Sunday, February 18, 2024

The Poverty Saga Worsens

 


                                     

I'm doing ebay today. It's pin money but better to have the 5 bucks for gas to get across the street.   Fat Pat is done, but until I get 60 dollars to coil the first 10 copies, there is still a bit of a delay. One often has to spend money to make money. Hopefully it will be done soon. One part of being broke, is it takes money to get things done. 

My light bill is overdue. It was cold last month so it was higher. I'm working out a payment plan. In the winter it can go up to 250 dollars month or more. Well I can still be okay if I get my disability apartment. Once I am set up there, I can have life become more stable.  After I post this I am going to go clean my apartment, it's harder to keep things nice with no money. I am going to have him do laundry and I am going to box more crap up. We have carted at least 30 boxes out to thrift in the last few months.

 I am on a housing list, and it's a good place. We called to find out where I am on the list, there may still be a bit of a wait. We have to decide whether to stay here in the next several weeks or go into some type of temporary housing. Moving twice anyhow seems insane, especially since we will need friends help to move. We did pass the "cleaning" inspection from the other month. I estimate the wait to be 3-9 months, I do know the number of people ahead of me. It could be longer. 

I am dying of embarrassment too because my shoes are old and some Birkenstocks I saved from Trump money times, don't fit. I've lost a little weight since last year but my feet seem to be growing. My walker is covered in duct tape. I haven't bought a piece of new clothing since 2020. Everything is frayed. I still am stuck with a broken down couch. One charity place claimed to have some furniture but when my husband picked something, they said, "oh that is exempted", there was nothing else available. I never could afford the hearing aids, but my new ear doctor since my old one retired told me, they probably wouldn't help much anyway. Both are good doctors so I trust what they are saying. 

There's always that worry that I will end up homeless and my family will find out. They will see me on the sidewalk and laugh. My mother is probably enjoying her meals out, new clothes and second vacation home right now, yeah that's right, she owns two houses. Every time I saw that woman she had a new outfit on when I was in contact. Maybe the deliverance minister was right, my mother did curse me with poverty.  It always comes back to knock on our door. It makes you feel weird about life. 

She swims in money while I suffer. The social workers don't help people like normal people think they do. This life has taught me, no Calvary is coming. It is easy to fall off the cliff. Those who never have wailed in the street with everything being lost, never want to see that day. I did in Chicago.

 I am thankful for good friends who have helped. We are very fortunate in that regard.

I don't expect the "system" to do anything for me. Sadly a person will struggle emotionally inside more and more for always being the one in need. Social workers always have said "no" to me my entire life except for getting some food and a few thrift items like old silverware and pots. There's never clothes in either of our sizes to find in thrift stores. I guess fat people hold on to their clothes until they are rags.

 I joked about group homes and us going into one for my husband but we heard horror stories about those places from people in our mental health peer group that is now defunct. We would need the place for physical and other problems but several people we knew spent time in group homes. Someone on reddit suggested to me, "you are not managing your life, maybe it would be a good idea". I know I may need one if I am ever in this world alone.  Today I will work on this blog, help put more ebay up, nebulize lungs, do my leg machine, wrap my legs, clean out this one box, cook some lunch, cook some dinner, check on appointments for the week, and read this Russian novel "Dead Souls". I'm not living a lifestyle that should bring destitution and despair. 

Why can't my husband get a decent job instead of gig work, and piece meal stuff? I have begged for work for him all over. Today I was asking a friend for ideas about a job, and they mentioned a phone company that hires customer service, he then goes on the website and it's nothing but extreme specialized technical work. It's like that all over. I read the job ads and don't even understand half of them. The algorithims toss everyone out. I did write back to clarify where does one find the link to do regular customer service. 

People can see evidence of his work online, [the endless newspaper work].  He got more freelance work, but it's barely going to cover the bills. He told me yesterday to be patient that this newspaper is giving him work, but why wouldn't I worry?  He desperately needs new clothes. He works all the time, that's the sad thing but it's for so little. I've helped him with job hunting. The job ads on Indeed are a joke. I think there's a lot of jobs that are advertised for that really don't exist. He applied for some and never heard anything back. 

We have to move into disabled housing even for his protection. I don't want him to end up homeless if something happens to me. He can go on Social Security in a few years too.  I know his problems affected the career, this includes physical health problems and Autistic traits. There seemed to be a dynamic going where he ended up with abusive bosses way too easily, he had a couple decent ones--one at a newspaper that sadly had economic problems, the boss there was nice. He ended up scraping for crumbs after that ad agency fired him in 2007. 

I know this other autistic man in town, this guy has moved into local disabled HUD housing and had to go on welfare. We are friends on Facebook. His career track record was full of even more hardship and lay-offs. "you're not a good fit", is what they tell autistic people all the time or you end up working for exploitive jerks who pay as little as possible. This guy loved to work, and always showed up on time but you could tell he was being ousted out because he was different. My husband's recent freelance boss, had a homeless employee, who lived in the back room of some retail store. I said there's a theme there, when someone is hiring the desperate. 

One recent mind-screw lately are all these more well-off folks online claiming the economy is doing just fine. I don't think so. It may be great for the investor class but not anyone else. The haves maybe are rising even more as the greater number of have-nots are being crushed. I've even heard some defend the billions being sent overseas for "perpetual war".



The working class as a whole has been abandoned by the elitist left, they don't care. They only care about their virtue signaling identity politics and luxury beliefs. Many Democrats don't get that Biden is going to lose because the economy is so bad. The worse thing though Republicans have a track record of removing the social safety nets.  No one cares about the discrimination that happens when you don't have enough of the "green". I'm tired of those liberals who go on about "white supremacy" ignoring the existence of poor white people. People of all colors are hitting the wall financially now. Oddly to many rich liberals, there's no such thing as poor white people. And people wonder why so much of the working class runs to Trump? [which I think is a bad idea too, but at least they are told they exist]


He actually said it, Sheesh.

