Hey, remember that update I promised?

Now that I've expressed my absolute disdain for this administration and how things have been going, I went back and looked at my previous posts and came to realize that it had been over two years since my last post. In fact, my last post was about a situation we were dealing with at the time, a situation I promised an update on.

Then I didn't.

I'm an embarrassment, I know.

Let's recap the summer of 2023 though.

First off, GCX was amazing. I got hang out with my favorite people in the world, meet some of my favorite Destiny 2 creators, and created memories that will last a lifetime.

But prior to that, home life was a bit chaotic. We had been living in that apartment complex for 10 years at that point. We had no problems there, at least with management or maintenance. We kept to ourselves, and aside from a VERY cranky lady when we first moved in, largely had no issues with our neighbors. She was a bitch though. I'll never forgive her for some of the nonsense she put us through very early on.

The complex itself had been fine though. When we first moved in, it was a relatively small operation. A single woman worked the office and wasn't super particular about rules so long as people didn't cause too much trouble. Unfortunately, a larger company bought the complex and she ended up retiring shortly thereafter. Much of the maintenance staff turned over, and new people started working in the office. Things were still relatively tame, but the people who were living in the complex were becoming a bit more rowdy.

We were still left alone though. We had moved in with two dogs and two cats. There had been no issues there whatsoever (the complex even after the change largely didn't care about cats as long as they didn't cause damage) and while we had one incident where I forgot to pay the electric, we otherwise kept our noses clean.

But in early 2023, there was a seismic shift in how things were handled. The entire office staff was replaced with new people, in particular a very nasty woman who sneered at everyone she came in contact with. Almost immediately, you could tell they were trying to cause issues. One of the maintenance guys complained to me about how they were trying to skirt around various rules, going so far as to tell maintenance people to just walk in randomly even if notice hadn't been given.

It wasn't long before I noticed he was no longer around. I don't know if he quit or if he was fired, but given how he felt about how things were going, either reason wouldn't surprise me if we're being honest. I heard from a few residents that management had become very aggressive when it came to inspections and finding problems, so it wasn't that big of a surprise when they came knocking towards us.

It is important to note, they were justified in wanting to check us. Our light fixture had broken in the kitchen, but the night before my dog had eviscerated a piece of cardboard and left a massive mess in the kitchen that I just hadn't bothered to clean up yet. I had no idea they were coming that day, so he walked into a pretty significant mess. I apologized for it, but he apparently complained to the office manager, and she didn't need much reason to go after anyone.

Something we found out later is that they had been targeting anyone who'd been in the complex for an extended amount of time. People who had been living there for years were at the top of the list. Given we had passed over 10 years at the complex, they were losing out on the higher rent that they had started charging. Or at least that's how it seemed. If there's one thing about community, it's that people will start talking when they notice something's amiss. And people were talking at the complex.

In any case, they showed up, made note of a smell, and took issue with our one dog. To be clear, both dogs had been registered when we moved in. Both dogs were in the residential portal that we have no control over. Yet the office manager claimed they had no record of him and would documentation asap. They said they'd be back at a later date to follow-up on the issues.

Then they didn't show.

In fact, a couple of weeks went by before they decided to come back, this time while I was out of town. They then said the same thing, that the dog was not registered, that the apartment stunk, and we had I think a week to get it together. They then didn't come back for several days before finally leaving a notice on the door that they'd begin the eviction process soon.

At this point, we began to investigate options. We felt something was wrong about the whole situation, especially given during all of this, they gave us lease renewal paperwork, but we had to prove it. I started by asking a friend to look at all of our paperwork to make sure we weren't missing something, to make sure they weren't violating something. He immediately noticed a few things, which we made note of. The main thing was they weren't giving the proper 48 hour notice that's required under state regulations when it comes to low-income housing. They also failed to give us a 30-day grace period to fix whatever issue that they had. That alone felt like a victory.

It was also at this point we realized the resident portal aspect of the story. Both dogs were listed at the residence, something the office had to put in as residents don't have access to that portal. That meant someone somewhere at least had the documentation for our dogs. I still believe to this day that she looked at him, went back to the office, and destroyed the documentation. Much like this current administration though, she wasn't very smart and forgot that we could see the resident portal.

