"Loyalty to country ALWAYS.
Loyal to government when it deserves it."
~Mark Twain
One can say a lot about Berkeley. It's beautiful. It's a college town. It's sits up in the hills, and gives one a beautiful look at the San Francisco Bay. It has a decent college football team... GO BEARS! It is also the land of free speech, but make no mistake, there is a difference between free speech and HATE speech, and generally speaking there is little stomach for hate. But that doesn't stop folks who don't even live there to come and cause trouble, whether a liberal or a conservative is speaking. I have seen it for myself, when George W. Bush was in office, too many times to count. For the most part, those who cause the most trouble are there for the sole purpose of causing folks to turn on each other.Break windows. tag walls. You name it, opportunists will see their chance, and act on it.
I am not going to get into a big deep diatribe here about what goes on in Berkeley, instead I want to talk about what's happening on a national level. Our president has decided, yet again, to insert himself into the debate of who, how, when, why, and where free speech should or could exist. Trump wants to have it both ways. He want's to tweet like he is a private citizen, yet use his power as president to try to limit the rights of the people he serves to peacefully assemble, protest, and use their voice. It goes against all that we, as Americans hold dear and it shouldn't be tolerated. As president he does not have the right to intimate those who choose to use their voices as Americans. Period.
But so far, there are too many in government willing to remind the president that he has crossed a line, particularly this last weekend with his ridiculous attack against the NFL and NBA who have chosen to bow on one knee, during the National Anthem. I didn't think I would write much about politics anymore, but this last weekend cut deep with me. The fact that Trump would question Americans loyalty to this country, as he literally protects Putin's regime even after overwhelming proof of their interference in the 2016 election. It's sick. It's wrong. And it's scary because there is a lot of noise about what a buffoon he is, but very little about any kind of real censure or sanction, for tying to limit free speech in such a blatant and overtly manner.
It's just one more chip away at our democracy carried out by this man, and at this point, the GOP. And that's not the least of which he has done this weekend. He is continuing is pissing contest with Kim Jong Un of North Korea. Again, with very little blow back from our government! And, yesterday it was widely reported that Jared Kushner, and Ivanka Trump have been using private emails addresses to conduct government business. Anyone remember the HELL Hillary Clinton was subjected to? But where is Trey Gowdy? Or Jason Chaffetz? Well, Jason is off working for Fox News, and Trey Gowdy just walks around paler than usual, but silent.
There is so much happening, I can barely keep up. I walk around scared and my speech has been off, big time, because of the lack of sleep messing with my Fibromyalgia. I want to crawl into autumn and never comeback out. I want to just focus on the leaves, but I am afraid that each sunset along the Pacific Beach will be my last one, because Kim Jong Un will launch a nuclear missile at San Francisco. I think about whether I am safe in the Central Valley. If it did hit the bay, would the fallout reach this far? All because Trump can't seem to understand words have consequences. He literally doesn't know the meaning of free speech, and how yelling FIRE in a crowded theater is not one of the forms protected. Right now he is yelling NUCLEAR in a crowded theater of the Pacific, but whose going to stop him?
No one.
So, I can chose to retreat into a shell of depression.
Drown myself in abstract terror.
Become one of the lucky ones, who can live their lives completely oblivious of the danger, as a form of self-preservation and freedom from responsibility.
So far, it's been a combination of all three on any given day, or sometimes on the same day!
It's all so surreal, that at times I wonder when I died, and why no one will tell me when it happened, and under what circumstances. Life is always a difficult balance, but this new stress is on a different level. I'm not sure I am weighing it all in proper proportions. Sometimes I don't want to get up, but then I see that autumn sunlight peeking through my window, and I want to go out into that sun and soak it up because autumn only comes around once a year. I remember thinking last November, that everything looked so vibrant and amazing, that it might just be the last autumn I would see on earth, because who knew what he would say or do to get us all killed. And here I am, a year later, still worried, only it is about every... single... day. With autumn leaves as my only respite. But, as respites go, at least it's all about vibrant beauty, and a reminder to live life to it's ultimate color. And I appreciate that.
Thank you for letting my mind wander in and out of the head noise.
I promise I won't make this a habit!
#5 Leaf Of The Day
September 26th 2017
Cull Canyon
Mood: Quiet
~Me
