I never saw that coming…

As a child growing up in Florida, I remember going to Walt Disney World before they actually had a park.

We drove and drove and then there was a sign that said something like, “Welcome to the Future Disneyworld” There was a place to eat, and a gift shop of course. They also had mockups of the park as the designers envisioned it, and a nice little tour that explained what they were going to do to the area of what was essentially a kind of marshy chunk of land.

For a kid it was pretty neat, even though there weren’t any rides or much of anything else. After all I’d already been to Disney World well before it opened. Several years later, I went to Disney World and mostly remember the monorail.

Even then, large portions of what would become the entire park were still under construction. We were fairly regular visitors then. Each time we went it was a revelation because newer sections of the park opened. I recall ticket books and the like. That’s where the phrase, “E-Ticket Ride” came from.

After we moved out of Florida our visits to Disney World became less frequent and when I got to visit Disneyland in California, I was honestly disappointed. It was so small, noisy, cramped, and I guess due to the scale, it just seemed cheap. Yeah, Disney World spoiled me.

I think in the 35 or so years I’ve been in California, I’ve been to Disneyland maybe 3 times. At least one of those visits was back in the day when corporations could buy the park for an afternoon or evening and have private events. I honestly don’t know if corporations can still do that or if they would these days.

The last time I looked into going to Disneyland or Disney World I quickly dismissed the idea because it had become prohibitively expensive even with discount coupons offered by the company I worked for.

Occasionally, over the years I’ve been invited to join friends at Disneyland and after looking at the prices, politely declined. For that kind of money, I’d rather go to Las Vegas and enjoy more adult shows or entertainment. And so, Disneyland and Disney World dropped off my radar decades ago.

What I’ve been surprised to learn is that Disney World has enjoyed freedom from full taxation, and autonomy in their operations in Florida for 50 years. That kind of benefit had never crossed my mind. Like most folks, I assumed that Disney World had in fact been providing tax revenue to the state of Florida.

I applaud the Florida Legislators for stripping Disney of their tax exempt status. It sends a very clear message. Stay out of politics you’re a business, BE a business!

I suppose in truth they have indirectly paying taxes via sales tax and various tourism taxes from hotels, restaurants, airfares, and car rentals for tourists visiting the state. But no matter how you slice it, Disney had a dang good sweetheart deal. Even if they were paying reduced taxes, over 50 years that has to have added up.

You also have to wonder what the environmental impact of Disney World has on the vast tract of land they occupy. The trash alone must be monumental. Food waste, paper, plastic, human waste, you name it. Typically, Disney parks are immaculately clean. But in the case of Disney World… Where does it all go? What happened to the natural environment in that swath of Florida? Was any of it preserved?

To be fair, in the 60’s undeveloped Florida land was seen as opportunity and in need of development. Then, very little concern was paid to environmental issues. I strongly suspect that had it been practical the Florida Everglades would have been paved over for housing projects.

Disney could have kept its mouth shut about the Florida Parental Rights Bill. Certainly some of the Disney lawyers must have read the bill and informed Disney executives that much of the media hyperbole was not factual.

The Parental Rights Bill wasn’t an open assault on LGBT… lmnop people everywhere.

I do have a concern now that because of the wailing, gnashing of teeth, and over the top dramatics, that there may be an open assault on all LGBT people’s rights.

My concern is not due to the Parental Rights Bill. It’s due to the reaction and conflation of what I think of as the vocal lunatic fringe, the LGBT… lmnop, with the LGB community at large.

That conflation coupled with the “Normal” LGB community’s parroting of whatever the HRC or as OutSpoken puts it, “Gay Inc.” tells them to believe or think, may set gay rights back by decades.

The LGB community fought very hard for a very long time to win the rights that they were guaranteed by The Constitution of the United States. In many cases, those rights could arbitrarily be abridged for no other reason than they were homosexual.

LGB folks have the right to marry, to not face discrimination in housing, their workplace, or any other aspect of their lives. That was what we were fighting for, and we’ve achieved it for the most part.

Will we stand by while a lunatic fringe seizes our voice and uses it to polarize parts of the nation who tolerate us, into our enemies?

The gender fluid, crossdresser activists, should not, and do not speak for all the LGBT community. Nor do virtue signaling corporations.

Let the LGB community speak for ourselves. Generally, we just want to live our lives, love who we love, live quietly, and be left the hell alone.

It’s time for the LGB community, the real LGB community to stand up and roar.

The first and best place to start is roaring at Disney and the “lmnop” fringe by siding with the Florida legislature. Yes, I said side with Florida lawmakers.

