Corporations still can't afford to pay a living wage despite making record profits, say bankers

I've said it before, but it deserves repeating. "A house divided cannot stand." I believe that was Thomas Jefferson....one of the founders, anyway. And it is profoundly true. Our leaders want us divided. It makes us easier to control.

We live in a country dominated wholly by corporate interests, in which almost every legislation enacted by our duly elected corporate cronies is aimed at providing those same corrupt, corporate entities with yet more power, more control over our economy, and thus our lives. They're the same people who lobbied Congress for "Corporate Personhood." Go ahead and look that up. I'll wait. These evil white men are making RECORD PROFITS, people. Easily researched. In fact, I'll do a little of my own to support my claim, although I have been doing so for years. And I say, "evil," because the whole scheme has a sinister quality to it unlike anything I have ever seen or imagined. The control they exercise over the direction of the U.S., and indeed, the world, is so complete that they literally control every facet of our lives. Without them, we cannot cook, see, or stay warm. Without their drugs, we would die. And our Federal Bank is privately owned, which is another subject entirely, but worth at least a footnote here.

But if that's the case, and it very decidedly is, why do they refuse to pay a living wage? That's the question we need to be asking. Probably the most important question of all. Besides, it is a sociological fact that happier workers are more productive workers. And how do you make an employee happy? You don't give him a honey baked ham at Christmas or throw a party. You pay him what he's worth. It is amazingly simple, bigly.

Again, if they are making record profits, which is, again, easily researched and confirmed, why do they still refuse to pay a living wage? Why are we having to work two and three jobs just to get the mortgage/rent paid? It wasn't that long ago when one household income could support an entire family. They're making record profits strictly BECAUSE they refuse to pay a living wage. Well, maybe not "strictly." They're far more sophisticated even than that. They have screwing Americans out of a dollar down to a science.

PUBLIC NOTICE

I would like to continue this blog. It is relevant, funny, and I don't need confirmation to know my experiences - and my unique ability to articulate those experiences - reflect volumes of thoughts and adventures worth sharing. Even moreso, I hope it resonates with you, my treasured readers. However, having said that (even bragged a little), I find that I have less and less time to manage it. Sure, I can tap out the words pretty quickly, but putting together the photos, keeping things consistent and noteworthy, compiling it in a way that grabs readers' attention is the real time killer.

I am looking for volunteers. Someone(s) who may or may not agree with me on everything, but who likes my delivery of it nonetheless. I don't get all of the mechanics available to me on Blogspot, first of all. I know I can add buttons, advertisements, other stuff, but I don't really know how to go about it, and I don't really have time to do it, to search for photos, gifs and other media, or the attention span to learn it all. But I'm betting there are a few readers out there who do. Because I do not imagine there are many - if any - of my readers who are uneducated. I don't write for the uneducated. I don't write to change people's minds. I write to confirm your own ideas, to articulate them, to put proverbial pen to proverbial paper for you - not me. And for the record, all education is voluntary. Being educated is a matter of choice, not upbringing or class. I am educated not because I attended college but because I chose to verse myself in those things which interested me. I sailed through college with an A average. Wasn't hard. I have an awesome short-term memory. Yay for me. Took good notes, read them 20 minutes before an exam, and viola! Aced it. Wanna put money on how much of it I actually retained, though? Yeah, only the parts I gave a shit about. That's what I remember from college. Stuff that interested me. Not one whisker more or less.

And I do not contend that I am smarter than you simply because I know how to put words together, or that I have a bachelor's degree - which equates to what an associate's degree was 15 years ago. I am no smarter (or stupider) than a cabinet maker, an accountant, a dog groomer, a doctor, a cashier or a machinist. In fact, I know people in all those aforementioned professions, and they are among the most intelligent people I have ever met. Indeed, the richest man I know - a vascular surgeon - is also the most foolish, reckless piece of shit I know. We all have a set - or sets - skills. Mine just happens to be putting words (and on an equally important level, music notes) together to make a thing. Makes no difference what you do for a living these days. It doesn't reflect your intelligence or who you are as an individual. We're all just trying to survive. Took me way too long to come to that (now) very obvious conclusion. We do what we must to carry on. Let your career define you and . . . you let your job - that thing you get up in the morning dreading - define who you are as a person. That's just lame, dude. Your family, your goals, your expectations, your art, your mind - let that define you. But if you're digging ditches at a waste management facility, I'm hoping you don't let thoughts of work keep you up at night. Just saying.