They do all this crap anyway because if people of all colors united, they'd start questioning the 1 percent and how they are hoarding all the wealthy and oppressing everyone. Bernie was such a let down.
 I have to leave town to find a decent senior disabled apartment. We are going to have to start over soon. I'm fine with it, but having to move so much is not easy on one's life. I know enough people here to run into people I know all the time. I will miss that.

Thank goodness I got us on the disabled/senior housing list. It was hard to find one that allowed more moderate income but I did. If we moved into HUD, my husband wouldn't be allowed to make more than 11,000 a year, he could "make too much" even being on full Social Security. Why do they make it so hard on married people? The system has so many crazy rules like that. There's some hope in going into there. Even if things got bad enough where we were only living on my income, we could survive there. He plans to keep working and doing his gig work there too of course. 

Do people in America starve to death or freeze to death? Sure they do. No one realizes this. I have known homeless people I met online and talked to, and some were disabled. This one lady in a wheelchair, who had EDS, they told her she had to go a mile to eat at one homeless shelter. No one cares if you can barely breath, 10 degrees or not, you're outside. There's a lot of people living really horribly now and it's getting worse. If you are in the disabled community, you will hear nightmare stories. Many people on SSI, live in the streets or very cheap rental rooms because SSI is so little money. I know from my past how bad things can get, and everyone who is a long time reader knows why Peep is so upset about money or poverty problems. Money or lack there of grinds my gears. My crazy family taught me all the worse about money. They were willing to sacrifice everything for money and did.  They won't tell you this on the news but homeless is exploding. I already know people living in hotel rooms on Facebook. One lady did get a job, so hopefully she can claw her way out. 

 Imagine if I get thrown into the streets, well SSDI should at least afford a rental room as long as the government is standing, but lets say I do. They don't rescue the disabled either. I've known disabled people rolled out in their wheelchair from the homeless shelter being told they have to be out all day, in 10 degrees. The other day I was in a food pantry car line, and there was this veteran in front of me, he had "Disabled Veteran" on his license plate and a Vietnam Veteran sticker. That tells you how messed up this country is, go risk your life and then end up in poverty. Well everyone deserves a home and a life. They say recruitment for the military is down, maybe the young don't want to die for the new world order or for wars that just bankrupt their hometowns anymore. If you are going to end up living in a tent or messed up from PTSD, what's the use?

Yesterday I was going to sign up myself for lunch at the local Senior Center. They told me their food program is managed by Meals on Wheels and you have to be 60. So I am not allowed to eat lunch with my husband who is older. How does that make any sense? He won't eat lunch without me anyway. I had older friends warn me on Facebook, "Meals on Wheels food sucks! It's bland." One said, "I wouldn't feed it to my dog!". Some people told me on the other hand, their Meals on Wheels food isn't that bad. I'm tired of these constant barriers. 

It's scary how the charities have turned into monopolies, why does this one organization control all the food for the elderly in the whole nation? They are stingy. We have been low on groceries, so this is even more annoying. The Senior Center seemed weird, the place was quiet as a tomb. I probably will still try some activities there but there was a strange vibe. I went to this Senior Center several times in another small town, that was friendly, they offered me cookies [turned those down because of thrush] and drinks.   

In this body I need stability, decent food, some social contact, medicine, supplements, peaceful place to sleep to stay alive, all of that is at risk. Liberals don't care about the poor. The elitist Democratic party goes on about the pronouns and other bull-crap. Biden claims the economy is doing well as the prices have skyrocketed. Hillary Clinton even crowed about how wonderful the economy is doing. Are these people high? No, they are just psychopathic liars. Sometimes I think the elite have already chosen to put Trump back in, otherwise why would they be lying to a country of pissed off people about the economy that is now crushing them? Are presidents selected not elected?

The "strong Biden economy"---what an utter joke!


My husband is still a Democrat, which may surprise some here. He wants me to vote for Biden stating that Trump is going to deport him [he is a birthright citizen] and my disability is going to be cut away. He talked me into voting for Biden last time when I didn't really want to. I'm still responsible for that, but I have been very disappointed.

 Sadly Republicans are jerks about social safety nets so can't argue with that but I can't vote for the guy who wanted to force clot shots on me. He told me RFK is being financed by a billionaire MAGA supporter named Mellon. That did bug me because I looked it up. RFK is the only one calling out the Covid lies and corruption.  I don't know who I am going to vote for, it won't be Biden or Trump but I find politics disenchanting beyond belief now.

The Republican party wants to erase all social safety nets. They don't give a damn either. No one represents the poor and working class. I may not even vote except local races, it's a given they will let us down now. Kennedy, is one I would have maybe voted for, even though I worry he is another Bernie/Jill Stein sheep dog, to get whatever globalist creep they want in. [Maybe Newsome OR Trump]

 Even with the ebay, I was helping, photographing and puting stuff up. The shipping costs have squashed me, why did it cost 5.50 to mail costume jewelry earrings that weigh less than three ounces? We have to mail out some stamps today we sold for 5 bucks. Yesterday I was helping husband with ebay, photographing comics. I have to sell off my own material possessions to survive, and there's not that many of them.

Sometimes I think stoicism is the only pathway out in dealing with poverty. I already been down the almost have a nervous break down highway.  I joke if the worse happens, at least I won't have to pay all these bills. I've been working to clean things out, I don't know how long I will be living here, but the plans are to move, and we are basically "starting over" again. I know some things are still up in the air, but I have wanted to make some changes. Things were working before Covid and now, a lot has changed.

A friend and I were talking about religion, I told her I left fundamentalism and churches, but still believe in God and Jesus. I don't plan a return to the evangelical world. Class differences were there for me too. When I talk to fellow poor people most of us cleared out of the churches, we couldn't afford them and most of us got judgment. The UUs were far nicer at least when it came to that stuff.  I run into those stories all the time, where people were told if they prayed and worked hard, their lives of poverty would change. Sure some who are able to conquer substance abuse or get away from toxic people are able to change the socio-economic equation, but many don't who didn't face those problems.

