HEY YA! Now, I want to see you all on your baddest behavior. Lend me some sugar, I am your neighbor.

Doesn't everyone like the smell of gasoline?

I had to give it up. Well before alcohol and I'm 345 days sober today the eighteenth day of our Lord 2017, or as the Chinese say, the year of the "Hahahhaha, You guys are funny in America."

I don't know what animal that would be but I'm guessing Aardvark?

I've been happy lately because I've been more angry then sad.

And I know sadness.

I'm well, a Browns fan (never gets old! Self five!)

I'm not a sad person, although I'm high on economic theory right now finishing school. Geeked out even. And engaged, but in a healthy way for me.

So, yeah, being sad is accurate for me. I've battled. It's nothing to write home about only on,

'the most beautifully well written blog ever I must say. I mean folks....folks..Ok?"

 I once had to drive through the state of Nebraska and got into a bad collision but the cops on scene had empathy. The roads were icy. I had a clear conscious of where I was going.

Understanding sadness is a gift. Empathy. Feelings. Stewart Smalley talks with Al Franken.

(BTW ZACH MORRIS TIME OUT: Did you see this guy give it to Betsy?
Elizabeth Warren, and I'm happy to say my great senator in Washington the great 'Patty Cake' Murray gave it out as well. I recommend you watch this. Food for civic thought.)

TIME IN....

I've battled with depression in my past and I know a minor case of  PTSD well. We jump rope together and he promises me "I CAN" write with a pen like I'm a doctor in a hurry to get to so many patients.

"UGH. If we could just get these people affordable care I wouldn't have to have hand writing that looks like hieroglyphics."

One of the first albums I was drawn to as my parents helped shape my politics was from a peer in fifth grade. It was Rage Against the Machine's self titled album. Their lyrics are highly political anthems and worldviews scathing the corporate right (funny they had a record label) but they were necessary. I remember being a kid blaring 'Killing in the Name of"

"Wait", I said at 11. There's adults telling 'authority' 'fuck you, I won't do what you tell me?'

The music is what drew me. The lyrics stood with me.

Have you read about the new Rage?

I'm more drawn to the 'intellectual emotion' I'll call it, of either sighing into cynicism, or laughing into oblivion of the hypocrisy of it all.

I'm talking about the tweets heard round the world by president-elect Trump to former civil rights activist John Lewis and.....

....Well let's let Seth take a closer look.


...
..
and...


And just everything.


"Your anger is a gift."

Zach De La Rocha wasn't the only cool Zach (Saved By the Bell) I was listening to in my youth.

Sure, I didn't grasp the lyrics of how 'they' (America) 'went after King after he spoke out on Vietnam'

But I was in tune.

Growing up I watched with my Dad, I read with my Dad and Mom about everything and anything political be it Rolling Stone Magazine, New York Times, The Mchlaughlin Group, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher (before his free speech truth was heard round the corporate markets).

I had liberal minded parents who said 'Jars have labels, not people.'

But of course as humans, we label things and for good and bad identify with labels.

Ha, it's like we are all human?

At the heart of this, wasn't CHOOSING A SIDE. It was understanding. Growing up.

I can still remember 7th grade in Nordonia Middle School in suburban NE Ohio it would have been the year of the Dole/Clinton election. My teacher, in a total commie move, told the kids to go home and ask your parents how you identify politically and then come back with three honest good things to say about the other side. (Or something you at least acknowledge they are trying to make better)

Our public middle school had an election where we could vote for Bob Dole, Bill Clinton, or "can I finish? Can I finish? Sham shama Larry!" Ross Perrot.

This was 1996?

Ah the 90's. I saw the sign and I mmmmmboped my way to being Clueless apparently.

Whatever happened to the milk man, the paper boy, even MTV? It's a Full House of lies people.

My parents, ever valuing free thoughts, ideas, and education paid for me to go to a great Jesuit high school that taught me many things. Mainly, to be a man for 'others'. Tis the Jesuit motto regardless if you're a republican, democrat, libertarian, cynic, librarian, hitch hiker or my personal favorite, human being.

I speak of the now 1/18/17 two days away from the

People are angry because they're tired of being told of false equivalencies.

Hey Rodney King asked, "Why can't we all get along?" Why isn't that good enough for 'you people'?

Here's the point and problem.

Both sides can benefit from taking a long pause after that question but the fact remains.

