We should be no more upset with people of Asian Descent for the spread of this virus, than we are with people of English Descent for the current spread of the predominant strain of COVID-19 in the United States.
Viruses do not discriminate.
I find these acts of violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities abhorrent and everyone should SPEAK OUT when they see these acts happen. I wish only for PEACE, as their contributions are a wonderful and vital part of our story.
But… I cannot be SILENT. Nor should anyone else. We must LISTEN to what we’re being told, as well as what is being SAID.
There’s a difference between STORY and NARRATIVE… and sometimes the STORY is amplified by the obvious SILENCE of others.
… don’t look at ME like that!
SILENCE on the subject of Conspiracy Theories led to an armed insurrection on January 6th. What harm is done when we are denied FULL DISCLOSURE? What lessons can we learn from this moment that will teach us something about what went wrong in that young man’s life… so that we can ensure it will never happen again with someone else.
Yes, it’s uncomfortable. And yes it deals with harmful stereotypes, but it must be addressed. Openly. It’s a subject not everyone is familiar with, and it’s something that everyone needs to be aware of… knowledge leads to understanding.
Our SILENCE allows it to continue.
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My ears perked up the moment I heard the word addiction. Now having gained the knowledge that comes from 12 years of sobriety… after so many lost at the bottom of a bottle… I have an extra bit of empathy for anyone who struggles with addiction. Because I did not know, I struggled… as it is for many people who cannot afford treatment or mental health services. Just like Prostate Cancer or Breast Cancer, addiction is a treatable disease of the MIND.
But I am NO FOOL…
This was no “bad day” as described by the Sheriff… this man’s future was decided the moment he gave up on LIFE, and became its enemy.
Why did that man choose those businesses. What was he expecting to find in those establishments? Was he looking for something he ASSUMED he would find, or was he CERTAIN he would find it. Yes, there is ONE common denominator between all these establishments…
And once again we find ourselves at a crossroads of Fire & Fuel, where one broken aspect of our society ignites another… spreading beyond all social barriers and effecting everyone.
I remember how thoroughly the lessons penetrate our collective psyche around situations like these. Anyone my age has been well educated on what the definition of the word “is” is… and when we learn these lessons WRONG, we have to GO BACK and re-educate ourselves. We have to undo the damage that’s been done… because we have LEARNED.
Our definition of what is RIGHT and what is WRONG has evolved.
Our Laws need to reflect that.
This is how we ensure a proper path Forward.
SHAME on him if he’s using the excuse of addiction in an attempt to avoid responsibility for his actions, but shame on US if we do not LISTEN to what he is saying.
Don’t let them fool you! Don’t get it twisted, this is just another example… another demonstration of a FACT that already exists.
The New York State Legislature didn’t take away Governor Cuomo’s powers. He gave them away, the moment he violated the personal space of a campaign staffer… and then took personal offense when she forcefully rebuked his “gesture”.
You can see it in his eyes… and in hers.
Let’s make sure we get something straight… I just wanna make myself clear…
… yes sir. we got it.
If he had done that to a MAN, physically threatening someone like that is a violation of the law.
And yet he serves, at the expense of the People.
It’s a lesson learned throughout the history of Our Republic. It’s not about the PERSON who resides at the TOP, it’s about THE PEOPLE they represent.
Gov. Cuomo, Leader McConnell, Donald Trump… ALL of them need to remember- this experiment was BORN before them, and it will LIVE ON long after they are gone. Our actions, our deeds… at the end of the day, that’s all we have left. That and the Constitution.
Whatever edifice we build for ourselves, as well as all the other ones that have yet to come and go, Our Constitution will remain regardless of who stands or who falls.
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We could attempt to legislate our way forward, trying to create some set of laws that would prevent our elected officials from acting in such a way, but we would never succeed. The House has passed, multiple times now, laws that would benefit the People, only to be STALLED on their way to the Senate. Unable to pass with a CLEAR MAJORITY… defeated due to the opinion of ONE MAN.
