Don't Get Me Started with Linda Sharp

HypoCRAZY

Once upon a time we were a new nation.  Not even a nation - just a bunch of land we came upon and decided belonged to us because, well, even back then the "We're #1!" mentality reigned supreme.

We saw it.  We wanted it.  How dare anyone be on our land before we got here?!?  So we took it by force.  Force, bloodshed, inhumanity, cruelty, hubris, and ego.

It is how we operated then, it is still largely how we operate now.  We throw our weight around the world and expect the world to just take it because, well, we're us, aren't we?

Now, that's not to say that as a country we are all bad.  We're not.  Yes, our history contains warts, cancers, tumors, growing pains, missteps, gross inhumanity, ignorance, and callous disregard for others.  But is also contains the lessons learned from those chapters, the lessons that helped us shape up, grow up, take stock, and find a moral center, as it were.

Nowhere is that more evident than on the statue gifted us by France - at the base of the statue, the words of poet Emma Lazarus find a home, and basically open the doors of this nation up to those seeking a home:

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The statue was gifted as a symbol of the alliance developed with them through the Revolutionary War.  (Students of Hamilton completely understand that connection now.)  She stands tall, graceful, hopeful, undaunted.  The broken shackles that are around her base are meant to represent freedom from oppression and tyranny.

Year after year, this country welcomed and was built by immigrants "yearning to breathe free," immigrants fleeing "oppression and tyranny".  We all came from somewhere else.  All of us.  Had our great great greats not gotten on boats, we would not be here.  It is that simple.

But as is human nature, and hubris nature, as the years flew past and more generations from those immigrants were born on this soil, we began to get selfish.  We stopped being so welcoming.  We started giving side eye to those "tempest tossed", throwing shade at that "wretched refuse."

Basically we got ours, so fuck off.

Politicians found that attitude to be easily exploited.  They began pointing fingers at those who came from somewhere else.  Casting aspersions on those whose skin color, religion, culture were not of the cream cheese-boring-bland-Americana variety.  And finally, exploiting tragedy as a way to completely demonize them all.  

They managed to take the very word that founded this nation and turn it into something ugly, feared:  IMMIGRANT.

They have placed the blame for every bad thing - crime, unemployment rate, all terrorism - at their feet.  Ask the typical Trump loving GOP dullard and they will happily regurgitate any number of alternative facts that have no basis in reality.  No matter, they believe the bullshit and lies, so it's true.

Which is why the Executive Order signed last Friday by Bannon Trump was so easy to implement.  Fraught as it is with illegalities and constitutional carnage, it still got hastily rolled out to hideous effect.

Protests grew at airports immediately.  Lawyers came offering their services to those landing and finding themselves completely targeted and screwed.  Stories were posted one after another of families separated - a 5 year old in handcuffs, an 11 month old still breastfeeding separated from his mother for HOURS. Legal residents denied entry.  VISA holders threatened with deportation.

All under the guise of "keeping us safe."

Which is utter and complete bullshit.  That list of countries happens to conveniently leave out the ones where actual terrorists have come from because Trump has massive business holdings in those places.

A judge issued a stay Friday night - citing the complete unconstitutionality of this mess.  No matter - this garbage still played out as ignorant immigration officials at airports began refusing to comply with the court order, denying those detained access to the attorneys, and even turning away Congressmen and women who showed up to try to get the stay enforced.

All of this is dangerous because it points to an administration showing no regard for the rule of law, the checks and balances built into our governance, and absolutely no regard or understanding of the actual CONSTITUTION.

What is most glaring to me, however, is the blatant hypocrisy scripted into this E.O.  Trump and his cabinet of flying monkeys are all noted bigots, racists, theocrats - their stances, views, words all out there for anyone to hear, see, read.  Yet these words sit in the first section of the conditions of this ban:

The United States cannot, and should not, admit those who do not support the Constitution, or those who would place violent ideologies over American law. In addition, the United States should not admit those who engage in acts of bigotry or hatred (including "honor" killings, other forms of violence against women, or the persecution of those who practice religions different from their own) or those who would oppress Americans of any race, gender, or sexual orientation.

The tone deafness and hypocrazy is stunning.

By those very words, their words, none of them should be allowed in this country.  The GOP is a cabal of those who openly persecute anyone not Christian.  A fraternity which openly disparages and discriminates against women.  A cesspool of bigots who believe in conversion therapy, think gay people should be jailed, that transgender people are NOT people.  This administration is peopled with white nationalists, racists, the intellectually incurious, and Bible bangers who only acknowledge their religion as being the right religion.

