2024: The 2-Party Tipping Point?

Every 4 years I think, "Will this be it?  Will this be the year the American public FINALLY awakens from their slumber & realizes the 2-party system is a sham, offering the mere illusion of choice and democracy, prompting them to vote for a 3rd party candidate in numbers great enough to matter?"  And every year I'm disappointed.  But this year may just mark a turning point.  Don't get me wrong:  I'm not delusional enough to think an outlier like RFK Jr, Dr. Cornel West or Dr. Jill Stein could actually WIN, but I do see more and more people calling out the MAGA/Blue MAGA cult-like behavior of the 2 parties.  And after that 1st debate?  Even more so.  

Again, don't get me wrong.  I didn't watch the godforsaken thing.  But I saw enough screenshots of Biden's frozen, geriatric spaceface to know what's up.  And I have enough Trump-supporting loved ones to know that their support for him is nowhere NEAR as enthusiastic as it was the 1st time around.  It's still a cult & the True Believers will still follow their leader off a cliff to their own demise, but there are only so many federal trials a man can withstand before he begins to look like a bit of a crooked slimebag even to his flock of idiots.  The man lies like he breathes, telling an average of 6 public lies per day, totaling a whopping 30,573 untruths in his 4 years in office.  That, and the whole QAnon prophecy never came to pass.  Trump also allowed his diehard insurrectionist followers to be prosecuted & didn't use his presidential power to pardon people like Julian Assange who basically put him in office by exposing the fuckery of the opposing party, instead choosing to pardon his equally slimy Wall Street friends & insider trading criminals.  For a guy whose campaign promise was to "drain the swamp," he left an awful lot to be desired and definitely filled it up with a bit of his own muck.  

And Biden's presidency has been an equally dire failure despite the lack of mean tweets & civil unrest at home.  He may not be a felon but don't get it twisted:  he IS an international war criminal for what he's enabling in Palestine.  And that shit he stirred up early in his tenure by suddenly pulling our troops out of Afghanistan with no long-term plan for, well, anything was pretty criminal too.  The mental image of those desperate Afghanis falling off the sides of military planes, choosing a painful & certain death over life under the Taliban will never leave my mind.  Abandoning all those military weapons to the Taliban was not too bright either.  And then there's the whole loss of reproductive rights thing that happened after he promised to "codify Roe" on the campaign trail--something many a Democrat has promised & failed to deliver despite their ability to do so with the stroke of a pen.  Between all that and the Rx drug/baby formula shortages, INSANE cost-of-living increases & continuation of evil Trump policies like the fascist border policies & lack of action on COVID, it's safe to say Biden did not "Build Back Better".  

But after that cursed debate it should be clear to anyone with eyes that Biden himself did not build back ANYTHING.  If Thursday's sideshow taught us anything, it's that for the last 4 years, our country has been run by others in his administration as well as other unknown behind-the-scenes actors with still-functioning neurons, their brains not yet overtaken by the plaques and tangles characteristic of dementia.  I'm old enough to remember when Reagan was raked over the coals for his 2nd term, pundits debating whether he was in the early stages of dementia from '84-89.  He likely was, & there should be 0 doubt in anyone's mind that Biden is in the moderate to advanced stages of dementia currently.  So why the radio silence from "follow the science" mainstream media outlets like NBC, CBS, PBS, MSNBC & NPR? 

Debate time noted for posterity.

From the frozen, mask-like facial expressions to the constant clumsiness/tripping to the lost look in his eyes to the "gaffes" in speaking that have been steadily worsening over time, only one conclusion can be drawn:  Joe Biden is suffering from the progressive brain disease of dementia.  Oh, and as for why he performed so much worse at this debate than during many of his other recent appearances:  it took place at 9 p.m. Eastern Time.  What's that got to do with the price of tea in China?  Well, people with dementia often experience what's known as "sundowning," a phenomenon in which all their symptoms get worse after dark.  Whether it's Alzheimer's, vascular dementia or one of the one hundred plus other varieties, we don't know.  But it's clear he is demented & needs to be at home receiving the appropriate care, not traveling the world serving in one of the most important roles on Earth.  Calling this out isn't cruel:  it's actually incredibly cruel-bordering-on-criminal to ignore it & act like nothing's wrong.  Continuing this charade is nothing short of elder abuse.  

After watching RFK Jr.'s interview on Dr. Shill, err, Phil, I came away with the impression that he's too honest to be president and would likely meet the same fate as his father & uncle.  His insider knowledge of how the FDA, NIH & other 3-letter agencies operate & his determination to stop their corruption, which at this point runs too deep to be stopped by ANY one person, puts him at great risk.  Ditto the MLK-esque Dr. Cornel West, who once went on conservative Tucker Carlson's show & convinced him that democratic socialism was a good thing, prompting him to reply after about 30 seconds of Biden-esque blank staring: "Well if that's what democratic socialism is, then I'm onboard."  I honestly thought Roger Ailes would cut his mic on the spot.  And my love for Dr. Jill Stein goes back many years, but she's already been painted as a Russian agent, a hippie kook & of course, she's a woman.  Something we've never had as president in 200+ years as a nation.  An incredibly hypermasculine, violent & warlike nation.  