Of course there are exceptions. If you're an artist, I completely understand if your work defines you. I'm an artist, and my work as an artist defines me as well. Unfortunately, no one has bothered to mention that I should be fucking paid for it! Ahem, but I digress. If you work for a charity, or you're a physician (not a douchebag vascular surgeon), or you're a teacher - yeah, your work defines who you are, and it damn well should. But hell, I did floor covering (tile, carpet, hardwood) for 20 years on and off (mostly on), but it sure as shit didn't define me. I had to virtually fight my way out of it, still fighting that construction worker stigma - not that there's anything wrong with it - and when you're trying to change career fields when your body simply refuses to do the same shit you used to do without thinking, well, believe me when I tell you, it ain't easy. Thing is, since leaving that line of work, I haven't made even remotely the kind of money I made back then. Back then, I had more money than I knew what to do with, but I was miserable. Now, I am poorer than I've ever been, but also the happiest I've ever been. Funnier still, the whole time I was in school, I was persecuted by my coworkers who never tired of calling me "college boy," although they said it with love. But there is an organic (dunno why I used that word because I hate it...soooo overused nowadays....but it fits, here) resistance to transitioning from blue collar to white collar work. I haven't yet been able to put my finger on it, but it's there. Oh, it's there, goddammit. Kind of feels like you're trying to walk forward but someone has a hold on your shirt collar. Like, "Where do you think you're going, bitch boy?" That's the voice in my head. Always calling me a "bitch boy." Bastard. I'm on to you, Boy Bitch.

So! If you like what I'm doing, if you're pickin' up what I'm puttin' down, please be kind and message me. I need, and would very much like, your assistance in keeping this thing going. And I will proudly credit you for your contributions.

Thanks in advance - Hat.

"I'll take Eastern gods for $800, Alex."

So, this conversation grew into a thing. You know, one of those things. But unlike most of them, it didn't go nuclear, no anger directed at anyone - except for some very mild anger from myself at some well-perceived condescension - but seriously, it was quite possibly the most calm and rational religious debate I've ever had. And in fairness, I will include the counter arguments. Well, there's a little mirth mixed in with the fairness, but no one will be able to say I wasn't. Fair, that is. Unless by "fair" you mean that we were all equally intelligent and educated. To that I would say, ask them....behind a shitty, toothy smile. Oh, and please read through to the end. Or skip to the end. That's the best part.

Thus, my original post:

Okay, just so I have this straight. I can rape who I want, kill who I want, rob who I want (I don't want any of these things, for the record), and I'm forgiven and justified just so long as I ask Jesus to forgive me, right? And after I ask for forgiveness, I can go back out, do the same thing over again, and I'm forgiven once again, correct? So...pretty much anything goes? I come to you and kill your daughter. I'm forgiven - because I'm a Christian - and you have to forgive me as well? Because YOU'RE a Christian?

It's a flawed system we're working with here, people. So far as I can see at least. Regardless of what I do to you, I'm forgiven. That isn't holy. And it certainly isn't justice. It's called murder, rape and robbery. And it isn't just a sin, it is against conventional law. And those laws weren't based on a religious text. They are based in simple human interaction. Ego. Era. In Bible times, it was perfectly acceptable for a man - a MAN ONLY - to have more than one wife. Why is that, though? Why was it cool for a dude to have two wives, but not so much for a wife to have two husbands? It still blows my mind that the Vatican still tries to justify the Old Testament.

