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Shootings in America

As the pandemic drones on, it appears the stress has really driven the crazies out. We’ve had another cluster of random violent shootings recently. We had three in a week last week. But, yeah, NRA, people buying automatic weapons at the corner store is SO not the problem. Sigh. Fuck the NRA.

We’ve also had another fatal police shooting, yesterday (4/20/21). A teenager was shot several times by a cop in broad daylight. The cop was responding to a call about some people fighting. So naturally, people fighting being a DEADLY menace, the cop came ready to shoot someone.

Look, the bottom line is that cops should NOT use deadly force FIRST! They should use a taser FIRST to see if the situation can be de-escalated. But cops aren’t interested in HELPING, they are interested in KILLING.

When every situation is considered deadly, then deadly force seems appropriate. This is military training, NOT service training. Police are to SERVE AND PROTECT, not subdue unruly “civilians” and dispense justice.

A 16 year old girl was shot and killed for fighting with her foster care “siblings”. Yes, she was wielding a knife, BUT a taser would’ve subdued her just fine. There was zero reason for the cop to fire his weapon and kill her on the spot. Of course, since she was the aggressor, she’ll be painted as “deserving” being killed and the cop will get no punishment for this horrible crime.

The longterm militarization of the police has put us in this position of not being able to trust them. They treat everyone as the enemy. I think they cannot be trusted to have firearms any longer. Shoot first is their mantra, and that is not appropriate for 99% of the things they are supposed to be doing.

You can thank the NRA for keeping hillbillies stirred up about the government taking their guns away and you can thank Nixon for starting the militarization of the police in the 70s that has led us to this point.

Defund the police. Take away their SWAT tanks, automatic weapons and even their sidearms. Give them nightsticks and tasers. They are there FOR US CITIZENS, not to be military intervention. We have the military for that. Defund and dismantle the NRA. Take away their lobbyists and shut them down. Lock down automatic gun sales. No one needs that shit. NO ONE. Get guns off the streets.

We CAN get control of this mess. We just need to get rid of the politicians who still advocate guns and military style police. I know: easier said than done. But we can TRY. Vote the bastards OUT. Don’t let the hillbillies win!

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Facebook Censorship

I’ve been the victim of FB censorship twice in the last week. The first time was for saying something like “Americans are selfish fucks who won’t wear masks”, which is a TRUE statement from any angle. FB removed the comment when they jailed me, so no screen shot. The second time, I did it on purpose to see if the key words would trigger another ban, so I wrote “muricans selfish f * c k s masks” on a post about FB censorship by a friend, then wrote “waiting for FB jail”, which happened two minutes after the comment.

Not only do they monitor what is said – ESPECIALLY if you’re on The List (which they DO have), but if you get popped several times, they will actively start rooting through your entries (public OR NOT) to find reasons to jail you. I’ve got a friend who has been been banned TWICE for NON-public posts from years ago. This does not sit right with me.

FB needs to spend more time rooting out the Nazi, Q and other hate groups and less time worrying about comments that are OBVIOUS about mask usage or whatever. Speaking the truth about the handling of the plague in the US is NOT the same as hate speech that still runs rampant on this platform.

Appealing anything that FB does is also a shit show. You have to go to an outside site (run by FB no doubt) and provide a COPY OF YOUR ID to initiate an appeal. WAT? NO. This is also linked to FB demanding that you use your “legal” name, which is none of their fucking business. I have another friend who was forced to produce her legal ID and use her full legal name to keep her FB account when she added a funny name as a joke. This is WAY beyond the scope of a social media platform’s purview in my opinion.

