December 31, 2016

Dear 2016,

I really want to say that it wasn’t you, that it was me, but I can’t. To be honest I haven’t met another one like you before. Strange, enticing, emotional, you were like drinking a sriracha shamrock milkshake while riding the inverted roller coaster. I know that it could have been better if I had tried harder, though you will have to fill me in where that was because you just took a contrarian stance. 

I should have known though, things were just starting to go right again before you came along. Always throwing away what we have worked for for the next flashy thing. I hear you are with a casino guy now with spray on hair and tan, you sound perfect for each other. I wish that I had the chance to… WTH? Nooo! I don’t wish to do it all over again, I am just going to hope that therapy and STD treatment can help me through this one. You are like the smoker that never leaves my clothes, and the little sores that pop up out of the blue to remind me of those blackout sex romps I only heard that I did years later. Your huge coming out party though infected a good majority of the world, so I nominated you for the next name of huge contagion, the next ebola or whatnot.  

Yes, 2016, you were simply a huge and costly disappointment, and your attitude was… well… you were a bitch! I don’t know how I will begin to trust a 2018, or 2022? You have really sucker punched my emotions and sensibilities and I wanted you to know that! I have been with at least fifty of you before and never, I mean never have I been treated so bizzarely screwed over. You have not only changed all of those future ones, but the place they have to live in too and it is not going to be easy for them either. It is only fitting that at midnight there is a room full of infants with baseball bats waiting for you. I hope your antique Oompa Loompa will still like you then. 

You have taken away too much from us, enough for a few generations. This is new, because only wars have ever done this much damage before. So I nominated you for the next name of environmental disaster as well, Exxon who? 

You are just going to have to live with yourself in the end. I am moving on, into the other ‘merica, of happy and ignorant bliss while the world still rotates. I am really going to give my all to this stunning new 2017 though. I am going to hold onto my wallet with this one, guard my heart, and just live to live. Because now, because of you, I don’t know anymore how long that will be, and the numbers just went back to the bookies. 

You took away our stars and our up and coming ones as well. You killed off the talent and brought in the jokers who don’t pay the rent. Yeah, 2016, I am so very glad to see you go and I hope I never see one like you again. Resolutions are a good things at times like these, so I had to finish off this one to get to number two. 

Rights, laws, freedoms, are just a few things that the Founders considered in their blueprint for a new nation. They also considered religion and the religious and set the place for those from the beginning.

Religions and the religious say that the government should leave them alone, that they are, by those words, considered protected. The meaning of those words was also meant to say leave US alone, we are protected as well from your God.

Somewhere along the way though religions gained some kind of sovereign state, diplomatic immunity, tax free status. With the spins of, don’t tread on me! I am a belief, I am a corporation, I am an individual, I am good and I am everything, I am God.

There’s the rub. In religion God is everything, or found in all we do. It is within that belief system that you find the answers to much. Including the religious indifference and the perceived war on Christianity here.

The amendment as adopted in 1791 reads as follows:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_t…

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I (Tell me you can’t make Isis out of it?)

Mississippi just passed sweeping legislation under the guise of religious liberties. It is mostly aimed at restricting and eliminating the rights of the LGBT community. It is a standard fare these days in Georgia, and North Carolina as well and it seems to be a race to the the bottom of human treatment. With proponents of the bills on here calling it corporate bullying and the right thing to do. That’s the answer they don’t wish to acknowledge, that’s the rub, God is everything and he is everywhere in their beliefs. Those beliefs don’t belong to everyone else, that is why there is government not religions in charge of it all.

In that law passed last night is also the ability for churches to create armed guards to protect their flocks. That guarding duty is even continued to allowing armed Christian patrols, who do not have to follow any government policies or permitting. They would also be immune from any penalties. For all the ignorant clamoring about Islam and Isis on here, I would like to know what the heck this is?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp…

http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/02/29/the-growin…

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-carolina-faces-b…

https://www.yabberz.com/post/corporate-bullies-win…

History tells us what was, Science tells us what is, and Religions tell us how it should be. There is a problem with that equation when one side is not doing their job, when they say that they are the pinnacle of this very even triangle. I say when one side of a triangle like that is missing then you’re just bent.

Mississippi is just the latest example of this misguided notion the God is in charge here. WE the people are not having it any longer in politics, of that most are aware. A great deal of that has to do with the Christian interference in the policing and laws, and we are not having it any longer. When Christians and their brethren subvert the laws of this land and arm themselves against it’s citizens it has gone too far. The war, the crusade, started long ago, and the disaster that was the Moral Majority did not win its bloody battles. 

http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/mor…

Just like the Confederates, this War on Christianity is just a worn out, I am rubber you are glue childish response. God is everything to some and that everything is their politics. There was a reason for the separation in the first place, there will be painful lessons extracting it’s influence on the laws of this land and the policing of its people too. It is not a War on Christianity at all, it is a Revolution FOR Freedom. We have that right, and to be honest, that duty first.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp…

They lost the war but not their Nation.

Mississippi is winning the race to the bottom. With it’s Religious Freedom bill #1523 going forward. It appears they are on the list of the next corporate showdown over rights.

Speaking of rights, the Governor, Phil Bryant proclaimed April as Confederate Heritage Month. Did he do so on some state website? No, he posted it to the Sons of Confederate Veterans site. Setting aside April 25th as Confederate Veterans Day.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/03/mis…

As a Yankee I can understand a lot of that colloquialism that goes into that rebel flag. The good ol boys, the fun on the red dirt road, you and your buddies going fishin etc…. There have been a few, very few, good things associated with that flag over the years. But what about the war? Is it over? It doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon.

http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/primarys…

It seems those states that originally fought against the Union, who fought for their own country, have never stopped. With every Un-Constitutional law and bill passed and signed the battles continue. With every nod to the glory of the losers of the war, a knife to the victors – The United States of America.

The proclamations from our Southern brothers and sisters of their patriotism is never questioned. They are the Me’rcans, the Real Americans even, the stuff of Palin speeches and Trump supporters. Theirs is a separate country don’tcha know? Whowouldathunk?

If we are going to sit here and act like it isn’t happening then we can just have ourselves to blame. The War in the South has never ended, and the battles are now being broadcast around the country and world. The slow pour of molasses over the real intentions of these fighters has stopped. It is now a full on fire hose to pass those bills that keep the funds for it coming in. To make sure that we know they are still at war with the rest of us.

