Grey’s Propaganda

I have watched every episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Instead of watching it as it aired, I waited until they got several seasons under their belt so that I could eye guzzle it without waiting for the next episode to air. At first, I enjoyed the love triangles and intern dramas. Then, I loved the story lines that revolved around Meredith and McDreamy. Episodes were fictional characters living fictional lives and there wasn’t much correlation between the world of Grey Sloan Hospital and the real world. I finally caught up right about when the “pandemic” unfolded. That’s when they lost me. They began writing episodes based on what was actually happening in the real world… with a twist. They always spun the focus to align with what was being pumped into our ears, brains, homes and televisions by the media. “Covid is deadly; masks are effective; unvaccinated people are idiots.”

Now, the story line heavily involves “reproductive rights”. The hospital is using the clinic to perform abortions, there are protestors outside the clinic and in every other scene there is mention of the Supreme Court ruling or Roe v. Wade. The characters constantly refer to their “reproductive health” being under attack. Protestors are portrayed as violent, attacking people with acid and throwing bricks through windows. It’s almost over the top – they exaggerate their experiences and spew lies about what is actually going on. They obviously are ignoring what the Supreme Court ruling actually means and just push pro-abortion story lines based on complete poppycock.

One episode several weeks ago was so left-spun that I turned it off because it was literally making my blood boil. I just watched the latest episode and I found myself screaming at the characters.

What I see happening, just as it has in every other part of our society, is that exaggeration, manipulation and fear tactics are pushed on us everywhere we look. We can’t go to the grocery store without seeing evidence of propaganda (brands’ graphics and logos have been changed to erase people of color). We can’t drive through Atlanta without seeing billboards pushing some kind of narrative. And we can’t just watch TV without agendas being shoved down our throats. Even if the program we’re watching is light and non-controversial, the ads in between are full of shameless plugs.

It’s sad that a show like Grey’s is being used to push an agenda. It’s infuriating that the producers are succumbing to the liberal intentions and injecting political undertones into everything we watch.

I don’t want to be done with the show. I have followed these characters since S1E1 and breaking up with a show is like losing friends. But, I have cancelled future recordings and will not be giving them any more of my time. Producers and networks need to know that they are losing viewers because we just want a story, not a moral dilemma. I don’t care what side of the fence viewers are on, we watch dramas to escape; we want to spend that hour forgetting that there are things going on in our world that are stressful and infuriating. I’d rather watch CNN – at least they’re not pretending to be professionals.

“Sister” Wives

This one is a little out of my norm, considering most of my controversial opinions revolve around politics and various conspiracy theories. However, it’s time to call out Kody Brown for being a complete fraud.

I don’t agree with polygamy. I think it’s a stupid idea to ask multiple women to share one man and expect them to be all good with it. I think it takes a stupid man to voluntarily subject himself to multiple wives when one is usually sufficient to drive a man to drink. But, I’ve always been intrigued with things that aren’t typical. (I also enjoy Dr. Pimplepopper.) So, I found myself binge-watching Sister Wives starting with season 1 and I still watch every new episode. It’s not the first series I’ve seen with polygamist communities, or documentary I’ve studied about the practice. Generally, while they’ve been documented and filmed many times, they lead a pretty private life. They always live in a close community with each other as well as others who practice polygamy. Most every case I’ve seen, the husband has had one home in which all of his wives and children live together. The wives usually are close, much like sisters, and are seamless in their rearing of each others’ children.

So, when I saw Kody Brown providing separate homes to his wives and dividing his family into separate households I smelled a rat. He bounces from house to house nightly and pretends to have a marriage with Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn and his kids get him 1/4 of the time. How can you provide the fatherly influence to all of your children when you only spend 1/4 of your life with them? They are living with single mothers 3/4 of their lives. It’s so unfair to them and he gets the sweet deal while they’re left with the raw one.

When they purchased the land, they could have all lived in one big home with a “wing” for each wife. That would have prevented Kody from having to leave a house every day. It would have put him in close contact with all 247,000 of his kids every day. It would have meant ONE construction loan. ONE mortgage. ONE contractor to build ONE big house. Instead, they collectively decided to stay separate. That tells me that not one of them is committed to a true polygamist marriage. They all are seeking their own prizes and this arrangement is the catalyst for getting what they each want out of it.

