We’re idiots in America…

Antifa, Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, Neo-nazis. These are some of the biggest topic groups going around the media lately. I’m hardly surprised to be honest. America isn’t really known for being completely welcome to all, never has and I doubt it ever will. People will disagree with me, but look through America’s past. There has never been a time that we as a nation haven’t openly treated one group or another as inferior. Blacks, women, the Irish, Germans, Japanese, muslims, LGBT.  The list goes on. We are a nation born and bred of hate and intolerance.  With the election of Donald J. Trump as president of these United States of America, we have shown the world that we’re ok with discrimination. Sure other nations have this issue, but America has taken it and made it an art form. We have shown that we’re ok with white supremacy.  We’re ok with turning away people seeking a better life, potentially damning them to the hands of gangs or armies in their homelands. 

Trump has failed to condemn those responsible for this past weekends attack on counter-protesters. An innocent life was lost at the hands of a white supremacist. Trump has failed to hold those involved responsible.  Instead he is placing the blame first on the victims of the attack then saying that both sides are at fault. Our president, who proudly accepted support from white supremacist groups, including the kkk, has fail to condemn such attacks. He has failed to call them what it is, an act of domestic terrorism. He’ll jump at the chance to call Mexicans rapists and muslims murderers and terrorists, but when it’s a white man involved in it, hardly a fucking word!  This is a man who had foreign help influencing the election to become president. He had tarnished and ruined the reputation of the office of the presidency. 

Most of the groups mentioned in the first line were formed with good intentions in mind, to stop discrimination. Unfortunately, like with near every group, they have their extremists who end up giving them a bad name. All lives matter. Period. Not just black, not just police, not just women, muslims, white. ALL LIVES MATTER!  Trump has made it clear that he does not believe this. He will say whatever it takes to get what he wants, but once he has it, he goes back to being him. He has lied, cheated, and possibly stolen his way to where he’s at. He continuously pokes at the hornets best known as North Korea. Kim Jong Un has backed away from his plans of launching missiles in the general direction of Guam. While his reasons for doing so remain unknown, he has shown more compassion to the American people than Trump has. Trump only cares about having power and keeping the rich rich. This man needs to be impeached at the least or charged with treason at the most. He is a threat to America, which brings me to my next point…

Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 3+ million votes over Donald Trump. One would think that she would be our leader. Nope. In America, we have this wonderful thing called the electoral college. It’s supposed to make elections far by giving lower density areas more weight in voting. Twice already in my lifetime has this failed us. First in 2000 when George W. Bush was elected. He wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he understood that you can’t just run your mouth whenever you want. And the second time was 2016 when Trump was elected. Urban areas tended to vote blue while rural voted red. The problem with this is there is considerably more rural areas in the US than urban. Either get rid of the electoral college, or break the nation into smaller districts, each with a roughly even mix of urban and rural population. There is no reason we should have to deal with events like recent history ever again. We need to come together and fight to make our nation better. Strive to make America truest great for the first time in history. Get rid of government sanctioned discrimination, get rid of hate groups, fix how we vote. Improve the quality of life for all Americans, native and naturalized. We can do this if we just look past each other’s skin color, gender and religion. May the Gods have mercy on us all..,
~Sam

Depressed for the repressed…

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is put your thoughts down on paper. It’s easy to just think about what’s on your mind or how you’re feeling, but there are times when it is all but impossible to get those thoughts out in the open, be it blog, journal, or just speaking with someone. Personally, I’ve been feeling a great deal of anger, rage, and sadness. If you’ve been following the news these last 8 months, then you understand what I mean. It feel almost impossible to properly express these thoughts and feeling lately, it’s like a well made soup.  Everything is blended together, and you can identify it, but you can’t separate it from the rest. 

There is so much rage and hate in this country. I’m getting sick of it. It’s fine if you hate someone, just keep it to yourself!  It makes me depressed how bad people treat each other just because their beliefs are different or they aren’t the same skin color. 

Our president isn’t making things any better either. It seems he’s trying to start a war with North Korea; I just hope that cooler heads prevail.  I’m not looking forward to this country being dragged through another meaningless war. Enough with the fighting, more with the talking.
~Sam

The uprising of technology…

(Note:Sorry for lack of updates, I’ve been sick.)

There are times when I question the intelligence of the common person. When you watch people come up to a self check out machine that is obviously closed, and watch them try to scan their purchases with no luck, you start to wonder if they’re just not paying attention or are just plain stupid. Technology is a blessing, but it’s also a curse in that people pay too much attention to their devices and rely on them far too much for the most basic of needs. Common sense and knowledge have generally fallen out of style. People don’t know simple facts and bits of information that were common knowledge 15 years ago and common sense is no longer as common as it used to be. 

People are too busy with their heads buried in their phones while they are walking or driving to pay attention to what’s going on around them. I’ve seen people walk in front of speeding vehicles because they’re busy texting their friends. Drivers are too busy reading and writing texts to stop at red lights or notice pedestrians crossing the street. It’s sad to see so many needless accidents caused by people not paying attention. 