“It is ESSENTIAL to such a government that it be derived from the great body of the society, not from an inconsiderable proportion, or a favored class of it; otherwise a handful of tyrannical nobles, exercising their oppressions by a delegation of their powers, might aspire to the rank of republicans, and claim for their government the honorable title of republic.” –Federalist #39
This is what the Founders spoke of, a select group of elected nobility.
A long history of an ever-shrinking pool of worthy candidates, only those deemed worthy by the Party Elites.
Drain the SWAMP…?
Drain the Swamp is not the answer. We need to Break the Dam, and let the rushing waters of Democracy breathe LIFE back into this brackish, backwater pool. More participation equals Better Governance.
The solutions being presented do not rise to the level of the challenges we now face. If we continue to select our candidates using the SAME process, we will continue to see candidates that look THE SAME. Fighting yesterday’s battles. Holding on to tired ideologies and dogmas now shown to be in-error.
Through knowledge and understanding, we strive toward a more perfect Union. To become better than what we were before… that is the point of the entire experiment! In order to disprove the critics, the naysayers, the people who believed Mankind was no more noble than the beasts.
200 years ago many learned scholars believed that if the People were allowed to govern themselves, we would descend into MOB RULE. The experiment shows… Our Experiment in self-governance now proves, that conclusion is wrong.
The Moral Compass of the MAJORITY points TRUE.
The Majority of this Nation knows where Justice is found. We are ALL susceptible to falsehoods and fallacies, that is why ONE MAN should not rule over a FREE PEOPLE.
We saw the horrors brought by a decentralized response to the pandemic on a National scale, now the people of New York will suffer the same as the Legislature has stripped the Governor’s pandemic powers… all because of the opinion of ONE MAN.
… and his actions in this moment break NO LAWS.
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“There’s no way under the sun that in 2021 that we are going to allow the filibuster to be used to deny voting rights. That just ain’t gonna happen. That would be catastrophic.”
Yes Rep. Clyburn, it would be catastrophic if the filibuster was used to withhold rights from our citizens in the 21st Century… BUT, it wouldn’t be the first time it has happened…
… and if things don’t change, it won’t be the LAST.
When we defend the rights of others, we defend those rights for ourselves.
Their struggles become our struggles, and we share the burdens and the benefits… EQUALLY.
And I will continue to bang this drum until I’ve either torn a hole in it or change ACTUALLY happens, because their struggle is at the heart of ALL of our problems… HALF of this Nation is NOT guaranteed Equal Justice Under Law.
As I’ve said before… when you live where the Twisters live, you MUST be prepared! It’s a matter of LIFE or DEATH.
When I was a younger man, I had a friend with a pickup truck. When the sirens would sound, we’d try and chase down the path of the tornadoes as they rolled through Olathe. We never got “lucky” enough to see one, but we saw more than our share of extreme weather events. Massive hail, rotating straight-line winds, fallen trees… mild, compared to what we wanted to see.
Some years we would chase down one or two storms. Some years, it was one storm every 3 or 4 DAYS. We even crossed paths with the “professionals”. A little pat on the back for ourselves, knowing we were close.
Understanding how these systems work is key when doing something so dangerous. Being able to read the radar and satellite returns accurately, then taking that information and applying it to events unfolding on the ground in real time, is crucial. Miss one piece of data, and you end up right in front of the storm.
As random and chaotic as they are, to a certain degree these storms are predictable; and living in this State means we are ALL required to have a degree in meteorology! Well… at least, an intimate knowledge of how the weather works.
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The tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, on May 22, 2011, changed all that for me. That one was a beast of another kind. The speed at which it traveled. The speed of the winds within the system. The trail of destruction it left behind and the suddenness with which it appeared… they only had moments to react.
Understanding this, I had to consider not only my safety, but the safety of my children. It was obvious a simple ‘hide in the basement’ strategy would no longer be sufficient. Had that storm dropped over my home… there would have been nothing left.
