It's hard to believe that this year passed so quickly!

 

The image of a hurricane from space.  It seems like a fitting metaphor for this chaotic year.  We went from relative calmness, steered by a caretaker president, to a lunatic who is steering us into the middle of a global storm.

For a transgender person in the United States, we were the first targets of Trump's hatred.  He tried to erase us from history - even at the Stonewall Memorial site.  Yet, he has failed to silence us and force us into the closet.  Although people like me are staying in stealth mode when we interact with the Federal Government, others are openly challenging this corrupt administration.  We were the canaries in the coal mine.  Next, he targeted women, people of color (I hate that phrase), anyone who looks Latino (they were in the Southwest before the Anglos), and now anyone who stands up to oppose him.

Yet, life has gone on as normal for many people, save that they have to make hard choices because of our president's foolish actions: pay rent, pay for food, or pay for medical care.  Everything has gone up in price for the average person, and yet, the president claims that "Affordability" is a hoax created by the Democratic party.  

What many people aren't seeing yet is the debasement of the legal system.  Promises to deport the criminals among the "undocumented" (I call them illegal aliens, as am not politically correct) have been broken, and now it's a numbers game to round up as many of these (generally) law abiding people as possible, herd then into prison camps without the rights to challenge their detentions, and then shipping them off to places such as El Salvador's CECOT, where these people are treated worse than most farm animals.  The DOJ is trying a third time to indict James Comey, simply because he did his job and investigated the crimes committed by Trump.

Fortunately, people are waking up. It's hard to believe, but even MTG is now on the president's shit list because she opposed him on releasing the Epstein Files.  In special elections held recently, the Democratic party has over-performed.  The snowflake knows if we have a fair election, the GOP would lose big time.  Even if the election is rigged slightly, they have no guarantee of winning in the general election.  I'm sure that my congress critter will be voted out - he has done nothing for his district, save make meaningless promises.

Sadly, I've had to stay in stealth mode when taking cruises this year.  Normally, I'd present as Mario when sailing to the Caribbean.  For convenience, I'd have sailed as Mario when we went to Alaska.  But I'd have sailed as Marian when going to Bermuda and on the New England/Canada run had the snowflake not weaponized branches of the government to terrorize people.  

Sometime late next year, I'll be filing to renew my passport and my global entry card.  I wonder what that process will be like, considering what he's already planning to do with ESTA applications which foreigners must submit before coming to the US.  (I'm appalled that we may soon be demanding to know foreign tourists' Social Media history and all Email addresses used in the past 5 years.)  What will his henchmen dream up to limit what US Citizens can do, especially their right to leave the country.

Earlier this year, I applied to be registered in a foreign nation's foreign birth registry.  If things get really bad here for transgender people, I will marry RQS and take her to Europe with me, hoping that I can bring enough financial resources with me to start a new life there.  

It's amazing - in less than a year, America has changed from a democratic republic into a fascist state.  Hopefully, we'll see this change soon....

Stop the world! I want to get off.

 

It's hard to believe that our president started a war against everything America stands for.  The worst part of this is that we have a congress that's afraid to do its job.  As I write this entry, the Orange Snowflake has given his 5th SOTU Address - and it was as disgusting as expected.

Canada, Mexico, and China are victims of a trade war being started by the snowflake.  And this will result in higher prices paid for common goods by the American public. No one will win.  All this to either stroke the ego of a demented, malignant, senile narcissist, or to obey the orders coming from his Russian overlord.  Given what we know about the snowflake, it's likely that it's a little bit of both.

Years ago, the snowflake started his association with questionable business partners when he sold condominiums without caring who he sold them to.  This provided an opportunity for the Russian mob to launder money via real estate.  Although he may have been obeying all applicable laws at the time, it may have made him a "Useful Idiot" in the eyes of the Kremlin.  Over the years, he stopped building new structures, and simply made his money by licensing his name to these developments.

This man's record in Atlantic City showed how he could extract money out of failing businesses, as the banks felt that keeping his trademark name valuable was more in their best interests than shutting down his bankrupt casinos.  (How a casino could go bankrupt, I'll never know.  This is one of the rare businesses that have an effective license to print money.  Or, at least, coin money by issuing chips (known as "checks" in the trade) and selling them to customers to gamble at their tables.

By the time he was done with Atlantic City, he likely was owned by Russia and its mob.  Personal bankruptcy means nothing to this cast of characters - if you owe then, you'd better pay up by whatever means possible.  Given his stupidity and his greed, he was the perfect tool to be used to advance Russia's aims in the US.  And his being elected to the presidency twice gave Russia what it needed to destroy America from within.

Right now, I have to figure out how to insulate my 401k from the destruction t be caused by his trade war. I have to find an investment which is NOT dollar denominated, and will hold its value while the stock market tanks.  Bonds are likely not the answer, as soon we will likely start to experience severe inflation caused by the debt he'll need to issue.  

By the time you read this, I expect the public will almost be ready to riot.  Will it happen in "Blue States?"  No.  It'll happen in the "Red States" when people start realizing they've been duped.  It'll be interesting to see how the clowns in DC will try to keep things under control....

One month down, Forty Seven more to go.

 

As I write this, we have seen serious damage done to our democratic institutions.  We now have a government which no longer wants to check and balance the power of the chief executive.  

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We have already seen incompetent yes-men confirmed to the Orange Snowflake's cabinet.  We have already seen threats against our most important trading partners that resulted in making us a pariah among nations.  (Did we really need to threaten a trade war to stroke the Orange Grifter's ego?) We are seeing a government in the act of destroying itself from within.  In the guise of "America First", we are destroying the "soft power" we had to influence nations.  In the guise of making government more efficient, we now have incompetent cronies running their areas of the government, making the government less efficient.

Let's look at the Department of Education.  It's targeted for elimination by this regime.  What will happen to its functions?  Will the handicapped be able to get the assistance needed to get an appropriate education?  (I doubt it.)  Will the poor students still get the breakfasts and lunches needed, so that they can function in school?  (I doubt it.)  Will we have anyone responsible for holding the states accountable to see that students' rights are respected?  (Absolutely not!)

The best example of the nonsensical appointments being made by the Orange Snowflake is RFK Jr.  Here's a man who rallied against vaccinations, a tool which helped eliminate diseases such as polio in the United States.  He claims that he will respect science, but his track record proves he will not.  Having met the man once, all I can say about him is that he is a Kennedy male.  (Read into that what you will.)  But I think that the worm he says ate part of his brain affected his common sense.

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As Margo Channing said: "Fasten your seat belts, this is going to be a bumpy ride."