Are Black Men Becoming An Endangered Species?

I don't really believe you can use the words, "no offense" without definitely offending someone so I won't offend anyone with that time-honored prequalified cop-out. I will simply say that some deaths are harder to take than others. With so much death and dying in life, we all have to come to terms with it on some level or another. But certain moments and certain people die, and it shocks you to the core.

My friends and family have endured real heartbreak from recent deaths among the category of Americans that could be pushing into the endangered species realm if something doesn't give real soon. I say that somewhat in jest because I don't really believe in an endangered race of humans because the human spirit is naturally imbued with survival level toughness. In other words, all men are made to be as tough as their environment demands, even if they must be melted and tempered like iron to reveal their rigidity.

The famous, 300 years old "Hanging Tree" of Savannah, GA is an
historic landmark from our past. But what memory does it honor?
Isn't this just a different kind of Confederate flag?  

All that being said, I am certain to my core that black men are targeted to a level equal to our immense power. While those words may sound sorrow filled, I am equally certain that we used to be targeted many levels beyond our power to address it. As a matter of physics, a greater opposing force was always needed to thwart the kind of power black men can generate. With the added force of a black woman behind him, black men have survived. One even rose to become president to the chagrin of a lot of people that questioned a black man's ability to do something so immense.

You see, once upon a time ago, it only required probable cause to snuff out the life of a black man, assuming that you consider fear as a probable cause. In essence, nothing has really changed much when it comes to losing our black men. Either we die from the fear of someone else, or we die (literally and figuratively) while running from the power that we possess because making great choices with so much power in our hands can be scary to the point of deadly.

I often say it, but it bears repeating. As a father of 5 daughters (no boys), I am fairly certain that God was giving me the desires of my desperately fearful heart, that couldn't imagine how ugly America would become for my young black son/s while thinking about how tough it had been for me and countless other black men before me.

The damaging impact of the destructive forces against black men can be hard to quantify when reasonable attempts to shine a light on the real face of Alt-Right exceptionalism get criticized as giving the assholes a platform. I disagree with that notion and totally support Megan Kelly's attempt to stick a microphone in the face of the people that made Trump possible, and a mirror to the face of US all.

Name it what you want. Alt-right'ism descends from the same people who killed black men via public display methodology to invoke power through fear. Alt-right'ers are also the descendants of the same people who knew they had to react drastically to squelch the powerful spirit of a black man- a spirit that rarely loses its will and never stops searching for a way. Even our futile attempts to refine and define this mythical concept called Black America feeds into the two separate America's that the Alt-rigt'ers covet so much.

In the first Black Baptist Church in America, you won't easily find their entry points to the Underground Railroad,
because they are built into the balcony stairs. Are the drive and creativity
it takes to be black in America both a curse and a blessing?   

An important and influential plaque that was always displayed
prominently in the home of my youth.

I support Megan Kelly and every real conversation meant to uncover racial hatred, while I moan and mourn for those who foolishly think genocide of Muslims, blacks, Jews or of any idea are even possible. Ideas are like words.  They must die a natural and unforced death if they are to ever die at all.

Evil forces could have already done away with mankind if we weren't so full of ideas for surviving and thriving on a hostile planet. Ideas are the fuel that powers this planet, and as the former president, Barack Obama often said, you have to counter extreme ideas with better ones. And, there is simply no way to change the minds of extremists who subvert black power without first figuring out who they are.

I have an extreme, somewhat ironic idea. Maybe black men are not being killed in massive unexplained numbers, but we are actually being revealed through massive spiritual purifying- somewhat like gold. For, it is from the salt of many tears that the thirst of hope is quenched. With that thought in mind, I encourage my black brethren (and those who love us) to take upon the challenge of our pain with the surety of its purpose. In other words, don't run from the cause of our pain, but instead, let us all run towards it and stomp it out.

There Is ONE Reason WE Can't Blame Government

The absolute, number one reason that WE will always struggle to reach the change that WE all desperately desire is functionally a GHOST.

