The Book of Dump

Thursday, November 3, 2022

Unoffical ballot drop off boxes in CA

https://www.ocregister.com/2020/10/11/unofficial-ballot-drop-boxes-popping-up-throughout-the-state-worry-elections-officials/

Ballot Boxes

Orange County is GOP or at least that was the impression I got after the 2016 election. But there could have been fraud involved due to use of these non-official drop boxes placed by GOP.

I have said for years that DJT is guilty of the things he accuses other of doing. Stolen election charges because he knew GOP cheated to give him the win?

GOP says the drop boxes they place are legal, because of a law in CA that others can drop off ballots for them. Like my daughter being able to place my mail-in ballot in a drop box. She could have if I waited until election day, but I can only imagine the line to get inside the building to drop it off myself. So I mailed it.

I am sure that is what the CA law intends. Not having a GOP drop box placed in front of a black church, then picking the ballots. As they say, one needs not be a rocket scientist...

Slow but sure

The Handmaid's Tale: Gilead took over the United States, forcing fertile woman to bear children with men whose wives were not able to conceive. For a variety of reasons ~ pesticides, industrial waste, polluting water supplies, the air, caused more deformed babies and miscarriages. Birth rates were also down due to abortions. Non white population was overtaking white population. They could not let that happen.

Blacks were either shipped back to Africa or sent to work in agriculture ~ the fields. Photos were shown of Jewish people, smiling, happy, aboard ships being sent to Hebrew counties, like Israel. Rumor had it, after photo op, they were drowned at sea. Likely non-white citizens were also drowned at sea.

I am slow but sure. GOP and DJT are for White Nationalists. Whites scream that the U.S. white population is being overrun by minorities. There fear is becoming a minority themselves. Oh, if only!

Thus, like the book's Gilead, the GOP hopes to force white births by banning abortions. I have been saying they are ignorant. They do not know anything about non-viable pregnancies. Maybe they are just misogynists.

Some complain that allowing abortions is the government's way of reducing black population. It can not be both ways. If one goes state by state, one sees a whole lot more white abortions than black. Now I am confused. Are the white men discriminating against minorities by banning doctor assisted abortions?

Yes, some women politicians, are also anti female liberty. I fear for democracy if these election deniers, trump pets win elections. Especially Mastriano and Oz and Ron Johnson and Michelle Steel to name a few.

The Handmaid's Tales

I may have read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood many years ago. My non-reading daughter asked me if I ever read it. As soon as it was announced that Roe v Wade was overturned, my reader daughter mentioned the book. She talked about at other times as well. After Roe v Wade went bye,bye, women protested, dressing as handmaids as depicted int he novel. I did not know there was a movie and TV show.

Aside: my cable box died. Guy installed new one and gave me a new remote. Instead of two, I now have one. I wanted to see if I lost NetFlix and Amazon Prime my son-in-law set up on the TV. I could not get the remote to move along the row of options. I did something and got stuck on channel 50, remote not doing anything. Enough. Suffice it to say, I was not able to watch TV unless I wanted to watch channel 50.

I put batteries in my Samsung remote. After much frustration, my TV was back to normal. Except the remote still would not navigate to NetFlix. Too late, I resigned myself to channel surfing until bedtime. I now have Amazon Prime, and wanted to set up my own account. Maybe I will try later with my Samsung remote. Or ask son-in-law to help.

Bottom line, was not able to watch the show. Do not know if I really want to. The series, I read, deviates form the novel a bit. The sequel, The Testament, has a two week waiting list at my library on Kindle. The autobook was available but I do not do audio books. I tried to put a hold on it, but Kindle kept telling my e-mails did not match.You have to enter it twice. Aargh, no difference.erased and started over, "do not match," slowly read and read again each letter and said duck this shit.

Life imitating art.

Monday, October 31, 2022

Retracted underwear lie.