 Some of my religious views are very different. I think the church system abandoned Christ's teachings long ago and still question hell. [universalism] Why should we trust the Council of Nicaea when Constantine ran it? She said she went to church too but quit and that she hates churches. I said churches are for the rich. She agreed. We then discussed prayer, she mentioned how she would pay to God all the time about her money problems and they never changed. I said, "This is true of me!". I said, "Maybe prayer is not for this life but the next. I know that's a strange theory I have."  Jesus Christ had no money. The evangelical churches when they tell people the money will be there if they just pray for it, have got it wrong. I think all churches in America, have a slight bit of the prosperity gospel going. Some of the spiritual in USA society says getting the money means selling your soul a lot of the time. Some people become rich being good people but it seems certain personalities do rise up here. 

I wish there were churches for poor people out there, we could meet in a simple setting, read the bible, have some lectures, have some discussions about life, some meals and recreation--no pastors, and help each other. Maybe the Hutterites got it the most right. I wish I had found out about them when I was a lot younger. Their life seems a lot nicer to me.

Its ironic some years ago, I dragged us off to a counselor because I felt we both were failing in life and not functioning. She concluded that we were "trying our best". That's kind of funny to think about now. 

Someone wrote on Reddit, "Being poor is being told the world doesn't want you". 

We have been trying to sell everything but the kitchen sink, to stay afloat, but it's very small amounts of money. Everyday I wake up thinking, "What can we sell?" I even sold a starving artist painting I had to get 40 bucks for groceries. It's a bit insane. I've started selling off bits of my stamp collection. It's not a big money collection, some of those stamp collectors could sell their collections and live off the proceeds for years. It's a few dollars here and there.

There are times I consider going begging, I've already asked friends for too much, and writing out the cardboard sign, even if I see people I know, I don't care.  My husband doesn't like it when I say stuff like this. Begging is illegal in my richer side of town, most do it by the shopping plazas on the poor side of town. We started seeing more people out there. They look pretty desperate. There's always people down there who will come up and beg you for rides too. I don't think they have money to take the bus that goes down there. I won't do it but I can understand why the begging place is filling with people.

I don't expect wealth being disabled, this body has cost me so much. It will be interesting to see if the poverty diet, takes off weight instead of putting it on this time. I haven't gone to the one meal a day plan fearing weight gain like what happened to me during the Chicago era. I've kept to three meals a day. The hunger pain is never ending. However do you think poor people food is that good? It doesn't always taste good. It is rare when I have food, that tastes decent to me. Eggs still do. I miss salads, they cost so much.  Some cabbage soup I cooked yesterday was okay. Trying to get enough vegetarian meals in has been very hard. Food is so expensive now it's scary. 

The food pantries still hand out too many carbohydrates and sugar. The meats are all fatty. Some poor people food is gross and tastes bad. I made myself some eggs and cut up green pepper, with some little pieces cut off this frozen ham lunch meat, a food pantry gave us some weeks ago. That didn't taste too bad at least. I made rice with ground turkey and vegetables, garbanzo bean patties, quesedillas with refried beans, cabbage soup at various meals. It's probably good I know how to cook from scratch. 


Supplements from the functional doctor have taken off some weight, and people are remarking I am "looking better" even though I don't feel like it. Having some major nutritional problems dealt with have helped my life. I have to figure out where to find 25 dollars for some mythelated B vitamins. If I could afford the dietary changes he wants, some more positive changes would happen.  A good friend bought me some supplements, I was happy for that. We have had other good friends help us with other things too. 


My husband says he's going to a job fair next week. Labor shortage? What a joke. I think that's a lie too. We have so many businesses closing here, this town is turning into a ghost town. It's really scary. the regular locals are noticing. Sometimes I catch others who hate the gentrification and catering to second home millionaires too. Another restaurant closed on the corner. I've counted at least 12 restaurants closing. We drive by endless empty buildings.  I think all the poor and working class have been priced out of this town so the restaurant people can't get workers and only the rich can afford to eat out. Some of the cheaper take-out places are okay.  I wonder if I should move out of state at times, but with no money to travel, moving somewhere sight unseen is a bit more frightening. I've done extensive research on states that have cheap rent. There's one I found where some small towns have apartments that are 400-500 a month in rent. I'm holding out for the disability apartment. I wanted to know towns where my disability check could keep me off the street.

There's weird rules too with housing, you can break a lease to go into disabled subsidized housing but you must live there at least 13 months, so even as I consider a "gap" apartment or rented room to bridge the time until my subsidized apartment comes up, this rule seems to mean gutting it out here is the best choice, however I don't know how high they are going to raise the rent.

Rent and all the prices keep shooting up. Biden is the worse president ever. The worse thing to me is all the gaslighting, as we suffer at the grocery store, these liberals all claim the economy is great and deny our reality. Democratic party at least had Roosevelt, can't imagine a guy like that coming along now who actually plans to stop American suffering. This creep would rather war monger and send billions overseas while gaslighting us about how great the economy is.


I know some friends and others may vote for Biden to keep Trump out. Politics is so complicated now. I have friends who support Trump too. I won't give you a hard time. It all confuses me more and more.

America has become a scary country. I think this place had some good ideas with Constitution, Bill of Rights, freedom and more, but corruption has ruined this place. Love of money has made us poorer and the culture is in free-fall. You can see new trends the elite are pushing like "shared housing" and other things that will bring them more profit.  Other countries and governments while corrupt they at least seem to care about their people a bit, unlike this one that seems out to destroy us. I often wish I had been born into a country where I got to have a heritage or traditions or something to hold on to. I don't think life is that great in America anymore, even if some places are poorer, they have better food and far more community. Some are noticing like this guy, but I don't think Communism is going to fix it either. The elite want their money whatever political system they choose to impose. When life is nothing but a competition factory, social ties die. 
 
The streets are filling with the homeless. We ARE in a Depression. Sure the news isn't talking about it. Even in this rich town, when I go to food pantries where the cars are lined up, it is 4 times the amount of people than from 6-7 years ago, the last time I was using food pantries. Don't delude yourself, or believe CNN's crap or MSMs lies, the economy sucks. They know it works to isolate the poor and bullshit us, otherwise some would probably be out in the streets protesting the rising prices. 