Children should not be sexualized in the schools, Full DAMN Stop!
Parents have the responsibility for their children’s behaviors until they’re 18, Parents should also have the right to generally determine what their children are taught in public schools.
Public schools prohibit teaching a religious belief system, it could be argued gender fluidity is simply another belief system.
Disney World should be paying fair taxes and should not enjoy a sweetheart deal if they’re going to enter into politics.
Disney World is an entertainment venue, not a Political Action Committee. If they choose to be a PAC, they shouldn’t be, in effect subsidized by Florida tax payer dollars.

Most LGB people knew there was something different about them from an early age. But at that early age, the difference was irrelevant to them. Something that was an occasionally passing thought, quickly and easily superseded by a sparkly butterfly, or the next baseball game.

The time to address the difference is when the difference becomes an irrefutable issue that occupies a lot of a child’s brainpower. For most, it started at puberty, 3rd graders typically aren’t there yet.

After children have entered puberty, and are questioning all the weird changes in their bodies and minds, I’m all for providing useful education and the knowledge that they’re not alone or abnormal. Until then, let children be children and don’t trouble them with sexuality or pronouns.

I call upon my brothers and sisters in the LGB community to stand up to the insanity. Say “No” to the fringe, remind them that we are inclusive but that a larger majority of us are quite content being the gender we are, and wouldn’t have it any other way.

Remind them that it is our work, our voice, and our lived lives they are usurping. Perhaps remind them of the old adage: They’re nothing scarier than a full grown adult queen.

Well I guess the establishment Democrats were really spooked…

After all, what better way to make sure people vote Democrat?

I’m speaking about the SCOTUS leak.

1979 was the last time a leak like this occurred. This time, the leak couldn’t have better timing.

The other half, a former cradle Democrat, (Now a confirmed Independent,) still gets emails from the Democratic Party. In recent weeks, the number of emails has gotten to the point that it’s “Select All” and “delete” every morning.

Every single one of these emails is asking for 5 bucks here, 10 bucks there, help as much as you can, even a dollar helps, and not one of them mentions volunteering to help the Democrat Party. It’s all about money and the emails always say the same thing.

“Our Democracy is under threat.” Doom and gloom. “If the Republicans win the House and the Senate, our way of life is over…”

Really?

I think the other half said there were 15 emails like this yesterday. Most of them asking for support of candidates from states other than the one in which we reside.

My question is how can anyone donate to a campaign for a candidate which they don’t know, haven’t heard of, with no information other than a (D) after their name?

That’s not informed donation. That’s donating glitter to make the best posters for a Prom Queen or King for a high school you don’t attend.

But it explains how politicians throw obscene amounts of money behind a shitty candidate. Then when the candidate demonstrates they’re a vapid moron, the politicians can say, “This candidate was backed by popular opinion and money, they had the support of the people…”

Yeah, right!

I gather in this case, the fundraising wasn’t going as well as the Democrats wanted. They needed the big guns, and the leak of a draft decision on Roe v. Wade was just the kind of thing that would turn on the money spigot.

We’re already seeing the reporting decrying this ‘Horrific assault on Women’s rights’ and yet more calls for packing the court. Protests in front of the Supreme Court have started, barricades are going up, chaos ensues.

Aren’t those protests the beginning of an insurrection? Just asking…

This morning I’ve seen some articles saying this is the beginning of an all out assault on LGBT… lmnop rights, and the rights of the poor.

What better way to weld Women, People of Color, LGBT, and Progressives, into a single voting block?

I wait with anticipation to see what the shrews on The View say. They always have something stupid to say about stuff like this. I’ve gotten in the habit of not reading anything they say while I’m drinking my morning coffee.

I’ve damn near drowned one too many times.

The really sad thing is, this strategy might just work. Hundreds of thousands of people who were leaning toward a more conservative vote may instead choose to pick their local equivalent of AOC.

The Democrats may win and hold onto power in Congress. If they do, the insanity will continue for another two years.

That’s not to say that the Republicans would be any better. Most of them can’t seem to find their asses or morals with both hands and landing lights. They’re as much part of the problem as the Democrats and the whole lot of them should be voted out.

We need a fresh start. We need people governing us who are not part of the establishment, who are not bought & paid for. We need people who know what it is to wonder if their paycheck will be enough to put food on the table.

Folks who know what it’s like to eat off of chipped Melmac plates and use free gas station glasses. We need people who’ve given their portion of dinners to their children. They’re the ones who have a direct interest is turning the economy around and making decisions that help everyone.

It’s time the governance of the country was turned back over to the common people. Those who do not have Harvard or Yale law degrees but who do have common sense, know how to balance their checkbook, and live on a budget.

I’d bet these people can propose laws that are as good, or better than the jackasses in power now. With the help of the Supreme Court those proposed laws can be analyzed for Constitutionality, modified as needed, and then passed or defeated in Congress by a group of like minded common folks.

