cyclonefence
cyclonefence's JournalThe most bizarre thing
happened last night while I was posting to DU. Our TV turned itself on--my husband had gone to bed 20 minutes earlier, and the cat was with him--and what was on was totally hard-core porn. I mean, everything. In the corner of the screen it said "for coyotes only" or it might have been "cougars" but these ladies were too young to be cougars.
I ran upstairs to tell my husband, and he said "just turn it off" and went back to sleep.
I tried to check the screen that tells you what channel you're watching, but that screen wouldn't come up--just more fucking and sucking. I tried pushing the "record" button but that didn't work, either.
We don't subscribe to any porn channels (that I know of!), and besides, if we did, it would show on the menu screen, right?
A wonderful Christmas present, I guess.
Yesterday I got a thank-you postcard
from John Fetterman--a printed note thanking donors for their help. I really appreciated it, and I don't think I've ever received such a thank-you before from someone running in an important race.
I also got a thank-you note from a local guy who lost, which I also was grateful for.
These guys, by a simple act of good manners, have assured my support in future elections. Like Grannie said, "thank you notes mean more presents next time."
I've stopped watching cable news
ever since I had a conversation with this guy who's helping me with the yard who is a conservative and who I suspect voted for Trump. He says these things that I know are not true, and when I ask him how he knows these "facts," it always comes back to Faux News. But then, I thought well I tend to take what I hear on CNN or MSNBC at face value, so it's not really fair for me to accuse him of letting someone else tell him what to believe.
So I've been watching C-Span, which shows a lot of legislative activity, so I can honestly tell him my opinions are absolutely my own.
As a side-effect, I've seen some pretty interesting things. This Senator Scott, an African American Republican from SC was inveighing against scams perpetrated against the elderly, saying that older Americans are cheated out of millions of dollars every year by phony telephone calls from "Social Security" or "Microsoft" or someone telling them a nephew is in trouble and needs $5000 wired to this number right away.
I think there is a fair number of old folks posting here, and often such scams are mentioned. Every time, someone here knows what's going on and tells us to beware. So I was eager to hear what Senator Scott was proposing to protect us senior citizens. The answer, of course, is nothing.
He was proud to remind everyone of the federal scam hotline, which has a telephone number that doesn't spell NO_SCAMS or something so you could remember it--has anyone here ever heard of such a hotline? I sure haven't. So here we go again: it's up to the victim to solve the problem. I was hoping to hear that the FCC was cracking down on the spoofed caller IDs, the misleading pitches--the outright lies--that trick so many old folks into sending money where we shouldn't. Why can't there be some branch of a government agency to pro-actively go after this multi-million dollar problem--why are the victims responsible for reporting these crimes. Well, it just pissed me off.
My husband and I are working on rapprochement with Trumpers in the family
Cousin Claire is the biggest offender, and she was uninvited to Thanksgiving anyway because she refuses to be vaccinated. But Claire's absence means no Cousin Susan or Nephew Ronnie (a child preacher grown up (!) who likes to sing hymns, and I do, too, so I really miss Ronnie). My brilliant husband took his sister and brother up to see Claire and Susan the day after Thanksgiving with two dozen raw oysters. The sisters were giddy with joy; I don't know if it was seeing someone in the family or getting the oysters.
This was my husband's idea, and everyone else was waiting here with bated breath, afraid he would lose his temper and ruin the whole expedition. My husband's telling Cousin Claire she was stupid for supporting Trump was the breaking point, and this was a nice was to start to heal that wound. But he controlled himself right up to when Claire started telling him about cars that could run on water, but they can't be manufactured because everyone who tries to get a patent is murdered. My husband stood up and said "Well, Happy Thanksgiving," and he and his siblings left. A close call.
I grew up with fast cars
My father collected fast cars, and he taught me to use them responsibly. I took Driver's Ed and all the safe driving courses AAA offers. I drive fast only when the road is clear of other traffic. I enjoy this sport, and I do it safely.
If you substitute "guns" for "cars" you get the justification some gun owners use to justify their possession of firearms. Responsible gun owners are well-trained and use their guns only in safe situations, for sport or hunting, both enjoyable recreational pursuits for them.
If I drive my fast car, even under the safest circumstances, when the highway is otherwise totally deserted and no one can possibly be injured by my indulging in this recreational activity, I am still subject to laws regarding the use of cars. If a cop catches me enjoying myself this way, I might end up in jail. If I modify my car so that it can go even faster than it was designed to go, I will at least be fined.
There is really no reason on earth that I should be allowed to use a car in this way, unless it's on a supervised track that's not open to the public, a club if you will, where we aficionados of dangerous driving can indulge ourselves without killing school children.
I see no reason that guns should be available for recreational use, including hunting, unless their use is similarly regulated. Target shooting (which is what my hunting friends say is the reason they own pistols as well as rifles) takes place in specially designated locations, and hunting is restricted to clearly demarcated regions, away from human dwellings, schools, churches, etc. Anyone carrying a loaded gun of any sort outside of these areas is subject to a high fine, imprisonment on a second offense (with seizure of all weapons and a lifetime ban on gun ownership).
It makes no sense that the lives of our children are being valued less than someone's need to pursue a hobby, no matter how safely it is carried out. The bad apples have spoiled the barrel for sensible gun users; they must live under draconian regulations because their recreational choice has been taken over by nutcases, and organized gun owners have not done anything about it. They've lost their chance to plead their case--it's too late.
Anybody else getting calls from "your local Medicare representative?"
I get a couple of these a week. The caller invariably has an accent from the subcontinent, and that alone makes me suspicious.
When I ask them what they want, they want to "make sure I'm getting all my benefits," at which point I hang up.
I'm sure it's a scam to sell me a knee brace or something (I love *those* calls--"do you have knee pain?"--show me anyone my age who doesn't), but I'm curious as to what exactly is going on.
It's ironic that Trump-appointed judges
in lower courts have not done nothing but hand him losses in his 2020 election challenges, and then when his own Supreme Court rules the way he hired them to, the decision cost the Republicans bigly in 2022.
Sometimes a felon can't win for losing--but he did lose by winning.
TFG: Loser #1; Samuel Alito: Loser #2
Alito is responsible for many lost Republican votes, maybe more than TFG.
My two pre-Roe abortion stories
I had a very wealthy friend, part of one of the old families in Philadelphia, who had an "appendectomy" when she found herself pregnant. She was a college student, and her grandfather was on the board of trustees of one of Philadelphia's esteemed university hospitals. Her appendectomy was performed safely, by qualified doctors and nurses, in a sterile setting, and she spent the night in the hospital, being monitored for any complications.
I had a friend who lived in my dormitory at college. One Sunday night she came back from a weekend "date" and went to bed. She awoke in the middle of the night hemorrhaging from the butcher who'd agreed to perform an abortion, in an apartment in the bad side of town, with makeshift implements. She was shipped out to a nearby hospital and survived. If she had not been in a setting where there were people around her who could get her help, she would have bled to death, alone.
Whether abortions are legal or not, rich women will always be able to obtain safe abortions. The rest of women will just have to take their chances.
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