Tuesday, July 27, 2021

2020 Year of Hell - Terri DelCampo's Bizarre-Ass Interview

 

 

Hello Reading Friends,

 

2020 was indeed the year from hell, including a big hullabaloo on the publishing platform Blaze and I had chosen to write for. We were both submitting at least one story a day, often more, and the individual publication we wrote for almost exclusively was temporarily suspended until the main platform could get a disagreement sorted out. The newly formed publication's writers had formed a community, and everyone was disconcerted by the events, which only lasted a couple of days, thank goodness. This article came out of it, and I got quite a few responses to the interview. It was a fun distraction, including for myself. (I included my own response to the interview below the original article.)

Terri DelCampo's Bizarre-Ass Interview

 

I promised AGH I would do my part in keeping all the publication's writers in touch and knowing that the vanishing act is only temporary, and things are being worked out as we speak.  I had no idea in hell how I was going to do that and continue writing my own articles – I have dozens in my "under construction" files in each of my niches.

I woke up this morning with a lightning bolt zapping my morning fogged brain: Interview them, dummy!

 

Only not with the conventional, 'when-did-you-know-you-wanted-to write?' or 'what-writer-inspires-you-the-most?' stuff that everybody asks. Uh, uh. No such luck for you guys. Heh, heh, heh.  I'm a horror writer. I live for making people squirm.

Here's how I plan to do that for the whole lot of you – and you will each get your own story to publish.

 

Do this:

Copy the questions below (only the questions, the names list in this article already tags everyone) and paste them into a "new story" of your own.

 

Change the title to:

 

"MY NAME Responds to Terri DelCampo's Bizarre-Ass Interview"

 

(That will ensure that we both get credit for our parts in the interview.) 

Plug in your answers and click publish!  Voila! We help each other get our names out there, establish our solidarity as our publication's writers, and have some laughs doing it!

 

One extra thing: If you know of a writer who isn't on the list below the interview questions in my original article, please tag them in your article.

 

Okay…one more extra thing: Add a question of your own to the interview – remember, it can't be anything conventional.  You're some of the best writers on the platform – dazzle me!

 

Okay everybody! Have at it if you dare! Muahaha! 

 

 

Bizarre-Ass Interview questions: 

 

1.                 What bizarre-ass guilty pleasure do you imbibe in way too often? 

2.                 What bizarre-ass book/movie scared the crap out of you so bad it changed your behavior (left lights on, made you look in the back seat of your car before getting in, make you look around your house to make sure you were alone, etc)? 

3.                 What bizarre-ass thing instantly pisses you off? 

4.                 What was your most bizarre-ass vacation/trip?

5.                 What's your most bizarre-ass writing spot? 

6.                 Ever do some bizarre-ass thing that almost got you arrested?

7.                 What's the most bizarre-ass thing you've ever eaten?

8.                 What bizarre-ass joke made you laugh so hard you almost peed your pants? 

9.                 What bizarre-ass thing have you written just for living-expenses money?

10.            What bizarre-ass thing have you fantasized about but would never, ever do? 

11.            What's the most bizarre-ass thing you ever did on a dare? Brag about it or regret it?

12.            What bizarre-ass experience changed your life forever?

13.            As a kid, what was the longest/worst punishment you ever got and what bizarre-ass thing did you do? 

14.            What's the most bizarre-ass haircut/hairdo you've ever had? Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words…heh, heh, heh.

Okay – I'm out of bizarre-ass questions for now. Feel free to fire up the bizarre-ass parts of your brains, add some of your own, and shoot them back to me!

 

Go for it and have some fun!!

 

[Originally published on Medium in 2020]

*****

 

Terri DelCampo Responds to Terri DelCampo's Bizarre-Ass Interview

 

1.                 What bizarre-ass guilty pleasure do you imbibe in way too often?

I "fake eat" chocolate. – I'm allergic to it, plus, I'm on the fringes of insulin resistance, so I put a piece in my mouth, let it melt, savor the hell out of it, then spit it in the trash so I avoid its harmful effects.

2.                 What bizarre-ass book/movie scared the crap out of you so bad it changed your behavior (left lights on, made you look in the back seat of your car before getting in, make you look around your house to make sure you were alone, etc)? 

"Helter Skelter" had me sleeping with the lights on for weeks. The fact that the Manson killers got into Sharon Tate's home (with a wall and electrified fence) and slaughtered everyone there was bad enough, but Susan Atkin's description of the Manson Family members breaking into people's homes, crawling around their beds as they lay asleep, and leaving without being found out, completely freaked me out.

3.                 What bizarre-ass thing instantly pisses you off? 

The sight of Fake President Trump's orange face, especially if his mouth is open…so…constantly.