My roommate, who years ago was recommended to get the pets registered as Emotional Support Animals for her anxiety, remembered that she had submitted the letter to them years ago and they had never bothered to apply it to our rent (you can't be charged for pets under an ESA in the state of Ohio). She used the initial letter to register the cat, then she spoke to someone about the dogs and was able to register both dogs as well. We began gathering all of the relevant information and decided our best bet was to go above the office manager.

Then we went to pay our rent and realized that they had retroactively added years of pet rent fees to the amount due. One set was for the dog, who had been registered, the other was for Arbalest, our cat, who was now a problem even they had never cared about cats before (yes, I know legally it wouldn't stand up and I know we should've seen it coming, but it still sucked). Instead of paying rent online, which wasn't allowing us to just pay our normal rent, we decided to mail a check in and attach a detailed letter.

This letter pointed out the numerous times that our rights as a tenant had been violated. It pointed out the "loss" of our dog's registration even though he was in the residential portal. It pointed out that she had given the office a letter for an ESA 6 years ago that had never been applied. We came with details, we came with receipts, and then we waited.

About a week or so later, a new notice was posted on our door. It was an apology letter that the manager was clearly forced to write, but didn't want to write. The pet fees had been removed from our account and they were open to us renewing our lease if we so desired. We had been vindicated and felt a tremendous weight lift off of us.

But we were done there. We had been looking into other options the other time, and while options for animals were limited, all of our pets being covered as an ESA meant we had a lot more freedom than most.

We ultimately settled on an apartment complex that we had previously thought we'd never live in given how expensive it was. But we knew someone who lived here who said it was nice, we could afford it, and it would be much, much nicer than where we had been living. It was a very anxious period of time as we applied and waited for approval, but we were ultimately approved and moved in by the end of October 2023.

The previous complex wasn't done trying to hurt us though. As anyone who's lived in a rental knows, you put a deposit down. When you move out, they do an inspection, replace carpet, paint walls, and look for damage. They decided to hit us with around $2k worth of charges after we moved, but didn't itemize anything so we didn't know what they were charging us for. We asked for a list, but they decided to immediately send it to collections instead, which was a choice.

My roommate disputed it on her report, noting that they had only been given a couple of weeks to even consider paying for the charges. The collection was removed shortly thereafter and that was the end of our experience with that apartment complex.

We've been in the current place since, and while it isn't perfect (and is still quite expensive), it's comfortable, it's quiet, and they largely leave us alone. There's a pool that Kylie has greatly enjoyed in the summer, and it's relatively close to everything we need to get to. We've largely left the other place in the past, but I still think about it from time to time. I know we're not the only people they went after, and probably not the only people they screwed over.

And right now, I don't know what the future holds. There's still hope that the housing market will settle down and we can get a house, but that still seems very unlikely at this point. While we did get lucky with our rent increase this past year, I wouldn't be surprised to see a significant increase next time our renewal comes around (somewhere close to the fall). The reality is housing in this country, like most things, is out of control and the government has no interest in doing anything actually meaningful to help with it.

In any case, I promised an update, and while it's over two years late, I at least came through with it. I don't know how much writing I'll do going forward. My best friend has suggested I do this more and I don't disagree with her on that. It was my go-to back in the day when I needed to express feelings, but that was more because I never felt I could talk to anyone about anything. That's less of an issue these days, but could still fill a void when people aren't around for chatting.

The main thing I want to express to those renting is know your rights. Our previous complex tried to screw us over and I'm sure we weren't alone. We had the ability figure out and prove that what they were doing was wrong, but I can only imagine how many people were forced out because they didn't know. And while many of our government agencies have decided that following the law is optional, some still have a little iota of dignity. Not much, but at least a little bit.

That's the update and where things are at the moment. Now it's time for bed and to contemplate my next post, which may end up being about social media. I have a LOT of thoughts about that.

Until next time...

Stand for something or fall for anything

 It's wild to think how things have gone since the November 2024 election. It's also been wildly exhausting.

Just to save some of you from wasting too much time, let's get a few things clear before I get into the meat of what i want to say.

First, I'm not conservative. Not even a little bit. There's nothing with the conservative agenda I agree with. I believe women have the right to choose if they want to have a baby. I believe that all people have the right to live the life they choose to live. I'm not offended by pronouns, nor do I consider anyone's lifestyle choices offensive just because they exist. I believe in empathy, understanding, and helping others. If these things offend you, then I think you need to seriously take a step back and re-evaluate how you view life.