You literally CANNOT be a Christian and believe in ANY of the teachings or prophecies put forth by the Old Testament. The very concept disallows, delegitimizes everything put forth as LAW from the Old Testament.

That was me. Here are some of the responses. And please believe me, these are the most intelligent ones.

Amanda G. - You said murder and rape
I was speaking to a " imaginary" person on some of the response

Like · Reply · 1 hr

Amanda G. - One gauge would be not to use the Lord's name in vain
The Ten Commandments 
I still am guilty of even that sometimes 
Not perfect by any means just sharing my belief

Like · Reply · 1 hr

Amanda G. - I think God gave you a beautiful and healthy, sweet daughter. Wife seems to be also... Maybe that's two things to thank him for. Love you always. Good night 😀

Like · Reply · 1 hr · Edited

Hat Thomas - Think so, do you? Is that why God is taking that wife away from me in two months?

Like · Reply · 1 hr

Amanda G. - No didn't know 
Sorry
Anger, bitterness and doubt are emotions. I feel them too. I'm sure we all do. I am truly sorry you are going through a very difficult time. Again, I love you Uncle Joshua. Also, you posted about this I thought you wanted feed back. I didn't attack just made a statement. I won't bring it up to you ever.

Like · Reply · 1 hr · Edited

Hat Thomas - Actually? I've never felt freer. Looking forward to doing things on my own, my way. Looking forward to this new adventure. Change is good. I will always love my wife, what we had, but it's time to move on, and we both know it.

"Bob M. - Ok dude,cold truth,,,,you have never been weak,,,,this seems a matter of self opinion ,,, I've always held your personal strength and wisdom in the highest regard,,,,may I suggest you view yourself in the same manor?"

Hat Thomas - I'm sick of it, Bob. The constant appeals of, "You should come to my church." Like that's going to show me the way. You know how many churches I've been to? Yeah, me neither. I lost count. Hundreds, likely. Because I *wanted* to believe in something. Thing is, I just got sick of that ONE thing they kept wanting me to believe in. Turned out, that Eastern desert religion didn't really fit my way of thinking. You guys know that Christianity - the religion that dominates Western culture and that 70% of Americans subscribe to - is an ARAB religion, right? Those guys were ARABS. The same people our government seeks to eradicate worldwide? The same people most right wing, Christian conservatives wish would simply go away? Their very morality is made up of an ARAB religion. Sorry, but if I'm going to subscribe to a religion, I'd prefer it be one my own ancestors came up with. Just saying. I don't. Don't get me wrong. But if I were to commit my life to some kind of faith, it damn sure wouldn't be one from a region where women are doormats and the wages of sin is death.

Amanda G. - Death in a spiritual sense. That's what that means. The man should love his wife more than he loves himself because to love his wife IS to love himself. They are one in Christ.

^^ Because that explains everything we just discussed, of course ^^

Hat Thomas - Did you not read any of it prior to the part about women being doormats?

Bob M. - It's about being right with you,,,,god may or may not be part of your life,,,, but you must live,correct ?

Hat Thomas - It's about being honest, and yes, right. I want to live right, morally, And to do so, I CANNOT follow the Arab Bible.

Hat Thomas - I'm not saying it's wrong for everyone - plainly that isn't the case - but it is very decidedly wrong for me.

And here's where I go off:

Hat Thomas - I don't personally commit acts that require forgiveness, Amanda. Like, rarely, if not never. I just don't engage in that kind of behavior anymore. So now it falls upon me to seek out these so-called sins where there are none to be found. But, as Christians, you go DEEP. You make sins out of literally nothing. Impure thoughts? What is the definition of impure (sexual? human thought?) and who defines it ultimately? Not the Bible, that's certain. At least the Catholics have a system by which they gauge such things. Protestants cannot even boast that one simple thing. Who decides which thoughts are bad and which aren't? 

