SoOoO Much to Say Part 6 in Book Six: Trying to Hold On 2019

Alright y’all… between the Memorial Day Weekend and Work keeping me busy… this is kind of all being done at once. SO… I separated it out into various portions to hopefully make it easier to read. The best way to read this is Chronologically so… in the following order.

SoOoO Much to Say Part 1
SoOoO Much to Say Part 2
SoOoO Much to Say Part 3
SoOoO Much to Say Part 4
SoOoO Much to Say Part 5
SoOoO Much to Say Part 6
SoOoO Much to Say Part 7

BEGIN Part Six

Finally, we’re on Thursday. A day that started with a dream that I find… interesting, to say the least. As I’m writing this down after having been awake for many many hours, the specifics aren’t entirely as present in my head… but the emotions definitely are.

All I know for sure was that it was a version of What If I Had Done My Senior Year Better. So yes, a time travel-ish dream. A dream that imagined a world where my Senior Year had never experienced AKU but still somehow gave me the maturity needed to understand what it is to ACTUALLY be a good person. And through that, I had discovered a way to “Make things up to Tiffany 2”. We weren’t dating again and it would be difficult to call us friends but… things were… better. IRL, before we dated… I would enjoy our daily conversations and discussions about classes and books. After we dated… we never spoke again. In this dream, we found a healthy middle ground. We weren’t going out of our way to spend time together, but we weren’t avoiding each other either. In the dream, I was trying to pull some stuff from my locker when she happened by. She laughed and offered to help me by holding some of the books I was holding. I thanked her and handed her some large hardcover purple-maroon book that was occupying my left hand. She took it and read the cover. I thanked her again and put all of my books in my backpack. She asked, “So you’re taking Advanced Literature and Psychology this semester? Do you have Mrs. Prescott?” “Yeah,” I responded. “In fact, I’m off to that class right now,” I continued. Tiffany 2 smiled and stated, “I’ll walk with you. I’ve got class down that way anyway.” As we walked to the History/English Wing, we talked. Almost exclusively light surface stuff… books for the class, insights into the authors, that kind of thing. When we got to the door of the classroom, she stopped for a moment and started to walk to her classroom. I quickly sputtered, “Thanks, Tiff. This was nice. It was good talking with you again.” She turned and smiled at me and said, “It was good talking with you, too. I’m glad you’re healing.”

I’m blaming Anime, lol. But honestly… if I could actually keep dreaming about my past and healing through those dreams? My God, I’d be so happy about that. Not that I expect it. But if.... just if… it would be nice.

The morning drive was foggy. The roads were filled so intensely with heavy fog that I honestly MISSED MY TURN going to work today and wound up finally visiting one of the main towns in our county that I’d not been to before! Unexpected little detour. Arrived at work and instantly dove right in. Had to file an Amendment to a Charging Document for reasons of Plea Deal, followed by preparing and filing a request to modify a no contact order to allow the defendant to coordinate visits with his kids BUT only in such a way that he does not have physical access to the Victim of the Domestic Abuse. That was followed by a “Sales Pitch”. That might be a calloused way of describing it; but legislation is only passed if it has sufficient support from specific people… County Attorneys are those specific people in the event that the legislation hoping to be passed is something relating to the regulation of Criminal Law. The sales pitch was interesting in some important ways.
They were discussing a law that a few years ago, I was ardently opposed to. Truth. AND it was a Victim’s Rights Bill. So this may surprise many of you. But the underlying issue for me? Too many bills are passed as a form of reactionary over-panic. These bills are poorly written, rushed, and attempt to resolve a problem that just got media attention. This particular push was to amend the Iowa Constitution so… if you have a reactionary over-panic, poorly-written, rushed Constitutional Amendment… that is so so so so so much worse. So when it was first suggested that Iowa take this matter up, and we were offered no information about implementation or bill language, I refused to discuss it any further. True story. I simply said, “I appreciate that these victims have compelling stories that you believe provides sufficient reason for significant legal action. Without more detail from prior adopters of the law, bill language, or other information… I cannot and will not support this.”