I feel like the train is heading down the tracks, my eyes are glazed, wondering if it will run me over soon. I am so tired.  I have to prevent homelessness no matter what. If I become homeless I will die, I can't even get off the ground like a normal person.  My husband is under the gun with a medically fragile wife, who can't just hit the streets and hike from one shelter to the next. He is a good husband who will try and do what he can or find help. They are putting the screws to us both though, people in a vise, they want to squish all the juice [money] out of. My earlier trauma related to poverty has been written about on this blog. I am tried of my husband being overworked, and tired too, always chained to that computer. No vacation in 25 years. It's insane. We didn't ask for much in this world, just a simple apartment, decent food, some community etc.

I did talk about us downgrading everything to my husband. Live like Hetty Green, erase the worries but once you escape the roaches, and risk of violent crimes, you don't want to go back. Remote rural places didn't have specialists I needed though I preferred them. Boarding houses always have the rooms upstairs. Sometimes you are too ill to deal with roommates or staying clean enough for people you'd rent a room from, it's a lot of stress. 



I did our budget, just a few years ago we could survive on 1900-2000 a month and did. I had written out budgets, I knew the figures. That's not true anymore. The costs are so vast, we have lost even before we got started. I spoke of moving into rental rooms or very cheap areas, but just hit a barrier after another. We ended up staying here for my access to specialists and his own medical care. Maybe that was a bad decision.  Sadly my old small town because there is a college there, the rent stayed high, it's around 100-200 below rent here, but not enough for real savings.         

 Some talk about hard work but then they always seem to have a place to do that.  Some did work hard, but then others worked and there was no reward. I think of the newspaper jobs my husband had when I was in my 30s and our future looked a lot brighter. He was an assistant editor at a small-town newspaper and even got the copy ad writer job here that he lost, and then everything came apart. I still never got over that time. The door to any stability was shut for good.

You think about the lost opportunities and even thinking what I could have done for others. You get tired of always being the one in need. My art show was only possible because my husband had a better contract job by chance during that time. It wasn't huge money but allowed for a little bit of money to have that art show.  The lives of others seem like wonderland, I know many show off on Facebook, but they get to make memories, see people and "get things done". I just want to live in peace now, I don't care about being rich or even middle class but this constant feeling of 'being under threat" it needs to be gone. I'm tired of having punishment threatened on endless fronts because there's not enough money. [No electricity for you, you get to go die!] [No compression supplies for you, now your legs will get worse] and now it's [No home, for you because we raised the rent, you get to go die!] There's people worse off threatened with even worse. 

 Getting old with no money is scary as hell.  How many opportunities have been lost. Even now I think of the health gains I could obtain, via things money could bring. A kind friend got some of my needed supplements. 

Ok I am disabled, I won't be raking it in, but why does it have to be this bad? And it's worse for far more others.  I wanted to move to Appalachia and live on nothing and be around other poor people, living in a world you don't fit in is hard. The techno middle class and above world doesn't want us. We don't look the right way, we don't have the right clothes or personalities. My husband works hard, I'm always working on some project.

I could be happy being poor but they never seem to leave you alone. Like you are never allowed to just be and be genteel poor, going to the library, doing medical duties, and appointments and resting and maybe a little volunteer work if health allows, but now they just seem like they want to crush us all. It seems never ending. The middle class is noticing all their money is disappearing too. People even making 100,000 a year have told me directly how their rent and medical costs are insane, and every dollar is being plucked out of their pockets. Hey they have more money but I know when you get money in this society, they raise the hoops for you to jump over. 





Those who grow up poor probably are better off than those who grew up around money. They learn more survival skills I lacked too early.  I remember the waste of money in front of me as a child which drives me nuts thinking about it. Do people in America realize how the "great reset" is destroying the quality of our lives, how they are tightening the screws to take everything away from us including community, hobbies, and hope? It's all gone very wrong. Some of us old people remember how things used to be, young people are being denied so many joys of life from this "new" economic system that only rewards the 1 percent.  I know loving parents don't want their children to live in poverty when they grow up. What happened to the quality and meaning of life? Human beings were meant to be more than commodities. 


17 comments:

  1. Thrown Away DaughterFebruary 28, 2024 at 7:28 PM

    Thanks Peeps! Hang in there for the subsidized apartment- does your area/county have housing vouchers?

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    1. Thanks I will. I can keep the rent paid on my check, just worry about other bills. There's no section 8 here. I have called around and directly asked. This is a weird town. The subsidized if our income goes low enough will have the rent be 30 percent of the rent. Hope you are doing well.

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  2. Hi Peeps,
    Looking through you article, I saw this:

    "One recent mind-screw lately are all these more well-off liberals claiming the economy is doing just fine. I don't think so. It may be great for the investor class but not anyone else. The haves maybe are rising even more as the greater number of have-nots are being crushed. I've even heard some defend the billions being sent overseas for "perpetual war".

    The working class as a whole has been abandoned by the elitist left, they don't care. They only care about their virtue signaling identity politics and luxury beliefs. Many Democrats don't get that Biden is going to lose because the economy is so bad. No one cares about the discrimination that happens when you don't have enough of the "green". I'm tired of rich liberals who go on about "white supremacy" ignoring the existence of poor white people. People of all colors are hitting the wall financially now. Oddly to many rich liberals, there's no such thing as poor white people. And people wonder why so much of the working class runs to Trump? [which I think is a bad idea too, but at least they are told they exist]"

    I hear you on that. Just wanted to let you know I was taking that in ... It's so true that Biden and the Democrats have to be serious about "the economy for all" that they keep talking about, and I'm not convinced that Trump will help the poor at all; he didn't last time, and gave more money to the most wealthy Americans and most wealthy corporations while in office. For people living under the poverty line, the choices here aren't great as one party seems stymied and status quo, and the other seems to be radicalized and obnoxious to the disabled (and most people living in poverty are either disabled or dealing with medical bills they can't pay).

