Where a Hispanic Catholic, and a Computer Geek write about Gun Rights, Self Defense and whatever else we can think about.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8jrL4hu/
Not everyone is interested in going on to tik tok. I do, however, highly recommend watching this video.
Mike Rowe is an all around fantastic person. He’s an eagle scout, and entrepreneur, and a huge supporter of getting kids into the trades. I absolutely adore the man and everything he stands for.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. ??
Twenty-two years ago, some Bad People did a Very Bad Thing. That thing resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, some the day of the VBT, and some weeks or years after.
On the morning of 9/11, I had just gotten home from a night shift. I went online to chat with friends, after getting my kid off to school, and people started telling me someone was bombing NYC. I thought it was bull, but I went and turned the TV on. I tuned in just in time to see the second tower hit. It took a long time to register what I was seeing was real.
I had friends who worked at the Twin Towers. I had friends who had kids in the daycare next door. I had friends who were supposed to be on flights to NYC to be at the Trade Center that day. I had friends who worked in or near the Pentagon. I had friends who lived very close to where the plane went down in Pennsylvania.
People often ask, where the hell was “god” that day, when so many good people died? I try to explain, God (Goddess, The Many and The One) was busy. God was there with the people who took down the plane in PA, giving them courage. God was with those who stumbled blindly down smoke choked stairwells at the Towers. God was making sure some people were sick and missed their train, plane, bus, and weren’t there when they should have been.
One friend was supposed to be in the first tower, getting ready for a presentation. He missed his flight due to a sick kid. Another friend was supposed to be in THAT wing of the Pentagon that day, but she was home sick herself. Another friend was supposed to be driving under the bridge pretty much at the moment the plane struck the Pentagon, but he had pneumonia and was safe in bed. A couple of friends were supposed to be on one of the flights that hit the towers, but got bumped or missed flights.
I’m not trying to minimize what happened, but it could have been so very much worse.
Right now, half my social media is spouting “Never Forget!” and the other half is talking about how traumatic it is to bring up old news and trauma like this. I believe they’re both right.
I will never forget what I was doing, where I was, or the weeks after 9/11. It was a terrifying time.
There’s something else I’ll never forget, either. For a few days, we were One Country, One People. Everyone stood together. Differences were set aside. Religious leaders of opposing sects worked together to sort through the rubble. Medical professionals gave their all. Emergency services went above and beyond. Aid poured in from around the world.
For one shining moment, the Very Bad Thing had shown us what we could be, if we worked together. We weren’t ready to make that our reality, but it showed us. What has been seen can never be unseen.
And that’s why I tell my kids about it every year. That’s why I talk about it here and other places on social media. When I say, “Never forget!” I am referring to what happened after the dust settled, not the planes and the horror.
Never forget, we have the ability to work together, to set aside all our petty differences, if we really need to.
A number of years ago, I had the unfortunate responsibility of being the first person that a child told about sexual and physical abuse. I don’t regret one moment being the kind of person who that child felt comfortable (or at least less uncomfortable… such talks are NEVER comfortable) enough to talk to. I do regret that it was a talk that had to happen. That led to three years of horrible re-victimization of the child, as the courts wended their way through the course. The abuser ended up in jail (the Special Jail, way up north, and good riddance), and he’ll be there for the rest of his life. His sentence came to over 200 years. But I’d much rather the child never had to go through it at all.
I don’t know how many of you have ever been through a sexual assault or rape case (for adult OR child), but it’s a shit show. Basically, the person who was abused and harmed in one of the most intimate and trust-breaking ways ever, is forced to talk about what happened to them, in front of what amounts to an audience. Then they have to be questioned by their abuser’s lawyer, who brings up what they wore, how they acted, and what they said. They have to listen to their abuser tell them and that audience that they are just drama queens, liars, and sluts.