Fast forward two years… now I’m in a community position where we actually have support for Victims. Now these people actually have 34 other states to point to and say, “This is how it worked there.” Now they have actual bill language to discuss. Now it makes a lot more sense. AND THIS (if I may be so bold) IS HOW CHANGING YOUR MIND IN PUBLIC DISCOURSE SHOULD BE. At first I said I was against a proposed change in legislation because I would not support something that was “ephemeral, undefined, unspecific, and vague.” Because if those words apply, you can just about guarantee that it is a BAD law. Two years have passed with an entire National and State team to prepare information, write sample bill proposals, and do the leg work. NOW I feel more capable of supporting the proposed change in legislation because the law is NOT “ephemeral, undefined, unspecific, and vague.” That is how “changing your mind” should work in politics. PAINFULLY and there aren’t enough different ways in a thesaurus to emphasize the level of PAINFULLY) that is not often how minds are changed in modern political discourse. Pathetically, sickeningly, disgustingly… it just boils down to “Political Party.” As in the example of: McConnell backed GOP screamed about deficit spending for 6 years under Obama as if it were the worst thing this country could ever do; then Trump takes over and the McConnell backed GOP are more than happy to deficit spend like a drunken sailor on shore leave at a Thai pleasure palace!

There was something else of note about the Sales Pitch. The two individuals that came in were young women (one 24, the other between 25 and 35) dressed in cute professional clothes. Both were from Des Moines and were intelligent and well spoken; paralegal, political operative, engaged with the community and the systems of government. And I don’t know if she was looking at me because I kept looking at her or if I kept looking at her because she kept looking at me… but the 24 year old certainly caught my eye. Shorter skirt, made up face, very cute hair, cute face. I don’t know… it just… granted, she’s 11 years my junior… but it was one of those things where… if we were the same age… meeting in a less professional setting… with less restrictions overall… I would have definitely wanted to ask her for her number.

AND THEN… OF COURSE… NIGHTMARES OF YESTERDAY.
Remember the exhausting phone call I had yesterday? Where I specifically said call this number on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday before 11 because those are the days I can promise a judge is here?! She showed up today. Thursday. And rather pounced on my boss. And had him trapped in a 30 minute “monologue/conversation” whereby she states that she showed up to the courthouse at 11:30 and they told her that she likely wouldn’t be seen by a judge today and should turn herself in to the sheriff’s office but she didn’t want to do that because who would take care of her son when he comes back from school and this is the whole reason she called last night and Chris said to just come to the court today and she did and this isn’t good because YOU DON’T KNOW what she’s been going through, I mean you have to understand she’s distraught from being arrested the first time, and there was a death in her family, and her daughter is dating an abusive man, and she has a young son, and there are mental health issues in her family so really the issue is that she doesn’t know what day it is and didn’t realize that she had to be in court Tuesday because she thought she had to be in court Wednesday but she missed court on both Tuesday and Wednesday and she had to quit her job on Wednesday and there’s no way that she can sit in jail overnight and have to get her mugshot taken because that would be so embarrassing and there really must be something that can be done to help her avoid all of that.

So Boss comes upstairs. It is 12:35. He left for lunch at noon. He made it to his car before she pounced. He asks me to call over to the Clerk of Courts to see if we can’t get this sorted. Here’s what the Clerks tell me: “We already talked to her and had a judge talk to her. She has to turn herself in to the Sheriff’s Office before anything can happen. I don’t think there will be any judges here this afternoon to expedite the process.” So I tell my boss, “Exactly as expected. If she’d done any of this on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday as I told her to do… we could get this taken care of. As it is Thursday, all we can do is call the Sheriff’s Office to arrest her. OR we can pretend that we never saw her, remind her that this will go better for her on MONDAY, TUESDAY, or WEDNESDAY, and she can go home and come back on ONE OF THOSE DAYS. Boss hung his head and said, “Okay. If I’m late coming back from lunch, it’s because this lady wanted to talk at me for another 40 minutes.”

Politics Item: Going back to changing your mind in Political Discourse… Oh My Fucking Hera!! Mitch McConnell is entering absolute SUPER VILLAIN bull shittery. Some of you may know that I was slowly and slowly becoming less Conservative in Law School… but do you know what pushed me entirely into the “I am leaving the Republican Party and never coming back!” camp? Merrick Garland. Mitch McConnell and the GOP basically saying, “There’s this thing in the Constitution that lets us confirm or not confirm Supreme Court Justices. But we don’t want to do either one because fuck Obama. We’re just going to refuse to do our job this year.” That… boils me up. AND THEN McConnell said in an interview that blocking that nomination was “the happiest moment of (his) life.” THE FUCK?! So… going out of your way to intentionally NOT do your job… is the best thing ever. Fuck you, you partisan hack. NOW, though… there is a potential for a repeat. A mere 4 years later you have a situation where a Supreme Court Justice might pass away or retire. SO… after 8 years Mitch McConnell made DAMN sure that Obama only got 2 nominations to the Supreme Court. Asked recently if he’d stick to those principles in next year’s election year, should a Supreme Court Justice need to be replaced; Senator McConnell said he would absolutely make sure the Supreme Court Justice was replaced during the election year. So… it has nothing to do with Constitutional Law. It has nothing to do with one president nominating too many justices. It had nothing to do even with it being an election year. It was entirely due to political, party-politics bullshit! A Senator essentially stating, “I ignored the Constitution for the benefit of my own political power” should be fired… or arrested… or executed for treason.