90 minutes with 3rd party candidate RFK, Jr.  (Credit Merit Street Media)

At this point, I'm convinced the only way we'll ever get a decent president is if names and parties are removed from ballots at the voting booth & people are given viewpoints on the issues to vote for instead.   For example:  "How would you prefer climate change be addressed?" with a list of (5) multiple choice answers representing the answers given by the different candidates (all of whom would be given equal debate time & fair media coverage).  At the end, their score will reveal which candidate they voted for.  No takesies backsies after ballots are cast, just your true and honest answers.  This would eliminate party loyalty and Cult of Personality behavior, which is exactly what the Powers That Be don't want, so it's unlikely to happen.  But it would be a far more fair & effective way of doing things.  

The real question is whether this nation in its current iteration will be around long enough to try other solutions or even see many more elections.  Democrats & (typical) Republicans get us involved in never-ending wars abroad & Trump brought the war home, trying his damnedest to start a Civil War.  Billionaires continue to create a worsening of wealth inequality, the national debt increases & other nations tire of our bullshit.  And what do we do?  Make silly memes about how our country is run by geriatric criminals.  If this was France we'd be in the streets with Molotov cocktails demanding better.  That's how they obtain & maintain their amazing working conditions.  But Americans are too lazy, distracted & propagandized, believing such forms of protest to be indicative of "poor work ethic" or similar.  So here we are, with our Simpsons memes and our murderous shadow government. 

Cartoon references are EXACTLY what we need right now.   /s

Quick Quiz Update

Update on last month's Quiz questions:  I'm LOVING the responses I've received in my inbox so far!  It's really entertaining seeing what Zodiac sign (Scorpio, hunh?), fave bands & other things you guys attribute to me.  Keep 'em coming.  I almost fell off my couch laughing at one at 3 a.m. so thanks for that.  forbidthis@gmail.com  

Hope everyone's Summer is rockin' along nicely.  🎸🎶 🌞

Throwback Thursday: Cannabis on Campus, 1978

 

Journal 1978: Pot Smoking on Campus in San Diego

This little time capsule from Channel 8 in San Diego showcases the attitudes of people in that city toward cannabis in the late '70s, back when the plant was still very much illegal in all 50 states.  Having been to San Diego in more recent years I can attest that this is in line with the general mood of the laid-back beach city, which does not reflect the attitudes of most of "Flyover Country".  In those days pot was still smuggled in from countries like Mexico, Colombia, Jamaica, Thailand & Afghanistan where it was grown outdoors & smashed into bricks or "patties" for easier transport.  This report briefly mentions the Mexican paraquat scandal--a cruel and criminal act that still hasn't gotten the scrutiny it deserves.  

Despite its illegal status, weed was extremely popular in the 1970s & nearly became fully legal under President Carter.  Then Ronald Reagan came along and turned the country into a giant police state.  Prior to that, workplace drug testing was not a thing & the idea of DEA helicopters hovering over your home looking for cannabis plants or any other kind of plant would've sounded like something out of a bad Hollywood script.  Thankfully, cannabis growers didn't let this deter them--they kept coming up with innovative ways to improve their techniques through the '80s, when "sinsemilla" (seedless) weed revolutionized the industry, and the 1990s when hydroponics and other indoor grow methods elevated the game to yet another level.  

While there's no denying that today's weed and weed laws are miles better than those of the 1970s, it would've been nice if growers would've preserved more of those old landrace strains so newbies like me could compare, say, a Thai Sativa to a Nepalese or Jamaican Sativa.  It's also a bitch having to pay so much for a single seed these days when half the bag used to be filled with (essentially free) seeds.  In my opinion growers have focused too much on flavor and smell with these hybrid strains at the expense of standardized predictable effects.  We should've gone the route of measuring terpenes, THC & the CBD/G/N cannabinoids instead of using subjective "Sativa/Indica" descriptions also.  But for someone who was smoking The Patty well into the 2000s, I really can't complain.

As for cannabis CULTURE, nothing will ever beat being able to walk into a dispensary legally & pick out a strain or product from a variety of items (unless it would be sitting at a coffee shop & ordering ganja with a latte & biscotti).  And I don't miss having to hide and smoke out of aluminum cans and other toxic contraptions, giving $$$ to shady middlemen who came back with neither money nor weed, etc.  Still, there's something oddly romantic about the outlaw aspect of illegal weed... about belonging to a class of condemned and misunderstood people that includes the likes of jazz musicians, hippies, Rastafarians, Beatniks, hipsters and at least a few Olympic athletes.  Is that sense of coolness worth the stress of freaking out every time you hear a police siren in a rap song?  Ehh, no.  But it's always good to keep records of history so we can see how far we've come.

Finally, A Word of Sanity from the AMA

In a surprising show of sanity, the American Medical Association's House of Delegates recently voted to decriminalize adult drug use & possession in a 345-171 vote.  They cited decades of effort & categorical failure to improve the situation of overdose and addiction, comparing the War on Drugs to the statement "The beatings will continue until morale improves."  😮  The AMA's Board of Trustees protested, stating there was "not enough evidence" of public health benefits while Connecticut delegate Ryan Englander cited Portugal's success with decriminalization.  The AMA's report will call for "elimination of criminal penalties for drug possession for personal use as part of a larger set of related public health and legal reforms designed to improve carefully selected outcomes."  Bloop.

