We The People
are being played by a bunch of billionaires who don’t care if we live or die, as long as they get richer and richer.
why?
they have more than they need. more than they could spend in a hundred lifetimes.
one reason. control.
resist or be enslaved.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQSQi9fke8r/?igsh=MW52NTI4ajljbGhjZg==
ALL GOVERNMENT SPENDING IS SOCIALISM. Every penny.
They just use that word “socialist” (often erroneously paired with “Communist” or “Marxist”) to convince you (using FEAR) that it’s better if they spend YOUR TAX DOLLARS on tax breaks for the few, the wealthy and privileged. And maybe a few for-profit prisons to lock the rest of us up in (if we get high to try and forget the atrocities done by these miserable sons of bitches who are running this country).
Most people in prison are there for non-violent DRUG POSSESSION. In for-profit prisons, many of which hire them out for a fraction of minimum wage. Modern slavery.
Why? Profit. Exploit ordinary citizens for their own gains. People go to jail, or die, but they make money. So it’s OK.
They don’t make as much money if the government decides feeding the poor, or housing the homeless is a better use of the money. Because it helps people, they call it “charity”. The only reason they give to charity at all is for the tax write-offs and PR.
They call people who need help LAZY.
They say refugees who need help are ILLEGAL.
They say children who need help are EXPENDABLE.
All excuses NOT TO HELP
Like walking past a disheveled person asking for help on the street. Don’t look at them. Ignore the problem. Make excuses not to help.
Folks, THEY blame the poor, but the RICH are the problem. The WEALTHY have set up this system to exploit us, from cradle to grave, and they keep turning the screws, hoping we die. Less LAZY ILLEGAL EXPENDABLE HUNGRY mouths to feed, equals more profits for THEM.
Pure Capitalism is CRUELTY.
Socialism recognizes the things people need to survive and thrive, and tries to guarantee those things to all through government ownership of those resources. Food. Medicine. Clothing. Housing. Education. Police. Fire Dept. EMTs. Energy. Military defense. Research. Good stuff for ALL. Democracy decides what’s important to us.
We all chip in to make sure everyone has what they NEED to survive and thrive. Importantly, innovators can still get rich selling people NEW creations and advances. For as much profit as they can. Things people WANT. Not what they NEED to survive.
In either Socialism or Capitalism, those with more must give more. That’s the social contract.
But Capitalism must be regulated to protect the social contract. Socialism IS that contract. Democracy decides. Capitalism doesn’t go away. It just gets deprioritized over survival, and human decency. Profits are NOT more important than the social contract to help each other.
Getting rich by exploiting what people NEED to survive is IMMORAL.
Getting rich by imprisoning people for profit is immoral.
Getting rich by controlling all of the food production and constantly raising prices to ensure “economic growth” (aka increased profits) instead of eliminating hunger, is immoral.
Getting rich by sending our children off to die, protecting “economic interests” (aka oil profits, weapons revenue) is IMMORAL.
Getting rich by controlling (for profit) all of the ENERGY society needs to exist and grow is Immoral.
Getting rich by deciding who deserves medicine by how much they can afford to pay is IMMORAL.
This is NOT a RED vs. BLUE situation. The two parties are BOTH working against US, The American People. This is a HUMAN DECENCY issue. Greed vs. Kindness and Decency.
This is a HAVE-TOO-MUCH vs HAVE-NOT-ENOUGH situation. Most of us fall into the SECOND group. We should start acting like it.
Towards THEM, and especially towards Each Other.
Back in the 70s, we lived near Buffalo. I had a Canadian friend who used to get us all into a lot of trouble. I recall we smuggled fireworks and beer back from Canada one time. Stuff like that.
One such time found us in Fort Erie, Canada, right across the Niagra River from Buffalo, the Peace Bridge connecting the two countries there.
Just north of the Peace Bridge there’s a railroad bridge, crossing the teeming Niagra River several miles above the falls. That one summer day, I found myself in a parking lot just downstream from the bridge, drinking beers and probably smoking weed. I had no idea what was about to happen.
This isn’t a story of tragedy. No one was ever hurt. All the more reason to say, specifically to my kids, but also to yours, Kid’s don’t try stupid shit like this.
Now, I won’t draw things out, I’ve embellished enough.
Before I knew what we were doing, we found ourselves walking out into the railroad bridge, our Canadian guide assuring everyone he’d done it many times before. When we reached the appropriate spot, he started climbing, up above the track level, where we all stood watching him climb.
