About two years ago, I made a parody of Linda Ronstadt’s cover of the song, “Am I Blue.” I called it “Voting Blue.” That video got crapped on by a bunch of MAGA trolls, and to this day, it’s one of my lowest rated videos.
Well… this morning, I woke up to the happy news I hoped for, but kind of didn’t want to dare to expect. We got our blue t’sunami! I wanted to make a musical video, but since it’s very early in the morning, I haven’t yet had time to make one. I do this song well, so why not make a new version?
YEA!!!!!!
We voted blue, voted blue. We’ve had enough of Donald Trump, so we’ve voted blue. I voted blue. Others did too. Just like me, they disagreed with the MAGA crew.
Common sense and humanity’s back in style Haven’t seen those long lost friends in quite a while Ooh, feelin’ saner. It was a no-brainer. Want Trump gone, and off the news, so we voted blue.
For too long we’ve focused on everything Trump has said But now, he and his movement are almost dead! Ooh, we’re resolved and finally evolved. Itwas the best thing to do. So we voted blue. Such good news!
Good morning, blog fans. I hope, if you are eligible to vote in today’s US based elections, you will exercise your rights. Even if you choose to vote for the maliciously mutated Republican Party, it’s still important to make your voice heard. There are a lot of people, especially within the Republican Party, who would like nothing better than to take away your right to vote– especially if you’re female. So please, for the love of God, get out and VOTE!
There… now that I have plugged the importance of voting in today’s US based elections, I’m going to move on to another subject. If you read yesterday’s post, and you stuck with it beyond the first few paragraphs, you might have noticed that I finally learned more about the craptastic catastrophe involving the former Cunard cruise ship, MV Odyssey, which was being operated by an outfit called Villa Vie Residences.
Yesterday, I explained that when I first heard about this cruise line last week, I actually avoided reading up on what was going on with it. For some reason, I just didn’t want to know what happened to the over 200 people who were forced to disembark from the MV Odyssey in Cambodia.
But then on Sunday night, I accidentally watched a video made by a couple who had sold their cabin thirteen months prior to the cruise company’s sudden death on October 27th, 2026. I linked that video in yesterday’s post, but here it is again.
Hmmm…
In the first part of the couple’s video, they were showing off their travels in Hiroshima, Japan. It looked like they were genuinely having a really great time. Throughout most of their video, they showed clips that indicated that they were having fun, and projected what looked like positive vibes about Villa Vie Residences and the MV Odyssey, itself. Then, at the end, they were explaining things they had negative opinions of, and much of what they said was bleeped out or otherwise redacted. 😳
In videos made by other passengers, I noticed very positive comments, but underneath what was said, I heard an undercurrent that prompted me to read between the lines. And then I ran across YouTube content creator, Jenny Phenix, who was kicked off the Odyssey before she ever even got to board. I ended up watching a bunch of her videos, most of which were made while the company was still in operation.
Phenix explained that, for many years, she had run her own businesses in Florida. Having reached a “certain age”, she decided she wanted to retire. So she closed her businesses, sold or stored a lot of her personal belongings, and made plans to spend time traveling. The Villa Vie Residences concept seemed perfect for her, and she was one of the first ones to sign up for an inside cabin on the ship, which was once used by well known cruise lines like Fred Olsen Cruises and Cunard.
In the below video, you can see what was promised when Phenix decided to sign up for the cruise of a lifetime…
This video consists of background music set to screenshots from the “Wayback Machine”, which shows what the company had originally offered cruisers like Jenny Phenix…
The company offered quite a few different options to allow people to buy into the dream of living at sea. Some people bought cabins. Some entered long term lease agreements. At one point, the price range for getting on the ship ranged from $49,999 to $439,999. Jenny’s investment was on the low side, but there were others who put a lot of money into sailing on the MV Odyssey. Below is a video by a couple who really made their residence their own…
This couple had spent some time RVing before taking a big plunge into the Villa Vie Residences dream. They converted three balcony staterooms into a nice sized apartment, complete with a wet bar.
