I am a strong believer in voting for someone or something rather than against. At this time I cannot wrap my head around Joe Biden. I have said in the past and continue at this point to say that I cannot get behind the attitude of vote blue no matter who. I cannot fathom another four years of Donald Trump. I don’t know that for years of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would be significantly better.

As a transgendered retired individual I see the efforts of the Trump administration to dissolve or at least reduce Social Security and Medicare, and to limit the rights of LGBTQ people in this country. For that reason alone it would almost be expected for me to jump on the Joe Biden bandwagon. I remember in the 80s when he ran for president the first time he came off as arrogant and letting everyone know how much better he was than everyone else. That has left a bad taste in my mouth for years. During the Obama administration when he came out for gay-rights and marriage equality I am not certain he did that out of an honest conviction or for political expediency. I know what he says today, but I also know his record over the last 30 years and somehow they are in opposition. I question his judgment in picking Kamala Harris as VP because of the way Tulsi Gabbard went after her in the primaries. Mike pence would only have to study that debate and know how to get to Kamala Harris in a televised debate. I seek an alternate choice to vote for for president. Again it is to vote for someone not against. If I choose to vote for a third-party candidate, I essentially am giving a boat to Donald Trump who based on his actions considers me the enemy. His followers are embolden by his rhetoric to have open season on people they disagree with. They spew hate and threatened violence which I find unacceptable. As a veteran I should be able to walk the streets and not fear for my physical well-being but that is not the case with followers of Donald J Trump. I should be able to live my retirement in peace and harmony.

Joe Biden with his long-standing record of supporting the military industrial complex and big business does not grant me the solace I want to live with. The record of Joe Biden is not one that I believe will get the United States military out of the wars in the Middle East. Kamala Harris also is beholding to the military-industrial complex and so with this team I see no major change from the status quo. While I believe life might be a bit easier with a Biden administration I don’t see it changing significantly. If Biden wins and Mitch McConnell remains as Senate Majority Leader I see a major obstacle in getting anything done in the next four years.

I hope you understand my quandary I cannot have Donald Trump as president for four more years I cannot consciously support Joe Biden and I see no vast improvement from the political gridlock we find ourselves in today. The right wing blames the left-wing and the left wing blames the right wing and no one wants to work together for the betterment of the country. Everyone just wants to push whatever agenda they want. I see hope in things like the green new deal Medicare for all and proposals that are coming from the extreme left wing but I do not see any of those happening with Mitch McConnell controlling the Senate.

Do not worry I do not have the novel Corona virus herein known as COVID19. What follows is a couple of things that I have discovered and want to share. The first item, blood type, is scientifically being researched but some of the data that I’ve read sums up the conclusions I make. The second part is purely anecdotal and based on me correlating several factors that I don’t think anyone else is putting together. So let’s get into it.

First, let me start with the definition of antigens. Antigens are substances that cause an immune response in the body by identifying substances or markers on cells your body produces antibodies to fight the antigens, or harmful substances, and tries to eliminate them. It seems that research seems to indicate that blood type is an indicator of your susceptibility to the COVID19. While I don’t seem to be able to fully understand the data presented, I can coincidentally agree with the data that people with blood type oh have a reduced risk of developing severe symptoms including death. This is that in the indication blood type A as the A antigen, blood type B has the B antigen, and blood type AB has both the A and B antigens. Blood type O has no antigens. Now from what I’m able to understand blood type A with the A antigen as Anti B plasma antibodies; blood type B has anti-A plasma antibodies; Blood type AB has no plasma antibodies, while blood type O has both the Anti-A and Anti-B plasma antibodies.

From the research I’ve read, and I know hematologist, it appears that O blood type is more prepared to fight off go COVID19, and type AB is most susceptible to the COVID19. This is my interpretation of about six or seven articles I’ve read and don’t understand but the information I have gleaned from.

The second part I want to share is about air conditioning. It seems that with the recent spike of COVID19 cases the hotspots are areas where people have been gathering indoors such as restaurants and bars that have air conditioning. Air conditioning does not ventilate with the outside air it re-circulates the air already inside the area. Therefore, if someone has the coronavirus and that virus germ if you will get into the air it could be circulated anywhere that the air conditioning system is going to. I said at the beginning that this is purely anecdotal and the reason for that is that if you extrapolate where the peaks are and where the air conditioning is being used the most there is a correlation, at least in my opinion. Houston Texas is the most air-conditioned city in the United States. It now has one of the highest resurgent rates of the COVID19. If you look at other areas with spikes in the Miami-Dade area, Southern California, all are highly air-conditioned areas. Now the areas are opening up and were relaxing the standards by which we are restricting ourselves we need to understand that if you go to a bar or restaurant eat or drink outside. That will not guarantee you not getting the COVID19 but will greatly reduce your chances as opposed to you eating inside and air-conditioned buildings.