For that matter, who decides whether or not thought itself is bad? I think therefore I sin? Such horseshit! Whoever came up with that ideology was either rutted in guilt or trying to control others who were. I have a thought. I have sinned. That makes no fucking sense. You ask me to believe what you believe....when I know for truth what you believe is based in lies, deceit and utterly contrived nonsense. Don't ever ask me to believe what you believe, because I have this handy little pocket tool. It's called *reason*. And it has served me well. Don't ever ask me to believe what you believe again (don't even bring it up in conversation) because I will - without hesitation or remorse - take it apart, bit by ridiculous bit. I have no patience for it anymore. 

You know the final answer I get from people now? "Well, I guess the lord will have to show you in his own way." Or some such nonsense. You know why, though? Because faith can never stand against reason. Never. Never has been able to, never will be able to, and until you or someone else can say one, clear, definitive thing worth saying, I stand by reason and reason alone. Faith has done absolutely shit for me, and believe me, I have lived as a person of faith. To no avail, of course. Those who seek comfort in God, Jesus, Allah, more power to you. If it makes you feel better to believe in some imaginary guy living up in the clouds who has nothing but love for you, bully for you. But I have a newsflash for you: What has Santa Claus ever done for you? Name one goddamned thing.

"Before you pray for my soul, consider this. I am not doomed. I am one of the very few who has moved away from religion, but closer to God. I cannot see Him in the pages of the Bible - a book which has no direct bearing on me - and I cannot see Him in the same places you see him....because you are told where to look for Him. I wasn't. And in that light, I was made to see. My mind is clear, open, untroubled by sin and guilt and regret. My path was not easy - indeed, it has been uniquely difficult - but I am at a place where I find your concern for my spiritual well-being just a bit condescending. As if you know something, or are in touch with something I am not. Let me reassure you, that isn't the case. If anything, it is the other way around. I walk free of guilt, of regret, free of fear and recrimination. I stand tall and proud in my uniqueness, my oneness. I live how I have always imagined I should live. I am happy, most of the time, and I fear nothing. Because there is no challenge that I have faced yet which I have not overcome, soundly. 

But if it makes you - any of you - feel better to lament for my soul, by all means, go ahead. But please do so on your own time. I am whole. I do not need, nor want, your god's assistance, provided he ever even offered it. Which I highly doubt. I am good. No thanks to him, but in large and grateful thanks to you, my family and friends.

Ebonic dialect say you stupid, say source

"Because classrooms should teach children about the importance of self esteem, not rip it from them . . ." John Oliver, Last Week, Tonight. Says the guy from England who literally had one black kid in his entire school . . . Seriously though, I don't have any problem with my kid going to a racially diverse school. I strongly encourage it, in fact. We desperately need diversity in our schools, if for no other reason than that it gives us one of the few opportunities to understand one another, in a culture that is still racially segregated, only because it's more convenient and comfortable than it would be otherwise. Or so we all seem to think. "Diversity," however, is the key word. If my daughter were the only white kid in a majority black school, would I be concerned if she came home speaking Ebonics? You betcha. And here is where I get into some very . . . sensitive territory. But if I don't address it - as eloquently and with as much dignity as I am able - then who will? Fox News? Bubba Jethro's Blog? (I'd bet my next paycheck there is indeed such a blog . . . or one so similar in name and scope that it makes no difference.)

Is the Ebonic dialect inherently wrong? Well, that depends on who you ask, actually. The vast majority of educated people, I believe, would say that it is, if only on a grammatical level. Personally, having been a writer for a living, I would have a problem with it because I have striven since my daughter first began to speak to teach her proper English. I wouldn't be worried about her safety, and I don't honestly care what the ethnicity is of the man (or woman) she eventually falls in love with. I do care, very much, about her future, however. And as liberal as I am, I would also have a problem with how people would identify her in public if she spoke Ebonics. Not because she's white, not because she's a girl, and not because she's a white girl. Regardless of how open-minded a person is, there is a disconnect that happens when you hear a white kid talking like he or she grew up in the ghetto. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with Ebonics (other than the fact that it seems to be deliberately removed from the common American dialect, and improper English to boot). I am saying that when my daughter graduates college and goes on her first job interview, I want to ensure that she impresses whoever is interviewing her. And while nearly all of us use slang to one degree or another, I want to know that all these years I have been teaching her proper grammar and word usage hasn't been for nothing. For that matter, I want her to graduate college, and she has little chance to do so if she cannot use, or refuses to speak, proper English.