Those who boarded this vessel, which was already about 30 years old when it set sail in September 2024, were promised a home at sea for at least 15 years, as long as they paid their monthly fees and the initial investment. But there were problems from the start.
The ship was supposed to start sailing in May 2024, but needed repairs. Some people, like Jenny Phenix, had traveled to Southampton, England, and the Belfast, in Northern Ireland, to join the ship in May. But embarkation day kept getting pushed back, so they were spending a lot of money on hotels and holiday apartments, killing time and losing a lot of cash, waiting for the dream cruise to finally commence.
Phenix detailed her experiences in a five part YouTube series. I listened to the whole thing, and was pretty shocked by what had happened. Phenix explained that she was in a number of What’s App groups, where fellow cruisers kept in touch and communicated about their anticipated adventures at sea.
But somehow, Jenny and another cruiser, a woman named Bonny Kelter, had pissed off the powers that be. Both women had their contracts abruptly canceled before they were ever even able to set sail. The decision was final, and made without any warning whatsoever. All of a sudden, Jenny Phenix explains that she and Bonny were removed from the What’s App groups and advised that they would not be embarking with the rest of the passengers.
That development would have been terrible enough, but then the company did not refund the women the large sums of money they had already paid! Jenny Phenix eventually had to file a lawsuit. She fought hard just to get two suitcases returned to her, and she didn’t even get those until she hired a lawyer. Prior to receiving her luggage, Jenny received a rather nasty letter from the company’s CEO, advising her that they would not be responsible for it.
Jenny Phenix is clearly a very resilient woman, although this mess with Villa Vie Residences threw a huge wrench in her plans. Because she had planned to be on the ship for several years, she rented out her condominium. And because she had retired from working, she can no longer afford to live in the condo, anyway. I believe she had another rental condo that she sold, and had planned to use the proceeds to pay off her other condo, but thanks to the Villa Vie Residences disaster, that plan also collapsed.
So Phenix bought herself a really nice van that she calls “Hershel”, and now spends her time traveling around the United States. She “boondocks”, sleeping in the van, exploring national parks, and visiting relatives around the country. I really admire Jenny’s gumption. I’m not sure van life is for me. She is clearly a very tough, determined, and independent lady, though, and she has a hell of a story to tell. She takes good care of herself, and clearly has a lot of friends and loved ones who also look after her.
After I watched most of Jenny Phenix’s videos, I moved on to a few others. I found them interesting viewing. A few people were obviously cheerleaders for the cruiseline, with overwhelmingly positive things to say about their time at sea. Others seemed outwardly positive, but I could tell by their body language and some of what they said that they weren’t being 100 percent transparent. Again, one couple even admitted that people needed to “read between the lines” to discern some of the “truth”.
Reminds me of another business model…
As I was watching and listening to these folks, many of whom were obviously “winners at life” before this mess occurred, I was reminded, weirdly enough, of something kind of sinister. If you’ve been following my writings over the years, you know that I used to research and write a lot about “teen help” schools. These were schools that were meant to “straighten out” troubled teenagers. They cost a lot of money, and often involved abuse of the teen on every level. Meanwhile, parents were spending many thousands of dollars a month to send their kids… and they were recruiting other parents to do the same!
The Worldwide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS) is one such outfit that comes to mind. This organization, which made its founders filthy rich, was documented on a Netflix series called The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping. I have written about that series a few times in this blog.
Now, I am not suggesting that Villa Vie Residences was actually abusing passengers, or anything like that. What I’m focused on is the insistence that the people who had invested in the lifetime cruise only present positive opinions. I read that passengers had to sign non-disclosure agreements, for instance, and some people on YouTube had openly stated that they were “not at liberty” to talk about negative things in a way that could be deemed “disparaging.” That, to me, seems dishonest and unethical, at best.
