Only I can screw up my Absent Voter Ballot Application by putting my signature and information in the places that were meant for the clerk. Now I have to request another one.
On a local news station that I follow on Facebook, there’s an article on a recent human trafficking case. Two young women were lured into a trap and trafficked, in Flint and thereabouts. It’s just one of the many such stories I’ve been seeing lately. It seems like everyday there’s another such story in the news. Not all of them are necessarily about trafficking, but they’re pretty much the same kind of thing.
When I read these stories, a bunch of images go through my head and I become angry. I want the people responsible found and I want them shot. I think about women I know who were preyed on by these fucking pieces of shit.
Then I see the comments, the constant victim blaming. “The women should’ve been smarter, they should’ve used common sense and been responsible..” and all the horseshit. And, of course, there’s always the assholes who click the HaHa reaction. What could these guys possibly think is funny about the subject?
You can be the smartest and have the most common sense and still find yourself the victim in such a crime. But even if you were behaving irresponsibly, using drugs or drinking heavily or whatever, in a bad neighborhood even, it is not your fault if you find yourself assaulted, raped or trafficked.
I don’t care what the victim might have done prior being raped or trafficked. She didn’t rape herself, she didn’t traffick herself, nor did she ask for these things. The blame falls entirely on the people who made the move to rape or traffick the woman.
So, yeah, I blew up at someone today. I got a private message from him waiting for me, but I don’t know if I’ll read it, because it might piss me off more.
Imagine there are no political parties. It’s easy if you try. Then everyone would stop winning one for the team and care about doing what’s right. Imagine. America could truly be great again, if we did away with Republicans and Democrats and voted for the individual rather than the party. There would be less hate for your fellow countryman. We would be more willing to work together if loyalties weren’t holding us back. Imagine.
(This is what I read at the celebratory mass we had for Aunt Barb today.)
On the morning of January 8, I received a text from my dad informing me that Aunt Barb had passed away. That took a minute to sink in and then tears burst from my eyes.
The news wasn’t a surprise. We all knew the day was coming. For a few years, I’d been hearing about Barb’s declining health. In November, the word came that Barb’s time was preciously short and we needed to say our goodbyes.
Even so, you’re never really prepared to lose someone you love. Aunt Barb was an important person in my life. She had an impact on me as she did on many others who knew her. I know she was there for some of my cousins, and I know she was like a second mother to her younger brothers and sisters.
In my eyes, Aunt Barb was like a queen. She carried herself with dignity and she had an air of authority about her. But she was never demanding. She was kind, patient and understanding, and she talked to you in a way that made you feel respected. There were times when she stayed with us while my parents were out playing band gigs. We played card and board games, and laughed a lot.
Barb and I lived in the same building for a couple years. She had an apartment on the ground floor and I had an apartment on the second floor. We saw each other a lot during that time. When Uncle Gary moved into the building, Barb and I helped him with things. Gary called us his guardian angels.
I would like to think that’s what Barb is now, that she’s watching over us and she’ll always be with us in spirit.
The Packers are not going to the Super Bowl. The 49ers beat the cheese out of them. I’ll root for the 49ers in the Super Bowl, but if the Chiefs win, I would be okay with that.
It was a few inches deep. I finished up in time to catch the last couple minutes of the Chief-Titan game. The Chiefs are going to the Super Bowl. The Packers and 49ers start in a few minutes, on Fox.
I’m hungry. I’m going to make hamburgers.
I’ll never forget this game. When Jordan Poole won the game for Michigan as the last second ticked off. That was in 2018, the year Michigan made it to the championship game and lost to Villanova.
I remember how I freaked out when Poole made that shot. I’d say that was one of the greatest moments in NCAA basketball.
Jordan Poole now plays for the Golden State Warriors.