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Lise, I appreciate it. I haven't heard one word from Democrats about any notice of people in positions like my own. You are right Trump's not going to fix anything. We got some Covid money but past that nothing and just more rulings and edicts to make life harder and more oppressive and Biden has continued that trend to the utmost. I sometimes see some of the affluent left types post, "Don't blame Biden", but what is Biden doing to ease any of it? He's busy sending billions overseas. I wrote this to a diehard liberal doing the Biden defense. I said no way Biden will win, he will lose like Carter. Unless Kennedy pulls off a Dark Horse and he's the new choice to do a "clean up" job of the Covid mess, there's no way Biden will win. Both parties suck, Democrats no longer bother to pretend to care about the poor or working class, and are status quo to the max, and the other one wants to erase all social safety nets. I don't trust any politicians but probably will vote Kennedy. Trumps probably going to be president. Biden we would just get more poverty, misery and MORE WAR. Trump we will get more poverty, misery, war with Iran--trust me his evangelical/dominionist buddies are gunning for that one, but Biden is no better on that score building up the war machine and erased social safety nets and Project 25. it is an indictment of the corruption of American society, that we have a "choice" between two super elderly psychopaths who already failed us long ago.

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    2. The Democrats and SNL made fun of Katie Britt's speech after Biden's "The State of the Union". But when she said that many Americans were still struggling, particularly with food prices, we both know that is true. I think it is a problem of awareness than evil.
      I'm not convinced that Trump would not want to start a war. I don't know if you know about General Milley's interview with The Atlantic Magazine. Here's this one: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/11/general-mark-milley-trump-coup/675375/
      Here's an excerpt:
      "Early in Trump’s term, when Milley was serving as chief of staff of the Army, Trump entered a cycle of rhetorical warfare with the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. At certain points, Trump raised the possibility of attacking North Korea with nuclear weapons, according to the New York Times reporter Michael S. Schmidt’s book, Donald Trump v. The United States. Kelly, Dunford, and others tried to convince Trump that his rhetoric—publicly mocking Kim as 'Little Rocket Man,' for instance—could trigger nuclear war. 'If you keep pushing this clown, he could do something with nuclear weapons,' Kelly told him, explaining that Kim, though a dictator, could be pressured by his own military elites to attack American interests in response to Trump’s provocations. When that argument failed to work, Kelly spelled out for the president that a nuclear exchange could cost the lives of millions of Koreans and Japanese, as well as those of Americans throughout the Pacific. ..."

      Another excerpt:
      "I used this moment in the silo to discuss with Milley the stability of America’s nuclear arsenal under Trump. The former president’s ignorance of nuclear doctrine had been apparent well before his exchanges with Kim Jong Un. In a 2015 Republican-­primary debate, Trump was asked, 'Of the three legs of the triad … do you have a priority?' Trump’s answer: 'I think—I think, for me, nuclear is just—the power, the devastation is very important to me.' After this, Senator Marco Rubio, a foreign-policy expert who was one of Trump’s Republican-­primary opponents, called Trump an 'erratic individual' who could not be trusted with the country’s nuclear codes" ...

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    3. We got bad on both sides. I guess I'm throwing in for Kennedy, hoping a dark horse moment happens but I think most elections are selections. I've considered not voting at all anymore, but my husband still believes in the process so I figure I'll throw a bone to Kennedy out of conscience even though I worry about his Mellon and see ia connections. I do see Trump as well as an erratic individual. You may be right about him starting wars too like Biden, I think war with Iran is next on the Plan for a New American Century war plans, and maybe the plan is for a Trump win, and then he can get the evangelical/Zionist set riled up [Biden definitely is setting that up going along with netanyahu in what is happening in Palestine/Gaza as genocide is happening] So sure, Trump can't be trusted either. That's scary about General Milley's interview. Hmm someone must have catered to Trump's ego and got him to go make up with "little rocket man", remember all that when they met. Maybe someone diverted the attention of a malignant narcissist soothing egos.

      I didn't know who Katie Britt was, but looked her up and the skit too, oh yeah that's the woman in green everyone compared to Serena on Handmaid's Tale. Weird how it is only right wingers now, talking about the bad food prices. [set up for a Trump win?]

      I feel gaslighted often talking to other Dems who defend Biden on my Facebook page, they tell me the economy is doing great, and to ignore the facts of my own life. Many of the people I am talking to are far more affluent, so many it's the bubble they live in though other middle class and other well off friends with increased pressures are admitting the economic realities. I think Biden's going to lose, from that fact alone, the core of America is mostly working class or middle class people under the gun with huge medical and mortgage bills. There's too many outraged people now. My own economic realities, somehow we paid most of the bills, had to make payment plans with electric, but still hovering on the edge of the cliff. I'm keeping the medicos at bay with payment plans. He did go get more stringer newspaper work which helped. [place he worked for before]

      Trump scares me too. Namely Project 25. Go read that online, if you get a chance. I know it's the Heritage Foundation, some said maybe Trump wouldn't follow all of it. I can understand friends who vote for Biden to prevent Trump. It's not a decision I can make because of strong beliefs about Covid/Covid vaxx, and feeling like Biden was part of the Covid genocide. [I fear having that stuff forced on me and even discussed plans to flee with husband more than a few times] and for me that's unforgiveable. I can understand the thinking. My husband is still a Democrat remember.
      continuing...

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    4. We have rotten corruption beyond the pale. I don't even expect America to last that long anymore. American people will in some capacity, but this is dying empire same as Kunstler says. He has beliefs in Trump to help or at least alleviate things I don't agree with but my world view does overlap with his. BRICS is rising. I know if young and healthy, I would go rural and remote and learn as many self reliant skills as possible. I have to move to a more urban area than I wanted to, for access to medical care. I really had my eye on a town really in the middle of nowhere but medically it's too difficult.

      I have to admit having what I see as more "elitist" Democrats tell me the economy is doing great because their stocks and housing is worth more, does rankle me to an extreme I can't even say. In my opinion it's not going to bring a win for Biden. Even with all the "woke" and "trans" stuff, probably used to an extent by social net destroying Republicans who want to privatize things, to create outrage, probably will bring a win for Trump. I thought perhaps they would bring Kennedy in as a clean-up job for Covid vaxx damages etc and corruption, but not sure. I think this country is in the worse shape it's ever been in my entire life. I also believe the economy is going to collapse. The ones telling Americans nothing to see here with the economy are going to lose. Its sad we get more of the same, the gerentocracy with a grip on power even as they enter their mid 80s. Remember my prediction in 2015 that Gen X would never get a place at the table. Maybe for ones still alive in their 70s-80s they will be busy cleaning up the bombed out, or economically crushed mess.