My conclusion to this is that we need not let our guard down simply because you have blood type O… But be more aware if you have blood type AB. Don’t eat inside and an air-conditioned restaurant. Stay safe, where the damn mask.

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A more correct way is to say “Black Lives Matter Too”

The incorrect assumption when some people hear Black Lives Matter is that it means that all other lives do not matter which is not what it means. Everyone wants to matter, and so in an effort to promote their status and in a way diminish black lives they use the phrase that ALL lives matter. The All Lives matter movement comes from a right wing, white point of view, yes a very racist point of view.  The reason it is raciest is simple it is direct response to the Black lives Matter movement.

The words are meaningless, and here is why the very same folks who now say All lives matter were silent on the issue in 2012 when someone killed 26 (20 of which were children)  people at Sandy Hook no one screamed that those lives mattered those who now scream All Lives matter were more concerned that some left leaning person would use those lives to try to prohibit their right to own an AR-15. Childrens lives did not matter then.

In 2017 when a gunman killed 59 people and wounded 500 more a a country music festival in Las Vegas no one said those lives mattered but the more important issue was that we cannot allow the ban on Bump Stocks.

In 2018 When a 19 year old went into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School killed 17 (and 14 more were wounded)  people no one said those lives mattered  Only that we cannot have any gun control as a result.

In 2016 at the Pulse Night Club the second deadliest terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11 but they were gay so their lives obviously did not matter, it only mattered that the gunman was a Muslim and pledged to ISIS

How much does the lives of the people held in detention centers at the border matter, they are illegal immigrant held in cages force to drink water from toilets so their lives don’t matter.

Why are the “all lives matter” folks not up in arms abut all of the LBGTQ people murdered so far this year NO ONE in the “All Lives Matter” community are speaking up for them.

It seem to them the only lives really matter are white male so they must be “ALL”

Earlier this week there was a phone call between Pres. Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau. In that conversation Trudeau ask what danger Canada was to the United States regarding the tariffs. Our president said that as he  recalls Canada burned down the White House in the war of 1812. Several news organizations were quick to point out that that was the British Army not Canadian. In fact there was no country of Canada at the time. What no one news organization pointed out was the real history of the war of 1812, which most Americans don’t know. Within 30 days of Congress declaring war against the United Kingdom the US invaded Canada in a three-pronged attack. When they got to the capital of the northern territories in a city we now call Toronto, the Americans in 1812 burned every government building they could find. At the time United Kingdom was engaged in the Napoleonic wars in Europe. The British forces in Canada forcing  the U.S. Army to retreat back to the United States. By 1814 those wars were winding down and England had the capability of sending more troops to America. When the British entered Washington DC they met no resistance, the president, Congress, and the Army at all vacated the city. The British were in Washington for 26 hours. They did burn the White House, and the capital and had a great storm including a tornado not hit the city they probably would’ve stayed longer.

With the phone call what our president failed to recognize was that Mr. Trudeau did not study the war of 1812 in school. You see in Canada it’s taught as the Can-Am War. And that the Canadians won. In essence they were three sections of the war of 1812. Where the US invaded Canada and was defeated. Where the British came upon the middle part of the United States and won some battles but eventually retreated. And then the battle of New Orleans. In the war of 1812 the only significant military victory was the battle of New Orleans. The dichotomy of the battle of New Orleans is that it took place after the peace treaty had been signed. In American history we learned that we defeated the British in the war of 1812 when in fact we really didn’t. At the end of the war no round was gained or lost it was a draw. Most people in the United States heard of the peace treaty in the battle of New Orleans on the same day.

Again no news reporter researched the war of 1812 and try to educate their audience on the reality. Mr. Trudeau did not mention to Mr. Trump that the Canadians actually beat the Americans in 1812.

 

In 1971 I entered the military. During my basic training I was taught many things one of the things I was taught was what is now called taking a knee.  It is an Army procedure when on patrol to have the leader give a hand signal and everyone following its down on one knee. The position is critical because if there is something going on that requires immediate response from one knee you can spring into action instantly. In basic training we were told this was an act of reverence. When a comrade has been killed and passes by in a combat zone you take a knee.  In the Catholic Church it is called genuflect but it is the same thing you face that which you are honoring on one knee. Colin Kaepernick was told by a Green Beret that this way he could honor the flag and still do a protest. He has paid dearly for that protest.