Staying separate paved the way for Kody to exploit COVID-19 (and I need to go back and watch from when Covid started and count how many times he refers to it only by its full, scientific name) to allow him to pick a favorite wife and hunker down with her while the rest of his family were left to fend for themselves. He, along with a large portion of the world, fell for the lockdowns and germ-phobia hook, line and sinker. He went completely nuts with his rules and his protocol and made it physically impossible for anyone to abide by them so that he could use their defiance as an excuse to maintain the household of his choosing.

I’m so happy for Christine that she was willing to expose the fraud and escape the charade. I hope she finds the happiness she has been denied while she was trying to do what she thought was right in God’s and Kody’s eyes. I hope her kids heal from all the trauma they’ve endured at the hands of their dad’s manipulation.

I’m excited to see that Janelle is finding through Christine the truth about Kody and is on the verge of experiencing the same freedom she has achieved. Her poor boys… they don’t deserve to be outcasts simply because they used common sense to maintain their lives in spite of their dad’s neurotic rules. I hope they know that distancing from toxic people is healthy even if the toxic people share your DNA.

Meri, who actually gave up her legal marriage to Kody so he could marry Robyn legally, is doing an excellent job of playing his game and letting him continue to take care of her. Meanwhile, she owes him nothing and doesn’t even have to perform any wifely duties… I mean, he barely even speaks to her. She’s totally winning!

And Robyn, with her crooked, poorly drawn-on eyebrows, will probably be the one standing on top of the hill, hands on hips, laughing maniacally on the series finale. She wins the man, she gets the legal benefit of his entire estate and she has successfully run off her competition.

Kody Brown is pretending to be spiritually obedient by entertaining multiple women, he gets to pick and choose what he wants from each of them (or nothing), he is benefitting financially from the reality show he has subjected his family to and he has gained notoriety with his unusual lifestyle (notice I didn’t say “popularity”). But, in stark comparison, he has alienated a large percentage of his family, traumatized his kids and exposed their version of polygamy for the farce it is.

Am I going to continue to watch every episode? Yes. It’s like watching a train wreck – you just can’t look away. But, while I am fascinated by the story as it plays out I am watching and waiting to see Janelle get her comeuppance and for Kody to get what he deserves as well. And while I watch, I will be reminded of how grateful I am that I have one husband and he has one wife and there are no cameras documenting every moment of our healthy, sometimes dysfunctional, but always precious marriage.

Choices

This opinion (laced with facts) is brought to you by the SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Please be warned that there will be terms here that may not sit well with some. Let’s define them first.

1. Rape – unwanted and forceful sexual intercourse, sometimes violent
2. Incest – unwanted sexual advances by a member of one’s family
3. Baby – a human life in any stage of development
4. Abortion – ending of a human life before it has been born
5. Conception – when the sperm finds the egg and the cells merge and begin to form a human baby

The choice of words may vary, but the definitions are the same.

Now, whether or not you believe that abortion is wrong, we can agree on a few things. First, there is the fact that rape/incest can lead to a pregnancy and that is a very difficult pill to swallow for someone who has been traumatized by the rape or incest itself and that now there is a life growing as a result. We can agree that should the mother choose to keep the baby, they will endure the trauma of the event as well as the constant reminder that the event occurred every time she looks at her child.

I happen to know someone who not only endured rape, but because she believed that abortion was wrong she chose to keep the baby. That baby is now about 9 or 10 years old and her mother has since married and had another baby. I see her love them equally. I watched her care for her first child as any mother would, since she saw that baby as an innocent life made up of her own genes.

Second, when someone with any sense of morality takes a life, it is something that they remember for the rest of their lives. Just ask a veteran. Or someone who had an abortion.

I happen to also know a veteran and a mother who aborted her baby. No matter the circumstances, unless you’re Dahmer, taking a life leaves a scar that you feel forever. That veteran will remember the faces of those he was tasked with killing. And that mother mourns that child even now, 30 years later.