And yes, it does bring to mind the worried, but well-heeled parents, desperate to “save” or “control” their teens, to so-called “treatment programs/schools” that cost them thousands every month. Those parents could get a break on tuition if they got other parents to sign up their kids. Some of them might have had some trouble admitting that they made a mistake. Others realized the mistake and got their kids out before the teens, and their relationships with their parents, were permanently damaged. And some, even to this day, insist that their experiences with WWASPS was “lifesaving.” Perhaps, for a few, it really was lifesaving, but I’m betting that most folks simply can’t admit that they were wrong.
I can imagine that many of the people who signed up for this cruise are people who are used to being winners at life. They bought into the dream. It can be hard to see the light and let go of the dream, before it turns into a nightmare. Look at what’s happened to the United States and our embarrassing experiences with Trump and his stupid MAGA movement. Some people are struggling to keep food on their tables and gas in their tanks, but still insist that Trump is the best POTUS ever.
I did watch a couple of videos by a very pleasant looking gay couple who talked about being called “founders”, as they were early investors of this start up. When I listened to them speak, I could tell that they are good businessmen and nice guys. They said all the right things. But I could tell that they had seen the writing on the wall well before the ship suddenly ceased operations. They sold their cabin over a year ago, and walked away from the venture. I suspect they didn’t talk about it much… until now. They put up a new video just recently, and explained that they had simply decided to move on to something new. They also explained that the ship life wasn’t for them, because they were “too introverted”.
Anyway…
My heart goes out to those who are affected by this catastrophe. While some folks might not think these people necessarily deserve any compassion, especially given what’s going on in the United States right now, personally, I do feel a little sorry for them. It’s definitely a tough break when you get screwed over… especially when you’re older, and you took a gamble on your life’s savings.
Now, I don’t feel as sorry for them as I do people who can’t pay their light bills, but I don’t feel glee that they got cheated. I wish more of them had been as brave and outspoken as Jenny Phenix is, even if her speaking out made her unpopular. As a fellow outspoken and unpopular person named Jenny, I know how that feels (and we sued our ex landlady for similarly dishonest and entitled bullshit).
I don’t believe this cruiseline “sank” because of exorbitant fuel prices. I think this would have happened regardless of Trump’s decision to invade Iran. It sounds to me like the people who started this company were incompetent, dishonest, and entitled, and they set up a business model that was doomed to fail. There were way too many people who were willing to enable them and throw good money after bad… and now they are among the victims.
Which isn’t to say that residence programs at sea can’t work. There is a ship called The World that has been running successfully since 2002. That’s a ship where a person can buy a cabin and sail at will. But The World Residences at Sea’s business model is obviously not like Villa Vie Residence’s was.
In any case, this story is just a reminder to be very careful about chasing “impossible dreams.” If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And any company that tries to force you to be silent about your experiences is not one you want to be part of. I don’t care how enticing their offers might seem. Good on Jenny Phenix for standing up for her rights. I love a story about someone who doesn’t bend over for screwing by entitled narcissistic bullies. I hope fortune smiles on her.
So… that about does it for today’s post. Charlie threw up on my bed, so I’m having to do the sheets a day earlier than I planned. I best get that chore done, while I still have the energy. Have a great Tuesday, and again… PLEASE VOTE!
An AI depiction of the MV Odyssey is today’s featured photo.
Good morning, blog readers. Last night, I got pretty good night’s sleep. I managed to wake up for good at about 7:30 or so… This is pretty unusual for me, especially on a weekday, because I usually get up at 5:00 AM. That’s when Bill gets up for work.
After almost 24 years of marriage, it’s just easier to get up, have breakfast, and drink coffee with Bill before he goes to work. In fact, that’s what we did yesterday, because Bill caught a late morning flight to North Carolina. He had to leave our house at 7:00 AM.
After yesterday’s admittedly crotchety blog posting, I decided to avoid Facebook and watch a couple of DVDs. One was a movie I’d seen before, Love Potion Number 9, a hilarious 1992 film starring Sandra Bullock and Tate Donovan. Watching that movie made me feel young again.
The other was a 1995 movie I had never seen before called Bye Bye Love, which starred Paul Reiser, Matthew Modine, and Randy Quaid. That movie actually has a good cast, but I found it to be a rather crappy film. I think they were trying to remake Parenthood, and they definitely failed.