4.                 What was your most bizarre-ass vacation/trip?

Well, it wasn't a vacation, per se, but a mini-trip to a funeral home to see an embalming when I was 12. I was curious, my father was an undertaker. We bonded. 

5.                 What's your most bizarre-ass writing spot? 

Hmmm… I jot ideas down on the toilet sometimes, but I think every writer probably does that. I used to sit in cemeteries occasionally, choosing a particular stone, trying to build a character around the information I found there. (I'm a horror writer.) If I want a creepy vibe, I go at dusk and stay until after dark. 

6.                 Ever do some bizarre-ass thing that almost got you arrested?

Closest thing was I got caught in a speed trap on Marathon Key at about two in the morning. I was temporarily homeless and in a minivan stuffed with everything I owned, and the cop was a colossal prick. He saw my Delaware license plate and grilled me about what the hell I was doing. He gave me a ticket with a hefty fine (that was reduced – he jacked up the amount for the speed I was doing) and had to let me go because I really wasn't doing anything wrong. I just wanted to see the sun rise on Key West before I attended a Heritage Festival the following day where I planned to interview a Native American flutist for a book I was writing.

So much for my crime spree…heh, heh, heh. 

7.                 What's the most bizarre-ass thing you've ever eaten?

Chocolate covered ants. In the unusual but not bizarre-ass category, I have also had smoked rattlesnake (delish!), stewed alligator (also yum), frog legs, and snails.

8.                 What bizarre-ass joke made you laugh so hard you almost peed your pants? 

Well, it's not a joke per se, but the first time I saw Robin Williams stand up on HBO – the very first one before anyone really knew who the hell he was – I laughed so hard I couldn't get my breath.

Wait! I got pranked one time, and it was hilarious! My dentist at the time was a friend of the family, and I needed a bridge after having a tooth pulled. I came into the office to have the permanent bridge inserted, and Doc placed it in my mouth, and said he wasn't happy with the fit, that it would give me problems later. He put the temp bridge (I thought) back in my mouth, handed me lunch money, and said to go with my friend (his office manager), have lunch on him, that he would rush the bridge to the lab, have it fixed and ready by the time we got back. Out we went.

 

It was lunchtime mid-week, and we went to Pat's Pizzeria, which was hopping busy. I kept getting odd looks from people whenever I spoke. I turned to Andrea, and asked, "are my gums bleeding or something? People are looking at me funny." She assured me I was fine. 

 

Long story short we get back to the office and I'm in the chair, and Doc says he wants to take some photos of the bridge, because he wants to document the problem with it in case there were any questions later.  When he got through snapping pics, I noticed Andrea was standing in the doorway to the treatment room. Doc turned to her and said, "time to show her?" Andrea, as well as the rest of the staff, all of whom I was friends with, peeked over Andrea's shoulder. He handed me a mirror and I saw this: 

 

PIC of me with blue teeth/red dots. 

I congratulated him on the best prank ever.

9.                 What bizarre-ass thing have you written just for living-expenses money?

I worked on the correspondence team at a bank writing business letters to mutual fund customers for four years. It was writing…sort of. 

10.            What bizarre-ass thing have you fantasized about but would never, ever do? 

My first husband was a sky-diving instructor and it really looked like awesome fun, but the bum knee screamed, "No freaking way." 

11.            What's the most bizarre-ass thing you ever did on a dare? Brag about it or regret it?

Ate the chocolate-covered ants.

12.            What bizarre-ass experience changed your life forever?

Reading "The Telltale Heart" at age 13. I'd just finished writing a romance novel. Reading Poe started a lifelong fascination with the macabre, and I began writing horror stories, screenplays, and novels.

13.             As a kid, what was the longest/worst punishment you ever got and what bizarre-ass thing did you do? 

My mother was one to lecture if I did something wrong – mostly stupid kid stuff, like I swiped dimes out of her jar to get penny candy for my friends and me a couple times. She noticed. I could swear the lecture lasted for hours…maybe it just seemed that way. I didn't get into much trouble.  I was a serious kid – somewhat introverted and a writer by the time I was eleven. 

14.            What's the most bizarre-ass hair cut/do you've ever had? Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words…heh, heh, heh.

Remember the cartoon "The Hair Bear Bunch"?

 



 

[Originally published on Medium in 2020]

 

 

 

 

Monday, July 26, 2021

Struggle to Write - Flashback to 1995

 [Originally published as a Write Now blog, this was written on 5/21/95, just before massive changes in my life.]

Struggle to Write

Thirty-seven years on shaky ground

Writing always sidetracked.  Marriage, kids, jobs, housework, procrastination.

Family transitional stages, depressions. 

            I’m responsible for my own dreams coming true, even if others stand back waiting for me to fall on my face. 