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    5. It's hard to know at this point whether Trump or Biden will win. There are a lot of disenchanted Republicans who went for Nikki Haley (who still want a democracy) and won't go to the polls if Trump wins the primary, which he has, and a lot of disenchanted Democrats too who feel like the progress to bring back jobs, bring back the economy for all Americans, and the effectiveness of foreign affairs is not good.

      I think it is clear from watching Joe and Nic's Road Trip (Netflix) that many, many people are suffering economic hardship and living in cities and towns with no stores, no medical facilities, no gas stations, and no jobs. Bernie talks about that part of America all of the time, but Biden is just not focused on it very much (no speeches on it anyway - which is folly, because he can't win this large population of votes if he ignores their plight).
      "Change at any cost" has been on the ballot for about 12 years now.

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    6. Yeah we have no way of knowing. I know I hope Kennedy sneaks through. Probably the number of those who won't vote even will skyrocket. People are tired of constant bad choices. Republicans are angry at Trump for defending the vaxxes, and crowing that he pushed them through. I suppose I would be one of those disgruntled Democrats. Add in all the people upset by what is happening in Gaza, Arab-Americans, etc.

      I watch Joe and Nic's Road trip too, and also Nick Johnson's channel. America is definitely becoming a third world country, and many people are suffering very badly. The few jobs with low pay don't pay the bills. They are closing hospitals in rural towns all over, where one is then 100 miles from the nearest hospital. Stores are closing all over. I see a lot of small town America where I live and there's a lot of "ruins" now. For that one art club I go into a very rural county, I see what the real deal is. Sadly the elitist Democrats even ones I know from around here, tell me the economy is doing great. They won't hear of it, even the ones who know we have personally faced economic ruin. Yeah Biden just ignores the poor and working class. [they just don't exist in his world. Ignoring their plight is awful. Bernie does make a few mentions and I used to be a supporter but now I see him as a sheep dog that just bows to the more powerful. I think one reason Hillary lost, I never supported her, was her open disdain for working class and poor people. This is what has pushed people into the arms of Trump. I guess my hope is Kennedy comes in as a dark horse but I know chances of this are low. I can't in conscience vote for the guy who wanted to push clot shots on me and doesn't care anything about poor or working class people. I think both him and Trump are overtly and knowingly destroying America anyway. Things are getting very scary in the USA. I think homelessness is going to explode, and the news is not reporting how bad the poverty has gotten. Only independent people on Youtube.

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    7. We have seen Nick Johnson's road trips and commentary too, but he is too politically biased and judgmental for us, whereas Joe and Nic's road trips don't get into political commentary - except for when they were in Portland, Ore, you could tell they were a little more right wing, though they didn't expound on it much. They used words like "Antifa" in a context that gave them away.

      Portland, Ore is pretty shocking compared to other big cities in the U.S.A., at least what Joe filmed of it, street after street of barracks guarding buildings, including downtown and capital, and some neighborhoods where there seems to be an endless homeless population living in tents where ever they can find a space. If one was going to get political, I suppose one would do it about that city because it looks ruined both physically and socially. Hardly anyone walks the streets there.

      I'm not inclined to vote on issues having to do with the quarantine, handling of the pandemic, or type of vaccine (granted it was a "rushed one with MRNA), and I resented politicians who tried to usurp it from medical professionals. Granted both presidents had to make some policies about the issue, and they were bound to make mistakes because it was a new virus. I do know that Obama years before decided on a policy to quarantine people with Ebola (which has a 50% death rate as compared to 3% for Covid). Had it spread more than it had, he would have been blamed for the disease too, plus the loss of jobs and ruins of the economy during quarantine, the loss of lives, and the rise of inflation if he had tried to use government reserves to help people during a quarantine. It would have been the same no-win situation for him as the other two presidents. No president will ever handle a pandemic "perfectly". And even the doctors and nurses won't either, but they are the most familiar with it, and diligently study it (still), and I believe they are trying as best they can to bring about the best results. None of us go to the hospital with Covid to die; we go there because we want help to survive it and get treated for the symptoms, yes?

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    8. Nick Johnson is really Republican, so can understand. I think he gets down on homeless/poor too much. He does at least admit their existence and seems to have somewhat of a heart for them, since he interviews them but he does have some judgements I don't agree with about the poor. I like Joe and Nic too though. I would like to see the Portland one. I really liked Joe and Nic's video of a remote part of my state, that was nice. Yeah they may be right wing. LOL I'm not calling myself a leftist anymore in my case. I was having a political discussion with a friend, was looking up Trump's stances on his political website, I agreed with some while adamantly disagreeing with others. [I was discussing Kennedy and Biden too] I'm not sure if "right winger" would fit me, some liberals think it does. I got called a bigot the other day on Facebook for saying Biden [and Trump] are too old.

      Portland was extremely liberal. I think some right wingers maybe are right about a few bad things that happen to liberal cities. They are an extreme of a city got bad, so is San Francisco that place is in a free fall collapse.

