Not Surprised...just really angry.

  I think what is angering me the most, outside of you know…all the stuff that Trump has done in the last year, is that I’m not even surprised. That’s what this has come to…it’s not surprising. It’s alarming, it’s terrible, it should absolutely not be happening, but it’s not as if I can’t believe it’s happening. Not after everything that’s been going on.     

     This isn’t a Nevertheless. It’s not about my writing. Honestly, it’s not even about politics. It’s about being pissed off and completely and totally fed up with this crap.  ICE is still in Chicago, even though they are supposed to be leaving, but thank the higher power that the judges have finally started regulating that, I suppose. They are still a hate group. And just to let you all know, one was arrested in Minnesota in a sting operation to catch pedophiles. When he was arrested, he told them, “But, I’m with ICE.” Okay, so you are a bigot, a pedophile, and I hope you rot in hell for eternity. There’s really nothing else to say to you. ICE is also now in Charlotte, North Carolina, where kids are afraid to go to school, which, by the way, the Department of Education is also being dismantled. But we don’t seem to be able to notice that because of all the other crap that is going on. 

    The Epstein files are finally going to be released…hopefully. And no, those are not a hoax. Those are not made up. To call them such is an insult to the victims who have already suffered so much. And in those 20k pages, there are several things that stick out, things that need to be addressed, but I’m going to ask one question. Just one. Epstein was the scum of the earth. He was evil. What he did to people, children, young girls, women, what he did was absolutely abhorrent, and as far as I am concerned, there is no punishment great enough for him in the afterlife. He hated Donald Trump. It’s obvious from the emails and the way he talks about him. Now, how awful do you have to be for someone that awful to hate you? Not just hate you, but call you evil and murderous? Think about that for a second. Let it sink in. Epstein…a terrible person. He thought Trump was evil. That should tell you all you need to know. But clearly, it does not. Not for some people, apparently. Or they just have no empathy and compassion for the victims of Trump and Epstein. And yeah, I said Trump, too. He’s a convicted rapist. He was involved with Epstein. There’s no way he didn’t have a hand in all that. If you truly believe he wasn’t involved, clearly you aren’t paying attention.

Then, there is the whole “Quiet Quiet Piggy.” Bro, as a woman, I just want to say ‘fuck all the way off.’ And then I want to draw attention to the fact that this was a moment that, from what I have seen on social media, triggered so many women. Because it’s the moment he went from just a regular asshole to the abusive asshole we all know he really is, but he actually let it be seen. And because a woman asked him a question, he didn’t like it. This wasn’t condensation towards a female journalist; this was an actual attack on someone because he wanted to put her in what he believes is her place. God forbid anyone ask him an uncomfortable question, and a woman at that. Except, women are those pushing back against him. After this incident, Mary Bruce, a reporter for ABC News, asked a question at the White House that he didn’t like, and he called her network “Fake News. One of the worst.” Are you ready to hear the question he didn’t like, while he was sitting next to his good friend, Mohammed bin Salman (more on that wtf-ism in a moment), the crown prince of Saudi Arabia? 

“Is it appropriate, Mr. President, for your family to be doing business in Saudi Arabia while you’re president? Is that a conflict of interest? And, your royal highness, the US intelligence community) concluded you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist. 9/11 families are furious that you are here in the Oval Office. Why should Americans trust you? And the same to you, Mr. President.”

Trump didn’t let her finish; he tried to talk over her, but Mary Bruce, like the amazing woman and reporter she is, finished her question before answering where she worked. Trump then threatened ABC’s broadcasting license…again. For actual reporting. Because someone was brave enough to stand up to him. Also, he said, 

“You start off with a man who is highly respected, asking him a horrible, insubordinate, and just a terrible question. And you could even ask that same question nicely.”

Okay, now, let’s back the fuck up here (today’s blog is full of swearing, but I am livid). He just said she should have asked the question “nicely.” The hell does he want? A Please? No! Absolutely not. Because this man, whom Donald Trump went on to defend, is Salman. From NPR:

"You're mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial," Trump said, referring to Khashoggi. "A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen, but he knew nothing about it. And would you leave it at that? You don't have to embarrass our guest by asking a question.”

It doesn’t matter how controversial Khashoggi was. What matters is that he was murdered by the Saudi government in 2018. The operation was greenlit, according to the CIA, by Trump’s new bestie, the crown prince. You know the same guy and government who was also a supporter of the terrorists who crashed planes into the Twin Towers and Pentagon on 9/11. Oh, and I forgot to mention, Trump just sold them war planes. Because he’s a fucking idiot, and most of those MAGAs who are still one hundred percent behind him were singing God Bless America the loudest. 

  

  And don’t get me wrong. I’m not a fan of George W. Bush or the War on Terrorism or any of that. My emo phase started with Green Day’s American Idiot, and you can pretty much track my journey to what is now termed “Antifa” or whatever, from there. But I watched those towers fall. And I’m only thirty-five. This isn’t like it was Pearl Harbor. It happened 25 years ago next year. Don’t be bitching about New York electing their new mayor, who had nothing to do with the attacks or the terrorists who supported them, who is a genuinely good person, and then turn around and say this is okay. Because you can’t.