            As I made notes to myself concerning things to do during the course of next week, I realized I was doing it again.  'It' being, allowing my To Do list to overshadow my To Write list.

            The one constant in my life since I was a small child has been my love for writing.  My love for putting words together on a blank page until they tell a story. 

            And though this passion for the written word has consumed me for well over two decades, my efforts to get my material published has been half-hearted to say the least. 

            There was always something more important than going after what I wanted.

            First of course, there were homework assignments.  Math problems, French vocabulary, science projects.  God forbid I should get a C in French because I spent too much time on an essay for English. (My favorite class by far.)

            Then along came Bill, my husband.  Going through serious teen-aged angst, bombarded daily by problems with his parents, I felt compelled to be there for him.  To encourage him, listen to him, and finally, drop out of college and marry him at the age of nineteen. 

            Bill has always worked hard to support us.  When we were first wed, he held a day job at McDonalds, and a night job at Howard Johnson’s, just to make ends meet.  Naturally I got a job, not wanting to be a lazy, stereotypical lady of leisure.  It never occurred to me to try writing a magazine piece.  Of course, I was only nineteen, what experience did I have to speak of?

            Then our first child came along.  We were struggling financially, but Bill and I came to the conclusion that any job I might land would probably not cover the cost of a decent daycare, so I stayed home with the baby.

            Within six months of our son’s birth, we took in Bill’s grandmother who'd had a falling out with family members she’s been living with.  There I was in a one-bedroom apartment with a 6-month-old infant, a husband who was working himself senseless to support us already, and a grandmother sleeping on our sofa.  I’d written a couple of short stories by then and had submitted them to magazines.  I got them back.  Bill’s grandmother said: “Well, I guess that’s the end of that nonsense.”

            I looked around at the pile of laundry, my child snoozing in his playpen, Bill’s grandmother dusting the bookshelves, and nodded in agreement as I headed into the kitchen to begin preparing a less than modest dinner for us all.  Not only was my time at bare minimum, but I couldn’t afford the postage to keep sending manuscripts to editors just to have them sent back.

            Finally, we moved into a small house in the city of Wilmington.  Bill had gotten a job with a more generous employer and was working hard to pass night school so he could go on to earn his plumbing license.  There were times when he’d worked all day then had to go to class and then go on overtime calls.  I watched the toll mount.  His lunches were Spam or egg sandwiches with a Maalox chaser.  I always tried to make him feel special, while burying my dreams deep inside so my disappointment with getting nowhere wouldn’t show. 

            Then there were the months that I was consumed with potty training and ridding my house of mice and ants.  During that time, I did little writing.  Household chores and baby-rearing seemed all I could handle.

            When Bill was finally through with night school became an official journeyman his employer gave him a raise and we were doing all right financially. We decided it was time for a second child since little Billy was three.  

            Joey was born, and by the time he was a week old he was sleeping through the night.  I, on the other hand, must have been geared to rise for wee-hour feedings because I found myself lying in bed awake by four-thirty every day.  I decided on one of those sleepless mornings to make the most of my insomnia.  I got up and began writing a screenplay.  As I worked on it, I realized I needed answers to questions that books weren’t giving me.  I attended a screenwriting seminar in Philadelphia one weekend.  I sponged up everything Michael Hague had to say, and applied it to my screenplay work. 

            Writing from four to seven each day I completed two screenplays in as many years.  Only to find out as I began contacting production companies that screenplays are a penny a dozen and virtually impossible to sell. 

            I thought though, that perhaps it was my subject matter, and wrote yet another three screenplays while raising my boys, encouraging my husband to study for his mechanic's license and take the test. I knew if he struck out on his own, he could have a successful plumbing business and call his own shots. And I was right.

            I was awarded a job answering the business phone.

            This was a mixed blessing.  On the one hand, I hate talking on the phone.  Even as a teen-ager I hated talking on the phone (imagine!), and I cringe whenever I hear that nerve-grating electronic warble.  On the other hand, the phone tied me to the house and since my children were both in school, (Joey was in nursery school for a couple of hours a day), the job gave me time to write. 

            Several months after starting the business we moved to a new house with an extra bedroom we converted into an office.  (And no mice or ants to chase!)

            I expanded my best two screenplays into novels, gathered and polished up my several short stories, printed up my material and decided to go agent shopping. 

            I’ve sent out synopses packets to dozens of agencies and have come to the conclusion that agents are like everyone else.  They will pick an author with a book deal in the works before they’d pick an author who needs them to field one.     

            Two weeks ago, I decided to quit the phone work.  Aside from some personal reasons for quitting the job, I wanted to see if I could actually make money doing what I genuinely love, instead of pasting a smile on my face while answering that annoying warble. 