A good 20 feet over our heads, he suddenly stopped, yelled something I don’t remember, and threw himself off the girder, into the wind above the rushing current, his curly blonde locks trailing behind as he flew through the air.
He seemed to fall forever, and I remember him doing a flip about halfway down. I’m not sure if that really happened, or if it’s just an embellishment that grew into “truth”, as I retold this story over the years. What seemed like a couple minutes later, he hit the water and disappeared under the dark green rushing waters.
A couple of guys immediately jumped from the platform right after he hit the water, taking them slightly less time falling before disappearing beneath the dark waters.
They all came up eventually, after what seemed like a lifetime. They reappeared above water about half a football field downstream from where they hit, and started swimming hard towards the breakwall, and the ladder to safety. Miss that ladder, and who knows where you would be able to get out of the river, before being washed downstream towards Lake Ontario. Over the falls.
This is a story about peer pressure. There was no going back. Accept the fear. Then jump. They made it to safety. We all figured we could too. And we did. I swam harder than I’ve ever swam before or since, to make sure I caught that ladder.
I told myself it would be ok. Then I jumped. The fear was gone. So we’re the excuses. Just me against the river. Cliche I know. But those moments where you MUST succeed. Do or do not, there is no try. Those moments change you. Forever.
When I finally hit the water, I remember wondering, “How deep will I go?” as the momentum carried me deeper and deeper. For a second I wondered if I would make it back to the surface. I’m not the most buoyant person. The water was dark, green and cold, and I started swimming across the current, toward the ladder even before I eventually surfaced.
I swam so hard that I reached the wall way above the ladder, I had to tread water and wait to drift downstream to it. Some of us went for a second round, and a couple people tried the higher perch to jump from. I remember walking back onto the bridge, watching them jump, and then walking off the bridge again, to dodge a train coming through en route to Buffalo. I guess I didn’t want to tempt my fate twice.
I think about what would have been, if I had chickened out, and never made that leap of faith into that river. Maybe it gave me confidence later in life. Or perhaps it just made me more cautious. Either way, every big decision I’ve made since has probably been affected by this one moment.
I find myself reflecting about it, not to encourage myself to cheat death, but to remember to live. To be not afraid to leap into destiny, with enough faith in ourself to come out the other side better for the journey.
I’m pretty sure it’s also one of those moments that remind me not to be such a dumb fuck.
[Disclaimer: The Bridge is only 22 feet above the river, and the shipping channel is pretty deep so, perhaps my memory embellished the experience and potential dangers just a tiny bit).
That was title of the 1979 Time Magazine article about Boulder Colorado. Naturally, I decided to go to college there. Mostly to get as far away from home and my Goldwater Republican parents as possible. I stayed in Boulder over the summers, to avoid conflicts. It was a different city when the college wasn’t in session. I think we met Morris the first or second summer.
They called it Guyana Punch, and the Guyana Parties at Morris’s place on The Hill were legendary.
Everyone brought a bottle. Liquor, any kind was acceptable. Everclear, 151 rum and vodka were the foundation. Water, KoolAid and assorted juices and fruits were added, and the party was off and running.
Somewhere during the evening, sheets, tabs, and assorted microdots always found their way into the punch, and everything got colorful and weird.
Music. Usually Grateful Dead tapes from some show someplace that was “the best trip ever”. Great times. Great people. Great music always makes the scene.
When the punch eventually ran dry, and all the places to buy real beer were long closed, literally hundreds of people tripping their balls off wandered off into the Boulder night on their own psychedelic adventures.
I remember one night after Morris’, we ended up smoking weed with these girls at this witches coven house down the street. At least I thought they were witches.
At some point, my buddy Adam turned into The Devil during the Stones Sympathy, and I wandered off, caught up in one of those trips, where facing one’s own fears turns into battles with demons and dragons. My roommates spent hours looking for me. I spent hours looking for me, too. Eventually I wandered home I guess, because I woke up there the next afternoon. Nobody remembered and dragons or witches but me.
All things must end. Eventually, the Guyana Parties did too. Morris, the Cat who threw the parties (and probably always dosed the punch) moved on to who knows where. Times changed. We grew up.
The Boulder scene changed a lot when the cocaine started rolling into town. Coke and acid really don’t mix. It changed the party. The whole scene, and not for the better.
You don’t threaten to kill people to get more acid or mushrooms, but with meth and coke, lots of liquor…you never know.
