra credit policy.

I was thinking about it again today, and only just now realized that he absolutely tricked me into being well-read, while my teenage self thought I was totally getting away with something. THAT MOFO! I hope he's doing well.

Dear Diary 2020 Edition:
In January, Australia caught on fire. I don’t even know if that fire was put out, because we straight up almost went to war with Iran. We might actually still be almost at war with them. I really don’t know, because Jen Aniston and Brad Pitt spoke to one another at an awards show and everyone flipped the fuck out, but then Netflix released Cheer and everyone fell in love with Jerry, but then there was this thing happening in China, then Prince Harry and Megan peaced out of the Royal family, and there was the whole impeachment trial, and then corona virus showed up in the US “officially,” but then Kobe died and UK peaced out of the European Union.
In February, Iowa crapped itself with the caucus results and the president was acquitted and the Speaker of the House took ten years to rip up a speech, but then WHO decided to give this virus a name COVID-19, which confused some really important people in charge of, like, our lives, into thinking there were 18 other versions before it, but then Harvey Weinstein was found guilty, and Americans started asking if Corona beer was safe to drink, and everyone on Facebook became a doctor, who just knew the flu, like, killed way more people than COVID 1 through 18.
In March, shit hit the fan. Warren dropped out of the presidential race and Sanders was like Bernie or bust bitches, but then Italy shut its whole ass down, and then COVID, not 1 through 18, officially become what everyone already realized, a pandemic, and then a nationwide state of emergency was declared in the US, but it didn’t really change anything, so everyone was confused, or thought it was still just a flu, but then COVID not 18 was like ya’ll not taking me seriously? I’m gonna infect the one celebrity everyone loves and totally infected Tom Hanks, but then the DOW took a shit on itself, and most of us still don’t understand why the stock market is so important or even a thing, but then we were all introduced to Tiger King. (Carol totally killed her husband), and Netflix was like you’re welcome, and we all realized there was no way we were washing our hands enough in the first place because now our hands are dry and gross.
In April, Bernie finally busted himself out of the presidential race, but then NYC became the set of The Walking Dead and we learned that no one has face masks, ventilators, or toilet paper, or THE GOD DAMN SWIFTER WET JET LIQUID, but then Kim Jong-Un died, but then he came back to life… or did he? Who knows, because then the Pentagon released videos of UFOs, and we were like man, it’s only April….
In May, the biblical end times kicked off historical locust swarms and then we learned of murder hornets and realized that 2020 was the start of the Hunger Games, but people forgot to let us know, but then people legit protested lockdown measures with AR-15s, and then sporting events were cancelled everywhere, but then people all over America finally reached a breaking point with race issues and violence. There were protests in every city, but then people totes forgot about the pandemic called COVID not 1 through 18. Media struggled with how to focus on two important things at once, but then people in general struggle to focus on more than one important thing, and a dead whale was found in the middle of the Amazon rain forest after monkeys stole COVID 1 Through 19 from a lab and ran off with them, and either in May or April (no one is keeping track of time now) a giant asteroid narrowly missed earth.
In June, science and common sense just got thrown straight out the damn window and somehow wearing masks became a political thing, but then a whole lot of people realized the south was actually the most unpatriotic place ever and actually lost the civil war, and there is a large amount of people who feel that statues, that they don’t even know the name of, are needed for…history reasons, but then everyone sort of remembered there was a pandemic, but then decided that not wearing a mask was somehow a god given right (still haven't found that part in the bible or even in the constitution), but then scientists announced they found a mysterious undiscovered mass at the center of the earth, and everyone was like DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH IT, but then everyone took a pause to realize that people actually believed Gone With The Wind was like non-fiction, but then it was also announced that there is a strange radio single coming from somewhere in the universe that repeats itself every so many days, and everyone was like DON’T YOU DARE ATTEMPT TO COMMUNICATE WITH IT, but then America reopened from the shut down that actually wasn’t even a shut down, and so far, things have gone spectacularly not that great, but everyone is on Facebook arguing that masks kill because no one knows how breathing works,
—but then Florida was like hold my beer and let me show you how we’re number one in all things, including new Not Corona Beer Corona Virus, Trump decides now is a good time to ask the Supreme Court to shut down Obama Care because what better time to do so than in the middle of a pandemic, but then we learned there was a massive dust cloud coming straight at us from the Sahara Desert, which is totally normal, but this is 2020, so the ghost mummy thing is most likely in that dust cloud, but then I learned of meth-gators, and I'm like that is so not on my fucking 2020 Bingo card, but then we learned that the Congo's worse ever Ebola outbreak is over, and we were all like, there was an Ebola outbreak that was the worst ever?
In July…. Aliens? Zeus? Asteroids? Artificial Intelligence becomes self aware?
And there's still an election that will determine the future of democracy coming....

It is becoming harder and harder to exist in a country where cruelty has become so normalized that people justify it because of one man in power. Every day, thousands of people on my page tell me they’re skipping meals, struggling to survive, watching their families fall apart, losing lifelong friendships, and wondering how they’re going to make it through another month. At the same time, strangers tear each other apart in the comments as though human suffering is entertainment.
That is not leadership. That is division by design.
A good president does not convince neighbors to hate one another. A good person does not make millions of Americans feel like they no longer belong in their own country. Leadership should unite people through difficult times, not reward cruelty and encourage people to see anyone who disagrees with them as an enemy.
So let me ask a question.
If you knew that the babies you are fighting so hard to “save” would one day grow up to be Democrats, criticize Donald Trump, or refuse to worship your politics, would you still want them to be born?
Because the way many of you speak to those exact people in my comment section tells a very different story. You mock the poor. You belittle disabled people. You shame the hungry. You ridicule anyone who needs help. You treat people who disagree with you as though they deserve to suffer.
If your “pro-life” ends the moment that life disagrees with you, needs assistance, or votes differently than you do, then you are not pro-life. You are pro-control.
All of this is happening while that same "man" has been found liable for sexual abuse in civil court, convicted on multiple felony counts, and continues to face questions surrounding unreleased Epstein-related records and a justice system that still has not held every responsible person accountable. Meanwhile, he continues to label political opponents as “enemies,” invent new insults, and fuel a culture where cruelty is celebrated and empathy is treated as weakness.
There is no version of good leadership that depends on convincing half the country that the other half is evil.
What makes it even harder to understand is that many of the people defending all of this wrap themselves in Christianity and claim it is justified because they oppose abortion. They proudly call themselves “pro-life,” but they don’t want to feed the child once that child is born. They don’t want that child to have a birthday cake. They don’t want struggling families to receive food assistance. They accuse disabled people of not working hard enough. They accuse elderly people of not working long enough. They call poor families lazy instead of acknowledging that millions of Americans are trapped in a system that often makes it nearly impossible to get ahead.
If you truly value life, how can you ignore the lives already here?
So I’ll ask the question one more time.
If you knew those children would grow up poor, need government assistance, become disabled, or vote against Donald Trump, would you still fight just as hard for them to be born?
Because judging by what I see every day in my comment section, it doesn’t seem like you would.
You say you want more life, but you don’t want to support that life, feed that life, protect that life, respect that life, or even listen to that life once it grows up and starts thinking for itself.
Make it make sense.