Politics Britain Item: Speaking of Super Villains… Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage. Okay, I’ve openly admitted before that I was a Tory supporter in many elections and in many policies. Obviously, I’ve changed a bit from that. But more importantly… Boris Johnson is an idiotic homunculi given life magically when a fart came into contact with a megaphone. As to UKIP and the outright bullshit that was being invented and spread to pass the Brexit Vote (ignore facts, figures, and truth: Britain needs this!)… I believe Nigel Farage is an archetype Bond Villain that would create a necessary fragmentation of the universe by trying to destroy England from within so Bond has to quit the Agency and fight to overturn SPECTRE and Nigel Farage’s evil plans. So… that’s how I feel. Thus it was never that much of a surprise that Trump fucking loved these men. Trump, who has openly admitted this, is naturally “more in favor” of people who look like him. I honestly believe that Donald Trump thinks Boris Johnson looks like that because “Boris wants to be me so badly!” As to Nigel Farage? Well… if James Bond is the epitome British Spy… XXX is epitome American Spy. Consider it.
Bond does things with a certain British class that relies on talking, delivering information, and appearing to know what you’re doing. Nigel Farage may have been talking out of his ass; but he was talking, delivering information, and appeared to know what he was doing.
XXX does things with an almost ADHD sense of focus, doing “the most extreme” things he can until ultimately the Russian helps him succeed. Donald Trump most certainly approaches everything with an almost ADHD sense of focus, doing “the most extreme” things he can and was ultimately helped into the Presidency by the Russians.
So… it is no surprise that Trump has stated (direct quote) that he sees Johnson and Farage as “friends” and “good guys”. That being said? YUCK pew and pass. When (if ever) are we going to find some bloody super HEROES to fight this plethora of Villains?

Politics Item: And then of course… the Creme de la Creme of bullshit, treason and fuckery!! Because HOLY FUCKING SHIT. Bob Mueller doing his best to state himself diplomatically… being translated by the President and his supporters unintelligently… because unless you say, “Horse faced unfuckable pig” apparently they don’t understand!

Let’s break it down. Robert Mueller for the most part simply reiterated what his report said. So why would he do that? BECAUSE BILL BARR DID NOT ACCURATELY STATE THE FINDINGS OF ROBERT MUELLER! Mueller basically said, “Exonerated. No crime. Go Home.” What MUELLER SAID this week was
There ABSOLUTELY WAS an orchestrated attempt by Russia to meddle in our elections. Every intelligence community in the United States and the World agrees and the Special Counsel investigation concurs.
There was insufficient evidence to conclude that the Trump Campaign knowingly or intentionally colluded with Russia in their campaign to interfere with the US Election.
If the President had NOT committed a crime, we would have said so. However, as it relates to obstruction of justice, we have not said so.
The Department of Justice, which remember is run by Bill Barr, will not allow for a President to be criminally charged with anything.
That is all.

For those who don’t speak diplomacy, I will now translate those statements.
Statement One: Russia tried to fuck with us and denying that is completely idiotic.
Statement Two: We’re not saying Trump and his people DIDN’T help Russia fuck with us, we just don’t have enough evidence to say that they knew what the hell they were doing.
Statement Three: The President absolutely committed Criminal Acts namely Obstruction of Justice.
Statement Four: The only reason I have not officially charged Trump with a crime is because I am not legally allowed to.
Statement Five: So if our country was in ANY WAY functional, y’all would impeach this guy and kick his law breaking ass to the curb.