A mythical monster that never could harm you because it can't even touch you.  Well, it can touch you for sure.  The movie "Ghost" proved that they can touch you, but they don't have the power to keep you paralyzed and downtrodden like we often allow ghost to do as we lazily lay in bed, afraid to even go relieve ourselves because of these unseen spirits.

No matter who you talk to these days, it seems WE all have some complaint about our nation that WE've calculated to be caused by corruption- our code word these days for Government. In the estimation of way too many Americans, Government Holds Our Society in Terror and is the primary reason for most every problem under the sun. If there was something tangible that we mean when we blame government, we might actually be pointing our fingers at something others could see.

Don't misunderstand my position.  I recognize that the Tuskegee experiment really happened.  I am also very aware of the findings of the Ferguson Report and the scathing indictment that it has become against the police department that killed Michael Brown, as well as the institution of policing that is slowly and quietly admitting to a nationwide practice of some of the same stuff that we found in the Ferguson report.

Policing For Profit was the glaring outtake of the report, a practice that ALL police officers are familiar with rather directly or indirectly.  Since police squeal on police even less than the street gangs do, we are left to trust the words of the rare "Rat" that dared to open his mouth and expose the shield for the hope of saving the shield.

These honest cops (aka., Rats) admit that the quota demand for ticket writing sends them to the areas of the most vulnerable, those without the resources to fight off bad policing. A place of least resistance if you will.

Is that true government sanctioned racism or just an unfortunate byproduct of blacks still being mostly poor? In reality, poor people of every race seem to theorize corruption from the unfair collision of poverty and policing. Underneath the surface of such theories, lies the fact that the unfair entity is, once again, our infamous government with its ingrained methods of manipulating money from the masses.

Assuming that policing for profit is an entirely true example of government corruption, I find myself considering ONE key contradiction for this and every other corrupt government theory.

That was not a typing error.  For EVERY corrupt government theory, there is but ONE contradiction that makes them all a lazy way of resisting change by overselling our status quo and those who've created it.

You name the theory, I'll name the one simple contradiction because our disgust for government is wide reaching, not just limited to the poor and disenfranchised.

How about Trump's claim that the process of selecting a president is rigged while he continues to try and win at the hands of that system?

Or Bernie's disdain for the superdelegates system, so he waited 37 days to concede the nomination to Hillary so he could have time to court those same delegates that he disdains?

Or Hillary's challenge of the Citizens United ruling while stretching it's limits New England Patriot style for  the sake of down ballot fund raising? Or her promise to maintain and strengthen regulations on the banks all while they bankroll her campaign to become president?

Yet, these are just the boogey monsters of our presidential candidate's; their personal, pre-made excuse they use for how Government is Holding Our Society in Terror. You see, the really sad aspect of their GHOST and our's, is that they are all an illusion and nothing more than the excuse WE use when get socially and politically lazy, stay in bed and get all pissy, because WE just couldn't have our own political way.

Nobody every complains about government when government does what they want it to do.  Listening to those angry Libertarians, you would think that- other than the 2nd Amendment- the government was ill-conceived from the founding since the same Founding Father's who warned about the tyranny of men and how it is inclined to oppress, also wrote the damn document that allowed for all the tyranny and oppression they predicted. Was there no way to stop tyrannical men, or are they nothing more than a fear instilled from the start?

Our Constitution ratified both slavery and suffrage. It was molded with the notion that certain truths are self evident, but quickly corrected it's own language when those truths were not made evident enough. Among the corrections was the 2nd Amendment, which is widely questioned for it's intent, but not by those who find it to be the most brilliant piece of thought that lives in the document.  Through it, some see all other aspects of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness as possible.

Yet, our Founders did not include it from the start?

Some credit our greatness to the Founders, or blame our weakness on their followers who dealt with slavery, and expanded voting for everyone instead of just those deemed smart enough to know better. That remains the mentality that comes to oppose our current rise of ballot initiatives or Direct Democracy. For every modern legislative mistake created through Direct Democracy, traditionalists complain that people are just too unaware to be trusted with leading themselves in this fashion.