While this is a huge and positive development, I posit that decriminalization doesn't go far enough in the face of the fentanyl, nitazene & xylazine ("tranq dope") epidemic.  Full legalization and government regulation of the drug supply would be needed at this point to truly stop the overdose and drug adulteration crisis.  Decriminalization addresses the problem of locking addicts up for their disease, which is a step in the right direction though.  It would also free up police resources to focus on actual crime, which would still include drug selling & manufacturing under decriminalization.  Criminal penalties for drug possession/use could be replaced with "civil" penalties like referral to drug treatment programs the addict is not ready for & thus are unlikely to work.  

Still, this is a huge improvement over having a criminal record that follows you & prevents you from obtaining gainful employment, public housing or voting in some states.  The biggest problem with decriminalization though is that black market forces still control the drug supply, which is the cause of adulteration and overdose deaths in the U.S.  It also allows those entities to maintain their violent control in countries like Mexico & South America where they are driving refugees North to our borders in search of a safe place to live.  The artificial price inflation of illegal drugs would also remain in place since it would still be controlled by the black market, which means addicts would still be required to engage in illegal and unsavory activities like prostitution, robbery, shoplifting & panhandling to fund their habit.

Compare this to full legalization which would take control and profits away from cartels, gangs & black market drug dealers & put it in the hands of governments who would be free to use that money for harm reduction education & evidence-based treatment programs for those ready to quit.  Since production of the drugs would be under the control of companies with government oversight, the problem of adulteration & varying potency would go away overnight.  (Similar to how alcohol, tobacco & caffeinated beverages are regulated for purity & quality now).  Buyers of drugs would be carded with a photo ID at the point of sale to prevent their sale to children & the violence associated with illicit drug trade would evaporate.  Safe injection sites would open up to get addicts out of the streets, so there would be no more "fentanyl zombies" and the like in public view.  And the cost of once-illegal drugs would come down to affordable levels since the risk of handling said drugs would be gone (which means addicts would no longer have to center their lives around obtaining money for drugs).  This would reduce crime at all levels of society.

My fear is that when decriminalization inevitably fails to stop the overdose and addiction crisis like it has in states that have decriminalized personal use (Oregon), the U.S. will experience a backlash against it & crack down harder on personal adult use & possession.  Perhaps decriminalization would've been sufficient in the pre-opioid epidemic era, but now anything short of full legalization will not do. 

Still, I commend the AMA for their bold vote in a time when blaming other countries like China/Mexico for our drug problem is so popular, and when cracking down harder on drugs like fentanyl is all the rage.  It's high time we let medical and scientific experts write our drug laws instead of politicians with elections to win & grieving mothers who are righteously angry to have lost a child to drugs but have misdirected their rage at the wrong target.  No matter your stance on the issue, it's clear what we're doing is not working.  Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity, and we've been banning drugs & locking up their users for over 80 years now. It's time to try something--anything--else.

Quiz Time!

Think u know me?  Here's a little mind game 🎲 to see if you're right.   Follow the directions on each question carefully as they're not all single-answer.  Copy/paste the whole quiz with your answers in the comment section below or send your answers to forbidthis@gmail.com  I'm tryna see somethin'.  😏

 1.  My Zodiac sign is... ?  (Correct answer will contain 2 options - 'sign' from 1 line & 'rising' from another).

- Option 1:  Leo, Capricorn rising.  
- Option 2:  Virgo, Aquarius rising.
- Option 3:  Taurus, Pisces rising.
- Option 4:  Aries, Scorpio rising.

(Option 5:  Your answer)



2.  Which 3 states have I lived in?  (Only one correct answer here)

- Option 1:  Tennessee, Utah & Oklahoma.
- Option 2:  Oklahoma, Utah & California.
- Option 3:  Oklahoma, Utah & Nevada.
- Option 4:  Nevada, Oregon & Tennessee.



3. Which "Dys-" learning disability have I been diagnosed with?  (One correct answer). 

1.  Dyslexia (reading)
2.  Dyscalculia (math, visuospatial)
3.  Dysgraphia (writing)
4.  Dyspraxia (motor skills, memory, organization)



4. Which (1) drug in each of the lists below have I NOT tried?  Choose carefully, there are some truly sketchy options in each line.

1.  Ethnobotanicals:  Opium poppy pods (tea), Datura, Betel nut, Coca leaves

2.  Research chemicals:  1P-ETH-LAD, 6-Apb ("Benzofury"), aPVP ("Flakka"), 4-methylmethcathinone (Mephedrone).

3.  Pharmaceuticals: OxyContin, butalbital (Fioricet), Dexedrine, Buprenorphine.

4.  Street drugs:  MDMA, Cocaine, Psilocybin mushrooms, LSD.

Answer: ____,  _____,  ____,  ____  ?



Which (1) deceased SNL cast member do I consider my spirit animal?

1.  Chris Farley
2.  Danitra Vance
3.  Gilda Radner
4.  John Belushi

When do I believe popular music started to suck permanently?  (One correct answer).

1.  The late 1990s  (The Telecommunications Act & rise of auto tune killed it)
2.  The early 1980s (The rise of the synthesizers & hair metal killed it)
3.  The early 2000s (The loudness wars & Butt Rock bands like Nickelback killed it)
4.  The 2010s (Mumble Rap & reduced attention spans due to iPhones killed it)


How many siblings do I have?

1.  2
2.  6
3.  0
4.  2.5 (two full and 1 half-sibling)


My fave rap group of all time?