This is nothing new, but with the internet and people actually communicating. These little seedy Southern towns are finding their Boss Hoggs harder and harder to hide. – Ferguson.

There are plenty of smart articulate people in the South and that amazes me. Not that they are there, but that they remain a minority. Their voices not enough to drown out the overt bigotry that comes from their lawmakers and politicians. Their voices not enough to stop this slow roll into the dark times of another Civil-ian War.

Ideologies, like that we find in Isis-Daesh groups do not die, we can’t bomb it out of them. To those who feel we can just take a look at your own fellow citizens and their zeal to hold onto those ideologies. We have not even eliminated the losing ideal from 150 years ago here, how are we going to do it somewhere else?

In the race that runs backwards in time the South is leading the way. It is far past time to add more voices to the battles and end it once and for all. We cannot erase an ideology, but we can and must enforce our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, and our laws as a nation. We must instill a formal reprimand to these states that they did not win the war. People are still hurting from it every day and the casualties still grow. For some feel it is their nation, not ours.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/03/mis…

Ignorance, bigotry, hatred, discrimination, intolerance. Those are all big words, very harmful words whether practiced or intoned. It is clear in one way or another that it includes 99% of us, I have no idea about that 1% but this is opinion, so I saved a few Saints out of the figure.

All of those things show up here and there, in posts and articles, comments and meme’s. It is an aspect of this society and human business that is as confusing and infuriating as it is…everywhere.

Of course there are the obvious answers, I don’t like this because of this, and I don’t do that because of this. When really examined though there may be a few reasons that may surprise some. Even the most educated and knowledgeable people may not realize, that they may just… not know.

There are articles and posts daily about this religion, that race, this Country and that country. Those people and their ways, Us people and our ways. What is causing that and who is to blame. There is, from the replies, a lot of I don’t know coming through. A lot of those big words from the top all bubbling through the keystrokes. Left and Right, white and black, Atheists and Anglicans alike, there is a lot of I don’t know. Because they can’t….

When I was a stumbling alcoholic, there was no clue in my head that I could live a life without it. When I could no longer drive there was no thought in my head that I could live without it. When I was asked to find a power greater than myself there was no thought that there could be one. I didn’t know! No, intellectually I knew in some kind of way that all this was possible. I just didn’t KNOW those things, they were alien and fear filled visions. Fear was in charge of a lot of crud, I didn’t know how much.

When folks judge others, judge actions from an armchair perspective, they don’t know. Experience tells us what we truly know and everything else is an educated guess of who to listen to and who to believe. Last Tuesday I mentioned to a long time friend that I was concentrating on my writing more. His response?… You write? He didn’t know.

It is impossible for me to know what it feels like to be a Mother giving birth, or a black man experiencing racism. It is impossible for me to know what it feels like to be a refugee from my home land, or what it means to have the wrong sex of meatsuit on. I can try, I can be understanding, but to do that would mean that I would have to go with the “I don’t know” route in my head. That isn’t the way it seems we are programmed and for some the I don’t knows stack up to be big enough for…I don’t want to! It’s work and I am scared. I am just right and you are just wrong when neither one actually are.

It is easy for some to use empathy to gain an understanding of some person or situation. It is also easy for some to close off instead of open up. This knee jerk reaction or trained response happens to the most empathetic and good natured person as well as those who share other opinions, objectionable opinions. We like what we like because we know or think we know what is best. The three E’s of environment, education and empathy is leading the way. I don’t like I don’t know..

There is a palpable and undeniable change going on at the core level of this human endeavor. The very thing that has caused so much animosity and division of our Earths peoples for so long, is losing it’s place. People are sharing their lives and experiences with each other. They are sharing the pieces of themselves that help us all KNOW what it is like to be a black man experiencing racism, a mother giving birth, a soldier on the front lines, a transgender person. Or a raving sober drunk early on a Friday morning. This thing we have feared, other people, different people, different experiences are leaving us. We are no longer a people willing to let fear dictate our future. Once the gunfire has ceased all we had to do was listen. Because maybe we didn’t know?

Yeah, this has gone far enough.

Over the last decade or so we have been introduced more and more to the word misogyny, or hatred against women. It is part of the daily lexicon of the fight women are still fighting and I see it all the time.

You see, I am right there with them. I do believe there has to be progress going forward in this continuing fight for equality and rights. There are horrible things that we men are just not getting. We men though are not the only part of the problem. Women have been missing their parts in this too. They have some closets to open up as well, they use their sex as an advantage as well. This isn’t about all of that, that is for you to decide.

There is one thing though that men get to decide every time. As much as women see misogyny in a lot of things these days, men see misandry. Misandry is just the opposite side of the coin, hatred against men. I have seen it here on these very pages. A man being called a misogynist for expressing what he is feeling. Now, us men are usually very clumsy at expressing these things most of the time. Women are way ahead of us in the emotional department and the talking about feelings.

It still holds, if women get to decide what misogyny is, then men get to decide what misandry is and is not, right? Wrong, men don’t apparently get to decide that either and that’s a problem. That’s a huge crux of the problem right there. Ladies are very good at expressing their feelings and emotions, that doesn’t mean you are the decider of what I feel, what I am trying to say. I still get that don’t I? I still get to decide what makes me feel right?

So when a mother in another state writes a rambling letter against all the bigger things than the bathroom issue. One that is ripe with misandry in my mind, I get to call it right? I get to say, hold on here, that was too much… Apparently not, because I am being told what I should feel about the piece, that I must not know what she meant. I must have been struck dumb in those few short paragraphs. That is the problem, men don’t get to have feelings on some things at all.

I didn’t disagree with what the letter was saying. I was disagreeing with the way it said it. IMO it was full of inflammatory wording and foaming misandry. Even though I am a strong supporter of womens rights, I couldn’t even get that across. I couldn’t even get my point across that this is too much and doesn’t do any good really. No, I didn’t get to do that because I don’t get to, that’s the oppression that women use a lot and may not see it. That controlling of all the messages on the subject and deciding what those things mean. Men need not apply.

There is a reason for the black avatar, you usually dress up for a funeral. I know that by bringing this up that it is the end. Because how could someone talk about women like that? Oh the misogyny….