And that's not even all of it. But you get the gist of where I stand, and that's good enough. I'll clarify other positions as I get further into this, but I can't sit back and watch what's been happening and not at least express how I feel about it.

I'll admit it. I didn't think there was a chance Trump would get elected again. I didn't think the American people would stoop to that level again. I didn't even think he should've been able to run given he was a convicted felon. Most felons can't even apply for basic jobs in this country, but I guess it's okay to run for the highest office in the land and people are just like, "yeah, I'm okay with that."

I wasn't. I didn't vote for him the first time, or at any point. See, I already knew what kind of person Trump was. He, in my mind, epitomized the worst of the worst. A liar, misogynistic, bigoted, homophobic, transphobic, and racist. I didn't see him as a successful businessman. I saw him for what he really was: a con artist who was always looking for a quick, easy, and questionably legal way to make money. I thought all of this before I even knew about his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, which only made things worse because now he was also a pedophile.

It wasn't a difficult choice. Sure, Hilary Clinton was flawed, but she wasn't Trump, who was spending all of his time mocking any and everyone who didn't like him. I also knew, given how much men don't like women in charge, it was very possible Trump would win. The media was obsessed with the idea of him as a president, moreso because I think they saw it as the ultimate ratings bonanza. He already had a reputation as someone who would speak his mind freely, and a lot of the press saw an opportunity to absolutely feed off of it.

Naturally, he won and his presidency mostly consisted of him seeing how far he could push things, how much he could get away with. A lot of it rubbed people the wrong way, but enough liked it that it was feasible he'd win another election. He also from the jump made it clear he wasn't willing to say he'd hand over power peacefully, which should've been one of many, many giant warnings to everyone.

Then COVID happened. The world shut down from a pandemic unlike anything we'd seen in my lifetime. While many countries immediately did what seemed necessary, Trump was reluctant. He almost from the jump tried to downplay it, tried to avoid doing anything of any responsibility. The economy was one of the things he wanted to hang his hat on and he knew a shutdown would be devastating. Yet he relented to pressure and finally shut things down. He even kind of advocated for the vaccine when it was available, although he and many of his Republican cronies quickly changed their rhetoric.

The country found itself embroiled in turmoil. Conservatives railed against having to wear a piece of cloth, claiming it violated their rights. Social media became a haven for bad information spread by people simply angry because a store said wear a mask, or because their job said get the vaccine. People who knew NOTHING about modern medicine, who knew NOTHING about how viruses worked, suddenly professed knowledge they didn't have. And because so many people found their confirmation bias, they believed the lies. They believed that masks didn't work, that vaccines were poison. They protested relentlessly, often threatening violence if policies weren't changed. Videos of mostly white people went viral as they claimed their rights were being violated (they weren't) all because they didn't get their way.

Compounding things was the death of George Floyd, who was brutally murdered by a police officer over what amounted to be a petty crime. People of color, who had continued to endure years of being treated as substandard citizens, finally had enough and demanded change. The Black Lives Matter movement took off in the midst of COVID and added to the rage that was already at a palpable level. It was a pretty awful time all the way through and through, and Trump's inability to handle any of it in an even minorly presidential way ended up being his downfall.

In November of 2020, Joe Biden won the next presidential election, yet all you heard from Trump was that it was rigged. Even now, 5 plus years later, he still continues to try and insist he won the election, this despite not being able to provide any credible evidence of any sort to prove that any fraud took place. This led to the next watershed moment, another one that should've sealed the deal permanently. A large contingent of MAGA voters, convinced and egged on by Trump, descended on the Capitol and started wreaking havoc. They damaged buildings, hurt Capitol police officers (so much for being the party of law and order), and went looking for members of Congress in what felt like an attempt to hurt and/or kill. Trump refused to initially call for them to back off, and instead sought to inflame the situation.

We'd later learn that Trump and his allies made several attempts to try and subvert the results, including calling state officials to try and persuade them to not certify the results in Biden's favor.

