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Tuesday, June 27, 2017

ABC TV Cancels Downward Dog Show




“Every Day my dog looks at me exactly the same way, like I’m the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. And, I just thought, what if we could see ourselves the way my dog sees me? What if we could love ourselves like that?” – Nan

This summer, about 6 weeks ago, ABC debuted a new half hour sitcom called Downward Dog. It is an endearing show about a rescue dog, Martin and his beloved Nan. The show is from Martin’s perspective and he talks to us, the audience. He doesn’t talk to people and he doesn’t talk to other animals because he is a dog. Martin is insecure because of being traumatized by having been given up as a puppy and spending time in a dog shelter. Image result for downward dog tv show

When I saw the previews for it, I knew that I would want to watch it and it has become my favorite show currently on TV. I’ve been enjoying the show because it is something different than what else you see on TV. I’m bored to tears by non- “reality” TV and comedies that are clones of other comedies that are on the air. Television is a vast wasteland these days. But this show is light hearted, entertaining and original. It captures very well how a rescue dog might feel and how he views the world through a dog’s perspective, if only dogs did talk.

In the past six weeks we have learned that Martin adores Nan, but recognizes that they are only “like, 60% compatible at best”. When Nan takes Martin to obedience classes, he thinks of it as couples therapy”  and says “Nan’s making really good progress….” That’s because Nan has real life distractions, like her job (Martin says “I get that its fun to ride around in a car all day with your head out the window…”) and her career in advertising which is always threatened to be derailed by her clueless boss who is himself insecure and undermines her ideas. Image result for downward dog tv show

Nan has a boyfriend, Jason, who is a sweet guy, but a total slacker and they have their problems in their relationship. Nan loves him, but wants him to find some direction in his life. Martin says, “First there was Jason, and then there wasn’t Jason and then there was Jason and then there wasn’t Jason and then there was….. and, as a peer, its not like I really respected him all that much.” But as the show develops you can see that Martin grows more attached to Jason as well when unemployed Jason is able to spend more time with Martin when Nan has to work.

Martin has a very uneasy relationship with the neighborhood cat, Pepper. Pepper comes around to stare at Martin which he knows bothers Martin, who is a little afraid of him. “I don’t mean to be racist, but that cat is a psychopath, like, he’s a complete emotional terrorist!” Image result for downward dog tv show pepper the cat

We learn more about Nan as the show develops. In a lot of ways she is like Martin. We find out that when Nan was 7 her mother left her and her father and that she has grown distant from her father. She has that hole in her heart that she is trying to fill that makes her feel just a little less than….. Her relationship with Martin has helped to heal her just as her being Martin’s beloved has helped to heal him as well.

There is a very real story behind the character of Martin. He’s played by a real rescue dog named
Ned. Ned was given up and in a shelter in Texas where his time was running out. He was transferred to a no kill shelter in Texas where he lived for almost two years before he was adopted by his trainer who was looking for a real rescue dog for the show. Ned had been traumatized by having no place where he was loved of his own and also had two bouts with heartworms. His trainer is his now forever home, even if the show goes no farther, so not matter what something wonderful came from this show.

So ABC cancelled the show. I’m not surprised. Giving it a summer debut seemed like a kiss of death right out of the gate to me, but the ratings have been decent during a time when not as many people are watching reruns as during the regular season. So I was hopeful. Each week I have really looked forward to seeing each new episode. And then when I saw there were two episodes scheduled for a later time slot than normal this coming Tuesday, I had that sinking feeling. Later, I looked up the show and saw the bad news. It seems as though ABC entertainment division is about as inept as their fake news division, after cancelling a popular show “Last Man Standing”.

Hopefully fans of Downward Dog will be able to save the show either by writing to ABC here: http://abc.go.com/feedback or at another online petition I found here: https://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-cancellation-of-the-series-downward-dog.html

The actors and producers were encouraged and hopeful that there is enough interest in the show by audiences that it might be picked up by another network or by Netflix. Let’s all hope this happens. We all need more shows like Downward Dog.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

New Developments on the Sage Smith Case

Today (3/30/17), the Daily Progress reports that THREE MONTHS AGO the Charlottesville Police Department classified Sage Smith's disappearance as a homicide. Why was this not announced by the Charlottesville Police Department in December when they reclassified the case as a homicide investigation?

I can only speculate that the reason this has happened after four long agonizing years for Sage's family is that it was because she was a transgender woman, not a U.Va. coed who went missing. Remember all the resources poured into the cased of two U.Va. women who went missing? Perhaps their lives were more valuable because they came from wealthy families that attended a prestigious university, not some poor transgender woman of approximately the same age demographic as the missing U.Va. students. Perhaps I am being unfairly cynical, but I don't think so.

