Under Cherry Trees, Under Blossoms in Book Seven: Reconstruction 2020

Today is one of those days where I go back to the Old way of writing in this. You see… what I’ve tried to do lately is focus on reading rather than writing. Granted, my prolific writing and my lack of notes likely doesn’t provide sufficient proof of this but I assure you it is true. I’ve decided that as my life is entering a slight bout self-imposed limbo (trying to keep my life drama free, focusing on my own health and healing, pushing forward steadily)… the best way to prevent wallowing is to experience others. Thus the focus on reading over writing. That being said… I’m still… bloody old fashioned. I mean, I’m not so old fashioned as to be my parents who still hold to the axiom that anyone you aren’t speaking with IRL is a con artist.... but I’m old fashioned enough that without the nonverbals, I’m never quite sure how to respond. I try to do a lot of the heavy lifting in my own expressions via my eyes, tone of voice, and facial expressions. So… sometimes I’ll read and almost never note simply because I’m reading to “catch up” with my Online Stranger Friends but we’re not exactly “holding a conversation.” Though… that being said… my difficulty with holding text conversations with those I’m not already familiar will become an issue that needs resolution if/when I begin attempting to date in earnest.

ALL of that preamble being said… today is a day where I must return to the old way of writing before reading. Because there is much laid against my heart and my mind today.

Last night, I was settling in to the couch after taking Nala for a long walk and a spot of play at the frozen over dog park. I was sipping some much deserved hot cocoa and Martha was about to sit down as we watched Brooklyn Nine Nine’s new episode (Jimmy Jabs!!) Before we could begin, however, Martha received a call from her parents. A call in which I was close enough to overhear quite a bit of the conversation before Martha decided to move into the bedroom to speak with her mother.

Now, I shall say again… Martha is the only daughter, the only child of my In Laws. I understand and appreciate that their concern is for her and her alone. They wish to make sure she is not being taken advantage of “by the hotshot lawyer” and they want to make sure I’m not bullying her or convincing her of anything against her best interest. ALL OF THIS I intellectually understand. BUT… I am still hurt and a little disappointed about their response to all of this. THOUGH… also a reminder of how Martha and I are different as we compare how my parents are different from hers.

My parents wrote letters to Martha encouraging her and making sure she was aware that our family was in her corner and wanted to make sure she knew how much we all cared about her despite the Separation. Until she had a date on Valentine’s Day before moving out of my house… which pissed them off and made them wonder aloud “What the fuck is wrong with her?” MEANWHILE, it seems my In Laws are taking… the opposite approach. The more… shall we say… traditional divorce approach. The “take him for what he’s worth, get what you can” vindictive approach.

Because most of last night’s conversation was trying to convince Martha that she should not move out of the house… that if Chris is the one that is upending your lives, he should get the hell out because this is his decision! Now… again… from a certain point of view… that is entirely fair. But from a more knowledgeable, logical, and understanding perspective?? Not so much. You see… this may have been my decision… but this isn’t one of those scenarios where The Man is divorcing because he has a mistress… or wants a hotter, younger wife… or is having a midlife crisis. This is one of those scenarios where the man has invested emotionally, intellectually, and financially into trying to make the marriage work for a long time and The Woman has proven that she is not really all that interested in things changing. I get that Martha isn’t exactly likely to tell her parents that. Instead she told them that she doesn’t have a job and it makes more sense for the mortgage to be absorbed by Chris who has a job. Her parents were quick to remind her that she could live in the house AND make Chris pay the mortgage. That… bothered me emotionally. That isn’t so much “what is best for our daughter” thinking as it is “how do we punish Chris” thinking. Furthermore, consider the point logically. Chris’ job requires him to live within a specific 570 square mile location. Martha… is simply taking a few classes. And that’s it. Technically… if she wanted to stay going to school… she has almost the entire globe open to her. Hell, she could try for Oxford or Trinity College Dublin or… anywhere. If she’s not going to do schooling and is going to work instead? It would be in her best interest to leave this area and go where jobs are far more abundant and far more lucrative! So… as far as “who is more required to remain in their current geographical position?” It would be me.

So… it just feels like whatever they think they are saying or trying to do? What they are actually saying or trying to do is “Martha, kick him out of his house. Take as much time as you want figuring out what you want to do in life. Then sell the house.”

I suppose if her parents’ perspective has always been “take as much time as you want”… no wonder Martha never makes a decision or makes a move. If “as much time as you want” is all of it… then she’s never learned that sometimes in life… you have to act quickly or think quickly or you’ll lose everything.