I didn't write it...but I admit that I have thought it. And apparently I am not the only one. Is it racist? I hope not. But I am quite certain there are some who would view it as such. What say you, Spike Lee? {answer below}

Go ahead, get along with calling me a racist. Only, I've had this same conversation with my black friends - yes, I have many. I live in the Deep South. And believe it or not, we Southerners - blacks and whites - get along a hell of a lot better than Hollywood would have you believe. Indeed, I'd guess that we're a shit-ton more diverse than the rest of the country (for instance, Mississippi has the highest interracial marriage rate in the country, per capita . . . go figure).

"Oh my . . ." says George Takei

My friends and I agree on one thing for certain - whatever the reason is, and I am by no means trying to define that reason, people who speak with the Ebonic dialect, regardless of skin color, are largely viewed in the professional world as under- or uneducated. I have friends who slip between Ebonic English and proper English effortlessly, depending on who they're around. Nothing wrong with that either. I've noticed my Southern accent thickens and thins depending on who I'm around. I think we do this subconsciously. But to disregard proper English in a society in which education is viewed as an invaluable priority is called deliberate ignorance. We are all taught how to speak properly in grade school. Whether or not we choose to speak properly has a lot to do with the environment in which we live, I am aware. However, the way you speak quite literally can define your level of education, particularly in the eyes of a potential employer. We do control how we speak. The way you speak is a choice. I can tolerate ignorance, to an extent. But deliberate ignorance, to me, is intolerable.

And here I thought I was the asshole? Nope. Spike, you da man...da asshole, racist man, that is. Oh, and your movies suck. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Police aren't military and military aren't police, says pundit

I think it's very telling that people get so incensed when cops are threatened, but no one - until recently - seemed to think it mattered much when people felt, or were, threatened by cops. I'm a white guy, and I've been beaten severely for literally no reason whatsoever. I was sober, I wasn't belligerent, aggressive or sarcastic. I was asked a question that I did not take as rhetorical, "Who the fuck do you think you're talking to, boy?" said in an unprovoked, aggressive tone. I answered simply, and hesitantly, "You?" And the runt cop and three of his buddies dragged me out of my friend's car and proceeded to beat me mercilessly with their Mag Lights. Cops want to be feared. They proudly state now that it isn't their job to protect or serve, but to enforce the law. Since when are the two separate? In a separate case, I was at a road block and they told me to pull over to the side. I said simply, "Why am I being pulled over?" The cop at my window turned to his buddy and said, "Do we need to teach this fuck a lesson?" My own elderly mother, before she died, was protesting the cops beating the shit out of my brother, who was merely trying to protect our niece from a violent boyfriend, and they threatened to take her to jail. Furthermore, they beat him so badly that his arm got split open from the force of their baton blows. It got infected and the doctors were not able to sew it up as a result. He had to keep gauze stuffed in it for months and eventually got sepsis from it, which subsequently weakened his heart. He died a few months afterward from a massive coronary.

Looked a little something like this...only more human.

Point being, people fear cops with good reason. They're not trained to investigate anything anymore - so we can just dispense with the whole idea that they're the "investigative arm of the government" nonsense. They're hired guns, plain and simple. Worse, their training is far more akin to that received by paramilitary units than that of traditional police work. Worse still, by all evidence I've seen, they enjoy it. Most of them don't seem to be doing it because they feel like they're giving back to their communities. The few that do are the exception, not the rule. And they sure as hell aren't doing it for the pay. No, they do it because of how powerful it makes them feel. And believe me - ask any politician, business owner, or corporate executive, and if they're being honest, they'll tell you there is nothing more intoxicating or more addictive than power. And frankly, other than becoming or drug lord or the like, becoming a cop is one of the very few avenues in which a largely uneducated, middle class redneck can ever achieve power.