I do find it very disturbing that the Charlottesville Police Department reclassified this case as a homicide in December and is just now making that known to the public, almost four months later. What are we to make of that?

Here is the article from today's Daily Progress.

 Search for Sage Smith now a homicide investigation

More than four years ago, Sage Smith took a walk near West Main Street in Charlottesville on her way to meet an acquaintance and was never seen again.
On Wednesday, Charlottesville police said they are now investigating the case as a homicide.
“Sage wouldn’t have just walked off,” Smith’s grandmother Lolita “Cookie” Smith said. “Somebody took Sage from me. Something happened.”
Charlottesville police reclassified the case in December but waited to release the information publicly out of consideration for Smith’s family, Lt. Steve Upman said. After a shuffle in positions and roles at the police department, detectives also wanted time to take a fresh look at the case. There are no new searches planned, he said.
Smith, a transgender woman, was last seen Nov. 20, 2012, when she left an apartment on Harris Street and walked toward West Main Street to meet someone, according to police. The case was first classified as a missing person investigation and has remained active since Smith’s disappearance.
Police said Wednesday that the reclassification means the case is now a criminal investigation, which opens up resources outside the department — such as the United States Marshals Service — and could add weight to investigative tools such as search warrants.
“A missing person is not a criminal case, so we do not have the same investigative leeway,” Upman said. “By moving it to a criminal matter, it affords us not only additional resources outside the agency, but [also] provides more opportunities to search phone records and computers, that kind of thing.”
“That was not the reason to change it, but those are opened up,” he added.
City police said in 2012 that they had limited power to search Smith’s credit card and cellphone records because the case was not a criminal investigation.
Though police said they don’t have evidence of foul play, they reclassified the case because of its suspicious nature and how much time has passed with no sign of Smith. No single element of the investigation led to the decision, Upman said, but all the available evidence made it the most appropriate step.
Calling her granddaughter a “happy, go-lucky person” who loved to dance, Lolita Smith said she is angry that it took Charlottesville police so long to reclassify the case.
“Frankly, I don’t understand why they waited so long,” she said. “It’s been four years. I think the Charlottesville Police Department dropped the ball from day one.”
“I’m angry,” she said. “I don’t understand how some cases can be solved within a matter of days or weeks and my grandchild’s case hasn’t been solved yet.”
Police said they have been in contact with the family since the case began and are actively working to resolve it.
“It remains an active investigation and one we’re committed to hopefully solving,” Upman said.
Police said they designated the case as a homicide, rather than a death investigation, because there is not yet any hard evidence that Smith is dead.
“We haven’t heard from him since he went missing,” Upman said. “We’re hopeful death is not the outcome, but there is no new evidence and nobody has heard from him.”
The last person seen with Smith — who was 19 when she disappeared — was Erik Tyquan McFadden, then 25, who has since disappeared, as well. Police called McFadden a person of interest in the case, describing him as a black male, standing at 5 feet 10 inches, with black hair and brown eyes.
When he learned the case was reclassified, Bemeche Hicks, a friend of the Smith family, said he was glad to hear it brought back into the spotlight.
“I’m curious as to what information they have to make it into a homicide investigation, but I’m glad to know they have reopened it, more or less,” Hicks said. “Maybe they’ll get more information to bring people forward — whether it’s people who have information or maybe are associated criminally.



Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Texas Federal Judge Grants Injunction to Group Who Wants to Discriminate against Trans People's Right to Health Care

Yesterday, I read an article online in the Washington Examiner that a Federal judge in Texas granted a temporary injunction against regulations in the Affordable Care Act that mandates health care providers provide medically necessary health care services to people who identify as transgender.

 "The Catholic Benefits Association, which represents more than 700 Catholic employers including many hospitals, filed a lawsuit in federal court Dec. 28 in an effort to get its members exempted from the rule. Five states and several other Christian healthcare providers are already fighting the requirement in another case against the rule. A Texas judge halted the rule over the weekend.

The rule, which went into effect Jan. 1, says that doctors can't refuse to provide medically necessary health services within their scope of practice because of a patient's gender identity. For instance, a gynecologist couldn't refuse to perform a cervical Pap test for a transgender man .The rule doesn't explicitly require doctors to perform gender transition services, but it says providers can't refuse services they already provide based on discrimination. The Department of Health and Human Services wrote that it would deal with complaints of discrimination on a case-by-case basis, by looking into whether a doctor provides the same service when it's not related to gender transition.
"These provisions do not … affirmatively require covered entities to cover any particular procedure or treatment for transition-related care," the rule says." ( Washington Examiner 1/3/16)

Those who are suing believe that the rule can be interpreted so that medical providers would be compelled to specifically provide medical care for medications and procedures that are directly related to transitioning, such as prescribing hormones, gender reassignment surgery, feminizing voice therapy, or mental health services.