KTVU-TV, a Fox News affiliate in Oakland, reported that DePape was wearing only his underwear when he attacked Paul Pelosi. They later retracted that statement.

DePape was arrested wearing shorts. I know I had read that about the underwear, but never found an article that referenced it. Now I know why.

Lock mentioned in a prior post was one of those commenters that insisted that DePape was a called prostitute. The underwear story will probably be around and believed for years to come.

Sad.

CNN Opinion

Some people who comment take opinion articles (or opinionated talk show hosts) as news.

This CNN opinion article includes news. I have already read about President Obama's speeches at campaign rallies. Several weeks ago I had a knock on my door from campaigners. I wondered who let them in the building. They asked if I was registered to vote, what my most important voting issue for me.

Roe v. Wade I likely shouted. They were probably sorry they asked, inching away from door to talk to the next person. They did learn that I was an Independent, that I might as well change to Democrat because I will never choose a GOP candidate ever again. I stopped voting for them years ago due to their now realized desire to overturn Roe v Wade.

Polls show that voters biggest concern is Inflation. I am guessing those polls are factual, due to my habit of reading comments on articles. But I am with Obama. Do you want freedom? First they came for women's rights, then they came for transgenders, then lesbians and homosexuals...

...now is not a good time to be reading The Handmaid Tale. Do not know if I read it previously; I got to the part at the Wall, abortion doctors hanging by hooks. I am at the part describing how things happened. "Machine gunned Congress." Oh, my, Capitol Building riot instigated by the sitting president.

Barrack asks: Who will fight for your freedom? I already know that the trumpets will say The Don. The guy who wants a family dynasty ruling much like what the colonists revolted against. I want to cry. I guess I can save my tears for mid term election results. Especially here in Pennsylvania. How I wish I was physically able to go back to Long Beach.

I was wondering where the wheelchair brigade spends their nights now that the library was torn down. Oops wrong blog for that one. The Senate candidate is anti-female liberty. He will probably win due to his opponent's stroke. I hope I am wrong. If that worse anti freedom guy wins for governor, I told my daughter I have to leave the state. Hence my pondering wheelchairs in Long Beach.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/30/opinions/obama-closing-message-midterms-obeidallah/index.html

Will they come after the unhoused? The elderly? Muslims? Refugees? You?

Willpower

It is taking all my willpower not to sign in to Like or Dislike or to comment on outrageous comments on that Elon Musk/Twitter article.

A poster has no idea who Q anon is. Yet he is an authority on facts. Someone called him on it: either you are lying or out-of-touch. Admitting not knowing makes him look stupid. His belief in the Paul P. conspiracy theories puts him on the stupid side anyway.

Some one who uses Lock as their moniker claims to be an Independent. His posts mark him as a Q follower. Um, my son once told me he did not believe man landed on the moon; a hoax; he gave me reasons. I looked into it online. LOL his reasons came straight from a conspiracy site. And I still find assassination of JFK suspect. I was never convinced that 911 was not an inside job. We are both Independents. I never asked, just suspect Libertarian. I lean Green.

I guess I am judging Lock too harshly. Nah. I will not go searching the rest of his comments.

I need to share this one from Brian:

Oh to answer your question, about the same time the liberal left Lap Dog media decided that the only narrative to the news was their side and stopped reporting FACTS about what "actually happens"!! This is what you get when you have "bias" for ONE party over another...funny thing is most of these so called "conspiracy theories" end up later becoming true!!! And recalling what my late father said to me as a child, "Never believe the things you hear and only half of what you see!"!!! And trust me the Democrats STILL think the media is all for them, but new sources of news ARE coming to light, and they paint a very different picture!!! Basically the internet HAS allowed folks like never before, and what the media might tell you on the national stage, is usually pretty different in the home town of those of us who "live here"!!! Example, locally to me, I live in a town that was voted "Coolest Small Town in America" by a media outlet.....reality is, it is a small town, filled with drug addicts, and zero job opportunities!! Does that sound cool to you? But I live here because it is cheap.....and if I was able to work (I am disabled) I could find a job 40 miles away pretty easy enough!!
I wonder what conspiracy theories came true? He said "most of them." See why my willpower is being tested?
What small town? Do we take your bigoted word for that? Wonder if he believes FOX news is for Democrats? LOL
I recall when internet news started reporting that home foreclosures were up under G. W. Bush. Locally I started seeing foreclosure signs in my city showing up at the end of Clinton's terms of office. Some truth to his statement on local vs. national news. His father said? Oh my that is well-known quote. Do not believe everything you read, nothing that you hear, and only 1/2 of what you see. I used "I am from Missouri, the show me state," about trust. I am not from Missouri.