Sometimes the men aren’t the ones doing it at all.

Thanks for everything! See Ya!

For months now, I have been putting up pieces designed to elicit direct responses to various questions and beliefs from the Sanders supporters. It more than likely comes across as a dislike for Sanders, and it really wasn’t; Until today.

Right now we have a huge number of problems going on in D.C.. Many of them are being thwarted from the minority and all of their lack of power to do any real harm to the Orange Idiot’s team. To associate all that is going on with the current administration’s actions as that of a Democratic weakness or fault is ridiculous, and harmful as hell. I could just as well go into a list of reasons why the I’s don’t have more seats, or the Democratic Socialists movement is a failure before it starts. Oh? Your kid’s in jail? What did you do wrong?… Your Dad’s a felon?… You must be so ashamed?…

The reason I wrote those pieces is to find out where the “progressives” really stood on the issues? You know what I found? Just the same type of mentality against Clinton that the Trumpsters had/have, without a lot of any real substance, just a lot of blame. No, I don’t dislike Sanders, but seeing everything from this corner of the country and seeing this all get stacked up this way really, and I mean truly makes me wonder WTF?

It is apparent that the Sanders side will not give up until they have control over the Democratic party. They need that base to turn more than it needs them whether they like it or not. They are just as willfully uncaring about the country when they ignore the bigger needs to play petty divisionary games. This is less than six months into the current train wreck of an administration and both Sanders and Trump are stoking the fires of a disruptive already, divided already, hyper-partisan people with their populist rally’s and hoorah of “Trust Me Only.”

I could sit up here and put up continued article after article of the things that have vindicated Clinton since the election. I could point out what a mistake it was for a Socialist Jew to go against this Planned Parenthood ala Putin that we just saw. It would infuriate many, it would be akin to a Clinton Crew Page here on this site, and it would continue to be divisive because the Sanders folks don’t have a platform, the Democrats do and it looks an awful lot like his. So why the attacks? Why did you split the Dems so badly at a time you knew could do the most harm? Where is your remorse for your part in this for not rallying your team enough? Democrats know from Obama that we would have rallied for you if it were different.

Things just don’t add up on the Sanders side, and it has nothing to do with anything anyone else is doing. It is through his own actions, curious actions, that is getting this investigation ramped up. It is just as dangerous as anything, and for months his supporters couldn’t really explain anything and still don’t seem able to. Are you all for a stronger together? Or is this just another smoke screen to divide the Democrats even more? No matter what movement goes through, the Democrats have survived the assaults and plotted the course most Americans would like to see us going. To say that just isn’t good enough is fine, but to stand alone and lost in the political jungle and proclaim a mandate is ridiculous.

I am not going to be a part of a resistance that is going not only against the big Orange Menace, but my Democratic party as well. The answers and thoughts on how to get through this have not materialized and I am tired of continuing the rhetoric from last year; The blame games and the ridiculous assertions. So go ahead Sanders folks, have at it, have your Confederate Flag flying up there and the pride you take with it. Have the site and the mindset, and do whatever you wish. You have yet to look at yourselves in the mirror with any real honesty and I can take solace that what I am seeing and feeling is the real reality. One that continues to ask the question of WTH is Sanders really up to? There is some critical thinking that needs to be done by his team and himself as well. Until then, have this site, have the bashers and the people who simply shut down discussion on anything critical about him. This may be home to the Trump Resistance for some, to others it is a chance to divide the left even more. This concerted effort though against other progressives, others who may have thought a little differently about what would be best for our country is more cruel than any perception of wrongdoing. It is a purposeful act of being left for dead.

Since Yabberz is also the Bernie Bastion, and anti Democratic Party. Have fun, not a place for me anymore.

https://www.yabberz.com/post/bernie-sanders-on/876…

I have had this title sitting up here since November 10th. I had no idea what it was supposed to mean, though I didn’t get rid of it for some reason. Was it some part of an idea or concept that already escaped me? Or one that was yet to fully come into clarity? I have no idea where this block is originating from, but it’s reach feels somewhat gigantic. Mercury in retrograde may be a part of it, or an inner tornado of bile that won’t settle down with the best meds around.

Maybe it is just a huge denial system that got kick started like an atomic bomb? Maybe it is a huge realization and a betterment of my perceptions? Maybe it is a grief of mourning for what I once thought I knew, not only about my country, but about people as well? I don’t know what to call it because it has not yet made itself clear enough to me. Thus I pick up the pen, or in this case keyboard and walk my way through this.

It must have needed a crisp New Year, a new perspective to get something out of me again. The events of the last few months escaping even my creative mind manipulation’s into the rational. Normally when I recede into myself it is out of defeat and denial, not this time. It is truly different, it feels more akin to solidifying as a small crucible of my own of beliefs and emotions. While also enabling me to view the smaller variants around me with a higher clarity. While this may sound like a lot of pseudo spiritualistic bullshit, it is just one of those times of stiffening up your chin in life and taking care of some loose ends. In my case it has to do with the inside more than the outside, but I can’t deny the outside doesn’t need work too. My journey through this is not the reason for the title though, that was just some background from one of my minds talking too loudly.

I am an American, as redneck as the best of them and apparently can write well enough to get my point across at times. I am not a formerly educated person, I was blessed with a wonderful environment though which allowed me to teach myself. Turns out I was different in my learning style with my genetic blueprint, and it wasn’t the material, it was the manner. I went into the Army, I worked in the Service Industry for over 35 years, I did what I had to do to get by. I drank and drugged with the best of them and sometimes the most famous. I am grateful to be here still, just shy of five years sober. I shoot guns, I like trucks, women, and a good tune from anyone. My connection to this colloquial state of Americana has not been lost, my love for the heartlands, my nationalism too.

So it comes down to the people who would steal my identity, the ones that define above all else, blame anyone but self, decry and demean anyone that slips from the mold. The only thing that’s left is the complete definition. What succinctly makes some unworthy? Some not good enough to share even a portion of this dream, so it must be made a nightmare. Some have more so that means it is their fault you have less, of anything, including rational thinking. For people to lose something, really lose something that is theirs, they have to let it go inside, nobody can take that away from them. Everything else isn’t a belonging anyways, it is just a comfortable extension of what folks believe to be something they can own. This isn’t a dog show where you go around pissing on the things that you want to mark as yours, even though your piss is the freshest, there were plenty there before you, so don’t ever forget that part. Piss on it right? Yet the very things being eroded are actually foundation pieces, so when the bubble bursts and people float on back down to reality again, They shouldn’t be surprised if they have little to stand on. I guess the living room corner is now the new urinal.