I had to act as if it would happen again. So we constructed a storm shelter in our basement, based on FEMA designs, that could withstand an EF5 tornado.
THIS TIME it was Joplin. Next time, we might not be so fortunate.
“On the night of August 24, 1814, British troops led by Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn marched on Washington, D.C. and set fire to most of the city. Dolley Madison famously saved the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington and a copy of the Declaration of Independence before she fled to nearby Georgetown.
The British didn’t stay long, though; their occupation lasted just 26 hours. What happened?”
“George Robert Gleig, a British soldier on the scene, detailed what happened next in his memoirs as the severe thunderstorm rolled into the city in the afternoon.
‘Of the prodigious force of the wind it is impossible for you to form any conception. Roofs of houses were torn off by it, and whisked into the air like sheets of paper, while the rain which accompanied it resembled the rushing of a mighty cataract rather than the dropping of a shower,’ Gleig wrote.”
This isn’t about Donald Trump or Joe Biden. This isn’t about Republican vs. Democrat. This is about the FUTURE of our Nation, and what it is we want that future to BE.
RIGHT NOW, before all the nuance and intricacy. The endless debates over the delicate balance between our individual Liberty and the necessity of the government to defend itself from ALL enemies, both foreign and domestic. Before the political posturing and deliberative delays, we have a chance to declare exactly where we STAND.
Do we now support those who would incite violent actions for political gain? That is a slippery slope, and we all know where it will lead us in the END.
We have come SO FAR! And the only way we keep moving FORWARD is by taking a STAND. After having been within that majestic building, I can’t imagine how anyone would allow these actions to stand as precedent for a future President.
Had those people stopped and looked around them, they would have seen the scars from the LAST TIME our Capitol was taken by force. In such a hallowed hall, in the People’s House, it’s not about who resides within that building…
It’s about the ideals for which those hallowed halls continue to STAND.
… and may they STAND for another 207 YEARS without this happening again.
A successful investor like Warren Buffet is successful because he invests in the things he uses, the things he enjoys. There is no big secret… there is no magic wand or crystal ball. At its core, it’s basic common sense. The KEY is having the confidence to ACT when the timing is right.
But even Mr. Buffet knows… there is no “I” in team. An organization is only as good as the people you surround yourself with, and their input shapes the decision making process as well. A good team not only reinforces good ideas, they also expand the field of view and provide insight into areas previously unknown. A good team also tells their leader when they are WRONG, and they demand only the BEST LEADERSHIP for their endeavors…
Meaning a good team must have core ideals that NEVER BEND.
“What… like Hitler?”
No. We know where that leads… we’ve seen that message before. Whether it be a religious institution or a corporation, a king or a president; those organizations that STAND the test of time are STRONG at their foundation. Because they stand in the RIGHT. Not just factually or authoritatively…
Because they stand FOR what’s right.
And this is what makes OURS the greatest! That SIMPLICITY… the well-thought, endlessly debated, constantly remade and amended, beauty and simplicity…
That we are ALL created equal, and entitled to be judged equally in the eyes of the law. Without favor due to family ties; and without the prejudices of race, religion, or creed. In this moment, we are judged by our ACTIONS. What we defend is what will define us. Our actions will declare to the world what THE PEOPLE of the United States want this nation to BE.
Today we write our HISTORY. Today marks our beginning… let us celebrate in remembrance OF what was, instead of mourning what might have been.
Let no crime go unpunished, but not to make punishment the ends that we seek. What punishment exists that could surpass what we already face…
For this crime of INACTION we’ve been sentenced to CONFINEMENT with nothing but TIME on our hands, in a penitentiary of the mind. Once we’ve paid this debt to society and we begin our rehabilitation, we must decide… what will we create? What will we deem ‘worthy’ of being pulled up from the ashes, in this hour… as so many of us fight to survive?
DIVISION is our enemy.