Not only was the storyline contrived and borderline offensive, but it was also obviously underwritten by McDonald’s. I don’t think that was a particularly good business move for McDonald’s, because the restaurant was repeatedly being used as a neutral place for three divorced couples to exchange custody of their kids. And somehow, they made this into a comedy.
The recently murdered Rob Reiner is in it, which made me kind of sad, especially since his character is especially annoying. Reiner wasn’t divorced, but last year, he and his wife were killed by their own son. Bye Bye Love is about parents and their children making difficult adjustments after divorce. It has a heartwarming ending. I know that a lot of divorces do not end that way, so I found the ending unrealistic and kind of dumb.
I also felt old as I watched Bye Bye Love. A very young Mae Whitman plays one of the kids involved in the custody exchanges. She’s now almost 40 years old. I think I bought the movie because of its soundtrack, which is actually good. James Taylor’s and Carly Simon’s son, Ben, contributed a lovely cover of the old Beatles song, “I Will” for it.
Ben Taylor was about 18 when he did this song… His sound has changed since the 90s, but this song was pretty much why I finally watched this movie. I can see why the film is now hard to find. Ben is now almost 50.
I have seen mixed reviews for Bye Bye Love. Some people loved it. Other people, like me, did not enjoy it. Again, I thought the cast was good, and the soundtrack was excellent. But the storyline was ridiculous, and as someone who married a divorced man whose ex wife really screwed him and his daughters over, I didn’t find the story charming. Maybe I would have in 1995, though. Back then, I was very single and had no idea about the ugly realities of divorce.
I decided to recover from my distaste for Bye Bye Love by watching YouTube. And then, although I’ve actually been trying to avoid hearing much about it, I eventually landed on this video about a couple who bought into the Villa Vie Residences world cruise concept. The video I watched was made a year ago, when the company was still “solvent”. A middle aged couple were showing off their adventures in Japan as they sailed on the ship called Odyssey.
This video was made over a year ago… I’m sure these folks are now extremely grateful they made their decision!
Before I watched the above video, I had heard about the recent shocking situation involving Villa Vie Residences, a cruise line that sold the idea of a “forever cruise” to well-heeled people who wanted a forever cruise adventure. Many of those who signed up sold their homes and planned to be on the Odyssey for at least a year or longer. They spent six figures for the idea of sailing around the world and seeing it before they were too old or too unhealthy to enjoy it.
On October 27, 2026, the people who were still on the ship were given about seven hours to disembark in Cambodia. They were left with nothing. The company became insolvent, and could not continue sailing because they owed $360,000 in fuel charges. The passengers who had bought into the dream are now officially screwed over… and some of them are stranded.
So… that leads me to today’s topic… the Villa Vie Residences lifetime cruise fiasco.
I honestly did try hard not to learn about what happened in this story. I follow a couple of cruise channels on YouTube, and both them provided brief details about what had happened. Even on the surface, it sounded really terrible. But I didn’t want to stop and consider what had actually happened to these folks who gambled on living full time on a cruise ship.
I’m not exactly sure why I didn’t want to know about it. Maybe it’s because there’s just so much other really major shit going on in the world. Maybe I was trying not to have sympathy for people who had decided to cruise full time on a ship. But I honestly don’t know why I was reluctant to learn more about this story.
I can’t even say I was envious of the people on the Odyssey. I like cruising, but I would not want to do it for months on end. I think ten days would be my max on a ship. Also, if you’ve seen my travel blog, you know I have been very fortunate in my ability to travel. So, it’s not because they were able to do something I want to do.
But anyway, I guess it was my fate to watch the folks from MidLife Cruising enjoying Hiroshima. Again, the video was made in 2025, and they looked like they were having a great time. But, at the end of the video, they explained that they had sold their stateroom, even though they had gotten dozens of other people to sign up.
My ears pricked up as they were summarizing their experiences. About half of what they said was bleeped out. They explained that they’d had to sign a non-disclosure agreement, and were not allowed to say negative things about the ship or their experiences, even though it was clear, even then, that there were big problems.