Media Bias Fact Check Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/mediabiasfactcheck

Media Bias Fact Check on Facebook

Poorly Educated

Long ago when I did a search, I learned that The Don never said "I love the poorly educated." So I used to correct people who repeated it. Oh, my, I was wrong. I can not stand to listen to his voice and his repeating words and sentences and grandiosity. How many times about how many things has he said "no one is more xxx than me" Puke.

"We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated. We’re the smartest people, we’re the most loyal people, and you know what I’m happy about?"

Of course, peeps took that quote out of context.

Link to text of speech and video. (since I did not listen to speech, I am assuming the transcript is accurate.

https://qz.com/623640/i-love-the-poorly-educated-read-donald-trumps-full-nevada-victory-speech

I should probably stop believing fact checkers. LOL

Russian Trolls

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2022/04/russian-trolls-tried-distract-voters-music-tweets-2016-0

Russian Trolls

People often comment "troll" or "bot." I guess I assumed Russian Trolls used bots to spam comments. Silly me. I never much thought about it. The back and forth bickering annoys me.

The real sheep calling others sheep. Intense hatred of liberals. Dissing conservatives. Hatred of racists. Bigots. Parrots passing off thoughts or opinions as their own. TDS, free rent in your head, woke (stfu will ya) and so on. The falsely attributed statement that T said he loves the poorly educated. (oh, wait, there is a transcript of a full speech, maybe he actually did say that?)

Since I do not use Twitter Russian trolls can not fill the newsfeed with music. The quoted names shows they were trying to reach young voters or old gangsters ie: people who like rap music. (Apologies to non-gangsters who still listen to today's awful rap music.)

Free Whitey

Free Whitey is a username on Twitter.

When Twitter first arrived a homeless lady internet friend asked me to join. I declined. Who would want to read my news? What news did I have to share? She hitchhiked around the country, got picked up by truck drivers, invited to stay with people, usually female, until she decided to move on. She had news (or adventures) to share. How that small site has grown.

Articles sometimes shares a Tweet. Sometimes I can read responses, such as these from Fox & Friends regarding outrage that Cornell University kicked Jesse B Waters off campus. I happened upon it when searching to find out if Cornell News was reputable. I will share the article I wanted to verify in another post.

Free Whitey's profile photo is what is used as a Confederate flag. He wrote:

Columbia and other commie colleges are just so loving and open. NOT. They all gave us PC-ness, globalism, hate Did he see the headline? Cornell? I can not read anymore. The Don said liberals are thin skinned. A bit later someone parroted "thin skinned." And they claim they are not sheep? Too sad. Liberals are commies, liberals are <insert whatever hateful adjective.> Conservatives, however, are denied freedom of speech. Going to Boycott the overpriced university. (How does one do that? Stand outside holding sign, "I boycott?" The students were too busy marching with BLM and Do Not Say Racist. <insert 4 letter word starting with F, rhymes with duck> Finally: (*I forgot to copy username) congrats, to Cornell for standing up to the biased network of fox news
The person allegedly kicked off campus was interviewing students. When asked about the campus vibe a student said "we are very diverse." He was then asked why 96% of campaign donations from teachers went to Democrats. Maybe because they are intelligent? Could be that they knew the zero political experience Birther was going to be a disasters for the U.S. of A.
His trumpets still love him. Inflation, gas prices, open borders. COVID and Russia invading Ukraine are responsible for inflation, high gas prices. Oil companies' profits, anyone? At one time the Don said (tweeted?) that it would be good if Russia and Saudi Arabia withheld oil barrels ~ would be good for OIL COMPANIES. But his faithful fans still think he is for them? Cornell professors are much smarter than myself, so they likely came to same conclusions I did.