Not some NATION, not some VIRUS. As we fight amongst ourselves, the other nations of this world CARRY ON… with or without the United States.
The answers we seek will be found once we UNITE in-support of OURSELVES. The Moral Compass that guides the heart of every American points TRUE. In every instance over the course of the last 200 years, inevitably… we’ve found our way.
The MAJORITY of this nation STILL STANDS united in SPIRIT and in PRINCIPLE; and when the majority of this nation stands united in common cause… Continents remain FREE. Viruses are eradicated.
Democracies are SECURED.
There is no problem THE PEOPLE of the United States cannot SOLVE.
Chinese press reports the emergence of a particularly severe respiratory infection in December. Even though publicly reported information shows President Trump would not be briefed on the subject by our intelligence agencies until late January, it would be wrong to assume that no one in our government knew what could be happening.
Besides, President Trump and President Xi are BEST FRIENDS… they talk on the phone all the time. About TARIFFS and trade, and North Korea.
December 20, 2019:
… don’t forget who’s listening in on those calls.
From October 25, 2018:
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What SHOULD our government DO?
What should HAVE BEEN DONE to avoid the situation we are now IN?
We were PREPARED.
Deliberate actions were then taken…
to ensure we were NOT.
SARS. N1-H1. Swine flu. Ebola. Each and every event, we have learned from that experience and developed strategies to implement, in real-time, to prevent the start of an unmitigated spread across this nation, because the cost of dealing with an event like that would be staggering… both in lives and livelihoods.
It is unsustainable to continuously stock the large volume of equipment necessary to deal with mass casualties from a disaster like this. That is why we were prepared to stop it before it had the chance to take hold. Knowledge and information sharing, mass testing, public awareness, social distancing… all preventative measures, taken to FORTIFY our nation and protect its citizens. To SAVE LIVES…
February 27, 2020:
Starting in DECEMBER, when the Intelligence Community would have briefed the Gang of Eight about the potential disaster being SILENCED by President Xi, the White House Pandemic Coordination Team would have been contacted and preparations would have STARTED IN DECEMBER. Questions would have been asked:
What would we need in a worst case scenario?
What do we have on-hand right NOW?
Who will need to have it first?
Under the leadership of an alternative Administration, preparations would have already been underway to protect American Lives and our interests abroad… MONTHS before President Trump was reportedly first informed.
February 26, 2020:
After it was known that the situation in China was being underreported, travel bans would have taken effect. Mandatory screenings and quarantines of American citizens returning from China, as well as other nations where outbreaks were beginning, would have minimized exposure here, by containing any spread only to known sources, stopping community transmission of the virus within our borders.
February 29, 2020:
In an alternative time line, this story would have ended HERE. Under another Administration, we would have mitigated the spread before the first instance of infection without a known source, and we would have continued to MONITOR. By taking temperatures of EVERYONE entering the United States and continued social distancing measures, as well as continued testing to guarantee our findings were SOUND.
We would then be able to extend a hand, to help the countries from whom we had learned. We could have sent supplies and expertise to China, to help in their battle for containment. We could have reached out to the government of Italy and offered whatever support they needed, to minimize the devastation they are now enduring.
Through our leadership, by taking decisive action immediately, with ONE PURPOSE… leaders of every nation would have LISTENED to what our Commander-in-Chief was saying, LISTENED to where the doctors and scientists of the United States believed the virus was going next, and ACTED to avoid worst case scenarios… and avoided unnecessary loss of LIFE.
Now, leaders of the world have listened to what OUR PRESIDENT has said…
Elected by OUR VOTES.
An embodiment of the WILL of THE PEOPLE of the United States of America.
…
I refuse to be ignorant.
I refuse to play DUMB.
Even IF we practice EVERY prescribed act of social distancing asked of us in this moment, PERFECTLY…
“… if we can hold it down to 100,000 to 200,000 [deaths caused by coronavirus]… we all together, have done a very good job.”