      I know my voting is most impacted by Covid, it's based on my world view of it. Some friends say voting is a waste of time, sometimes I feel that way. Our elections are "selections". I know my view of what happened is different from others, I do see it as a planned and carried out genocide. [fifth generation warfare, part of the Great Reset, possible transhumanism, elite putting American/Western civ out to pasture] I know my seeing it as intentional would lead to someone who believes it was not, definitely would lead to different voting decisions. My husband BTW does not see it as intentional, [thinks "mistakes were made"]

      I do blame them because I do truly see it as planned. Event 201, Baric's work in the lab, stuff released about DARPA on Twitter....[check out Book of Ours on Twitter too, she is a leftist, who sees Covid as a planned event. Here is her video outlining this opinion.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9cmYNRgXXg&t=1729s


      Yeah Obama did quarantine for Ebola. Which since it is so viruluent did not spread, it kills off all it's hosts I guess where the difference comes in. If you think about it, Trump would definitely hold as much responsibility as Biden if not more. I am sure many people were caught unawares, even some backing up CDC etc, had good intentions, just mislead. Most doctors and nurses, I think are adjusting to new facts, [the censorship and removal of licenses are things that should not happen again] My doctors I know saw a lot of damage from the vaxxes. I don't quiz them but you can tell. One got sick from taking one. I think most of them were well intended. [Not Fauci or Hoetz]

      I do think some really bad and criminal stuff happened with Covid. This is a post that shocked me today on twitter.

      https://twitter.com/Wood_House76/status/1769362007906517268

      I know many people think it was a natural virus that came in, and people were just trying their best to deal with it. I think the majority people were just trying to do best they could, but there was some real evil attached to all this from the top. Even now I am scared, that so much damage has been done from these mRNA vaccines, and they still push them. It's like reality has been altered.

      By the way I got a very bad cold last week. Of course I was a bit "unsettled", though I had no fever and could smell. I didnt go on hcq or any big gun supplements. It feels like a normal cold. I only have been non-isolated and maskless for 6 months. I am a bit unsettled worrying about people spreading illness through damaged immune systems. I think I caught it grocery shopping and/or running into this friend at a doctor's office who said she was sick 2 weeks later. I can't mask anymore but I am not someone who is around a lot of people. People in my very vaxxed town are sick so often it's scary. The air has been dirty here, and I think is affecting my illness. The weather has been crazy too, there basically was no winter.
      continuing...

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    9. There are things with Covid, I can't forgive what they have done to us. I see the entire world different now. I never was one to trust leaders or politicians in general, but any trust is gone now. I know most doctors and medical professionals were trying to just get by. For mRNA to still be pushed there's major corruption in the system.

      I know I am voting according to Covid. [by the way others have told me I shouldn't but I guess I just see things different] A lot of bad decisions were made at hospitals. I don't think every hospital was ill intended but some evil at the top demanded protoccols and stopped doctors from giving treatments that would work. You know I waited to become non-isolated making sure I had connection to a functional doctor for a reason. I hope they aren't still giving people resmidivir and stuff like that.

      Check out that Book of Ours lady. I do have doctors I trust, including my housecall NP and the functional doctor. It does help. I try to give benefit of the doubt. I miss my old doctor who did take the vaxx and got sick, I suppose I am surprised he took it but know he was under a lot of pressure and had some patients die in the early days. I feel for all the suffering so many went through. I know many did not come out intact. I know being isolated for so long did do things to me I am still trying to unwind now. I hope things are better in your neck of the woods too.

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    10. I see why you might vote based on the pandemic as it is an issue close to your heart, and one that you have been writing about for awhile. Both presidents were involved in policies about it, though.

      Some older folks are still masking here, and the hospital was over-flowing with Covid patients just a few weeks ago where they mandated masks if you were going in for a procedure. But NY was the hardest hit state in the union, so masks aren't looked upon as a weird thing. In fact, store clerks sometimes thank people for wearing one - it cuts down on the possibilities of any virus transfers.

      I'm more of an Independent. I like to know arguments from both sides so that I get a clearer picture of what is going on. I know that a lot of voters, even most voters, vote on one or two or three issues at most, or they follow a party's nominees because their family has, but I just can't. My mind doesn't work that way. I can feel pretty confused sometimes, but after I write out all of the pros and cons I've seen along the way, I can see more clearly what direction I need to go in. At heart I'm a researcher.

      I have even done this with narcissists in my life too, lol, even when it comes to "how much contact." Like "Should I stay or should I go? Or something in-between?" Sometimes we make a choice, and situations happen to us that we don't expect, and that can happen with candidates we vote for too.

      We can have "voter's remorse" just as much as "buyer's remorse". That's why I do so much research, so I won't have regrets.

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    11. Yeah both presidents were involved. I may sit out this election, I've had ballots with blank spots before. Kennedy I don't even know if he is going to make the ballot on my state yet. I found out he's only on 6. The system is not set up for "outsiders" to come in. It's pretty corrupt.

      I know NY got hit hard. I think they probably spread some of the SARS around there or other bio-hazard. Something came for everyone there. Wow still some Covid there? I believe it's only vaxxed getting Covid now, but I could be wrong. [Remember I don't trust the PCR tests] I see some rare people here wearing masks. LOL I wore one at an appointment to get out stitches, but had a visible cold [I asked for permission, stitches were overdue to come out] but my thinking was then, to keep other people from getting what I had. I only kept it on for a short time. I don't plan to mask anymore, I had too much severe problems on my health, seeing spots in vision, lower oxygen, I had to be cautious even wearing it for those stitches to come out. Oxygen is normal now, 98 percent. I sometimes see elderly and other people. Maybe some got visible illness like colds, which is one reason I was doing it. Some may argue I was a fool, N95 won't work to prevent colds, but I figured, Asians wear masks to not spread colds in their culture. I won't be masking again except for an incident like that. I probably will get a deferment, if masks are ever mandated again, I get too short of breathe with the COPD. I think psychologically it didn't help me all those years. 10 minutes is different then trying to shop in one.

      I am someone who looks at different issues and am more independent. I agree with Trump on stopping Covid mandates, ending DEI programs, stopping illegal immigration, that's just a few things. With Biden, I disagree adamantly with Covid mandates, war in Ukraine, the economy, sending money to Israel etc. I agree with Kennedy the "most" but do not agree about Climate Change [climate is changing but UN and globalists will only exploit and extract profit and control] and Israel. I figure you are someone who does look at every issue like I do, I can't go with the Democrat team or Republican. I think both parties serve the oligarchy. I think voting on upper levels is corrupt, and they will use media, rules, etc, to close any "outsiders" out, it was done to Bernie [who may have been a sheep dog] and being done to Kennedy now.

