Opposition leaders in Israel finally got together in a power sharing agreement that ousts Netanyahu after a decade of corruption, destruction, and death.  Back your bags, Bibi; next stop, the courtroom.  Maybe this is the year both Trump and Bibi get theirs.  Fingers crossed.

Trumpists and other mouthbreathers get a huge charge our of “owning the libs”, complaining that not being a flaming asshole is somehow the new pejoratives “woke” or “virtue signaling”, which, joining “cancel culture” are all of the new talking points being used in rapid fire by everyone from Fled Cruz to some knuckle draggers still flying Trump flags on his jacked up 2 MPG pick-’em-up truck.  The point is not advocating for a certain political policy; the point is all about being a dick to strangers with cruelty as the objective.  The latest, though, sinks below most of the Trumpian insults and whining.  This one is comparing mask requirements and vaccinations as being equivalent to the holocaust where Nazis imprisoned, tortured, enslaved, and killed millions of Jews in Europe.  Over 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust along with other undesirables including Gypsies and other eastern Europeans.  The Jews in Nazi controlled Europe were required to wear a star of David patch to identify what level of undesirable they were.  The most well known was the yellow star of David.

 

The geniuses at Nashville hat shop HatWrks thought it would be a really good idea to “own the libs” by selling a replica patch that didn’t say “Jude” but “Not Vaccinated”.  The store’s Instagram account had been known for posting conspiracy theories and nonsense about the pandemic, so, living in their echo chamber, it’s not surprising that they thought there little patch would sell like hotcakes.  It didn’t go well.  They were blasted online and in protests in front of their store.  Then, Stetson came calling, cancelling their wholesale arrangement with the store saying that they didn’t support hate.  BTW, Stetson is the largest hat maker in the world, selling over 3 million hats a year.  That’s going to leave a mark.

 

So, I guess HatWrks “owned the libs” by shooting themselves in the foot.  I’m sure they were shocked to find that normal people don’t like bigots and hateful people, especially when it spills out into the street in front of their place business.  But hey, I’m sure Trump loves it.

Understanding hate and where it comes from is paramount. In each case there is of perceived progress,  a backlash occurred in polite society. In the 1970s that was a backlash against the sexual and political freedom people were seeking. Women were seeking more rights and the children were experimenting with mind altering drugs. The hatred of this from many was understandable.

 

Society and civilizations are complex things. Many are still fighting that fight while others have moved on to other lifestyle choices. Certainly, racial discrimination has always been in the background of these cultural wars. However, the local and state governments seem to have found a new bogeyman to fight over. This bogeyman is the specter of transgender kids.

 

Hatred comes from fear. Yoda taught us that one. So, when we watch Dan Patrick and his merry band of idiots peacock their way around Austin it is instructive to ask what they are afraid of. They clearly hate. No one dehumanizes anyone to that degree without feeling hatred. Why do they hate so much? What has the transgender community done to deserve this?

 

The answer is fairly simple. It is the same as the drug argument and the whole sexual revolution as well. For people who have a deep belief in God, the idea of questioning God’s creation is the most serious of sins. God doesn’t make mistakes, so how could someone feel as if their sexual identity is a mistake? The question comes down to how we can reconcile what God in fact created. Did God create a man or a woman or did God create a person? Furthermore, if God creates everyone and everyone is created in God’s image then what does that say about God?

 

These are deep questions that inspire introspection, prayer, and deep thought and reflection. It also presents a conundrum they can’t solve. If someone is a child of God then what does it say about us and our religion when we dehumanize them? Of course, this is something they can’t answer whether it be women, people of color, immigrants, and members of the LGTBQ+ community that they dehumanize.

 

What we can say is that these draconian methods are meant to do one thing. They are meant to discourage people from seeking their true identities. Somewhere in their small minds there are kids wanting to go in the opposite bathroom or boys that want to throw on a dress and dominate women’s sports. We need to protect them. We need to make sure that doesn’t happen. We need to make sure this unholy practice doesn’t spread. Then comes the question of who exactly we are protecting and who we are hurting.

 

When you look back on any culture shift you can see people fighting that same fight throughout time. It has been there in the drug war. It was there during the women’s liberation movement. It was there during the civil rights era. If was there during Prohibition. It was there when the abolitionists were trying to free the slaves. Every fight for cultural change and progress has had people on the other side pushing against this change.

 

The logic always breaks down. The logic is that if we let former boys play girls sports then the floodgates will burst forth with boys playing girls sports as new girls. It isn’t even so much that this flies in the face of common sense. Common sense rarely enters into these discussions. It is the fact that it flies in the face of history.

 

Each one of these social movements had members of the movement, but the radical nature didn’t spread like wildfire. Sure, there were long-term and pervasive changes to society, but it’s not like LSD was being dropped in every bedroom in America. We didn’t see a sudden rash of gender roles switching and we certainly haven’t seen the kind of radical change to racist attitudes we thought we would see. We saw gradual changes and each movement had a logical end.

 

We aren’t going to see millions of boys become girls and millions of girls become boys. The UIL and other sports leagues aren’t going to suddenly mix the genders in some kind new age new fangled league of equality. It won’t happen because these things never happen. So, what we get is to solve a problem that never existed and never will exist. We get to dehumanize a few in order to make the majority feel better about themselves. We get to crush the very souls that our benevolent God created. This is the hate that many of us voted for. May God have mercy on our souls.

After George P’s decision to stiff Houstonians by denying federal flood funds, he drew the ire of all Houston politicians.  But it’s worse than that…he’s now drawing the ire of Houstonians themselves.  Last night, he tweeted this, lying and trying to blame Biden for his own stupidity and pandering to Trump.

Houston, I hear you. pic.twitter.com/urAK0uL7xw

— George P. Bush (@georgepbush) May 26, 2021

It’s not going well.

 

A watered-down medical marijuana bill passed the Texas Senate this week, with the full knowledge that the Texas House and likely the Governor wouldn’t sign it into law anyway. KXAN reports:

House Bill 1535 grows the state’s medical marijuana program to include all Texans with cancer. People with debilitating medical conditions would also qualify, but the Senate removed part of a House provision that would have added all chronic pain patients. HB 1535 was amended in the House to include all forms of diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), rather than for veterans with PTSD as it was initially introduced.

The legislation was amended to raise the limit for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — the main psychoactive chemical in marijuana — from 0.5% to 1% by weight.

I’m happy that all PTSD and cancer patients were included in the bill, even if it will never pass. I’m a true believer in medical marijuana. I know a little boy with epilepsy. He was born here in Texas and throughout his life had uncontrollable seizures. When Texas passed the first medical marijuana law to allow children with epilepsy some THC, his doctor wrote him a prescription, and he never had another seizure. It’s been something like three or four years since the last time this child had a seizure. It’s what religious folks would call a miracle.

Texas should include medical marijuana in the next legislative session and should allow patients with chronic pain access to a drug that will keep them off of opioids. It’s common sense. Too bad the Texas GOP has none.

I’m a chronic pain patient and I have “incurable” chronic pain, meaning two separate neurosurgeons, along with a team of physical therapists, my general physician and an orthopedic surgeon have all examined me and determined that I am beyond help. There is no cure for my problems until a bionic spine becomes available. I would LOVE to be free of opiates. I would LOVE to not have to take so much Ibuprofen that my doctor says it’s “when” not “if” my kidneys start to fail. That’s my choice, I can walk or sleep today, but my kidneys will fail in the future.

My last hope is that maybe THC will relieve my pain enough to back me off of the harsh opiates and ibuprofen. The Texas government is currently withholding that choice from me.