Distr...Ummm...

Okay, so I have no idea what the title of this piece was going to be.

See I sat down to write because I really need to write somethings to close out the month but I got a notice about our Google storage that's maxing out so I went ahead to go take a look and see if there was anything easy I could delete and I saw that when I downloaded all of my photos from Facebook last December I ended up with a ton of duplicate photos and videos so I started deleting the duplicates and...

I mean, I posted a ton a photos.

I'm up to August of 2022 and need to take a break because I'm just bleary eyed at this point. But I have freed up a bit of space and with a few more years to go I think I'll get a decent amount free.

And all of that was a lot of ramble for...

I have no idea what I was going to write two hours ago when I started a title and moved on in the middle.

But that's okay because it's the sixth anniversary of...

WAIT! That's it.

Distraction.

Okay, let's begin again, shall we?

If you are living in the US you get a lot of messaging around don't get distracted. Or that Trump is doing certain things to distract you from other things. Like the fact that he and Epstein were pals and it really looks more and more like he wasn't on the list, he was a participant. But anyway, you hear it a lot. Don't get distracted, he's just doing this as a distraction...

And yes. We need to not get distracted. And yes he does a lot of things as distractions. BUT...we also need to pay attention to those things he's doing that we're being told are just distractions.

Federalizing the National Guard and patrolling cities, that's a distraction from the Epstein files and also that's another giant leap into authoritarianism.

Repeatedly saying in press conferences over the past two days that some people really would like a dictator. Yes, that's a distraction from the makeup on his hand, but also, that's him floating the idea of just being a dictator. He does that a lot. Floats the idea. Then starts saying "People are saying" then it's a sir story and some big man, strong man, has a tear running down his cheek and what else could he do but say yes of course I'll be your dictator.

I know it's a lot of stuff to keep track of. He's trying to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda this time instead of just admitting that a mistake was made the first time they deported him and let his case run its course. He's taking over DC and threatening takeovers of other cities. Blue cities, mind you. He's withholding funding from hospitals that offer trans healthcare. He's trying to fire members of the Federal Reserve Board. This one is classic to his style. He wants Powell gone, he hasn't been able to make that happen. Then he notices there's a black woman on the board and he can't have that. His administration makes an accusation against her, he uses the accusation that HIS administration made as a pretext to removing her.

Meanwhile, Russia is bombing US companies in Ukraine, Israel is bombing hospitals (again) and killing reporters (still) and the US policy seems to be Welp what are you gonna do?

There is a constant onslaught of bad news to try and keep track of. And yes, he is going to do a lot of stupid stuff to try and distract from it all. But the thing is we cannot be distracted by the stupid stuff. And we cannot discount things that are actually quite serious by saying they are just distractions. I know it sucks.

You can however find pockets of your own distraction. Things to take your own mind off of the horrors for as long as you can manage. I told you before I'm rewatching all of the old seasons of Drag Race. I also picked back up MasterClass and will start doing those again. Distract yourself. But don't be distracted.

If that makes any sort of sense.

Today is the sixth anniversary of my mother's death so I'm doing a lot of self distraction today. Though it's not terrible anymore. It's been long enough that it's a comfortable grief. I know how to live with it. But there are still those moments, and this day is one of them, where it's a little more raw than others. Over the years I've gotten pretty good at distracting myself on days when the grief wells. But the thing is no matter how many books I read, or color in, no matter how many TV shows I watch, how many weights I lift, cookies I eat or silly phone games I play, the grief is still there. It's still with me. The distraction helps, but it doesn't make it go away.

So distract yourself as you need to from the horrors. Sad to say they will still be there when you are done. But maybe after a few episodes of Drag Race you'll be feeling ready to fight them again. Because if you can't resist a fascist how in the hell are you going to stop the slide into authoritarianism? Can I get an ACAB?