From Barbie-Pink Gloves to the Proud Boys and The Cult

Sitting at my computer I was racking my brain for a topic to write about when down the road came an 18-wheeler flatbed with six U-Boxes and a Donkey on top. The giant U-Haul rig parked directly across from my windows. And before I get any farther along I should explain to anyone who might be confused that the Donkey was the four wheeler kind, not the four legged kind. In other words a Donkey brand forklift was attached to the back of the rig extending the normal 72 feet length of an 18-wheeler out another 5-6 feet.

I've see moving vans and trucks of all sizes and descriptions parked across from my windows. It's one of the few downsides of having a main floor apartment near a building's entry door. But like many other things this can be a two-sided coin. It's an advantage to, say, a gossipy-type person who loves to see other people's possessions paraded by her windows or it could be a disadvantage to a person who likes the tranquil view of the woods on the other side of the road and green space that, on occasions, gets blocked by a wall of metal and rubber. 

I normally don't care what is loaded or unloaded outside my windows unless it's a person into an ambulance. But the driver of this particular rig caught and held my attention. She was a petite thing with a bouncing blonde ponytail and as she jumped down from the driver's seat and walked back to the Donkey she pulled on a pair of Barbie Pink work gloves that made me smile from ear to ear. And in no time at all she had that Donkey down on the ground and whipped it around to unload one of the U-Boxes. I held my breath thinking if she didn't turn her load just right she'd end up backing into my windows but my fear was short-lived. She was good---no, she was great at her job. She handled herself with the confidence of a tattooed, biker-bar bouncer and she parked that U-Box in the designated space with the ease and precision of a Victorian era maid setting a table for high tea. And like the Amazon drivers do after delivering a package to our mail room, she took a photo of her delivered U-Box, then she drove the Donkey back to its hookup brackets and straps and she was back on the road in less than six minutes from when she arrived.

It hit me that what I was seeing was the results of the second wave of the Feminism Movement that I was a part of back in '60s and '70s. We have equal opportunities for women in the labor force now that we didn't have back then, but not without getting some societal stretchmarks from people like The Proud Boys who feel they are being left behind or out-shined by women. That's an over simplification, of course, because the Proud Boys don't just hate women. They also hate transgenders, Muslims, immigrants and they are hardcore White Supremacists. Wouldn't it be nice if they died out for lack of breeding opportunities. I can't imagine a woman as capable and confident as my Barbie U-Haul Driver being attracted to a guy who spends his weekends playing soldier in the woods and planning for an Armageddon.

Still, social anthropologists who study hate groups like this say the danger is thinking that all hardcore racists are contained in these pocket groups that can be tracked. I, for one, have a hard time taking them seriously because their very name says they are proud that they haven't matured into fully functioning men---men who take responsibility for their own life choices instead of blaming go-getters like Ms Barbie Pink Gloves and so-called 'woke' people and others who don't look like them. In the meantime we forget that the Proud Boys have aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents and other family members who have the same agenda of hate, but they keep a low profile. They are quietly running for offices on school boards, in townships and counties all over the country. They might not wear labels like the Proud Boys or even think of themselves as racists, but they are also in this culture war, while those of us on the other side are blissfully and willfully ignoring them as if they are as insignificant as a fly bussing around a family picnic table.

According to a website that tracks the Proud Boys we should be afraid of them and their extended orbit if Trump gets re-elected. Even though the January Sixth Insurrection decentralized the group when many of their leaders ended up with long prison terms, Trump is now promising to pardon them all if he's re-elected. In other words he's blowing his dog whistle again for them to stand back and stand by. 

Because the Proud Boys are equal opportunists when it comes to hating others, their members belong to a wide variety of other, more targeted hate groups as well and that's one of the main factors that helped coordinate activities that resulted in our first Insurrection at the Capital. I say "first" because it will happen again if Trump doesn't win our next election. Maybe the mobs won't be as big or maybe they're bring bigger weapons or both. But hopefully, the powers that be will be ready this time. 

<Rant On> Those of us who value democracy cannot stay complacent. We cannot stay silent! We must do what we can, while we still can, to get people to tune into what is at stake with the coming election. All the gains we've made in Equal Opportunities for women and people of color in the last 50 years will be undermined if the Democrats lose. Not to mention reproductive freedom is at stake. All the strides we've made towards cleaning up the planet will be turned back, and Trump is promising to throw out the Affordable Health Care Act along with getting rid of the regulatory agencies that protect our water, food chain and medical supplies. His plans to round up immigrants is literally right out of the 1930's Nazi handbook.

