Y8 D169

I want to buy a #notmypresident t-shirt and wear it on this next trip. But something tells me I would get the shit beat out of me on my layover in Dallas. Fear. That's what this country is about now even more than ever. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the brown man. Fear of the woman. Don't believe me? Day two antics:

- student in NC being outed by her professor who then proceeded to tell the school she is "one of them ISIS" people. She received 19 death threats in one day. Administration does nothing.

- woman in MN accosted in a Best Buy parking lot told 'bitches shouldn't be out at night alone'.

- Leonard Cohen died.

Okay, that last one might have happened regardless, but it's still sad. Maybe he didn't want to be in this world anymore and just gave up.

One of the arguments I keep hearing from drumpf people is "now we get our jobs back!". No, you don't. There are many reasons jobs left this country. Specifically that blue collar manufacturing job you so desperately want to believe is coming back. Let's start with a simple one; we don't have the resources. We have mined, plucked, and cajoled the natural resources in this country down to a bare minimum. We just don't have the parts. Where we do, it costs more to obtain them. Why? For the same reason it costs more to manufacture here. None of you will work for $1.50 an hour in unsafe conditions. Unions, living wages, medical insurance, vacation benefits - these things don't exist in the countries where are stuff is being made. Workers regularly put in 16-18 hour days 6-7 days a week. You won't tolerate that. The cost of goods will increase. This isn't partisan, it's basic economic supply laws. It's not opinion, it's fact. Jobs aren't coming back. Just admit you're a racist piece of shit and we can move on.

I taught day two of my class. Everyone arrived on time. As a result we got through all of the material by 2:45. Not too shabby. I was blessed with a good group these last two days. We shall see how today's group stacks up in comparison. Three people, one day class. I am at a mid-level confidence right now with them.

After class, guess what arrived? My final Amazon gift cards! This year's number? $635. BAM. $50 of that went to B's sisters as their Xmas present. The rest went to us. I spent $800 total for an out of pocket of $220 for 43 presents. Not too shabby in my mind. Much of it will be here by the middle of next week. When I get home I will have everything wrapped and ready to go. Honestly I have about another $150 in gifts from other sites I want to get which will bring the entire Xmas budget to about $400, but I am okay with that. We're at the end of the year where SS taxes are gone and I am getting $350 or so more per check. In total I will make about $1400 extra. Most of that will go to bills and debt, but if I earmark a couple hundred, so be it.

Took care of laundry after dinner. Need clothes for next week's travel. B made chicken masala last night. MUCH better than mine to be honest. She took her time and followed the recipe perfectly. I adlib a bit and hers was spot on. Well done. We watched some TV and then played WoW. We both have toons we only play together which is kind of fun. We have separate ones for doing solo stuff, but she has her gnome and I have a death knight we play together. Talk about a mismatched pair.

Went to bed around 10:30. One more day, then the weekend. Whee?