Did you know that if a rape or assault victim goes to therapy during the whole court process (anytime before the abuser is convicted), that their private therapy notes can be read openly in court, and used against them? It’s true. Did you know that their lawyer tells them that they are not allowed to emote in court? They’re supposed to simply sit there, with no emotion at all. Emotion can cause a jury or the judge to see things in a bad way, so they’re just supposed to be robots, basically. Did you know that their abuser’s lawyer can ask them questions like, “Did you ever get sexually aroused during the sexual activity?” and “Isn’t it true that you dressed that way to provoke sexual feelings in my client?” These are questions I have personally heard asked of someone who was 11 at the time her abuse began.
Today’s article is a heck of a ride. Buckle up, my friends. I’m sure some of you will agree with me, and others will not. Regardless, it’s an interesting and informative (and horrific) story that needs to be told, because I firmly believe it’s happening on many fronts. As with everything I write about, there are problems on both sides, and blame, and shame.
Virginia School Kept Teen Transition Secret
A Virginia high school student ran away from home and was sex-trafficked through multiple states — in part because her high school failed to tell the child’s parents she identified as a male and was relentlessly bullied for it, a suit alleges.
Anytime a media outlet starts with “sex trafficked through multiple states,” you know it’s going to be a shit show. I feel so bad for the child involved. There are so many failures in this, at so many levels, that it’s really difficult to lay it out. I’m going to try, though.
To take this further down the rabbit hole, the below post was from the Book of Faces. I had originally responded to a Dem friend’s statement regarding Republicans and hate (I do not have permission to share her post or the resulting comments, unfortunately). I am sharing it here, along with my commentary that I moved to my own wall. I am so tired of the yawning maw of division.
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On another wall, a discussion was ensuing. In an effort not to pee on that person’s virtual carpet, I am bringing my part of the conversation here. No, I do not have permission to share what the other people said. So the only “side” I can present is my own, sadly.
I wrote (as a response):
“So it’s a lot deeper than that. And reducing it to what you did basically is repeating what you think they’re doing to you. How does that fix anything or make anything better? I’m not Republican and I’m not Democrat, because of statements like this on both sides. It’s also why I don’t talk about politics with people very often. There are tons of nuances on all sides of this and I agree with some of what the Republicans have to say and some of what the Democrats have to say. Largely though, I don’t agree with either side has to say, and I’m frustrated and tired and depressed over watching people that I love reduce really complex issues that have real facts and feelings and depth to them, to basically… “They are bad and we are good.” ?”
Bringing you news from the Left today.
Carleton was a shop owner in California, who hung a rainbow flag out front of her store. Up until a couple of days ago, no one knew who she was. She was just a little shop owner. She liked rainbows, was LGBT positive, and had nine kids of her own. No one seemed to dislike her. Until a few days prior to her shooting, when a douche-canoe named Travis ripped down her flag and said some rather hateful things. When she put up a new one, he came back and shot her.
At this point, there isn’t anymore to the narrative. The official reason for the shooting was “anti-LGBT hate crime.” Near as I can tell from the reading I’ve done, there was no specific beef between Travis and Carleton, beyond her love of everyone. He posted a lot of off-color stuff, rather hateful, on his social media. Beyond the usual Right commentary on abortion being bad, he also talked a lot about how sinful and war-mongering someone was if they were pro-abortion or pro-LGBT.
First, my apologies. It’s summer, which is my Very Busy Season. Things will slow down after September. I’m trying to drop this quicker than I normally would, so you have something from me.
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When you sit down to read a book for fun, would you rather read something like Hammer’s Slammers or Monster Hunters Inc… or a diatribe on the health of oatmeal for breakfast?
I choose books based on whether they have things in them that interest me. I like science fiction, fantasy, some detective things. Sign me up for Heinlein novels, Harry Potter stuff, Sookie Stackhouse and Merry Gentry. I love the Cadfael series. All of these have characters that may have started out seeming normal, but very quickly showed they were not.
That’s because books aren’t written about the normal people. After all, who would read it? It would be boring.
I got up this morning at 7:32am. I read news on my phone for ten minutes while waking up, then stretched for a few minutes, and headed down to make breakfast. I was very tired after a long weekend camping, so I decided to take a nap. I napped for just shy of two hours, and I’m feeling better. I did some paperwork for a company I work for. I made eggs for lunch.
Isn’t that dryer than a popcorn fart? I mean, really.