“The media is not fooling me” - Ani Difranco circa 2000 

This quote came to my mind a couple weeks ago.  I LOVED it.  For those who don’t know, Ani Difranco used to be a counter culture indie music icon.  She created her own record label and has made lots of albums as well as tours(I’ve seen her 5 times).  I admired her so much.  Especially in high school.  The quote is from a song about 911 and George Bush.  She was taking a stand against the media and the establishment back then and I respected her for it.  I’ve tried to keep up with her songs and albums though my admiration has faded.  The last concert I went to I took my mom and boyfriend.  I felt awkward as Ani bitched about the patriarchy standing next to my boyfriend and it seemed like the audience was taking their anger out on him.  It’s also important to note that Ani’s band is all men. I haven’t really listened to her too much since then.  I did check her Facebook page once and saw her promoted Angela Davis. So anyways, as I was thinking about the quote from about 20 years ago,  I decided to look her up and see what she has been up to this year.  I found a picture of her wearing a mask.  An article said she has been in isolation for the last however long and only came out to film a video and wears her mask in-between takes.  The video does show her in her home mask-less initially so I wonder if the film crew was wearing masks but not her and in that instance it was okay.  Her song is called Do or Die and her quote about it was full of common mainstream media cliche buzzwords like misogyny, white supremacy, and gun violence.  The song lyrics talk mention the sheet-less KKK on Pennsylvania Ave. The video shows her shaving her head and then riding her bike around by herself wearing a mask.  Everyone in the video is masked while exercising as well as while all alone. A few characters take them off briefly. Once a guy take his mask off to let a dog lick his mouth.  She shows black people mostly, calls for defunding police, and makes protests signs and hangs them around.  My impression is that she is trying to show herself helping black people make protest signs, which comes off very weird to me. At the end, she officially promotes The Breath Act.  Just a few things that would do, eliminate ankle bracelets, end life sentences, defund police and other agencies, end cooperation with immigration authorities, abolish gang databases (WTF?), get rid of metal detectors in schools, close youth jails, lifetime education for illegal immigrants, allow local and state resident voting for illegal immigrants.  It was introduced by the squad. Looking through what Ani Difranco is currently promoting has been very disturbing. I think back to admiring her so much in high school and hanging on to her every word.  I was cheering her on as she complained about patriarchy and capitalism.  Now, I’m thinking about how she is married to a guy, tours with an all male band, and is a successful entrepreneur with her own record label, artists underneath her, and continues to sell CDs and merchandise.  A quick duck duck go search for her net worth says she’s worth 5 million dollars. Another site lists her net worth at one hundred thousand to one million.  It seems that complaining about capitalism and patriarchy has been good to her.  I wonder if she just isn’t making the connection.  The last concert I went to was to promote her album Binary.  At the concert she said she was living a very isolated life and didn’t know that the term binary was currently referring to gender.  She said that wasn’t what she meant by it and some fans were mad that she was so out of touch.  I’m kind of hoping that she is still that out of touch as far as her latest video I saw is concerned.  Perhaps she just sees people protesting and thinks all protesting is good and it reminds her of her youth.  Maybe she didn’t actually read the Breath Act she’s promoting, maybe she is deathly afraid of viruses.  Or maybe, just maybe, the media IS fooling her now.

I was lamenting not being able to post certain things on facebook without worrying about the annoying face checkers.  Then I remembered I have my own website that I can post whatever I want on.  But still ...

My top ten list of why I’m voting for who I’m voting for to be president from 2021-2025 

Things that have happened or are happening mixed with my opinions on them. 

10. Brokering Peace Deals in the Middle East. 

9. No new wars.  President Trump has not entered the United States into any new wars.  He is the first president in 60 years to do that.  He has calmed tensions with North Korea, even getting soldiers remains back to the US for their families. 

8. No more killing people for being homosexual.  President Trump is fighting to make it so homosexuality is no longer illegal and punishable by death around the world. He’s also the first president to be supportive of the LGBT+ community when entering office.