I believe that is what the title suggested to me when I wrote it down a few months ago. This American, this small point of insignificance has congealed. A new perspective and new real battles, for real information is the new French Underground, reality be damned a mantra for those creating their VR America to broadcast to the world. We know who we are, we are actually the majority in my opinion, not those who voted but those who live here, legally or otherwise, antagonists and evangelicals alike. There is a new behemoth, a new Babylon to conquer and it will have to be done with truth, the hard plain, talk without limits truth. There is no more time for illusions and half measures in information, in compassion and for tolerance. With the mightiest powers in the world at their fingertips the Goliath that we have allowed to spawn will be brought down, not with mighty weapons. But with simple truths, undeniable truths, a million cuts, and with a people armed with nothing more than slings of David.

When I was in grade school, when my childhood home was constantly filled with kids running back and forth. There was a kid that came over to our house after school to do his studying.

His Father was an only parent, something that wasn’t too common back then. He was a Japanese American kid, red, white and blue through and through. His Father wanted what was best for him of course and was what we would call strict, maybe even a helicopter type. He did not get home from work until a few hours after school and he had met my Mother through someone. Since I was the youngest of nine he trusted that his son would be safe and have a place to study. They only lived a few blocks away and he could get him on his way home from work.

Now this kid was a year older than I was and that was a huge difference at that time. I was playing games and doing things that strict parented kids did not get to do. It was a stroke of pure genius in hindsight though. Even though I didn’t ask for much help from him his study habits hit home a bit and made me focus maybe just a little bit more. My bad habits and pure shenanigans also broke down some of his shyness barriers a bit I am sure as well.

We were in the same cub scout patrol for a bit, and I was always getting into trouble. If you have seen Dennis the Menace, that was surely me. My character changing by the minute, my emotions turned on full tilt at the drop of a hat. He was a good guy, and he was at least to me a friend. As always though in life things change and all of a sudden we were not needed any longer. He could take care of himself well enough to be at home alone.

A few years later in our teen years we got ahold of each other. I had gone off to full time smoker and stoner and talking about Rock and Roll. He had stayed with his education and was what we would describe as a stuffed shirt, uptight maybe, or just too disciplined for us cool kids. I had met through my paper route a kid not too far from us that was a Dentists son. He had a great charisma and eventually the two of them met and fathers met fathers to see what kind of an influence they would have on each other.

I was too different, too dumb really, and too poor to really be a part of that group. They were the ones that went to church and did things right still. They made plans and saved money, things that kids like me didn’t know we could or even should do. Yes, they are both much better off than I am and own their own homes, or paying a mortgage. They have families with children and retirement plans to boot.

The other day I typed his name into Google and found out that he lives not to far from me. Actually they both don’t live too far at all. This is what I think separates me from many, they had an impact on my life that I can recognize. I never really got the chance to tell them that I really was playing dumb more of the time than I should have. As a fat kid I felt I needed to keep the laughs at my expense rolling just to fit in. They are part of my memories and my curiosity as well, I think about others and I think about the parts of my life that people helped or influenced me.

I believe that the kid who studied at our house still works for the Public Library system, a job he must have had now for more than 30 years or thereabouts. I could write him a letter because I know his address but that would be intrusive to say the least. I was just thinking that with all of this writing I am seemingly having to do that maybe, just maybe my name will show up on his shelves one day.

I think that would be the best way to tell these people thank you. It is for certain that I carry a small part of them, and I would hope they carry a small part of me as well.

Old friends are just the way you left them, the wonder in our years apart fall to the wayside. Like kids playing all over again, our one victory over this troublesome dilemma called time. I will gladly take it. As an update I saw him at a local market a few months later and we have each other’s number. He was amazed that I recognized him right off the bat. Life is surely special.

 The devastating natural disasters of the mid 2000’s affected hundreds of thousands if not millions of people. The donations and relief for the Indonesian and Southern U.S. populations were staggering and challenging to say the least. Shortly after the Indonesian Tsunami one of the donations came from a small town in Uganda. The population Mostly women who labored at breaking rocks into gravel. The donation modest as the wage was only a little over a dollar a day. Most of the women are said to have AIDS. They were so moved by the story, the human cost, they donated. Hundreds of dollars were raised and sent through a Catholic charity to Indonesia.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2005/11/24/Ugandan-women-donate-to-Katrina-relief/77591132849617/

All too suddenly did Hurricane Katrina hit, The charity that oversaw the contributing to Indonesia could not bear to ask them for more for those victims. They simply asked them to pray for them, yet the women were not through showing gratitude. Soon another donation was sent off to the relief efforts of the victims of Katrina.

This reminded me of a story about a ten gallon hat, an old lady, and a seat cushion.

There was also the story of the Choctaw Indians, who in 1847 donated $147.00 to Ireland. It was a donation to assist with their potato famine and was a hefty piece of change in the day.

http://www.choctawnation.com/history/choctaw-nation-history/choctaws-helped-starving-irish-in-1847-this-act-shaped-tribal-culture/

I have been called too generous at times. That I am over giving, and some have assumed it is for personal gain or to purchase friendships etc… That had perplexed me for years because that is not the way it felt. One thing I can say now about my giving is that it is for the things that I have already been given that I myself give. I am a thankful person and honor the efforts of others where they may not see it themselves. The smallest of acts or words can trigger a huge waterfall of emotion at times and that is how I respond in kind. After looking for the reason why for so long I discovered something else as well about giving. It is a way I show my love, I have a lot of it and giving some away to let other stuff take its place is invaluable to me, I am full up a lot of the time.

It is within the giving that I also found out about the ten gallon hat from the old lady (her own description.) Some people have a ten gallon hat capacity for giving love and some people only have a two pint capacity. While she scolded me for taking the chair with the seat cushion she told me about volume. Giving ten gallons or two pints means exactly the same if that is all you have to give. It’s within the giving… Pass it on.