1.  The Migos
2.  Bone Thugs-n-Harmony
3.  Lost Boyz
4.  Odd Future

~*~*Do not go digging through this blog or otherwise trying to cheat.  Just give it your best shot off top.  There are no "trick" questions & wrong answers are better than non-answers.  Even if you get all the questions right it won't reveal a dangerous amount about me so don't worry about that.  Stay anonymous if you want, no need to use real names since this is a "drug blog".  Deadline:  Last day of summer (Sept. 22, 2024).  🌇

Since there's no way to award a prize without revealing our real names/mailing info, I can't really do that so the winner will just be deemed Smartest Little Genius in All of InternetLand & awarded this digital prize ---> 🪄👑   Of course if you want to share your real name via email knock yourself out...  

This is your chance to show me I'm not just talking to a faceless mass of bots & TikTok junkies with the attention span of a fruit fly (I mean that in the nicest possible way)...  And pssst, if my little 'friend' is reading: this is YOUR chance to clear some things up so we can move forward.  You know who you are, all in my digital world & my thoughts but never my real life. (IYKYK). Honestly, I'm at a loss as to what kind of "effort" is desired because my hands are kinda tied IRL due to circumstances beyond my control. Unless you wanna bring a metric fuckton of chaos & drama down on YOUR life, that is. I'm single & have no such job restrictions. What'm I missing here?  TL;DR - What looks like a lack of effort or lukewarm response may simply reflect a lack of knowing how tf to proceed (you know, that "stupid not evil" thang).  And anxiety.  Overwhelming, paralyzing anxiety always.  The kind that makes pandemic lockdown times look like a 1950s sock hop by comparison. The kind that requires someone to take yr. hand & physically break you out of your isolation bubble.  Again, I didn't choose to be this way (who tf would?) but then you should already know that since it's kinda your "thing".  And you're no dummy.  Far from it.  🧠💕  Oooh-wee-ooh, cryptic!}*~*~

(If you actually DON'T know me IRL, ignore that last wall of text.  I sound like a lunatic).  


With that, I say good luck and:

👑  May the odds be ever in your favor!  🏆

Who Put the Benzedrex in Mrs. Murphy's Biceps?

Kicking off Stimulant Summer with some pointless silliness.  Enjoy!  🌞 🎶🧑🏻‍🎤 

Mrs. Murphy couldn't wake   
Her energy was slightly off-beat
Until she solved her problem
With an inhaler that's yellow & green 

She huffed a puff or two every day
And oooh, how her heart did pound 
Until she soaked the stuff in a coffee cup
And made her neighbors scream, "Ow!"

Who put the Benzedrex
In Mrs. Murphy's Biceps?
Sure is a shame, don't know who's to blame
'Cause the old lady didn't even get his name                   

Where did she get that that stuff?   
Now she just can't get enough
It might have been the man who wasn't there
Nah, Jack, that guy's a square!

She never ever wants to go to sleep
All she does is geek & tweak
Now Mr. Murphy don't know what she's on about
When she threw the shadow people out. Clout!     

Who put the Benzedrex     

In Mrs. Murphy's Biceps?
Now she wants to swing the Highland Fling       
Says 'drex is the best since sliced white bread

Ah, spring it now, Gibson!
This is the second chorus, you know
The name of this chorus is called
"Who put the Fentanyl in Mr. Murphy's gen-it-als?"
I don't know

She bought a pack of Benzedrex
Most every week or so
And she always kept an extra on hand
Just in case that she'd run low

Now she's never been so zippy
Since she put the cotton in the cup 
Then she opened the cabinet to see
Someone stole all her Bennies & rum.  Bums!

Who put the Benzedrex
In Mrs. Murphy's Biceps?
Sure was a shame, don't know who's to blame
'Cause the old lady didn't even get his name

Where did she get that stuff?
Now she just can't get enough
It might've been the man who wasn't there
Nah, Jack, that guy's a square

She stays up all night extractin'
They say she's overdosed twice
She shoots it in her arm, lost all its charm
Mrs. Murphy died last night

Who put the Benzedrex 
In Mrs. Murphy's Biceps?
Now she's in an urn, 'cause she couldn't learn
Some drugs aren't safe to inject.



Lyrics by me, not that I'm proud of it.  🙃   Based on the original "Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy's Ovaltine?" by Harry 'The Hipster' Gibson shown below.  Thought it could use an update for the current day.  This version, while clearly demented & ridiculous, aims to show the progression of Benzedrex abuse and the dire consequences of injecting propylhexedrine, a drug that's particularly dangerous when used intravenously.  (Benzedrine refers to amphetamine sulfate, which was the active ingredient in over-the-counter nasal inhalers prior to its removal in 1949 when it was replaced with propylhexedrine & became Benzedrex).

#Americandrughistory

O R I G I N A L  V ≣ R S I O N

Pride or Shame?

Sigh.  😮‍💨

It's "Pride" month again but I'd argue that there's nothing to be proud of in alphabet soup land.  Quite the opposite.  What started in 1969 with a series of riots pushing back against rampant police persecution & continued throughout the '70s, '80s, and '90s as a celebration of solidarity & a time of educating the public about all the nuanced issues affecting gay life has become a corporate-sponsored virtue-signalling free for all... and I do mean for ALL.  Everybody's welcome, including perfectly heterosexual 1%er politicians who are there only to fulfill their oh-so-leftist duties of pretending to care while posing for cute new summer profile pics with people on whom they wouldn't piss if they were on fire.  

AOC gets her obligatory gay selfies in. 

