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by Reid Fitzsimons

I’m fairly confident I made it through the years of adolescence and young adulthood with just the average amount of obnoxiousness, and that whatever stupidity I committed did did not include “gay bashing.” Perhaps I should be proud of this, but I’m not sure not being a jerk is deserving of pride. Then again, at the time (this being the 1970s) homosexuality wasn’t really The Thing: back then, if you wanted to garner attention and stick it to the MAN, radical hippie chic was more in vogue than “coming out.” Paradoxically, eventually the anti-establishment hippie radical largely became establishment, as did “coming out.”

Groovy man! Confusing self-indulgence with altruism
I didn't realize there was a "coming out" day until I did research for this article

That’s not to say there wasn’t “gay bashing". People I became friends with decades later admitted they said odious things to homosexuals, and came to regret their behavior. One was (at the time) a young pastor who, with like-minded idiot Christians, drove about the known homosexual areas of Dallas and hurled insults. He quickly realized there was nothing Christian about this activism and, besides being appalling, was counterproductive- the success of convincing a homosexual to say, "Yes, I will now become a heterosexual” upon hearing someone yell, “Queers are going to burn in hell” was about 0%. By the time I met this pastor he was perhaps the most sincere “walk the walk” Christian I ever knew, who dedicated his life to providing a home for abandoned and abused children in Honduras. He was very conservative, with beliefs that would make him an object of scorn among the diversity and inclusion crowd: his theology was God loves the sinner but not the sin, as compared to God loves the sinner and especially loves the sin, with carnal sins being extra sanctified. The latter is the theology of the progressive collection of pretend Christians, often referred to as “mainstream.” To them, self-gratification is the highest calling.

Contradictions that speak for themselves
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by Reid Fitzsimons

Boston is city where the present, characterized culturally and politically by enormously wealthy progressive elitists, is completely at odds with its past: the birthplace of the idea and ideals of America along with the associated Revolution against the English empire, and traditional Protestant/Yankee concepts of hard work, self-discipline, and frugality; all ideas and standards disparaged and dismissed by the current power base.

A number of years ago I walked about downtown Boston taking in the historic sites and buildings, which included many old churches. Formerly the homes of Reformed and fairly dogmatic Christianity, many of these churches were festooned with “Everyone Is Welcome” signs and the color purple; purple I think at the time being the preferred color of virtue signalers, the “Look at me, I’m fabulous” class (purple has since been replaced by rainbows). The “Everyone Is Welcome” theme is maybe pleasing to some, but is nonsense because 1) there is no place in the temporal world where “everyone is welcome” and 2) by “everyone” what was really meant was certain preferred identity groupings, the demographic groups that made the privileged feel really good about themselves. I seriously doubt some guy wearing jackboots and a Swastika armband would have been welcome, and rightfully so: in your face cultural and political activism perhaps has a place, but not in places like churches, and this applies to all political spectrums.

It's unlikely that people who are vocal in their opposition to the tenets of the Unitarian Church would "fit in."
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by Reid Fitzsimons

“The boogeyman is hiding under your bed” is a way for older siblings to frighten their younger brothers or sisters. Of course, it is extremely unlikely there is boogeyman, but there is just enough basis to make it a possibility: in some cases creeps and perverts do exist who harm children. In our current political and cultural world the equivalent of the boogeyman is the white supremacist, proclaimed from the highest levels of government to be a real and present threat, a means to scare the heck out of a gullible electorate, and to coerce acquiescence to favored policies and prosecutions.

The Bogeyman Narrative

The actual white supremacist

The thing is, the term “white supremacist” is never really defined other than a loose association with people who stand up for what might be termed traditional American and Judeo-Chrisitan values. I suspect most people under 50 have never encountered an actual “white supremacist,” and then even rarely. Having spent some time in the waning days of Jim Crow in the deep South in the late 1970s, I did meet a handful of white people who truly fantasized they were of a superior race and loathed black people simply because they were black; they were an unimpressive lot.

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by Reid Fitzsimons

During much of the Presidential primary season in 2016 I was out of the country in a fairly remote area with little access to news. Upon my return in May, while on a layover at the Atlanta airport and their endless broadcasts of CNN, I learned that Trump has sewn up the Republican nomination. I admit I felt a little queasy the news: I didn’t really know that much about Trump and never watched that show with the tag-line “You’re Fired!,” but I had heard plenty from the establishment news media that he was somehow dangerous and clearly not their guy. In general the other Republican candidates fit the desired mold of being “reasonable,” willing to “cross the aisle” and work with Democrats. I did know Trump was a blowhard.