But… of course… our system IS super broken. Trump’s mouthpiece immediately started to say, “No collusion with Russia. No cooperation with Russia. The President has been entirely cleared of wrong doing.” FALSE but then, you know that. Trump, in his usual calm and not at all spoiled brat throwing a tantrum way, decided that he was going to shout all over his Twitter and whatever Fox News Program he could book that Robert Mueller is a bad dude who was totally conflicted on this and should never have begun this illegal investigation. For those who are familiar with those words… I would strongly encourage you to do some unbiased scholarly research on those claims. I’ll try to help here. Robert Mueller, prior to his turn as Russia Investigator, was one of the most highly respected and unbiased registered Republican members of the FBI for years. He led the FBI under presidents of DIFFERENT political parties because he was considered to be a man of even keel, always pursuing justice, and letting the evidence and facts speak for themselves. Robert Mueller was above reproach in every way. So of course, a man as mired in scandal as Trump besmirching Robert Mueller is exactly like when the Elementary School Bully says that the good kid “isn’t playing nice cuz he won’t let me cheat off his test!” As to the conflict that Trump has repeatedly brought up, at every opportunity, and in every way.... it was a dispute about fees at a Golf Club. Robert Mueller, as attorneys are required to do, brought the Potential Conflict Issue before the Ethics Board to get a ruling on whether this was considered to be a Conflict. The non-partisan, legally scrutinized ETHICS BOARD said essentially “this is not a conflict, this doesn’t even rise to the level of maybe being a conflict. We understand why you brought it before us, but you really didn’t have to.” Things to say about this: (1) Trump believes that ANY connection to him causes a conflict of interest; HOWEVER constantly berated Jeff Sessions for admitting a conflict of interest due to a personal connection to the Russia Investigation. So for those playing at home: Trump believes that HE should be able to decide whether someone has a Conflict of Interest or not. (2) The Ethics Board has sent hundreds of memos to the Trump Administration saying, “You guys are out of compliance. Rein this shit in. Please.” And the Trump Administration has continually said, “They have no enforcement power, fuck them, we can do what we want to!” So now that the Ethics Board has ruled saying, “THIS is ethical” the Trump people are saying, “See, they suck. They say that what we think is unethical is ethical while the whole time they’ve been saying that a lot of what we’re doing is unethical!” Of course lacking any sense of self-awareness to realize that the Ethics Board is using the same rubric for all of it. In other words… Trump is behaving exactly like every criminal I’ve ever prosecuted. He was caught committing a crime. His first defense? “No I wasn’t. Couldn’t have been.” So you produce evidence. “That doesn’t prove anything. Everybody knows the cops hate me!” So you produce more evidence, paper proof of criminal activity. “The prosecution is biased. The system is rigged. A good man can’t get a break!” So you say that you’ll take it to court where you can show the evidence and proof. The Criminal says, “Everybody does this. It isn’t a crime. It shouldn’t be a crime! I did nothing wrong! This is a smear job by dirty people.” In short… the President of the United States is now entirely indistinguishable from a mutli-convicted Felon facing new charges.

As part of this, Trump in his usual “Twitter hates me so much! I use them 898,292,2938,485,091 times a day and even announce policy on twitter but they’re mean to me.” way.... well. Trump has openly disagreed that Russia had anything to do with the election. He has constantly claimed that “many bad people” interfered with the election but then often states, “if Russia did anything, it was to help Hillary.” All of this despite every intelligence community on the planet and especially every intelligence report in the United States being VERY clear on this matter. Including the Mueller Investigation… remember Statement One: Russia tried to fuck with us and denying that is completely idiotic. AND YET… Trump has repeatedly attempted to deny this. Which is also why the “no collusion” finding confused so many people. If Trump isn’t working with the Russians… then why the hell is he so passionately defending them and licking Putin’s ass?!!?

Well, today, for the first time, Donald Trump seemed to admit that Russia helped get him elected. Admittedly this is more of a GOTCHA Twitter Story and not real news or really anything of consequence… but it could be? This morning one of his billion twitter posts said:

Russia, Russia, Russia! That’s all you heard at the beginning of this Witch Hunt Hoax…And now Russia has disappeared because I had nothing to do with Russia helping me to get elected. It was a crime that didn’t exist.

So as a general matter… on message. He’s saying Witch Hunt, he’s claiming that people no longer care about Russia (which is painfully stupid but then he always has been) but what people are pointing to is the fact that he said “Russia helping me to get elected.” Which the FBI, CIA, MI6, etcetera have all said definitely happened but which Trump has repeatedly said, “Nu uh!” Again… despite American intelligence agencies and federal prosecutors having long concluded that Russia tried to influence voters.

Later, expectedly, he walked the comment back in a conversation with reporters stating, “No, Russia did not help me get elected. You know who got me elected? I got me elected. Russia didn’t help me at all.” The typical (1) idiocy, ignoring intelligence reports; and (2) arrogance, completely discounting the American People. I know the supporters gleefully say, “he’s not polished, he’s not a politician, that’s why we like him! tee hee!” But frankly that kind of arrogant statement is the shit hackneyed High School sitcoms do. Like they get the Class President to admit that they don’t respect the students. You may even be able to imagine the scene. The Hero of the Story is talking to the Class President. The Hero says, “But what about those promises you made to the student body?” right before switching on the intercom. The Class President says, “Those promises mean nothing. They didn’t help me get elected. I DID! I got myself elected! I’m the only one that matters!!” You can see that scene easily in your head, yeah?
(Last Part about any of this: I would never be so foolish as to claim that Mother Jones is unbiased. CLEARLY they have an agenda and a motivation. BUT this may be worth reading relating to Mueller’s statements).