Then you have the other extreme end of the spectrum who in no way represent the average homosexual woman or man despite the media's disproportionate coverage of them.  Let's call them the "+" in the LGBTQIA+:  The BDSM kinksters, furries, leather boys, foot fetishists & those dudes in nipple clamps, whatever the fuck they "identify" as.  Obnoxious as they are, there's an even more threatening aspect of this "community" that's been trying to nudge its way into gay parades since the '70s and is finally having success after failed attempts under names like "NAMBLA" and "PIE".  Some of these folx just enjoy roleplaying older/younger scenarios in the bedroom ("age play") but a small handful are pushing acceptance of something far more sinister...  the love that TRULY dare not speak its name, we all know what it is and it starts with a P. 

Yes, I'm talking about pedophilia, that hideous affliction Anita Bryant warned about in her 1970s Save Our Children campaign, the insufferable b!tch.

I would rather chew off my own leg to escape adulthood ("it's a trap!") than admit Anita Pieface Bryant might've been right.  Back then gays were outraged, emphatically stating that they wanted nothing to do with straight people's stupid children, and that's still the case... for most of us.  But some of y'all are far too willing to let anyone into the party without checking their credentials and criminal history.  May I suggest a history refresher course because we're being accused of the same thing again, but this time with actual evidence.

The number of drag queen storytime readers who have turned out to be convicted pedos is disturbingly high for such a minuscule segment of the overall population.  This is unacceptable, especially in a time when awareness (some would even say paranoia) about child predators is higher than ever with documentaries like "Quiet on Set" and "Athlete A".  Oh and that whole QAnon/Pizzagate/Politicians-killing-kids-to-steal-their-adrenochrome thing.  Desensitizing children to adult-themed content is a well-known tactic of groomers, while we're on the subject.  

A man with his "dog" & some sort of canine pride flag at Pride.

Drag queen leads a conga line of minors at Pride.

Nearly nude gays grind & thrust on a parade float.

Born this way?  Adult man in diaper attends Pride in Portland.

More "dogs".

Kink flags.  The 1st two = "Adult Baby Diaper Lover" & "Age Play".   🤮

The debate about whether kink belongs at Pride, an event where children are always present for some ungodly reason, was bound to lead here wasn't it?  An event with tens or hundreds of adults in barely-there costumes writhing on giant dick-shaped floats careening down Main Street at noon is the last place children belong, not because it's gay but because it's NUDITY and SEXUALLY EXPLICIT conduct and DRUG/ALCOHOL ingestion, all of which are beyond a child's developmental level of comprehension.  Kids didn't belong at that deadly fucking Travis Scott concert either, with its already-chaotic atmosphere made worse by the violent, psychopathic lyrics in Scott's songs; the unchecked drug and alcohol ingestion, public displays of (graphic horny teenage) affection by concertgoers, etc.  This was a recurring event--both planners & parents should've known this wasn't a children's carnival.  But there they were:  kids getting trampled, some to death, by a sea of much older yet equally-unsophisticated music haters. 

Lovers. 

Whatever.   

There are lots of places that aren't kid-friendly in this society--bars (both alcohol and hookah), marijuana dispensaries, burlesque shows, strip clubs, sex clubs, gun ranges, casinos--that doesn't necessarily make them "bad" or "evil."  But for some reason when you say kids don't belong at drag shows the gays flip their Party City wigs.  So, when forced to choose between kink at Pride and children at Pride (I'd prefer neither but apparently I'm some kind of Puritan freak), the madding crowd refused.  So by default we ended up with both.  Most cities have said 'fuck it' and allow a whatever goes environment complete with booze, nudity & kids' activities like crafting mini rainbow pinatas & other arts/crafts at booths which is the worst of all worlds.  I actually can't think of an event I'd rather attend less.  The fun-to-lame-to-creepy ratio is all outta whack, and that's without even considering how it looks to onlookers or the harm it's doing the kids. 

Crowd gathers around random transgender person to 'ooh' and 'ahh' at their scars.

I can hear you now:  What about the TQ's, Forbidden Fruit?  You're forgetting about the TQ's!  We can't forget them, meek and humble as they might be.  What would Pride be without them?  Truly, what could America or the world even BE proud of if not for the Stunning-Braves™?  Would science, medicine, the arts, linguistic typology, archaeology, religion or architecture in Helsinki even exist if not for these charitable & self-effacing souls who constantly put the comforts & Cluster-B like demands of the cis scum majority ahead of their own safety?!  They're the pièce de résistance of Western civilization! 

Need proof?  Exhibit A:  The young ex-female warrior above who unveils her double mastectomy scars proudly at Pride to a chorus of cheers.  Nope, nothing culty here.  They're cheering because now she's free to live as her true self with massive surgical scars & a cascade of synthetic male hormones surging through her veins for life, angrily confusing her lack of dating options with transphobia.  Brava.  👏🏻

Just What Are You Saying, You LGBTQIA☿S♘⛕WTF -phobe?

I think I speak for most sensible gay people (or a helluva lot anyway) when I say none of this clownery represents me any more than Jerry Springer's guests represent the average employed, college-educated straight person.  It's a fucking sideshow & it's doing more harm than good to the cause of acceptance & progress.  Gay rights groups & causes need to divest from trans and "queer" causes post haste unless we want to go down with the ship.  And gays need to boycott events like Pride en masse until they do or we risk losing our hard-won rights & undoing decades of progress that our forefathers/mothers literally fought and died for.  It's that serious.  As bleak as things are now, you do NOT want to be around when the bill comes due on this trans shit for real.  Don't say you weren't warned.