I think that their argument is specious at best; no health care professional can be compelled to practice in an area that they have no training or expertise (or interest for that matter). As a transsexual, I would not wish to place my health care for specific services that related to my own transition in the hands of a provider who did not have expertise in those areas related to my transition and ongoing medical care.

However, there are many areas of health care that we receive that have nothing to do with our transition. For instance, everyone needs to have the blood chemistrys, lipids and blood counts done done once or twice a year as part of routine health care. People need to be treated for high blood pressure and screened for breast cancer, colorectal cancers and other health conditions related to aging, regardless of their gender identity if they are biologically at risk for these conditions. I'm reminded of Robert Eads, who had ovarian cancer and was unable to find health care professionals in Georgia who refused to investigate symptoms that suggested cancer until it was too late for him to be cured and he died needlessly due to blatant discrimination based on his identity. I think such callous treatment of any human being is criminal.

It is concerning that some members of the new Trump Administration appear to be opposed to transgender rights established by the Obama Administration, notable Vice President elect Mike Pence. The nominee for the Health and Human Services Tom Price has also voiced opposition to the Obama Administration's policies as well, but Obama's agenda included allowing those who have not had gender reassignment surgery to use locker rooms and showers with cis gender individuals and personally, while I am for free access to public rest rooms, I think the Obama Administration's position on locker rooms and shower facilities were only trying to create a political wedge issue and there would have been much less opposition to enacting rules that allow for bathroom use only. 

It is difficult to find whether these individuals are strictly anti trans in every circumstance or whether they have more nuanced views. Primarily, I find the truth difficult to come by because the media is openly biased and does not report the news objectively any more. Transpeople are lumped in with GLB coalitions and people don't even understand who we are. The media certainly doesn't distinguish in reporting news that pertains to us. In any case, I think that if a health care professional refuses to provide medically necessary treatment that is non transition in nature, that health care provider should lose their license to practice.

 Again, time will tell. Mr. Trump himself appears to be at worst, neutral towards transgender people, and in some instances has expressed support for us.

I think it is incumbent for us to communicate with our legislators of every political persuasion by writing to them and writing in a respectful and well reasoned tone about what we believe. If one wants to persuade a legislature, one should not engage in hyperbole or be antagonistic in nature. We have more to gain by respecting civility, rather than engaging in a rant. 






Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Further Along: My New Baby Freckles



On Saturday, Christmas Eve, we went last minute Christmas shopping for our furry babies, Jack Dawg the Beagle, and Jill and Callie our two kitties who came from the same litter. We always buy them presents for Christmas and fancy food for them to enjoy as well.

 First we went to a grocery store, but they were essentially were sold out as was Walmart. So, as a last resort we went to PetSmart. They were last store to check out because they are the most expensive, but we couldn't not have presents for our beloved furry children for Christmas!!

So we went towards the dog section which is about half way back of the store and I saw Freckles! Like in the Godfather movie, where Michael  Corleone is hiding in Sicily and sees Appolonia, I was hit by the "Thunderbolt" when I saw Freckles from half way across the store and was immediately drawn to him. He was very affectionate with me, quiet and gentle and I knew we were meant for each other.

I learned that Freckles was a Catahoula Leopard Dog mixed with a hound or a bird dog of some type. His breed originates in Louisiana and his breed was developed to hunt down in the swamps. he is a little over a year old and his family just decided they didn't want him anymore and gave him up. What a heartbreaking story! No matter how hard times I have had in my life, even when I had no place of my own, I never abandoned a pet I had taken to be a part of my life and their needs and wants always came before mine, even if I was hungry, I bought food for them first.

So Freckles will come to live with us this coming Saturday. On Christmas Day I was looking at one of the newspapers in our area, the Staunton News Leader and discovered Freckles' picture on the front page! Here he is:



636181805757322477-IMG-1127-1-.jpg

I also have these two pictures from the dog rescue site:



Catahoula Leopard Dog/Hound (Unknown Type) Mix Dog for adoption in Staunton, Virginia - Freckles




I was feeling down about Christmas as I lost my Father three days after Christmas and three days before my birthday three years ago and today was especially hard for me being the 28th. But knowing we will have a new beloved member of the family really made Christmas special again for me this year and I know he will become a part of our happy family.

There are so many unwanted very sweet dogs and cats out there who need forever homes, like the ones Jack, Jill, Callie and now Freckles will have here with us. Please consider, if you are able,visiting the SPCA or a local dog or cat rescue and bring home someone who will give you more love than you ever dreamed possible.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Lauren



Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Reply to Edy on my last blog article "Time Loves a Hero"

Generally, I would have responded to Edy's comment which was polite and respectful as a reply under her comment but because I expanded my remarks in detail, it was too long there to post and instead I will post it as a separate blog article. Please read Time Loves a Hero to put this entry into proper context!