If there was a flawless blueprint for government, we would already have it in use. All self governance is inherently flawed, but it beats oligarchy. Ask the Founders. They knew flexibility would be our strength, and that no government will flex without force.  The Constitution of the U.S. was always instilled with an evolutionary design. What that means is, WE had the power to force out slavery, and will never be a slave to our own government because WE are our own government and the recipients of our own forces for change.

By the people, For the people is not just a cool slogan, it is a mandate that is achieved through ONE magical provision. WHICH ONE?

Before I share it with you, keep in mind that this provision too was NOT written into the original Constitution.  The ONE provision that insures WE are never a victim of our own government was written into the Bill of Rights, and the Bill of Rights was retrofitted into the Constitution in 1791, four years after the Constitution was originally ratified (1787). If you are someone who actually values our Bill of Rights, you should recognize them as vital fixes to an evolutionary, but flawed document.

Some often look upon the brilliance of our founding as something divine and unworthy of challenge.  I see the divine blessing of America as our humility to correct our wrongs with a guiding document flexible enough to be fixed, as the absolute strength of this nation. What our Founder's achieved with the first magical amendment to the original plan was an excuse free nation, a band of people that would always be challenged to give voice to the changes they demand.

The First Amendment

_________________

Prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.

In one fail swoop, the First Amendment destroys 'blame the government' excuses and continues to contradict every last one of you who still tries to sell the theory that government is inherently corrupt.

Flawed?  Always has been. 

Corrupt? 
No corrupt government would leave the first amendment unchanged.  

If you are as hardcore as some of those Illuminati or Area 54 conspiracy theorist', you also have to accept that you found your own theory details and the corresponding Photoshop picture because of our free and unfettered press.

When situation demands, WE the People still have the power to stand up and be heard, even before we've ironed out the details of our complaint.  Though we often question the strength of our voice and our vote, it's mostly because that makes it easier to not speak up or vote when necessary...or to point fingers when we do both but still lose.

The BLM (Black Lives Matter) organization became necessary as a call to duty when Trayvonn Martin was killed in 2013.  By the time Michael Brown Jr. lost his life in 2015, BLM was ready to FULLY exercise their First Amendment duty to America and to themselves, even if few of us knew of them.

Ironically, it has been from the impact of two recent deaths of blacks at the hand of police, and the legion of video images of white people taking to the front lines of the BLM cause, that has opened our hearts to the same message that started with Trayvonn's death.

In reality, the message truly started in the 70's under Stokely Carmichael and the Black Panthers and probably long before that too if you consider MLK's and the civil right pleas against violence of the 60's, but somehow we finally hear the message and seem open to the potential for real change?  Was the change we are approaching simply waiting for white people to lead the charge?  Who knows...who cares?

Change is always possible in a government of the people, by the people.  You would think that our 1.3 million officers of the law across the nation would be in the forefront of helping reduce the number of guns on the street that could be used someday to kill them. Yet, many of  those same cops also seem to be the NRA gun lovers who would prefer cops that are anxious, edgy and increasingly in harms way above fighting to get some of these guns of war off of the streets. While we all work to legislate against razed gun violence and violence from suspects under watch, cops think more respect is all they require.

No matter.  The actual voices that are actually rumbling for something to get done, actually got both liberals and conservatives in Washington to draft and vote on gun restriction bills recently.  Neither side could agree on one of the four options they had, but getting something so polarizing to the stage of an actual vote is a significant victory that doesn't happen in a government conspiring one way or another.  Fixing guns in America could come to be much like the highly debated Bill of Rights itself.  After years and years of rigorous debate, we finally came to bipartisan agreement and ratified the Bill of Rights, the most important aspect of our entire Constitution.

That was government then, and this is government now.  A place where good people gather to govern.