That should've been the end of it. That should've ended Trump's political career. Instead, he was given another chance when the Biden Administration failed to pursue things as far as they could've. This would prove to be a catastrophic mistake, as were many other things during Biden's time in office. Instead of Trump ending up in jail (he stole classified documents after all), he was able to evade jail time and the Biden administration ultimately went easy on him and his allies.

Which leads us to how we ended up here today, a couple of days after yet another American citizen was gunned down by ICE agents in Minnesota, marking the third death at the hands of an agency that ultimately has little to no authority legally over US citizens. Even worse is the blatant lying the administration has resorted to in order to try and portray the victims in a horrific light.

It's important to highlight that because I still see so many people defying what video shows in order to paint a narrative that simply isn't true. It isn't surprising, after all this administration has largely operated on falsehoods, illegal actions, and compromising people's rights in order to justify what they've wanted to do. They've made it okay to lie about what happened, even if there's video evidence that shows they're lying.

It has felt for months we've been on the precipice of a powder keg moment, where something finally snaps and all hell breaks loose. People on one side are frustrated with the corruption that's out in the open, while people on the other side are okay with it so long as they feel it will benefit them in some capacity (even if it doesn't). And on January 24th, we moved even closer to that moment.

Alex Pretti was shot and killed by multiple ICE agents, seemingly all because he helped a woman who they had decided to try and push around. While he had a gun on him, he was legally carrying it and had not showed it, contrary to what DHS and MAGA influencers have tried to claim. There's not a single photo, not a single frame of any video that shows him pulling a gun out on ICE, yet in the aftermath, both Kristy Noem and Greg Bovino tried to claim he had done so. He had his phone out, doing what he constitutional protected to do in being a legal observer, but he was not aggressive towards them.

It's pretty clear that ICE, like with Renee Good not too long ago, doesn't like when women are in their way. Alex did what any DECENT human being does and tried to intervene. For his trouble, he was immediately hit with pepper spray at point-blank range, thrown to the ground, then executed in broad daylight. Yes, I'm calling it what it was: an execution. He dared defend a woman, and ICE took it personally. Same as when Renee Good refused to be afraid of them.

While there was one video of Good's death that could, in a very weak manner, possibly show her try to hit the ICE agent, there are several other angles that show the exact opposite and proved that she in fact, wasn't trying to hit him, but get away from him. This led to many conservative pundits claim that the shooter was justified, but that conflicted with DHS rules, and frankly every form of law enforcement that says you don't shoot at a moving vehicle. Worse, the shooter muttered "Fucking bitch" after her vehicle sped away, which isn't exactly going to sound good to any rational person. Those aren't the words of someone who was fighting for their life, but rather someone who was pissed that someone dared defy him.

Except he had no authority over her. He had no right to try and force her out of her vehicle. She wasn't a suspected immigrant, she wasn't impeding him, nor was she aggressive towards him.

I want to reiterate this again: ICE has little authority over US citizens. There are some extreme circumstances where they can order people, but this was not that moment. However, this administration has repeatedly made it clear that it doesn't care about the law, the constitution, or people's rights in general. They've given these agents liberty to act with power they don't actually have. Renee Good died because an ICE agent wanted to control an American and she didn't cower before him. He's a murderer, yet they whisked him away and took all the evidence to prevent the local authorities from being able to investigate.

Does that sound like how law enforcement should work?

Alex was even worse. While you could weakly argue Renee's death from one poor quality angle (one that some influencers sped up to make it look worse), there's no arguing this. He didn't brandish a weapon. He was trying to help someone that ICE was abusing.

They executed him to try and make another point.

Let's also clear up some other points that conservatives have tried to make since they're grasping at anything to justify what happened.

This wasn't a protest, so the whole "why would you bring a gun to a protest" argument is already weak. Then there's the whole Kyle Rittenhouse thing, where he crossed state lines to show up at a BLM protest and actually killed people, but was considered a hero (crazy that racist white people would prop up a racist white boy for killing POCs, but I digress). Never mind that it isn't actually illegal to bring a gun to a protest. Otherwise half of MAGA should've been arrested during COVID for showing up at government buildings with AR-15's strapped to their chests over a mask.

Yes, you're a hypocrite if you think Alex was doing something wrong. No, you won't convince me otherwise.