7. Protecting babies.  President Trump has made it so babies cannot be murdered if born alive.  I know that abortion is a hot topic people will probably never agree on.  There are people who think it’s okay to abort a baby who survives the procedure once it’s born and I think outlawing that is the right thing to do. 

6.  He doesn’t try to manipulate people to vote for him based on their race and gender. The democrats and the democrat media like to push that Republicans hate minorities and women.  This is simply not true.  I too was fooled.  Since becoming a Republican myself and going to various Trump meetups I have personally found it to be a diverse group of individuals who care more about who people are than their skin or gender.  They/we aren’t obsessed with that stuff like the left is.  We don’t use skin and gender to use people and manipulate them into thinking they/we need us/them.  But since that is one of the talking points, here are just a few things that go against the narrative,: The First Steps Act, record low unemployment for minorities (personally I don’t like that term but for lack of a better one), sustained donations to Black colleges (so they don’t have to ask every year), women in positions of power like the White House staff, campaign staff, FBI, press secretaries, he also put women in charge building skyscrapers in NYC before being president, he posthumously pardoned Jack Johnson and Susan B. Anthony, he meets with African American leaders at the white house and has a ton of Black people who love him notably Terrence Wiliams, The Hodge Twins, David J. Harris Jr., Candance Ownes, Larry Elder, Bryson Gray, and Joel Patrick, Andre Berto, and Peggy Hubbard. 

5.  Addiction crisis.  Working on this helps the with homelessness, crime, and the environment.  Melania’s speech at the RNC begged the media to pay more attention to our addiction crisis, she called out how it affects all people no matter their skin, gender, age- whatever.  President Trump has donated his salary(he donates all his salary) to addressing the opioid crisis.  The deregulation the president has done with the VA has helped people get addiction services as well.  If people can get help with their addictions they are less likely to live in tents and pollute the environment.  When 60 minutes came to Seattle last year they actually said Trump has done more to help with homelessness/addiction for Seattle than the city of Seattle.  Fighting back against the cartel and gangs will also help with addiction as they actively try getting new people hooked. 

4. The economy.  This could easily be my number one.  Allowing companies to create good paying jobs is one of the best things a president can do to combat poverty, crime, and provide us all with more opportunities.   This also ties into protecting the environment.  The more money people have to spare, the more they can invest into experimental activities that are better for the environment.  The more money consumers have, the more they can spend on products that are healthier for them and better for the environment as well.  I also think that the 8,700 opportunity zones that have been created to being investment into impoverished areas are a good thing. 

3.  Protecting our environment from pollution.  Under President Trump we have the Save our Seas Act which is 100 million to clean plastic out of the ocean, the Great American Outdoors Act which preserves and funds our national parks, and he has also given 100 million to fight red algae off the Florida coast.  I think being tougher with relations with China- THE biggest polluter in the world- helps with less pollution.  I also think getting manufacturing jobs back from overseas alleviates pollution too. 

2.  Fighting slavery/trafficking.  With the staggering numbers of people in the world and our country being trafficking, this is something we need to fight so hard.  We’ve got 800,000 kids going missing in the United States a year.  Over 40 million people are trafficked worldwide right now.  The Trump Administration just slated 100 million dollars to different programs to combat this problem.  A task force and offices have been set up to solve cold cases of missing and murdered indigenous woman.  Ivanka Trump, Senior White House advisor has been instrumental in fighting trafficking.  If you want to go further into theories that can’t yet be proven about President Trump and his fight against trafficking/slavery, I suggest getting into Q theories and videos. 

1. Saying a hard no to communism.  As long as Trump is president we will not have a socialist country.  He has promised that.  With the Marxist insurrection already overtaking our big cities, government, schools, environmentalism, riots, and masquerading as racial justice, I think saying no to communism is the most important issue facing our country.  It encompasses so many topics and is causing so many problems.  This also ties into the Chinese Communist Party who murders it’s own people, harvests their organs, puts them in concentration camps, and suppresses freedom of speech.  I put this as number one because I believe that without our freedom, we have nothing.  As the country goes further and further left in state and local governments, we’ve got to at least fight against that at the federal level or none of the other stuff on this list will matter.  The communist infiltration has been long planned as it already happening.  Someone has to fight against it.

