Don't Get Me Started with Linda Sharp

What Will It Take? Revisited

So, you voted for Trump.

You cheered his rhetoric of hate and phobias.  

You proudly wore your "Fuck Your Feelings" tshirts to his rallies.

You cried out "Lock her up!" at his events - not caring to comprehend that there is nothing to "lock her up" for.  Hell, two years in, as he continues to travel the country, you are still chanting that ridiculous mantra as he holds repeated "Make Me Feel Great Again" masturbation sessions rallies.

You LOVED his blanket condemnations of Islam.

You grabbed your sac every time he hollered how Mexico would pay for his wall.

You deathgripped your whiteness, so fearful of becoming the minority and having the treatment tables turned on you.

You happily lapped up every impossible promise he made.

You fact checked nothing.  And you voted for him.

A man-baby so insecure with himself that he championed his own penis in a debate.  A self confessed womanizer, cheater, molester, and piece of excrement who has never had any use for religion was embraced by churchgoers because he said words like "abortion" and let people pray over him.  A thinskinned schoolyard bully who tweets as often and as foul-ly as he probably releases his KFC emissions.

You voted for him despite the hordes of white supremacists who lauded him.  You proudly stood shoulder to shoulder with them at his campaign stops.  You joined in the mob mentality he meant to elicit each time he pointed to the penned in group of reporters and endangered their very lives.

You voted with your hate, with your ignorance, with your misogyny, with your fears, with your phobias, with your delusions.

You voted for his pledges to "drain the swamp."

You spent 8 years hating on President Obama for every breath he dared to take, grabbing at every salacious made up story, ridiculing his time spent with his family, spent golfing, hell, you ridiculed his family as well.  A family that never had a breath of scandal; a family that is affectionate, intelligent, close.  A President who projected intellect, probity, empathy, sympathy; a President who was largely respected around the world.

When the election came around, you were more than happy to transfer your bullshit onto Hillary Clinton, believing all manner of made-up garbage, including that she runs a child rape ring from the basement of a pizza parlor.

Seriously, how fucking dense are you people?

Rhetorical question.  No answer needed.

So, you voted for him.  For that whole Make America Great Again emptiness, but then bumper sticker thinking tends to win the day in your crowd.  Sorry, Trumper sticker thinking.

He has now been in office for just shy of two years.  What will it take to make you finally wake up and see what you have let loose?

His great plan to defeat ISIS in 30 days?  Where did that go?  What about that great tax cut for the middle class he bandied about right before the midterms?  Did that caravanish like the bogeyman laden caravan headed to our border to eat your babies?  Again, rhetorical questions all - they exist only between his ears and as expressed hot air when he rambles out loud.

He emboldened all the dullards who see only color, and who feel it is now their right to physically strike out at anyone who is not white - ripping off hijabs, punching people on subways, shooting them dead in bars, pulling guns on teenagers in McDonald's - all accompanied by the words "Get out of my country!"

He hates Muslims so much (like you) that he has now tried twice to institute travel bans - except from countries where he has financial interests, actual terrorists from those countries be damned - those Mu$lim$ are okey dokey?  How do you reconcile that?  And his obvious complicity in the horrific execution and cover up of Washington Post journalist and US resident, Jamal Khashoggi?  Constantly fellating the very murderous thug our intelligence agencies have proved ordered the "silencing"?  Where is your moral compass? 

You gleefully supported over 33 hearings on Benghazi, not caring one whit how your tax dollars were being squandered on a witchhunt in which your own party could find no wrongdoing on Hillary's part.  Yet Trump ordered an ill-conceived, bravado laden raid over dinner resulting in women, children, and a Navy SEAL being killed, and you looked away. 

Seriously, the mental gymnastics you must be doing to be cool with that are worthy of a Simone Biles gold.

He promised you the "greatest healthcare" while stumping, and has now made it clear that what he supports is tens of millions being throw off their insurance, premium increases that will bankrupt your parents, and millions in tax cuts for his rich friends.  Good luck when little Johnny needs asthma meds or you get ass cancer.  Or you change jobs and your wife with diabetes can no longer get insured because of that pesky pre-existing condition of hers.  Oh, and you are aware that her simply being a woman will be a pre-existing condition, correct?  Perhaps you should have done your research and actually comprehended that the Affordable Care Act and the FOX slurred Obamacare are the same thing.  