NOBODY continued

The Elon Musk tweet came from an unreliable Santa Monica Observer website.

"The publisher of the website, David Ganezer, unsuccessfully ran for the Santa Monica City Council in 2010 and 1988, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press. He is a registered Republican, voting records show."

Confirmation bias: the tendency of people to favor information that confirms or strengthens their beliefs or values and is difficult to dislodge once affirmed.

I believe the info about Ganezer without bothering to fact check it. Actually The Santa Monica Observer was deemed "unreliable source" by fact-checking website Media Bias/Fact Check. I am trusting Media Bias/Fact Check. Or I assume that website is, what did Cruz say, the epitome of fake news?

Before NOBODY commented on the article, people showed their bias towards Musk buying Twitter. Yeah, me too. As someone put it: giving Russian disinformation access. Not to mention the Lying Twitter King, aka: con-man, help to spread his real fake news. I guess Truth Social is not working for the former guy.

Where was I? I had to go back to check; the article was published by NBC news. Another aside peeps always be ranting about Yahoo leftist bias, when Yahoo is just sharing news articles the same as Google, AOL, and such. I guess I would trust NBC news to be a reputable source of news.

"Delete you account!" "Musk now has a goldmine of info." "The info will still be there if you delete your account." "They already have a goldmine of info from other sources." "IP address, Facebook, I never had Twitter....blah, blah, blah."

Along comes NOBODY to change direction of conversation. To be fair, the article did mention Musk replying to Hillary Clinton Tweet. The article did not have a screen shot of the tweets. Musk quickly deleted his response that linked to the Santa Monica Observer article.

Clinton Tweet:

"The Republican Party and its mouthpieces now regularly spread hate and deranged conspiracy theories. It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result. As citizens, we must hold them accountable for their words and the actions that follow."

Now I will Google Media Bias/Fact Check to verify it is a reputable source of info.

NOBODY

A Yahoo comment conversation on article about Elon Musk deleted tweet telling false narrative about Paul Pelosi attack.
xxxxxxxxx

Funny how quick things can flip in this country. That is, while we still have one.

NOBODY

The country was just fine until WOKE turned everything upside down.

Ray Chapman replying to NOBODY

Woke didn't turn 40% of the country into blithering fascists who believe in conspiratorial lies and base their political philosophies on hate. They did that all on their own, with the help of Trump and other demagogues.

Kathi replying to Ray

Oh yes they did. They can't get over themselves. Trump lives rent free in all your heads and you can't get over it. It has nothing to do with Republicans it has everything to do with you left wing "fascists". You are beyond "WOKE". You have destroyed the country.

Marie Charvat replying to NOBODY

you nmean until tRump turned everything upside down....- don't bother people with your alternative facts just because you cannot fact the real facts

Darlene replying to Marie The one sided "State" media is what turned everything upside down! Pay attention!

Sunday, October 30, 2022

Gabby Giffords

First assassination in my life was a Democrat, JFK. Bobby Kennedy, a Democrat.Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I presume another Democrat. No proof that those murders were committed or condoned by Republicans. Surely a person who identified as Democrat would not have killed those men. Malcolm X probably did not vote, and his killing was reportedly done by his own Muslim people. Off topic. The comments blaming Democrats for politically motivated violence irked me.