For all you non yoga people saying, ‘what’s down-dog and who cares?’.  It’s a position where you are on hands and knees and your butt goes up in the air.  Why can’t I do it?  I can’t put pressure on my hands.  I also can’t put my arms overhead without pain and tingling.  This has been going on for over 10 years.  My pattern with yoga classes(besides certain yin classes) has been…  I get my mat set up and lay in suptavata kanansina while I wait for the class to start.  That’s laying down with my legs bent like butterfly wings and feet together with blocks under my knees.  Laying flat with legs straight is not comfortable to be.  I’m laying there praising myself for making it to class, thinking about how great this is.  The class starts.  For usually the first ten to fifteen minutes I am thinking about how I’m going to go to yoga all the time and which classes I’m going to go to and when. At one point a few years back I made a calendar for yoga classes I wanted to go to at multiple studios. I didn’t hardly end up going to any and didn’t use up at least 3 groupons for studios because I started them not realizing they would expire when I was on vacation. Anyway, so there I am, in yoga, praising myself and planning all the other classes I’m going to take and then bam- Down-dog.  I try to go it a little.  It hurts.  I panic.  I don’t know what else to do.  The pose switches to something else, good I think.  But then, it’s arms over head, or bending the arms(something else I can hardly do), then back to damn down dog, then plank, then cobra, then downdog, then arms over head.  Here comes the teacher, looking at my like I have the plague.  No… don’t come over here.  They want to help me.  Just leave me alone. They end up helping sometimes.  Okay not so bad.  I make it to the end of class.  The teacher wants to come talk to me like it’s my first yoga class ever and like I have no idea what’s wrong with me and haven’t tried anything to heal myself ever.  This is why I hate yoga I think.  Why am I here.  Well I think that earlier actually.  When the teacher is attempting to be my savior guru at the end of class I’m thinking nothing.  I can’t even remember what Thoracic Outlet Syndrome is or that I’ve tried massage, acupuncture, PT, stretching, saunas, cupping, meditation, chiropractors, special pillows, nutrition, supplements, etc.  I’m sitting there talking to them like I’ve been eating every meal at McDonalds( I worked with someone who did that), and digesting everything mainstream media tells me to think.  So that’s been my usual yoga experience. I do have one teacher I love that is not like this.  I love you Suzanne.  These last few days have been different.  I have 5 classes that are about to expire so I wanted to use them up.  I’ve gone three days in a row now and i feel amazing.  I didn’t do stuff that hurt and I didn’t care what anyone said or thought.  No teachers came and said annoying stuff to me.  I just did my thing and knew my limits.  I didn’t explain myself or anything.  I even went to the wall and did my push ups against it when it was push up time.  So yeah.  Take that down-dog!

It’s so surprising how people will get mad about whatever the media tells them to get mad about for however long they should get mad about it.  It makes me wonder if events are staged.  This latest issue is going even longer than usual.  It’s so strange how getting facts, evidence, and context before hitting the streets or going wild on the keyboard doesn’t seem to cross people’s minds.  I used to be like that so really, I should be gentle with people and let them take their “journey”.  It’s so hard though. Especially with friends.  It’s like people don’t realize they have been cast in a play.  They have their lines and they are acting it out.  They got the part and don’t even know it.  I heard and see them saying and typing exactly the things they have been programmed to say.  And it makes me sad.  And it makes me mad.  So mad.  I guess that’s what it is supposed to do to me.  It’s supposed to upset and comsume me and make me feel defeated.  Well, it’s been working.  I’ve been ruminated on one conversation for 4 days now.  I’m even thinking about taking a little anti-anxiety pill to help me quit worrying about it.  I don’t feel in control.  Don’t think about it, I tell myself.  See if I’m still upset in a week.  Then maybe unfriend them?  Is that inmatture? Yes.  Do I want my feed to be a happy place with people who think like me?  Yes.  Has it been a week yet?  No. I’ll wait.  More self reflection.  Am I saying the lines from a script and I don’t even know it?  Can’t be, can it?  I know I used to.  I think that I’ve changed.  If I can change, others can change.  So… I wait.