People really need to learn to pay better attention to their surroundings, not rely on their phones for simple tasks and common knowledge and frankly, need to be more polite to those in the service industry.  It’s depressing sometimes how horrid society can be to each other. The current political climate doesn’t improve things any either, if anything it makes it worse. There is far too much that needs to be done in order to bring society back to where it needs to be. I weep for this civilization. I cannot lie however, perhaps the best thing would be a reset of humanity, but we’ll see what happens in the future.

~Sam

Muskrats and Geeks and Dice, Oh My!

This year marks 20 grand years of the nerdy comic known as Dork Tower by the talented John Kovalic. Granted it’s not updated as often as anyone would like, including Mr. Kovalic, but that’s what happens when you’re putting your all into so many awesome projects. (Artwork for Apples to Apples, Munchkin, and many more). Here’s to 20 years of Dork Tower and hope for many more to come. Thank you John for entertaining us all these years and for bring a super awesome guy!
~Sam
P.s. Seriously, click the link above and enjoy some geeky goodness. It’s got everything, action, adventure, drama, romance.  What more could you ask for?

How gross it is to be ill…

When will we as a nation start using a truly functional sick leave policy at workplaces?  As it is, people come in to work when they’re sick and spread around their nasty plagues to everyone, resulting in loss of productivity and wages.  People are afraid to call in sick because they either don’t get sick leave where they work or they are afraid to call in and use the sick leave they do have for fear or repercussions, such as scheduled less hours or termination.  Yes, people do abuse the system, but in this case, the majority shouldn’t have to suffer for the mistakes of the few.

As I’m typing this, I have some sort of bug.  Last night was body aches, loose bowels, sore, scratchy throat and a general feeling of ick.  Today I’m feeling better with just a sore, scratchy throat, some drainage down the back of my throat and a feeling of being worn out.  Thankfully I have the day off, because like many, I’d rather not call in sick for fear of retribution, plus I don’t like leaving work short handed as my position could be described as a junior supervisory position.  The official title and duties won’t be discussed at this time since they have no real bearing to this rant.  I’m just thankful that my hunni is trying her best to take care of me while I attempt a speedy recovery.  She’s provided me with medicine and delicious hot tea while I recover.  She’s wonderful.

What we need is a guaranteed sick leave policy that when people are truely sick with whatever contagion they have, they can call out from work without having to worry about any negative repercussions.  I’m sure countries in Europe and Scandinavia have much better policies in place to allow the sick to take off without having to worry about lost wages or worse.  We need a massive overhaul of many things in this nation, but I think that this issue should be one of the first tackled by our government, once they remember who they’re working for that is.  There is much more that can be said about this issue, and I’d probably go further into detail about it myself, but I’m feeling crummy right now and just want to relax.  Try not to catch what I have while reading this.

 

~Sam

We are all the same, in different ways…

Everyone is the same.  We all strive to make it through the day, to bring ourselves happiness and joy.  To surround ourselves with people and things that make us smile.  however, everyone goes about it differently.  Some people volunteer, some work at a job they love, others work at a job they hate so they can provide for the ones they love.  Some people have a harder time than others finding that joy.  Most people think of sexual identity as binary, man and woman, male and female, but that is far from the truth.  There are the more common homosexuals and bisexuals, but there are also asexual, pan sexual and a growing list of other orientations.  I don’t claim to understand them, but i support the people who claim a non-standard orientation.  Why?  Because they’re people.  Human beings just like you and me.  They just want to be accepted for who they are, not rejected because they are different.

Often times, even at an early age, people tend to question certain feelings and urges they get.  “Am I attracted to men, women, both? neither?”  It shouldn’t matter who or what someone is attracted to.  All that should matter is that they love the object of their affection.  It doesn’t bother me to be around gay men.  I have friends who are gay/lesbian/bi/asexual.  I treat them as just another friend, because to me, that’s what they are, my friends.  It shouldn’t matter that their biological gender doesn’t match up with their mental gender.  So many people are being harmed, both physically and mentally  because of people’s inability to accept others who are different from ourselves.  It’s rather sickening and disgusting.  Parents kick out and abandon their children because the deviate from the “norm” with their gender identity, even our own military is starting to tell non-binary genders that they aren’t wanted (It’s starting with transgender, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it expanded from their until only men are allowed to serve; just my prediction).

Non-binary gendered people just want to be accepted for who they are.  They want to be able to go through with whatever procedures that are necessary for them to feel comfortable in their own skin.  It can take years, if not longer, for someone to finally be happy with themselves.  There isn’t anywhere many of these poor souls can turn to for guidance when it comes to who they are.  their body may say female, but their mind say male, or completely gender neutral.  The gender identity crisis is just one of many issues plaguing this nation.  Is it wrong to discriminate against these poor victims of society’s ignorance? You bet your ass it’s wrong!  This is just one of many stepping stones that this nation, the world, need to over come in to unite as a single, peaceful race as human beings.  Sadly, I doubt I’ll live to see the day that this happens.  I hope that my niece gets to see the human race coming together as one, peacefully, with the goal of bettering ourselves and each other for the sake of humanity.