Whatabout Democrat Gabby Giffords? She survived the point blank gunshot wound to her head. It was politically motivated. Judge John Role, Republican, was killed on that same day, January 09,2011. The killer was deemed mentally ill. He was motivated by hatred of government, so perhaps not simply violence against Democrats.

Also killed that day at the open-air event was Christina-Taylor Green,

Her mother, Roxanna said: "As young as she was, Christina-Taylor talked about getting all the parties to come together so we could live in a better country," Green told ABC News. "She was going to Giffords' event to ask questions about how she could help and to learn more about politics in our country."

"She was proud of her country and wanted to know more about the political process..."

"All I want is awareness and change, just like Christina would."

"Things like this should never, ever happen again, I want there to be a stop for the violence and hatred and all the bashing of politicians isn't not helping, and it's not working."

The 9-year-old was elected Student Council President. (I did not know that students that age had Student Councils.) Being born on September 11, 2001, motivated the child to become interested in a future in politics. Four others also died in that attack.

Roxanna Green most likely thinks about her daughter every time there is another mass shooting, especially of school children. One never gets over the loss of a child. Yet she must relive that horrid day every time another senseless shooting happens; relive it every time she hears a politician spew hatred.

"Things like this should never, ever happen again, I want there to be a stop for the violence and hatred and all the bashing of politicians isn't not helping, and it's not working."

Comments Paul Pelosi attack

I was reading comments on Paul Pelosi's attack with a hammer, articles. What about so & so. I have not found any results regarding Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia being attack being ignored by Democrat party. I have found mention of conspiracy theories about his death. I am also confused about Kavanaugh attack. Someone wrote that "it was not about politics, it was a neighbor angry that he dumped garage in his yard."

I need to return to the articles' comments to see if I can find it again. Which attack was the comment directed at?

That dastardly MSM came up again. Or "establishment media." Those comments, of course, came from obviously MAWAs or GOP supporters. "They will let it go down the rabbit hole," "they need to investigate but will not because it is a Democrat." It needs to be investigated by media or F.B.I. He should have had a gun. He did have a gun. Hanky panky while wife is away. Nancy & Paul were getting it on, then staged the attack.

Jussie Smollett is mentioned on different articles. Weak minds think alike? It is possible that Paul was on the downlow. Equally possible that the intruder intended to rape him. Younger men often rape defenseless elderly women. In Nursing Homes even. Imagine if you are asleep, awoken by a man in his underwear climbing into bed with you. It is reported that Paul's 911 call asked "What are you going to do to me?" Did not sound like he invited the guy inside.

Perhaps that is why some peeps think it was a setup or lie. Gee, whiz, okay, I will let you break my skull with a hammer, so we can...what? Blame Republicans? Qpublicans might be responsible for the attack. The attacker posted Q stuff, although I did not see any screen shots proving such. Only photos of him taking photos at a Nude protest and hugging a nude lady (her back to camera, him all smiles.)

Most plausible that it was a T fan. He lead the "let's all hate Nancy together parade." "We're gonna go to the Capitol and fight like hell." Might be exact T quote. Reported that SS would not allow him to march with his fans, which angered him.What did those people yell? Kill Pelosi, where is Nancy, kill Mike Pence."

Whatabout Nancy ripping up copy of his speech? Whatabout her laughing when she tore up his speech? She owes T an apology. Sigh.

Thursday, October 27, 2022

Qpublicans

antonewilliam comment:
The question I ask very conservative members of the republican party who support such ideas as the stolen election claim:

