I thought I would share one of Taylor’s letters- They often have ‘old news’ in them, but they are still great to get. They are glimpses of life in prison. This one was written October 16, 2024.
Love,
I am waiting for my National Parks class. I just realized I am probably going to miss getting a cinnamon roll in the wood shop. The fill-in C.O. often gets them for us, but I will be here in class. This morning, on the news, itl looked pretty good. Harris will do an interview with Brett Beyer today and Donald will do a town hall with Harris Faulkner. We will see how it goes. By the end of this letter we will know. This morning James Comer, a representative from Kentucky, said he believed Donald would win all seven swing states. He said he really didn’t believe that last week.
I have been noticing that I have been having a lot of dreams lately, nothing real, just dumb dreams and night thoughts. A lot of the dreams have to do with prison- it’s kind of like when you’ve been on the mission long enough that you start to dream in Portuguese. It’s the same here. Now prison culture is seeping into my subconscious: ideas of segregation, rule by intimidation, a constant fear of cops and sudden enforcement of some rule or dictate, strange inspections, not having a voice… all kinds of stuff sneaks into my dreams. This morning it was frosty, but they turned the steam heat on in the building yesterday. The whole facility smelled like iron heating up, but I have to say, it kept the place decently warm. It’s a drafty, radiant heat, but it seems to work. I also noticed a lot of windows that have been open, rain or shine, have been closed. Not our Windows of course, but most. As of this morning we haven’t been put on commissary restriction, but they screamed at us yesterday that it was coming, so I expect it. In the National Parks class there is the story of Margeret and Edward Gehrke who traveled to all the National Parks by road in the 1920’s. It looks like something I would really love to do. I would go from park to park. How amazing would it be to see them all? Let’s make it a point to try and see a National Park every week. I think each one is more amazing than the last.
Today I don’t really have much to do in the wood shop. I am not dreading going there, I just don’t know what I’m going to work on…In the National Parks class it’s amazing how damaging people have been to some of our best landscapes. Shooting all the buffalo, clear cutting the Smoky Mountains, mining the Grand Canyon, shipping Mesa Verde. We can be really destructive, without any emergency brakes on our actions.
I am back in my room. Work today ended at noon. I got one of our flags all put together that I painted yesterday, it wasn’t a bad day by any means. After I got done there I came back to the housing unit and checked my emails. I got one from you, which is always nice. I guess you got six letters from me. I asked you to keep track of when I wrote them, and when they were posted. I have a feeling they are taking up to a week to leave this facility. It’s my opinion that if they take, at max, more than 48 hours to mail them, then something is wrong….to my friends who are not my wife reading this we are keeping track of how long these letters take to send [the DOJ reads all our communication].
After I checked my emails the troll wasn’t there controlling the TV remote, so I was able to watch the news a little. I guess Donald did an all-women town hall on Fox news and it went really well. Someone who went on Fox Business said his energy was amazing, that he was very warm and like a grandfather. She had asked a question about childcare. Harris still has that interview with Brett Bayer later today.
After I watched the news I went outside and walked from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. My tall friend wanted to walk with me, as always we talked some FSA news and politics. He is 6 ft 6 in and played basketball in high school and college. He should be leaving in about 10 days, so this weekend might be the last time I get to go walking with him. When I was watching the news they had some pollsters on who both concurd Donald is leading in the swing states.
Back to walking… Today was a gorgeous day, no clouds in the sky and the temperature was about 65°. I had my shorts on and a Long John top under my t-shirt. It felt great outside. I was going to tell you that I bought new socks this week, so no more holes! I took my holy socks and put them where people put things to give away. They were gone in under 5 minutes. So now someone else has holy socks. Maybe they won’t mind.
I am enjoying hanging out with my friend that I got a job in the workshop with. He is from Nebraska. We have a lot to talk about and I do enjoy talking to him…
Still no restrictions have been issued. Who knows, maybe we get lucky, wouldn’t that be nice… I just went in the TV room to check my emails and again I got to control the remote. On Newsmax there was a headline that said Quinnipiac polls, in Georgia, has Donald up seven points in Georgia. Holy cow, that is huge! Georgia was supposed to be a possible state for Harris, obviously it was a very close and tight race in 2020. After the documentary, 2000 mules, it sounds like they have changed or abandoned tactics all together. Trump up 7%, I can’t get over it. I can’t wait to hear more about that. One thing they covered on Newsmax was that the DOD changed some policy that will allow them to engage with American citizens if a National Security Emergency is declared. Based on some Democrat Party candidates, party bosses, party surrogates, this sounds more and more like some kind of setup. I don’t like the sound of it for sure. Would they go that far? Will they do something totally stupid? I hope they just take their licks and live to fight again in 2028. Harris’s rheteric the last few days has been really horrible, even confirming a caller on Charlemagne the God, saying Trump would round up all non-white people in camps. Also, James Courville, saying Donald is having a rally in New York, that is just like a Hitler rally. It is not new to call political opponents Hitler. Nixon, according to Chuck Colsen, didn’t want to call and say something nice to the opponent he beat. He said something like, how do you say something nice to someone who called you Hitler?
I took a shower. I don’t know if I have ever told you, but the showers here have one single temperature. In the summer the water was a tad bit too warm on the hot days, but now the water is a tad bit too cold for the cooler weather. Tonight for dinner is beef taco salad. I’m excited for that, the only problem is we are using this styrofoam plates. This creates a portion size problem, you just can’t get big enough portions on the plate, that totally stinks.
So Hannity is talking about the FBI just updated their crime reports, the violent crime went up 4.3%. In the debate, when David Muir corrected Donald, when he said crime is up, they were wrong on that fact check . Again, Mr T was right … I need to get ready for dinner.
Love you. XOXO
Before dinner I waited in the TV room and the Bret Baier interview was on. WOW! I did not think she did well. He came out of the gate with an immigration question, about how many people she had let in. He mentioned how they signed 95 executive orders, basically opening the border, and the horrible deaths that those policies have caused. She really had nothing more than a talking point with pretty much every question. I think she looked legitimately hysterical. She looked panicked. She did herself no favors, in fact she may have really lost the election. On CNN they were trying to paint a picture that she fought back. I heard one of their panelists saying that she did more damage than good. Another CNN commentator said she is hemorrhaging black and latino voters, then quickly corrected himself, and said, not hemorrhaging… it was pretty funny.
Her little media blitz hasn’t really gone well for her. I think what pundits have said all along have been true, the more people get to know her, the less they will like her. She went off on Donald being weak and losing it mentally. When Bret asked her about Biden, she almost froze, she was totally not ready for even a little bit of pushback…I am going to go get in line to call you XOXO
Our call was great. You saw the interview and thought much of the same as I did…I am in here with a Muslim from West Bank, Israel. We got talking tonight about the interview. He and all his family support Donald. He said his whole family is voting for him. Trump’s Coalition is huge. Alright, I love you so much. Love Taylor