Author Archives: Jen

About Jen

Jen isn't quite sure when she lost her mind, but it is probably documented here on Meditatio. She blogs because the world needs her snark at all hours of the night... and she probably can't sleep anyway.

Slava Ukraini!

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I can’t stand Mike Pence or many of his positions. He is, however, a man with a spine as he demonstrated on January 6, 2021 when he refused to bow to Donald Trump’s order not to certify the election.

He posted this on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Mike Pence standing up for Ukraine.

I bring this up because of the utter dumpster fire of a meeting that happened in the Oval Office today. Donald Trump, JD Vance, and their minions expected Volodymyr Zelenskyy to grovel and thank them for the Russia-centric peace deal Trump “negotiated”. They had a rude awakening when Zelenskyy actually advocated for his country and refused to engage in their screaming match. Both Trump and Vance looked utterly foolish and they berated him. I think the most telling thing was Vance scolding him for not saying “thank you” once during the meeting for the mediocre deal they thought he should accept.

Zelenskyy is, like Trump and Vance, not a career politician. He had an entertainment career before becoming the leader of Ukraine, much like Trump did. However, he has stepped up and put his country first consistently over the last three years. Trump has never served anyone other than himself and his own interests. Zelenskyy has more support in his country than Trump will ever hope to enjoy in this country because Zelenskyy truly puts the Ukrainian people first instead of bowing to dictators like the ones Trump counts as friends.

Let me make my position clear.

Slava Ukraini!

I Can’t Believe This Even Has to Be Explained

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KOMO News: Ohio veteran calls for change after being denied heart transplant over vaccine refusal

I’ve also been hearing about how a relative of JD Vance is being denied a heart transplant over the same issue. Thee comment section for the KOMO News piece on Facebook is full of people who are completely clueless about why the hospital can (and should) do this, so I thought I’d explain this on here in case anyone is completely ignorant about why this is is absolutely fair and has nothing to do with politics.

When you receive a transplanted organ, you are on immunosuppression medication for the rest of your life to keep your body from rejecting the organ. This means that you are at an increased risk of dying from what might seem like a minor infection. As a result, transplant centers want to make sure that those receiving the organs are aware of the need to do some basic things like VACCINATE THEMSELVES to protect themselves and the organ that, in most cases, required someone’s death in order for it to be available for transplantation. This means that you must agree to be fully vaccinated to be put on the transplant registry at your transplant center, and for pretty much every transplant center, that means receiving the COVID vaccine. (I thought it was specifically a UNOS policy, but apparently, it’s up to every transplant center.) The COVID vaccine isn’t experimental, and the only excuse for not receiving it is if it’s going to put you into anaphylaxis. (I know of exactly one case where that has happened, and it was my former work wife Kim.)

This is likened to someone having to promise to avoid alcohol to receive a liver transplant. COVID is going to kill you if you’re immunosuppressed in order to receive your donated organ, so why wouldn’t you do your due diligence and be vaccinated? This isn’t complicated. The gentleman in Ohio isn’t willing to do what is required to receive a heart transplant, so his transplant center is refusing to put him on the list.

I had someone reply to me on Facebook and ask if I would take such a hard line if it was my loved one who was involved. My answer: “100% YES.” I would absolutely call out a family member in this case because their ignorance would be preventing them from receiving life-saving surgery. Granted, I only have one family member who refuses to be vaccinated (and I haven’t seen them since before pandemic started because of this), so this is unlikely, but I would absolutely remain in the stance that it’s the hospital’s decision and they should vaccinate themselves.

On Love…

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This became kind of a tradition in 2012, and I think posting it yearly came out of a conversation with my friend Mandi. In any case, here are some words on love from 1 Corinthians 13 in the NRSV version of the Bible.

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

Catching Up: Bleh Edition

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I was hoping to post more often this year, but January was “one of those months”.

[+] Sick. I got a sinus infection early in the month, and then Daniel very politely shared his virus with me, which has been causing bad asthma exacerbation. What is even more fun is that they can’t do a lot for me because I can’t have oral steroids like Prednisone or Decadron. I’ve had to reschedule doctor’s appointments, miss the People’s March, and basically put my life on hold while I bond with my inhaler and nebulizer.