And before you respond with the predictable, "What the fuck do you know about it?" or "Not all cops are like that" yada yada, my brother-in-law is a cop, three close friends of mine are cops, my next door neighbor is a cop, and my ex-girlfriend's best friend dated at least five cops during the two years we dated. And those don't even number among the countless cops I have interviewed as a reporter for the last ten years. Suffice to say, I've had ample experience with them, and with the exception of my two friends (yeah, the third is pretty typical, but he's hilarious so I keep him around), my experiences have been largely negative. And while I don't fear them anymore, it's because I have spent so much time around them, and most of them in my community know who I am. The last thing any cop wants is to piss off a journalist. If he has any sense, that is.

All that to say, if a middle class white man with no criminal record has reason to fear them, you're a goddamn fool if you think blacks have no reason to fear them. Beat cops are not trained to ask questions first. They are trained to control a situation, then, if they happen to think about it, they might ask questions. But that's usually reserved for the detectives. And sadly, people in poor communities are often not only unaware that that is how cops are trained to handle a situation, they are also taught very young that cops are bad and not there to help them at all, to treat them as the enemy (which they very decidedly are) and never to trust them. Lastly, a militarily trained police force is not equipped to "police" anyone. The military is a machine designed for one purpose - to kill. Just as marines should not be required to police occupied countries because of their training - and they'll tell you quick that they aren't trained to do so - neither should police be acting as a military unit. You don't send a dentist in to treat pneumonia anymore than you would send a regular doctor in to fill a cavity. Yeah, their training is vaguely similar, but neither is qualified to do the other's job. Capiche?

Can you tell the difference?

Yeah, me neither...oh, wait, those other guys are wearing green. But isn't that army col---? Nevermind...

Tiny hands can find their way under skirts easier, boasts Trump

Trump's biggest problem - aside from being a racist, xenophobic, insecure, mean-spirited, ignorant, misogynistic, infantile, petulant little man-baby with extraordinarily tiny hands (I really noticed them that first debate. I mean, his fingers are shorter than his palms! Look at your hands. Are your fingers shorter than your palms? No! Because you're normal, lol.) - is that he cannot seem to resist hiring vapid, empty-headed, blonde pretty-girls to speak for him publicly. I'm not saying or implying that all blonde-haired pretty-girls are vapid and empty-headed. Just the ones he favors hiring.

What's that you're about to say, Dumpster? Starts with an F...

"Trump: win, lose or draw, I will be happy," the news ticker on CNN stated. Thing is, Dump, most of us don't want you to be happy. Most of us know with certainty that you are the very last person who deserves happiness. You are an evil man, Dumpster, a petty, vicious, spiteful, little man-baby who is the very definition of sociopath, who has made it plain that the only happiness with which you're concerned is your own. Again, the very definition of a sociopath. And while I admit that your low cunning has brought you to the realization that you can appeal to Man's baser motivations (i.e., fear, xenophobia, hate, misogyny, pettiness and greed) to further your own ends, what you have done for the thinkers among us is to make us more acutely aware of how much further we have to go in order to thwart despicable monsters like yourself.