Maybe when enough of you start to die... will that be enough?

You derided Obama as elite for his impressive education, called him a celebrity because of his crowds.  Then you elected a petulant, spoiled brat from Wharton, who was a reality TV star.  

Does your hypocrisy chafe at all?

Trump assured you time and again that Mexico would pay for that big beautiful border wall.  Mexico told him to fuck off time and time again.  It is now down to an embarrassing song and video by Lara Trump and the racist ragdolls, directing MAGAts to a crowdfunding page to donate $450 million to building the wall.   And you're donating.  $116,000+ so far.

Are you that easy, or is it rooted in your refusal to admit you got played, so you commit to the bit and continue getting played?

He has kidnapped thousands of children from their parents, whose main crime is being brown and seeking a better life.  And now he has tear gassed babies and toddlers at the border.  WWJD?  I suspect kick you in your unChristian ass as he consigns you to Hell forever.

You embraced his every childish taunt, his every 3am Twitter rampage during the campaign, thinking them hilarious, brave, profound - how about now that he should be governing yet is still more interested in calling legislators names and Tweeting his overwhelming ignorance on any and all topics. 

He making you proud by acting like a 12 year old boy with his first cell phone?

That whole swamp draining thing?  Um, he is surrounded by white nationalists, climate deniers, liars, and fellow million/billionaires.  He loudly derided Hillary for giving a speech at Goldman Sachs - you booed and hissed and wanted her head - he has surrounded himself with former Goldman Sachs employees.

"Her emails!  Her server!  Security!!!!!"  <----There's a popular one from the campaign trail.  Yet you are as quiet as a ward of coma patients as his daughter, Ivanka, has just been proved to use personal email for government business - email run through a private server AT TRUMP TOWER; he openly conducts the business of national security over dinner at his "winter White House,"  invites Mar-a-Lago members to sit in on cabinet interviews, and he continues to use an unsecured Android phone.  What, no LOCK HER/HIM UP?

Vacations?  Golfing?  Pfffft.  "There's just so much to be done," Trump told CBS' 60 Minutes in an interview broadcast Nov. 13, 2016. "So I don't think we'll be very big on vacations, no."  Remember when Sean Spicer, his former sartorially challenged mouthpiece, told FOX “He will never take a vacation… he can’t sit still. He’s so eager to get things done and change things up – there is never an idle moment and so there is not going to be the word vacation will not exist in a Trump administration.”

He just returned from another weekend on the links at his course in Florida.  He has played 166 times since taking office.

What, is golfing suddenly cool?  Ok with all of you who derided every stroke Obama took?  And the costs you all shit yourselves blind over in terms of "vacations" when Obama was in office?  All these $3 million trips to Florida hunky dory with you?  West Palm Beach quickly realized what a bankrupting grifter he is as his repeated trips have threatened the very existence of many businesses:  "We're going broke."  Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw has asked the federal government to refund his agency more than $5.6 million for the 65,063 hours his staff and deputies worked to ensure the safety of Trump, Melania and Barron during their visits to the county JUST from October 2017 through the end of April of this year.

Where do you think that money comes from?  TAX DOLLARS.  Is it ok with you?

<Insert crickets.>  Of course it's ok with you.  You'd rather eat from a buffet of Trump's rectal remnants than admit, perhaps, that you got conned by a man who literally earned the moniker Don The Con DECADES ago.  You got played by a reprobate who has made a very public display of constantly and consistently cheating, lying, ripping off, and threatening people all his life.  The Art of the Deal?  Sorry, the only art here is the art form to which he raised carnival barking.  

So what will it take?  THAT is a serious question.