 Dear Edy,
Thanks for commenting on my blog. Originally, I supported Ted Cruz because of many problems confronting our country that are much larger than the ones I have as a transsexual.
 Our current circumstances remind of what John Kennedy said- “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Too often it is about what the government is going to do for me, anymore. I prefer to live my life with minimal interference or social engineering from the government.
Originally, I was for Ted Cruz because of what he stood for: Strong borders preventing people from entering our country illegally, a strong national defense, the willingness to prosecute a war against ISIS and Islamic terrorism, here in our country and abroad, and rebuilding the economy which has been pitifully lagging for the past 12 years or so. We need real jobs for people, not a lot of low paying part time jobs with no benefits that people can’t live on and no potential for potential career development. Initially, Ted Cruz looked as though he could deliver that better than the other Republican candidates.
It was towards the end of the primary election process that I learned what Ted Cruz was saying about people. As a result, I determined that Donald Trump would be the candidate I would support.
You mention the bathroom issue in North Carolina for being shocked that I would support Mr. Cruz or Mr. Trump. I believe the left created a problem where one really didn’t exist to attempt to create a wedge issue with voters.
This problem didn’t originate in North Carolina. It was originally created by the City Council of Houston, Texas, controlled by the democrats. They held a referendum on an ordinance for transgender rights to use public restrooms. People like me have been using the appropriate bathroom to our gender identity for quite some time. For the most part there have not been problems, particularly if we assimilated into our gender identity and have had our legal documentation changed. For the most part, the general public is not very well educated about the lives of transgender people. We have been largely invisible, something that has worked for me very well. I prefer it that way. The referendum was defeated, public attention and scrutiny of people who previously had no problems suddenly had unwanted attention cast their way. In response the City of Charlotte North Carolina passed an ordinance allowing transgender people to use the bathrooms appropriate to their gender identity. This provoked the North Carolina legislature to pass HB2 prohibiting transgender people from using the bathroom that is appropriate for them to use. Prior to the left getting involved there was not much of a problem. So I am saying “Thank You very little” for making my life more complicated.
Then to dump gas on a fire, Obama comes out saying transgender people will be allowed to use locker rooms and shower facilities. To me it’s an attempt to use people like me as pawns in the struggle of identity politics. I am adamantly opposed to being used for a fight that only served to further marginalize transpeople. Being pre op, I have no place in a woman’s locker room. After I have GRS,  then  that is an entirely different manner. Think about this: Why on earth would I want to put myself in a position to make other women feel uncomfortable with my presence? I share the same sentiments as genetic women about privacy and feeling a sense of safety when I use these facilities?
The bathroom is a totally different situation. Women’s bathrooms offer much more privacy. Everyone uses an individual stall with a door. You go in, do what you need to do, wash your hands and check your makeup and hair.
Let’s face it, NO ONE like to have something crammed down their throats, particularly when it’s something relatively unknown. I surely don’t. That’s why I feel like the left has used us like pawns. They don’t really seem to care about us individually, just as a collectivist block of votes. They see us as expendables. That’s why I don’t support the Democrats. It’s been the same way with the Gay Lesbian and bisexual political organ: they threw transsexuals under the bus as expendables since the times I can remember. We are an afterthought.
The Republicans in North Carolina were stupid to react to the Charlotte city council. They have been played like a fine Stradivarius violin. As they are poised to repeal HB2 in a deal with Charlotte, now Liberal Charlotte threatens to pull back to repeal their bathroom ordinance. They would rather score political points against Republicans and Conservatives than do the right thing and make the whole bathroom thing a nonissue again.

In any event, my belief is that my inalienable rights as a human are not granted or removed by any government; they are bestowed by my Creator, no matter how you define the Creator.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Time Loves a Hero

“Oh they Say
Time loves a hero
But only Time will tell
If he’s real
He's a legend from Heaven
If he ain’t
He was sent here from Hell”
-Little Feat

Donald J. Trump has been elected the 45th president of the United States of America and it will be time that decides whether he is going to turn the U.S. around making us stronger militarily, internally safer, and an economically prosperous nation, or whether America has reached a point where it is impossible to turn our downward trend around and we become equally miserable with a low quality of life if Mr. Trump fails to govern in the manner he proposes.

It is laughable that the liberals, progressives and socialists are calling Mr. Trump a fascist when they were the ones who firebombed and vandalized Republican political offices in a number of states and they were the ones who were rioting and destroying property in places like Portland, or disrupting the ability of citizens to travel freely by disrupting traffic on interstates, highways and other streets. More often than not, those who engaged in these activities either were not registered to vote or failed to exercise their Constitutional right to do so. REALLY?! Isn't that activity the very nature of fascism?