Hypocrites who decry Muslim American women who wear a hijab, yet who have no problem with nuns in habits, and any number of branches on the Christianity tree in which women must wear dresses, are not allowed to cut their hair, cannot wear make-up, are allowed no voice in their marriages or churches or lives.  Is that not oppression?  Or does it simply get a pass because Jesus?

News for you - Jesus appears prominently in the Quran.

And if "Christian" women can choose to wear a habit or a long dress as a requirement of their faith, why is is not ok for a Muslim woman to honor her faith by wearing a hijab?  Why does that illicit such a violent response when scores of women wearing veils to Catholic mass does not?

Rhetorical question - the answers being ignorance and fear - all actively, sickening stoked daily by the GOP.

While I am heartened by the mass protests taking place not only in this country but abroad, I fear for what comes next.  All the protests in the world will not keep the next E.O. from endangering LGBTQIA people, or targeting tabernacles, or black people, or more brown people, or students, scientists, professors, journalists, citizens who vocally oppose this rapidly forming hellscape.  These E.O.s are further emboldening the ugliest and most ignorant in our country, making them feel safe, justified even, in striking out at those with darker skin color, burning down mosques, assaulting Muslim women in the hijab.

How inconvenient for them all that the mass shooting at a mosque in Canada was carried out by a Trump loving, immigrant hating, white nationalist - not the brown stereotype they have been taught to fear.  Hell, they won't even call him a terrorist - FOX, Breitbart, et al - referring to him as a "lone wolf."  Um, no - he is a terrorist - and he is one of yours.

I know we outnumber those who put this reprobate into office.  But unless those with the power to enforce the checks, balances, and constitution do not stand up now, this country is doomed.

It has only been 12 days.  

In 12 days the doomsday clock has moved forward.  In 12 days we have watched citizens denied entry into this country.  In 12 days we have seen Trump self aggrandize at every turn, and take every breath with a white supremacist at his side.  In 12 days we have been downgraded from a full democracy to a flawed democracy, joining countries such as Poland, Italy, and Mongolia.  In 12 days we have become a shameful laughingstock.

And in 12 days we have completely turned the Statue of Liberty into a statement of glaring hypocrisy.

To pull from the lyrics in Hamilton, this truly is our only hope - WE MUST:

Rise up!
When you’re living on your knees, you rise up
Tell your brother that he’s gotta rise up
Tell your sister that she's gotta rise up 

We have the numbers, people.  Now we must lock arms and move forward as a force, just as they are moving forward as a farce.

The world needs to see what has truly made us good, a beacon of hope to so many.  We cannot allow that lamp to burn out.

We Are Better Than Today

Today is awful.  It just is.

Well, it just is if you are a human being who values other human beings.  

Today this nation hands the reins of power over to a wholly unqualified, intellectually incurious, middle school level maturity, reality TV personality.  It is one of the more shameful days in our nation's history that is already riddled with shameful days.

We have failed.  Not just our country, but the world who, despite our many hubris laden follies, still looks to us for guidance, inspiration, hope.

Basically, we have allowed our beacon to go out.  The lighthouse of this nation shall stand dark for four years as a cabinet of science deniers, educational failures, and professional grifters drag us along as they indulge their inadequacies, pat each other on the ass as they hurt the populace, and laugh at us as we cannot do anything about it.

Well, they think we cannot do anything.

But we can.

We start with the bone deep knowledge that we ARE better than what is being broadcast today to the world.  From that place we must stick together, we must march together, we must protest loud, long, unrelentingly.  We must bravely have one another's backs.  We must call, email, call again, show up at town halls, and when there is an election, we must run for office.  We must be a constant reminder to those who now occupy the halls of government that WE, the majority of the people, did not vote for this.

We did not vote for misogyny.  We did not vote for xenophobia.  We did not vote for racism.  We did not vote for LGBTQIA people to be treated as less.  We did not vote for a spray tanned, emotional cripple to indulge his narcissism at every turn.  We did not vote for a theocrazy theocracy.   

We did not vote to "Make America Great Again" because we are educated enough to know we were already making strides in that direction.  We know our shameful history.  We value knowledge, facts, data.  We know we are not a "disaster" as Trump and his minions bellow.

And Trump is already shaking.  This self serving reprobate who exists on ego and applause knows deep down that he did not win.  He knows his guilt, he sees the crowds amassing around the country, he sees the pushback, he hears the dissent, he reads the embarrassing articles, tweets, and missives that are everywhere.  He knows deep down that he is a fraud, and what's worse for him?  He knows WE know it.

