Model stranger

 

Blunt

Over the years, my bluntness has got me in trouble more times than I can count with just about every shade of the spectrum. My examining, prodding and questioning seemed to get some people's backs up. 

My dry analytical approach doesn't suit everyone but then I hold no malice against anyone. My aim is to uphold the rights of all while trying to understand where the priorities should lie. 

In this world, the weakest and most vulnerable are always the easiest target. 

Right now in the US and the UK's gender critical movement in particular, there is a concerted push to eradicate transgender people. They are to be so persecuted to the point where they desist and detransition. 

They are to disappear from view. 

I live in a city and country where transgender people generally feel safe and are supported. Is it perfect here? far from it but I lived far too long in the shadows and I have the nasty temper to show for it (working on it ;)). 

Youth don't yet have that confidence or life resources and inside countries where they are actively persecuted, it can be scary beyond words. 

I have nothing against people who bend gender for pleasure, for fun, for relaxation or for the joy of expression. But then, they have more choices. 

Conversely, transgender people trying to live their truth openly every day in the world aren't quite so lucky.

Time's up

The top 10% of US earners are spending the same total money on discretionary things (ie. excluding mortgages, etc) as those in the bottom 70%. 

Let that sink in for a minute. 

Within that bottom group there are people who have trouble with surprise expenses exceeding $400 and are skipping meals or buying medicine to keep up with rising costs. Some of them are living in their cars while they hold 2 jobs. 

This is a bomb waiting to go off and it will. 

The American economy is cratering as the regime spends money on a war of choice while it tries to keep up with interest payments on its crippling debt. Something has to give somewhere. 

Tomorrow night Trump will take to the airwaves to moan once again about the 2020 election. 

I think it's time to finally put grandpa to bed before he does any more damage.

"I don't see it"

 

A book by its cover

Whenever I use a public restroom (which is daily) I don't normally look up from the mirror. I wash my hands, then dry them and leave unless I am spoken to. 

When I walked into one this morning there were two women looking after their appearance. Later, upon exiting my stall after finishing my business, both were still there. 

"Purple is a nice color. It suits you" 

"Thank you very much!" I said looking at her as i finished washing up. She was maybe early 30's and sufficiently bohemian and tattooed to potentially have her be dismissed by some people. 

The other woman who was far more conventional, ignored both of us and applied her lip colour.

The younger of the two had been referring to my simple lavender day dress. 

"I really appreciate the compliment have a nice day!" I said smiling as I exited. 

"You too"

We are always better to never judge people by appearances which is a lesson reinforced to me almost daily.

We are all books with covers that don't necessarily accurately represent what's inside.

For no good reason

ICE agents these days seem to have a tendency to shoot people while the victims are driving their cars. 

The latest one involved a 26 year old man named Joan Sebastian Guerrero in sleepy Biddeford Maine who was in the US legally. He was then pulled out of his car and handcuffed never mind providing him medical assistance as he bled out on the pavement. 

He wasn't the target of the warrant but now he's dead before succumbing to his injuries saying "I tried to stop" 

Interesting that there is a lack of bodycam footage which makes it easier to use the excuse that the driver was using their car as a weapon. 

The propaganda channel known as FOX News will play up the illegal alien angle for their cult which is a shame because a 3 year old girl (who was also in the car) no longer has a father. 

All for no good reason.

Energy

The public feeds off the energy we provide to them. They can detect if we are tense, joyful, sad, etc. by what we project. 

If you are looking out for who is looking at you (which many trans people fall prey to) they will detect that also. 

What they want to see most is someone who knows who they are and is self-assured enough in their own skin to not care what about what others think. 

Easier said than done but once there we feel it.

Shadows

I think that Lindsey Graham almost perfectly personified the self-hating boomer. Feeling forced to live a lie, his frustration was then channeled into a cynical and hypocritical conservatism that said: 

"If I can't live in authenticity, I will make sure you don't either" 

He certainly wasn't the only one and many people of his generation lived in the shadows only to slowly see subsequent generations begin to free themselves as things progressed. 

Conservatism in its most distasteful cultural guise is about frustration and grievance. It isn't joyful or advancing society but instead dour and whiny. 

It is about making sure others know their place especially if one is particularly unhappy with their own life.

Hope to be wrong

My son asked my opinion about femboys yesterday. He had them summarized rather well as young men who enjoy feminization but don't necessarily have core gender identity questioning or conflicts. 

I told him that many of the older people today who identify as "crossdressers" would likely be femboys and thus live far more openly than they felt allowed to at the same age. 

The femboy aesthetic is generally an ultra feminine and sexualized one; short skirts and all.

I only have one underlying concern regarding some of them which is that the euphoria (or trans joy as they use) that they seem intoxicated with could lead down paths they may potentially regret. 

I hope this isn't the case but I have seen a number of them go down the HRT and body modification path that, by age 40, they may in retrospect look back upon as not their best decision. 

Your twenties are an interesting phase of life but not one necessarily known to be replete with deep personal insight and wisdom. 

Nevertheless, I sincerely and genuinely hope to be proven wrong and will gleefully eat crow if need be.

If I'm still around

Pete Hoekstra is the American ambassador to Canada and a generally reprehensible human being. 

His latest lie was that the recently completed Gordie Howe bridge was not entirely paid for by Canada which of course it was. The plan was for Canada to foot the bill and then to split the collected tolls evenly between Michigan and Ontario. 

Hoekstra wouldn't be in that role were he not MAGA and thus be able to lie as readily as you breathe like his puppet master. You would need to be like Trump to be found acceptable by the regime. 

Even the former Stephen Harper communication director was aghast by the fabrication. Harper led a conservative government which thankfully did not tip into criminality. 

Trump has squandered all of the capital and goodwill that Canadians had for the US. I won't be going back even long after the wicked witch is dead and I am far from being the only one. 

We just don't trust a healthy portion of your electorate.

Maybe I will change my mind after the US get their house in order again if I'm still around.

It takes generations to build trust but far less than that to destroy it.

The Traveller