Some have tried to insist he showed the gun, but the gun never left his holster until one of the ICE agents yoinked it off of him. In fact, this feels pretty blatantly like the reason they decided it was okay to unload on him, as in a video, you can hear someone yell "GUN!" right before the shots ring out. But he never brought it out. Near as I can tell, they didn't ask him about it. They just were pissed he helped someone out, tackled him, saw the gun, and said "that's good enough a reason to shoot him."

But it isn't. He was legally carrying it. They escalated the situation, then tried to make him a scapegoat.

The administration has failed to spin this effectively though, largely because most of them don't seem to know when they've said too much. Kash Patel, the head of the FBI, tried to say it was illegal to carry a gun to a protest (it isn't). Trump himself said only criminals carry guns in the streets (an affront to EVERY supporter of the second amendment, of which most of MAGA is). They labeled him a domestic terrorist, much like they did with Renee, but it backfired. Some tried to claim he had a criminal record, a tactic they tried with Renee as well, although this was immediately refuted. In short, they did everything possible to make him the bad guy.

He wasn't.

Instead, it was revealed he was an ICU nurse for the local VA. He was beloved by his coworkers, many of whom took to social media to share how much he had cared about them. His parents also released a statement directly refuting everything the administration was trying to say.

And it worked. Some on the right start to fold a bit, conceding this was a step too far. Democrats promised to squash the spending bill that was coming their way. Bovino, who argued with people on social media in the aftermath, was relieved of his duty as of this writing. And while the problems aren't solved, it's a positive step.

Here's the thing though, I'm not just trying to relay what happened, I'm here to relay how I feel about it.

I'm angry. I'm hurt. I'm saddened. I'm sickened. This is the United States of America. This has always been a place where people were promised a new life, and yet this administration seems determined to destroy that in every capacity. People who are just trying to get a fresh start are being deported just because they have brown skin. It's an ethnic cleansing, yet many are afraid to say that. They're afraid to say it's fascism, even if that's what it clearly is. And the problems stem from the fact that too many people in this country are intolerant, unable to accept people that are different from them, whether it be ethnically, sexuality, or gender. There's a large swath of White America that thinks we need to go back to when slavery was around, women couldn't vote, and men controlled everything.

I've watched this administration do all sorts of horrific things. Tariffs on products to "punish" countries that don't do as Trump says, yet those tariffs hurt us, Americans. Yet so many conservatives praise them as the prices of everything continues to go up. Y'all screamed about the price of eggs, then put someone in office who decided to screw us all over. I know that it was easy to yell "Fuck Biden," but the reality was the economy was trending in a good direction. Y'all just didn't care because you wanted to be able to yell slurs at people. The president lies to you about the costs of products and you slurp it up because he says mean things that you think are funny and want to say yourself.

They ravaged healthcare, not because they wanted to improve it, but wanted to hurt you further. Measles, a disease that had largely been erased from this country, has been resurgent because y'all are scared of needles and drugs with fancy names. Millions saw their healthcare prices skyrocket because you elected people who'd rather see you suffer than offer up a better system than ACA (Obama-care for the people too dense to realize that). Medicaid recipients saw their benefits slashed or eliminated because they convinced you that people on welfare were stealing from you (while billionaire CEOs continue to steal money from you and you shrug your shoulders).

Then there's the immigration policy. Trump convinced y'all that they were only going to go after the worst of the worst, the criminals. Then they didn't. They went after workers, people who were here legally, people in the process of trying to become citizens, people who were born here, and children. And every step of the way, they lied about the people they were picking up. They argued (incorrectly) that due process didn't apply to "illegals," a term they love to use to scare you because it works. You're scared of something that isn't a problem, at least not to the magnitude they want you to believe. But you don't care, because you yourself are racist. You see people with brown skin and accents being removed from your neighborhood and you cheer. Because you're afraid.

Because you're a coward.

Most recently, the kidnapped a 5 year-old kid, took him to his home, and used him as bait to get his parents to come out so they could be arrested. People who were legally here. The kid was sent to a camp in Texas and still hasn't been returned as of this writing. It's disgusting and if you're okay with this, YOU'RE disgusting. YOU are the worst of the worst.

And here's the thing: this is when I HOPE Heaven and Hell are real because I know exactly where people who agree with this are going. Spoiler: it isn't heaven. You will burn and you'll be left wondering where you went wrong.