Politics: Sorry. Last intentional bit of Trump Bullshit Politics. But folks, please hear me… I’m not some GOP-Hating Anti-Trump Nutjob just trying to bash him because my life sucks. I am an educated, politically active, centerist that advocates for the rule of law, the importance of education, the need for mental health care, the honor of our military, and the vital importance of infrastructure. And Donald Trump as President of the United States has befouled the rule of law, grossly devalued education outright diminishing the very idea of information, and has done everything in his power to turn a country called US into an altar to HIM.

Case in point? The United States Navy does not use their twitter account with nearly the same velocity that Trump does. The Chief Officer of Information last tweeted five years ago. So if they say something… it is for a reason. The story?
Donald Trump (or someone in his entourage to Japan) expressly be requested that the USS John McCain “not be in view at any point of the President’s trip to Japan.” Before we discuss this in any way… can we just stop here to say BECAUSE OF A PETTY GRUDGE WITH A DEAD MAN, YOU ARE REQUESTING THAT THE UNITED STATES NAVY MOVE AN ACTIVELY DEPLOYED DESTROYER VESSEL?! What the fuck?! The Navy is not a party favor, nor a parade presenter, nor a matter of convenience. If the Destroyer Squadron 15 within the Seventh Fleet has a reason to be in the vicinity of Japan, you had better have a DAMNED GOOD STRATEGIC REASON for requesting anything from them! Obviously, luckily… the request was denied. It was also revealed that the request was not “get this ship out of sight” but an even more immature “simply drape something over the name so it can’t be seen.” Really? Like you’re hiding the High School Year Book from your friend because the cover is a picture of her ex? That’s where we’ve hit in US Politics? However, that isn’t the end of it! It was also reported that the warship’s crew members, who have “USS John S McCain” on their caps, were sent home for the long weekend, along with the crew from another ship. When some of them turned up to watch Donald Trump’s speech anyway they were turned away.

Here’s where the story stays (or gets) Trumpian. As THE FUCKING PRESIDENT… if Donald Trump had not requested the move but someone from his entourage had, the President should (at least publicly) say that they are sorry and embarrassed about that request as the United States Navy is a well-respected and noble group of men and women and it is inappropriate to do something that would ever cast aspersion onto that good name. But President Donald Trump is a sub-literate petulant child who never met an immature mud-flinging he didn’t want to be a part of. So instead of denouncing the move as unnecessary or immature or anything of the kind… he stated, “Now, someone did it, because they thought I didn’t like him. OK? And, they were well meaning, I will say. They thought they were doing me a favour because they know I’m not a fan of John McCain.” And that’s it. That’s what he had to say about “someone” requesting that the name John McCain be banished from vision during the President’s visit?

Politics: White Rapper Asks, “Why are people now saying white men are evil? There is an attack on white culture and masculinity throughout this whole country right now!” People agree. However it would also have been better to say, “Convicted Felon guilty of Domestic Violence, Attempted Murder, and Rape Asks, ‘Why are people now saying I’m evil? It’s because I’m white and a man! That’s the only reason.”

I’m almost sick of these stories but they’re so important. Friends… if and when there is a legitimate concentrated attack on Masculinity and Whiteness… you’ll hear me from the rooftops! And I’ve signaled instances of caution before. So I’m not saying everybody needs to shut up. I was specifically barred from getting a job once because I was a man. The female hiring said specifically, “There aren’t enough women in this company. It is my goal to bring in more women. I’m not promoting a man from within the company to this position if I can hire a woman from outside the company.” So I’ve been there! And I’ve called it out. But this whole push that “Treating women like people” is “An attack on men” needs to be silenced. This whole push that “Other races besides White matters” is “an attack on whiteness” needs to be silenced.
Little tip for you:
If you are put in jail for something and you are a White Man then see 50 other Black Men do the same crime and simply pay a fine? Then we can discuss the attack on Whiteness.
If you are a White Man and you are ignored when you speak at work or as a victim of a crime while your White Female Co-Worker gets credit for all of your ideas or your White Female Attacker is released without charges? Then we can discuss the attack on Men.