The root of the disagreement between pro life and pro choice is this: Is a baby a baby prior to birth? Here’s what I believe and most pro life advocates believe based on what we’re taught in the Bible, which is that God formed each of us in the womb. He knew us before we were created. Whatever the circumstances of our conception, He intended for each life to be. Even if you take the Bible out of it, the proof of “life begins at conception” is repeated in that someone who is guilty of killing a pregnant woman is also guilty of feticide. In fact, veterinarians won’t perform a spay procedure on an animal who is pregnant.

There’s also the popular argument that it may be medically necessary to abort a baby in the case of an ectopic pregnancy or if the pregnancy is threatening the life of the mother. And, you guessed it… I know people who fit in these categories too! The mother who had an ectopic pregnancy didn’t go to Planned Parenthood, she went to her OBGYN, who sent her to the emergency room because this was an emergency situation and had there not been medical intervention, neither life would have been saved. But, in no way was she glad to end that pregnancy. It was devastating for her as any miscarriage is for a mother. I knew a girl once who was pregnant with twins. An early ultrasound showed that one of the girls’ brain had stopped developing very early and that while she would be physically perfect, there was only enough brain function to enable the reflex to gasp for air. But, only just before suffocating. And only for a few moments after birth. It was impossible to remove the unviable fetus without also ending the twin’s life as they shared a placenta and sack. So, the mother was faced with carrying both babies to term knowing that she would lose one of her daughters very soon after birth. Another former coworker of mine was told that her body was too small to carry both twins and that she needed to choose which one to remove. She refused to choose and chose to see what God did. Sadly, but in perfect wisdom, one of her babies stopped developing and her cells were absorbed causing no harm to the other baby or the mother.

Another scenario is “my body; my choice”. Since we’ve determined that the life that’s developing is that of a whole other human, that is that whole other human’s body that’s being killed: not the mother’s. Besides, that argument didn’t work for the thousands of people who were forced to accept an experimental drug or lose their jobs. And in their case it actually WAS their body.

One concept I have a hard time touching on is the brutality of an abortion. I believe every woman contemplating an abortion should be required to watch a full, unedited video of how one is performed. Just like I watched birth videos prior to delivering my kids. If it’s too horrible for her to watch, then just think how horrible it is for the baby.

The last thing I think we can agree on is the right to choose. I will absolutely agree that it is a woman’s right to choose whether or not to have a baby. And that choice should be made before you make a baby. With so many preventative measures available to us, it’s simply irresponsible to make a baby accidentally. Even if your method fails, there are things that can be done the very next day, before any baby has had time to occur. And are people so sex-crazed that they can’t just keep it in their pants until they get ready to have a baby?

So, when I see women protesting and crying because their “right” to kill their baby has been threatened, I only see promiscuous girls that are fighting to protect their right to literally kill the consequences of their own actions. I mean… who in their right mind would mix the flour and sugar and butter and eggs and put them in the oven and then say “Gee… I hope there’s not a cake in there!”

Now, please don’t be fooled by the left into thinking that the overturn of the ruling will strip women of their “right” to an abortion. No, hun, you didn’t have that right to begin with. If you need a comprehensive list of what your rights actually are, please click here: LINK

Rock/Paper/Slaps

Some call it “the slap heard around the world.” Some call it the Will Smith/Chris Rock fiasco. Some call it Oscar drama. I call it complete poppycock. (That’s a word we aren’t using enough!)

So, in case you missed it (and you probably did at least in real time since it happened on that broadcast where people who are paid to pretend they’re something they’re not get up and congratulate each other wearing expensive borrowed clothes and prattle on about how good they all are at playing dress up and… well… acting), Chris Rock was on stage at the Oscars on the 27th and, as comedians do, he was roasting various people in the audience. Well, one of those comments landed on Jada Pinkett Smith and referenced her newly bald head. Now, it’s not evident whether or not Chris knew why Jada’s head was bald or that she is suffering from alopecia. But, nevertheless, his comment didn’t appear to be received well by Jada. But, Will, on the other hand, laughed along with everyone else. It wasn’t one of those “I’m-really-mad-but-I’m-laughing-so-you-see-my-crazy” kind of laughs, but a genuine “this-is-funny” laugh. See?

