Rust Always Wins

This your America.  This is the America you’re working for, paying taxes, voting, going to school and work and following the rules of society that used to be reinforced by active parenting and a foundation in faith in God and our elected leadership.  What happened?  How did we get from there to here so quickly?

 

There appears to be a general unravelling; a collective deafblindness caused by a politically motivated media, made worse by beer-goggle vision for a new utopia.  It’s unintentional ignorance driven by dependency, redefined “hope” and politically motivated misinformation.

 

In hindsight, America’s metamorphosis from grandeur to ghetto didn’t suddenly sneak up, jump on our backs and start gnawing on our necks.  It’s generational rust –  unchecked decay – continually painted over with a fresh coat of gloss to mask deterioration.

 

Politicians’ answer is always fresh paint.  Green paint.  And America has been conditioned to believe that a new coat of paint will magically fix underlying rust simply by making the surface shiny.  But rust, being what it is, always wins. That is unless the decaying foundation is ground bare and protected.  But there will come a time at which there will be no foundation left to salvage.

 

There’s plenty of blame to go around.  America has endured decades of self-serving politicians on both sides of the aisle that have been the mouthpiece for special interest rather than their voting constituency. As paying customers we’ve been trained to accept the ridiculous notion that the lesser of two evils is our best choice. Clearly that approach creates nothing better than the suit-clad tribe of two-faced puppets like Pelosi, McConnell, Schumer, and Romney that point fingers and talk tough but shine each other’s shoes with our dollar bills.

 

Compounding political corruption, we now have what can only be described as an editorial media that is undeniably controlled and manipulated, often using the same scripted language to disseminate “news.”  They report with feigned disgust and anger to cajole viewers with false-hearted sincerity.  And because we want to believe that our leaders are looking out for US, we’re coaxed into making sense of talking heads that have no more insight than you and me. They’re simply parroting a script.  

 

News reporting has fallen victim to the McDonald’s effect.  It doesn’t matter what store (channel) you choose, the Big Mac’s are the same, but tailored by anchor to feed a targeted demographic.  It’s repetitive brain-pounding, forging scraps of junk into opinion art.  As if repeating anything often enough – with venom – will make it believable…and acceptable.

 

And so the rolling snowball grows.

 

Wokeness, with prayers of shame, is the new social religion, created by a manipulative group of controllers to rationalize the suppression of minorities held in political servitude.  But who are and have been overlords of the minority population, pinning generations to the ground by the throat in defiance of the Constitution and American buoyancy: The slave masters that have destroyed family, religion, culture, law, education, and self-worth?

 

They are the finger-pointing lords on the left and the right.  The unapologetic chest-pounders and pocket-liners, hired by Trusters who have been deceived into a mindset of powerless suppression.  And with every failed empty promise, hopelessness and rage builds.

 

But why?  What could possibly be the endgame of such a control strategy?  It couldn’t possibly be only for money and power.  After all, what good is money if there is no US left. Why the hell would you replace the carpeting in your home just before you torch it? 

 

It’s easy to understand how normal logical people race down dark rabbit holes to the bleak underworld of black helicopter factories in an effort to make sense of the nonsensical.  

 

We’re watching hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants from across the globe pour unimpeded through the floodgate of our southern border under the guise of humanitarianism, racing to the “shining city on the hill.”  Laws… national security… health and safety be damned!

 

And if you’re brave enough to question policies that are obviously contrary to American interests, you’ll be shamed and scolded into silence for being “too white” (even if you’re brown).  Critical race theory, artificially propped up by the mantra of guilt and shame, is the rusted (but shiny) green bus racing through Neo-America.

 

It’s for the children you selfish entitled white lump of human waste! You should be ashamed of your unwoke self!  You only care about YOUR America.  This is about the world… not just you!

 

Ok, but we’re broke.  Morally.  Financially.  Ethically.  We’re at the point where we can no longer take care of our own and we “deal with it” by simply printing more Monopoly money.  America is like an impoverished family that survives on Saltines and Spam but adopts fourteen cats from the animal shelter in the name of kindness.

 

Weakness is not kindness, fairness, or morality and simply mocks the very system (and hosts) that allow it to be.  Weakness is only the loss of strength… and freedom.

