Power, Resistance, and Personal Battles: Reflections on Politics, Activism, and Everyday Struggles

In The Art of Power, Nancy Pelosi shares that she added a parliamentarian in 2015. By the end of her term as Speaker in 2023, the Democratic House Caucus leadership team had grown from eight to eighteen members. She believes in open doors and open communications in the Speaker’s office.

Wednesday, Mar 19, 2003, was the day that the US went to war. Pelosi received a call from Condoleezza Rice at 7:00 pm Eastern time informing her that in just two hours the US military with its coalition partners would begin hostile action in Iraq. The costs of that war were monumental to incalculable. When George Tenet and other high-ranking officials expressed concern that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, of which some components could fall into terrorist hands, what they said was not exactly true. Pelosi repeatedly stated her position that “the intelligence does not support the threat” throughout September and early October of 2022.

Nancy Pelosi tells how J Stapleton Roy had to bear the brunt of her and her colleagues’ insistence on supporting Tiananmen protesters. Their delegation was approached by workers in the hotel and transportation industries, shopkeepers, and all kinds of people to tell them how grateful they were form remembering the victims of Tiananmen Square massacre. Some of Chinese student dissidents who had shown such bravery at Tiananmen in 1989 and were forced to flee still cannot return home.

With regards to the financial collapse of 2008, the prevailing mindset on Wall Street by financial institutions Goldman Sachs and others was to grab the big financial gains up front, and avoid the big losses of the future. One of the most catastrophic changes leading up to the disaster happened in April 2004 when the net capital rule was loosened by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Five companies that took advantage of this change—Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley—ultimately collapsed, were sold, or became commercial banks.

My new hot water heater is installed. It turned out the old one had a leak which probably was what burned out the thermocouple. On Thursday, I still didn’t quite have hot water yet. The leak detection system relies on a fabric filament that sits at the base of the water heater. Once that finally dried, the water heater started up. I did speed up the process by using a heat gun, though. The resistance to attacks on liberty are increasing and becoming more visible. The Mayor of Midvale not only flies two pride flags on his desk, but took a picture of it, created an op-ed, and posted it on social media.

Our first and only transgender US Representative Sarah McBride, finally gave tit for tat when she was misgendered in a committee meeting. When referred to as “Mr.” McBride, she referred to the male chair as “Madam” Chair. This subtle exchange encouraged a senior ranking Democrat on the committee to demand that the chair show decorum. Not being given an inch to be apologetic, the Chair adjourned the meeting.

While the Utah Army National Guard ask transgender members to leave, Veterans are fighting for Democrats to stand in the Senate against the rule by diktat by Trump. Labor unions have organized a referendum to get collective bargaining back on the table. People are speaking up about the dismissal of government workers, including forestry service and Veteran’s Administration employees, who provide vital services to our veterans.

Protests are happening at Tesla dealerships, and apparently some have been fire bombed. Governor Andy Basheer has publicly come out in favor of defending transgender rights. Videos are popping up on social media giving a more accurate explanation of gender dysphoria and gender affirming care. A man in North Dakota fights on behalf of his lesbian daughter and her spouse.

I ordered the largest progressive pride flag sticker to adorn the back of my computer, so that when open it up in the state capitol or the library, I will be openly defying the state order targeting pride flags. It will be surrounded by cute pro-lgbtq and trans stickers. Ultimately this is a free-speech issue designed to silence lgbtq+ voices.

I like this prayer Nancy Pelosi came across on the wall of a hospital in Sierra Leone:

When I die and happily meet my Creator, He will ask me to show Him my wounds. If I tell Him I have no wounds, my Creator will ask: Was nothing worth fighting for?

In Blood of the Kings, by Kim Sung-Il, a voice knows all sorts of things that no one should know. It asks Arienne if she still remembers the unraveling codes. Arienne mutters to the voice that it can tell her again if she forgets.

Cain puts a third jar outside and goes back into the olive oil shop. Agatha asks Cain what Agatha’s got him mixed up in. Cain finds it hard to concentrate on the very real danger to himself.

The dye shop owner seems very busy when Cain passes her storefront on the way to the cemetery. Cain knows he can never return to Arland. The strains of a funeral dirge come from somewhere across the cemetery.

Arienne doesn’t have a clue what language the words she is repeating are in. She is aghast when Eldred tells her that these few words will kill any man or woman where they stand.

Monday was St. Patrick’s Day, and I made Italian Sloppy Joes. The recipe calls for a Dutch Oven, but because I have hemochromatosis—and hence the ability to retain iron in my blood stream and my internal organs—I cannot risk using cast iron cookware. Fortunately, I was able to order a ceramic Dutch oven instead, and gave away Danilynn’s favorite pot to a friend. I found out that my physician has new management that is charging for everything, even $30 just to sign a form. Last year, I wound up being charged $300 for a doctor’s visit when it should have been coded as preventative treatment and would have been paid for by insurance if coded correctly.

As a consequence, I have reached out to my prior primary care physician and asked to return to her treatment whenever she is accepting new patients. My current doctor and their staff are insisting that the only recommend physicals are for every two to three years. In addition, I discovered that my ferritin levels have not been checked for 9 years!

I love my current physician, but she is no longer the right one for me, given my own medical history and the hereditary cancer that runs in my family. A year can make a huge difference between life and death.

We had a decent turnout at Queer Coffee. The count of people present was eighteen. We discussed staying active and involved, the referendum in support of the unions, and concern over the loss of universal mail-in voting in Utah set to expire in 2029.

Yesterday, I renewed my case with My Navy Career Center to update my name on my DD-214. The last I had checked, they had to order my personnel record a second time. The petty officer that was handling my case did not respond to my email, so I called and worked with a civilian employee to reopen the case. This has me worried, given the hostile environment against trans identities, especially from the federal government.

Later the petty officer contacted me to let me know that my record has been checked out by the NPRC digitization project, which I assume is part of the four-year National Archive Digitization Project that’s expected to complete in September 2026. She has informed command of my concerns.

A federal judge has put a hold on President Trump’s Executive Order to remove transgender people from the military. While it may seem that this is the first time that a president has defied the judiciary, it is not; Andrew Jackson defied the Supreme Court when he forced the indigenous people off their tribal lands in his massive genocide campaign. Jackson did not seek re-election after his second term. Getting this president out might not be so easy.

Finally, I got my app for my hot water heater working. Who would have thought “Is your mobile data on?” is a request to turn your mobile data off. I better prompt would have save hours waiting to be connected to a customer support representative and four representatives who had to deal with a customer tired of waiting.