Go ahead, be offended.

(I don't know where I got this picture, but thank you to whoever made it.)

I've been trying very hard to be tolerant and ignore the hypocrisy and the hate that's been floating around the internet and even on the news media, but my patience is getting very thin and maybe my skin is thinning a little around the edges too.

I have to speak up or I'm part of the problem. So at the risk of stirring a rancid pot I'm going to tell you what I think. I'm not holding it in any longer. Maybe I'm setting myself up for crucifixion here but I'm tire of being afraid to speak out. I know some of my friends will disagree and maybe even be offended by this, but if they can offend me and think they are righteously justified then maybe they can view this in the same light.

To start off with, this is the meme that got under my thinning skin this morning.

It starts out trying to sound like it's tolerant and caring but then it stabs me in the gut. 

By implication, if I voted for Trump, I'm racist, anti woman, a bully, cruel, disgusting, and someone who would insult a disabled person (my father only had one arm, believe me I would never insult a disabled person). Oh, and because I'm so "deplorable" I don't deserve to be considered a friend anymore. 

I won't even go into how grossly immature this is but I'll move on to the real issues here.

I don't claim that President Elect Trump is a perfect person. Yes, he is sometimes crass, a womanizer, tactless, blunt to the point of offense, and he has a hard time holding in his anger. However, some of those weaknesses are also his strengths. He says what he thinks regardless of what others think, and he says it publicly. In other words, he's totally honest weather you like it or not.

In contrast, Hillary Clinton smiles to your face and appears to be on your side but behind the scenes she has been caught on camera and in emails saying things that are every bit as racial, cruel, anti woman, and in fact far worse than anything Trump ever said, but the media gloss those things over and spin it to make her out to be some sort of worship worthy entity. This doesn't mean she is a better person, only that she is better at keeping it to herself, hidden. In other words, she is a better liar.

You scream about President Elect Trump's attitude towards women. But do you think that he would have stood aside while his spouse had affairs in the white house office and not publicly denounced it? No, he would have kicked the cheater out. What does it say about a woman who sides with a man who not only publicly betrayed her but also diminished the office of president? Is that a woman who respects women? She doesn't even respect herself.

Let me tell you another reason I voted for Trump, and it's a big one. I voted for our next president because he loves this country. He stands up for the good in this country. He's proud to be an American, even with it's faults. I can not say this about President Obama. Obama never loved this country. Even when he tried to sound like he did, in his speeches, it always came out as a backhanded stab. To him this country had to be changed. America had to bend to fit his personal agenda along with whatever popular minority is politically correct today. He did more to undermine the constitution and divide this country than he ever did to build it.

So yes, I voted for the man who loves this country and is willing to work for all the people of this country even when they hate him and stab him in the back. I voted for the man who married a legal immigrant. I voted for the man who hires people from all walks of life and is now appointing the same diversity of people to his cabinet, not because they fit his quota of minorities but because he truly believes they can do the jobs that need to be done to bring our country back to greatness. I voted for a man who's not afraid to say Merry Christmas, who's not so busy trying to be politically correct that he's crippled himself and the entire nation with fear of offense. Yeah, I'm tired of being afraid to be honest.

Okay, now I'm really ranting. You call Trump a racist? What do think a racist is? A racist is someone who puts one group of people above another. A racist is someone who spouts black lives matter but it's okay to kill a policeman, especially if he's white. A racist is someone who wants everyone to kiss their poor offended bum because of something that happened to an ancestor, or maybe just someone who happened to have the same color of skin as their's a hundred years ago.
President Lincoln gave us equality after the civil war. Martin Luther King made it even better. What have you done today to take advantage of that gift? If you want me to treat you as an equal then act like an equal, not a poor put upon victim. Act like an intelligent, law abiding, caring, hard working, responsible citizen and that is how I will treat you. Act like a chip on your shoulder, whiny, I want revenge, malcontent with no regard for others and their property then you deserve to be thrown in jail. HEY, wake up. Some of my ancestors were murdered just because they were Mormons. That doesn't mean I expect the country to kiss my feet and treat me special. I don't care what minority you belong to, color, gender, whatever. I'll treat you with the same respect you treat me.
 And further more - grow up and stop calling me names.

I voted for the man who is going to repeal Obamacare. Obamacare is a disgrace. If you want me to have insurance then make it possible for me to afford real insurance. Don't tax the evil rich so you can give me their money and put me under obligation to pay it back if, by some miracle, I make more money than I predicted I might. I've had more ulcers worrying about Obamacare then I ever did being uninsured. Obamacare literally made me sick. How's that for irony? Don't give my tax money to some greedy insurance company who doubles the rates because they know the government will pay, and then sell me and my family into slavery to pay for it. Yeah, I'm sad to say that our first black president is the man who has sold an entire nation into slavery. He got his revenge.