That laugh doesn’t say “I’m about to jump up and smack the s#!+ out of Chris Rock.” But then… the camera cuts to Chris on stage, where he stammers for a second about how it was just a joke, then we see Will walking fairly quickly toward Chris. We can’t see his face, but he is approaching Chris in a way that would make most men brace for impact. But Chris doesn’t. He squares his feet, faces Will and maintains eye contact with Will up until the slap hits him… RIGHT in the microphone. Hitting that mic sure did give it a loud, cinematic effect. Right? It’s almost like it was part of the show. For actors. Who are really good at things like cinematic effect.

If you look at Chris’s body language, it seems that he doesn’t appear shocked at all. He doesn’t move backwards to avoid this large mad guy coming at him whose wife he had just insulted. His hands stay by his side, not trying to block any advances or swings. Could be that he was caught completely off guard and thought Will was coming up to whisper in his ear? Hug him? Borrow the stage long enough to shoot back another insult? But it certainly didn’t appear that he was trying to avoid getting smacked. Then will sidles back to his seat, screams at Chris from there a couple time, wins an award and adds an apology (not to Chris, though) in his acceptance speech.

Now, here’s where the conspiracy theorist spoiler alert in me comes out. I’ve got a couple of angles here, so bear with me.

So, we’ve got two actors who really haven’t done a whole heck of a lot career-wise in the last few minutes. (Although I will say the nature show Will did recently was really, really, really good. But not good enough to be on network TV, I guess.) And we have an awards show that people have grown to completely ignore because celebrities have made us all gag with their virtue signaling and misuse of platform. The previous year, the Oscars had the lowest ratings in history. So, nobody was watching this garbage. Most people would have gone on with their lives not knowing the Oscars even happened this year had it not been for that SLAP THAT EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT.

And BAM! Everybody’s relevant again. Will Smith: RELEVANT! Chris Rock: RELEVANT! (And pitied. Eyeroll.) The Oscars: Back on the MAP! So, that’s one purpose this fiasco served.

The other is a little deeper. Let’s dive right in. When was the last time there was a case of battery in an awards show? 2007. MTV Video Music Awards. Kid Rock and Tommy Lee had a little brawl over Pamela Anderson. Kid Rock threw the first punch, but their little beef had been going on for several years since both of them were married to Pam at some point. (I mean, who hasn’t?)

I’ve got to be the first to say that these situations were pretty similar, down to the last name… Rock. In 2007 it was KID Rock who was the aggressor, and now 15 years later, CHRIS Rock is the victim.

Here’s where I’m gonna make it political. Sorry. It’s what I do.

Just last week, Kid Rock (the guy that hit Tommy Lee) was on Fox News interviewing with Tucker Carlson. He’s a big Trump supporter, conservative, etc. Most of us right wingers just love him because of his outspokenness, this brazen hybrid smart guy/redneck. Conservative political commentators embrace him.

But, the same people who love Kid Rock are lashing out at Will for not being able to control himself at the Oscars. This is going to come back to bite them when the liberals figure out that they’re being a tad bit hypocritical. Hopefully, they’ll never make the connection. I mean, I’m not gonna tell ’em.

So, in conclusion, I think that A. the altercation the other night was a complete publicity stunt. And B. it echoes celebrity beefs in the past. But, we can’t let ourselves get caught up in anything an actor says or does… they’re acting.

One last thing, though:

What did Chris Rock find on his face when he woke up Monday morning?

Fresh Prince.

Get it?

He got in one little fight and his mom got scared…

Okay, but at least I didn’t make a G.I. Jane joke!

The Conspiracy Theorist – Ukraine Edition

So, I’m going to stop calling myself a Conspiracy Theorist and start calling my theories “Spoiler Alerts”. This one has to do with the war declared on Ukraine by Russia. While the whole world is claiming to stand with Ukraine and condemn Putin, I’m feeling something a little off about the whole thing.

Why is the current potato in chief backing Ukraine? He put sanctions on Russia, banned oil from Russia, etc. But, why? And why is Putin really attacking Ukraine? It doesn’t satisfy me to just conclude that he’s a bad man and he just wants their land, as stated so eloquently by Kamala Harris.