 

~Sam

Freedom for all… Just not you.

So our glorious leader has decided that transgender folk aren’t free to lay down their lives for this nation. Because of who they are, they are not allowed to train, be equipped and fight against legitimate threats to this nation, president excluded.  On one hand I’m happy about this. Now before anyone gets pissy, hear me out. Anyone who is barred from serving our once great nation now has a much better chance of not dying at the hands of terrorists, again president excluded.  They won’t be sent overseas to be shot at by people who we, as a nation, been arming since before I was even born. If we’re arming them, they must be our allies, right?  Yeah, no. We’re arming them because the enemy of my enemy is my friend, at least until our common enemy is gone, then you’re my enemy.

Back on topic.  I’m pissed avout our transgendered Americans not being able to serve because every American should have the right, the privilege, to lay down their life in defense of the nation they love. I’ll be honest, it’s been a while since I was able to say that I truly loved this nation of ours. There is far too much corruption within the upper ranks of government to to be able to love. They rose to power by manipulating and lying to the American people. Mind you the people aren’t innocent in this at all. The American people are overly polarized over even the slightest thing and are dimmer that a sack of broken lightbulbs.

The biggest divides I see are, in no particular order, race, class, gender. As stated in my last post, I am a liberal. To me, that means I’m willing to let my tax money help the poor of all races, genders and class. It also means I don’t want my tax dollars to fund corporate welfare, seriously, if you’re reporting record profits of millions or more, then you don’t need my tax dollars. It’s fine if you’re poor and you have nice things like a nice car or an iPhone, just as long as you’re trying to put food on the table, it’s fine. If you’re transgender, good for you. You are who you are. Don’t let anyone tell you different. I grew up in a small town, I didn’t see my first non-white/non-Hispanic person in person until after I turned 18. But that’s ok. Even if you’re not comfortable with people of color, at least treat them with respect.

These are dark times we live in, is our country going the way of nazi Germany, or are we just on a rocky road to a greater future?  Some might argue that it’s one in the same. Those people make me fear for this nation. America has a long history of discrimination. Against native Americans, against blacks, against the Irish, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, women, muslims, the list goes on. If we are to be the great nation so many people claim we are, we need to stop the hate. If you don’t like someone, fine. Just show them the same respect that you expect t from them. We need to become more accepting of other cultures, and less close minded. In my opinion, one of the things that made America great is that we were a melting pot of cultures. Sort of an international fondue, rich and full of flavor. Now they just want to be a cheap domestic block of cheese. Bland, boring and decent on a sandwich with soup.

I hear all the time “if you hate America, then get out!”  I don’t hate America, I like it, it’s my home, but I’m not proud of it, kinda embarrassed really. I’ve always been a proponent of a single unified world government, similar to the UN, but that’s a rant for another time. We need to stand up as a nation, learn to get along with the rest of the world, and bring about a change in this world that will not only make America great, but the world as a whole great. I pray only that things improve before my niece gets old enough to understand what a horrible world we currently live in. Wars, famine, corruption and greed, all of which could be solved if we stopped blowing each other up and starting helping one another. There are better ways to solve conflicts in the world. There are always better ways.
~Sam

In the beginning…

I think the biggest thing to have shaped my attitude towards people in general is how polarized people get over anything and everything. This ranges from something as simple as what kind of car you like to religious beliefs and political affiliation.  I’m guilty of this as much as anyone but I’ve been trying to keep an open mind and listen to other view points. For the record, I consider myself a liberal independent. I also consider myself an angry American asshole. I could go into further detail about my political views, but I’d rather not deal with that at the moment.

It’s ok to have strong beliefs and opinions, but you can’t blind yourself to opposing beliefs just because you don’t like them or you disagree with them. It’s very tiring having to listen to the same closed-minded shit day after day because people don’t want to even entertain the idea that their opinion is wrong. When it comes down to it, many Americans are divided into one of two camps. The first is pro-humanitarian. In a nutshell this is helping the poor, providing for the less fortunate even if it means me have to pay more than the other guy. I fall into this group. The other camp is pro-class. Basically this is someone who puts the needs of themselves, their family and/or friends above the well being of someone who is less fortunate. Both sides have their pros and cons, but I sleep better at night knowing that my little extra is helping someone down on their luck have a much needed hot meal or a warm bed to sleep in for the night. Ideally if we could take the best parts from both sides and forge it into one idea that would be great.  But again, there are too many people who are set in their beliefs and would fight the idea of a near-utopian society just because it clashes with their personal beliefs.

This is all for now. May the dice forever be in your favor.

~Sam