Free Your Mind!

I finally finished that project; and I did it well too. *Pats own back* (Hey if I don't do it who will?).
I've just had the most gratifying exchange with my son's 'fam' - that's what he calls us; me, his dad and his stepmom - which makes me have hope for humanity. I asked her to buy something for Chris because doing the budget in my head, I was feeling like I might come up short. And she agreed because, hey, what else she gonna do? Well then after that, I said thank you; and then my son said thank you and then his dad said thank you. And she sent the smile emoji with you're welcome. We've come such a long way I can't even tell you. When my son was conceived I was of the belief that he was a totally special being and his life so far just validates this belief. I don't really know anyone else irl who manages the 'modern family' dynamic as well as we do.
Speaking of family, I'm really concerned about Syria. Are you concerned about Syria. I mean, that kid...Omran Daqneesh have you seen him? He makes my heart hurt. I want to reach through the screen and pick him up and bring him home, clean him up, tend his wounds and just let him know everything is going to be alright.
But it isn't is it?

I've been watching Syria since the war began, praying for somebody to do something; feeling helpless to help. It reminded me of when I was growing up in the eighties and every day on the news, there was another story about kids being shot, being burned alive, people oppressed in South Africa. And it filled me with the same feeling of helplessness.
What is it that is so important? What is it that is so vital that it's worth destroying lives like this? I mean look at that kid! He's five years old. Which means he doesn't know what it means to live in peace time. All he knows is bombs and conflict. I really feel like I need antidepressants just thinking about it.
+Alicia Keys shared a pic of Omran and told us that we can help by contributing to 'War Child' which I suppose is a charity. But on the news, you see that humanitarian aid isn't getting into Aleppo. Nobody is allowed to get in. So I'm kind of really hoping that this 'War Child' charity isn't using poor little Omran's image to raise money for themselves. Please don't do that. Don't profit from this. And if you're really helping these children then show us how. Show the chain of custody from my contribution to Omran.

Speaking of racism, did you read that article about +CLINT EASTWOOD and his son +Scott Eastwood  which was generally about how life used to be so much better 'then' than 'now'? Oh and what a suck up Scott Eastwood is? It was an interesting read; he tried to explain the whole talking to a chair thing. He was all like this generation is full of pussies who get offended at everything and don't want to work hard. Now I can relate to his rhetoric because he's my father's age and I've heard the same sort of thing from him as well. You people are not as good as us. I even think I've said the same thing to my son - I hope not - but I probably have.
The thing that I'd like to maybe look at, is his assertion that 'in his day' saying 'things' wasn't considered as racist. In answer to this question;

Your characters have become touchstones in the culture, whether it's Reagan invoking "Make my day" or now Trump … I swear he's even practiced your scowl.

He said:

Maybe. But he's onto something, because secretly everybody's getting tired of political correctness, kissing up. That's the kiss-ass generation we're in right now. We're really in a pussy generation. Everybody's walking on eggshells. We see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those things weren't called racist. And then when I did Gran Torino,even my associate said, "This is a really good script, but it's politically incorrect." And I said, "Good. Let me read it tonight." The next morning, I came in and I threw it on his desk and I said, "We're starting this immediately."

 Now Clint Eastwood is about a hundred I know, much older than Muhammad Ali, but let me just him counter this drivel about 'When I grew up' because it's easy for the straight white man to say this, but what about the not-white man living in the same time?

Muhammad Ali also didn't have time for 'political correctness'  but his view of 'the good old days' certainly differ drastically from Eastwood's. Maybe Clint needs to get his head out of his ass and realize that it's not all about him and the people that look like him.
As for Scott Eastwood, also known as 'the entitled legacy' and mistakenly identified as the target of +Dwayne Johnson's rant about candy asses. Turned out it was actually +Vin Diesel. Now I'm sorry, I don't care if you're a producer or that maybe your company is financing the whole entire movie...Vin Diesel is the heart of the Fast series, and nobody gets to call him names. Not even the Rock. #TeamVin
I always felt like Dwayne was always 'on' you know? Like I don't think anyone has ever even seen his real smile. He makes me uncomfortable.
You know what else makes me uncomfortable? Y'all not visiting my book pages.
Go here...and here...now.
Thanks.
Bye.

Boom Boom Boom Boom. Bang Bang Bang Bang.

That song has been ringing in my head ever since last week's episode of Empire...
Anyway...
And it was appropriate for the heading of this post.

So a bunch of terrorists claiming to be ISIS shot up Paris day before yesterday. It was very sad. CNN had updates all day yesterday as a result. Twitter started a hashtag #PrayforParis. Art was drawn to commemorate this horrible thing that happened...
I'm not saying its wasn't horrible. Hell I shed some tears for them. Its sad that people have to resort to this kind of mayhem to communicate. Its Piers Morgan who said though that more people were killed by guns in America in that same 48 hour period than were killed in the entire Paris Attack. Furthermore, the same day, Beirut was bombed. Did CNN mention it? I didn't see it squeezed in anywhere in the 24 hour coverage of Paris.

I guess we can't pray for everyone; we need to concentrate on the important ones. The ones that happen in the West right? Because obviously the rest of us third world dunderheads are used to dying anyway, it's normal to be shot up, kidnapped, bombed, our lives are not as important. Don't we get that?
Anyway, that's a story for another day; I'm not one for banging my head on a brick wall.
This post is about asking hard questions and getting difficult answers.
What is ISIS? Does anyone even know?
We are told that they started in Syria, some time after the world abandoned it, the UN council turned their backs on the possibility of rescuing Syrian citizens from being murdered by the state. They said, "It's not our problem."
Well it is now isn't it bitches?
But really how much do we really know about them? Who are they? What is their leadership structure? How do you confirm that every attack that claims to be ISIS is actually ISIS? Is ISIS simply some big fat boogeyman that the West invented to take credit for any attack that happens on Western soil in order to avoid dealing with the fact that shit happens within their borders and it is their fault? What happened to Al Qaeda? How come they don't exist anymore? Is it like a game of tag and ISIS is 'it' now?
How come ISIS takes all recruits? It's more 'disenfranchised of the world' rather than 'radical muslims'. And how does ISIS even find these people to be recruited. Is there an online form you fill and submit and then 'somebody will contact you at your earliest convenience'? Is there a secret facebook group maybe masquerading as 'Harry Potter Fans'? (the movies not the books). How does it come off as this all powerful, super secret thing which recruits from everywhere but nobody actually knows where and despite the NSA and satellites and shit, nobody ever finds out what they're doing...
I'm more inclined to believe that these guys wanted to blow up Paris for their own nefarious reasons and they planned it and did it and then 'ISIS' take the blame/credit probably to propagate hatred of muslims. That seems more logical to me.
Otherwise why does no one come forth with demands? When people commit an act of terror or whatever there is a reason behind it; they want something. But we're never told what these people want. Why they're doing this. And there doesn't seem to ever be an effort to find out. Its just oh, some guys blew us up; war, kill, bomb...make more radicals. Wash, rinse, repeat.

I'm sick of it.
Stop the hate!

This book is about another kind of hate; plus the power of love...cop it at smashwords below: http://bit.ly/1LmcX1s