The couple did say that the person who bought their room was someone who had been on the ship already and had an inkling of what they were getting into. I’m sure that couple is now experiencing a wide range of emotions, given what’s in the news now.
Because I watched that video, more came onto my feed… and then I found myself listening to Tony Barnette of La Lida Loca, and Tommy Casabona of a channel I’ve never watched, talking about this situation. These two guys are YouTube creators who make videos about cruising.
Further down the rabbit hole, thanks to these guys…
And then this morning, I ran into a content creator named Jenny Phenix. I stopped to listen to Jenny’s story, because my name is also Jenny. And Jenny was actually KICKED OFF the Odyssey last year. She now lives in a van!
She got off last year, against her will… And she’s got some tea…
So now, I’m sitting here watching Jenny’s older videos about how she ended up “walking the plank”, as she put it. A year later, she’s feeling vindicated, but still quite pissed off about what happened. And who could possibly blame her?
I suspect I’ll be writing more about this after I watch Jenny’s series about how she became one of the earliest victims of this disaster. If anything, I think it’s a good cautionary story, especially as Bill gets closer to retirement. I would include myself in that statement too, but let’s face it, I retired a long time ago. 🙄
I’ll bet there will be some interesting books coming out of this SNAFU. Or… perhaps Netflix will do something with this story that will involve paying money to the victims for their stories. I hope the people involved can somehow get something out of this situation other than a very sad life lesson.
But really, I have a feeling this tale is very juicy. Just listening to that first video, with the middle aged couple who appeared to be having fun, but then were obviously “gagged” from voicing their complaints a year ago, tells me there’s a lot more to this story than people being cheated out of a lot of money and a good time on the high seas.
It sounds like the couple who ran the company are narcissists, and if you know me, you know I’m a sucker for stories about narcissism. So, I’m going to fall further down the hole and see what I can find out about what really happened. If it turns out there’s more to write about, I’ll return and report.
For now, I do hope you’ll have a fine Monday. And if you’re American, and you haven’t voted yet, PLEASE go out and vote tomorrow!
Today’s post title was inspired by this classic duet… It actually makes sense, because Bill is studying Jungian psychology, where the “shadow” gets discussed all the time. Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot about the so-called “shadow”.
Happy All Saints’ Day, y’all. My husband, Bill, has just left for another one of his business trips. He’ll be spending the week in North Carolina, while I sit here in Germany. I suspect it will be weird for Bill, because he’ll be “back home” for Election Day. Indeed, he’s going to an area close to where we used to live. Hopefully, when he comes back here, he’ll bring lots of Peet’s coffee with him.
Last night, we had a low key Halloween. I sat at our Eckbank Gruppe in a pair of pants and a knit shirt, not wearing a bra and drinking beer, while we waited for any trick or treaters to drop by for candy. We listened to music, and I scanned Facebook, while Bill and I had lightweight conversations about the state of things.
I happened to notice a headline on the news outlet, The Hill. I always assumed The Hill was a somewhat liberal outfit, but lately it seems to be more conservative. I don’t remember what headline caught my attention. I think it might have had to do with abortion rights, which always seems to trigger me. No, I’ve never been pregnant or had an abortion, but I’ll be goddamned if some self-righteous asshat of a stranger is gonna tell me women have to stay pregnant. 🤬🖕
I scanned the comments, and there was a rather offensive and abusive statement by some guy named Al. He was whining about leftists and liberals, his words dripping with disdain as he painted people with basic common sense (as in we don’t support electing rapey felons as POTUS) as “crazy” and “irresponsible”.
I felt a familiar reptilian spark in my brain. It was my temper waking up. It’s the stuff of legends. Before I knew it, I typed “Shut up, idiot.”
This AI generated lizard is probably a lot cuter than the reptile that resides in my brain.
Then I felt a pang of remorse from my conscience, which told me I shouldn’t type such a thing. I shouldn’t stoop to insults, even when guys like Al are insulting and offensive to me.