            I’ve put myself in a do or die position, financially.  I told Bill that I was giving myself a couple of months to make money writing, or I’d get a part time job.

            Though Bill is supportive on the surface I think in some ways he knows me better than I know myself and is waiting to see if I’ll fall on my face. 

            In the past two weeks (I did say I was going to take a little time for myself) I’ve sent off a magazine article and some greeting card sentiments.  Period.

            I’ve taken care of all the out-of-the-house chores I couldn’t do while tied to the phones during the days of the past six years. 

            I’ve splurged and visited relatives I haven’t been to see for the same reason. 

            I’ve been taking 1-1/2 hour walks each morning (I’m trying to lose 85 pounds that have accumulated during my 17-year marriage), and my laundry is even all caught up.

            It’s time already!  I woke up with an allergy attack three hours ago, and as I sat in my rec-room, draining, I couldn’t help trying to sort through my hang-ups.

            It’s easy to me to see why I’ve yet to achieve my dreams, and even easier to blame it on everything and everyone else in my life.  What it all boils down to is responsibility.

            My responsibility to myself.

            I remember nudging Bill when his confidence in himself waned.  “You’re wonderful at what you do!  You practically run your boss’ business!  Run your own!  Just take the step and do it!”

            He must have been so scared, then, with the whole family’s welfare riding on his success or failure.

            But my instincts about Bill were right.

            Just as I think my instincts about my writing are right.

            Well, my sinuses are just about drained and I’m getting a little sleepy.  Funny how a little thing likes an allergy attack can become a turning point in your life.

            I need to encourage myself just like I encourage my husband and sons; not to mention my mother, and my friends.

            I think I’ve earned my turn to work on my own dreams and make them come true.

            And sooner or later I’ll convince an editor of that. 

 

Sunday, June 27, 2021

Beau of the Fifth Column - Appearances are Deceiving

 

June 27, 2021

Greetings Friends,

Let's talk about Beau of the Fifth Column….

A little preface:   While researching the political scene in 2020, looking up politics, civil rights, BLM, gun violence, and of course T**** and his crime syndicate that raped and plundered our democracy for four years, I found a wide range of information on YouTube spanning the whole array of issues from every point of view, far left, far right, and everything in between. As I watched a police officer murder George Floyd, I knew it would touch off violence all over the country, just as it had so many times before, and I dreaded how the racist, soulless T**** administration would react to even peaceful protestors after witnessing his acceptance of neo-Nazis and Klan members earlier during his rule. Appalled at the stand the conservative right (I'm being polite, I usually have less complimentary names for the racist hate-mongers, which is also being polite.) represented on every single issue, I leaned left. I tried to stay objective and fair, but early on realized there was little if anything the GOP had to offer that I could defend – most of their blatant, criminal behavior was completely unspeakable, certainly un-American, much of it nothing short of insane.

But I digress. I found solace in the sane voices of Elizabeth Warren, Former President Obama, Joe Biden, AOC, Jake Tapper, Dan Rather, Sarah Kendzior, David Cay Johnston, Craig Unger, The View, Stephen King, and entertainers like Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Randy Rainbow, Ron Perlman, Robert Di Nero, Alyssa Milano, and many other voices of sanity who, though it was impossible to extinguish the burning ache in the pit of my belly during four years of hell, at least let me know that I was not the only American being gaslit by the psychopaths in control.

Every time I pulled up liberal politicians, journalists, or entertainers on YouTube, this icon of a heavily bearded, baseball-hat-bedecked guy under the handle 'Beau of the Fifth Column' (@BeauOTF) kept popping up. I kept wondering why, with all the liberal-leaning folks I was accessing on YouTube, this redneck-looking guy kept appearing in my sidebar.

Finally, I thought to myself, "Okay, maybe this dude is more middle of the road, or at least has some intelligence," and in the spirit of objectivity I opened up one of his videos.

Before I was a third of the way through the video, I realized that as much as I consider myself open-minded, I'd judged a book by its cover, and shame, shame on me.

Beau of the Fifth Column, aka Justin King, from that very first video, has educated me, clarified, exposed, and reported on current and historical events in a calm and reasonable manner, and in five- to ten-minute videos (usually two per day) put most of my high school Social Studies courses to shame.

I consider myself a moderate liberal (there is only one issue I lean conservative on, which is another blog).

Beau is a liberal, describing himself as an adversarial journalist – which is accurate.

I learned a lot from Beau over the past 18 months, but the most valuable lesson is that the way to sift through all the propaganda and politics to unearth the truth: When you're reading or watching news, absorb it as a human being – not as an American, black person, white person, man, woman, male, female, gay person, Democrat, Republican, rich person, poor person, liberal, conservative, professional person, unemployed person, or religious person. Just as a human being considering how the issue will impact neighbors, animals, and the earth. If it breathes, it hurts – just like me. Treat every living being with compassion and generosity, and respect the earth which sustains every living thing.