Donald Trump and Barack Obama post-election Nov. 2016

Over the summer Trump was officially nominated, as was Hillary Clinton (HRC) for the Democrats. The latter, who is a true sociopath, made it easier to vote for Trump despite my severe reservations. Perhaps due to increasing age and cynicism I avoided watching the conventions and speeches, but shortly before the election I was in a cheap motel room in Pensacola, FL, turned on the TV and found Trump at some campaign rally. I girded myself to listen to his shtick, fully expecting him to rant with spittle flying and bark like a seal, this being largely how he was portrayed by the establishment press. What I found instead was a pretty typical political speech with the usual promises of prosperity, jobs, strong military, etc. Part of his rhetoric involved “make America great again (MAGA).

Left: Trump/Clinton debate Fall 2016, Right: Hillary Clinton with spouse in background, concession speech
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by Reid Fitzsimons

Picture yourself 600 years ago in Europe. You are a prince, a feudal lord, part of the nobility and aristocracy, and GOD do you love it! The castle, the servants, the money and material wealth, the fear you instill in the peasantry: your omnipotence. On occasion you pillage, plunder, rape, and slaughter, but you’re not really troubled by it, because you are right with God. Sure, Jesus opposed everything you do, but no worry, you have an “in:” you can buy salvation from those who claim they can dispense it. A bag of gold or silver to the local bishop, and you’re good to go (to heaven, that is). This practice was called buying “indulgences.”

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastion

Back in the present, everything is pretty much the same. You are part of the wealthy elite, the aristocracy: perhaps a career politician, a corporate CEO, a high-level bureaucrat, college administrator, or media figure. Like your predecessors, you love the money and material wealth, the mansions, and the power and influence you wield. Hopefully you're not out slaughtering people, but you still pillage and plunder and steal from the peasantry, but in a more genteel way. You don’t care about God, but you do worship gods- your privilege, your wealth, and status above others; it’s what you live for, and will do anything to maintain. Maybe you’re not a complete sociopath and actually feel a little guilty, but you know you’re not going to change. So you created your own form of indulgences, and you call them Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and the best thing is they don’t cost you anything. If you do lay out cash to buy indulgences, it’s with someone else’s money. To whom might you give other people’s money? To the modern day version of the corrupt establishment church- the profiteering elite of the race grievance industry.

Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg, Disney CEO Bob Iger, Levi-Straus CEO Chip Bergh
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by Reid Fitzsimons

From 1986 to 2001 I worked for the NY State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD) as a medical practitioner (PA). This was at one of a number residential institutions scattered throughout NY, located in a fairly rural area as was common for such facilities. We had an in-house population of around 300, with people ranging from profoundly retarded requiring total care and often with severe medical co-morbidities, to mildly retarded, who were generally were able to talk, walk, and take care of their basic needs with supervision. It was a job to feel good about: society taking care of people who truly couldn’t take care of themselves.

With a few exceptions, the employees who interacted daily with our population were caring and competent, this being especially the direct care aides and the nurses; it can be a tough job, both physically and emotionally. Ultimately the facility was controlled by bureaucrats, and with all bureaucracies there were petty people lusting for petty power and involved in petty intrigue, but at the direct care level it wasn’t too hard to remain oblivious to such nonsense, at least for most of my time there.

The epitomic bureaucrat

Bureaucracies typically create their own jargon and euphemisms, which frequently change depending on the whims of rarely seen bureaucrats. When I first started in 1986 the people in our care were not called the historical name of “inmate,” nor were they called patients, but the designated word was “client.” I always thought this was a little silly because it implies a cognizant two-way relationship, but assumedly someone deemed it a humane, non-pejorative title, which was okay. Nevertheless. people with important positions felt compelled to change the wording, so over the years we used “individual we serve,” “service recipient,” “consumer,” and after I was gone I heard “colleague” was in vogue. To me the simple word “resident” would have been both accurate and polite, but it never entered the lexicon.

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by Reid Fitzsimons

the 1st photo we have of Lucy from May 2012

We believe Lucy was born in a puppy mill and rescued by a group called Saving Saints Rescue of Flint, MI. There are vet documents from this group dated April 1, 2009 referring to her as being 1 ½ years old, which would put her being born in October, 2007. Eventually she was adopted by a family in Sydney, NY, who cared for her well, but it was a hectic household with two other larger Newfoundlands and a smaller dog; they realized Lucy wasn’t thriving and placed an ad looking for a new home. We adopted her in April 2012, and when we picked her up she didn’t hesitate to jump in our car, and the car became a “safe space” for her. Initially she was filled with anxiety, which included biting herself raw, and she was even aggressive (it would require a fair amount of puppy mill abuse and neglect to do this to one of the most loving breeds known). It took about 6 months to get her calmed down, and her life became centered around us and feeling secure.

with a grandson Nov, 2013
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by Reid Fitzsimons

Sam Brinton (standing) was a Biden appointee as a deputy assistant secretary, Dept. of Energy

As a nation, as hopefully compassionate and reasoned people, we need to understand and admit “transgenderism” is not real. Gender (or sex) is an immutable thing, and can no more be changed than eye color. My eyes are the most drab of colors- brown- and even though society has declared blue and green are the most desirable, mine are brown, and always will be.