Will you have to see your own grandparents starve to death as Meals On Wheels evaporates?  Will Putin have to be caught with his tongue in Trump's mouth and his hand down his trousers for you to stop with the "fake news" bullshit?  Sorry, but just because news doesn't make your head feel good or your pee pee hard does not make it fake.  Will your child have to die in front of you because your healthcare disintegrated?  Well, you can take heart in all those new weapons of death he has promised for the military.

What will it take for you to finally admit that you were lied to, vote grifted, used?  

I suspect for most of you it will take a target finally being squarely placed on your back.  

Whether it is healthcare, bankruptcy, your coal jobs NOT coming back, your deployed spouse or child being blown to bits in a war of distraction and bravado, or finally being labeled a "loser" by Trump for being poor - it will happen.

You cheered as he targeted Muslims.  Because you aren't one.  You applauded as he targeted the LGBT.  Because you aren't one.  You proudly wore your MAGA hats as he targeted Mexicans.  Because you aren't one.  You laughed as he constantly went after minorities (pssst, brown people).  Because you are not one.  You clapped like a deranged seal as he repeatedly took aim at Black Lives Matter supporters.  Because you are not one.  You blew off his obvious ridiculing of a disabled reporters.  Because you are not disabled.  

Your target is coming.  It is inevitable.  You will need something at some point - we all do - assistance, insurance, school lunches for your children when you lose your job, food stamps, housing aid, an emergency operation, and on and on.  And when you do, you will be a loser, a taker, a welfare cheat.  Too bad you can't eat boot straps.

Some of you are slowly opening your eyes - comment sections now contain those who confess to making a mistake with their vote, TrumpRegrets collects all the staunch supporters who have finally realized they have been chewing on bullshit, not red meat, thrown to them by this fraud.  Investigations into his lies and connections (and those of the cadre of villains around him) are ongoing and more is gleaned every day.  And the number of his "best people" being incarcerated, bargaining with Mueller, and sweating bullets grows each week.

His house of cards is coming down.  Alternative facts, fake news, Tweets meant to distract, all of it, will eventually give way to cold, hard facts that reveal how vile, corrupt, compromised, and naked is this emperor.  Sadly, however, the damage has been done.  

And you own it.  All 62 million who looked the other way at every horrific statement, heinous promise, and pledge to hurt other people.  You did this to our nation because, like Trump, you cared more about winning than you do about your neighbors, this country.

What will it take?  Pain.

It's coming Trumpers.   But when you are crying, in need, damaged, bereft don't expect the majority that tried to keep this from happening to feel sorry for you. 

To quote your tshirts:  Fuck Your Feelings.

There Is Always, Always Something To Be Thankful For

As Thanksgiving 2018 dawns, and kitchens the land over begin to emit the smells of sweet and savory, I sit here thinking about thanks.

As always, my heart is first and foremost thankful for my family - my kids who have turned into phenomenal young adults, my husband who embraces all of me - the good, the bad, the ugly; my sister who knows me better than anyone and is my assurance in this world that I am never alone; and my parents and in-laws - we are blessed to still have all four in our lives, loving us from afar.

I am grateful for my friends who lift me when I am down, comfort me when I am scared, share their lives with me, and make me laugh when the only other alternative is to cry.

I am thankful for food in my pantry, warmth in my home, water that runs freely, air in my lungs.

And I am thankful for all of you, this amazing blogmunity.  In a world where we grow increasingly suspect of one another, fearful that each day may contain our last sunrise, and where uncertainty is our very atmosphere - you continue to remind me that the good people still outnumber the bad.  That the constant series of heinous headlines are always outnumbered by a million small acts of kindness.  And that where there is love, there is hope and harbor.

While lunching with my sister and brother-in-law yesterday, he asked about our Yes, Virginia effort - how it started, how long we have done it, how it works - genuinely interested in how we came together, how we raise our funds, how we find those in need, etc.

As I explained our DGMS origins, the rapid growth of this community through, of all things, a once-upon-a-time addiction to American Idol, I tried to remember all the ways we started helping one another.  I spoke of KittyPimp's cat that we saved through donations when it had been attacked by a dog; the young lady, Mae, who had shouldered more hardship that any young person should have to bear, but desperately wanted to go to college - we sent her; and the most tragic and humbling when we came together to carry one of our own to her rest, when Toni's life was cut short.