If you start listening with that kind of mindfulness, with genuine concern about living beings, and the earth, instead of just profit margins and political talking points, you begin to understand how much nonsense we're force fed every single day by the government and media that feeds off of it.

In the midst of a decent community, struggling to thrive despite a corrupt, thieving, elitest government, Beau is a voice of reason who leads the way through the myriad of distractions slung in our faces every time we power up a communication device. He reminds us with every broadcast that we have minds that need to be opened, expanded, and are capable of critical thinking necessary to sift through the lies, and hearts that beat strong leading us to embrace everyone in our community – everyone – and share equally our bounties as well as our scarcities – and when members of our government betray our trust, we have the power to work in our communities and come up with solutions for ourselves. If we work together in our neighborhoods, cities, counties, states – we can create our own changes and build our own futures. We all should have each other's backs.

Beau reminds anyone viewing his channel that just by listening – really listening – to people we find out that there are no others – there is just us: people trying to raise our children and maybe leave our little smidgen of the world in better shape than we found it. That the ripple effect is real – your every action has an impact, has consequence, not only for you, but for your family, neighbors, and planet.

Beau, with his every broadcast, reminds us of that. All people with open minds and hearts should be listening. More importantly, all people who've been misled and gaslit by propaganda and lies, whose hearts have hardened against their neighbors and who have forgotten what's really important in life should be listening. Because we all need reminders – Beau brings us a couple a day – every day – on his channels and website.

Links and quotes: 

Beau of the Fifth Column (main YouTube channel)

The Roads with Beau (Second YouTube channel)

https://justinking.org

www.facebook.com/beautfc  (Facebook)

@BeauOTF   (Twitter)

TheFifthColumnNews.com (Journalism outlet)

PontiacTribune.com

GreedMedia.com

SleeperCells.US

 

Quotes that appear on his web page: 

"The capital of the United States is the home to the best of the worst humanity has to offer. The most corrupt, the most deceitful, the most tyrannical, the most greedy, and the most evil rise through the ranks of the political machines and eventually find themselves safely in bed participating in the incestuous orgy of corruption occurring daily in Washington DC." – Justin King

 

"If you allow the law to determine your morality, you are letting lawyers and politicians teach you right from wrong." – Justin King.

 

 

Thursday, February 11, 2021

Blaze McRob's Patreon Page is a Goldmine for Readers!

Blaze McRob Fans:

 

Just letting you know that you can read several of Blaze's novels on his Patreon page.  These novels are completed:


Wolf Whispers

Mists of Papoose Pond

Last Chance

Destiny Changed

'68 Buick 

 

Currently Blaze is publishing Quarter Moon Haunts a chapter at a time.

 

In addition to the novels on his Patreon page, Blaze has published dozens of short stories.  He publishes every day, and already has over 240 posts on Patreon which will give you plenty of reading material – and it will keep on coming. 


$3 a month is an amazing bargain! Subscribe and start reading today! 


Blaze McRob is creating Stories, Novels, Horror, and Fiction | Patreon 


Friday, January 15, 2021

True patriots do not support coups or politicians who aid and abet them.

 

January 15, 2021

 

There was an attempted coup at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, last Wednesday, January 6th, 2021. That the president said "we love you" to the perpetrators is reprehensible and indefensible. That they were under the impression that the US military would in any way back them up is ludicrous and pathetic and shows just how deeply their trust and loyalty runs in a depraved president who has done nothing but lie and cheat all of his life. Why was that threat of violence toward the decent American people not taken seriously? Why was it not considered a breach of his oath of office then and there?

The GOP let serious threats of violence and un-American language and behavior slide over and over again – not only did they let it slide, but they doubled down on it and defended it. They shut down the government longer than any other time in history to placate an obviously irrational and inept so-called president. After the first farce of an impeachment – which was held behind closed doors and where no witnesses were called – he was 'cleared' and said to have "learned his lesson". Really? And what lesson did he learn? All during this American due process, he called the  investigation a witch hunt, defied it at every turn, and accepted no responsibility for his un-American, volatile, childish, mean-spirited, unpresidential behavior. And Susan Collins said, "I believe the president has learned his lesson".  Apparently the lesson he learned was that our American laws don't apply to him and that he can get away with anything because months later he incited a coup.

Even after this coup he incited, a GOP Senator Roy Blunt said, "he's touched a hot stove and likely won't try it again."  Likely? Exactly what evidence in the past four years indicates that he is capable of learning any lesson? That he's capable of behaving with dignity, compassion, or basic human values? For that matter, perhaps we should consider the fact that perhaps these members of Congress who still allow – even support – this reprehensible monster, are all incapable of learning a lesson as well.