The entirety of this immigration policy hasn't been to eliminate criminals. It's an ethnic cleansing that will eventually transition to removing people who don't agree with Trump. He's already expressed a desire to strip people of their citizenship if they say mean things about him.

Really would love to know where all you first amendment people went to by the way. You know, the ones who screamed about their rights when they weren't being violated, yet are being awfully quiet when multiple amendments to the constitution have been repeatedly violated.

I know the answer though. It's never been about right or wrong with you guys. It's always been about what you want to say, how you want to live, and control over how others live. It's why you care about who's getting an abortion even if you don't know the person. And pro-life? Get the fuck out of here with that. You don't care about life. You certainly don't care about children, otherwise you would've done whatever's necessary to stop school shootings.

This has been made even more clear by how quickly some of you decided the Epstein Files were no longer important. The moment that it was abundantly clear Trump was all over the files, you stopped caring. Some even suggested pedophilia wasn't actually that bad. Because you NEVER CARED ABOUT CHILDREN.

NEVER.

So here we sit, at the edge of a potential precipice. On one hand, some of you could actually develop a conscience and actually do the right thing. You could realize that what's happening isn't right and step up. Our elected members of Congress could stop being useless subverts and put an end to all of this. We come out with a chance to turn things around, repair relationships with the rest of the world, and fix the damage that's been done (I've only mentioned a fraction of the things this corrupt administration has done).

Or we tip the other way. Civil War breaks out and millions die. MAGA finds out the hard way that they aren't the only ones who own and know how to use a gun, but it doesn't matter because people on both sides are massacred. Many of you clearly didn't pay attention when the last Civil War was taught. Our bloodiest war wasn't a world war, it wasn't the American Revolution. It was the Civil War, and it wasn't even close. Yet some of you fantasize about that because you think you'll just walk all over people because of a false assumption.

Many of you would happily subject your own children to the horrors of war if it meant owning the Libs, which says an awful lot about what kind of person you are.

I truly hope that isn't where things go though. I already have to have pretty damn difficult talks with my daughter (why are so many people trying to take her rights away, why are women treated as inferior, why are so many people angry at so many people they don't know just because of lifestyle choices?). I should be talking about puberty, her period, potential relationships, and how to navigate into her late teens/early 20's.

Instead I have to explain why masked men are jumping out of vehicles to kidnap people off the street just because they look different. I have to explain why despite us passing the legalization of abortion in this state, our representatives keep trying to undo it. I have to explain why so many people are evil just because they are.

I'm tired. I don't even like writing this, but I'm tired of watching people treat other people like shit just because they can. Who cares if someone is gay? Who cares if someone wants an abortion? Who cares what book someone is reading? Why are you so hung up on what other people are doing in their private lives that you feel the need to try and force them to stop?

Here's another reality: you can't avoid being political.  You can't just bury your head in the sand and hope it goes away. You have to stand up for something, even if it's doing something little. We can't "return to normal" by just sitting on our hands and hoping our government leaders do the right thing. We already know they won't. This administration has proven time and time again they will break the law, ignore judges, and do what they want unless someone actually stops them.

It should make you uncomfortable. It should prompt to rethink what you've been doing. If you look at what's happening and think "yeah, I'm okay with this," then you're on the wrong side of history. You're on the same side as Nazis, which I know you don't like being called (but the shoe clearly fits), but it's the reality. This it the same playbook Nazi Germany used to try and eradicate the Jews. I know you didn't pay attention in history class, but it's all there for you to catch up on.

Secretly, or not so secretly for some of you, you're okay with this. As I said earlier, you're likely racist, homophobic, transphobic, and so on. You think straight white is the only way to go and you don't care what happens to anyone else. And if that bothers you, ask yourself why it bothers you.

Some of you need the introspection.

I'm sure some will get mad at this. Some will detest me. I wouldn't be surprised to find some people I know don't agree with me. I've already removed some people from my various circles because it was clear they supported this regime and the crimes it's been committing.

So, to be clear, I do NOT support Trump or his cronies. This is easily the most corrupt administration I've ever seen. I think it puts what Nixon did to shame. ICE is a government-sanctioned police force that's been given liberty to violate our rights in multiple ways with no repercussions. You can either wise-up and grow a backbone, or you'll watch as we fall further and further into demise.

The choices is yours: stand up for something, or fall for anything.