Then we come to the issue of the Electoral College. How the liberals, democrats, progressives and socialists howled when Mr. Trump said he would wait to see the outcome of the election and how the outcome was determined before he would accept the results. How unprecedented such a notion was, they cried! Yet now they are the very ones trying to corrupt that process of our Constitution.

My, my my! How short the institutional memory of the left is! Was it not Al Gore who demanded that ever pregnant, dimpled and hanging chad be counted and that through divination the intent of invalidated cast ballots should be counted? Even then it was not enough. He took the election to the United States Supreme Court who turned him down flatly. That election went to the Electoral College. “Selected, not Elected…”, they brayed of the Election of G.W. Bush.  We also have the example of acceptance of election results as offered by John Kerry. “The election was stolen in Ohio…”, he droned on and on. Neither of them accepted the outcome of the election along with a peaceful transition of power in a democratically elected outcome.

Now in the 2016 election, we see the democrat liberals, progressives and socialists trying to corrupt the Electoral College. I think they are, the whole lot of them, hypocrites. Let’s not forget the futile recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania either. Spare no expense to delegitimize an election. That's ok, as long as Mr. Trump doesn't do it.

Mr. Trump was not my first choice for the presidential office. Originally, I supported Ted Cruz. In December of 2015 I wrote in an earlier blog article here-

“So why am I not a supporter of Donald Trump, you may ask? I am not a supporter of him for several reasons. While I agree with most of the things he says and what he says appears to resonate well with conservative people, the way he presents his views are unacceptable as he antagonizes people and does not try to persuade people who disagree with him. He does not present himself or his views in a presidential manner.
I also question whether he is a Trojan Horse, really a liberal democrat who is out to destroy any chance of electing an alternative to Hillary Clinton who will continue the policies of destroying our country that Barak Obama began. Apparently, he is a good friend of Ms. Clinton's too. I simply do not trust him to govern in a manner that is consistent with his stated political opinions. I do believe that he is an extremely divisive figure and not a uniting force in America”

I’ve come to change my views in some ways. I still have my reservations, but given the alternative, I believe that he was clearly the best person available to vote for.

Mr. Trump has seemed to moderate his tone and has been trying to bring the country together. He has, for the most part, been more presidential in his public speech, but I wish he would not use social media to make petty comments about trivial matters, such as how Saturday Night Live portrays him. I find that show to be irrelevant anyway. It hasn’t been very good since the early 1990’s.

I was obviously wrong about his being a Trojan Horse for the Democrat party. Originally, I thought he was very divisive, but I think he is much less divisive than a figure like Hillary Clinton and, unlike her, seems to want to be a uniting leader of the American people. If that were not true, he never would have won Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.  

It was revealed in Mrs. Clinton’s emails how she essentially holds most of America in contempt. It was obvious in how she got it wrong in her campaign slogan “I’m With Her”. Perhaps she should have put a little more thought into how that sounded and come up with “She’s With Us”. Her narcissism simply would never have allowed her to have that clarity of vision, ever.

I’ve also seen that he clearly is not a globalist and is invested in protecting American jobs and American workers. I highly approve of his picks for his cabinet. He is surrounding himself with people who know how to make business work for America and American workers. He’s also picking people who know how to run the military and understand what the purpose of the military is for, to be unencumbered by political correctness and to prosecute military action against our enemies without rules of engagement that prevent us from being successful in a defined military mission in which we can define the enemy and define success of the mission, instead of mucking about with murky goals and vague definitions of success. the majority of his selections for his cabinet and advisors are not professional politicians.

As is often the case, our politicians, as well as our citizens, embrace an ideal without understanding what the potential outcome may be of embracing that ideal. So it is with Globalism. I was asked not too long ago; when I thought that America began to go off the right track. I believe that it was with the election of George H.W. Bush who became president after Ronald Reagan. He was our first globalist president and every president elected has been a globalist whether Republican or Democrat. Globalism is going to lead to a totalitarian one world government run by the United Nations and until recent developments in the world, this appeared to be inevitable.

With the exit of Britain from the European Union and the possibility of other member nations exiting, such as Italy, in view of the disastrous results of events in Belgium, France and Germany as a result of their favoring Muslims terrorizing their citizens, the future of the E.U. is very much in question. I believe that nations serve the interests of their citizens best as individual nation states, not as collectivist experiments. It was this sentiment that helped elect Donald Trump and is a rejection of globalist’s agendas of free movement between countries.

As with any political ideology or movement, Globalism isn’t totally evil, nor are sovereign nation-states with their own ideologies and agendas who exist independently from each other pursuing their own agendas and destinies. Humans tend to be all or none in their thinking. They have difficulty discerning what is worth keeping and what is worth rejecting and have difficulty thinking critically and dispassionately. Mr. Trump seems to want to strike a balance between these dynamics.