But instead of deleting the comment or blocking Al, I moved on. Then I forgot about it until I got a huge pop up from Facebook… you know, the kind that obnoxiously takes up the whole page, so you can’t ignore it. It read, “We removed your comment.” Then there was a button I could push to “find out why.” I didn’t bother, because I don’t care to be scolded by bots. 🙄
Well… I never voluntarily followed The Hill, anyway, and lately, I’m finding that I have a lot less patience and toleration for hypocrisy and other stupid bullshit. Facebook is largely a huge waste of time, anyway. So, fueled by hefeweizen and another spark of my temper, I immediately went to The Hill’s Facebook page and blocked it. 🤷♀️
Some people might think of this as an extreme reaction. Perhaps it is. But there are so many places where I can get my news, and I don’t like news outlets that are inconsistent and hypocritical in their comment moderation policies. I doubt The Hill will miss me; I won’t further offend their social media staffers or bots; and my feed will be less clogged with rage bait.
Listen… I know it’s rude to tell guys like Al to shut up. But people have been telling ME to shut up for my whole life. Whenever there’s a conflict, I’m almost always the one who is expected to reform. I’m sick of it, and I’m fed up with dealing with self-entitled twits who think I need to change for them… especially when I’m minding my own business.
It’s no secret that I have issues with authority figures. The older I get, the worse it is. I don’t like doctors or cops, or anyone else on a power trip. I still have bad memories of my father, who was regularly mean and disrespectful to me, and demanded that I show him “respect”.
When I didn’t give him the deference he expected, he responded with brute force and physical punishments. And he didn’t protect me when I was child at risk. For instance, he didn’t keep me away from our neighborhood pervert, who used to show me porn as he fed me M&Ms.
When I think of those times today, my temper flares, my hackles raise, and I have fantasies of kicking him squarely in the groin. Yes… I feel that way about my DAD. And he wasn’t even a narcissist.
Now that I’m older, I realize that there are people in my family with strong narcissistic tendencies. Who knows? I might even be one of them myself, because I don’t want to conform to the old roles I was forced to be in when I was much younger, smaller, and less powerful. So, when people like my alcoholic cousin demand that I be “respectful” to them and their stupid Trump supporting friends, I don’t react well.
And my temper flares when I run into Trump supporting randos who belittle and mock people they mockingly deem “leftists”, simply because someone doesn’t like Trump. I might tell them to “shut up”, if they’re lucky. If they’re not lucky, I might be a lot more profane. To be clear, I really try not to be rude first. But if you’re rude to me, all bets are off. 😈
Lately, I’ve been enjoying leaving inflammatory comments to guys like Al, and then turning off comments. That way, I don’t have to see how I trigger them. Or, I will just flat out block strangers I find offensive or annoying in any way. Extreme? Maybe… but at least it keeps me from engaging.
Sorry… It’s that time of year, again. Halloween is over now, so that means we’re approaching the holiday season. And that’s when people with character disorders tend to act up the most. This time of year always reminds me of times when I was forced to endure a lot of stupid fuckery at the hands of my “loved ones”. I enjoy spending holidays with Bill, but sometimes it makes me sad that I can’t enjoy my family anymore. I don’t seem to mean very much to them… or almost anybody else.
Sometimes, I wish I could just step off this neverending carousel and be done with this existence. There are times when I actually envy dead people. This is another thing I inherited from my dad… clinical depressive tendencies. Fortunately, I’m married to a lovely man who accepts me exactly as I am, and doesn’t mind it when my temper flares. In fact, he usually finds it entertaining, because he rarely shows anger, even though he feels angry. And I’m almost never angry at him.
Anyway… maybe it’s fitting that I’d write this post on All Saints’ Day. Here’s to a brand new month. We’ll be celebrating our anniversary late this year. Bill has to go on another business trip, starting on our 24th wedding anniversary. But, when he comes back, it will be Thanksgiving week, and we’ll be heading to Switzerland again for a four night stay in a very expensive hotel. So… at least there’s that.