 

Do you think our adversaries and trading partners want a weak America with floundering leadership?  From a position of historical strength, our motivations have been clear.  The world – our friends and enemies – knew what to expect.  Always.

 

Weak adversaries are extremely dangerous, unpredictable, and typically desperate.  Think about our scariest enemies.  Russia.  China.  They are the 800 pound gorillas staring at us from across the yard.  We understand 800 pound gorillas and they understand us.  We yell at them.  They scream back.  We pound our chests and throw bananas at them.  They pound their chests and throw poop back, occasionally running at the fence that separates us.  And then we go back to staring at each other… and throw more bananas and poop.

 

But think about the “weak” ones… like North Korea… that are like that “misunderstood” goth kid in school with black hair and fingernails that everyone thinks is weird but harmless… until he brings a gun and 300 rounds of ammunition to validate his self-worth and desperation.  

 

America has spoken.  This is what we have wanted and deserve. And on the heels of a massive social push to defund the thin blue line, there is a fervent effort to eliminate gun ownership… You know, just to make sure we’re fully protected from ourselves.

 

If we were mad scientists, we couldn’t come up with a better bucket of ingredients for social and economic disaster.

Second Shot

Where are our leaders?  There are A LOT of people in positions of authority at the Federal, State, and local level that are yapping, flailing, kowtowing, surrendering, apologizing, and of course hiding but where is the true leadership that we expect – and maybe take for granted – as an American birthright (or as voting taxpaying customers)?

It’s been clear for the past few decades that the US citizenry is pretty much adrift, caught between two political parties that have become so divided and divisive that simple common sense decision making appears more like warring adversaries meeting at the truce table, where nothing uttered is acceptable to either side unless it includes complete surrender and an admission of wrong-doing.  Bipartisanship is just a friendly buzzword tossed to an angry constituency to perpetuate the facade of civility.  In fact, American politics is nothing more than a political football game.  Anything the rival side proposes – regardless of merit – is countered, discounted, or dismissed.  The result… abject failure and frustration.

But now we’re at a crossroads.  America has been at this intersection several times before and has miraculously found the right path, in spite of the fact that there is no yellow brick road with a happy mindless scarecrow pointing us in the right direction.  Leadership is now defined by  finger-pointers and chest-pokers who apparently ignore history, turning a blind eye to the past.  Even when implicated in wrongdoing that would get a rule-follower jailed (or worse), the best they can come up with as a defense is falling back to that annoying kid we all knew in grade school that pointed an angry finger and whined, “NO, YOU!”

It doesn’t work anymore.  We’re fed up.  I think there is a general misconception with politicians, the media, and fringe elements that find it acceptable – even appropriate – to violate conventions of society with impunity.  

The behavior has been indulged, even applauded, regardless of how self-serving, destructive and abhorrent.  And while history is rewritten and erased… or smashed… or toppled… and cities and communities are violated, rule-followers watch in shocked disgust – abandoned – left to their own devices to quench the inferno. 

The promise has been broken.  

But leaders have broken more than their promise, they’ve broken a contract.  The government’s chief responsibility is to protect its citizenry from foreign and domestic threats.  In turn they thrive under the protections of their political annuity and taxation.

Leaders have abandoned the rule-followers. Those sworn to protect and serve have been told to stand down – watch – as communities are decimated.  Lawlessness and destruction is now an acceptable societal pressure valve, with the misguided rationale being, protests are like shooting stars that quickly flash and burn out.  It’s simply head-in-the-sand stupidity that discounts the darker side of human nature, gravity, and the laws of physics… specifically those pertaining to wildfires: they spread and indiscriminately consume everything if not quenched immediately.

But that simile could be countered by the web-weavers that would argue that wildfires take care of dead useless overgrowth and underbrush that has been ignored and left untended.

OK, but at what expense and to whom?  American history?  National security?  Liberty? Life savings and investments in one’s community?  The loss of “the American way?”

I believe there is the dire misconception with our leaders that the silent majority will stand quietly idle with clenched teeth while a fraction of our population has a destructive tantrum.  It’s a dangerously false assumption that will end badly.  Americans are – and have always been – a slow burn.  History has shown that when pushed to the point of no escape Americans will fight with devastating hate, unable to simply “turn off” retribution.  This is nothing new.  American history has documented remarkable pacifism until life and liberty are threatened.  