He knows we are better than today.

We are strong.  We are smart.  We are humanitarian.  We care about each other.  All things he cannot relate to.  We care about protecting those who have been marginalized.  We see inequities and demand they be righted.  We acknowledge privilege, in all the various forms we wear it - skin color, gender, wealth, education.  We acknowledge it and strive to get beyond it so we may better relate, understand, HELP those who do not have such an easy ride through life.

As Trump is sworn in today, under an increasing dark cloud of guilt, complicity, and corruption, we must remind ourselves that we are better than today.  We are better than those who think words like "snowflake" and "libtard" are slurs.  Sorry, kids, but I will wear the label Libtard Snowflake proudly.

It means I care.  It means that I educate myself.  It means I will never believe I know enough.  It means I stand with those who cannot stand on their own.  It also means I know I am better than those who call me that.  Yes, I typed it.  I am better than racists, homophobes, misogynists, Islamophobes.  I am also better than those who stood shoulder to shoulder with racists and haters of all stripes, accepting the ugliness, embracing it, voting it into power.

I am better than you.  WE are better than you.  Because in the end, we will save this country from you.  Yes, we Libtard Snowflakes with our educations and big vocabularies and open hearts will save this nation.  WE are patriots.  We love this country, not with blinders on or through rose colored glasses, but we love this country knowing all that we have done wrong in the past, accepting all that we have inflicted, stolen, trampled.  We love this country because our ideals are worth protecting.  Not in some bullshitty "We're #1!" memey way, but with a love born of seeing where we have been, what we have accomplished, and what we still can be.

Those who throw those "cuck" "snowflake" "libtard" labels around are not patriots, as they like to call themselves.  True patriots would have been standing up demanding a new election.  Demanding a thorough, complete investigation before any inauguration was allowed to take place.  Patriots would be outraged that a foreign power had its hands in our election process.  True patriots see the long game, not just the short win.  

No, these people are not patriots.  They are patridiots.

They do not care that Trump was chosen, elevated, and today will be sworn in with a tsunami of guilt bearing down on him.  

They only care that they think they won.

When the reality is, they have lost.  Willingly, knowingly - they lost.  And they have done it out of spite, ignorance, and their laughable pride in being mental wastelands.  I have said it before, I will say it again - Sarah Palin made stupidity fashionable.  And these people still wear it like a brain mullet.  They don't read (no, People magazine does not count), think higher education is elitist, and have disdain for anyone who appreciates culture, arts, the world at large.

THEY are not better than today.  THEY are the embodiment of today.

Our only hope is that we, the majority, stand together, stand tall, stand strong.  We must make our voices heard at every turn.  We must protect the advances we have made.  Not just because it is right in principle, but because to allow protections and equality to be undone is to allow our fellow human beings to be hurt.  To allow Palin's death panels to become a reality - no one will be able to afford cancer and care.

There is power in numbers.  Maybe not when the polls are gerrymandered like some origami project gone awry, but when it comes to public pushback against our government officials and their heinous plots and plans - our voices matter.  

And when 2018 rolls around and the polls reopen, we must look back and remember today, remember that we are better than what we watched take place, and begin the process of firmly grabbing the reins back from those who who do not understand the honor and obligation attached to the power.

Today is a shitshow.  It is a national embarrassment.  Just know that you are not alone, you matter, and that you ARE better than today.

Because together we will eventually show the world that we are all working for a better tomorrow.

Rose Colored Asses

Last night, like millions across the country, untold numbers around the world, I sat and watch President Obama give his farewell address.  At the same time, I was reading through the 35 page report about Trump.

The contrast could not have been more stark, sickening, sad.

We have had eight years in which an adult - an intelligent, measured, rational, forward thinking adult - has led this country.  Led it out of the ditch into which the former administration had driven it.  Led us towards equality for all, not just some.  Led us by example - a family with no scandals, much love, openness, and heart.  Led us despite the rabid nature of so many who could never see past the one half of his genetic make-up that is shown in his skin color.  Led us on the home front and the international stage with calm, directness, and an eye towards the future - the future for all of us.  Has his tenure been perfection?  Oh, please, I don't even know the metric one would use to measure that. 

As I listened to him, eloquent as ever, I marveled at how far we are falling come January 20th.  From intelligence and meaningful words to bluster and 140 character tantrums.  From a leader with a worldview and a thirst for knowledge to a sham with no understanding of how the world works and no desire to learn.  From a man who openly cherishes his wife to a reprobate who has casually and publicly cheated on all of his.