Most gays just want the same basic human rights as others & to be left the fuck alone by homophobes & religious types, not to continuously push the envelope until there are no laws or social taboos left.  We have the right to fuck who and how we want in private so there's no need for this display of excessively lewd shit in public.  I'd be considered a dinosaur in gay years and I've still never been to a gay parade or "Pride" event, and every year I'm reminded why.  I despise the fact that THIS is what comes to mind when you tell someone you're gay.  😞

Some of us still believe that sex and all its related kinks are exclusively for adults & belong in the bedroom, not in the street around strangers & their kids.  If that's "respectability politics," call me Her Royal Majesty, Queen of Respectville.  I don't need a bunch of meth-addled pornsick freaks twerking in the middle of downtown Nowheresburg to be my authentic self or feel like I belong, nor am I delusional enough to believe that these public displays of obscenity are in any way "political".  Not anymore.  Maybe it was revolutionary when gay bars were getting raided nightly & the act of consensual adult "sodomy" was illegal, but not now.  Perhaps when simply identifying as homosexual got you diagnosed as 'mentally ill' it was necessary to show the world that gays could engage in loving sex acts without going feral & shooting up a Piggly Wiggly. 

But today fucking is just fucking--a means to an end in the era of on-demand free amateur porn of every conceivable variety & HIV & chemsex & monkeypox & AI chatbot lovers & dopamine oversaturation and... That, plus the average American is far better educated about sexual orientation than the typical 1950's American breeder was.  Yes, even conservative and religious people.  Chalk it up to decades of ongoing education efforts by gays and their local orgs + changing societal attitudes combined with the merciful lack of After School Specials/PSAs warning kids to watch out for "the homosexual" (translation: the gay male child molester who prefers boys over girls).  Because apparently straight men and women never prey on kids of the opposite sex.    🤦🏻‍♀

Yikes alright, but for different reasons. 

Sex is great but it's not consequence-free.  I'm old enough to remember when AIDS transformed from an obscure disease lurking in the Congolese jungle to an epidemic among gay and bisexual American men ("GRID") in a very short space of time.  That happened right after Hepatitis B became a sexually transmitted disease for the first time in history thanks to what was going on in the bathhouses, which happened right around the time genital herpes came into existence in the hetero population as a result of their "free love" fest of the '60s and swinging '70s.  It seemed to happen very fast but the fuse had been silently burning for a long time.

Sure enough, as soon as we got a treatment that turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable chronic disease--a miracle of modern medicine by any standard--people went back to their old barebacking ways en masse.  That's your business I suppose, but when you parade around half-nude in the streets air-humping to the beat of "Pillow Princess," you give the impression that promiscuous high-risk sex is consequence-free & that sex is the entirety of the gay experience, both of which are dangerous to our survival in different ways.

It gets harder with every passing June to empathize or identify with people who behave like immature egotistical hedonists.  Many of these loud and proud gays are white, male & wealthy due to their Dual Income No Kids (DINK) relationships but won't hesitate to yell over members of other minority/oppressed groups like women, Black people, the disabled & others who try to speak about their own IRL struggles.  Again, this makes it damn hard to relate to this crowd.   Also, you can't say things like "Gays are just like you.  Our relationships are not all about sex!" and then expect to be taken seriously when putting on ridiculously lewd displays like this.  What is the goal of Pride nowadays?  What are we fighting for?  Can you imagine if Black Lives Matter or any other civil rights organization behaved like this in the streets all across America for an entire month?  

To anyone who thinks we're all this way:  we're not.  These people aren't really fighting for anything other than your undivided attention at all times. The less you give it to them, the better.  If you need a rainbow-washed corporate holiday to make you feel like you matter, it's probably time for some therapy 'cause you got bigger problems than being gay.  To the gays who feel the same way I do but are afraid to speak up for fear of being alienated from your brunch-liberal communities, I feel your pain but I implore you to grow a backbone.  Any group that requires you to alienate friends/family to be a part of it is a (say it with me) CULT. 

To those who think I'm a stuffy, prudish conservative hag: fuck you.  You couldn't be more wrong, I just believe in moderation & common sense which is nowhere near common enough these days.  The truth has no political affiliation; you've just been effectively propagandized by the 2-party system to believe otherwise.  The alphabet mob is every bit as culty as the Christian church, and the corporate & government orgs that support it are no less corrupt.  Not all cults are religious.

You can't force people to accept you; all you can do is fight for your right to enjoy the same freedoms they have--I'm talking basic human rights like equal employment, housing, healthcare & the right to marry any consenting adult that will have you.  The "boring" stuff that probably half the LGB population of Earth still doesn't enjoy due to backward laws & violently regressive social attitudes in many developing nations.  Be grateful you have it.  I can guarantee the current method of aggressively forcing this particular trait of yours (homosexuality) on the general public by making every other day "Gender Fluid Day" or "Trans Visibility Day" and then spending a whole month in June parading around in less than a loincloth is not helpful to the cause of acceptance & progress.  I'm gay and it's making me sick so I can imagine how the straights must feel. 

Which leads me to believe some of you aren't really seeking acceptance at all; maybe a small part of you even wants to repel people.  Perhaps you need to drum up some friction because your lives are too boring & drama-free without it.  You see those vintage Stonewall photos & long for that kind of conflict despite knowing it's not socially acceptable to admit it.  Maybe for you late bloomers, this is your rebellious phase--a way of saying 'eat shit' from a distance to the controlling, miserable parents you always vowed to show the world you were nothing like. 