It just… it bugs me. Especially as Martha isn’t feeling vindictive. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think this is her parents saying, “Someone else was going to take care of her, and now we have to worry about whether she can take care of herself again!”

Work was massive this morning. Trailing off for the afternoon but… bloody massive this morning.

Sit down at my chair and acknowledge that there are 3 big things I want to do this morning. But before I can work on that… ring ring, goes the phone.

Clinically Psychotic Patient with Court Orders is on the other line. He wants me to see him, in private, at a place of his choosing, to go over the commitment papers he was served. He is required to receive an injection of medication every month to keep him from being a danger to himself or others. He has stopped going to those appointments and has been off of his medication. He is refusing to take his medication. He is a danger to himself and others. I will not be meeting with him in private at a place of his choosing. I encourage him to contact his attorney or speak with his medically appointed Mental Health Advocate. He is very frustrated that I won’t just “do this for him” and is upset that “the government always makes things worse.” After he hangs up with me; I contact his attorney and he calls every other government office in the county to try to bully or intimidate them into meeting him in private at a place of his choosing. So… yeah. Just… one more fun thing to deal with.

After that experience… I get to review, investigate, and file on a brutal child abuse case. And this one comes with photographs and a video. Chilling. Heart-wrenching. Brutal. The young girl is off camera begging, crying, screaming for her mother to stop. Her mother, full of rage, screams “I haven’t even begun yet!” The young boy holding the camera phone turns it on himself and documents the welts and the black eyes. I understand anger. I can appreciate rage. But I can never wrap my head around this kind of thing. It just seems so… excessive. So heartless. Tough to watch.

Ring Ring. Moving from brutal child abuse tooooooooooo............ incest sexual assault.
HERE is a hard issue.
Parents discover their son is molesting their daughter. They act quickly to make sure the children are in therapy. Therapist is a mandatory reporter and alerts DHS. DHS alerts me.

Why is this a hard issue? Because the parents did not and do not want charges pressed against their boy. And we don’t want to punish or discourage people from taking their kids to therapy if/when they need it.

But… seriously? I’m sorry, folks. Seriously. I’m sorry, folks. Your older son was sexually molesting your younger daughter for 7 months. You didn’t know. You didn’t intervene. She was victimized. When you caught it… you reacted by trying to protect your son. And even in his therapy sessions… he’s claiming he did nothing wrong… exploring isn’t a big deal… he’s a guy and this is how things work. And if he’s getting that attitude from home, you’re DAMN RIGHT we need to intervene. If he isn’t? I would HOPE THAT YOU WANT US TO INTERVENE. Because this “child” is 9 months away from being an adult. And if this almost-ADULT is thinking that he can sexually assault young girls because he’s “exploring” then… what do you think is going to happen in three years? Do you WANT your son to be the kind of guy that rapes a drunk girl… cuz this is how that starts out. “I do what I want. No big deal.” And nobody makes him realize that isn’t acceptable. SO… now I get to deal with sexual assault of a juvenile… again… this would be our 9th or 10th charge of “sexual assault of a juvenile” in the last 5 months?? Near around that.

Unfortunate.

TOPIC 1

The Intelligence Community of the United States is supposed to be clandestine. It isn’t the kind of industry where you are supposed to know most of what they are doing. BUT FOR THAT VERY REASON it has been a long standing tradition that the heads of the various Intelligence Departments meet for one day with Congress and on camera and on the record give an accounting of what they have done, what they are doing, and what they have uncovered.

For a fictional example: If the C.I.A. discovered that Kim Jong-un had established a third party corporation attempting to buy worldwide distribution rights to Winnie-the-Pooh; they could reasonably extrapolate that North Korea was attempting to make some kind of cultural overture to become closer with China. Information the Senate would want to hear.

THIS YEAR, it was cancelled. The One Day was scheduled for February 12.
Now… there are TWO reports as to why this likely was… and I, for one, believe BOTH OF THEM.

