Why People are Rioting in Ferguson

Would you like to know why people are rioting in Ferguson? Hint: Its not because a black kid was murdered by a cop. Hint 2: Nor is it because an uppity black kid attacked a cop.

The black & minority community has tried to do things the nonviolent way. The system all down the line has failed them.

I encourage you to read up on the Kerner Commission report that investigated the LA/Chicago/Newark race riots of the 1960s & what it found & suggested. Its findings still pretty much hold up today.

I also encourage you to read Michelle Alexander's "the New Jim Crow" where it illustrates how the War on Drugs & their criminal justice enablers have legally & systematically reinforced a caste system, one for affluent America (usually suburban white) and one that's not (rural whites as a well as urban Blacks & Latinos).

I encourage you to read/listen to NCPR's Brian Mann's work on the 40th anniversary of the Rockefeller Drug Laws in how its passage & the rise of the Prison Industrial complex has become jobs program for ultra rural America. Not only that, locking people up became a socially acceptable cure for society's ills instead of addressing those root problems. You can probably find more elsewhere but this is a good hyperlink as a start.

I encourage you to read Shelby County V Holder & the twisted logic the Supreme Court used to strike down parts of the Voting Rights Act; its implication was almost immediate because FL, Ohio, Wisconsin, Texas, SC, PA to name a few passed laws restricting voting elligibility provisions for voters & rolled back the windows a person can vote.

The rioting is the result in the sand of the Black community saying no more to the status quo. Those in power have made it a fight to the death, if that's the way they want it than so be it. Because, as they see it, the world the status quo wants is one that black community thinks isn't one worth living.

Mass Shooting Emotional Fatigue

I was visiting my mother recently. She asked me if I'd heard about Seattle. I'd like to think I'm a pretty well informed individual but told her that no, I have not & asked what happened. She went on to describe what happened on 5 June at Seattle Pacific University.

All I could do in response was shrug my shoulders. My mother seemed offend & rightfully so. I call it mass-shooting emotional fatigue, also known as apathy.

I have already registered my emotional outrage back in January 2013 in my blog entry, "Talking Gun Sense" which addressed the Newtown, CT incident where 20+ children under the age of 12 (if not younger) were massacred in their elementary school.

The Seattle Pacific incident comes less than 2 weeks after an Isla Vista shooting in California where a perpatrator specifically targeted women. In the CA case, the media passed him off as being "sexually frustrated." I call bullshit. If he had targeted Jews or African-Americans or Gays/Lesbians, we'd call it for what it is, a hate crime or just straight-up misogny. Instead it gets passed off as something considerably less dire.

Nor does this factor in his VERY long track record of YouTube rants (going back at least 4 years) laying out his motive, nor the 140-page manifesto he sent to police the day of. That is premediated. This isn't the work of a person who is mentally ill & just "snaps". The guy's a sociopath. He knows very well what the difference is between right & wrong, he just doesn't give a damn.

If we're not going to address (in my opinion) the real issue, peoples entitlement & inability to solve their problems in an adult manner, we're left with frittering around the edges. In this case, the mental health aspect & indentifying the perpatrators before they commit their carnage. But since we're either unwilling or unable to address the mental health aspect, we're left with narrowing the edges in what we can address, in this case, HOW they commit their violence (95% of the time using firearms). But since, god forbid, we can't even address that because person's 2nd amendment rights are more important than another person's Right to Life, Liberty, & an opportunity to Pursue Their Own Happiness, we're left with the status quo. The status quo means we're going to see more of these horrific acts & in greater frequency. The end result of which is that we grow tolerate to the violence, bullshit that we've "always lived in a violent society", or simply become indifferent to peoples suffering.

Indifference is what effects me. I'm ashamed to say it but its the truth.

Gun ownership is a right but its ALSO a priveledge. If gun owners & those who support them aren't willing to step up & police themselves & keep these weapons out of individuals who really shouldn't be handling them (particularly if they are a clear & present danger to others), I guarantee you either Uncle Sam or the States will. In which case, they'll be addressing it on the grounds of a public health & safety issue.

If precedent in other nongun related incidents is any indication, the Courts have been generally more receptive in government stepping in. Thanks to Oklahoma City & Timothy McVeigh, you can't buy X-amount of fertilizer at any one time without getting a knock on your door by the FBI. Thanks to Triangle Shirt Factory, you can't chain the doors closed in a workplace while operations are going on. Thanks to auto regulations, you can't drive without a seatbelt without getting pulled over & ticketed.


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This here is Bree. We mutually have called this the "Slutty Minnie" set.

In Favor of the Valentines Day Concept

I am single, and I am a male, and I'm in favor of Valentine's Day.

There, I said it.

This day can be one of the loneliest times of the year if you're not romantically attached to someone. Its a knawing reminder that you live in a society that values the couple. Once you've made the commitment, its expected that you'll produce a family. Once you produce a family, you're expected to produce MORE children. This doesn't even touch upon the overcommercialization of the holiday.

Its poppy-cock & here's why.

What you're seeing is an overfocus on what is called "amorous" love. The love shared between one romantic partner & another. We forget that there are 3 other lovse: affection, friendship, & charity.

Affection is the kind of love you give to another creature (like a horse, dog, or cat). Parental love can also be in this same umbrella. Friendship is a love between equals like your best friend or a professional colleague. Think of charity love as helping out your fellow man, giving the downtrodden a helping hand in some way, particularly when there's no direct benefit to you.

So the next time you're bitching about how miserable you are because you're single on Valentine's Day or how commercialized its become, pause, take a deep breath, & quit whining. Because in the grand scheme of things, maybe this world we all share could use a little more love instead of focusing on the self.


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Below is Dayna & her husband.



Feel free to comment on any part of this if you so desire.