What was the alternative? My opinion is that the alternative, to elect Mrs. Clinton, was to elect someone who is either so incompetent that she doesn’t understand the importance of keeping government classified information safe or she is so arrogant she believed that the rules of information protection didn’t apply to her. I think the latter is probably more true.

As Secretary of State, her tenure was a colossal failure. Her policies led to massive takeovers by Islamic radicals and Islamic terrorists of a number of Middle Eastern countries, and turned a blind eye and deaf ear to our Ambassador and embassy staff in Benghazi which led to their deaths. Then she lied to the American people about what happened.

She pushed for the admittance of undocumented Middle Eastern refugees, along with came a lot of Isis terrorists. When terrorist acts were committed by Muslims, she couldn’t even bear to say the words “Islamic terrorism”. Failure to diagnose is the surest way to lose our country.

She continued to advocate allowing illegal aliens from other countries to enter our country. Even if they committed heinous crimes such as child sexual assault, rape or murder, she defended their presence and was against deportation. Perhaps this is one of the most serious of her failings as someone to be entrusted with power in our government. Consider the reality of illegal aliens in America. They live in a state of poverty that our own people do not even know. They are exploited by the very people who advocate their illegal entry to our country by being employed in menial service jobs and paid far below what they would be paid for the same kind of work if they were U.S. citizens. They have no education, no skills and nothing to contribute to our country except to be exploited for their unskilled physical labor. Yet at the same time we are told that we should provide them welfare benefits and access to our system when we have other people who are applying for legal immigration to our country who have education and skills and who want to assimilate here into our culture, but they have to wait in long lines to come here legally. Where is the morality in that? It does serve the purpose of the globalists who want to cede our sovereignty to a one world government. At what expense? To reduce the entire country to a unified miserable standard of living much like what the people of the Soviet Union experienced? Is that the price of Globalism?

All the while, Hillary Clinton and her supporters accuse everyone who did not support her philosophy, world view and politics as intolerant and “haters” But it seems to me they are the most intolerant of all and most hateful of all. Personally, I can accept that people don’t agree with my opinions and world view, but rather than to label them as a “basketful of deplorables” as Mrs. Clinton herself did of those who supported Mr. Trump, I simply don’t agree with them. I can respect their views, but that is not true of how they feel about people who are like minded with my opinions.

The Democrat party’s biggest failure of all is to be able to look at why they lost the presidential election. Yes, we did learn the truth behind their lies when all of the emails of Mrs. Clinton’s server were revealed along with the Democratic National Committee and various party leaders in the government and in the party organization’s emails. It was not a very pretty picture on how they conducted their campaigns. If anyone stole an election, it was Mrs. Clinton and the DNC stealing the election in the primaries from Bernie Sanders. 

They cannot seem to reflect upon themselves and why over the last 8 years, they have lost the House of Representatives, the Senate, and two thirds of the states’ governorship and legislatures. Instead they want to blame it all on Mr. Trump, and the Russians who they believe exposed their corruption. Perhaps the Russians did expose their emails, but beyond that, they take no interest in understanding and learning why their ideologies are failing with the American people in larger numbers as time goes by. Mrs. Clinton, Democrats, aside from the northeast and the west coast, we are just not that into you. Rather than demonizing us, reflect upon your selves.


The people elected Mr. Trump because they are tired of professional politicians and tired of business as usual in Washington. Our government was meant to be run by citizens who serve and then go back to private life, not professional politicians. We are tired of voting for people who say they will do one thing and then do the opposite of what they were elected to accomplish. We are tired of Democrats and we are tired of Republicans who act like Democrats when it comes time to execute their duties as elected officials. That is why Donald Trump was elected. I hope he accomplishes what he sets out to do.  Whether he can or will do what he says he wants to accomplish, Time will tell.

Friday, December 2, 2016

Further Along: Back From My Hiatus

Well here I am again. I've decided that it is time to return to writing on my blog again after an extended absence that came as a result of the Islamic terrorist attack at the gay nightclub in Orlando Florida and subsequent news that there was a hit list of names that ISIS had released. A published map showed that targets were listed in both Charlottesville, VA and Staunton, VA. I happen to live between those places and chose to become less public for a time while things settled down.

I wish I could say they have, but the recent political unrest after the election of Donald Trump and then the Islamic terrorist attack at Ohio State University last week indicates otherwise. Nevertheless, I am finding things that I want to write about and share with all of you.

To catch up.....How I Spent my Summer.......

This year I have spent a lot of time taking stock of what it would take to survive some sort of catastrophe either weather related or man made. I decided to buy long term storage food to last 60 days and I planted my first garden in about 20 years. It was done in raised beds, so I found it easy to care for once the beds were constructed. I'm very glad that I won't have to build more frames this year and then prepare the beds inside the frames. That was really hard work. We had a decent harvest despite a super wet spring followed by a lot of drought. I will need to improve my ability to water the garden this coming year and work out a few other problems, but we were able to can and freeze enough vegetables to get through the winter into next growing season. I'm going to keep the garden the same size next year and focus on improving upon what I have put into place. It was a lot of hard work but in my opinion, well worth the effort.