As I listened to President Obama, passionate and controlled, I read the report on this country's shameful president-elect choice.

Yes, it contains the salacious entries about Trump's alleged recorded sexual escapades and favored proclivities while in Russia.  It contains details about golden showers, orgies.  And as a seriously dim populace, a citizenry that has proven time and again that it cares a whole awful lot about the salacious, the dirty, the "oooooo factor," that is exactly what has been leading the news cycle since last night.

Pee.

Seriously.  That is what most people know about this report.  Hell, most people don't actually seem to know there IS a report, just that there is piss this allegation.  And it is juicy (pardon the pun).

But there are 35 pages in this collection of memos/report.  35 pages of treason.  And warnings that the evidence and sources are reliable enough to warrant further investigation.  All of the contents' originations deemed reputable enough to have been part of a briefing to both Obama and Trump last week.

LAST WEEK.

Let that sit with you for a moment.

Last week they were both presented with this information.  It is damning, it is dangerous.

The President took the completely high road.  Saying nothing then, saying nothing about it last night.  Exploiting it for political gain or embarrassment not even in this man's mind, let alone actions.  Yes, he is smart enough to know the import, the dire implications in terms of our security in the hands of a tyrant whose only end game is the greater glory and enrichment of himself.  Yet he did not bring it to the podium in the White House, let alone the podium where he spoke last night.  He is letting the wheels of the process turn as they must.  He is letting Trump drown in the piss of his own making.

As for Trump?  He Tweets.  IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE THAT MAKES IT REAL-ER AND BIGLY.  His defense of this report?  Russia says it's not true, so there, nyah, nyah.  The village idiot who led the birther charge, is now crying about witch hunts.  The reality star who wallowed in the media's coverage of him during the election, now claims "Unfair!"

Sorry, PEEotus, this whole shitshow is of your own making.  You campaigned on half truths, full lies, a carnival barker promising "yuge" things inside the tent.  You refused to show your tax returns, at your press conference this morning declaring that you will not, that only the media cares about them.  Um, no, Donald, the citizenry does.  At least the intelligent 65+ million who outvoted your dim witted minions.  Your failure to disclose is seen as just what it is - cowardice.  Deceit.  And the scrambling to hide what you know is damning.

That this report is now public knowledge (at least knowledge for those who care enough to read the damned thing) yet nothing is being done is infuriating.  Were this reversed, even ONE piece of it, and it mentioned Clinton, the GOP would be clutching their pearls, screaming treason, assembling committees, and refusing to hold the inauguration until a full investigation was complete.  But since it is about their candidate, they spin, they deflect, they lie, they warp - anything to avoid having to actually be patriots and care more about country than about party and winning.

To anyone swooning and claiming the "vapuhs" and that declaring this is all untrue simply because it has yet to be thoroughly vetted and verified?  Try again.  The two page intelligence report is not based on Facebook memes or "fake news for profit" websites.  It is based on the intelligence community giving credence to the sources involved and stating very clearly they are reliable enough to move forward.  At the very least, the bare minimum, the fact that there was enough smoke to produce this report AND have it presented to the POTUS and Trump - means investigation, complete and thorough, is warranted to insure there is no fire, or to find there is a fire and set to doing what must be done to insure it does not set the whole place ablaze.  

Make no mistake, any citizen who is willing to turn a blind eye to this report, to already released evidence that our election was influenced by a foreign power, is no patriot.  You are treasonous filth.  You are hypocrites of the highest magnitude.  You screamed BENGHAZI! BENGHAZI! BENGHAZI! over and over as committee after committee found no crime.  You sanctioned the waste of millions of our tax dollars on a true witch hunt, never caring or blinking an eye when embassy deaths mounted under Republican presidents, but shitting yourselves blind when Obama and Hillary were in your sights. You chanted "Lock her up" over and over and over about Hillary, wanting her imprisoned for NOTHING.  You practically fellated Wikileaks and masturbated to every fake news story that emerged about Hillary - like the pizza parlor garbage - embracing it as hard, cold truth not needing verified or substantiated on any level other than your biased gut. 

You do not get to act like high minded, justice seeking saints through all that bullshit, and now turn your backs and say, "Meh.  Move on.  Get over it."  Your desire to win made possible by your easily exploitable thintellect and your choosing to see the world only through rose colored asses.