But where and when does it end?  Democrats and Republicans are in a self-serving stalemate while Rome burns.  Both parties clearly understand that law and order needs to be restored through intervention by true leadership.  

So why hasn’t it happened… yet?

Because everyone knows America has become a tinderbox that’s been shoved too close to a space heater through decades of failed leadership.  Both parties are to blame.  Neither wants to take the forceful steps necessary to quell rebellion, especially with an election looming.

Neither party wants to be culpable for the second shot heard round the world.

I fear it’s coming.

Dump the Kool-Aid

We’ve all had that friend that gets wasted and talks like an idiot; enduring someone’s incoherent rambling about the plight of baby seals and how knees are a terrible design – especially for flamingos – and how the world would somehow be better synced if they were king.

We indulge – no, tolerate – the annoyance out of friendship.  ‘Cause that’s what friends do.  We listen, laugh or politely agree just to keep them from drifting into the rat-trap realm of politics and religion while figuring out a way to discretely snag their car keys and stuff them into an Uber.

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Mele Kalikimaka

“LET’S MAKE CHRISTMAS COOKIES AND WATCH HALLMARK SHOWS!” Bekki said excitedly.  “IT’LL BE FUN!”

Define “fun” I thought as I watched the mayhem unfold.  (Note to self:  If I ever build another house the kitchen will have a floor drain and at least two garden hose connections on the walls.)

As projects go (and I have A LOT of them pending before the holidays) Christmas cookies sounded fun.  But then I remembered the territorial hockey game that happens every time Bekki and I find ourselves in the kitchen at the same time.  Quite simply, I get ass-nudged and hip checked around our puny work island until I draw a foul and find myself in the penalty box.  I’ve realized over the past several years that kitchen hockey is a lifeskill Bek acquired from her mother; a passive aggressive domain claim, like grizzly bears clawing trees to mark their territory.

I walked into the kitchen finding several bowls of pastel colored Easter frosting.  Soupy thin by frosting standards but everyone has their secret recipes for stuff.  I spooned out a few teaspoons of the watery mess into a couple of small bowls, thickened it with spoonfuls of powdered sugar, and made my own colors. I like bright colors.  It must be a guy thing.

I learned I was doing it wrong.  Before this project I didn’t know frosting is supposed to “soak in.”

I watched the master baker create.  

“What’s that?” I asked, looking at one of her creations.

“A crab!” Bekki said, looking over her glasses with a big smile.

“REALLY BEK?  A Christmas crab?  It’s supposed to be Santa.  You have it sideways,” I said.

She paused for a few seconds, staring at her creation.  “Well the cutters aren’t marked.  How am I supposed to know what that thing’s supposed to be! Are you gonna be all critical or are you going to make some?”

I reluctantly picked up a cookie.  The goalie immediately came outta the box and blocked my every move.

Instead of falling into the predictable territorial grizzly kitchen trap, I employed Christmas guy-psychology. Call it “guycology.”

 It worked.

“THAT’S NOT CHRISTMASSY!  YOU RUIN EVERYTHING!” She said, taking a picture of my creation to share with her friends to validate that I am indeed the Grinch.

“Come on Bek, It’s very Chrismassy!  I call it mele kalikimaka!” I said, moving the little hula dancer and singing the only words that I know to the song… the title.

As projects go, it was fun to watch Bekki get in the holiday spirit and make Christmas crabs.  I’m almost certain there will be a second round of holiday baking when the kids come home.

Mele Kalikimaka to all!

Fightin’ Words

Words are everywhere. New ones. Neologisms. I can’t help but notice them. Especially ones that make me pause and attempt to process… with no possible resolution.  Like trying to remember important birthdays or my dentist appointment.

The problem is that there’s more of them.  Combinations of words put together to Frankenstein-up speech when other simpler language doesn’t convey enough emotion to satisfy our more in-tune culture.  Like when I smack my elbow on a door frame and a simple yipe and four-letter word isn’t enough to relieve my pain pressure valve.  And because I’m a master at self-inflicted pain – and I watch pro football – I’ve become a certified cuss-smith.

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