We made other preparations for difficult times. I bought some camping stove burners and canned fuel so that we could have hot food and a coffee pot to use with it. I put 8 bags of charcoal away for such occasions as well. Hard times call for the little things that boost morale.

Safe heat to keep us warm is still an issue, but I bought chemical warmers that will have to do until we can do something better that will be safe in the house. Long term plans will include a generator and perhaps solar panels for electricity, but in the meantime we have 8 LED lanterns that will provide us enough light. For entertainment we will have books and the radio as well as a battery operated CD player.

We also found that a vacuum sealer by the Foodsaver company will allow us to keep frozen meats and vegetables in top quality for around a year and I would recommend this product highly to anyone for long term frozen food storage.

Some of you may know that I love to play golf and it is a spiritual meditation and discipline for me as well as a source of exercise. I had a bad fall in March and was unable to play until the end of June due to back problems. I was able to enjoy playing most of the rest of the summer until the week before Thanksgiving only missing a week here and there when my back wasn't feeling too good or the weather didn't cooperate.

Work was difficult over the last six months due to the financial hardships my employer (a community hospital) faced due to the negative impact of OBAMACARE. We were threatened with the possibility of our mental health outpatient clinic being closed throughout the summer but were granted a reprieve for the coming year at least and will remain open. Faced with the prospect of having to go back into private practice, I learned that the rate hikes in the health care exchange here in Virginia was going to raise the premium by $400.00 a month which would have made health insurance unaffordable for someone in a solo private practice. It would have cost me $900.00 a month. I would not have made enough money to live on with a premium like that, so I am very thankful that our practice at the hospital was spared for another year. All over I see clinical services being cut back and rationed due to OBAMACARE and I am hopeful that most of its provisions are scrapped with the exception of keeping the ban on exclusion  of preexisting conditions. It is my hope that competition between health insurance companies will no longer be restricted within states and they will open up competition between health insurers nationally. By just that action alone having a nationwide pool of insured people will reduce the cost of premiums for individuals and make insurance more affordable for small businesses to provide that benefit to their employees.

I hope that you, my readers have had a great summer and I look forward to writing more frequently over the coming months.

Monday, June 13, 2016

Getting More Off the Grid 6/13/16

For those of you who read this, please understand that I wrote this and made the decision I have made due to  recent events. I made a decision to temporarily remove my blog from the internet to prevent viewing by someone who may mean harm to me and my loved ones.

The events of the weekend Islamic Terrorist Attack on a Gay nightclub in Orlando, along with the new knowledge that ISIS has released a list of 8000 people targeted to be murdered. I researched the news on the internet today and found that I am bracketed between two identified locations for potential attacks where I live.

I have publicly expressed negative views of radical Islam and of Islamic terrorism. I have professed to be a worshiper of Jesus Christ who is my Lord and Savior. Obviously, I have been public to a degree that most people such as myself are. I've given a large number of workshops over the years all around the eastern and Midwestern United States, as well as making my transsexual experience known to others on referral lists. I have no faith in the government be it federal, state or local law enforcement to protect me.

Sigh, What to do, what to do. I am shutting down public viewing for now, but I have preserved my work. I will continue to write during the period of self censorship of my blog until I can feel safe and free to express myself freely and safely again.

I hope these events awake people to the fact that our government cannot even bear to name or define the threat we face. In order to restore a nation where we are free of terrorism and can live our own dream, we need to face the fact that we are facing an ideological war with an enemy who has perverted a religion. But President Obama and Hillary Clinton can't seem to bear to speak the truth of what the threat to our survival.

No, instead, they are leading Gay and Transgender people like lambs to the slaughter. Here little lambs, we have granted you new protections of your rights. Now let us introduce you to the radical Muslims who have come to execute you. Pay no mind to the President and Secretary of State behind the curtains. Now move along please, right this way.........


Tuesday, January 19, 2016

What is the Position of Feminists on the Sexual Assaults on Women in Europe Who have accepted Middle East "Refugees"?

I'm hearing CRICKETS: Chirp Chirp, Chirp Chirp...... In other words, STONY SILENCE.