I’m thinking back to our removal from Afghanistan. That was a blatant disaster and caused death to our troops and Afghani civilians. We left a gazillion dollars worth of equipment in the hands of the Taliban and the only reason given was that it would have cost more to take our stuff home with us? So, now, in light of the oil issues we are having because of Russia and Ukraine we’re having to make deals with other countries to get the 10% of oil that was supplied by Russia. Afghanistan has oil. The Taliban has our stuff and control of the oil. Did we pay off the Taliban with weapons and tanks and stuff because we knew we would be striking up a deal with them later? Was it possible that we knew that Russia was going to invade Ukraine? Why was our government so quick to stand with Ukraine? Why would Putin declare war now, in the middle of a pandemic (that’s another blog) and not 4 years ago before Biden took (literally) office and before there was a virus spreading all over the world? (Quick mention: Ukraine has a very low vaccination rate while the US has mandates. Ukrainians are being issued weapons to defend themselves while the US government wants to disarm our citizens. We are helping(?) Ukraine to defend their borders while our country has opened ours and allowed all manner of whatever-the-heck in and giving them free everything when they get here.)

People like Joe Biden and George Soros (and many other leftists) are making statements of support for Ukraine. Typically, if either of those people makes a statement, I immediately believe the opposite. Why should we listen to them now? They have made it evident that they will do whatever they can to make our country Socialist. Soros is all about population control. So, why are we in the same boat with them on this particular issue? Something about that sits very wonky.

So here’s my prediction, as imperfect and lacking in details as it may be: There is a very good reason, one that makes a lot more sense than “I’m bigger and badder than you and I’m taking your stuff” for Putin to declare war on Ukraine. Could be that he is trying to destroy something that needs to be destroyed. Somebody knows.

It’s brutal and unfortunate that so many innocent civilians are caught in the crossfire. The Ukrainian people are suffering and dying because of whatever this is and that is deplorable. But, something in my gut tells me that we’re being led astray… again. And until some sense is made of it all, I can’t say I stand with Ukraine. I hurt for their people, but I am holding out on picking a side. And as bass-ackward as it sounds, I’m looking for Putin to make it make sense. We’ve got more of a chance of getting answers from him than we are the morons that are pretending to be in charge around here. (That last state of the union address was like a Southpark episode.)

The Conspiracy Theorist – Baldwin Edition

Something feels off. As soon as a breaking story comes across my feed, my gut has a reaction. Sometimes, my gut tells me something that contrasts with how the story is delivered. Here’s an example. When Jeffrey Epstein was arrested, my initial response was “that guy won’t live to see a trial.” I had just enough knowledge of the case to know that there were some high level entities and influential elites that were in serious peril of being outed by this man. He had associated with the likes of Bill and Hillary, who (due to several cases of situational speculation) would benefit by his being silenced. And, in the words of John Kennedy, Republican Senator from Louisiana, “Christmas ornaments, drywall, and Epstein – name three things that don’t hang themselves.” So, the black and white of it is 1. Jeffrey Epstein had dirt on the Clinton mafia; and 2. He is dead and “nobody saw anything.” So, was my gut reaction a conspiracy theory? Was it spot on? It certainly seems as though my gut predicted exactly what was going to happen.

Those types of scenarios have played out several times, especially in the last few years with pandemic wishy-washyness and political nonsense. I’ve had several gut reactions to things that felt off in the recent past. Some of them have proven to be true, but some are still hanging like a chad (referencing a controversial conspiracy theory from long before Covid). I won’t go back and rehash them all, mainly because there are too many to remember and seem to pop up so frequently it’s hard to keep track. But there’s one right now that I am eyeing with my squinty eyes and feeling in my twitchy gut, and that is the case of Alec Baldwin. Since we haven’t seen the end of that story, I want to document my prediction right now, on February 16, 2022, and test my gut.