    If all this wasn’t bad enough, on his stupid ass Truth Social, which has zero truth, by the way, he’s calling for the death of his political opponents. Why is this okay? Why was he not impeached TODAY? Why was he not removed from office today? We can’t keep following the proper procedure and protocol with this. Trump is dangerous. It’s only a matter of time before he gets someone killed. 

    I can’t…I walked away for an hour from writing this to try to calm myself down and see if I could do it without swearing, but no. Fucking hell, this is insane. I’m not surprised it’s happening, and that in itself is a problem. If you aren’t upset, that is a problem. Letting this continue is a problem. And I’m sick of waking up every morning worrying about what the hell the idiot has done now. That’s it. That’s the blog. I don’t even want to type up a conclusion because I’ve said everything I need to say. The rest is up to you to take away from this rant whatever you want. Hopefully, it’s a desire to see less of this awful mess, but I can’t tell you what to think.

Sources:

Bauder, David. “Trump Attacks ABC Reporter in Response to Khashoggi Question.” AP News, 18 Nov. 2025, apnews.com/article/media-trump-saudi-arabia-epstein-khashoggi-mbs-6cb0300433689c914250e475c4ae8483.

Grynbaum, Michael M. “Trump Berates Mary Bruce of ABC News after Question about Jamal Khashoggi.” The New York Times, 18 Nov. 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/business/media/trump-reporter-khashoggi-saudis.html.

Myre, Greg, et al. “U.S. Intelligence: Saudi Crown Prince Approved Operation to Kill Jamal Khashoggi.” NPR.org, 26 Feb. 2021, www.npr.org/2021/02/25/971215788/biden-administration-poised-to-release-report-on-killing-of-jamal-khashoggi.

“Trump Defends Saudi Crown Prince over Question about Killing of Khashoggi.” NPR, 18 Nov. 2025, www.npr.org/2025/11/18/nx-s1-5612504/trump-saudi-arabia-mbs-khashoggi.

Ending My Relationship with the Goodreads Reading Challenge

 It is November…and I’m probably not going to finish my Goodreads goal. A goal that I had already changed once from its normal 100 to 80. And I have to keep reminding myself that that’s okay. It’s not that I couldn’t finish it if I really wanted to, because all it would take is finding a new Manga series that I get hooked on, but I’m going to be honest with you, nothing’s really peaking my interest in that department right now. In a sense, the reading challenge isn’t a challenge anymore. Not for someone who enjoys reading. It’s become another example for me of how everything has to be a competition or a sport. We are always comparing ourselves to each other or trying to achieve some pinnacle of something in our own minds, and it sucks the joy out of everything.  

I’m writing this on election day, which is a weird thing to think about. The entire country is in turmoil, and I’m talking about a reading challenge, but they aren’t completely separate. Let me start this by saying that I am, by nature, an extremely competitive person. Like, to the point where I won’t try certain things if I know I’ll lose. It serves me well in some areas. When I did NaNoWriMo to write Welcome to Chicago, it worked out great. There were benchmarks to make, and like hell was I going to miss one. It’s also going to get me a speeding ticket one of these days as I attempt to beat the time that the GPS originally set for reaching my destination (I will shave off those last five minutes, darn it). But in other ways, in a lot of ways, it’s detrimental not just to me but to everyone around me. I’m unhappy because I’m not meeting some invisible goal line that either I set for myself or someone that I have compared myself to hit, whether it be at the gym or on social media, in parenting, writing, reading, whatever, if I am feel like I am doing a terrible job from I am comparing myself to others I’m going to be a grouch. 

Politics has become another competition for most of the country, it’s treated like a sport. Just pulling up my Google news brings up, “Can Democrats mount a comeback? Look to Tuesday’s elections for clues.” (Politico), or “How each party wins Tuesday’s elections” (The Hill). And it’s not just the news doing it, this is coming from the government itself as well, which I guess is what happens when the president can’t differentiate his reality show past from the fact that he has actual people’s lives in his hands. From another Politico headline today, it’s clear that it’s all about him winning and losing and not at all what’s best for the people that he is hurting with his horrid decisions: “Trump urges Republicans to kill filibuster, warning they’ll lose if they don’t.” 

When a Hiroshima survivor is in Chicago, reminding us that nuclear bombs are bad, because apparently we don’t remember when our forbearers wreaked havoc on Japan with two nuclear bombs in a war that they had already pretty much won, we need to stop and ask ourselves, when did this get so out of hand? And why is winning and losing so much more important to the people in charge (on both sides, though really, when the choice is lose your healthcare or lose food…well, the side that has the power to give people food and healthcare needs to step the hell up). Which brings me back to my point about the Goodreads reading challenge. 

This year, I focused more on learning and growing, and reading books that I enjoyed and spending time with them to relax, because the world is a damn mess. I went from reading 303 books in 2023 to maybe eighty at the end of this year. And that’s okay, because I’m also trying to make the world a better place. I’m working to teach my son not just his second grade curriculum, but right from wrong, how to treat others, because that’s not something we stop doing when they’re four. It’s a lifelong journey and reading, as long as we don’t suck the fun out of it like we do everything else, can help with that. Life shouldn't be a competition, life should be fun and making the world better for everyone, so everyone can have food and healthcare, regardless of what political party is in power, because we’ve been here before, a little under a hundred years ago actually, we need to stop thinking about who is the best and thinking about how we can provide the best help to those who have less than us.