Our country has been compromised.  The dismantling will begin in earnest on January 20th.  The danger for millions of targeted groups will intensify.  Education, healthcare, the environment, everything - will be in the hands of science deniers, greed driven billionaires, and proven idiots.  I will say it again - if you voted for this human Easter egg dye, sat out the election, or threw your vote away - you own this.  All of it.  You imperiled millions of people, made life exponentially more dangerous for them, and empowered a cretin who cares about no one but himself.

Last night I watched a truly remarkable man do his best to calm a frightened populace, even chastising when boos went up directed at the incoming administration.  His efforts were far beyond saying goodbye.  He was trying to lift us up, get us to refocus, to find the strength inside each one of us, to remind us to never give up on this country, to give us hope. "I'm asking you to believe. Not in my ability to bring about change — but in yours."

This morning I watched a childish, unintelligent, disinterested, self aggrandizing charlatan stand at a podium, pat himself on the back, and say the word "brilliant" over and over.  No plans, no coherence, no humility at the massive job and responsibilities before him.  Just hubris, hyperbole, and wilted word salad about how great he is.

What have we become?

~~~~~~~~~~

P.S.

Could this all be untrue?  Anything is possible.  But this I will say - for every unsubstantiated, unverified, flat out false piece of garbage reTweeted, shared, and passed on as true during the election cycle by Trump and his minions?  You don't get to be pissed now.  Not at, not on, not at all.  You reap what you sow.

Resident Not President

No one likes to lose.  We just don't.  The competitive spirit runs through our history, our human founding, our encounters, hell, our DNA.  

Yes, DNA. After all, the most competitive thing we do daily is survive.  Our immune systems do battle.  We find food, shelter, clothing.

Businesses strive to win your dollars through being better! faster! cheaper!  In person or online we compete to win dates by being handsomer, prettier, most unique.  In school we award achievement - scholarships, advancement, titles like valedictorian.  Board games turn our kitchen tables and living rooms into Spartan battlegrounds.  We compete for promotion in our jobs, trying to outshine our coworkers.  We rabidly support sports teams - their excelling somehow having anything to do with us.  We watch "sports" in which the winner is literally the one who can beat the most shit out of the other.

Competition.  Our lives are virtual Olympics daily.

So when it comes to our politics, winning and losing are ingrained every bit as much as they are in every other facet of life.  

Sadly though, in politics - which are supposed to be about betterment for all - power grabbing has beaten the shit out of things like patriotism, ethics, and integrity, leaving them lying bloody and broken on the floor of the Octagon.

Nowhere is that more evident than in our election process this time around.  Right, pride of country, defense of our supposed principles, and our delusionally held idea that we are #1 in this world of ours have been shown the door.  What we are left with is an election that has now been proven to have been compromised.  A system in which another country gleefully celebrated their efforts bearing worm laden fruit when their candidate "won."  And an entire contingent of both politicians and citizens who simply do not care.

It is that last part that is infuriating.  It doesn't stymie me.  Far from it.  These reprobates have embraced willful ignorance and violence as some sort of virtues for a very long time.  Their politicians have courted it for decades.  Their politicians not being the smartest in the world either, but just smart enough to know how to manipulate their base.  

That base is base.  Every baser, swamp born, lizard brained instinct they have is easy to court.  You throw it red meat.  You point at their less-than-stellar lives and then direct their attention at some "reason" it is not their fault but someone else's.  These people are not rocket scientists and they live to place blame anywhere but themselves.  Trust me, I am related to two such specimens.  Resumes as long as rolls of Charmin, yet no firing ever was their fault.  Nooooooo.

Bad bosses.  Sorry, "shithead bosses."  Idiots all around, except them, of course.  And yes, these proud dullards championed the Tangerine Tumor.  I was not surprised.  I grew up with them.  I know how limited is their intellect. How their first response to being called out or corrected is to punch, lash out.  They believe that if you shout louder you are right.  They like violence.  They don't value learning.  Big words are to be laughed at instead of looked up.  They like easy answers.  And they LOVE believing they are victims.  

Oh, fuck, how they revel in that title.  It absolves them of all personal responsibility, all ownership for their situations.

So when Trump came along grabbing pussy and shouting about any number of groups who are not white or Christian, bellowing that those groups were to blame for every wrong in their little lives, they, like millions of others, heard that precious Pavlov bell, salivated, and ran.

Ironically, these same people, including the two to which I am related, believe themselves patriots, lovers of country, defenders of freedoms.

