June

[superbadgirl]

I feel like if one's goal is to root out fraud in programs, the actual solution isn't scorching the earth and hurting countless people unnecessarily while also padding the coffers of the already uber rich. I know that the problem is that fundamentally there are a lot of people who resent anyone who "hasn't worked for it" the way they have and they feel no compulsion at all for sharing wealth. As for me, since way back in sociology class in high school (which I don't think is even taught anymore) I have always felt that if everyone can have some and I have enough to give without genuinely harming my own welfare, then why get so bent about sharing? You can ensure that others are taken care of as well as still leading a comfortable life yourself. No? Anyway, a great many people would rather not do that, I guess, and to top it off also look down on anyone who perhaps hasn't made the same choices or experienced the same opportunities...

That is all. Go, 'Murica? Sigh. And for saying that, I'm undoubtedly viewed as unpatriotic. Compared to the guy defacing the American flag by sewing a "don't tread on me" flag to the back and waving it proudly from the back of his big ass truck that I followed home last night, I guess I am. Haha.

June photos, a little late.


^My neighbor finally sold her house. She had wanted to sell it furnished, but the buyers did not want her stuff, so she was cleaning out. She had a beautiful turquoise sofa she was trying to get rid of, perfect for my small guest room, so I took that and set my ratty old futon out for someone to grab. It sat for almost a week, then finally disappeared one Thursday. On that Saturday, I was on my morning walk at the middle school when I looked up and... Yes, that is my old futon. I laughed so hard.


^Two of the goslings from May, at that awkward stage.


^Walking one morning, Walter and I went up on someone's property for some reason - he has never pulled me that way before. This deer and another had been grazing in someone else's yard and followed us. They got within 3-4 feet. I am guessing they had a fawn stashed and they were ready to fight us if needed. Walter was oblivious to them.


^Speaking of fawns...

It's been bittersweet, though, because a couple of weeks ago, again on morning walk, we came across a fawn on the sidewalk. It was clearly ill. We don't have any kind of wildlife rescue for deer, so I had to call the police, who had to put it down. I cried that day, and the next when I found the cop hadn't even removed the body or put it somewhere (there was a copse of trees and blackberries near he could have put it), but it was down at the bottom of a hill. Either tossed down or a bird of prey came to try to carry it away. I cried even harder at that. I should have done what my instinct told me and went home for a box and brought it home to die and receive at least a respectful and peaceful resting spot. :(


^Stunning.

I also had a couple of emotional setbacks in June from the January incident. My trauma buddy said she's still working through it too.

Comments

[nialla]

What really gets me on the FO part of the FAFO lesson is they purposely made it where that doesn't start until after the midterms. They know it's awful. They hope people will still dutifully vote for the R, and the sad part is, they probably will because they think they're "one of the good ones". I fully expect the finding out phase to somehow be the fault of Obama/Biden/Harris/Dems in general.

I've never been super patriotic, but I am respectful and was taught you do not do certain things with the flag imagery. So it makes me twitch to see some of the abominations they've come up with.

That whole bit about Americans acting like temporarily embarrassed millionaires always sticks with me. Can't worry about the poors, because one day they might be rich, so then people like them better watch out.

Lovely photos, though I'm sorry you had some additional trauma. The horrors just keep coming, so we have to find beauty when we can.

[superbadgirl]

I sincerely doubt the FO part will actually happen. I feel like a lot of people seriously underestimate just how many people think they want exactly what is happening. They don't see the deportations and locking up people as problematic. Those brown people should have just followed the laws ... they will continue to handwave away as we inch closer and closer to actually stripping citizenship away from people who DID enter legally and DID follow the laws. Never mind the number of people who have been disappeared who have been doing all the things they are supposed to do. You can't reason with the unreasonable, especially when they do not believe they are without reason. I know people on SSDI with Medicaid who will complain bitterly the day "they" are come for and never once will it occur to them to blame Republican policies. I have seen people say they will pay more for in groceries because under Trump they know their sacrifice will make America great again.

Not that Trump is the only one to blame here. He's guilty of taking advantage, but he is clearly a figurehead and a distraction for the actual architects of P2025 who quietly work their stuff in the shadows because everyone's too busy focused on hating Trump. Crying about how the US has lost credibility on the global political scale is a laugh. We lost that ages ago, if we ever had it. Certainly we showed the world our true colors by electing that guy in twice.

Anyway. Blargh.

Keep on keeping on.

[nialla]

There are a lot of people who want what's happening, but I also think there are quite a few that still don't get that it's going to happen to THEM, not just Those People. A lot of states name their Medicaid programs something else, so people are thinking they're not on Medicaid when they are. They're going to get a bit of a shock when that hits, but for an unfortunate number of them, they will still think it's worth it, as long as Those People suffer too.

There were also a lot of people who just thought the government would focus on deporting criminals (of which they're convinced there are millions), not their neighbor who checked the wrong box on a form or something. Not sure how they missed the "Mass Deportations Now!" signes, but here we are. So many arrests are at immigration courts where people are literally "doing it the right way" but unfortunately they're brown and going to court makes them easy pickings.

Republicans have been in control for decades in some states [waves from Texas, which hasn't had a Dem as governor since 1995], yet conservatives are still convinced that liberals are why they've got it bad. They're in charge of little, if anything at this point, and don't really have any representation outside of major cities due to gerrymandering.

The post-Trump era will be interesting. He's the cult leader, so even out of office he'll have an outsized influence. But what about once he's gone-gone? He's nearly 80 and lives on fast food and Diet Coke, so he's already on borrowed time. Will they be able to rouse the base without him around? Or will it not matter, as they're obviously changing the rules so they don't apply to their select few? I think that may be why they're speedrunning the American societal collapse before he kicks it.

Back in the 1990s, I attended a lot of naturalization ceremonies as part of my job at the time. My organization would host a small "punch and cookies" gathering after the ceremony, with the goal being we'd have a group of students as the hosts to learn about what it took to become an American if you weren't born here. It got very hard to get public school students out of class, but I found an adult GED program that came to my last several events.

Most of the group were in their 20s, and they were all absolutely fascinated by the stories the newly minted Americans had to tell. They were shocked to hear it could take a decade or more, and that it was very expensive. Even back then, they thought people just crossed the border and got everything handed to them, if they gave it any thought at all.

I've been thinking of those I saw naturalized a lot recently. They've been a citizen for decades, but it could be taken away in an instant if these policies continue. Possibly a "reverse chain migration" if they do away with citizenship if you're born on US soil by saying those people are no longer citizen, so now their children and grandchildren aren't either.

I'm the very picture of Old White Lady, so I'm not nearly as affected by these policies, but I'm so worried about those who are. I'm extremly worried about our healthcare system. Not just the Medicaid cuts, but so many heathcare professionals of every type are not US born. Some are naturalized, especially doctors, but not all. Will they get to the point they deport doctors and nurses to get to their target numbers? This is going to especially hit Old White Folk as their doctors disappear, or there are no nurses in their nursing home. I've seen it up close, and it's already really bad, so I can't imagine how much worse it will be. We've already got doctors leaving red states due to abortion rules, so I think we'll have more that leave due to this.