Do you really think that Eisenhower, Nixon, Goldwater, Reagan, Bush, Bush would go along with the current iteration of their party? Really? George B: I disagree that "very conservative members of the republican party" support the stolen election claim. I see these people as radical Republicans that do not exhibit conservative values. Joseph: I'm gonna back you up on this one. The true conservatives, Liz Cheney et al, know that their party was corrupted by the Mango Mussolini stirring up al Qaeda (translation: the base). Unfortunately the American Taliban sect of republicans have managed to shout down the true conservatives. It may not be that there's more of the uneducated deplorables, but since they embrace violence as a political method the true cons live in fear of asserting themselves. George: Agreed, calling magas conservatives is a joke. They are Qpublicans. Daniel Dennis: Depending on the state, I know in Washington there are no polling sites only mail in. Which I personally think is great, I can track my ballot on line and the evidence of voter fraud doesn’t exist to any extent that could alter an election unless it’s a complete tie, which never has happened. No comment, except to say I agree with Daniel Dennis. Or election day needs to be national holiday, with enough polling booths and hours to give every citizen an opportunity to vote. I also believe Primary election days need to be national holiday and all citizens to vote in any and all primaries. Trump would never have been chosen to run as a Republican if all citizens could choose the best candidates to run in all Parties.
The remainder of comments I read were the typical back and forth: "we are a Republic, not a Democracy, Clown," followed by "we are a Democratic Republic, Clown." The MAGA's out in force believing every stolen election lie they were fed. One lady wrote that her very Republican father would turn over in his grave if he saw what the GOP has become today. I once said my very intelligent, political savvy, Democrat father would turn in his grave if he saw Trump elected. My sister meanwhile wrote that our father would turn over in his grave if he saw what happened to his beloved Democrat party. I now question her intelligence due to her adoration of the con-man. I did not think her racists or bigoted (except maybe towards Indian/Americans, the people her ex used to call "dot-heads") ~ although she is common law married to a man I would label: Redneck if I still used that term.
He asked if I liked Hillary of Donny ~ I replied that I did not like either of them. That frustrated him because he could not bait me into an argument. I have seen him gaslight her. No one in the family understands what she sees in him.

Freedom!

Ocean Commented on article about Schwarzenegger:
We believe in FREEDOM Democrats believe in FREE FREE followed by Elaine who said: You believe in free free for the rich and well connected. To which Ocean replied: No I dispise the Democrats and their cronies...these are the filthy rich in Ameirca spelling errors are as Ocean typed them. So, okay, Ocean which is it? Are they rich or want "free, free?" Actually Democrats do believe in Free-dom as much as many Republicans. Or maybe not, It is the GOP politicians that do not believe in women's right to liberty = Freedom of Choice. Nor do the citizens that vote for them. I almost want to log in to Yahoo, so I can mention that to Ocean. Can not reason with people that can not provide fact based comments; just parrot what they heard a politician or talk show host said.

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

7" grain of rice

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/what-early-abortions-actually-look-like-234132254.html

What Early Abortions really look like

Women (and at least one man) comment telling their heartbreaking stories of miscarriages at 11 or 12 weeks, wanting a child but forced to have an abortion due to non-viable pregnancies, needing a D & C a month after her miscarriage and so on.

So along comes Mimi:
I have had miscarriages, too, but I still mourned the potential child that I was carrying because I wanted that child. Wanting it or not wanting it does not negate the FACT that it is a human being in the making. These pictures are just to make pro-choice people feel better about their stance. So, do you have to see a hand or foot or eyes to not want to kill a growing human child? In 2-3 weeks from that 6 wk picture, there will be a heart and a spine and a head. Is that too late? Excuses and emotional justification for murder is all that is. You either accept that you are ending the life of a human in development and you are okay with it or you aren't. You can't call it something else to feel better about it because it is inconvenient to carry to full term and give he or she up for adoption. Yes, it is a hard choice, but it is the choice for life of another human. The other choice is death of another human so you can go on your merry way. Plain and simple. If Mimi had read comments she might realize it is not plain and simple. That clump of tissue is not a human being that is being murdered or killed. There is no guarantee that the clump of tissues will fully develop a brain, heart or lungs. It might develop into conjoined twins. It is of no concern to Mimi or the government to force a pregnant woman to carry a dead fetus to term. My mother had a stillborn baby. A friend had two ectopic pregnancies. She desperately wanted children. When physician attempted to save the pregnancies they aborted. People like Mimi bring out the violence in me. She is a hateful person, who would condemn strangers to death. By the way, Mimi, those 7' clump of tissues you care so much about saving. might not only kill the mother, those tissues will die along with her.