So, for context, here’s the story. On October 21, 2021 Alec was on set of the movie “Rust” which was being filmed in New Mexico. According to accounts, he was rehearsing a scene in which his character was to be shooting a gun. The prop master, Sarah Zachry, was said to have brought the handgun out of the prop storage area, one or two other people handled it, then the assistant director, Dave Halls, gave it to Baldwin stating that it wasn’t loaded. What we know about Sarah Zachry is that she had been working on the film for five to six days, she was 24 years old at the time of the shooting, she had worked on only 3 sets prior to “Rust” and there had been several complaints about safety on the set. When Baldwin took the gun, he did not check for himself to see that it was not loaded. Then, he fired a shot and fatally struck the Director of Photography, Halyna Hutchins and also striking Director, Joel Souza. He immediately called it an accident and as of today there have been no charges filed.

This is where the conspiracy comes in to play.

Halyna Hutchins was a Ukranian Cinematographer who had worked on more than 30 films, short films and TV miniseries. It was rumored that she was working on a documentary on Hollywood pedophile rings, but fact-checkers have said that was just a conspiracy theory. I have searched several outlets on different platforms and have found no confirmation that this documentary was actually being created, only that this was a rumor. But why would a random rumor like this exist? Why would such an oddly specific rumor have been spread? I have to believe there was some truth there because “you can’t make this s#!+ up”.

Alec Baldwin has made a reputation for himself of being a far-left, Trump hating, gun-grabbing über-Democrat. He won an Emmy for his portrayal of Donald Trump on SNL, supported Barak Obama and Joe Biden and was associated with No Rifle Association Initiative, an anti-NRA movement. Alec has been the producer on 24 sets, has played 144 roles and directed one of the works he produced. Without counting and assuming to know the details of all of these movies and TV shows I never saw (because I really wasn’t interested or because this waste of human flesh was involved with them) I would guess that he has had a lot of experience with props, specifically prop guns. Anyone who handles a firearm, whether it’s for personal use, entertainment, law enforcement, hunting or as a prop in a film, knows that you always treat a gun as if it’s loaded. You always check the firearm as soon as it meets your hand to see if it’s loaded and if the ammo is live. You never rely on someone else to determine if it’s safe: you take responsibility for safety checks yourself. Even if it’s a toy gun, you never ever point a gun at anyone. If children can grasp these basic gun safety rules, it’s not obscene to expect an adult with as much experience as Alec to adhere to the same. So, why would he fail to check this particular time? Why would the gun have anything but dummy rounds in it if they were just rehearsing a scene? Why didn’t the 3-4 other adults that handled the gun notice that there was live ammo in it? What was he aiming at and why was he not aware of the background? Why was Hutchins directly in the line of fire? Who loaded a prop gun with real bullets? And the most important question: What reason would someone have to set up this scene and take the life of a cinematographer?

My gut thinks it has answers to some of these questions. Why would he fail to check the gun? Because he knew there were live rounds in it. That was the plan. Why would the gun have live ammo in it? Because dummy rounds don’t kill people. Live ammo does. Why didn’t anyone notice that the gun was loaded? They probably did, and it was on purpose. What was he aiming at? Her. Why was he not aware of the background? He was. Unfortunately, the director was in the wrong place at the wrong time because the background wasn’t Hutchins as she was the target. Who loaded the prop gun? That would be the prop master, right? The 24 year old that was on her third gig and giddy to work with a big name like Alec Baldwin and would do what she was told and shut up. And, lastly, why would someone want to kill Halyna Hutchins? Possibly because she was sticking her nose in things that people in high places don’t want discovered.

My conclusion, and my far-fetched (maybe?) conspiracy theory is that someone planned these events. Hutchins was going to expose some high ranking officials and Hollywood elites who were into something twisted, so they took care of her. And who better to stage an event and make it look like an accident than a seasoned actor? Isn’t that what actors do?

Currently, Baldwin is being sued by Hutchins family for wrongful death. Of course, he is. Who better than the LA attorney husband of a dead cinematographer to dig into the story that nobody wants told? And what’s his life expectancy before he gets silenced too?

This is how the brain of a conspiracy theorist works. From now on, these gut feelings are getting documented rather than blathering on to my friends and family. At least the computer screen can’t roll its eyes at me and call me nuts. And when they come true… I can prove I told you so.