.http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_1_why_feminism.html

http://theothermccain.com/2015/09/22/europe-imports-a-rape-culture-feminists-want-to-ignore

/http://www.infowars.com/feminists-mute-on-muslim-rape-epidemic-sweeping-europe/

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2015/03/swedens-feminist-foreign-minister-has-dared-to-tell-the-truth-about-saudi-arabia-what-happens-now-concerns-us-all/

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/01/why-are-feminists-refusing-to-discuss-the-cologne-sex-attacks/

http://humanevents.com/2015/09/21/america-must-listen-to-nations-experienced-with-muslim-refugees/

I simply cannot understand why Feminists are unable to stand up speaking out boldly and strongly against the very policies that will bring us oppression and violence that we have never experienced in admittedly biased culture that used to exist in America for many years. Are Feminists so willing to trade in our triumphs and victories in the gains in equality only to squander them to a radical left agenda? Are they willing to leave us victims to an agenda that places us in an even worse position ever dreamed of in a formerly oppressive western culture? It appears so. My only question is WHY?

Feminists were never supportive of transsexuals in the 1960's 70's, 80's or 90's. Feminists today do not truly care about our well being today or for the welfare of women in general all over the world. It is evidenced by their stony silence about the abuse of women in Islamic culture and their silence about the spread of abuse of women in the western civilization. It is evidenced by prominent female politicians who excuse the sexual abuse of women in exchange for their own political careers by enabling their husbands who serially abuse women. Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin come easily to mind as examples of modern feminist women who will put up with spouses who sexually abuse women in order to further their own political positions without regard for the chilling message it sends women in our culture today about what is acceptable in the way men treat women in relationships.

Hillary whines about an imaginary war against women here in America, while she remains oddly silent about the real war against women going on in Europe. She wants to bring these Middle East men to America when we have no way of vetting them or possibly hope to know what their intentions towards our citizens are. Judging from what is happening in Europe, my opinion that only disaster can result if we follow through with this folly. Hillary and her ilk can't even identify the threat we face for what it is: Radical Islam and we are the victims of Jihad.

Really, these Middle East men are not refugees, they are occupiers. They practice the age old terroristic act of rape as a form of warfare, to establish themselves permanently in Europe and then on to America. It is a form of warfare that has been practiced by conquering countries since the dawn of civilization.

 Modern or so called third wave feminists are trying to tell us that our identities as transsexuals lie on some type of blurred continuum of gender identity when the vast majority of us strongly identify as male or female, man or woman and not something in between. You find this sort of thinking of  us being something in between in the academic world or feminists, not in real life. Don't believe me? Check out the National Trans Equality Surveys. Modern Feminists in academia want to relegate us to something "less than" a man or a woman, though the majority of trans people know this simply isn't so.  By their complicit silence, they are selling us into subjugation by not taking a stand against forces that will relegate us to a level of treatment that isn't even human.


I would strongly urge you to engage in critical thinking in making your decisions about the challenges the United States faces in the upcoming national elections and in determining the fate our our future. Your future existence may be at stake.











Tuesday, December 22, 2015

A Christmas Blessing For Sage Smith's Family

http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/Local-Group-Donates-Christmas-Gifts-to-Missing-Teens-Family-363232921.html

Today I found that this was run on television in Charlottesville, VA dated today and I wanted to share a small bright spot in the tragedy of Sage Smith's disappearance. We all pray she is still alive, but we also pray for peace for her family.......
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (NEWSPLEX) -- This year, many members of the Charlottesville community came together to buy and wrapChristmas gifts for the family of Dashad "Sage" Smith, a transgender female who disappeared back in 2012.
Sage went missing after planning to meet a man near the Amtrak train on West Main Street.
Thanks to the Stand for the Silent and Central Virginia Friends and Family Support Group, gifts were donated from all over, and activists from across the Commonwealth drove to Charlottesville to lend a helping hand.
"We have to keep these people in the public eye," said Pamela Clark of Cue Search and Rescue. "Because if we don't, they kind of get lost in the shuffle because there's so many murdered and missing in America."
Since Sage first disappeared, these groups have been pushing to keep hope alive. They want the Charlottesville Police Department to do a little more to help bring closure to the family.
They feel that sexual orientation and the fact that Sage was black has an influence on the case.
"You know they gathered people to search and there were maybe 100, 200 people," said anti-bullying advocate Joann Robertson. "So there's a vast majority of difference with whats happening in some cases versus the others and again Sage is still missing so we want to bring awareness."
One of their goals is to put the same support and effort into finding Sage as was put into finding Hannah Graham and Morgan Harrington. Even though the outcome of those two cases was heartbreaking, the group of women just want to assist and be of comfort to the family.
"We just want to help," said Robertson. "Whatever it is we can do, whether it's fundraising for the search fun or anything we can do, we're here please let's not move Sage to the back burner."
As fall has turned to winter and yet another Christmas is about to pass, this group can only pray that Sage's family gets the justice they deserve.
The gifts that were donated were given to a member of the Smith family, who will then make sure they are distributed just in time for Christmas. Community Bikes in Charlottesville donated bicycles to the smaller children.