Nothing I Couldn't Say · 3:17pm Jun 16th, 2020
Just thought I'd get some things off my chest here.
First and foremost, this is the last week of our charity run to beat COVID - if you haven't donated yet, please do so. Every little bit helps, and even with times being as tough as they are, there are always those worse off than you. Please consider donating.
Second, Flynt mentioned it earlier, but I think that I should weigh in as well: things are rough right now. Innocent people are dying, and whether you call it police malfeasance or racism, that's not the point. The fact is, people who are dying needlessly and it honestly feels like all we've done is just pull off the scab and exposed a bleeding wound to our nation once more. This time, however, it seems like nation is too small a word, as this thing has gone global.
It doesn't feel like anyone cares anymore. I'm a military vet, but I'm horrified by the militarization of the police. The only gendarmerie we have in the US is the Coast Guard and it should stay that way. But in a world where Los Angeles spends 53% of its budget on police duties and had planned to raise that an additional 7% before all this happened should tell you something. Look, I'm not going to say that all cops are bad. But a great number of them are not compuncting themselves properly right now, and that should be an alarm to all of us.
In the US, on average it takes more training to become a beautician than a police officer, nevermind the years of training it takes in some nations. Personally, that's what I'd like to see, and if I had my way I'd make that mandatory, with an exception for military police vets (who, I should add, also get more training than police departments.) I'd also like to see a degree in criminal law (also mandatory in some countries and again, I'd make an exception for military police vets, as all training there falls under a degree of that sort anyway). I'd also definitely bar gypsy cops - hell, I don't know why they aren't already.
As for the rest - the obvious racism - I'd like to say I have an answer for that, but I don't. As a Hispanic man, I've lead a charmed life of sorts. Only faced discrimination a few times, and most of those were laughable. I'm not offended by race but I don't see myself with that label often, and until last week, my boss didn't even know I was Hispanic (she's known me for about fifteen years.) Change begins with all of us, needed to say, but I don't feel I have the right to suggest that. I'm not the one living in constant fear of my life. I'm not the one who has to teach their kids to respect cops "a certain way" or else they could be harmed or worse. I'm just a guy who grew up relatively wealthy in Southern California and while I haven't entirely lived the Life of Riley, my life is a far cry from those who have had to worry about being undocumented or being shot by cops. And I mean very much that I wish others could have as blissfully easy a life I've had. Everyone deserves that.
Thirdly, you'll note that aside from some edits to the latest BV chapters, I haven't written much. Part of that is due to working on my own professional works, including "AAG 2.0". But some of it as of late is also due to COVID (been working at home, so I've been tied up with that), the aforementioned charity, and the recent passing of my uncle. He was an influence in my life, and a second father to me, in many ways moreso than my actual father. He was a major drive in me going into the military, though I don't think he ever quite forgave me for "going Navy" (he was a retired USAF Chief Master Sgt.) And in his passing, I see parallels between him and my father in law (a retired USAF colonel): both were jovial, kindly men taken too soon and in the cruelest ways (dementia-based diseases). Needless to say, that's left me somewhat bereft and hard to think about cartoon ponies or mecha or revived warriors facing off against the darkness or what have you. But I'm trying.
Last but not least, however, I do have some good news to share with you all: Alchemystudent has done the first chapter of what I hope is the full series of readings on Seven Days in Sunny June! You can find it below. Please give a like and a shoutout to him - we really appreciate what he's doing.
Well said buddy. Let’s hope there’s better times ahead
I'll say it. All cops are bad.
I've hesitated to say it before because it scares the normies, but they don't have to watch much news these days to see what I'm talking about. You can't have 3 cops standing around while the fourth murders someone and say those three were good. You can't have a cop push an old man to the ground for no reason, causing traumatic brain damage, and say it's just a few bad apples when the entire force is rotten and resigns their positions in support of the bad apple. Recent events have provided example after example after example of cops being bad.
I'm sorry for your loss. My grandmother passed away a couple years ago, and the hardest part was losing her to dementia before she went. Calling her up to talk—and her not knowing who I am when she practically raised me—was heartbreaking.
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To make it a fair point Minneapolis has well earned its nickname of Murderapolis. They have done everything in their power to make everyone believe they are this liberal bastion when it is apparent that many of them probably have some white hooded robes in their homes.
As for that old man unfortunately there was far more going on in that situation and he had been outright antagonistic to the officers by not following orders when things started to get violent. Our media is not doing its job, at least one station in Minneapolis/St. Paul aria was called out for not covering how some of the communities who where hit by the rioters where coming together to help the local business that where ransacked but make sure that the average people where alright. It feels like they are doing everything in their power to divide us.
Look how they acted when the President restricted travel to and from China in the early days of the pandemic. Now they are complaining he didn’t do enough or he is opening things far to early. As an essential employee in a industry that is considered critical, the amount of businesses that are still open and are running full throttle is shocking as if we do not have or have had a lockdown. Yet the media thinks this whole lockdown has slowed the progression. I am not happy with the media and the last 12 years has me convinced that they do not have our best interests in mind or care about being impartial. This video from 12 years ago is as truthful today as it was when it came out.
Failure to immediately comply with an unlawful order is not justification for violence and murder by the people giving those orders.
If we demand immediate compliance with unlawful orders, don't be surprised later by the actions of people who were just following orders.
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So do I. I’m close to 4 years in this country. I don’t want this to become another venezuelan branch of hell.
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That's because the lockdown has slowed the progression. Not stopped, slowed. That's clear just from the statistics. You're right, of course, that it would have been more effective if there weren't so many industries that were left open. But its' still a fair thing for the media to say.
On the other hand, it's also probably right that the media would end up criticizing every move by the people in charge in a situation like this, no matter what they did.