Biden may have made mistakes but he's a moral man of honor who we can trust to surround himself with good people should he die in office. Where Trump is a man with no moral compass who the first time around surrounded himself with people who are now either sitting in prison or who have come out against ever letting Trump near the Oval Office again. The polls all say that these two men are running neck to neck and that means too many people are turning a blind eye to the dangers of another Trump term. So those of us who aren't under the spell of the Trump Cult need to step up to the plate and help them see we're on the Crazy Train headed toward Fascism. We do that by speaking up whenever we are given the opportunity. We can, we must be willing to have some uncomfortable conversations with the goal of helping our Democracy to survive. The world does not need another immoral dictator. <Rant Off> 

Until Next Wednesday.  ©

This, That and the First Debate

Remember the man who showed up at my door a few weeks ago to tell me about a food bank give away his church was holding, no questions asked for anyone in need? I think he and his wife have pegged me as their adopt-a-lonely-widow project. She showed up on my doorstep today from down the street and around the corner with a jar of rhubarb jam in hand and she apologized for not coming down sooner. Mind you, I couldn’t pick either one of them out of a lineup unless the lineup was held in front of their house. Levi and I have stopped to make small talk while out walking when they’re in their yard, but they’ve never been here before. We’ve both lived in the neighborhood for almost 20 years, hadn't even exchanged names, and it seems so weird that all of a sudden they seem to want to make friends. I wish I could shake the feeling that I’m being pitied. I keep wondering if I said something that made them want to reach out like they are apparently doing. “Ouch!” Yes, that’s me kicking myself in the butt. I do vaguely remember a conversation about the pandemic and lack of social contact.

This week I saw the physiatrist who tested me for carpel tunnel. I really didn’t know what a PM&R specialist does but Mr. Google had an answer to that question. It’s a doctor who “treats a wide variety of medical conditions affecting the brain, spinal cord, nerves, bones, joints, ligaments, muscles, and tendons.” After sticking little pads with wires coming out of them all over my fingers and wrist that were connected to a computer and sticking three inch long needles down into the muscles on my right arm he said I’ve got a mild case of carpel tunnel but nothing severe enough to be causing the needles-and-pins feelings I’m getting when I type. He promised to get the report to my bone doctor before my next appointment.

The doctor himself came out to usher me into his exam room and to take my insurance cards. When was the last time you’ve had that happen? I was probably in my early teens the last time I remember seeing a doctor without a receptionist. When was the last time you've heard hard rock blasted into a doctor's waiting room? Me---never until this appointment. He was an interesting guy to talk with. He asked about my prior surgeries and when I told him I’ve had both knee replacements and that it was the best gift I ever gave myself, he latched on to that bit of information. He wanted to know about my recovery and physical therapy afterward and I suspected he’s in the queue to get a new knee himself. I told him I followed my doctor and the PT’s directions to the letter of the law and my knees have never given me a bit of trouble 11 and 13 years out from the replacements. He said 70% of his patients don’t do their after surgery rehabs and he tells them they can’t expect a successful surgery if they don’t get with the program and put the work in.

Did you watch the first debate this week? It went like I expected it to go, Trump talking over Biden and the moderator, Biden a little too soft spoken by comparison. The debate format was set with fifteen minute segments per question where the candidates were supposed to each have two minutes to answer the question, then they'd have the remaining time for “open discussion.” To me, that format was just too loose and invited the hot mess the debate turned out to be. The powers in charge apparently agree and are looking for ways to give the moderator more control. Duh, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that more traditional rules for debates including timed rebuttal responses need to be put in place. But, of course, both candidates have to agree with any changes made and we have to wait and see if that happens.

The high point of the night (or rather the low point of the night) was when Chris Wallace, the moderator, asked if Trump would condemn White Supremacists and militia groups, and after some back and forth Trump said and I quote, “Proud Boys — stand back and stand by.” The next day the New York Times wrote this about the group: “Several civil rights groups have condemned the Proud Boys, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, which classifies them as a hate group, and the Anti-Defamation League, which refers to them as “hard-core white supremacists.” Yes, we officially have a White Supremacist in the Oval Office who on national TV gave the group reason to celebrate. The Proud Boys have been involved in causing trouble at recent protest marches and their website is full of calls for them to “stand by” at polling places. Stand by for what? Too many people of color trying to vote? Stand by like they did on the steps of the state capital in Michigan, armed to the teeth because they didn't want to wear a freaking mask? Trump isn’t using dog whistles anymore, he’s letting his support for white supremacy show to the entire world. We should all be embarrassed by that. I’m sorry, but nothing he might bring to the table that some would see as good for the country can outweigh his divisiveness. If he’s reelected we are going down for the count. ©

The day after the debate the Proud Boys added this logo to their websites and are already selling t-shirts and patches imprinted with the president's words. They are not ambiguous about what the president said. Yet the day after the debate my Trump supporting in-laws were defending him and are saying the media was twisting his words. They were conveniently leaving off the 'stand by' part of Trump's statement. Whatever it takes for them to sleep at night, I guess. 