As Wilson Phillips famously sang, you’ve just gotta “hold on for one more day.” 🤨
Hope your Sunday is grand. I gotta walk the dogs and maybe tune in for another Netflix documentary that will get me even more upset. I watched this one, yesterday, and it blew my mind. Talk about a huge, convoluted, scary mess!
If anything, I can be ever so grateful I’m not in a fucked up situation like this…
Yes… today’s featured image is obviously AI generated.
Happy Halloween, everybody. Thanks to my “regulars”, who indulged yesterday’s song parody. I usually like to do a few of those a month, but October 2026 presented some challenges. We spent almost two weeks on the road, traveling through Eastern Europe.
Then I got sick, and that made it impossible to do any musical recordings. But there sure has been a lot to comment about and lampoon, so I’m grateful I was well enough to make yesterday’s snarky song about Trump.
Today, as we Americans look forward to Tuesday’s elections, I want to write about something much more serious. I’d like to think that a lot of Americans have awakened to the reality that Trump and his cronies are terrible leaders who have done immense damage to our country. Unfortunately, it’s pretty obvious that many people STILL haven’t gotten a clue.
If you’ve followed my blog, and you’ve read any of my rants about Donald Trump, you might know that the main reason I find him so abhorrent is because he has a long history of sexually abusing and raping women and girls.
Yes, I also think he’s a dishonest creep, who rips people off and spends every waking moment trying to fill the vast ravine that passes for his soul. I would think of him as an unqualified, unserious, and inappropriate choice regardless. He’s also a literal felon, 34 times over. But my main reason for being outraged that he’s back in charge is because he’s a sex offender. He is an adjudicated rapist.
I don’t care that some men don’t believe E. Jean Carroll’s story. They look at her and say she’s “not Trump’s type.” 🙄 A lot of these guys claim to be Christians who want to “protect women”. But when you press them, they mainly say that they are concerned about transgender women using cisgender women’s locker rooms… something that very rarely could ever happen, because there simply aren’t that many trans people in the world.
If trans people using bathrooms is really a concern, we can fix the environment to address it. My high school did that when they recently renovated the building. Some years ago, the local school board got sued for not accommodating a trans boy with bathrooms he could use. It went to the Supreme Court, and the trans boy won. So, when my high school was refurbished, they put in unisex restrooms with totally private stalls that can be used by anyone.
Looks like they learned an important lesson. Renovating the restrooms to be inclusive is probably less costly than another lawsuit that goes to the Supreme Court.
That’s what they do in Germany, too. You can go to a nude spa here, where everyone is naked. But the locker rooms often have little private changing stalls that everyone can use. There’s no worry about anyone being predatory in the locker rooms or bathrooms. Yes, they have men’s rooms and women’s rooms over here, but they rely on a little button displaying red or white to reveal if the stall is being used. And toilets are often totally private, in any case, with no gaps that allow peeking.
Anyway, getting back to Trump. This is a man who has a very long history of abuse. The reason E. Jean Carroll won her case against him is because she brought in a lot of other victims who testified about Trump’s conduct. I’m pretty sure I remember there was one woman who was forced to sit next to him on an airplane in the 1970s. He abused her during the flight, groping her breasts and trying to put his hand up her skirt.
Then there’s the late Ivana Trump, who testified during their divorce trial that Trump violently attacked her over painful hair plugs. He RAPED her. Yes, it’s true that Ivana, who died under very suspicious circumstances in 2022, later recanted some of what she said, claiming that it “wasn’t rape.”
But when I read a description of what happened to her, there was no doubt in my mind that she was raped by her husband. He forced her to have sex with him without consent, which is literally rape. And then he warned her to keep quiet about it, threatening her health and safety if she went public. She did, probably so he wouldn’t have her hurt or killed… and so she would get a lot of money. Look at what happened to Ivana in 2022. She can’t talk about it anymore.
Then there’s Katie Johnson, a woman who used a pseudonym, blurred her face, and wore a wig to conceal her identity in 2016. She went on camera to talk about her experiences with Trump as a 13 year old CHILD. In 2016, she bravely came forward with a lawsuit. She later dropped it, because she was getting death threats. Her family members were also threatened.