First Report: The intelligence community had prepared their documents and submitted their written findings to the Administration (as is norm) in preparation for the One Day. In these written findings, the Intelligence Community broke harshly with President Trump’s official stance on North Korea. The Intelligence Community had found NO EVIDENCE to suggest that North Korea had begun limiting their weapons capabilities and had found NO EVIDENCE to suggest that North Korea had altered their Nuclear Weapons programs at all. In fact, evidence suggested that North Korea was continuing to attempt to produce ICBMs that could reach past Hawaii and were still actively trying to build and test missiles that could reach “as far in-land as Nevada.” Further, all evidence suggests that North Korea has ultimately ignored any and all attempts to slow or halt Nuclear Weapons programs. TRUMP. WAS. PISSED!! He had expressly stated over and over again that North Korea was cooperating, was standing down, and was doing what he had asked. AT NO POINT was information to be shared that would disagree with those statements. NO MEMBER OF THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY WAS PERMITTED TO SHARE FINDINGS THAT DISAGREED WITH TRUMP.

Second Report: The intelligence community had prepared their documents and submitted their written findings to the Administration (as is norm) in preparation for the One Day. In these written findings, the Intelligence Community reiterated their assertion that 2016 Election Interference had come from Russia. Worse still, they had uncovered a number of successful attempts from Russia to hack political opponents of Donald Trump and spread misinformation in much the same way as 2016. TRUMP. WAS. PISSED!! He expressly told the Intelligence Community that he believed Ukraine and China were responsible for 2016 and that even if Russia WAS getting involved in the 2020 race, the Intelligence had reported the hacking was helping Trump’s re-election so under no circumstances should such actions be considered hostile to America or in any way negative. THEN Trump gathered a handful of his Republican faithful and informed them that they were to disavow and disregard any “Intelligence Community memos” about Russian interference because it was all “Schifty Schiff” being a sore loser.

Both of those reports have been leaked to credible media like APR, NPR, NYT, and others.

Now… you could agree with Trump and say “Of course those are leaks, they’re made up. Fake News Media just dragging my name through the mud again!”
Or… you could use your discernment. Let’s say that you are a member of the Intelligence Community. You are in possession of information that expressly states that our country is vulnerable to attacks by North Korea and Russia. When you report your findings to the President, the President tells you to “shut the hell up” and then cancels the ONE TIME A YEAR where you are allowed to inform the American People of your findings. If you were that member of the Intelligence Community… would you shrug your shoulders and say, “Narts. Guess I’ll go back to my desk” or would you try to get that information in front of the American people no matter what?!

TOPIC 2

This is likely a moot point. MANY decades ago, before most modern celebrities were born (lol)… there was an attempt to ratify a new Constitutional Amendment. The amendment read, in its entirety, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” I’ll spare you all of the really boring stuff and summarize by saying: this amendment was being sought after a number of Supreme Court rulings found that while Race be given strict scrutiny under the Constitution, Gender need only be offered moderate scrutiny. To translate: if a law looks discriminatory… if it discriminates based on race in anyway… the Supreme Court will likely deem that law to be unconstitutional; however if it discriminates based on gender in anyway… the Supreme Court will likely, but not always, deem that law to be constitutional. The “Equal Rights Amendment” sought to make it more difficult for laws to be passed that would discriminate on the grounds of gender.

In order for a bill to become a Constitutional Amendment; one of the requirements is that it must be ratified by 38 states. Recently, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.

Hurdle 1: The original deadline was in the 1970s. The most recent deadline was in the 1980s. SO… if and when this goes to court, because that is how this will get decided… one of the primary arguments will be “Can a bill be ratified if such ratifications fall widely outside of the required deadlines?” Honestly, as a matter of law, the bill is likely dead on these grounds alone.

BUT JUST BECAUSE OF A PROCEDURAL HURDLE doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make damned sure to shame the states that continue to actively sue to prevent Equal Rights Amendment from going forward.

Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Nebraska and South Dakota are still adamantly resisting the Equal Rights Bill and are using tax payer money to do so. Remember… these are state governments that are struggling to fund public education, (NE) pay for Child Protective Services, or function productively for their constituencies. But by God, it is important to make sure resisting “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex” by any means necessary.

Obviously, you’ll note that the four states resisting are deep red states. AND here’s where I take the most exception to their resistance. The bill merely provides a pathway to the Supreme Court. This bill does not guarantee equal pay under the law… it does not pave the way for Gender Fluid constitutional protections. It merely provides a better guideline to the Supreme Court that says if a law is discriminatory based on gender, the Supreme Court will likely deem it unconstitutional. But of course… that is what these States want to prevent. If we can’t control women just because they’re women… how are we going to justify trying to control them?

TOPIC 3

All political parties have members within them that make the entire party look totally bat shit insane. Humans are a wide variety of people and in any group, you can find at least one member who acts irrationally, aggressively, and/or inappropriately.