Eww.....is this for real? This is sick. I mean this from the very bottom of my soul: If you believe Hillary deleting some emails somehow equates, or even bigger fishes, Trump's crotch grabbing and sexual assault, you're morally bankrupt and should be banned from voting altogether. You're just a bad person. If there is a Hell, you will certainly wind up there, without doubt. And if there is no Hell and you end up voting for Trump anyway, there is no justice in the universe. He is a BAD person, philosophically, intellectually, personally, and fundamentally. Sure, Clinton is a liar - as are literally ALL politicians - because no one, not a soul gets to that level of power without having fucked a few people over. But she isn't a rapist, to my knowledge. She isn't a pedophile, a philanderer, a grossly insecure, egomaniacal man-baby. Nor is she openly racist, nor is she xenophobic (for you Trump dummies, that means fear of anyone who "ain't lahk you..."), nor is she misogynistic, nor is she wholly insensitive to...well, every goddamn thing he disregards. The Dumpster cares about no one but The Dumpster. It is so painfully obvious that I cannot help but doubt your mental grasp on reality if that isn't also exceedingly plain to you. But go ahead and vote for that bombastic fool. If he's elected, you will get precisely what you deserve. P.S. Please, I beg of you, if "big, scary words" such as 'bombastic' and 'fundamentally' intimidate you, feel free to do a quick Internet/Google search of the terms. We smart liberals didn't go through all the trouble of making literally ALL available human knowledge accessible to your very fingertips for nothing...fucking ingrates. All politicians lie, and they get away with it. Anyone who pays even the slightest attention to politics can pick that up in just a few short moments on the evening news, and anyone who acts like it's something new or something that just cannot be tolerated is delusional. As distasteful as that is, we have unfortunately learned to live with it and, if not accept it necessarily, at least deal with it. But liars do not necessarily make bad leaders. Few can argue the advantages Americans enjoyed during the first Clinton administration, and we all know he was a liar. No, if you want to go after a true liar and criminal, why isn't George W. Bush in jail? He lied about WMD's and bogged us down in the longest war in our nation's history! Conservatives are quick to say, "Well, he really believed Hussein did have WMD's." No he didn't. And they know he didn't. He wanted to stimulate the Military Industrial Complex and the billions he and his daddy - and his VP - could make fueling that war.
No, what makes a poor leader is poor judgment, poor temperament, and a blatant disregard for anyone who thinks or believes differently from he or she. What makes a fascist leader is someone who threatens to silence the press, as you have done repeatedly, Dumpster. What makes a dictator is someone who would jail - or even kill - his or her opposition once he or she has reached power, which you have threatened to do. People who would vote for such a man for the highest political office in the world are either woefully ignorant of facts, history and basic ethical principles, or are so steeped in right wing religious dogma that they literally cannot see beyond it . . . or they're simply evil. They may not even know they're evil - few people believe they're actually evil, even those African dictators in the Congo and elsewhere who torture and castrate anyone even suspected of opposing them. Most people in that vein believe that what they're doing is right and good, or at least they are very good at convincing themselves that that is the case.

 Trump is an evil man, plain and simple. A truly ugly man, both inside and out. And I sincerely believe he knows it, which is likely part of the reason he is the way he is. But I don't think he believes he is evil - indeed, he has convinced himself, or he would like us to believe at least, that literally every single thing he does is deliberate, great, and without flaw in result or execution. Again, he is a textbook sociopath who, if he single-handedly launched World War III, could easily convince himself of the righteousness of his actions and the perfection of his plans, and try heartily to make everyone love him still - which is notable in particular, because he spends such an inordinate amount of time telling everyone how great he is, how great his business is, how successful he is, how many beautiful women he's slept with, how flawless he is in general, that it all just screams of his crippling insecurity. Maybe it all stems from those tiny little hands . . . and that other tiny appendage generally associated with short fingers and small hands. Who knows? Who actually cares, at this point? He has hit the self-destruct button on his Oval Office designs (thank all the gods throughout time), sabotaged any chance he might have had for a political career in the future (let us hope), all because he could not stop being Trump long enough for Trump to win. He is his own worst enemy, but he literally cannot stop himself. His insecurity simply won't allow for it.

Update: I regretfully, woefully, and tragically must eat my words. Ignorant Americans got just what they deserved. Good luck with that. I'm moving to Canada.

Homosexuality is part of natural selection, religious objection is sick, expert says

The only logical argument against homosexuality is that two men or two women cannot produce children together. Proliferation of the species. I get that. But as I have stated before, our planet is currently overpopulated. We are rapidly running out of resources. And just as most of us men were born with an innate attraction to women, so were homosexuals born with an innate attraction to their same sex. It isn't perverted, it isn't wrong, and it isn't an aberration. In fact, it's natural selection at its most acute. Evolution has a way of balancing itself out, and what is more plainly evidence of that fact than homosexuality? 