Were you all not listening when he, standing on a dais on foreign soil, in the immediate presence of an adversarial leader (who has placed bounties on the heads of American military personnel), proceeded to denounce the United States intelligence community?

Were you absent the day he threatened to turn the United States military on its own people – and the generals had to tell the President of the United States that that was unconstitutional, and they would take no part in such abominable behavior?

What lessons has he learned since then? That the American Congress and Vice President don't have the courage and decency to uphold the Constitution and laws of their country? That he's invincible? That there are absolutely no consequences for his actions, no matter how low he stoops? No matter how un-American his behavior? No matter how seditious? No matter how he subverts the meanings of our country's policies? No matter how he ridicules and insults those Americans with compassion and faith in justice, equality, and freedom for everyone?

The fact that terrorists were allowed into the capitol and were not teargassed, beaten down, and fired upon is only because they were white.

The fact that days before the attempted coup, GOP members led them around the capitol, showing them where private offices were located, to facilitate their ability to vandalize the seat of the American people's power is treasonous.

The fact that the President of the United States said to the terrorists "we love you" and that he wasn't immediately charged with sedition is a disgrace that smacks of  aiding and abetting this heinous crime of revving his base of despicable thugs to commit this crime since he campaigned in 2016. 

The fact that all the time he's bragged about defeating ISIS, he has simultaneously encouraged domestic terrorists in his own country, last week standing at a podium offering to march with them to the capitol to overturn the will of the American people who voted him out of office. Voted him out legally, legitimately, constitutionally. He claimed that this betrayal of American people's trust was 'doing the right thing'. And then, instead of marching with them, he hid himself away for the rest of the day, watching the violence he encouraged unfold. If overturning the election was the right thing, why didn't he follow through and march with them? Why? Because he knew what was going to happen. He knew. And when it did, he watched with glee. Safely tucked away behind bulletproof windows in the White House; a coward letting a violent mob ransack our capitol and murder innocent people on his behalf. Allowing the angry mob of his creation to take the fall and be imprisoned, denying his culpability as usual and throwing them under the bus, just as he had intended all along. 

Overturning a free American election was the right thing? The right thing is to confirm the electoral college vote and Biden as president. There was nothing unfair about the election. In fact, it may very well be the first completely fair election in the United States. Ever. Because record numbers of true Americans finally had had enough of the voter suppression perpetrated by the racist right wing and showed up at the polls to vote out the most reprehensible, indefensible fake president in the history of our country.  It was the most closely watched, fairest election perhaps in the history of the United States precisely because the American people united – all ages, all races, all religions, all genders, and defied the lies and propaganda Trump and his enablers have spewed for years to reinforce the meaning of true patriotism in America: they claimed their power and voted.    

Trump lost because he's completely incompetent - as a president and moreover as a human being. He, his family, his enablers in Congress should all be held accountable for the grave state our country is in. He should have been being held accountable from the very beginning. From the very first time he demonized half of the American people because they believed in the values and humanity that American is supposed to stand for – and stood with the white supremacist terrorists, who carried Confederate battle flags and Nazi swastika flags, and called them fine people. These "fine people" are not patriots or conservatives. They are right wing terrorist thugs that the "president" has endorsed and sought aid from since he began campaigning five years ago because he's too much of a coward to stand up for himself – like most bullies. Actually, since he was born because his father instilled autocratic mentality within him as a tiny child.

This past summer I saw peaceful protesters - including clergy on their own church property - teargassed, flashbanged, shot with rubber bullets, beaten to the streets, and steamrolled by storm-troopers set upon them by the unhinged president – who wanted to cross a street and trespass on church property for a photo op.

I've heard the so-called president condemn Antifa while never once condemning neo-Nazis, KKK, or white supremacists - he has been given multiple chances to do that and declined.

I've heard him name-call, mock, and call his own military personnel losers and suckers because they were captured while fighting a war he was too cowardly to even show up for. (One of those soldiers was my husband who was a POW in 'Nam for 9 months in a hellhole where he was tortured every day. He showed up to serve his country while Trump dodged the draft with several deferments and finally bought a "doctor" to diagnose him as unfit to serve).

I've heard him make vile statements about women that in any other position would have garnered him charges of sexual harassment.

In fact I don't think there's a single group in this country or around the world that he hasn't insulted, sometimes even threatened, in the past four years.

He had the audacity to call BLM kneelers sons of bitches, yet, told white seditionists who stormed, shat in, pissed in, and brought pipe bombs and molotov cocktails into our national capitol that 'we love you.' Who's we? Not me. Not any sane American patriot.