Great.  Go you.  

Just keep in mind that for some of us, this ISN'T a phase.  We can't just "go back to dating the other sex" or decide to have a traditional heteronormative wedding & nuclear family when it gets too stressful or our biological clocks tell us it's time to get 'serious' and settle down.  This "gay thing" is not one of many cute identity costumes we're trying on, it's who we are & we've paid a hefty price for it.  There is no Plan B.  Additionally, some of us grew up in a time and/or place that might as well have been Stonewall, complete with family abandonment, discrimination by businesses, religious bigotry & bullying (by both kids and adults) that would be considered assault and battery or worse today.  

Whatever you do out there in those streets reflects on all of us, good, bad or indifferent.  I wish that wasn't the case but it is.  It's just part of the package when you belong to a long-maligned sexual minority.  If you're not old enough to remember those horrific pedophile PSAs, or Jerry Falwell saying AIDS was "god's punishment" for "going against nature," consider yourself lucky.  I do.  But I wasn't so lucky in other ways & I know people who had it even worse than me.  So I would just ask that you think about the person standing next to you or, better yet, the person you don't see "out and proud" at Pride when you're representing us this month.  

(I'm entirely aware that this is a waste of time. Still, a part of me likes to imagine that one guilt-wracked reader having a crisis of conscience as he reads this under a lone dangling lightbulb, knocking his soda over with his first as he resolves to exercise some restraint for the first time in his life if it kills him, dammit).  

📹 🏳‍🌈 🍹😵‍💫 🪅

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

👯‍♂  Prides of Yesteryear  🏳‍🌈

Stonewall Riots, 1969


1969


1969

1st gay pride parade, San Francisco 1970


Gee, where'd all the transvestites go?  🤔


NYC Pride, 1990

Sonoma County Pride, 1991

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Lessons from the Diddy Case

 

This case is such a huge cluster fuck I'mma take it point by point to avoid rambling.  Cool?

1.)  Can we all agree that Diddy DID pay someone to have 2Pac & Suge Knight killed now?  That it was not a conspiracy theory cooked up in the weed-soaked minds of rap fans who'd listened to "Hit 'Em Up" one too many times?  And that Diddy is in no way the innocent victim in the East Coast/West Coast drama that he was always made out to be?  (Considering he was able to have Wendy Williams fired from her controversial-but-popular radio show, he probably controlled the media narrative about himself in '96 too.  He certainly had the power).  I was always iffy about whether he set 2Pac up to be shot at Quad Studios but now it's looking more likely as well.  The man's a bonafide psychopath despite the media's portrayal of him as a benevolent soft-spoken playboy.  

Diddy & Biggie sporting the marine blue hue of the Southside Crips.

2.)  However, because the middleman he paid the $500,000 to for the hit (Eric "Zip" Martin) died in 2012, that doesn't leave authorities with much more than hearsay if they were gonna take this to trial--something they should've done decades ago.  The timing of Diddy's takedown is very suspicious though considering it came on the heels of Keefe D's raid and arrest in Vegas, the city where 2Pac was murdered.  For years Keefe D has bragged about murdering 2Pac while simultaneously snitching on Diddy all over Youtube.  It's almost certain he would roll over on him when faced with years in prison.  Keefe D was merely a low-level street soldier; a goon.  Diddy's the "big fish" behind the plot.

But because one man's testimony--a lifelong gangster and drug dealer at that--isn't enough to win at trial against a billionaire w/ unlimited funds for the best defense since the Dream Team, the Feds likely went poking around in Diddy's life for OTHER dirt they could nab him on to build an actual case.  And thank God they did because holy fuck.  Some may say that's playing dirty but I say if you're gonna have people murdered you better keep your hands absolutely spotless otherwise because what's done in the dark tends to come to light if you live long enough.  Diddy was so proud of his vile actions he bragged in songs about paying to have people "erased," etc.  (I thought real Bad Boys moved in silence, Sean?) 

The 2Pac murder likely won't even get brought up at trial but I'm counting this as a win for him even though he had no desire to see Black people sit in jail.  Sometimes that's the only solution when someone is a persistent threat to society.  When you become a billionaire you forfeit your Black card or any other "card" of oppression you once held.  Money = power in this capitalist hellscape & wealth trumps all.  Puffy got away with this shit far longer than a poor white person would've because of his wealth & celebrity status, which proves what I just said.  Compared to a white billionaire he would be treated worse, but now we're dealing in theoretical scenarios that have nothing to do with 99% of the population, Black or white.  

With Eric Von "Zip" Martin, 1995

3.)  After seeing how many people have come out of the woodwork to accuse Diddy of various crimes from violent sexual assault to drugging to sex trafficking and how LONG it took them to come out, people should think twice before asking wHy'D iT tAkE sO lOnG tO cOmE fOrWaRd? next time a high-profile case hits the news.  Certain segments of the public had the audacity to accuse ex-girlfriend Cassie of lying until the gruesome hotel video--a piece of evidence Diddy was able to bury with his wealth--got leaked.  (Now law enforcement claims Diddy "won't be charged" for the beating despite having that video + evidence that he bought the tape from the hotel, which I would think is a crime in itself).  So as far as the law is concerned it might as well not exist.  Do you have any idea how unfair & frustrating this is for women, survivors of abuse of all kinds & victims who have faced a disbelieving public in their own lives?