FB is just a goddam rumour and meme mill. FB takes itself WAY too seriously and it is allowed to run all over free speech because of its size. They are quick to jail everyday users for what their algorithms feel is “hate speech” but allow hate groups to say whatever the FUCK they want without censure. This platform really needs to be broken up and dispersed. It has too much power, too much personal info on its users and is far too duplicitous about all of it. AND LOOK WHAT JUST POPPED UP! A hacker scraped hundreds of millions of phone numbers and personal data from the FB servers in 2019 and we’re just now hearing about it. YEAH, FB, I want to trust YOU with MY personal info. FUCKERS. #fuckFB is my favourite tag.

FB is not the answer. We seriously need to move to Ello or back to LJ or ANYWHERE but here. This company has too much power and too much latitude to do whatever the hell it wants. I am moving all my content back here and off of FB. I’ll still share shit and make silly daily life posts over there – that’s what it’s for! But anything that matters will be HERE. I’m also not crossposting anything to FB from here any longer. This content is not appropriate for my IndigoDragon page, and FB does not allow crossposting to personal pages, so fuck it. No more. You’ll have to leave the confines of FB to read my content. I’ll make a link post on FB, but that’s it.

Facebook is a terrible, insidious platform. We all need to consciously start reading blogs and other content BESIDES FB. Thanks for coming out of FB to read this!

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When Rich People Run the Game

We got an unpleasant email from the landlord this morning.

The main issue with renting is that the landlord can decide to sell the place or boot you for any reason. That is a bit stressful, especially when you get an email stating:
“I realize that this may pose problems, and some may want to consider alternative arrangements. If you are interested in buying the unit, I will consider offers. But please be aware that I will most likely sell at your lease anniversary if I cannot raise the rent, as I doubt I will go through the process of finding new tenants. That may necessitate showings of the property, which I will coordinate with you.”

That statement does not sit well with us, but it’s the tradeoff of having a set budget and no house repairs. What else can we do? Pay MORE rent for a shitty apartment and have to divest of our game business? Not really… We would rather pay rent for a house any day of the week – and we will.

I just looked at 3BR apartments: OMG! The SHITTY ones start at $1500. The decent ones START at $2k. So I’m FINE with paying $1600/mo for a whole house.

BUT.

That is the problem. People cannot get a mortgage without PERFECT credit – despite the fact that they pay exorbitant rent every fucking month and have perfect payment records. If Equifax doesn’t DEEM you qualified, then you are not. And you are a serf, at the whims of your rich landlord.

THIS is the result of rich people running the game. They are scared to death of paying taxes. Meanwhile those of us at the bottom ROUTINELY pay 30% of our meager wages to taxes while the rich folk pay as close to zero as they can get. It is SICK. Because rich people think that they really should not pay their share. EVER. I guarantee you there’ll be a rent hike next year, too.

We’ve paid $1400, $1500 and now $1600/mo for YEARS. CLEARLY we can afford it. We have perfect payment records and have defaulted on nothing. We have a fat investment account, too. BUT. We bankrupted out of business related debt and now we are deemed INSUFFICIENT to get a mortgage. Like many others, we *can* pay a mortgage just fine, but the banks and mortgage companies will not let us. So serfs we remain.

It’s not that I particularly WANT to own a house again – I’ve stated many times that being house poor sucks – BUT being at the whim of a landlord is a bit unnerving. I’ve told him several times that we’d totes buy the place if he’d be willing to do an alternative method of purchase such as lease to own, but he won’t even dignify that with an answer. So we get to worry about the house being sold out from under us. Sigh.

The Boomer ideals of home ownership as a path to success is just not attainable for most people. The people I know who do own a house are constantly bitching about the repairs and maintenance costs – which is something that these mortgage people NEVER bring up when they are roping you into a 30 year loan. They are SO concerned about your money, but they never once bring up the ADDED COSTS of owning a home. Being house poor is REAL and I know people who are. Why bother with buying if all your spare time and money will go into this black hole? Renting is far less stressful – EXCEPT for that pesky little problem of being at the landlord’s whim.

So, welcome to a world run by the rich. Everyone is a serf to a mortgage company or to a landlord. Take your pick.