I explained that the Yes, Virginia effort grew out of those early moments - truly grassroots, GoFundMe before GoFundMe was a thing - and is now in its 10th year of reaching out by reaching in.  I told him of beds we bought, endless toys, warm clothes, paid electric and heat bills, and the now predictable and heartbreaking pleas for food assistance each year.

My sister chimed in about my writing, teasing that I use my skill for good not evil as I share the stories with you, hoping to move you to donate and hop in the sleigh each year.  We talked about the nuts and bolts, the thousands and thousands of dollars raised throughout the past decade and how the fund is used by me on your behalf.  I walked him through the donation process, how Paypal is the best weapon of choice for this battle for holiday smiles - that the money goes into Paypal, and with very rare exception, it never touches my hands.  99% of elfing is an online affair, and 99% of websites have a Paypal payment link.  That when the Christmas deadline is near, the coffers are empty, and the inevitable last minute plea for help comes in - Rudy and I fill the wishlist.  That we have never turned anyone away, even driving all over town one Christmas Eve to find an open Western Union to help a mom in Canada.

The biggest thing I stressed is my continued awe and appreciation for the trust placed in me by you each year.  As I sit here this morning elfing, taking advantage of some early Black Friday bargains, that is what I am so thankful for today.  I am humbled and grateful for this accidental community of open hearts, open minds, and close knit kindred spirits who always operate from a place of LOVE.

Whether you observe today in solitude or are surrounded by family and friends, I hope you, too, take a moment to think about this blogmunity and how it has added to your life through the years, as it has surely added to mine.

There is always, always, ALWAYS something to be thankful for - please know how endlessly, profoundly thankful I am for each of you.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Linda

P.S. 

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." 

​
John F. Kennedy 

Our Community "Oven"

For the past three weeks, my husband and I experienced history, beauty, local cuisines, languages and the people who speak them.  Our travels took us to ports up and down France, Spain, and Portugal - lovely vistas, discoveries, UNESCO sites aplenty.  But one stop in particular holds a place in our minds as our most favorite.

Tangier.

Located in Morocco, at the very tip of the African continent, this is a place steeped in history, religion, conquest.  Like many port cities, it has its legacy of trade importance, and also a very developed, affluent, waterfront area of shopping, hotels, etc.  But the real Tangier, the Tangier we got to see up close is one of true everyday life - shopkeepers, mothers walking their little children to school, narrow and winding streets that hide treasures and people and for the non-local, a little unease.  Entering the Medina - the area dating back to the 14th century - one could not be faulted for feeling immediately lost, definitely out of place.

But we were lucky.

We had booked a local cooking class that day, which included a wonderful gentleman who guided our small group through the dark, maze-like Kasbah area of the Medina, helping us discover how locals live, the markets where they sell their bread, spices, produce, textiles, and more.  But this area is also one where it is evident the people live hand to mouth, where tenement type buildings rise five, six stories, making the narrow paths dark even in daylight. 

During our time prior to the class, and more importantly a moment during, we met beautiful people, with ready smiles, stories to tell.  We were granted the best gift possible - welcome and acceptance - and were introduced to what stuck in my and Rudy's hearts...

The community oven.

In our class, as we each cooked in couples - a Moroccan feast of prunes and meat (yes, it was fabulous) - we also made bread. 

Once we had completed our separate loaves, the entire class walked through the old neighborhood with our tray of rounded dough balls.  As we turned a corner, the call to prayer playing out over hidden speakers on the streets, Miriam (our lovely instructor that day) pointed out a huge pile of chopped wood - trees, along with door frames, old window frames, etc.)

We walked past it, down a dirt path that led to a dark shack.

As we stepped inside, eyes adjusting to the change in light, we could see more wood piled up, bread loaves waiting to be baked, and then the oven.

It took up most of the space.  A huge metal oven.  On the outside was a large metal hand crank that operated the circular tray within.  As they used the crank, we could see chicken go past, then bread, etc.