 

NOTE: I wrote this post on Wednesday, the day after the debate but the news cycle has exploded since then with Trump flying off to the hospital because of Covid-19. I'm only surprised that it didn't happen sooner. I can only hope this is a wake-up call for the anti-maskers who Mr. Trump created in his image.

Overdue Visits and Scary People

Can you believe it, fall is just around the corner. The nights are getting cooler and the sidewalk chalk art is fading around the neighborhood. I guess all the kids got the memo that it’s time to redirect their energy into back-to-school mode…however that will look this year during the pandemic.  

For the first time in nearly a year I took an overdue trip to my niece’s cottage, wanting to get it in before her daughter goes back to school. My great niece teaches honors English to kids who really want to learn while her two sons are cared for by my niece turned-granny-nanny and her husband who are both retired teachers. I asked Niece #1 (I have two) how her daughter feels about going back to school, given the Covid-19 pandemic we’re living in, does the school she teaches in and where her son was supposed to start 1st grade have plans that feels safe and comfortable? "No! Not at all,” she answered. It seems the powers that be in their school district is a Republican who either doesn’t think the virus is a real threat or he don’t care. They aren't taking many of the same precautions other schools in the state doing. So Niece #1 will be doing online classes with her grandson and, she says, if her daughter so much as has the sniffles coming home from the high school she’ll keeping her two grandsons at her house instead of sending them home. Last January they all got extremely sick---my niece with a confirmed case of Covid-19---and she says they’re not going through that again!

Like all states in our union there is at least one county that is a hot bed for hate groups and both my nieces lives in one. Niece #1 was telling me about the local chapter of the Proud Boys which make themselves very visible. Look them up on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s website, where they track hate groups, and you'll find this introduction: “The Proud Boys are self-described ‘western chauvinists’ who adamantly deny any connection to the racist ‘alt-right,’ insisting they are simply a fraternal group spreading an ‘anti-political correctness’ and an ‘anti-white guilt’ agenda.”

My niece says they run around the area in groups of 12-14 pickup trucks that are decked out in gun racks and large American, Confederate and Trump flags, generally trying to intimidate others by the mire sight of them. They made the news last year when a black family was having a birthday party for little kids and the Proud Boys were racing back and forth in front of the house while the party was going on. And just last week they made the news again when they gathered in a college town causing counter-protesters to gather. A local news media wrote: “The group is listed as a hate group because of its frequent denigration of Muslims and Islam, misogynistic rhetoric, and its role as a gateway to other extremist groups.” You know where this is going, don’t you. Yes, our president thinks the Proud Boys have “some very fine people” in their numbers. And if you think that's the most outrageous endorsement he's made then you didn't see him at a press briefing this week saying nice things about QAnon, a group that spreads conspiracy crap and believes the Democratic party is full satanic pedophile cannibals. Yup, we literally eat aborted babies for breakfast. It would be funny if Jo Rae Perkins, a proud card-carrying QAnon member hadn't just won the Oregon Republican U.S. Senate primary and was praised by Trump.

Back to normalcy: My nieces have both grown into wonderful women, both have very different personalities and interests but they are close friends as well as sisters. They talk on the phone every day and hearing that made me long for the days when I had daily phone contact with someone I loved and who knew me as well as I know myself. It’s been years since I've had that kind of relationship in my life. Niece #2 was on vacation up north or she would have been at the cottage too. She's cornered the market on humor in our family and it's always fun to be around her.

I hate driving the expressway I have to take to get out to get to either niece’s home in the boondocks and as I was going through the infamous S-Curve through town it occurred to me that the number of times I’ll have to get on that expressway for the rest of my life can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Once I move I’ll never have to do it again and good riddance to that route out of the city because I don’t want to be one of those old people who drives thirty miles an hour under the speed limit while cursing drivers dart around me with their middle fingers in the air. As I told my niece, one of the things I like about moving is that when the time comes for me to give up driving, I’ll have a built-in back up plan in place. The continuum care campus will have a mini bus that will go to the grocery store weekly and a concierge service to help us arrange rides to doctor appointments. 

With any luck, I won’t have to give up driving for 6-7 years. But from the first time I sat behind the wheel of a car, I’ve hated driving so giving it up will not be the traumatic 'benchmark' for me as it is for others. For my brother…now that will be a different story. His first wild driving stunt happened when he was four and he took his tricycle at full speed off the end of the porch to a six foot drop below to a cement driveway. Picture Fonzie and Happy Days and that was the brother I grew up with---the stereotypical teen aged boy of the mid-'50s trying to look cool with the help of a pocket comb and pomade-enhanced greaser hair. He pushed the envelope on everything he ever drove: bikes, boats, snowmobiles, dune-buggies, cars and pickup trucks. I don't envy my nieces if/when the times comes when they have to ask their dad to hand over his car keys. ©

* That's my brother on his bike at the top.