Tonic

I do feel empathy for people standing at Jehovah's witnesses kiosks. They believe earnestly that they are doing the right thing. 

Religion for many works as a pacifier. It provides them community and a dogma regardless of its veracity. 

This is the way it has always been. 

The problem is that it also breeds a type of vulnerability which is ripe for abuse by the powerful. Prosperity gospels arise which contort an essential message of peace and love into something more earthly and even sinister. 

Cults are built where people will do anything to avoid thinking critically (assuming they are able). 

For centuries the powerful used faith as a way to keep the masses from seeing how much of their misery and enslavement were man-made. They were told to hope for salvation as tonic for what ailed them and to keep praying while they were being bamboozled. 

We haven't changed one bit.

There is only one truth, except that no one here is fully privy to it.

On the head of a pin

In more intellectual circles, the argumentation around transgender issues is equivalent to "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin"; an ecclesiastical pondering which the common folk has no interest in or any need for.

In other words, the discussions become necessarily laden with talk of gametes, reproductive issues and chromosomes because it suits the detractors as key differentiators. 

The problem with this is that real life doesn't operate this way. A completely stealth transgender woman lives her life on a pragmatic level based on interactions that don't involve these things. Most people don't even understand them. 

To the public she is a woman and possibly to most of the people she calls acquaintances. Perhaps only her close friends know she wasn't born genetically female. 

Sex and gender are lived out in the world and not in a laboratory. Men and women are also born and raised with traits that bleed into each other. Meaning that the behaviour and habits that we term masculine and feminine are not the exclusive property of each birth sex. 

The general public is not versed in the kinds of issues I sometimes read about or watch on podcasts. They determine who they are dealing with based on a subjective assessment which in the end has more to do with whether they are facing a nice person or an unpleasant one. 

Regretably human intolerance and stupidity often offer up their strongest presence in circles where we ignore lived experience in favour of more esoteric leanings meant to discredit the legitimacy of people; people whose sex or gender are secondary to the more important question of their character.

It's one of the specialties and qualities I find most distasteful in the odious gender critical movement which sees danger everywhere and operates in spreading fear.

Regretably, human stupidity can be contagious.

Comeuppance

The man who asked Brad Raffensperger in Georgia to find him 11,870 votes slurred his way through a speech last night which reeked of sheer panic. 

Trump knows that if the GOP loses the house and senate in November, he is most definitely cooked. Impeachment and consequences will most assuredly follow. The most corrupt president in US history will hopefully finally face justice. 

This means that he will do anything to try and cheat but will ultimately fail once again. 

A lady MAGA voter recently posted: 

"I voted for Donald Trump to piss off liberals. It was really funny. I am worried that I will lose my Medicaid now. 

I have type II diabetes with diabetic retinopathy. If I lose my healthcare, I won't be able to afford my meds and will lose my vision. 

I'm in tears. Please help me" 

These two situations are related of course. Both the lying saviour who takes advantage of people who fall for propaganda and his willing disciples will face a comeuppance. 

One of them deserves it much more than the other.

Anything goes

Those of you who are a little older like me, grew up in a world where you were observed under a magnifying glass. 

You were taught manners and that people were watching which affected the way you lived your life. 

That has completely changed. 

Many people are rude, self-centered and comport themselves as they like in public. This has turned a negative into a positive for gender variant people since no one cares how one presents. These characters have desensitized the general public.

You are liable to see someone grocery shopping in pajama pants. Some people who look positively atrocious are superbly confident in their atrociousness. 

Do I care what these idiots think of me? Take a wild guess.

It takes some rewiring of your brain but if you are still scared today to present in public, perhaps it's because you haven't been paying attention at all. 

I've just about seen it all.

Go live your life.

Advice

Taking advice from another transgender person can often be problematic. 

We are such unique beings that what worked well for someone else could be completely wrong for us. We have different psychologies, family histories, religious beliefs, etc which will greatly colour our decision making process. 

The best advice to take is probably regarding the pragmatic things like skin care, clothing, etc. This is relatively harmless. 

However, issues dealing with personal psychology are another matter entirely. 

Everyone has a highly personal journey of discovery and I made sure to very carefully weigh what I was taking in as information from others with a healthy degree of skepticism; never negativity. 

What worked for them was great. 

Some transgender people make the mistake of jumping the gun when their egg cracks. I can completely understand this and yet everything built to date is then put into jeopardy. 

The older we are when we discover ourselves the more we are invested somewhere.

I have sat on that precarious edge since my early 40's always trying to weigh what to do. Copying someone else's path wouldn't have helped me in the least and wouldn't have been wise.

There is no perfect age to transition nor is there an obligation to do so. 

It is your life and no one else's.

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.