It is also that dreaded, but magical GHOST that we run from when we're fearful, but chase after once we learn to appreciate it for what it is worth.  Like a ghost, our government has the power to reflect back on history and use it as a guide for the future. In fact, the government is best when functioning as our friendly ghost, using the clear trail of history to pave a path towards a mirky future.

Unless, of course, you're among those who dread government, in which case you see it as something more than just all of our friends and family that work there.  For every area of waste and corruption there are areas of benevolence and provision that come from government; benevolence and provision that we've not quite figured out how to accomplish absent the design of government. Even you smaller government types can't quite agree on what area to slice away first.

Are there flaws in such a model?

 The major flaw to our design is that most of us think government is only mildly functional when our chosen party is in control. Our government is actually no more flawed than humanity at large, which is mostly full of really good people trying to navigate the hurdles that a small percentage of bad people create. Because we change our opinion of societal success as often as we change presidents, much of our current trials come from our twisted perspective in which we "see the extremes in others while seeing the best of intentions in ourselves" (George W. Bush)

Government didn't purposefully breed those bad people who take advantage of leaks and loopholes in the system, nor did government intentionally imbue itself with so many leaks and loopholes.  What matters most is that our government is not immune to the lessons of history.  WE will rise and fall with the tides of life, and the focus of the greater good.

...and yes, governments do fall. Keep that in mind the next time you decide to convince yourself that your vote and your voice have little value.  Either our fate is NOT actually in our own hands and we are all actually doomed just like some of you say- or the government that caused all of this is also our only hope to fix it?

Katrina Reminds Us That Rising Tides Also Kill People

The recovery of New Orleans is clearly proving that rising tides do raise all boats- so long as you had a reliable one when those levies broke.

I've never been fond of celebrating or commemorating death and loss, but I understand that it's important to look back and determine where you've come from to understand where you are going.

Yes, republicans! Once again, the nation is engaging in another conversation about the lack of your concern for disadvantaged people in moments of crisis. Even before the smoke of the WDBJ7 killing had cleared, gun restriction proponents screamed foul... .......again, and cried for a fix.  

Was Valvano talking about a good day or
the essence of mental health?

The fix? 
We all should be crying for this FIX because its right before our eyes.

Coach Jim Valvano was really on to something when he declared that a full day means to think, to laugh and to cry.   The more I think about those words, they make me laugh and cry regularly.  I laugh at the struggle we endure to uncover solutions that lie at the tip of our nose, while I cry at the pain we experience from enduring life without solutions.  Whether you agree with what represents the fullness of a day, it is certainly mentally  healthy to think (rationally) to laugh (heartily) and to cry (from empathetic tears preferably) as often as you can.

MORE GUNS CAN FIX THIS PROBLEM?
(IS THAT A PROVEN THEORY?)

I'm not sure if anyone is giving the news a fair view or review, but the most recent story of vigilantism against terrorism is the fabulous story of those American boys in France.

If you didn't set out to be heroes then polo shirts and khaki's
are exactly the correct attire for being awarded.  Suits or uniforms
would make everyday folks forget their role in keeping us all safe from terror.
(read Robin Givhan's article on this subject)

Not one of these men had a gun in hand when they accomplished their victory over the man with all of the weapons.  The NRA and those who insist we must arm ourselves for the challenge before us have to recognize that George Zimmerman remains the poster child for this failed approach, and until someone- not in law enforcement or hired for security duties- pulls the trigger on terror, this peculiar theory remains just that, a theory.



The brutal, live recorded murder of the television journalist Alison Parker and her cameraman  Adam Ward has, once again, stretched the theoretical potential of terrors reach, adding to the imagination of the kind of people who mimic these types of behaviors.

If Dylann Roof indirectly pulled down that Confederate flag,  seeing Parker and Ward die this way should somehow begin the process of some reasonable gun restrictions.

Shouldn't it?