[+] The Felon of the United States (FOTUS). I expected Trump’s annexation of the Oval Office to be an utter dumpster fire, and I have not been disappointed. Thankfully, our former Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who is now the governor, spent last year with his staff going over every part of Project 2025 and have filings drafted for every contingency. His successor as Attorney General, Nick Brown, has scored a point against the Trump administration on his first filing, which was the lawsuit that caused a federal judge in Seattle to put a moratorium on ending birthright citizenship. Judge Coughener (who is a Reagan appointee, by the way, in case anyone wants to complain about liberal judges) was pretty irritated that he had to rule on something so clear cut. Here’s hoping for more victories against Trump and his minions!

Catching Up: New Year’s Eve 2024 Edition

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Hello to everyone except the IDIOTS to re-elect Donald Trump and the 20 million people who decided not to vote.

Yes… I just said that.

I’m astonished at the stupidity of our country in electing someone who cannot speak in complete sentences, who claimed that people were eating dogs and cats in Springfield even after THE FREAKING MAYOR OF SPRINGFIELD AND GOVERNOR OF OHIO TOLD HIM TO CUT THAT ISH OUT AND THE PROUD BOYS SHOWED UP, who claims that he’ll raise money for things by imposing tariffs on China… despite the fact that THE IMPORTER IS THE THE ONE PAYING THE TARIFF AND PASSING IT ONTO THE CONSUMER INSTEAD OF THE COUNTRY IN QUESTION (was I the only one paying attention in Economics in high school???), who is imposing tariffs on Canada and Mexico despite us getting a lot of our imports of food and other things from them, who doesn’t know the origin of the word “grocery” (Google is free, y’all!), who is claiming that there will be mass deportations even though he doesn’t actually have any clue of how to do that or how much he is going to hamstring agriculture or building in this country by doing that (because migrant workers are the ones who actually *DO* those jobs), who incited an insurrection which killed several people, and who, along with his derpy followers, has no idea how basic things in the economy work. His Cabinet choices are the dumbest people imaginable for each position (like they were in his first administration) to the point that even his followers are objecting to them. (Seriously? Matt Gaetz for Attorney General? Well, he is a pedophile like Trump…)

I’m positively dreading the next four years as a member of a church with members who could possibly deported because our immigration system is effed up in so many ways, I’m a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, someone who is neurodivergent with chronic conditions, and someone who had a pregnancy condition. I’m struggling to keep my head up already, and the Orange Idiot taking offices means that I’m going to have to fight twice as hard to keep things working for me and Daniel when I barely have the mental and emotionally energy to get out of bed.

And yes, you can absolutely unfollow me if you’re offended by anything that I’ve just said. I’ve never forced anyone to read this blog.

I guess I should go look on BestBuy.Com for a new laptop before the Mango Mussolini hostilely takes over the Oval Office again and prices jump 25% because he is incapable of understanding the purpose of tariffs…

Oh yeah, my saint for 2025 is St. Gianna and the word of the year is “hello”.

I’ll be putting my new bullet journal together if you need me…

Turning Down the Heat

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From the blog of my Episcopal priest Fr. Paul:

I just cranked the heat up in my office today. Outside it’s in the low 50’s and I was chilly. Then I signed into my computer and checked the news. All of a sudden, the room felt hot.

This is the last week before the election, and polls show a wildly varied scenario of potential outcomes. Everybody is anxious. This is par for the course. This time around, however, there is a real threat of violence. There are people who believe that if their candidate does not win the election, violence to put them in the White House by force would be justified. Vulnerable people will be targeted. I am opening up my church as a sanctuary.

My Christian faith teaches me that the world is saved by dying, not by fighting, by serving, not by forcing, by giving rather than taking, and by loving rather than hating.

Dear fellow human beings, it’s high time to turn down the heat!

Catching Up: Busy Girl Edition

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So what have I been up to? Well…

Crocheting. My happy thing these days is to crochet while watching YouTube in the evening. So far this year, I’ve finished prayer shawls, 2 NICU blankets (including one with the frogged yarn from another blanket), and I’m almost done with another prayer shawl.

Health. I’ve been dealing with serious fatigue, which my psych nurse thinks is the depressive phase of bipolar 2. Oh freaking joy… Daniel has also been adding stress to my life, so that isn’t helping.

Politics. I’ve been writing postcards for my local Democrats and Activate America to help get out the vote in Ohio, Arizona, Montana, and here in Washington. It doesn’t feel like a lot, but it’s something that needs to be done and I have a lot of spare time.