Bull and shit.

If the past year, and specifically the past week has shown us anything, it is these people's blatant, blaring, embarrassing hypocrisy.  

Putin infiltrated our system.  Russia dicked with our elections.  That proof, to anyone with functioning gray matter, matters.  Or it should.

A patriot, a lover of country, a defender of what we profess makes us better, hell, GREAT - should be storming the castles of Congress and demanding this election be overturned, that a new election be held.  

But no, instead these flag wearing miscreants are happily looking straight past the evidence, the FACTS - because let's face it - this election cycle did one thing really well - it made FACTS obsolete.  If a FACT did not reinforce your inner bullshit narrative, you simply made one up, found one that did.  Fake news became an industry because these people are so easily led.  It would have been funny, watching idiots embrace what is so obviously false, if it had not resulted in the "election" of the most in-over-his-head candidate in the history of ever.

Seriously Trump makes Bush look like a Nobel Laureate.

And here's the reason they cannot deny their hypocrisy - they know damned well had this whole siege of subterfuge been turned around and Putin had been working to influence things for Clinton, they would have been shitting themselves blind from the first mention, the first hint that there had been outside tampering from Russia.  They would have been screaming about their 2nd Amendment solutions, their sniveling politicians would have again shut government down, we would already be on our fifth investigative committee.

Think not?

Say it with me, oops, sorry, scream in it caps the way they have for years:  BENGHAZI! BENGHAZI! BENGHAZI!.

Yeah, 33 hearings in which they tried to find something, and 33 times they wasted MILLIONS of our tax dollars and found nothing. Where are they now, demanding justice, accountability, protections?  

<Insert sound of crickets>

They do not care.  They do not care about country.  They do not care about the integrity of our democratic process.  They do not care that Russia inserted their borscht covered fingers into our systems.  They do not care that nearly 3 million more people voted for Clinton.  They do not care that an immature, ethically compromised liar and grifter will ascend to our nation's highest office.

They care only about winning, only about power.

And absolute power corrupts absolutely.  If you ever wondered what that saying means, LOOK AT WHAT IS HAPPENING.  Look at what will happen on January 20, 2017.

We will watch (well, I won't, but those who can stomach it or plan on masturbating gleefully to it) as Donald Trump is swore in as Resident of the United States.  Yes, resident.  A resident of the White House.  A resident of the office of POTUS.  Not President.

A President is qualified on some level.  A President vows to work for all the people in this country.  Trump routinely takes to his precious Twitter account to name call those of us who did not vote for him, who actually care about the report that came out yesterday.  We are "enemies."  We are "stupid."

Sorry, but a President doesn't do that, or cavalierly taunt other countries via his 140 character limited intellect.

A President doesn't flaunt and revel in his numerous conflicts of interest and lack of curiosity about anything.

And a President of the United States is not chosen by the leader of a corrupt outside government.

That is who Trump is.  As much a willfully, gleefully ignorant reprobate as those who championed him.  As much a puppet to Russia as are his salivating dogs to him.  Easily manipulated, easily placed.

For eight years we have listened to the drone, the whine, the "He's not MY President" line from the right, from those who can't form a cogent sentence about Obama policies and positions to begin with.  We have watched the GOP members of the House and Congress obstruct and obfuscate at every turn.  Well, get ready, dullards.

The smart people, the caring people, the empathetic people, the open minded people, the people not afraid of their own shadows, who routinely try to save you from yourselves may not have "won"  <----And those quotation marks are important here because we outvoted you, meaning there are far more of us than of you, and we actually have FACTS to back up our opposition to this puppet regime about to be installed - but we will WIN in the end.

When it all starts to take place, fall apart; when your little lives are shockingly made worse by repealed health insurance; when Grandma has to move in with you; when those jobs you think he is bringing back never materialize because FACTS; when Hillary is never investigated again, let alone thrown in jail; when your precious wall vaporizes like every other fart that comes out of his mouth; when you find yourselves targets, fingers suddenly pointed at you - we will be there.  We will be the intelligent resistance defending the hard won rights of all, defending the Constitution from being bastardized, defending your right to get cancer and coverage, defending your daughter's right to get an abortion when she is raped; defending your children when they come out as gay or bi or trans and are targeted for simply being who they are; defending your precious religion - whatever one it may be.

Because we actually are patriots.  We actually care about the integrity, the sovereignty of this country.  We see the long game.  We have skin it in and are going nowhere.