It's not up to the oppressed to demand basic respect and civility form the oppressor if they don't see their privilege. Your job is to listen and then decide if you want to be part of the problem or the solution. And, we will always argue and debate about the solution (hello politics) BUT, and this is an important but, we can't move forward if you're stuck in your past paradigms and non factual information.  


If you tell me the sky is down and the ground I walk on is in the sky we are not both right.

The media, and well intentioned people want us to 'give peace a chance' and selectively quote their version of Ghandi, MLK, Lennon (the musician), and others.

Nobody knows what they'd say today because they died. They're dead. We are alive.

It's on us. And yes MLK would be standing with BLM because are we seriously arguing this?

HA. You're on the wrong side of history.

RATM taught me to look up 'the real MLK'. To look up "Malcom X'. To look up 'The Vietnam War."

::kid raises hand::

"Teacher I know about 'I have a Dream' but what about the reality of 'The Poor People's Campaign?"


Bruce Springsteen. That old guy, wrote a song RATM covered called The Ghost of Tom Joad .

Kids this song is based on the John Steinbach classic novel Grapes of Wrath. Wiki it, or read it. But read it and then watch the movie. Or movie it. Or Netflix and Chill it. But at the right temperature. We wouldn't want to piss off old grandpa Huey. I know you can't get it in your public school because well that didn't happen and what's a book?

I have a kindle.

I digress.

I just received a letter from my higher education which I pay for directly in the year of our lord 2017.

Verbatim:

"This Friday, Jan. 20, at noon, a community-wide rally is scheduled to take place on the south plaza of our campus in response to the presidential inauguration. Because of this, our campus is likely to be much busier than normal throughout the day, especially during the afternoon hours.
The safety and security of our students, faculty, staff and guests is a top priority. At this point, Seattle Central will operate on a normal schedule, but we may need to adjust operations, depending on the situation, by canceling classes and closing buildings. We will closely monitor reports throughout the week, especially on the day of the event, to ensure a timely determination, and any changes and updates will be communicated via the code."


That's awesome. People can get together and protest with their first amendment rights. Hey even both sides.  Will it be reported that way? Will the police even show up? More at 11!

Or are people sick and tired of being lied to and being told to quell their legitimate fear because a man with the temperament of a first grader (to paraphrase Trevor Noah) is now our president?

Talk to the single mother or father.
Talk to the transgender teen.
Talk to the Muslim family.
Talk to the student.
Talk to the family.
Talk to the hand?
Talk to the steel worker
Talk to the farmer
Talk to the policeman
(ppsssst) they're all the same person. Except the hand. Use Purrell!

"It's just talk, talk, talk, talk, till you lose your patience
Mister state trooper, please don't stop me"- State Trooper (Bruce Springsteen)

Be safe out there. And try your best to listen to all sides and at the same time know common decency. If in the very accurate chance the NSA is following again,

'this award winning blog. Absolutely beautiful folks. A ten. A ten. Actually...Actually....I love you too...It's an eleven. Any Spinal Tap fans out here tonight? Beautiful. Just beautiful folks."

This isn't Jack Gorbett writing this, it's the same ghost writer Trump used for Art of The Deal.

Jack pays me*


in food*

Try and find that Morgan peace if you're a Walking Dead fan.

Because violence has always sold and we may be living the Walking Dead as the zombies who aren't even scary looking or after our flesh.

Jesus said to be weary and worried of 'wolves in sheep's clothing.'

I'm of course inaccurately paraphrasing. Silly me.

He said 'fuck poor people. For the profit motives said that they first shall gain eternal wealth and the poorest among you shall starve and die a most deserving death.'

They want to erase history, implement their hackneyed ideas, and ask for our complicity as a 'fact free' America and uneducated citizenry takes to the polls. And make no mistake when I say they I mean the powers that be, not party.

Band together folks.

Your sadness, anger, and empathy are all gifts.

Jesus wept.

Buddha laughed!

Mohammed humbled himself.


And as you gather around your own campfire light (safe spaces), and you're calling on the spirits past for guidance, know that the past is that but it's more.

 As Dr. Angela Davis  recently recalled talking to Seattle residents during the cities third annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Unity Day;

"Let us remember that so much of what is important, so much of what has required significance, historical significance, has been achieved through mass struggle."



Action Jackson