It might not be better, but at least it would be honest and representative of the people our government is supposed to serve.

I care nothing for Roe v. Wade. I don’t believe it is, or ever was, a Constitutional right.

No matter how you cut it, it’s killing a child. I’m able to stomach abortion in the first few months, but I absolutely can’t condone late term, or the more horrific, partial birth abortion.

If I condoned those, then I might as well condone full retroactive abortion too.

What’s the difference between inducing labor in the last trimester and killing a potentially viable child, or a woman pumping out a child in a dirty bathroom, then dropping the child in the nearest dumpster? The first one, a clinic and medical staff make money. The last one, is child abandonment and a crime.

Frankly, I see zero difference, other than money changing hands.

What would retroactive abortion look like? Say up to age 18, either parent could “Abort” a child. I bet there’d be a lot less trouble in schools.

“Hey Joe, where’s Billy?”

“Oh, Pricilla aborted his ass a month ago. She caught him rubbing one out, and he got a “D” in Home Economics. She dropped a hair dryer in the hot tub after the championship game.”

“Sorry man, he was really great on the football field. You gonna make another one?”

“Nah, I got snipped about 10 years ago. Don’t want any more mistakes like the last two. Especially not with Pricilla!”

“Huh, That why you’re selling the house?”

“Yep, we don’t need the space…”

Democrats, Shut up about the FL Parental Rights Bill

To everyone who’s got their panties in a twist…

I’d tell you to read the bill. Unfortunately you seem to have a difficult time understanding English. I’ll chalk that up to your teachers spending too much time with silly fluff passing as education and not actually grading your work, thereby neglecting the more basic aspects of your fundamental education.

After all, it’s unfair to be mean to the village idiot or call them out for being an idiot.

I’ve read the bill. It’s here if you’d like to, or can, read it for yourselves.

I’d remind you Democrats, that you’re the same people who look at a man, a stranger, with suspicion ready to call a cop, if that man happens to see your child about to fall and catches the child out of instinct.

You’re the people who in years gone by attempted to destroy at least one California man because he happened to be naked… IN HIS OWN KITCHEN one sunny morning. He’d forgotten that a set of curtains was open. This allowed a nosey busybody to see his nudity from a sidewalk through a hedge.

You’re the people that call child protective services on parents if their child happens to mention they’ve seen Daddy or even Mommy in the shower.

You’re the people that have made changing clothes for PE and taking showers after PE something sexual and sick instead of what it is, simple functionality.

All of these things, you’ve created and nurtured with the mantra, “It’s for the Children.”

You’re the people that have so confused things, that multi-urinal men’s rooms are going the way of the Dodo. I can only attribute this to penis envy on the part of some very angry harridans who felt it unfair that men could go into a men’s room and relieve themselves in a couple of minutes. As opposed to the harridans waiting in line while their sisters occupied the ladies room for 15 or 20 minutes.

Now, you village idiots are screaming bloody murder because parents and real people who have nieces and nephews are pushing back against discussing sexuality, any sexuality, with Elementary School children aged 4 to 9 in a classroom environment.

There was a time when that would have gotten you on a perverts list.

So you’re saying it’s bad if a child sees Daddy or Mommy’s privates at home, but it’s perfectly okay for that same child to be taught and shown the ins & outs of all kinds of sexual behavior well before they’ve got any clue about what their parts are for.

Until I was 10 the only thing I knew my penis could do was pass urine. Fortunately, somewhere between 10 and 12, one or both of my parents realized that I’d discovered an alternate function. They provided a very helpful gender specific, age appropriate book, that explained the changes that were happening. The book just appeared on my bed one day.

Inside the book in my father’s bold handwriting was a note. The note said, “You’re normal, If you have any questions now ask myself or your mother. You and I can talk whenever you’re ready.”

As I recall, there were very helpful line drawings that showed me the internals and externals of my plumbing. They were relatable and informative, as was the text of the book.

This was 1970. I remember feeling safe and not threatened. They knew, I knew, they knew I knew they knew, and in all we were a knowledgable family. (To paraphrase Hepburn from The Lion in Winter.)

What my parents didn’t know, and I didn’t admit to myself until I was between 18 and 21 was that I had rather broad sexual tastes. I tried both genders, choosing whichever one was at the time, more interesting.

Looking back, knowing there was the freedom to be who I was, would have been helpful. That being said, in the 70’s and 80’s men who “did” with men were still subject to arrest and imprisonment. For that matter, in some states, any sexual activity other than putting tab A in slot B was illegal. Yep, oral sex was illegal even between married consenting adults.

Talk about government overreach!

