Monsoons and some more politics...

by Rain Trueax

The monsoon season started in early June but then disappeared until this week when it returned with the thunder, lightning, and sporadic rains. We got a good rain from one of the storms, but the one with the most lightning only gave us a little. Both had come at night. One brought strong winds but worse other places than here as in knocked out power for 600+ homes. That's a concern when the temps are over 105ºF and why we have a small generator and a room a/c unit. Knowing such things happen when you live on a farm tends  to make you be prepared.  The room a/c wouldn't do much for the whole house but would let us sleep at night :).

What I love about these storms is their energy. It's nice when they come with heavy rains but then desert dwellers know they have to be wary of the roads that dip into washes. Regularly people drown in such storms. I used one in my contemporary romance, Desert Inferno, as a threat to the hero and heroine as they were on foot in the desert wilderness. 

Here's what you can run into with these 'dry' washes in the monsoon season. Cañada del Oro Wash. It is worse this year after the horrific fire.

Ahead some political (maybe that's what it is or is it cultural???); so fair warning  

I read a lot of newspaper and magazine articles. Right now, I only read free ones as I can't decide which newspaper would have unbiased stories. Sure not going to read the far right like WND or BritBart (if that's spelled right) but depending on the NYTimes to be unbiased is also a bridge too far for me. I used to read it before 2016 which was when I saw how it was treating Bernie Sanders when he wanted to be the nominee. The title would say one thing and the article something different but it might take 6 pages in to get the statement that the title was what they 'thought' was true with no proof.  How many read that far into stories?

So, I use sources like Politico or The Hill as well as Intercept or Vox. I generally read some of the UKMail and The Guardian. I trust little of what I read unless I can find the info other places. Our world today is full of information... just not all of it is true and a lot is opinion presented as fact.


Some of it amuses me. Like the tell-all by the President's niece, who clearly hates him even though there is a photo of her with a big smile sitting behind the resolute desk in 2017. Maybe her hate grew from his policies. I figured the ones buying it would be those already living with disdain for him, and so far I am proven right. They buy these books assuming they must be true. Must they? Either way, they turned her book into a number one bestseller, which was no surprise.

Actually, I don't read family tearing apart memoirs like that, not about celebs or political figures. There are two reasons. One, I don't want hate in my life. Two, how do I know it's true. If someone hates a family member, they might remember things in a way that suits that hate. In the case of this memoir, there are those who have already denied parts of it. That will not be something the gossip buying public will care about. This one is there to feed their own emotions. I also won't read reviews of the book except by pros as I don't need the negativity. I also don't give ratings to those kinds of documentaries. I have read a couple of reviews of this book but were they unbiased? I have no idea.

I will read biographies of past leaders if enough time has passed :). In a time such as ours though, I won't be alive when enough time has passed.

This is kind of political too, I guess, that a writer for the liberal NYTimes quit because she felt she was being bullied for not being left enough. Andrew Sullivan is leaving his New York magazines because he said that they didn't want him to write about things like the demonstrations that have often evolved into riots. I saw a later article where he said other writers at that magazine said his writing what he did harmed them... I can only name this Snowflakes get rid of alternative view. It's not what the paper titled it. lol

A city important in my life, Portland, Oregon, is having ongoing demonstrations that can turn violent where demonstrators have come from other states to stir this up and so far the mayor doesn't seem to want total control. Will he allow an autonomous zone in downtown Portland? I think those coming to join locals saw Portland as an easy mark since Antifa has had other violent protests there without consequences. And by violent, I mean throwing things, destroying monuments, blocking roads to anybody but themselves, and shouting insults, basically taking over an area. It's supposed to be about black lives matter, except did you watch the videos. Almost all are white.

One night, I had a dream where a group had come to the farm where I lived (didn't look like our farm) and told me basically they could take what they wanted. They asked where our guns were. I picked up mine to try to get them to stop and woke up before I saw if it worked.

Without police, who do you call when things turn violent? I know some say that defund the police doesn't mean take away all their funds. That's not what one so-called democratic socialist said in an interview when she wanted all the money gone. She's going to be a major advisor to one Presidential candidate, or so he claims, if he wins. Since she had some pretty extreme ideas on like vehicles, airplanes, etc., who knows how much he'll adapt.

Think about taking away all fracking. Where do you buy gasoline or do they want you to buy it? How about heating your home? The left has gone farther left as it appears to be what they believe the public wants and that includes taking people's guns or making them harder to buy. One proposal would make those who already own guns to get a federal license. It doesn't sound like it'd take long to go to confiscation from the law abiding. Those not law abiding, of course, won't be registering.

I hear some lefties say-- they'll never do it. Well, Trump did what he said he'd do. Why don't we assume the dems will also-- especially if they get both Houses and the Presidency. I hope that Americans pay attention to what is said they want to do-- as it just might be they will. Vote on that and not personalities as it could change everything as we know it.

Finally, the violence around the country is not humorous to me. It's all supposedly began because of George Floyd's death as well as police abuses-- except when the deaths are black children at black hands, what do you hear from BLM? Who goes out protesting? What do you hear from self-named Progressives? I am not sure what it is, but it is upsetting to me what has happened in Portland, Oregon, an important city in my growing up years.

I remember as a child playing hide and seek at night with my male cousins and brother in Peninsula Park where our mothers were the security and our fathers were back in my aunt and uncle's home nearby-- playing cribbage. Think about it-- running around in the dark in a rose garden and no fear of violence.

Then growing up I had times in downtown Portland until finally when I was college age, I went to school there taking a public bus. It's where I met my husband. Yes, there was danger potentially, but it was random violence, nothing like what is happening now with a city that I'd be leery of driving into because who knows what streets are blocked or where you might run into protestors who would beat your vehicle with a club. And it's all about racial unfairness or is it?

Here's a link about some of what is happening as a group wants to establish an autonomous zone, like what Seattle tried to do. Is this really the America we want? Portland riots. If we don't, what can we do about it? Our daughter told us today that they didn't want to drive I-5 near Roseburg as someone is shooting at trucks and cars. Seriously, what is going on with this rising rage???

Update: So for a while, the mainstream media had nothing on the Portland fires and looting as part of the protests. Now it's making the news and guess why-- because some federal troops pulled people off the street like supposedly Venezuela and that's a sign that that whole administration wants to go that way. Well, one man has been telling his story. He had left the demonstrations and a plain-marked car had unidentified men in camo gear grab him and take him back to the Federal Courthouse to question him before they let him go. He didn't have any idea why but said he was wearing all black like Antifa famously does. He claimed he'd been peacefully demonstrating and was just walking home at like 2 am. All might be true, but why wear all black to such  demonstration unless you want to be linked to Antifa on the one hand and not on the other. There are other colors to wear. But to make Americans fearful that innocent people are disappearing off the streets, it suddenly has interested the mainstream media. IF we were like China, he'd still be in a cell or sent to a gulag if in Russia. The mayor of Portland claims that federal troops are the cause of why it's turning violent. Guess he forgot the burning and looting of black businesses some weeks back... conveniently forgot. And sadly, how many Americans only hear one side of anything. The other side is that the officers said when people are throwing things at them-- bricks, bottles filled with urine or feces, etc. it's often impossible to go into the already stirred up crowd; so they try to get them later. If that happened, the one they got sure won't be admitting it. The story is too good his way.