Monday, October 24, 2022

Fred wrote:

That's a nice thought, that others would view this as a warning but that's not the way the world works. Most parents I know treat their children like furniture or at best, a pet. They ignore their lives and are surprised when they get in trouble, fail classes or end up with a biker boyfriend 10 years their senior.

Fred replied to a comment saying parents should be held accountable for their children's crimes, so that other parents would see it as warning.

I come from a big family. Only one aunt is still alive. I lost track of how many cousins I have. Facebook has introduced me to many of those cousins' children many of whom are married with children also. My nieces and nephews are making me a great aunt.

My point: I know a lot of parents. They do not treat their children like furniture or a pet. Most all those children I have known were excellent students. The boys were drafted or joined a branch of the military at 18. I assume some were poor students due to their FB posts. LOL I do not know if any of them failed classes or ended up with a biker boyfriend 10 years their senior.

They never spoke about it, but I am guessing some parents were taken by surprise to learn their sons or daughters were homosexual.

Peeps asked Fred if his daughter married a biker. No, he does not have a daughter. One commented that he must live in a rough neighborhood.

I did not sign in to say he must not know many parents.

Someone commented that she felt the opposite ~ that parents lavished attention on their children, spoiling them, and blaming others when their children got into trouble. Their kids could do not wrong.

Maybe Fred's parents treated him like a piece of furniture or a pet. I wonder how old he is. He said he does not have a daughter. Might be a teen himself, eh.

Interlude

I grew up with eight siblings.

As an adult I asked one brother why he broke house rules. He told me a long story that did not answer the question. Or maybe it did. He wanted to do something, so he did it.

I was sitting on front porch steps with a friend. A boy came into the yard carrying a kitten. He said someone tried to drown it. We had a lot of cats around our house. Maybe that is why he asked if I would take it. I do not know why I did. I named it Ginger because the family had just come back from a Make Believe Land, featuring a Gingerbread Castle.

Years and years later the same brother laughed about how he and his friend used to put cats in bags, with rocks, tie it shut and throw them in the brook to drown them.

Ah, maybe it was only one time and one kitten. Maybe the boy knew where my brother lived and brought it up the street to us?

He was a bully. He started smoking at age three, picking up butts he and his friend found in the woods, next to the brook. He skipped church using his collection money to play pinball machines. As an adult he was nicer. But an alcoholic who beat some of his sons.

He was in the Reserves or National Guard (I do not recall which) He owed his own business. Bought a house; sold it and then bought another. I do not think he lied or stole. He and his wife did go to church. She told him either quit drinking or get a divorce. He quit drinking.

I doubt any of my other siblings would try to drown cats. The two other older brothers stopped going to church, soon after Confirmation. The younger two, myself and three sisters regularly attended church. One other brother is likely alcoholic and beat his son. My father was not a drinker, but he did beat my older brothers with a belt, as did his father.

An older brother started getting into trouble in high school. He ended up using heroin on and off his entire adult life. My siblings and I pretty much grew up the same. Which is why I do not think parents should automatically be held accountable for their teen children's crimes.

My mother was a SAHM until the youngest started school. With 9 children, it is possible my parents were not able to keep track of their children's activities. They probably never knew their son tried to drown a kitten (or cats) or that he was puffing on discarded cigarette butts.

Or that a son stole cough syrup from drug store where he worked, as did his friend who got him the job. They did not get caught. When bro left the job and the other brother took it. He got caught stealing cough syrup for the friend. Codeine? Used to get high.

Eight children did not use heroin. Just because one son did, does not make it the parent's fault.