I will go down this road once again with my strong opinion on gun restrictions only because I can't let Andy Parker (Alison Parker's father) fight this fight alone.  He understands that each of US who really decides to get serious about this fight might need to arm ourselves and add to the gun industry in the short term just to prepare for the risk of fighting guns with words.

The fact that gun sales rise every time opponents fight too hard to limit them is a distorted behavior all by itself. The very inclination to reach for a gun with so little evidence of vigilantism's success is a sign of our own mental illness or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), probably caused by the unsettling violence of the world in which we now live.

 Regardless of which end of the lens you are viewing from, the story of mental illness offers enough  context clues for us to follow the pattern and at least lay down the first few blocks on the trail we should follow. How we ultimately fix this will be solved by collective resolve, stubborn resilience and powered by an agreement that we must do something to dig our way out of this mess, and it probably should begin where the soil is softest. 

How we impose restrictions on free American citizens just because they've shown signs of mental illness is a complex question with no easy answer, but so is democracy; so is the challenge of breaking down the powerful obstacle that political lobbyist have become towards fixing problems.


Nothing seems tougher than getting people to act for the greater good before a crisis hits, but ten years later, New Orleans used a corp of engineers and a brand new billion dollar levy system to finally repair the failed one.

Given the televised death of two local news figures and the impact its having on the media fraternity, can we now encourage one of those engineers and a few other really smart people to sit down with the research and the data and uncover the question:

Are more guns really the answer?
_____________________________________________________________________________

       Gun Deaths        Total deaths Homicide   Suicide Accident  Undetermined

    per 100,00 people   (combined)

United Kingdom	0.26 (2010)	0.05 (2010)	0.17 (2010)	0.01 (2010)	0.02 (2010)	Guns in the United Kingdom[67]
United States	10.64 (2013)	3.55 (2013)	6.70 (2013)	0.16 (2013)	0.09 (2013)	Guns in United States[68]

____________________________________________________________________________

http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/27/2/214.full.pdf

What's more expensive than buying that gun is spending the money it will take to learn how to properly shoot it since a short little course will only do so much for you.  Eventually you have to pay to master the art of shooting, especially under stressful conditions, or you yourself become an accident waiting to happen and not the weapon of defense you intended.

As we start to get ahead of this problem, we might discover a value for both mental health care and free gun education for all of the mentally ill being bred in our violent society. instead of absorbing the cost of restoring those lives when environmental hazards move and clarify social divisions.

In reality, it was always going to cost too much and take too much time to fix the future of the poor families in New Orleans.  What I inspire in my children today might finally take root in my grandchildren or in their children because, before we become parents ourselves, most of us endure parenting rather than embrace it.

Stop Blaming Katrina

Katrina washed over one of America's greatest cities and uncovered what the folks in Louisiana wish we'd stop blaming on Katrina.

Stop blaming the revelation of a problem on the water that revealed it.  Children who live in areas with lots of death and violence grow to suffer mentally, creating a barrier between the good choices they would love to make and the hopelessness that makes it hard to remember why choices matter.

Katrina victims NEVER needed Governor Bobby Jindal to be a proponent of the frivolous lock up of  drug addicts and mentally ill people who only became more ill after the trauma they experienced; they needed mental health care to combine with that gumbo of resilience they brewed out of the remaining bits and pieces of  their storm tattered lives.

 Residents of New Orleans had seen plenty of storms and never failed to fix up and move on. In reality, the worst of Katrina mostly missed and should have left New Orleans in water up to their ankles.

If only those levies did not break.

This was and always will be a failure of infrastructure, one that we will likely repeat if congress continues to block the jobs bill that would fix bridges and roads and other weak areas of infrastructure that will also falter sooner or later, as will the excuses for why we waited to respond to this well known potential crisis.

New Orleans is a microcosm of an upcoming crisis.  Like our tattered roads and bridges, we have mistook standing for sturdy. The people of New Orleans are the reason for the success of this story, and with no great thanks to their resilience.  In fact, some residence feel that the appearance of sturdy resilience is often the excuse we use to avoid fixing the problems of roads and bridges or social disparity in New Orleans and across America.