At what point will people err on the side of BELIEVING victims?  The "they just want a payday/are trying to take a successful man down" narrative is BEYOND tired, and in the vast majority of cases is not true.  There shouldn't have to be more than one accuser for these accusations to be taken seriously, but sadly one rich man's freedom to rape & pillage is worth more than a woman's actual life and safety to both law enforcement & the court of public opinion.  Rape & trafficking are considered legal in practice when the victim is one adult woman.  How many victims is enough?  How much hard evidence do you need? 

This case has shown me there's NO amount of victims or evidence that would satisfy some of you.  I've seen men commenting ON THE BEATING VIDEO ITSELF saying things like "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!" and similar which just goes to show this isn't about "proof" at all--a large chunk of society simply does not see women as fully human & will excuse the evil acts of men no matter how much evidence is staring them in the face.  Then they'll turn around with a straight face and say "There is no war on women.  Women have it better than men, etc".  Just say you hate women and be done with it.  At least that would be honest.  But you're too cowardly to own your bigotry, just like the homophobes who use the Bible and God as a shield.  By all means be loud about your opinions, just don't forget to be loud about the reasons behind them too.

In the vast majority of sexual assault cases there IS no evidence--no witnesses & no DNA or fingerprints.  And thousands of rape kits sit untested across this country, a fact that we should be rioting in the streets over.  Victims who do dare to take their rapists to court end up sitting on the stand and getting accused of bringing it on themselves, lying or worse, often for "victory" to look like the rapist getting probation or community service. 

But woe unto the poor imaginary menz who get their lives/future NFL careers ruined by false accusations.  😒

If you don't understand how this series of events could discourage victims from coming forward immediately, it's because you're committed to not understanding.  And all of the above is not even considering the actual fear factor--the fear that the victim's reputation will be ruined in their community by people who side with the rapist, fear of financial ruin should the rapist be found not guilty & counter-sue in civil court.  Or the big one:  fear of the rapist doing something violent in retaliation.  Sexual assault is a violent crime to start with--can you imagine going up against someone as violent & wealthy as Diddy?  In this case, the only smart thing to do is wait until he's in custody and others have carved out a safe path for you to walk down.  And most people don't have the benefit of the Feds ensuring them safety like I'm sure Cassie did.  (Which I'm glad she did, but the point remains).  

THAT'S WHY PEOPLE WAIT TO COME FORWARD.  Re-read points 2 & 3 again if you didn't understand or need a refresher.  Anyone crazy enough to rape you is potentially crazy enough to kill, stalk, sue, harass, batter or do any other number of crazy things to you.  Combined with the repulsively vile treatment from the general public and law enforcement, this knowledge is why rape victims don't come forward right away.  They see silence as harm reduction.   

Getting REAL tired of this shit. 

4.)  Does this open the door to false accusations and people just looking for their 15 minutes or a payday?  Absolutely.  But that's unfortunately a risk celebrities face as a result of their high-profile lives anyway.  Along with stalking, financial scams, robbery, murder & other crimes.  But if even one of those accusers is telling the truth, Diddy is a rapist, sex trafficker and abuser.  As are Weinstein, Cosby and R. Kelly.  And it's certain they are being truthful because we have years of allegations from people in the industry attesting to his foul behavior as well as video evidence of physical assault.  You're safer riding with the victims just based on the law of averages.  Besides, identifying with a mogul won't make you one, it only makes you look like a victim-blaming loser.  

Stevie J, Puffy's uhh, friend.  

Whew, think that about covers it.  Oh yeah, people have theorized for YEARS that Diddy was gay or bisexual, in fact this claim is what Wendy Williams got fired from her radio show over.  Now he's got male accusers in the sexual assault pile and all manner of detailed stories about him and Stevie J doing gay shit openly around them.  Now being gay myself I don't see this as a bad thing and certainly not a crime, but I do know that men who suppress their homosexuality and continue dating women tend to put them through hell, channeling their self-hate and sexual frustration onto them. 

I have very little respect for people, especially high-profile celebs, who stay closeted in this day and age.  Obviously everyone's entitled to a private life and nobody has to make "gay" their whole personality, but to continuously deny the truth makes you a homophobe & hypocrite.  It remains to be seen whether the Justin Bieber and Usher rumors of grooming/sexual assault are true, or if he ever did similar things to other underage people (god I hope not), but I put nothing past a man who has violent drug-fueled parties called "Freak-Offs" that last for days.   

One last point:  It's alleged that, like Jeffrey Epstein who was said to "belong to intelligence," Diddy had his whole crib bugged with recording devices and was using the videos to blackmail celebrities.  If true, this fits nicely with my theory that he was working with/for the FBI or another 3-letter agency at the time of 2Pac's murder & that's why he wasn't taken down for it sooner.  See the first link in this article for more on that theory.  People need to seriously question where this bugging/blackmail technique comes from & why it keeps turning up in high-profile sex trafficking cases.  The chances that law enforcement didn't know this criminal enterprise existed long before now are slim to none.  It's also been known since Day 1 who killed 2Pac, so why are they only acting NOW--almost 30 years after the fact?  Does the killer really have to confess all over high-profile Youtube channels to get you to do your jobs?  I guess late is better than never but most of the players involved have died so they're not being held accountable which is a shame.  

From left:  Dame Dash, unknown people (2); Aaliyah, Diddy & Jennifer Lopez

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