–Donald J. Trump, President of The United States of America (03-29-2020)
Yet we are still not ready to do what is required to meet that expectation.
Our WORDS matter. Our words carry weight that we may not see immediately, but the consequences are real… and they will follow.
I do not blame the governors, they are doing the best they can in this unprecedented situation. I do not blame the hospital workers who are now charged with fighting this fight. I don’t even blame President Xi for our current situation… because I wouldn’t have believed his official numbers actually reflected reality from the outset.
I would have assumed they were intentionally LOWERED for his political gain…
The crisis has not been averted. We are awash in the surge of the pandemic, and we have LOST the chance to end this before it began. The only course of action, if we choose to protect LIFE over ALL ELSE, is to STAY INDOORS. By mandate, we must stay home and STOP THE SPREAD. Our own government says so!
And how will Congress help?
$1200. For a family of FOUR… that MIGHT cover food for a MONTH.
What about everything ELSE?
Life savings… spent in a matter of WEEKS. Plans for retirement, now thrown into chaos over the uncertainty projected by our President. But the GOP Leadership is ready to give it ALL AWAY to “small businesses”… while the workforce STARVES.
And I know it’s like I’m kicking a dead horse here… the mainstream media will tell you too, the whole Russia thing is FAKE NEWS! But all of this was the exact same strategy employed by Vladimir Putin on the people of Ukraine, in the decade preceding his interference in our elections.
All of the chaos and unrest, led by a sympathetic leader, installed by corruption and political manipulation…
Right down to the man who was tapped to handle the situation in Ukraine.
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“… politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests.”
McConnell says that the Speaker should hold off on any plans for a 4th aid package… the FIRST CHECKS haven’t even arrived, bleeding everyone’s savings, leaving us all on the brink… and we should HOLD OFF?
For the benefit of WHOM? The PEOPLE? Their FAMILIES? The people who have lost ONLY their business… only their home… only a FAMILY MEMBER? Our charity is abundant, but these organizations cannot hold out forever.
How can we expect to reignite our economic engine if the CORE has been hollowed out? Not only from the death toll… but from diaspora. Where do you GO when your life is changed forever…
We are no longer talking about incompetency, we are no longer refering to party politics. Launching an investigation into wrong doing that will cause loss of life on this scale, is necessary. Speaker Pelosi isn’t launching this investigation to make Donald Trump look bad, sir…
He did that all ON HIS OWN.
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A lack of TESTING brought us to this point.
The only way out of this situation is MORE SUNLIGHT.
Every citizen must be tested.
BOTH for the virus and the antibodies produced by SURVIVORS of the disease. Once we know who has it, and who HAS had it, we can accurately predict where it will go NEXT. Without this vital information, any strategy we attempt to pursue is just a roll of the dice.
If we don’t know who has it, EVERYONE must believe they do have it and can SPREAD IT. YOU may be a carrier…
STAY HOME. Save a nurse’s LIFE!
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We did not seek it, but once again… WAR has come to our shores. And once again it strikes the island of Manhattan. TWICE now in TWENTY YEARS.
We have FAILED to secure her as we once promised we would do. 20 years. 2 wars… yet we did not address the underlying CAUSE of the problem. Now we STAND, suspended in our own Temporal Echo… able to SEE what has become, and compare it to what shall BE.
We do not do this for ourselves.
We do this for our CHILDREN, and THEIR children…
We do this to HONOR those who have come BEFORE.
We must remember what it is we are fighting FOR. Do not forget! She STILL STANDS in your harbor today…
Let her LIGHT be your guide.
In this fight we know what must be done. Dutifully we shall RISE and face this moment, and preform with our eyes fixed upon the future.
And as the wave comes crashing ashore, across every state and through every community; we now face the SAME STRUGGLE with you… We are ALL from New York.
We must remember what it is we are fighting FOR. Do not forget! She STILL STANDS in your harbor today…
End The Electoral College NOW!! 