Had the folks in New Orleans rolled over and coward themselves, would WE have been more aggressive with help?

Resilience is certainly the excuse we keep using for how WE the People are to endure another terror shooting, seeking to drown our lack of wisdom in a double dose of resilience.

Doesn't resilience mean I am enduring something abnormal?  When do WE stop applauding the resilience of New Orleans and start applauding our commitment to remove their need for it.

Fixing levies and economies is the easy part.  Mostly these take a lot of money and a little math.  Fixing disparity and terror caused by mental illness is tough because "How" is typically the start and end point of this conversation.

Republicans believe that no gun law would have stopped Vester Lee Flanagan from losing his mind and murdering Parker and Ward on camera that day. Its right to wonder how we can easily limit law abiding crazed people from getting and using guns; or how can we finally end this hurricane and remake New Orleans with both the flavor and spice from pre-Katrina?

These are real challenges, yet not tougher than the promise of democracy which could not have started before women had the right to vote (1920), and may never begin if voting restrictions persist and strong lobbyist keep controlling our power over reasonable change. 

Mental Illness Is a Sign Of The Times

Ironically, mental health care will provide the answers to fixing New Orleans as well since so many disadvantaged people also have histories littered with drugs and violence within the home and in their neighborhoods.  Violence begot violence, thus the only cure for the PTSD and mental instability that produces generations of bad decision makers is recognizing the signs of the time.  

5 years ago, the folks rescued on that train in France might have all died because none of us readily recognized this new revelation of mental illness and its schizophrenic effect on society as a whole.  Today we are more comfortably paranoid, yet no better at seeing the signs and symptoms of psychosis that produce terror, or social disparities teetering a broken levy away from disaster. 

New Orleans will always be uniquely hot, though it might not ever get back it's old spicy flavor.  Some folks are pleased with this change of recipe feeling that downtrodden places like the 9th Ward had been too bad a blemish on the community anyway, and fixing them too costly in more ways than one. 

Pain & Providence

Maybe we will laugh when we realize how crazy
we were before our mental health care initiative.

Ferguson was but a straw to the back of an old weary camel 

The founder of Black Lives Matter actually credits the Katrina crisis for inspiring this new camel currently carrying the burden of change. As we reminisce on the good, bad and ugly of Katrina, some have theorized that without Katrina, there would have probably been no Barack Obama who was a major beneficiary of post-Katrina anger that found its voice in the ballot box. 

Will the empathetic tears we are crying from the deaths of Parker and Ward be enough inspiration to get us thinking of a fix?  Some of us are hoping beyond hope that this is that moment for gun control and mental health care to converge and change America for the better.

No laughter. 

Which Came First, Islamic Terror Or It's Anger ?

What if America had saved up all of its anger towards 9-11 to use against ISIS.

Are female Army Ranger's
necessary with the changing nature of war?

 I have long since agreed with presidential candidate Lindsey Graham who thinks we should be at full blown war with ISIS right now regardless of the retributive conflicts that arise along the way.

Whatever we called ourselves doing to Saddam Hussein and the barren hills of Afghanistan was a waste of time, energy, money, credibility and most importantly a waste of our will to do our f__ing job now.



Big Sister Is Ready to Join 
Big Brother On Front Line


To whom much is given, much is expected.
We are America and ISIS, Iran, Syria and even  misbehaving Russia all represent our f__ing job as the Big Brother of the world and the God ordained bastion of Hope and Freedom for ALL.  That being said, I understand that this nation is war weary and tired of sacrificing our actual sons and daughters to an unclear goal. As our daughters slowly take over the front line of the famed Army Ranger's from Fort Benning, GA, it's really time to decide how much of this natural treasure are we willing to sacrifice to address world issues that have no good options.

If we are seriously pondering placing women on the front line of today's uncommon battlefields, it's hard not to think that we should have saved the anger, the bullets and the sweat equity  of our recent wars for a purpose befitting of a noble Big Brother- one who would never beat up the whole neighborhood just to deal with our own ANGER, GRIEF and failure in imagination relative to an act of war as old a war itself.