We were not, every single one of us, put on this planet to procreate. If that were the case, we would have hit ten billion of us 100 years ago. A full 10% of the world's population is homosexual. So to say it is a sin is to say that God erred, because homosexuals are born that way. It isn't - it never has been for any of them - a choice. 

My friend, who is a lesbian, said she started to feel attracted to women at age five, long before she even understood what it meant to be sexually attracted to anyone. And despite her parents best efforts, she remains that way to this day. She didn't choose to be attracted to women. My God, who would willingly choose to be a pariah? I am myself a pariah, through no fault of my own, simply because I am not a Christian in an overwhelmingly Christian-dominated region. It sucks being a pariah. It's not fun. Hell, I didn't choose to think the way I think. I didn't ask anyone for the clarity I now have. I didn't pray for "discernment," as the Charismatic Christians called it back in the church where I grew up. But boy, howdy, did I get it! In spades! And the attention isn't anything approaching positive attention . . . that might actually be desirable. But the current version, let me assure you, sure as hell ain't fun. And my quickly-dwindling friends list on Facebook tells me loud and clear that my stances and ideas make people uncomfortable (which is kinda sorta fun, actually).

I don't say all this just to see my own words in print. I don't say it because people want to hear what I have to say. But clearly they/you desperately need to hear it. "Hate the sin, not the sinner," my ass. That's pretzel logic. Because what you deem to be sin is only sinful in your eyes. What you think is sin cannot even be agreed upon by your fellow Christians, much less taken as a universal truth. Thus, your idea of sin is relative! 

The Christian Bible is the most hypocritical religious tome ever penned, yet somehow scholars and leaders for the last 1500 years have managed to use it to their ends unfailingly and unflinchingly, and even worse, a U.S. politician cannot even hope to get elected without professing affiliation and allegiance to Christianity. And all any of it has brought us is ruin. Were it not for religious fear of the unknown, science and technology would be far more advanced than it currently is; re: Coepernicus, Galileo, Darwin, Newton, et. al., all of whom were persecuted for thinking outside the box, as it were. 

Again, I did not choose to think the way I think. Logic and rationale made me what I am. It is a miserable acceptance of being, who I am today. I am not a happy person, likely because I cannot un-know the things I now know . . . among other things. It would be far more pleasant to accept the hypothesis that some divine, all-knowing, omnipotent being existed who could evaporate all my problems with a nod and a smile. I wanted more than anyone I know to be a good Christian, to praise God and be accepted among my brethren. Instead, what happened is when I got turned inward, which is where religious thought invariably leads a thinking person, I realized that the things that were being preached to me were inherently wrong. I could not accept the idea that I was a member of some special club and that everyone with whom I identified and called friend who didn't happen to be in that same club were condemned to eternal suffering. That's what really killed it for me. Eternal. Not just a year or two. Forever. For all time. For the really dumb reason that they were not raised the same way as I was. As my best friend, Anleigh, would happily interject here, "That's sick."

And so it is . . . sick, that is. It is effectively saying that a man raised in an African tribe his whole life, never having known the religion of the White Man, believing in his native gods and traditions as anyone would who is raised in a particular religious culture, is doomed to suffer an eternity in hell-fire. What kind of sick, twisted, psychotic god would inflict that kind of punishment on one of his creations? This same man who has done nothing but work hard and provide for his family, who's done exactly as he was expected to do by his community . . . he's screwed because he doesn't belong to the same club as me? That's some sick shit. 

And that same, sick belief is encased in a religious tome which says expressly that. I cannot get behind that kind of belief structure. I understand those who do so out of fear. I understand those who do so because they were raised that way. But I will never understand someone who comes to that kind of belief clear-eyed and cognizant of all the consequences.