Happy Birthday, Captain Chaos

 Today is his Birthday!

Why use a serious photo when a Halloween photo from a couple of years ago is available? 

Remember, remember the 25th of November... (with apologies to Guy Fawkes Day)

Thanks again to our pal, Bob, for this reminder of an important day coming up! 

Another important thing to remember is not to hoard items in advance of the economic blackout. Increased corporate profits received prior to the boycott will dampen the effect of the economic blackout.  I know Black Friday sales and Cyber Monday are tempting, but try shopping local and supporting small businesses. If you can support local restaurants, instead of corporate chains, that's support! We can all find a way to join this economic blackout. For folks concerned about Christmas shopping, take the opportunity to explain to family and friends WHY gifts this year might not be "the latest, greatest, I saw it on TV" and WHY people across this country are trying to make a difference! This might be the year to visit local small bookstores and purchase from there instead of buying on amazon or shopping at target, etc. Check out an online supporter of small bookstores! They support 1900 local bookstores, and I think you can find one near you.

Not everyone can call out at work for the entire time or even for a day, but we can all find a way to make our power felt!

A real OG

 The MITM (aka creolebebop) was watching clips from Casablanca and said I should post a pic of his Dad in his anti-fascist uniform:

My father-in-law and the MITM's Dad

Let us not forget the men and women who fought bravely against the rise of nazism. 

I know it isn't Memorial Day, or Armistice Day, or Veterans Day, but hearing Rick's words about why he's joining the fight made me wonder how the actual fuck MAGA people can support The Fat Git and his cabal of vulgarians as they tear this country apart piece by piece all the while celebrating the very thing their fathers, mothers, and grandparents fought against? How does someone like that look at photos of family in uniform, medals in shadow boxes, flags folded in memorial boxes, and then raise an arm in a nazi salute?

How indeed?

Language or say what you mean and mean what you say*

 I propose that we start using the correct and full names for people, places, and things. You know, like the:

 Affordable Care Act, instead of Obamacare.

Anti-fascist movement, instead of Antifa

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, instead of SNAP

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, instead of ICE

And all the rest of the alphabet agencies.

Of course, we can't forget

Dipship Deplorable Degenrate Detained Donald, instead of President!

Using acronyms instead of agencies or people's actual titles or names makes us enured to what these groups actually do or are responsible for. The oppressor wants us to think in shorthand, using their terms, their words, so we stop thinking. 

The book 1984 was not meant to be a primer, but to serve as a cautionary tale!

I think I'm going to stop referring to you-know-who as TFG and calling him what he really is, The (monstrous) Fat Git!

*I actually wrote this last night after reading the online New York Times, but didn't publish it because I knew it needed (a LOT) editing, which I did this morning when I wasn't so pissed off  angry.

Halloween 2025

 The scariest things today are currently in the White House, the House, the Senate, and SCOTUS! Everything else pales in comparison.

*********

My hope for Halloween, tomorrow's All Saints' Day, and Sunday's Dia de Los Muertos is that ALL children and their parents can safely experience, in the traditional spirit of those days, grace and kindness from those agencies that would do them harm.

But on a lighter note, please don't hand out packets of candy corn if you see me at your door!

Yesterday was a bit of a rant, I know.

 Some days, it doesn't take much to send me off the rails/into the deep end/screaming into the void, and yesterday was just that. (in case you hadn't noticed) It did raise my spirits to see that I wasn't alone. Other folks were "mad as Hell and not gonna take it anymore." I mean, y'all still read my ravings, even if you don't comment. And we're all the kind of folks who, if we disagree, will speak to the issue/ask questions civilly. I also know that if the differences are too great or harmful or just downright ugly, we will just quietly unfollow because this ain't no airport with departures announced.

Today is Thursday, and I'm feeling much better, but I'm still mad about what TFG is doing. Until he's departed these mortal coils, that's life as we know it.

Get ready to put y'all's spooky on cos it's almost here!

Wednesday or how much farther can TFG diminish the US on the world stage?

 Out of regard for my own personal mental health, I've taken to only reading headlines and the first paragraph of news stories. The MITM, being much more emotionally secure than I, fills me in on important details. Sadly, the videos of TFG in Japan have made the "front page" of messages I've received today. How many more incidents involving Dementia Donald must we endure before he's relieved of duty, so to speak, and sent to the assisted living care facility he so desperately needs? Rhetorical question, I know!

We're days away from Halloween, with the most frightening horror set for November 1, when SNAP benefits will not be released, and 40 million Americans will have to decide whether to pay bills or buy food. If you can't see the immorality of that, or have never experienced the fear of living paycheck to paycheck, then I'm not sure what I can say to you. An old high school friend recently wrote about how, when she and her husband were young, they experienced his job loss and her struggle to make items to sell at local shops, so they could have enough to pay bills and feed their small children. They managed to get by using food stamps until he found a job. Government assistance made the difference for them, as it did for many others. When we lived in Ohio while the MITM finished college, while working a full-time job, and thanks to the information our pediatrician gave us, we were able to sign up for WIC (Women, Infants, and Children)* program to augment our food budget, making sure our 3 small children received adequate nutrition. In those days, you had to separate the "allowed" foods from the rest of your items and had to hand the teller the required coupons. This procedure signaled you out as "a welfare recipient" and, sadly, ALWAYS caused some sigh of disgust from others in line. Government assistance helped not only our little family, but also families across this country! Right now, the USDA is sitting on contingency SNAP funds that they say can't be released, but the contingency fund was set up so that benefits would NEVER be denied during a shutdown of the government!

I am absolutely livid that this country, which has always seemed so full of promise, has degenerated into a new Gilded Age, where once again, the rich are getting richer and the poor (and our depleted middle class) are falling deeper and deeper into poverty.

How can we, as a country, celebrate Thanksgiving knowing so many will go hungry?