      I agree with looking at all the pros and cons. My husband says I should vote for Biden to keep disability and Medicare intact, and to keep him from being deported as a "birthright citizen". I told him I looked at Trump's website and he only plans to deport children of undocumented immigrants, his parents were documented. I can understand people's decisions are complicated, some are voting for Biden fearing lost of some rights, etc. Others are voting for Trump fearing destruction of USA....[Biden does seem to be making decisions that scare the hell out of me too]. I in good conscience cannot vote for Biden based on Covid mandates and the pushing of Covid vaccines, which are harmful. My seeing him as an active part of the genocide says to me, NOPE, no support, not even a "hold your nose". Trump, same thing, he was part of Covid and what was done too and was on Twitter defending the shots, so NOPE for him too. I wonder how many will sit out. I'm sure many are disappointed the main race is between two very elderly men that we have no hope for anything better from. I definitely have "buyers remorse" and spiritual and other regret for voting for Biden in 2020.

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    12. I may do a post on the issues (there are sooo many issues that voters are not considering at all because of lack of media coverage - I actually had to start compiling the issues I was finding so that I wouldn't forget them). But so many people are rabid about politics, and go on the attack when people don't go along with them 100 percent, or even 75 percent. The hostility, even over small details, is making me hold back.
      I'm not as concerned about the border as I used to be because both Biden and Trump say they want to solve it in a big way.
      I'm also not as concerned about Covid (or the other viruses floating around) because neither politician seems engaged to the point of mandates or politicization any more.

      But I am concerned about economics - there are some under-the-radar things that could bring it all down in the next four years, even Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Disability. For every 3 people working and paying taxes, there is one person on one or several of these government programs.
      There are things happening in Ukraine that most people aren't aware of, that aren't being reported with cameras on the ground except PBS. Most people would be sickened and mortified if they knew what was really happening, and how it could effect the USA in the long term.
      I'm concerned with the cult-like behaviors of politicians and politicians-as-sycophants, a relatively new phenomenon in American politics, and how much of their integrity, and even their constituents they are willing to sacrifice to go along with a herd (i.e. to get votes). The lack of independent minds is appalling. When you and I write about narcissism, we know that "blind loyalty" leads very easily to evil, because they aren't thinking with their reasoning brain, but with their panic-shame-based brain.
      I'm concerned about climate for obvious reasons (even on a personal level I have never seen such unusual climate phenomenon in my area until the last 3 years).
      I'm concerned with the rapid escalation of tech solutions because I do think they are very finite solutions and have serious drawbacks for an inhabitable earth.
      And so much more ...

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    13. Hi Lise, I did a new post today about the lies about the economy, having some wealthy liberal people I personally know gaslight me about the economy was just too much. Things are getting scarier and scarier. The food for the poor sucks by the way. Everything in this town seems such low quality. The Chinese food meal was decent but more and more food just tastes bad to me.

      I hope you do a political post. There are a lot of ignored issues, I think of the tech stuff and how they want to impose mRNA, and their plans for 15 minute cities and digital money. I'm worried about WWIII too. Up to me, I probably would have tried to get out of the country or gone somewhere rural and remote, but this state of health I can't do it. I even wanted to consider moving to a more remote part of my state but husband wouldn't hear of it. Maybe I need to look at senior buildings in more remote areas but medical care is always an issue. I tried to sell husband on moving to this one place, but he just said no way. It's very poor there, and I wasn't able to find decent non-HUD housing there.

      I hope you are right they are done with the Covid nonsense, and aren't pushing mandates, I suppose I fear the fact they still are building garbage mRNA factories, and Bill Gates warned of Disease X, and I fear them doing this to us again. I still think there is going to be an epidemic of cancer, I pray for all friends who got doses they got weak formula or saline. Covid was unforgiveable, since I consider it willful genocide, maybe this is one reason I'm done with the politicians and don't think this system is salvageable. There's too many psychopaths and narcissists in charge. Even public health turned out to be a cluster-F of narcissists all falling over each other to make rank and cowards when it came to truth.

      Economics yes, I believe they plan to bring down the Social Security system, maybe when the digital money comes in. I do believe the economy will be collapsing, well it already is isn't it, just on the slow "lie to the plebes" formula. We are having a slow grind to the bottom. I've always been poor as an adult, with some better working class years, but I remember when things were better, the food, the hobby items, when people enjoyed life more and the bills were not so crushing. I remember when the infrastructure wasn't so beaten up and decaying too. I hope you can post about those things, look forward to that post.

      There's probably Ukrainians dying, well it's like GAZA, they are cooking the book on the numbers. With Gaza we get 7,000 reported to us but Ralph Nader wrote an article saying the real number is closer to 200,000. Americans seem clueless as to how bad things could get here, especially if war comes here. nuclear or otherwise. I'm not looking forward to that eclipse, you know my religious leanings, I see it as a "bad sign", of USA Xed out. That's the kind of stuff where I wish I could head for the hills. I don't plan to celebrate it or look at it.
      continuing...
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  3. I believe the elites instituted the depopulation plan looking at the costs of Social Security and Medicare, it's no accident that Covid focused on the old and disabled.

    The climate is radically changing. I believe geoengineering, and sun cycles may play a role, but I don't see the UN or billionaires fixing it, they'll simply pluck the poor's pockets for carbon credits and destroy and limit our lives. No gardens on every corner, no local food, no community, no real environmentalism. What is all that mRNA if real doing to the environment? [entering water shed now with the hydrogels, I'm sure none of the mad scientists thought that one out]

    All these politicians do have cults. Well Trump has one, some seem to see him as a god like figure, so much so there's been direct blasphemy. Weird golden sneakers, religious scenes where Trump is walking next to Jesus, but then Biden flunkies got the "Dark Brandon" memes where a feeble old man is supposedly hard and "cool". One thing psychopaths always have cults. My mother had/has a cult, everything done according to what she deems as good. Blind loyalty to the max. Ive been doing some reading on tech stuff I may post on but no one is facing the dangers of AI and transhumanism. I've posted on them a little bit.

    When you get a chance google a group called Winter Oak, they go into the bad stuff that comes with technology.

    See this article.

    https://winteroak.org.uk/acorn/

    You are right with people going on rabid attack about politics. It's getting scary. The divide is bad. I like people on both sides and don't exist or belong to either camp now, so that puts me in a weird position.

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