When I entered the military I took an oath, the same oath as my father, my son, my uncles, my cousins, my nephew, and several in-laws. That oath says I will “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same“. These are very important words it does not say I will defend the United States, or I will defend the flag, or I will defend the president of the United States. It says I will defend the Constitution. Back in 1789 to get the Constitution ratified they proposed 13 amendments to the Constitution. 10 were approved and have been known as the Bill of Rights. The very first amendment “prohibits … abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or of the right of the people to peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for redress of grievances“.  This is in essence what Mr. Kaepernick was doing as a citizen, and he should not be reviled for this.

The NFL in its newly released ruling on taking a knee violates that very first amendment that I swore an oath to defend that everyone will die and we honor this Memorial Day weekend died to defend that amendment. It is important that this is the first amendment of the Bill of Rights. I want to know how I can fight the NFL who is acting counter tothe Constitution of the United States.

I was communicating with my youngest son last week, and I say communicating because we were texting as time goes on texting becomes the preferred way to communicate rather than talking. When he said he was envious of my relationship with my siblings. He wanted to have a similar relationship with his siblings and wondered why he didn’t. My first flippant response was to say perhaps I had better parents than he had. And that may be true, however, I believe in unconditional love. There are many definitions of unconditional love most are altruistic and have been defined by many philosophers better than I.

My definition is that I love my family unconditionally. And what that means is that I do not always agree with what they say, or what they do, or how they live their lives. I do not subscribe to the belief that unconditional love means that I have to accept another’s beliefs as fact. I believe that a person can have differing opinions, lifestyles, tastes, or belief systems than mine and not have that deter from my love for them. It is difficult to explain but I will do my best. I love all of my children and my siblings without conditions. I disagree with how some of my siblings have raise their children, I disagree with some of their philosophies on life, I can even disagree with how they think of me but that does not deter from my love for them.

When I transitioned most of my children had a difficult time with it many of my siblings at a difficult time it. Some adapted rather quickly others not so fast. I am very close to one of my brothers who has had a hard time with it but he is been supportive and genuinely accepting, but still having a hard time understanding. Two of my children do not speak to me and have distance their relationship with me. This has caused me great pain I would like to have them try to make an effort to communicate with me. I would like an explanation of why they refuse to be involved in my life, and yet if they came up to me and said hi dad how’s it going my response would be just fine and you? You see I love them unconditionally they have hurt me, and my human side wants to know why but more important I want the relationship. I don’t expect them to understand, as I don’t expect everyone to understand everything about me as I do not understand everything about them. But in the uniqueness of unconditional love it is the differences that make each individual unique. And so it is the differences that we should celebrate. I don’t like all kinds of music, but I know that others do and I can accept that. I know that not everyone likes the music I like and they should be able to accept that. I relish the fact that in raising children I raised individuals not clones. They all have their own case in music fashion in lifestyles and I enjoy their individuality and would love to connect with their individuality, they may have a hard time with their father living as a woman but whether they look at me as dad or as Rhonda or as that SOB or parental unit I don’t care. I love them unconditionally.

I don’t know that I’ve expressed this in the best manner but is how I understand it

Have you ever heard of the resistance war against America? The Can-Am war? The great patriotic war? We were all taught these in history class. But under different names they were Vietnam, the War of 1812, and World War II. You see as Obi-Wan Kenobi said “You’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on your own point of view.” The idea of what is called what then depends on where it is being taught. The Can-Am war that is taught in Canada, refers to what we call the war of 1812. In Canadian history the Canadians won, which by default means the Americans lost. But that’s not the way it’s taught in the United States. We have varying degrees of truth if you will. The Canadian history teaches that the Americans invaded Canada and the Canadians or should I say the British defeated the Americans in Canada. In American history we focus more on defeating the British in both Washington DC and along the Mississippi and very lightly discuss the intrusion into Canada. We have to go back to the articles of Confederation which was the American form of government from the end of the Revolutionary war to win the Constitution went into effect 1789. In the articles of Confederation the opportunity for the eastern provinces of Canada to join the United States was promulgated into the articles. So when James Madison decided to go to war against England it only made sense that we send an army to liberate Canada from England. The Canadians and the British had other ideas. But we were not taught that. We are not taught that the American army was the aggressor in Canada.