Coming from a long history of addiction and not knowing about my gifted/hsp stuff. It leaves me wondering about all of these people that I have met. Some are very kind and understanding which is a good thing. It also could be an indicator of some bad things as well. Are these people seeing me the way I think they are? Or is this just some kind of coddling akin to a special needs child? I know I am different and some say nuts, but I do know the difference, and I do pick up all of the pieces.

When people are saying one thing and feel something completely different it usually shows up to me as plain as day. I am more trained to accept their feelings that I pick up as the truth, and what they say a secondary item. It get’s confusing sometimes when people are constantly doing the opposite of what they are feeling, or the frequency they are putting out.

So as I try to get along with this group, or any, that I belong to, there are some things I have to take into thought and be on guard at all times.

I am notoriously aloof in what I know, and what I know about people. There are times when a blatant joke at my expense is made, where people believe that I don’t get it. There are times when people are trying to manipulate me or my situation. They believe I cannot see that happening, and I play along. It is usually because I have taken their manipulation through the 1000 outcomes and have decided to play along because it would benefit me. Through this madness of mind during much of my life people do not realize that the human condition is my forte. The smallness of minds that would attempt to play these games seems silly to me. My actions and life cut from a template not recognized for what it is.

I sometimes feel it is as though the destinies of some kind of past lives are unfulfilled and still live within my psyche. That’s ok, maybe I can take care of a few of them before the bell rings for the next round.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, many observers wondered exactly what motivated voters most: Was it income? Authoritarianism? Racial attitudes?

Let the analyses begin. Last week, the widely respected 2016 American National Election Study was released, sending political scientists into a flurry of data modeling and chart making.

The ANES has been conducted since 1948, at first through in-person surveys, and now also online, with about 1,200 nationally representative respondents answering some questions for about 80 minutes. This incredibly rich, publicly funded data source allows us to put elections into historical perspective, examining how much each factor affected the vote in 2016 compared with other recent elections.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp…

With the usual flair, the Trump campaign denies that Melania lifted the words from Michelle Obama's speech in 2008. After seeing the evidence, how can someone honestly believe that?

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/19/politics/melania-tru…

Now we have the New Texas De-rangers. Armed men on the street menacing worshipers of the local mosque. This is just a small example of things like this happening all over the country. This is the very epitome of un-American and no matter where it happens it has to stop. This is not an American value, this has no value at all.

http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-12-08/texas-town-s…

There is much about the parties that divide them from the other side of the aisle. But what are the things that your own party or leaning tend to do or take a stance on that is not you? Are you a far right or left, a centrist a moderate. Are you a Democrat or a Liberal? A Republican or a Conservative? There is seemingly every name for things like this in the papers and online. What are you? and what does that mean?

In our discussions few like it when things or people are all lumped together. Let's take that back a bit and show how much diversity is within even our own affiliations.

President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, recently hand-delivered a sealed “peace plan” to the White House outlining a way to remove the U.S. sanctions on Russia, a plan that was conceived by a pro-Putin Ukrainian lawmaker connected to Cohen by a Trump business associate with links to the mafia. This is all according to a new report published by the New York Times on Sunday. The plan was apparently delivered to the desk of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn one week before he was forced to resign over having allegedly had, and lied about, a discussion about U.S. sanctions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/02/trump…

With the attacks in Paris, candidates from the right pounced on it.

Bush: Just concentrate on the Christians

Cruz: Ignore the Muslims but accept the Christians

Rubio: That would be like saying we weren't at war with Nazis because we were afraid to offend some Germans.

Carson: I just don't care to waste time looking into anything he has said anyways.

This is hilarious if it wasn't too troubling to think of. The GOP wants to create a country that is just like the ones they want to wipe off the planet. Sure the religions would be different, but it doesn't matter.

A religious test for entry… Sound familiar?

Just let the Christians in… Too familiar.

Kill all the _____! …. The great "religious" doctrine that started with the formation of the Christian church.

I could go on and on with the religious overtones to our elections and politics. Here is one thing I want to know though for all the Christians here. Right now with Islam they are mostly fighting between two ideologies, with others mixed in. But if people are so determined to make this a Christian country. Then which one of these denominations would it be? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_de…

If people, and mostly the GOP presidential hopefuls want to make Christianity the national religion. Then which groups would they eliminate? And how? Who is to say that your denomination is safe, protected, as others are made out to be…Muslim-like and you become the enemy then. I can honestly see the religious conservatives turning to the same tactics as the terrorists use simply by reading these posts.

These GOP Politicians should be very careful in these emotional times. Things said now should and will disqualify many, if not all from the election. Not because they went against what the President wants. They went against the very thing they are supposedly protecting, The Constitution, and We the People.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/17/politics/republican-…

Yeah, I know I am going to get a lot of flack for this, that is why it is under personal stories as an opinion piece. I am not trying to drive up the divisiveness in these times, I would like to simply share the observations I had from the other coast and the opinions they brought with them.

There are a lot of emotions that go into belief systems, those belief systems is how we balance the political and moralistic aspects of our lives with our inner beings. When the Bernie's Voices showed up here I knew it would be a short time until we are at it again, battling it out between us over things that really don't belong here today.

I will say that Sanders is no saint, no shining beacon as much as he believes and some of his believers may think in my opinion. The Socialist stance he took was not novel, it was the same plan the dems had in the long run, just pumped up on steroids and a few new twists tossed in. I bemoan his backers that ignore the close voting record with Clinton over the years, the platform that was more nationalistic than was imagined as well. There is the whole thing about Clinton stealing this away from Bernie in the primaries, but did he steal away her Presidency in collusion with something bigger? Something more untold than we could believe. Since there are no losses for imaginative stories about Clinton from the Sanders side; I revisit my first instinct.

May 29th 2016

There is one thing that has been bugging me throughout this entire campaign process. Every candidate has been put through the wringer, except one. Every candidate has had their records and their past completely blown open in the press and by anyone with even a microscopic axe to grind, except one. This is being facilitated by supporters of Sanders and by the press, who are willfully skipping that part of the whole vetting process. It goes all the way down to comment sections, where any mention that Sanders could be something else is quickly folded in with talk of ignorance or plain stupidity. The point is, people don't want people to look too hard at Bernie, his holier than thou political stance, or the issue that he may not be who he may seem to be.