No Matter What The Form...TERRORISM WORKS!!

Terrorism is as old as war  because it works.  It requires coordinated thought and energy and effort, and would be named differently had it been described from the perspective of the weak who use its power as their greatest tool against a seemingly insurmountable foe.

Political terrorism is the form of terrorism that the Black Lives Matter movement has waged on the democrat political candidates who've allowed them to hijack the mic at campaign events. Whether driven by an Islamic caliphate or by the killing of unarmed black Americans, terror exploits the weary as it seeks the camera's eye and overtakes the microphone.  No matter what the form of terror, IT THRIVES WHILE THE ENEMY SLEEPS, typically dropping bombs or indictments, but rarely pointing the way with a compelling message when opportunity presents itself.

ISIS has taken over the mic and the camera with  beheading's and a cry for worldwide Jihad, however, because they are the only combatant with a time tested approach, they are the only combatant currently capable of winning.

Peace Through Strength Is Not Just A Slogan
and war is a profitable industry.

WE need a new style of war against Islamic terror- against Iran if they cheat the deal- and against Russia if they continue to disrupt the potential for worldwide peace that sits at an interesting crossroad and against the negative view of capitalism.  NATO could justify their continued existence by coordinating an American funded effort to recruit and place a unified army of concerned citizens from throughout the troubled regions of the middle east. Instead of the normal wars that WE start, fight and fund all alone, this time WE will fund it but they will fight it, saving countless American lives that most American's aren't eager to sacrifice anymore anyway. Given the uncertainty of the source of terror's anger, I can  hardly blame the war weary, although a caliphate mission doesn't exactly offer much wiggle room for negotiation.

Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey and maybe Israel when Benjamin Netanyahu is no more, will have to determine the seriousness of this caliphate mission to help determine which nation houses this unified force against terror since that nation stands to gain the most from the industry of war this promises to create for them. Similar to America's presence in Europe, additional military bases for this unified Army can be strategically located in various nations to expand the ISIS response and share the cash created by the industy of war. Hardliners everywhere will reject this plan, but they are all dying off and the coming generations of compassionate youth will be more concerned about ISIS, more open to change and totally interested in good paying military jobs that deal with it.

Iraq, who has already tried to deal with their post Saddam Hussein region without our help should be softened to the support that only WE The People can coordinate at a time like this. Iraq is a sectarian nation that will always suffer from sectarian instability and ISIS-like assault without a dictator or the support of a strong, reliable military to REMAIN in the region FOREVER.   A NATO created, Christian/Muslim/Jewish Unified Army would be a great peace gesture and job lure for the region, offering needed security and income potential to any eligible citizen in the surrounding countries; income potential that only capitalism could create adding to the improved image that capitalism needs in the middle east and across the world.

With Oil Prices Plummeting, Is Cheap Labor Now The Greatest Commodity On Earth?

Worldwide capitalism and its voracity for cheap labor has uncovered new, exploitable labor options at the short term detriment of those who are used to having something but feel it slipping away quickly.  What seems like an American economic crisis is actually an economic opportunity for America to  rise in the ranks of worldwide job quality standards. Instead of embracing this positively painful change, most Americans are lamenting the loss of back breaking industries that smart people should never do happily in the first place.

 If you work or do business in back breaking industries, you will recognize that our rejection of cheap workers in America will also include rejecting a major influx of those hard workers from various parts of Asia, the largest growing segment of undocumented workers in the entire U.S. (not South Americans!).  Asia and South America contribute greatly to our ability to mine for the kind of low-waged labor that makes the U.S. economy so admired and envied.  Either we invest in America 's educational future and progression towards jobs of the future, or we shut down our cheap worker mining,  both domestic and abroad, which makes consistent profit (capitalism) possible.

Is ISIS Mad About Capitalism?