I became fascinated with history in the eighth grade. When I took history in both the 8^th &11th grades the only mention of the articles of Confederation was probably 5 min. of lecture and three lines in history combined. I was amazed post high school that during the articles of Confederation we had several people who had the title president of the United States in Congress assembled. These people were considered to be the president prior to George Washington. So when discussions at home with my children I mentioned that John Hansen was in fact the first President of the United States and a George Washington was the eighth but first under the current constitution. One of my children made this annunciation in class I believe in the third or fourth grade. The teacher then corrected him. He argued with her, to the point where in fact a parent conference was called. The teacher then explained that he had disrupted the class by presenting facts that were not true, and insisting that they were true. I asked did he say George Washington was the first president of the United States under the current constitution. She said yes. I said and what he said was the truth. She then started to argue the point that George Washington was the first president period. I then pointed out that for 11 years the United States was governed under the articles of Confederation and that in fact in that 11 years seven people had held the title president of the United States and that if we were to be historically accurate, that my son was right. Her response was “But that’s not the way we teach it.” I was annoyed with that response you see I knew the truth and she knew the truth but she was not going to alter the curricula simply to be accurate. So as Obi-Wan Kenobi said it all depends on your point of view.

About 10 days ago, I got an envelope from the Michigan Secretary of State. Inside was my renewed driver’s license with a major change on it. Where it said sex the F gender marker was finally there. I was elated and beaming. Niki asked me why was it so important all it was an F instead of M. I don’t know that I could put in words what all it means but to me it was significant. I guess in thinking it over it is the fact that after over 40 years of having a driver’s license this simple letter was the accumulation of an entire life that had been spent fighting myself. You see I spend over 50 years in a mental struggle trying to resolve the conflict between what my body said and what my mind said. For a number of years I tried to explain it that what was between my legs was my sex, and what was between my ears was my gender. Mine did not match. Now I could look down at my identity and see with my own eyes F. This was huge, 10 years ago it would’ve required me to have some major surgeries done, which I could not afford to get this changed. The change came over a period of time. First under the Obama administration the rules were changed to get the sex on your passport changed. It now required only a physician’s statement that you are far enough along in your transition to be considered having changed your gender. The US Department of State no longer required surgery. To me it was not worth the effort to change my passport because I did not carry my passport everywhere. So although it was something I could do it did not seem worth the effort. Earlier this year, some people sued the Michigan Secretary of State because there was not clear guidelines as to how to change the gender on the drivers license, where the State Department had a clear set of requirements. In order to avoid being sued the Secretary of State issued a regulation that said if the person has a passport with the gender marker changed, then the state of Michigan will also change the gender marker on the drivers license or state issued ID.

Now it was worth my while to go through the process to have my passport reissued with my gender changed so then I could go to the Michigan Secretary of State office and have my drivers license changed. When I went to the post office to change my passport, our local post office had never done this so I became a guinea pig. I had an incredibly helpful clerk at the post office who took the time and gathered all the paperwork required and processed my passport application. When I got my passport at the end of June there was a certain victory dance if you will. But the next biggest hurdle would be the drivers license. I had the day off on 1 July and decided that was the day I would have the time to sit through the process at the Secretary of State office. Wanting to be assured that all of the facts that I had gotten off the Internet, were accurate, I called the Secretary of State’s office in Lansing to verify that I would have all of the correct paperwork to change the gender on my drivers license. When I called the person I talked to told me I needed to have my birth certificate changed and that would require a doctor’s letter stating that I had had the proper surgeries for gender reassignment. I question this person and said that I had heard that was no longer the case. She then very kindly looked it up and found out what I had read was that all I needed was my passport changed. She let me know that it was on page 3 of the recent changes. I asked if the local office would also know about these changes. Her reply was just tell them it’s on page 3. When I went to the Secretary of State’s office and stood in line to get the proper paperwork and my queuing number the person behind the counter told me I needed my changed birth certificate. Another Secretary of State person overheard that and said no as long as I had a current passport we could do it. When I got to the actual clerk was going to renew my drivers license (three months early by the way) she questioned it but then was told by the same clerk that all I needed was the current passport. Everyone in the process was gracious and kind and very helpful, but had I not done my own research or not stood up my drivers license might still have an M. The next step which I look forward to is getting my name changed on my military DD 214 so I can then present that and get the veteran marker added to my drivers license. But for now getting the F is enough for me.