He's encouraged right wing extremists to hijack the title "patriot" and demonize true Americans. If this terroristic behavior is the new meaning of "patriot" then I'll have to find a new way to describe myself.

I love my country. But this president, his disgusting family, and those vile members of Congress who have supported him and enabled him to get away with the seditious crimes he's committed against the Constitution and the American people have earned nothing but my contempt. They are all abominable and should have been removed from the White House and/or their offices long before this attempted coup was ever allowed to happen.

It frightens me that there are still so many gaslit Americans who are supporting this monster. This is cult behavior. Cultists have been spoon-fed lies and propaganda for so long they cannot tell fact from fiction. Perhaps they don't want to because they will have to admit how wrong they were and are. They're willing to sacrifice the stability, safety, and freedom of their country in order to not admit how completely they were led astray.

Trump is no president. He's barely a human being. He belongs in prison, along with his family members, and the people who obstructed justice the first time he was impeached. He should have been removed from office months ago when he said: "Stand down for now" to the very thugs who were obviously planning attacks on state capitols and the United States capitol even then. He should have been removed when he said, "to oppose me would be very bad" and proceeded to name groups of thugs who would fight true Americans should they oppose him or his heinous policies.

When was the pledge of allegiance amended to say one nation under Trump?

The way I understand it, America is supposed to be indivisible and the states are supposed to be united. And the liberty and justice is supposed to be for all, not just right wing white supremacists, who in an attempt to overthrow an American election committed sedition at the behest of the President of the United States.

These seditionist thugs will no doubt receive fair trials – which, incidentally, they survived to receive after desecrating the American capitol. Had their skins been any other color, I doubt they would have survived to even be arrested.

Remember last summer when droves upon droves of decent Americans flooded the streets of America in solidarity demanding justice and equality? And not just in America, but people all over the world? Did you not get it? Did you not hear the American 'president' condemn us? Condemn us for standing for American values? Integrity? Decency? Compassion? Honesty? Basic ethical behavior? Our lives? Our country? Our souls?  

Did you not hear his vile encouragement to a mob of thugs last week? Inciting violence within the very capitol that houses our government, the hall of our democracy, where the will of the people is supposed to rule, that houses those men and women dedicated to ensuring the will of the American people? The American people who voted out a seditious, racist, vicious, coward who had the audacity to call America's free press the enemy of the people – because they had the courage and integrity to tell the truth about a liar and a fraud from the very beginning of this farce of an administration, who continues to be a serious threat to American democracy.

Did you not hear about his having the audacity, when his Vice President objected to his stance about overturning the legitimate, legal American election, so that he could cheat and illegally gain a second term, said to Mr. Pence: "You can go down in history as a patriot or you can go down in history as a pussy." Really? Because the Vice President – who has staunchly supported every vile act the president has committed – disagreed to a seditious act, he's a pussy? The one man who's stood in the way of the 25th Amendment being invoked years ago? The president's number one lap dog who's sold out his soul, his faith, his country more than once supporting this monster? Doesn't that send up a big fat red flag that Trump is completely out of control and anyone is expendable to him? He will throw absolutely anyone under the bus who doesn't immediately acquiesce to any of his lamest ideas and criminal acts.

Have you not heard this president, at the top of his lungs, condemn people beyond our borders as lesser. Who calls entire groups of people rapists, murderers, and thieves to frighten Americans into jailing families merely seeking asylum, to convince Americans that it's acceptable to steal their children from them, the cruelest action one human being can take against another. That it's acceptable to never bother to find the 1500 children who are still unaccounted for. He is incapable of the compassion it takes to put himself in the place of any one of those 1500 sets of parents who have no idea where their child is, if they're safe, sick, alone, caged, frightened, sold into the sex slave industry, or even alive.

Have you not seen the president hold in contempt our allies while holding in esteem our sworn enemies and adversaries – some of the cruelest, inhuman autocrats in the world?.

Did you not hear the president call American people who demanded equality and justice, who begged for a show of solidarity by taking a knee, sons-of-bitches, yet allowed white supremacist terrorists to bring pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails into the capitol building – the seat of our government – to attack our legitimate election?.

You senators who continue to, after every vile incident perpetrated by the heathen in the White House, insist that he's learned his lesson: when will you? You are not ignorant nor uneducated. You are supposed to be lawmakers. You are supposed to be constitutional experts. You are almost all lawyers. You have made careers of being intimately knowledgeable of the laws and government of our country and have taken oaths to uphold and defend them. When did your education, oaths, and soul aside to allow one violation after another from a travesty of a president? What must this imposter do before you admit he's a criminal and do your jobs? To remove him and his crime family from the White House and jail him for subversion of our country's most sacred laws and of sedition?