So enjoy your "win" but make no mistake, Donald Trump is not, nor will he ever truly be, President, of any of us.  Not even you.  The man with the gold toilets, who actually has utter contempt and disdain for you - yes you, you poor, beer swilling, easily lied to losers <--his favorite word, the man populating his administration with fellow billionaires and corrupt cronies - was chosen, aided, and abetted the entire way.  And if you were smart, you would understand not only how wrong that is for our country, but how truly frightening.

Donald Trump, ROTUS (pronounce that as what it is: ROT) - RESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES presidency.

That's all he will ever be.

Happy New Year?

Yes, yes, yes, I realize I am a few days late in that salutation, but the New Year saw me traveling back from Colorado to Texas.  A three day drive this time (dropped Kendall off in Dallas) in which I had mile after mile, hour after hour to contemplate all manner of things...

• My kids have some pretty stellar tastes in music.  Kendall and Toby took turns DJing, offering up everything from Halsey to Kate Nash to Panic At The Disco, to Jake Bugg (I think I shall add an extra P to my last name - Sharpp), to the Moana, In The Heights, and Hamilton soundtracks.
• Kendall and Toby are endless wells of internet memes.  I am not kidding.  They speak in them, joke in them, reference them constantly.  So much so that I told them, "Without the internet, your lives would be memeingless."  (Tip your waiter, I'm here all week.)
• Cow psychology.  Yes, I drove Kendall nuts wondering out loud if they get cold? Lonely? Afraid of the dark? Do they know they are bored?  And how awesome it must be to be a cow and not know who Donald Trump is.  And then that night, as I lay on my hotel bed, I Googled "Cow Psychology" and regaled her with studies done about cow friendships, boss cows, and their enjoyment of playtime.  She, for her part, threatened to kill me lest I not shut up.  Now, I hear things like that as a challenge and greeted Day Two of the drive with comments such as, "I herd your threat, but am uncowed by it."  "Are you not mooved by knowing they are udderly enchanted by playing?"  "I swear if Vine was still a thing, I would make boVine after boVine to milk your sympathies."  
• Kendall likes to threaten me with death.
• And, of course, I spent a lot of time thinking about life - what we have weathered, where it is taking us, what the future may bring.

2016 was pretty incredible for the Sharps.  Obviously, the most notable part being coming out publicly with Toby as a family in transition with him.  I can tell you that, for me, I did not fear that step.  Mother love being the strongest, most fiercesome force in the world.  Being brave for my children is not a challenge, it is as simple as it is organic.  Fueled by an Irish temper, a strong sense of right and wrong, and a complete disdain for bullshit?  Well, assholes have more to fear of me than me of them.

I can tell you that we are in a place that we really don't think about it all the time.  Pronouns come as easily as saying "my son" "your brother."  Toby is just Toby - wildly talented, hilariously funny, brave, strong - exactly who he was before all the dots were connected.  And having been in Telluride for the past two weeks. there was such freedom and joy in knowing no one knew him as anyone but who we introduced him as:  Toby, our son.  It added to what was a wonderful Christmas in the mountains.

Kendall came out with long time friends of ours - their son is a ski instructor there this season, Culley and Sean flew in on Christmas Day, and my sister and brother-in-law were there as well.  We played, skied, laughed, snuggled, and did what we Sharps do - make home wherever we are all together.  This time, it was Rudy's suite in one of his properties there.  Pop up Christmas tree, stockings hung by the doorknobs with care, and the bliss of simply being together.

The new job is big and challenging, but Rudy is already a rockstar there, leading by example and giving them the direction and vision they need.  And while he worked every day we were there, he managed to sneak away to ski a few runs with me, take me, Culley and Sean out to dinner, and enjoy his family just being in the same place with him for a while.

That last part was at the fore of most of the miles I drove - my main resolution for 2017 - BE WITH MY HUSBAND.

We have lived this life for well over 9 years now.  And we have done well at it.  But being with him for two weeks only makes it that much harder to leave and highlights the fact that together is so much better than apart.  So, my goal is to put the house on the market in the spring and finally be married full time again.

While we were in Colorado, Toby interviewed at the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design and is now home preparing his digital portfolio for submission.  If he is accepted, he will start taking their online classes initially, then move to Denver and complete a BFA at their campus.  He is hungry to get back into school, needs to be challenged far more than was possible at UT Dallas, and begin moving his life along its path again.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE having him around - after years of it being just the two of us, we coexist really well - but he is ready, so I am ready.