I’m pro sex education for teenagers. I think that it is something that could be very good especially if it dispelled fear, and shame, and made it clear that sexual expression is natural and healthy.

I’d also say that letting appropriately aged children know that whoever they want to be with is okay. Perhaps it would be helpful to explain what responsibilities come with sex. Tell the students that their bodies are theirs, and they don’t have to do anything they don’t want to or are not ready for. There’s no shame in saying “No.”

When I was 10, I was developing a bit early. None of my friends in that age group were close to the “discovery” I made. By the time I was 12 things had changed. That book my parents gave me was read cover to cover by all my close friends. They also read my Father’s note to me. The note itself was the perfect size to be a great bookmark.

They were ready and knew I had resources.

I will not discuss the projector incident(s)… 8mm was a very popular format. That’s a funny story, because 25 years later I found out that the projector and associated films were not owned by my Father or Mother. They belonged to a close family friend who hung around after my parents were divorced. A bunch of 13 year old boys watching silent dirty movies projected on a nicely painted flat white closet door must have been a sight. Ahh, the good old days!

I am absolutely opposed to talking about sex with children in elementary school. I believe that the innocence of children is to be protected and cherished. Let children be children and let their bodies tell them when it’s time to start growing up.

I started that process young, and I had parents that understood. I realize that not all children are as fortunate but I can tell you without question, at 10 my body showed me a neat trick. I wouldn’t have been ready for all the permutations and combinations of human sexuality. It was all I could do to just understand what was going on with me.

I didn’t care then, that in the future my tab A was supposed to fit inside someone. At the time my personal tab A was making me very happy all on its own. The very concept of putting a part of me inside someone was, in the vernacular of my 10 year old self, “Icky”. I didn’t want or need to know about the wild world of sexual sports.

There’s stuff I’ve seen and done, that I wish I hadn’t. Once you see or experience something you don’t forget, even if you want to. I think that is probably more true of children because they don’t have filters. It’s the adults in the room that are supposed to provide the filtering.

So Democrats, quit mislabeling the FL bill as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Call it what it is, “The Protect the Innocence of Children Bill”

After all Protect the Children is your favorite chorus isn’t it?

I was glad to see Halyna Hutchins family file their lawsuit against Alec Baldwin

I personally hope that a jury cleans his clock. The only reason he’s not sitting in a jail cell is because he’s famous.

If this were an average person, they’d be incarcerated.

Look at what was done to Kyle Rittenhouse. He was defending his life. His parents aren’t wealthy, and yet he was considered a flight risk. GoFundMe shut down donations to Rittenhouse in what can only be described as a blatant attempt to strangle his defense.

Baldwin on the other hand, has a ton of money and could leave the country at anytime to flee the justice he has coming to him.

If you ever needed an example of two tiered mob biased justice here’s a prime one. Baldwin is working on another movie for god’s sake. Hopefully this one doesn’t involve any firearms.

The saddest part is that Baldwin will not suffer any criminal consequences for his actions. He’ll get off, if he goes to trial. I’d bet that even if he is found guilty, he’ll get away with community service in the form of anti-gun rhetoric PSA commercials. Then he’ll complain that he had to do the PSA’s for free. I’m sure there will be whining for years about how difficult it was for him to sit in front of a camera to preach some anti-gun message.

Real punishment would be prison, and him being forced to attend mandatory NRA training classes. I might even add that he never be allowed to appear in any movie that had a gun in it.

Let’s see how good an actor he really is, when he has to actually act like the great actors of yesteryear. You know, those actors who told a story without foul language, special effects, and violence.

It’s not that I dislike Baldwin. It’s that I dislike a justice system that treats people unequally.

Alec Baldwin is today and always has been an arrogant self absorbed asshole. That much about his personality hasn’t changed.

Apparently Irony is a Misunderstood Concept…

I stumbled across this one today.

University of Northampton have issued a trigger warning for George Orwell’s novel

The Orwell novel in question is none other than 1984

The University says that the trigger warning is necessary because  the book contains ‘explicit material’ which some students may find ‘offensive and upsetting’.

Northampton is ranked 101 out of 121 in UK university rankings. So one could say that it’s among the UK’s remedial institutions of higher learning.

Perhaps that is why Northampton also has warnings for other works, including the Samuel Beckett play Endgame, the graphic novel V For Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd and Jeanette Winterson’s Sexing The Cherry.

The article linked above goes into more detail.

One has to wonder, is there a point when Irony reaches critical mass? What happens then, do heads explode, or is it simply a more quiet brain aneurism? Can the human brain self lobotomize as a protective measure?

It should be interesting to see where Northampton’s ranking ends up next year. Perhaps they understand that can’t reach the top rankings and are instead racing for the bottom of the barrel.