Sanders has some darkness in his past and an association to groups that some might stop and pause about if they were highlighted. The conscientious objector status he submitted during the Viet Nam War will not ingratiate him to the right wing or veterans, Military service and/or respect is still a very high part of Democratic principles as well, believe it or not. He was denied later on by the military, by then though he was too old. It would have been on a religious grounds and he at that point called himself a pacifist. Of course he isn't one now, wink, wink.

For all of the fuss that the right made about Obama studying in a Muslim school. People are white washing the issue that Sanders spent time in a Jewish school, tied to Israeli intelligence agencies. There is precedent for Israel to interfere in foreign governments among them the past President of France and half Jewish Sarkozy exposed as being in the spying business for them. A recruiting ground for the best of spy agencies, there is no overlooking their involvement, even a little. It is known that throughout history the sleeper cells of various factions are long in place before acting.

Sanders calling for the elimination of the CIA, the earlier calls of his Libertarian views and more convince me that there is more than just a Socialist at work here. Eliminate the military and just go with citizen militias and the Coast Guard another one of his old platforms. In looking at the very history of the man and his causes a tie to the interests of Israel appears. Don't get me wrong, even I know what I am writing is a stretch but you don't write about stretches. You write about gut instincts, about perceptions and you use you God given talents. Mine is not seeing the reasoning, the why of it in all of this, Sanders, if he was who he says he is isn't acting like Sanders.

Let's remember that Clinton has already stated that she will continue much of Obama's policy positions. Let's also remember the unprecedented action of the House when they brought in the sitting Israeli Prime Minister into our own chambers here, to denounce our own sitting President. That was a very serious breach of political ethics right there. It was also very telling that Israel would pull something like that, they should never have exposed their hand in that manner. It says to me that they have been pulling stuff here for far too long and are way too comfortable with their position.

Here we have to look at the fact that Sanders is first and foremost an Independent, not a Democrat. I am bringing that up because for someone who had previously called for the downsizing of our military, he hasn't voted that way. He is big on the military, something that very directly benefits Israel. Now, I am not being a downer on Israel or anti-Zionist, this has simply got to do with someone else butting into our affairs. Like them or hate them if any other country was doing this I am sure most would be upset to say the least, suspicion is merely a formality these days. My suspicions are being upheld though at every turn into this conspiracy laden tale. Bernie is just keeping it going.

This election game is being played by the Socialist, no matter what you call it, it is still a glaring moniker. The attacks and styles of them coming from both Sanders and Trump tell a story that is going to be written soon. The great lights of impossible notions nothing more than ashes of the paper they were scribbled on. The right will find out some more very ugly truths about their ideologies, the left as well. The Independents will find out their actions have brought them new enemies, that polish of elitism tarnished forever. The selfishness of a minority all too fresh in the eyes of a country witnessing what the Tea Party has done.

This tarnishing of a candidate, the promises to play fair and honest tossed out has taught me something. Trust is a very hard thing to accumulate, it is even harder to gain it back once lost. There are things in Bernie's past that really do need to be looked at more closely. There is still a lot more time for vetting to be done. This man has turned into the vilest person in this race and considering Trump is in there with him that's saying something. I hope that if his plan to derail Clinton at all costs wins and Trump gets elected that those progressives fear for their Sanders sticker-ed cars. Their progressive fellows will not be too keen on any trust or friendship going forward, their lives forever changed by the cowardly backstabbing of those Independents. That selfish fit that brought them to become allies with Trump's camp, not to bring down a woman, or a candidate, but a country.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Israel and Russia meddling in an Historic election because both would suffer under a Clinton examination of their practices. Israel rolled the dice and used Sanders to weaken Clinton, hoping he would win somehow. Russia rolling the dice on Trump and Israel went along with it too and took their chances and at this point seem to have lost a bit.

You can scream and shout about how this could be possible, but then again… Trump is the President.

If you somehow feel that all of this gun violence has nothing to do with you, you are supposed to. If somehow you feel that this has got to do with some kind of criminal element only and that it's a police matter, you are supposed to. If somehow you feel this is just about guns, you are supposed to. It isn't true, but you are supposed to.

Now I am not an advocate for the NRA or anything like that, but guns are not doing the killing, guns are not doing this, WE are. As much as we sit and debate and stir the pot, we are just as guilty for the anger, the frustration, and even the guns themselves. Can we do something about guns on our streets? Who knows? Will we do something about it? History says no, and so does our elected officials in many cases. Can we do something about it all? Only if we open our eyes and see that the real issue isn't guns… it's us, all of us.

We tend to react to the word gun like we do God. It is an overwhelming, multi faceted, brain f*@%, of a word. The connections and connotations of what they "are" attached to almost all aspects of a situation involving them. What they are are constructs, an illusion, a way to blame or rejoice. Those two constructs don't kill people, we do.

It is not surprising either in this world and especially in this country. From school yard bullying to the constant press from media and entertainment. This country is addicted in the worst way to this delirium of drama, and the manufacturing of murder. From shows glorifying gang life in the ruse of a documentary, to CSI this and that, murder is the drone of the media that feeds our minds. Violence, and enemy this and adversary that written into every aspect of this society. Sports to military, civilians to police, there has to be something, someone to blame, to get, to stop, to murder. Being desensitized to this aspect has been happening for years and it is showing its effects.

Yes, as a nation we must be ever ready, ever vigilant to those things that would undo us. As we have seen time and time again that vigilance must not be taken to extremes.Yet we are doing just that, and I cannot honestly say that it is not being done unconsciously. There are two ideologies in leadership that also applies to the divide in the aisles, lead by having your people fear you, or lead by your people loving you. That is a doozy of a question and one that has pulled on the fabric of this country more than anything else. That concept has kept both sides of the aisle busy giving and taking and never really moving anywhere. In that mud hole of movement that we have left ourselves in, we digress into the mud itself, we find ourselves now red with blood and rage. Yet we blame guns, and Gods.