A vote for Hillary would have been a vote for more of the same. Thank god the reigns have passed into different hands, as imperfect as they are.

Please Remember This

Okay, so today I've been sitting here feeling guilty because of some of the things I posted on facebook the day after the election. (Believe me, I didn't post half of what I was tempted to.) I genuinely try not to offend people most times. And, maybe I should keep my mouth shut today as well, but I really want to say something.

I remember some of the nasty things people posted about Mitt Romney after he lost and how angry it made me that they thought they should kick him when he was down. Someone even compared him to Hitler and spouted all sorts of  gross lies about the man. It really ticked me off. It hurt.
So yeah, I feel guilty that I stooped to that level. (Though I didn't go half as far as I wanted.)

I apologize to anyone who I offended. It was not meant to hurt anyone personally. It is only a backhanded way of celebrating. I shall try to rise above that. I will try harder to follow my beliefs and turn the other cheek. I will try not to start nasty or return nasty for nasty anymore.

But on the other hand, there is still a vindictive part of me that wants to rub it in. My friends on the left certainly had no qualms about rubbing it in when they won, so why should I hesitate to retaliate now that the shoe is on the other foot? I can't help feeling that this is an example of the double standard that I see. It's okay to be nasty and use any means to support your own cause but it's not okay when others do the same to you. So many demand tolerance yet they give none in return. I'm going to try not to be that person.

Anyway, my point is, remember these feeling the next time you want to spout nasty at conservatives. How does it feel? How do you like it?
Let's please remember to be a little kinder to each other in the future. I promise to try.

(Note: shout out to whoever posted the flower photo on the internet.)

A Plethora of Wonderful Things.

I haven't abandoned my blog, really I haven't. I've just been so busy doing exciting things that I haven't had time to stop and talk about it

I couldn't understand why I've been feeling so stressed lately. Things have been going really well for me.  However, yesterday it hit me that stress is not always from negative things. Sometimes stress is a result of too many good things at once.

As I went over what was good in my life, I realized that I have a plethora of wonderful, exciting things going on right now. I'd like to share a couple of them with you.

The most major thing that I am super excited about is that I have three, yes three, books in various stages of publication as we speak. I expect to be telling you a lot about them soon.
The first one is the sequel to The Gift of Lies that I've been promising you. I will be revealing the cover for that soon and I'm very pleased with how it is looking. I hope to have the book released by the end of May at the very latest. It all depends on the editor at this point.
The second one is the first of my Sionian trilogy that is under contract with WiDo publishing. I'm expecting the second round of edits on it any day. I have no release date yet, but once the edits are done I hope it goes faster.
The third is the second of that trilogy which is in for consideration with WiDo. I havn't heard if they like it yet, but I have faith that once the first one comes out they will start on that.

So keep watching, things will be hopping on this blog before long as I shout to the world about my books. I hope I don't make you all crazy tooting my own horn.

The next major project that I'm working on and loving is my garden. I've been a little frustrated with my patch of sunshine the last two years, but a little bird by the name of Tiffany Hutchinson pointed me in a new direction that has me smiling and throwing seeds around again.
It's called  Back to Eden gardening. It's really not a new technique, but it's a return to a more natural way that people seem to have lost. If you want to know more about it you can find it on YouTube. I won't bore you with details here.
Let me just tell you that I am really excited to see how it works out for me. I'm busy dumping mulchy wood chips everywhere and planting things that I had given up on like potatoes again. I do love my garden and now I have hope again that it can be all that I want it to be. Come by this summer and see how it looks.

The Girl In The Time Machine, by Debra Chapoton

"The Girl in the Time Machine" is a story with a macabre and tragic twist. As with all good time travel stories it weaves itself back and forward through the timelines of the main characters until you think your head will explode. I can't tell you more than that without huge spoilers.
It's also about growing up and learning the hard way how to deal with anger, jealousy and teenage dilemmas. Laken and Skylar, sometimes known as Lake and Sky have a bond that goes beyond friendship. When things get weird, and they do, we find out just how far that friendship is willing to go and why.
I'm honored to have been asked to review this novel. I give it four out of five stars because I can't decide if I liked the ending or not (and I try to be stingy with my stars) but I have no hesitation in recommending it as a great read. It's full of surprises at every turn and it kept me reading right along. I finished it in one sitting, to the detriment of my housekeeping.