I thought about YOU - yes, YOU, all of you as the miles gathered on the odometer.  You pulled it off again.  You gave hope and love and joy to complete strangers across this land of ours.  You fed their souls as much as their tummies, you warmed their outsides with clothing, their hearts with your love.  I am hopeful we may get more pictures over the next few weeks (or reports from my elf helpers), but for now, here is one of some of the children you clothed and fed and made Merry for.  From Elf Terri T, "Thank you so much for everything to make L's holiday easier on her and amazing for the kiddos. Here's a pic. They're not smiling because gramma got them with the sun in their eyes!"

Tracy suggested on the DGMS Facebook page today making use of the donation link throughout the year, not just at Christmas - everyone throwing in a few dollars each payday or per month and letting it build (like the old Christmas Club accounts - thanks, Kerry!)  The link is open 24/7/365 - so always feel free to donate anytime.

Besides the magic you made again this year, I thought about the love and support you have always shown my family, especially so when I posted about Toby.  If I could roadtrip to each of your doors to hug you in person, I would.  Your support has been incredible and so very much appreciated by all of us.

Finally, I thought about what is ahead of all of us.  With the initial feelings of the election results having died down, what remains are very real fears about what is to come, what it portends for people of color, immigrants, American Muslims, LGBTQIA people, my son.  

We are entering unfriendly, uncharted waters.  It is that simple and that frightening.  If you are not frightened, or think this is hyperbole, I will look you straight in the eye and tell you you sit in some position of privilege.  That you are not black, Hispanic, a follower of Islam, gay, transgender, a refugee, or in need of critical, sustained healthcare.  And I will tell you that you are selfish.  

So much of what transpired, Russian hacking aside, were millions of selfish people personifying the lyric from Disney's Pocohontas, "You think the only people who are people, are the people who look and think like you."

The lack of empathy, enlightenment, hell, humanity that was shown is what still lingers as most disturbing to me.  Trump is a reprobate and opportunist, a grifter and narcissist who would not cross the street to pee on his supporters if they were on fire.  He has never wanted to touch or be with the common man.  Yet he was the consummate carnival barker throughout his campaign and his rubes bought what he was selling and rushed inside the tent.  I would like to say I will pity them when their healthcare vaporizes, when they themselves become targets and victims, but they did this to themselves.  They did this to the nation.  We must live it, but they must own it.  They unleashed and normalized the worst of this country; they embraced the misogyny; they proudly stood shoulder to shoulder with the KKK; they turned their back on facts and ate from the trough of personality and lies.

Trump has not drained the swamp, he has enlarged it, filling it with fellow billionaires, science deniers, and conmen who care not one whit about we citizens, just about what they can get from us to further line their pockets.

I thought about that A LOT.

The next four years will be bleak, dangerous, dark.  Which means we - the majority who voted against this nightmare - must stand together, stand tall, stand strong.  We must build the only wall that matters - the one that makes them afraid, that will not allow them to strip rights away, to violate the Constitution.  Our wall is made of open hearts, open minds, embracing FACTS, not folly.  Our wall is smart, intelligence being a weapon to be wielded against their prideful stupidity.  Our wall is movable, towards them.  Our presence must be felt at all times.  Just as it must be felt by all those who have already been named as targets.  Advocacy must go far beyond sharing an article or meme or wearing a safety pin.  It must now mean ACTION.  The immediate willingness to step up and step in when you see harassment, injustice, bullying.  We either mean what we say we believe, or we do not.  And if we believe it, believe in equality, love, humanity - we can no longer just wring our hands.  They laugh at our "bleeding hearts," our temperance, our probity, our use of words like compromise.  Which is why they must be met with the only thing they understand - STRENGTH, FORCE.

No, I am not advocating unsolicited violence, but if I see a hijab ripped off someone's head, that person will find themselves on their ass.  And if someone comes near my son with ill intent?  Get me a fucking fork - that is all it will take.  I will gut them with a smile and their blood on my face.  At every turn, these loudmouthed, ugly, emboldened wastes must be met with disdain, public shaming, and the very clear message that THEY ARE OUTNUMBERED.  They were outvoted in the election, they are outnumbered in the public square.

2017 must be the year that those who "won" get the clear message that they are, in fact, losers.  Their ideas, their hate, their ignorance, their profound inhumanity are things to be scorned, traits that will not be allowed to further flourish in this country.  Because we will get the reins back.  

I just hope the damage is not irreparable when we do.

Which brings me back to the title of this piece and the question mark.

Happy New Year?

I don't know.  I just don't know.  

I wish I were a cow, Kendall.