That is not to say there is not something called “gender dysphoria.” The word “dysphoria” is of Greek origin and basically means difficult mood. We see the prefix “dys” in a number of medical words (dysuria- difficult urination) and “phoria” is often prefixed with “eu,” i.e. euphoria- a state of happiness, perhaps excessively so. Dysphorias of any type are an emotional state, in which a person typically has poor self-esteem, an inner directed dislike or even hatred, and a general dissatisfaction in life, as if something is seriously missing. These people are inclined to search for an explanation for how they feel, and are exceptionally susceptible to those offering easy answers, to those who are more than happy to exploit them. You can see this by watching predatory televangelists: “Send me a donation of $$$ and you will find everlasting comfort and joy in God’s love.”

There are a number of basic tenets that should be considered when analyzing this thing called “transgenderism,” with four of them as follows. First, it is almost exclusively a concept/luxury found in wealthy societies- people who live in impoverished countries and societies- most of the world- are busy worrying where they will find something to eat or if they will die of a tropical disease, not what pronoun they might prefer. Second, it went from essentially having no historical precedent to what amounts to a cultural pandemic in the blink of an eye, which is consistent with a fad and/or intentional propagation. Third, and relatedly, there are a significant number of upper caste people who profit, both financially and in regards to political and cultural power, by “transgenderism.” Finally, This type of frenetic movement inevitably takes on the characteristics of the harshest of religions: You WILL bow down before Baal and you WILL offer up sacrifices, lest you be destroyed!

A "drag queen" invited to read to children at a Binghamton, NY library
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by Reid Fitzsimons

The Roxborough High School football team in a post-scrimmage huddle just before they were ambushed; two stills of the "coon hunters" taken from a video of the deadly incident (full video at bottom)

I would venture to say most Americans have never met an actual, true believer racist white supremacist. I am not talking about someone who doesn’t subscribe to “climate justice” or voted for Trump. I’m referring to white people who truly hate black people and find satisfaction in the oppression, maiming, and even killing of them. I have known, or at least met, a handful of dyed-in-the-wool white supremacists; they are people who don’t believe in the American ideals of equality, justice for all, and E. Pluribus Unum (out of many-one). More to the point, they are deranged losers. In the mid-80s I worked in a Federal prison where there were a few Aryan Brotherhood types, but they were much more violent criminal entrepreneurs than ideologues. When we (my wife and I) lived in South Alabama 2008-2012 our neighbor was a pathetic guy, a lifelong drunk in his 80s, who loved to talk of the KKK glory days of the 1960s (“When niggers knew their place!”).  But it is a recent and tragic event in Philadelphia where several black high school football players were hunted down and shot, killing a 14 year-old boy and wounding several others, that got me to thinking about an honest to goodness white supremacist I came to know a little in the late 1970s.

The fantasies of a true Jim Crow racist

This verifiable racist I met in the 1970s was, curiously, a lawyer in Mississippi. His uncle was a long-serving Democrat Congressman, which might explain his admittance to the Mississippi bar. I recall him wearing camouflage clothing and talking about the joys “coon hunting” and “black topping,” the former meaning hunting down and shooting black people and the latter running over them with a car. I am pretty sure he never engaged in his fantasies, thank goodness. He was simply a hate-filled cowardly ass who happened to be born into social and economic privilege.

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Joe Biden and the bizarre backdrop he used to give a speech accusing millions of Americans of being the enemy, by Reid Fitzsimons

Recently our president- Joe Biden- decreed that MAGA Republicans, without explaining what he meant, are semi-fascists. This kind of declaration, that 10s of millions of heretofore fellow citizens are now despicable, is pretty much unprecedented in American history, though has been widely used in other times and places (think of Rwanda in the mid-1990s, for example). The word "fascist" is, by definition, extreme, and not really amenable to modification: something more routine can be paired with "semi," such as a "semi-pro" athlete or "I 'semi-enjoy' cooking," but a "semi-fascist" is more akin to a "semi-serial killer" or "semi-child rapist," so let us interpret these oral ejaculations from our president as simply fascist without the "semi" preface. In other words, he accused 10s of millions of fellow Americans as being among the vilest people in history.

A couple of months ago someone I cared about deeply and held in great esteem passed away. He was my age- mid-60s- and was a conservative Baptist pastor from Texas, complete with a thick redneck drawl. I first met him in Honduras in 2007 or 2008. My wife and I had recently established a tiny, non-residential charity project in a small village, a youth center where kids could be kids in a safe and nurturing environment, and get in some good eating as well. We had heard rumors of an American pastor and his wife running an orphanage several miles away and went to check it out. Note that we did not realize he was a fascist at the time, only someone committed to helping marginalized and impoverished children.

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