When will you learn the lesson of touching the hot stove and act to defend and uphold the constitution? To defend the will of the American people? How loud and long must we cry out before we are heard?  Did you not see all of us in the streets? Are you not listening? Are you stone deaf?

Where are your loyalties? Because they are supposed to be with your country – with the American people. Not with a deranged, dishonest, despicable excuse for a so-called president and the terrorist thugs who support him at the cost of our democracy. You've spent the last twelve years slamming the brakes on every single thing the Democrats have tried to do – gaslighting the American people at every turn, using lies, fear-mongering, hate-mongering, and negative propaganda in an attempt to hold on to your power to…what? Hold on to your jobs? What's your point? Because you've been so busy trying to hold onto your jobs, that you've neglected to DO your jobs!

Millions of American people are sick and hundreds of thousands of us have died because you withheld vital information that allowed this pandemic to take a firm foothold, and at the same time fought to remove healthcare for millions of Americans with nothing to replace it.

You've spent billions of dollars on part of a wall that a deranged, obsessed, and inept child shut down the government to get, that never was finished and that a nine-year-old-child could scale. While the government was shut down the Coast Guard was furloughed, leaving our coastlines unpatrolled and vulnerable. Our parklands were vandalized and partially destroyed during that time, by Americans, I might add, not immigrants. Thousands of children were kidnapped and never returned to their parents (and you had the audacity to call the immigrants thieves and rapists and murderers!) who came here seeking safety and asylum.

You've spent twelve years lying and cheating and spending millions of taxpayers' dollars backing a smear campaign aimed at the Democratic Party instead of putting your energy into smoothly, efficiently, and ethically running this country with compassion and dignity to keep the American people safe, employed, and free.

You've allowed racism and flat-out insanity to prevail in the White House and bring chaos and division to America the likes of which has never been seen before, and crime to flourish the likes of which is so severe that it makes Watergate look like a pathetic little joke! And instead of bringing the full power at your disposal to bear against the maniac presidential imposter, you've doubled down and cleared him of charges that were so obviously true a child could have understood and done the right thing – and you never called a witness or publicized the procedure. Because it was a travesty of justice.

You've allowed a racist, clearly insane president to spew rhetoric so poisonous, so divisive, for the last five years, that millions of Americans – during a pandemic! – took to the streets to protest the inhuman, autocratic, racist horrors that has brought us to the brink of civil war – and what did you do? You teargassed them! Beat peacefully protesting Americans to those streets and sicced the unidentified, military armored police on them for telling the truth and exposing your lies and racism.

What's behind this monstrous attack on the election, and in turn the Democrats? It's so obvious! You are afraid that when the Democrats start doing your jobs next week, that the American people – including all of the so-called-Republican voters who have been so thoroughly duped – will see just how horrendous and insidious your lies actually have been. Just how greedy, heartless, and immoral the Republican party has become, and how close we came to having our democracy stolen from us for all time.

You let this travesty of a "president" torture, lie, and gaslight the American people for five years. It is your only accomplishment this entire time, and it is a wicked one. You have lied, cheated, and committed atrocious crimes against the American people to keep him in office. And it's all about to be exposed.

Your greatest fear is about to be realized: The United States of America is about to be controlled by the Democrats – and not only are your predictions of disaster, of the destruction of our country under Democratic leadership not going to come true, but our country will flourish, just like it has every other time the Democrats have led in the past.

Will things be perfect? Of course not. No American expects perfection from our government.

But:

We don’t expect our free press, designed to keep us informed about the goings-on of our government officials, to be called our enemy.

We don’t expect our president to vilify our allies and gush over notoriously cruel and murderous dictators.

We don't expect to become ill by the millions, die by the hundreds of thousands.

We don't expect to have the President of the United States encourage domestic terrorism and racism.

We don't expect children to be targeted and stolen from their parents.

We don't expect to be ridiculed, shamed, and pitied by the entire world because of the leaders we have chosen.

We don't expect GOP members of congress to bring terrorists into the Capitol building to case it ahead of their attempted coup.

We don't expect to be put under siege, blackmailed and gaslit for years with no end in sight, in the name of greed, racism, lust for power, and hypocrisy, all of which has become the norm in the last four years while the Republicans have been in control of the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives.  

You are terrified that the American people are going to realize that our country is not only not going to be destroyed, but that it will rebound, survive, and flourish quite nicely without the iron fist of the Republican party that has deteriorated into a cesspool of autocracy and corruption.

 

You are afraid that good is actually going to finally triumph over evil, and that your party is going to disappear, as it should, because you've systematically destroyed it from within.

And you are terrified that the American people will not only succeed without you, but will say 'good riddance' when they realize just how unfathomably cruel, despicably un-American, and grossly immoral you've been.

Let me be the first to say, good riddance, Republican Party, it's been a dishonor to know you.