I am not talking about Florence, Mary and Diana, But of John Anthony, Clarence, Stephen, Sonia, Elena and the Notorious RBG. Or the members of the Supreme Court. The Senator from Kentucky  who is the majority leader in the Senate , Mitch McConnell, said on the death of Anton Scalia (February 13^th) announced that the next president would appoint the replacement, and that there would not be any hearings or votes on anyone appointed to the court by President Obama.

I know many do not know how the court works but let me give a brief civics lesson to the uninformed.  The Supreme Court hears oral arguments for two weeks a month starting on the First Monday in October as required by Article 3 of the US Constitution. During the week there are conferences set up where they discuss the cases heard and vote on them. Once the vote is taken,  2 Justices are assigned to write the Majority and Dissenting opinions. Here is the key point that must be made. The original vote is not the final vote. Later when the opinions are written they are then voted on. If someone who voted for the Majority disagrees with the written Opinion, they can change their vote.  This is the final vote taken and is typically pro forma.

The Constitution requires Congress to meet on the 3^rd of January, the President’s term to start on the 20^th of January but here is the rub, despite what happens on Election Day (the Tuesday after the First Monday in November (November 8^th in 2016), the new President is not officially elected yet. The Chosen Electors in each state meet in their respective state legislature on the Monday following the second Wednesday in December (December 19^th in 2016) and cast their ballots the results of the ballots are sealed and sent to The US Senate where in early January the votes are announced in a joint session of congress, and the President ‘officially’ get elected. Technically she cannot appoint anyone to the court until after she becomes President. But she will probably propose someone prior and officially nominate her choice on the 20^th of January. The Senate after swearing in on Jan 3^rd will have to start the process of approving the cabinet and the appointed federal Judges including the one for the Supreme Court. The likely hood of having the 9 Judge on the court within a year of Scalia’s death is very slim. If the new Justice is seated on the court on the 13^th of February they will have missed 54% of the oral arguments of the court’s calendar for the year technically they could not vote or have an opinion on any case heard prior to their being placed on the court.

I believe all of the Justices on the court are very smart I disagree with several and my two favorites are Ruth Bader Ginsburg (AKA The Notorious RBG)  and Steven Breyer (who in my opinion the Miguel Cabera of the Supremes) but a 4-4 is not as effective and the longer Senator McConnell delays the approval of a justice just because he can he should be charged with Obstruction of Justice.  But I seem to be the only one who is upset with this.

John Adams appointed John Marshall to the Court after he had lost the Presidential Election to Thomas Jefferson and Congress consented to Marshall before Jefferson took office.  Why can’t the current Senate Majority Leader do his duty to the American People?

Thus ends the Civic Lesson.

I just got to be me and I got to pee.

I have read a lot about Bathroom Bills especially North Carolina’s HB2. I find it discriminating on several levels. First the reason we “need” this type of legislation is to protect our daughters but not our sons.  While I must admit that more child sexual predators are male but there are some female ones as well.

When confronted no one can state one case where a transgendered person has ever used that as a excuse so they can pass into the female restroom to sexually assault a young girl, not one. They then throw in the  but someone who is not actually transgendered can then use that as an excuse to go into a women’s room and accost a young girl. That makes as much sense as saying we should not allow tourist into New Orleans because someone from California might show up.  What they are really saying is we should legislate discrimination against transgendered people  not because  of a legitimate reason but because someone with less than honorable intentions may perhaps do something in the future. In the last 25 years we have had members of the clergy and politicians been accused and convicted of sexually molesting children, yet there is no legislation being planned to restrict their bathroom access.

The more absurd part of this is that the law reads  that a person can only use the restroom that corresponds to the “sex assigned at birth”  What does that mean exactly? Let’s face it for the past 7 years I can change my gender identity on my passport without surgery.  The Michigan Secretary of State has just made it easier to change the gender on your birth certificate and your driver license.  I don’t carry my original birth certificate with me and those people who were present at my birth have all passed and if my drivers license says I am female and there is a question about my gender how are they going to prove otherwise?  If  I am out to an event on a Saturday night and need to use the facilities will the bathroom police keep me from using the facilities until they can get verification from the state offices on Monday morning because I don’t think I can wait that long. In reality what they will have to do is a modified what we called in the military as a short arm inspection, they will have to check to see what genitalia I have between my legs. In other words do I have a penis. ( oh for the uninformed you can have that surgically removed and have it converted to female parts.)  So let me sum up I can change my genitals, birth certificate, drivers license, and passport to say that I am what I say I am regardless of my “sex assigned at birth” what does this law actually mean?

The bottom line is I just got to be me and I got to pee.