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The Tale of the Smoking Poodle

SO, it was in the 90s, probably around ’95 or so (if anyone remembers the year, tell me in comments!). It was July 4th and all of us at Derrydown were out in the yard drinking and smoking and passing a doob. We’d probably cooked out or something before and we were all WAY into our cups!

Someone had brought fireworks, so they started firing them off. Lots of Roman candles, which I love.

We were all pretty wasted and definitely high AF, when one of the Roman candles fell over and shot right into Darbi’s porch. We all just kinda stood there, hoping nothing caught fire. Too high and drunk to really DO anything about it! (Luckily, no fire!)

Soon after that, another firework malfunctioned and shot the load horizontally into the crowd. There was much fuss, but when the smoke cleared, a neighbor who’d been holding her white poodle Tristan, was like AAAHHH!! We turned to her and that dog had a black, smoldering spot where a candle load had hit his ass. He wasn’t hurt, but it was definitely crispy.

Now. Just sit with that visual for a second. Then think about the name: Tristan.

I can’t even type this without cackling! And I hope I never meet anyone named Tristan because I just giggle every time I hear that name.

Keep in mind, we’re all high AF and here is this little POODLE named TRISTAN, with a smoking divot on his ass… ::CACKLE::

It is one of my fondest memories of Derrydown! We had a great group of people, several of whom I’m still friends with today! This post is dedicated to Darbi, who has been in CA for decades, but we have kept in touch. She’s having some medical issues and I wanted to post this little tale to give her a chuckle and to remember simpler times.

Also, remember the Table of Pain! How many Camels were smoked and cheap beers drunk there? Innumerable!

Good times!

I salute Derrydown! I lived there 13 years and loved every minute of it. <3

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Angela’s Super Easy Marinara

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Angela's Super Easy Marinara

This is a stripped down version of my original marinara sauce. It is surprisingly close to Alex Guarnaschelli's recipe! Just a few ingredients and some time is all you need. I leave in the seeds and tomato pulp since I give it a little whiz with the stick blender. I like the texture. It is vegetarian; leave out the butter and it is vegan.
Course Main Course, Sauce
Cuisine Italian
Keyword marinara, vegetarian marinara,
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Servings 6 cups
Author misangela

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 small onion, about 1/3 cup, grated
  • 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • 1 small carrot, microplaned, about 1/4 cup use a box grater's fine side if you don't have a microplane
  • 1 tsp dry basil I like it lurking in the background
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp salt To taste
  • 1 28oz San Marzano tomatoes, whole, canned DO try to find San Marzanos, whole gives a better texture to the sauce
  • 1 14oz crushed tomatoes, canned You can use 100% SM if you like.
  • 1-2 tsp sugar, to taste, to adjust the acidity
  • 1 Tbl butter this helps with acidity and mouthfeel
  • 2 Tbl fresh basil, whole leaves or roughly chopped Optional, but adds some freshness and is traditional. I skip most of the time.

Instructions

  • In a large 3-4 qt pot over med low heat, add oil, onions, garlic, carrots, basil and s/p. You want the oil to just barely bubble the onions, not brown them. Low and slow.
  • Let this base cook for about 10 minutes on low, stirring occasionally.
  • Add in the crushed and whole tomatoes, crushing the whole tomatoes by hand.
  • Bring this up to just a minimal bubble. Low and slow. Let it go, stirring occasionally, for about 40 minutes.
  • When the sauce has reduced for the 40 minutes, check it for salt. If the acidity is high (and it likely will be), add sugar until you are happy with the acid level. Make sure the salt is adequate. Add in the butter (if using) at the end. This is a base sauce, so all you want is just a well balanced sauce bursting with tomato flavour.
  • This sauce freezes very well. It can be used anywhere red sauce is called for.

Notes

This is a base sauce, so there are not many ingredients, nor are there any strong herbs. 
If you want a more involved sauce, search for Angela's Marinara.