Miriam explained that because the residents are not well off, many do not have ovens, so the community created this space, manned by these men, who receive the items residents come to cook, and who have laser memories of each item within so that they never char a chicken or burn a loaf of bread.  These men keep track of what goes in when, what belongs to who.  And most importantly, they keep the oven lit and burning.

Because it sustains the community.  It helps, it provides what many do not have.  Leaving our loaves in their care, we walked back to the Blue Door cooking school.  As we did, Miriam explained the importance of the oven, the men who ask for nothing (they may receive a tip, or something they have cooked), and the spirit of the people who live there.  They waste nothing.  To throw away bread is rude.  They share what they have with those who have not, never knowing when they may become the one in need. Walking along, she pointed out the remnants of bread in crevices, on windowsills.  These remains are put out so that the homeless, the hungry, even the animals can always find something to eat.

True community.  True thought for your neighbor, a stranger.

When Raza retrieved our baked bread and we sat down around our tagines filled with fragrant meat and onions and prunes, each loaf of bread had so much more significance to us all.  It was no longer just the fun of having made it at the school.  It was feeling connected to a culture of humanity that is lost to so many places around the world where the prevailing mindset is dog eat dog, everyone for themselves; where greed and avarice are somehow portrayed are virtue.

Since hugging the ladies goodbye, I have thought daily about the community oven.  The people who benefit from it, survive even.

Each time it brings me to this community.  We have our own form of "oven" this time each year.  We keep the fires stoked so that those in need may come forward.  We take their pain, their hunger, their fears, their sorrows, their despair, and we return to them the sustenance of caring, love, acknowledgement.  We let them know they are not alone, that their children matter, that they matter.

I wish I could transport everyone to that alley, to that woodpile, to that warm shack in Tangier.  Just for a moment, just to experience the profound impact community can have.

Our opportunities are here again.  While I have been gone, emails have piled up asking for our help.  I am now receiving some from those who know families who have survived the fires in California, but have lost literally everything.

Our community "oven" is open for business.  Our community lovin' never fails to amaze me.  Please donate if you can (the button is on the left of the page), ask for help if you need it, and let me know if you know of a family living in the shadows whose lives we could brighten this holiday season.

Like that oven in Tangier, the Yes, Virginia link is open and waiting for you to bask in the glow and feed your soul.

Linda

Touching Lives

I am writing this from a port in Spain. Rudy and I are now roughly halfway through our great adventure.

For the past 10 days we have moved from place to place, large port cities, small fishing towns, and yesterday, the tiny hamlet of Montblanc, Spain.

We have dined like royalty, and dined like locals. 

We have toured a soccer stadium that can seat 100,000, and a 12th century monastery that currently houses only 30.

We listen to a swirl of languages around us, yet all that is needed to connect is an open smile.

As each day rolls to the next, each memory added to my mental scrapbook, my favorites all revolve around one facet: THE PEOPLE.

Looking back at our country, so filled with hatred, suspicion, bias, and roiling with unrest, I find myself wishing every single person could experience this trip. 

The chance to truly experience cultures, religions, languages, flavors, and people.  I have one thing to remind you - WE ARE ALL THE SAME.

From young French waiters, to grandmotherly Catalan tour guides, from Muslim Uber drivers to Spanish shopkeepers - we have met them all, bridged language gaps together (but frankly, most are immediately able to help US by their ability to speak some degree of English), laughed with them, commiserated about world events, and literally, embraced each one. Like a smile, a hug is universal.

I have thought daily about our Yes, Virginia efforts each year. You never ask who your dollars help, and I make no requirement of those in need other than to tell me what they need. Their skin color, politics, religion, ethnicity - simply do not matter

As Rudy waits by the door for me to hit ‘post’, ready to go explore an old market and the treasures it may hold, I sit here knowing that the true treasure, the absolute gold in life is found in each other.

I will be back home by next weekend and ready to Elf full speed ahead. Renewed in spirit, my hope in humanity buoyed.  Please join me in touching lives this holiday season - WE ARE ALL THE SAME.

The donation link is open.  Much love, Linda