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.

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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.” ?”

 

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Bringing you news from the Left today.

Who Shot Laura Carleton?

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.

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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.

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You wanted a Left voice. In this matter, I’m Left, I suppose. I don’t think my health records (or yours) should be available across state lines for prosecution. I don’t think that an AG in Tennessee should be able to prosecute you for something done in another state that is legal in that state. If that makes me a Leftie, well, then I suppose it’s time for me to just go full on blue. Damn it.

Angry rant with links below the cut.

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“The Court’s decision most immediately affects institutions of higher education — and sends a clear message to the mostly Black and Hispanic students who have been shut out of elite schools.” – Forbes, Corrine Lestch.

The other day, the Supreme Court decided to effectively end the use of affirmative action for universities, an action which will trickle down into businesses and other areas. This is something that I’ve long felt was overdue. The ability for Blacks to force schools and businesses to accept and/or hire those who are not qualified for the job is racist to the Nth degree. It’s also not necessary, and harmful for PoC to be treated differently. That’s literally why we added the 13th Amendment.

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You know the story of the City Mouse and the Country Mouse, right? The City Mouse comes to the sticks to visit his Country cousin, and makes a lot of disparaging remarks about the rural nature of Country Mouse’s life. So Country Mouse visits the big city, and discovers that it’s dangerous, dirty, and confusing. Sure, there’s food and entertainment, but he quickly realizes it’s much better in the country.

This story comes to mind every time I start thinking about big cities like NYC or Chicago, Boston or Baltimore.

The problem, as I see it, isn’t so much that the city is dangerous, dirty, and confusing. It’s more that the city has so many people jammed into it, like sardines in a tin, that there have to be Extra Special Rules to keep it all moving. In the country (rural areas, and even suburban areas), there’s more space. That space allows for more home-made “social lubricant” and less rules.

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