Things melted down. People ended up in jail. Everyone was a narc. Nobody could be trusted. Eventually, I was glad to be out of the hip-meet-to-trip delusion. Every trip ends, I guess. Everyone I knew got out alive, so I figure it’s a win.
I’ve stumbled into a lot of crazy party scenes since, and sooner or later the mood always gets heavy. It’s all fun and games. Then they change the meds, some new people change the mood, and everything changes with it.
Not usually for the better.
If anyone is still “sick of hearing about politics” in my posts, PLEASE UNFOLLOW ME.
We are well beyond politics.
The Capitol has fallen into the hands of treasonous terrorists. We are Germany in 1939. We must ALL defend each other. We must defend our rights. Our freedom.
If they can send MASKED MEN with Weapons and Restraints to disappear someone who “looks like an illegal criminal” without due process, they can disappear YOU without due process.
If foreign students who protest the unjust government can be detained without due process, your son or your daughter could be taken from that same college campus to El Salvador or Gitmo. Without due process.
If you are not fighting this un-american bullshit, you are helping them. YOU are the problem. You are complicit. Guilty of their crimes by your tacit approval.
If you are not ANTIRACIST, you are RACIST.
If you are not ANTI-FASCIST, you are a FASCIST
If you are not DEFENDING the CONSTITUTION you are TACITLY TREASONOUS.
If you still think this is just politics. Just another day in America, you are blind, foolish, stupid, or evil. Or maybe you’re all 4.
I’m not a subversive
I’m a patriot.
Anyone can wave the flag
While denying the rights to others
Guaranteed by The Constitution.
They can call that patriotism,
but it’s obviously a lie.
Anyone can order troops into the streets
To terrorize the citizens of the
second largest city in the country.
It’s not patriotic to deny citizens their 1st amendment right to protest and object to an unjust government.
That is not American. It’s illegal here.
Patriotism isn’t fealty to one man
Patriots don’t give a FUCK about party lines
Patriots believe in the law
Patriots believe in the rights of citizens
And non citizens
To live without government oppression
True Americans believe in freedom
Freedom means we get to choose
How we live
Who we love
What we worship.
We get to decide where we live and where we go. Americans, and visitors here, get to live without fear of illegal police detainment, searches and worse.
THIS BULLSHIT is NOT AMERICA.
Masked secret police doing the bidding of their political masters is NOT AMERICAN. This is some Soviet Nazi type bullshit folks.
These people in charge are NOT patriots
They hug the flag while ignoring
The Highest Laws of the Land.
They celebrate cruelty, not justice
The insurrection has succeeded
Our Capitol has fallen into the hands
Of traitors and TREASONISTS
Religious bigots and billionaire bullies.
Privateers. Plundering the Treasury.
Thugs and thieves stealing our money and our private information. To be used against us if we speak out.
They are destroying our peaceful way of life, with lies of invasions and crime.
Just excuses to use military force
Against The American People.
Who dare to protest the abuses
By a corrupt and toxic regime.
The invaders are in power
The Crimes are happening
Right before our eyes
Committed upon The People
By a corrupt and invalid government.
Purchased by billionaires.
Operating of, by and for, absolute greed and the extortion of the American People.
The True Patriots are speaking out against this illegal hostile takeover.
True American Patriots are standing up to the treasonous fools, who are out to destroy everything we have, just so they can drain every ounce of value, from the planet and it’s occupants.
Extract. Exploit. Discard.
The rest of us pay for their excess
The rest of us pay for their egos
The rest of us pay for their lack of compassion.
We suffer their lack of empathy.
We pay with our lives.
With the lives of our children.
If you aren’t working AGAINST them, you are helping them. You are aiding and abetting the criminals, who are out to harm all of us. You are one of them.
Silence in the face of injustice is complicity
DNA doesn’t Lie.
There is NO GENE for RACE.
We Are All One Race.
HUMAN.
Descrimination because of how someone looks, is just HATE.
When we embrace our differences, we grow. We must not let fear of what we do not understand rule our lives. Everyone has their own perspective. The more we choose to understand and respect the perspective of others, the faster we grow and the stronger we become. Together.
Against all who would exploit and deprive us, of what we need to survive, in order to profit from our inability to choose.
We CAN choose. We must choose.
We must choose each other, not the rich and shameless. Equity, not exploitation. Freedom, not forced religion and journalistic propaganda. Education for all. Medicine for all.
Democracy. Not tyranny.