The unlearning that is necessary to stop this all has yet to begin. The root causes still well concealed behind the guise of humanity and civility. They are too many to begin to list or even fathom, but something must be made as a start to this journey we need, we have to have. I think we can all agree that murder equals bad, wrong, you aren't supposed to do that! If that is the case then why is it such a damned celebrated thing? I bet you know the names of more murderers than you do war heroes. I bet the news will cover more stories of death than anything else this week, and every week. I bet that the rhetoric will sound exactly the same as it did in 1979 with talk of government taking your guns. I would be wealthy if someone would just take me up on it. Someone should, there are always those that deny the facts out of moronic ego or pride.

This is how we have allowed this Murder Country to evolve. We sat on our laurels and tried to hold onto humanity with some kind of might. We are the leftovers of a great experiment and in that experiment this reaction was not properly calculated. Sure the world will change and this will all end, but we have to complete the process so the test tubes can be cleaned. The programming, from lack of education and opportunities to the portrayal that violence can fix things is ridiculous. This combat that we have put ourselves into is obscene and it has solutions, not just talk. Action on every level is necessary, from education to media, it has to be a concerted effort.

There is an old saying that tells us to take care of the little things an the bigger things will take care of themselves. In my life I have found this true as the sky is blue. Those things like education, coping skills, opportunities, equality, tolerance and just plain old decency. They begin with not programming murder into our lives, not training for the adversarial but the collaborative. Promote good over the bad if you want good to prevail, bad seems to be winning. We all know that what we see and hear on TV and elsewhere is not how we really live. We are for the most part all just good people wanting to live our lives. It's hard enough with friends and family, why would we want to create so many more hassles?

The color of the skin or the work clothes you wear should not be a reason for distrust and hate… There should be no reason, that's the point. Through real efforts and real teaching and tolerance we can put down this era of our collective psyches. I am not saying we have to hug it out or sing Kumbaya, but we have to wrap our heads around this inconvenient truth. We have, and are creating this atmosphere, this Murder Country. The drums we are beating have been around for hundreds of years and the beat just gets louder. It is generating billions of dollars in the form of box office revenues and gun show sales, video game tournaments and football coaches. This thing that we have to have to be against something or someone, to fight something or someone. To debate someone with your truth, not realizing that a disagreement doesn't mean either of you are wrong, or liars. We have lost that objective look at a lot of this. We are seemingly programmed to control things through force, through hatred and division and through murder. To undo this programming is going to take a lot of pain that doesn't involve blood. We are not being shot to death, but poisoned by our own fear. My hope is that words replace the connections to all of this that bullets do now. That blood is replaced by knowledge and humanity can take back its name.

A major new study of social-media sharing patterns shows that political polarization is more common among conservatives than liberals — and that the exaggerations and falsehoods emanating from right-wing media outlets such as Breitbart News have infected mainstream discourse.

Though the report, published by the Columbia Journalism Review, does an excellent job of laying out the challenge posed by Breitbart and its ilk, it is less than clear on how to counter it. Successfully standing up for truthful reporting in this environment “could usher in a new golden age for the Fourth Estate,” the authors write. But members of the public who care about such journalism are already flocking to news organizations like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and, locally, The Boston Globe, all of which have experienced a surge in paid subscriptions since the election of President Trump. That’s heartening, but there are no signs that it’s had any effect on the popularity or influence of the right-wing partisan media.

http://news.wgbh.org/2017/03/15/politics-governmen…

Fareed Zakaria said Saturday that though many liberals think they are tolerant, often they aren't.

I have to say that I agree with him, this lefty here knows he doesn't outwardly accept those things I disagree with. The mannerisms are as varied as we are, as they are on the Right, whatever bastion is a particular niche or expertise on either side is carried deeply into the ideals of the party. I don't know whether we are using the same terms though. I have often written about the difference between being tolerant and tolerance. Yet I do listen, I do hear what the messages are, though to me they are hollow words, an echo chamber. Folks like me do not go for the halftime speeches, that is for a different animal. We want to hear do your best and play the game right, not kill everyone out there.

So this mindset that we are not tolerant to the messages from the right rings mostly true. It is like a Sheldonian knock on the Penny's door of society. The mandatory three knocks and the Penny in the middle has been repeated so many times, the joke is not funny. The Pavlovian aspect of all of this mind-blurring being done on the right amazingly simplistic to most I talk to; Where the hell is the substance?

This mindset is not a left right issue, it is a human one, as much as people do not wish to listen to aspects they deem uncomfortable or just plain right or wrong with. The guy on the right who just can't handle any kind of disagreement that he is wrong, yeah, he lives upstairs. The belief that progress is done by aggression and confrontation, and all things military. When it has been the peacemakers who have saved more military lives than any bombs or planes. The main reason the left, in my opinion, does not listen to dissenting voices as readily as folks would like on the right or middle is that we have heard it before, and are against every aspect of that thinking to our core. How could folks change that? How could folks that have repeatedly poo poo'ed our concerns and issues from a standpoint of ignorance ever hope to become tolerant enough and intelligent enough to get it? They don't and they have told us time and time again, and through force and terrorism in our very midst that they won't ever listen.

Zakaria noted that "at the height of commencement season," many new graduates across the country had made their political views apparent, from the Notre Dame students who walked out as Vice President Mike Pence gave his commencement address to the crowd members who booed Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos during a speech at Bethune-Cookman University.

"American universities seem committed to every kind of diversity except intellectual diversity. Conservative voices and views are being silenced entirely," Zakaria said.

The CNN host said he found this attitude strange, especially given that these incidents occurred on college campuses that "promised to give their undergraduates a liberal education."

"The word liberal in this context has nothing to do with today's partisan language, but refers instead to the Latin root, pertaining to liberty. And at the heart of liberty in the Western world has been freedom of speech. From the beginning, people understood that this meant protecting and listening to speech with which you disagreed," Zakaria argued.

If the left is indeed less tolerant that expected, then I say what do you expect? Cheated and compromised at every step of the way by the bullies and the jocks, the cheaters and the gangsters. Yeah, the tolerance we have for that kind of thing is little, and the voices that carry support for it is indeed hard to listen to, and a lie to boot.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/28/us/fareed-zakaria-li…

"I think the Republican nominee is unfit to serve as president. I said so last week and he keeps on proving it," Obama said on Tuesday during a joint press conference with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the White House.

Obama said Trump is "woefully underprepared" to be president. "He doesn't appear to have basic knowledge on critical issues in Europe, in the Middle East, in Asia," Obama said.