Ditto to Virginia Giuffre, whose book, Nobody’s Girl, I was reading a year ago. Virginia died, ostensibly by suicide (just like Jeffrey Epstein). I don’t remember her claiming any unfortunate, specific, sexual experiences with Trump, but she did offer descriptions that mirrored those by people like Katie Johnson and other Epstein survivors who have come forward to tell their stories. Virginia Giuffre’s life was threatened, as was her family. Did she really kill herself? I think it’s certainly possible she took that step because she saw no other way out of this madness. But I also think it’s very possible that she was murdered.
And now we have heard from Beatrice Keul, a former Miss Switzerland, who, back in 1993, met Donald Trump. Keul was 24 years old, and working as a model and a financial services professional. She was recruited to attend the Donald J. Trump American Dream Pageant, a competition for girls and women between the ages of 16 and 22.
Trump met Keul at a luncheon held at the Plaza Hotel, which Trump owned at the time. He approached Keul and offered her help getting a visa and admittance to New York University, a school with which Jeffrey Epstein had close ties. Epstein also approached Keul and made similar promises to her.
Later, according to Keul, alleges that she was invited to meet with Trump privately. She did so, believing that it would help her advance her education and career. According to People magazine:
Once inside a suite, Trump allegedly grabbed her from behind and raped her, tearing her dress and causing bleeding and bruising on multiple parts of her body. Keul described the alleged assault as “brutal.”
In the wake of Keul’s story, I’ve seen so many comments, especially from white, conservative men, accusing Keul of coming forward to “distract” voters and sway them from voting for Republicans. 🙄 I find that assertion ridiculous. Donald Trump HIMSELF has flat out bragged about “grabbing women by the pussy.”
There have been MULTIPLE stories about Trump and his behavior toward women– especially young, beautiful model types. I don’t see how Keul’s story is suddenly going to sway support away from Trump and the Republican Party. Obviously, women don’t matter to these men… at least not women who are not somehow closely related to them.
The last thing most rape victims want to do is relive the horror of being brutally sexually assaulted by someone with whom they did not wish to be intimate. I know this, even though I am not a rape victim, myself. I love and trust my husband implicitly, but sex was often painful for me. The idea of being forced to have sex with someone I find repulsive is absolutely horrifying to me.
I love Bill, and I wanted to have sex with him, even though it often hurt. That’s how I have an inkling of the painful physical horrors of rape. And that is to say NOTHING about the other– mental, emotional, and psychological– horrors that obviously come from such an attack.
I see men “reasoning” that somehow Beatrice Keul has suddenly “remembered” being raped in 1993, just in time for the elections. First off, Keul isn’t American, so our elections have less of a personal bearing on her than they do to a US citizen. Trump’s brand of leadership is affecting everyone worldwide– I know this, because I live in Europe. That’s probably why she’s speaking up now, in spite of the threats she’s received against her life and her family’s safety.
And secondly, of COURSE Keul hasn’t “forgotten” what happened to her! 🤬 How could she? Every time that orange monster is on TV, which is pretty much all the time, she probably relives the horrors of her meeting with him. Nobody wants to be rich or famous for being raped, especially by a fucking creep like Donald Trump! And I so wish more men would stop and think about how violent, demeaning, and soul crushing sexual assault really is!
I am so sick of MEN claiming to be decent, Christian, “God fearing” people who want to protect women, as they vote for an admitted sexual predator and molester. Allow me to remind you of what Trump has literally said, and what we’ve all heard multiple times… since this recording was unearthed over TEN years ago…
This is our PRESIDENT speaking. It’s absolutely SHAMEFUL. 🤬
Let me remind you all… “grabbing ’em by the pussy” is a CRIME. Stop defending sexual predators! Or, if you do defend them, please don’t then try to tell us that you care about “protecting women.” That is obviously a LIE! 🙄
For this alone, Trump should be sitting in a cell. He’s done it over and over, to many women and girls, and he’s even admitted it.
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