But, and I’ll acknowledge my own biases and perspectives here… is it my imagination or are more and more GOP Candidates for things in the Age of Trump just proving to be wholly and utterly batshit insane??

Between the PizzaGate bullshit to the pro-Alt Right dangers to the “Nazis are good sometimes” horror to the QAnon is totally real! to the DeepState bullshit… it just seems… what the fuck is going on with GOP Candidates these days?!?

(From: Yahoo)
Republican House candidate Danielle Stella is trying to achieve… getting elected to Congress while being wanted by the law.

Stella, one of the five Republicans competing for the right to take on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) in November, has been wanted for months on an arrest warrant for felony shoplifting. Even while facing arrest, though, she’s managed to achieve a respectable fundraising haul—nearly $84,000 as of the end of 2019—and built up a following on social media, where, well, she’s made some waves.

Stella first stirred the pot in July over tweets suggesting she supports the QAnon conspiracy theory, which claims that Trump is engaged in a ceaseless secret war against high-ranking pedophile-cannibals in the halls of power. At the same time, The Guardian reported that she had been arrested twice in the Minneapolis area’s Hennepin County on shoplifting charges, including an allegation that she stole $2,300 from Target.

Stella insisted she didn’t break the law. According to records, though, Stella failed to show up for multiple October court hearings about her alleged felony. After Stella missed another hearing, a judge issued a still-outstanding warrant for her arrest.

Stella is facing obstacles beyond the courtroom, too. In November, Twitter suspended her campaign account after she repeated a fringe allegation that Omar is an Iranian government asset and claimed that Omar “should be tried for #treason and hanged” if the allegation was true.
(End of Excerpt).

And honestly… I’ve got to ask… how did we get here?! I mean… tragically, I do know the answer to that. We defunded public education, turned the internet loose on people who believe Nigerian Princes and Shadowy Cabal Myths, and elected a President that spends more time discussing conspiracies and lies than any other topic. We’re in a perfect storm of the absolute stupidest and most paranoid being in control. And… we HAVE TO do something about it!!!!!

TOPIC 4

I stumbled onto a quickly becoming classic argument today.
“Electoral College versus the Popular Vote.” This argument is increasingly being pushed by Political Ideology anymore. Which, in a way, makes sense. Rural America is mostly land, not people. So they want to make sure the power of their votes isn’t diminished. Urban America is mostly people not land. So they want to make sure the power of their votes isn’t diminished. In the current system… an individual Californian’s vote is worth less than 1 vote. In the current system… an individual Montanan’s vote is worth more than 1 vote. SO… an Urbanite might hate the Electoral College System because it makes their vote worth less than 1 full vote; but a Ruralite would hate the Popular Vote System because it makes their vote worth less than it is worth now.

But let’s really break down what this means in real numbers. By now the impeachment issue is done, dusted, and an embarrassment for both parties. But a popular thing that was being shared after the final votes were cast? “The 48 Senators who voted Impeach represent 18 million more people than the 52 Senators who voted acquit.” And that’s true. AND should be disturbing.

Break that math down. 4 less senators equal 18 million more people. Which directly means that each individual person represented by those 48 senators has less power/importance than any individual person represented by those 52 senators.

SO

People say “Popular Vote would make it so only California, New York, Florida, and Texas votes matter” but forget that under the current system because of Gerrymandering, the only votes that matter are the 50 million in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Florida. In other words… randomly selected states because “Oops, we didn’t fuck up their electoral representation as badly as other states”. Besides, does voting matter? If there are 327 million votes… and only 50 million matter… only 15% of the country matters. But lets pretend ONLY California and New York and Florida and Texas votes mattered. That’s 110 million votes that matter… out of 327… or 34% of the country matters. IN OTHER WORDS… if we are going to continue to live in a system where only 25% of the States matter… why are we selecting those states by “political voodoo” as the current system has been called… and making only 15% of the population matter… as opposed to a more representative system in which if only 25% of the States matter… at least that represents more than 1/3 of the entire country.

While I respect the current system, it has been abused to the point where it needs to be taken down and fixed. IF the House of Representatives had not become partisan gerrymandered by both parties to a FUCKED UP POINT… Electoral College would still be acceptable. But that’s gone now. We have states where 51% of the population voted Democrat in the last election… but of their 4 House Representatives, 3 are Republican. System’s fucked. And demanding that we don’t approach reform because “Electoral keeps rural communities valid” is a stupid and bullshit argument.