Obama said this opinion of Trump is shared by prominent Republicans.

"I think what's been interesting is the repeated denunciations of his statements by leading Republicans including the speaker of the House, the Senate majority leader and prominent Republicans like John McCain," he said. "The question I think that they have to ask themselves is, if you are repeatedly having to say, in very strong terms, that what he has said is unacceptable, why are you still endorsing him?"

At some point, Republicans should realize that Trump has gone too far and that the things he says indicates he "doesn't have the judgment, the temperament the understanding to occupy the most powerful position in the world," Obama said.

While Obama said he has disagreed with former Republican presidents on policy issues, he "didn't have a doubt that they could function as president."

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/02/obama-slams-republi…

Sometimes you just get too much, you just have to say shut the freak up. Mine was a while ago, and here is why.

Where are your freaking answers Trump supporters? What do you think you are going to get out of this stupidity you have hoisted onto the rest of the country and the world?

You ask for accountability from Clinton that you yourself couldn't muster and yet have zero answers, zero accountability from Trump. What is it that you think you are going to get? You attack the Clinton foundation who medicate over 11 million people a year against AIDS. You have no idea how any of this works with nonprofits and foundations yet you want to destroy it, and take away that resource for almost a million people right there. Just one of the many things that the Clinton foundation helps with. Where is there any, and I mean any proof that these things are corrupt? Zero, nada, zilch. Just the buffoonery of an angry orange man who cannot even comprehend the issues let alone fix any of them. Calling a car a rock is not going to make it any easier to fix it, calling these issues simple is not going to do anything to fix it either.

But where is that accountability that you keep on having to have while showing that you can produce none yourself? Where are your freaking answers that actually sound like they would work in a world like this one? If you want to see a Revolution like so many are hoping for in their dark hearts, you got it. There is going to be reprisals as never before, and the fallout on those pulling this crud is going to be firm and quick. The Southern states were not razed after the Civil War, but the Trump ones will be, that whole part of that Ugly America we are seeing now is going to have its rubber band snapped on its tuckus. Why? Because you are screaming for accountability and answers when you don't have any to stand on, when you don't even have a platform other than how to help Russia.

If Trump supporters think that their hatred for Clinton is so big and uncontrollable, and that it is going to mean something if she wins. You haven't been paying attention, there is going to be more, much more to answer for if somehow Trump is elected. Where is the accountability on released Taxes? Where is a real doctor's letter on his health? Why are his business and e-mails details not made public for tens of thousands to wander through? Nope, sorry, there is not a single thing that Hillary Clinton should divulge for the rest of the campaign. She has provided more than enough of her share of things and most of those were made public illegally. Go ahead and attack Clinton on accusations and hearsay, and a good dose of ignorance. Because in the end there is this huge brown spot on your shorts, where is your accountability? Where are your freaking answers?

Will America Survive?

At this point that is a rather serious question. We have seen what "We the People" have become. Can We support a nation of this kind and scope?

Can this current generation of American souls do the hard work that was needed in the past to pull through this? I have my doubts and they are being substantiated in almost every news story out there. Am I witnessing through a Pandora's gift of the information age, its demise?

From State's rights, to Human rights, Terrorism and Politics, Religion and Freedoms. We have all of the issues that have been with us from the beginning of this adventure into country building. The massive war machines of our past have done little good in actully solving issues and problems and have just spawned newer ones. Where once we were fighting for freedoms from a foreign government has turned into asking them from our own.

I don't think we have the wherewithal anymore to pull this off. Our educations and worldviews are not as lofty as those during the times of the Revolution. Our work ethic has turned into a whining epidemic, and our value as Americans has been turned around on us to mean the very worst of the world.

We seemingly cannot build anymore and our infrastructure is crumbling. We cant afford to fix our bridges, yet we pay for a new stadium every five years. We cannot educate our children without putting them into massive debt, poverty or wealth theirs and our biggest gamble. We have race issues as big as ever, and a new upsurge in the religious issues as well. We have that great red and blue divide that begs me to ask why there is always white in the middle?

We have corruption at all levels and barring none, spies amongst us from every foreign land and government. We have militias and vigilantes patrolling our neighborhoods. With either guns and masks or soccer parents waging a PC war. We cannot afford a sack of groceries without wondering which day to fast yet by golly we got those gas prices down!

We have been for a long time time a programmable commodity and we either don't see it or are just playing along. Mankind became a commodity thousands of years ago, it just changes by the century it seems. We were introduced to it through Town Criers and Church gossip. Then newspapers and books, then through acting and productions. We were programmed to either be conditioned for or against something. Then television and now the pc and the internet. We have become insular products that can be made to do much. They have not figured out a few things though over the years. Our commonality of issues tells us that this is all very disturbing to what the future may hold for us. I will say that wars do work though. Wars have kept the pigs at bay so that we may become the pigs.

It is my belief that mankind is inherently good and intentions are for the good predominantly. I do not believe that all mankind shares that same trait though, with all of its compositions. I also believe that with these new tools of instant access that we have taken all too human trait to new heights, that of contempt prior to investigation. The knee jerk reaction that reminds me of the SS high step.

I don't know if we have what it takes to run a country like this though. We were born of The Revolution, we fought with our parents in 1812, we fought with our brothers in the Civil War. We were asked to help the neighborhood out in WWI and WWII and became good citizens. We are now being asked to be grown ups, and you can ask your local ex con how that using force to fix everything works out. I don't think we have it in us anymore to do the hard work that it is going to take, when all we want to do is destroy those things we don't understand.

The same things are here now that have always been around. Race and religion, sexes and classes. Those have always been on the table since well before written history, they always will be. There has been no war or wars that have ever solved those issues, ever.

So if we cannot do the hard work it takes to come to that understanding and work toward solutions. Then we don't have it in us to run this country any further. People are going to come to their conclusions, and come with their beliefs as the world is changing faster than the generations will seemingly allow. One thing is certain and that is things will change, that never ceases.

Will America survive this? My dream is yes and I will do all I can to pave a better future. I have no idea if we will make it though, and what that future America will be. My hope is a brighter one, though I see darker skies ahead. In the end my only wish is that they know that the intent was an honest effort. This land forged for Liberty and Freedom for all did not go silently into that good night.

Original image linked in the Yabberz archive