Low wage mining is a temptingly easy approach to generating profit that also contributes to the negative view of capitalism. Due to its abuses, Socialism is similarly viewed although these two non-combative industries remain eternally married and hopelessly searching for a certain balance of the other.

Jihadi's seem angered with Israel but enraged by US- Israel's great capitalistic enabler.  Because capitalism is seen as our greatest strength as a nation, it stands to reason that it will always be the smartest target from our enemies and the most vulnerable institution for attack. If you accept that premise, WE have a choice to either give ISIS and every terrorist group the room they need to wage an attack on American capitalism, or WE diminish them to the power of using Twitter to inspire an occasional stupid American to behave stupidly in the name of terrorism du jour.

Islamic terrorism and the anger that drives it may never be defeated in the hearts of the religiously angry and psychotic or those who sympathize and kill on their behalf . WE The People, however, have a duty to seriously diminish the incredible killing power that Islamic terrorism gains from our rejection of real war and the consequential recruiting power generated by this pseudo war.


Once again, I realize that Lindsey and I are somewhat alone on an island with this real war view. Yet, the necessity of war should have never been driven by anger and retaliation before, nor neglected by weariness and fatigue now.  While we rest, terrorism works.

I respect the value of a good nap, except when the work is not at a place to be abandoned. Real war will likely be the repercussion of this nap we needed for now; sort of like the real war the hare required after resting in his losing race against the turtle.


So which came first- Islamic terror or it's anger?

To hell with terrorism and it's anger since expressing your anger by killing people- and quite frankly hijacking microphone's and camera's to point the finger instead of pointing the way is power without discipline or clear purpose. The real answers to all of our biggest problems wont involve fingers pointed in either direction because all fingers will be working together as ONE.

Microphone stealer's we can totally endure.  Head chopping murderers disrupt the peace and civility of society and must be treated like the epidemic illness that they threaten to become if not properly quarantined and eradicated.

Deray McKesson: The New Face of Black Civil Rights

When a recent anonymous social media post started a complaint against todays black civil rights leaders- you know, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton- I quickly responded by telling Mr. Anonymous that those guys are former black civil rights leaders. If Bernie Sanders is looking for a voice to help him through his political challenge, he might want to employ the lead of the group that keeps challenging him.

Deray McKesson is the face and the most eloquent voice of the new black civil rights movement, BlackLivesMatter. As McKesson was arrested yesterday in Ferguson while questioning the arrest of an associate who joined him to film and tweet yesterday's protest live as it occurred, he noted that, "The police have weaponized blackness", pointing out the aggressive posture that they often take against black lives and black causes.

"You see a group of white men with actual weapons but no response to them", referring to a group called the Oath Keepers who are an anti-government militia that showed up with weapons yesterday near certain businesses, apparently to protect them from potential looters. 

Missouri law does allow for open carry but excludes the ability to point a weapon in an aggressive nature, though using them in a vigilante scenario might be a test of open carry laws that we've all been anxiously expecting, before and after George Zimmerman was acquitted for taking the life of Trayvon Martin.  The first case of vigilante groups killing a protester or a looter could test our social acceptance towards gun ownership much like crazed movie theather shooters have finally done.

In a two minute MSNBC interview, McKesson took aim at the absurdity of police with tainted vision towards blacks, open carry laws, the future of the movement and the necessity for recognition of how institutionalized these problems truly are, taking an encouraging dig at the agents invested in change who often grow weary and fall off over the long haul.

McKesson seems to be answering one of those divine calls.  He gave up a teaching career, took his savings and headed to Ferguson in the midst of the rioting to begin to teach in a whole new way.  If you are looking for the direction of this #blacklivesmatter thing, you should be listening and learning from the new face of the only black movement we've got.

Deray McKesson. Get to know him.

"Damaging a building is not the same as killing or hurting a human being."

"We don't have to condone the pain of people to understand them."

"Broken windows are not broken spines."  

"Freddie Gray will never return but the windows will."

#blacklivesmatter