I sit with Kaepernick

I am astonished that the outrage at Colin Kaepernick's protest is still a thing. I was not aware that people could take such offense at a black man not standing for the national anthem. I've been refusing to recount The Pledge of Allegiance or stand for the national anthem since I was at job corps back in 2001, nobody's ever said shit to me (white privilege?). My reasons have to do with our foreign war policy, but let's talk about Kaepernick's reasons.

The Black Lives Matter movement is a real protest about racial inequality surrounding parts of American society. It's important to recognize this because if one part is treated differently than that allows the precedent of singling out any group for any reason. This is the core principle of the statement "an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere." 

I have heard people say that they feel Colin Kaepernick is disrespecting the flag and that he should have found another way to protest. Well, that's not how civil disobedience works. The point is to make people uncomfortable until the issue is addressed and resolved. In this way Kaepernick picked the right target. Those complaining need to get over their worship of the flag and recognize that people in this country are being killed in police custody, without an order of execution (which is another rant I will get to at a different time). This is unacceptable all the time.

It further astounds me that people have made this about the American flag. Considering that it's the national anthem that he's protesting, during his taking a knee, I'm not sure exactly how this is connected to the American flag. I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt here, and talk about what the flag actually means.

From a vexillology (the study of flags) perspective it means 13 colonies and 50 states. The colors of the flag are representative as follows  White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valour, and Blue, the color of the Chief (the broad band above the stripes) signifies vigilance, perseverance & justice. That's what the flag means and nothing Collin Kaepernick is doing is going to change that, but it might change us into living closer to these ideas.

If you want to know more about the black lives matter movement, and alleviate yourself of some misconceptions you probably have about this movement (I know I had a few and didn't realize it) read more here: http://blacklivesmatter.com/11-major-misconceptions-about-the-black-lives-matter-movement/

Long live Hillary

In case you haven't heard and already dismissed it, Hillary is not dropping out of the race for health reasons. If she had terminal cancer and was in a coma, her heart monitor would beep out directions in morse code for her aides to keep the campaign going. Bernie Sanders is not going to be put up as a candidate by the DNC even if 'one of the second amendment people does something about Hillary- Donald Trump.' No one has wanted and planned to be president as much as Hillary Clinton. Let's move on from any residual denial about this.

But what if she does leave the race, Bernie makes the most sense.

No from the establishment point of view Joe Biden makes the most sense. He too will continue the work of the current administration, and people actually like him in large numbers. The only way Bernie was going to be the nominee is if overwhelming numbers came out for him and the DNC was forced into it. That time has passed.

Alone at 3 AM

It's strange for me to feel alone in a negative fashion. Tonight, or this morning depending on your perspective, it weighs on me. I don't really have an explanation why, and it didn't hit me until I was watching a episode of Star Trek Voyager, Homestead to be exact. it's the one where the character Neelix ends up leaving and staying with his people at what is like the last outpost of them to ever be found.

They got me thinking about who my people are. I've known enough people over the years that I'm not even sure how many friends have died at this point. I don't think any of my former lovers have passed away so far, but at least four of them have gotten married and two are on their second or third marriages. This has often lead me to believe that I have a shortcoming when it comes to attempting or creating long-lasting relationships that are close. In short, generally I don't feel connected to humanity.

Some Isis recruiter or FBI agent is going to read that and freak out for related, but opposite reasons. Seriously though, I've never heavily invested myself in more than one or two people at a time, and sometimes not even that many. This dates all the way back even to elementary school as far as I can remember. Books always seemed to have a better investment return than people.

I know how this happened, and I know what I'm supposed to do to change it. I just haven't felt the particular urge to do so. Hopefully, I haven't hurt too many people that have known me or are in contact with me on Facebook, but I am who I am. If you haven't figured out that I'm flaky and distant by now, then you're probably guilty of the same things. 

So in conclusion this is why I am alone, and actually feeling lonely tonight. I may actually expand on some of this at a later time, but you know flaky and distant.