November - Foxtrot - Whiskey

I’ve been putting this off for SOOOO long...I took care of some of it a few weeks ago (the really major stuff), but this should get me “right.”

I turned 76 in August. As anyone who knows me F2F, I would always say that I never expected to hit 55, let alone 76. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve had a decent life, considering. I am grateful for that. Practically every position/career I’ve had since age 12, however, has been centered around helping others in situations most folks would not enter voluntarily; it was “in the blood” of the family. At the same time, I have this really strong feeling that I’m “not done.”

Allow me to blither on a bit, and try to clarify. After all of it, you may feel free to simply say, “Yeah, she’s nuckinfutz! (my word)” and move on, or halfway pay attention. In the latter case, there may be something worth your retaining.

Up front...it is my firm (and reasoned) belief that our nation is on the razor’s edge of a civil war. I certainly can’t stop that (if it does indeed come about...and I think I learned around age five that no one person is going to save the world, no matter how hard one tries). On the other hand, I am unable to simply sit back, hunker down, and observe…

November – Foxtrot – Whiskey (No F***ing Way)

So as to not (I hope) belabor the point, it doesn’t matter in the least who wins the 2024 election in this regard. If Harris wins, the MAGA segment will not be happy and will initiate something to make Jan 6 look quite mild. Remember also that this isn’t about Trump in the end; it’s about the ~30% internal faction of a corrupted political party, that’s itself maybe 35% of the total electorate, who are trying to destroy democracy. They think they’ll be happier then (duh).

We can’t, however, be so complacent as to accept a simple (?) insurrection as a resolution. If Trump wins, it will be even worse, because the real authority structure will be used to persecute anyone the MAGA people don’t like. I’ve not seen it presented more clearly than with Malcolm Neese’s substack on the subject. So, you say, why should you (the reader) be concerned particularly?

Let me reiterate the old, “They came for the whomever, and I wasn’t one, so I stayed quiet.”

And...yours truly happens to be at risk with these miscreants on at least three levels.

Yeah...three. Think about it. Or not...it’s up to you. I certainly think about it.

So, I’ll be ignoring the civil war subject for the time being, in favor of just relating some of the (in my humble opinion) more interesting experiences I’ve had over almost eight decades, and how I relate that experience to what I do today. They’ll be a lot like the “How to disobey a direct order and get away with it.”

Why do it at all? Good question. My entire motive is that maybe someone who is on the edge of a certain frame of mind that would be good not only for them, but for the rest of us, is prompted by the reading to be a positive influence to keep everyone safe. That’s all. Money has nothing to do with it. Neither does ego, actually...I actually don’t care if I don’t change people’s minds, because I’m not trying to. What you believe is what you believe. You can change if it’s the right thing to do, although that may not be easy. Maybe all you need is a little intelligent encouragement to feel validated, and that there are folks who actually care.

I’ll be posting an abbreviated note on FB and X (barf) that links to my blog post.

I’ve also been “turned on” (thanks, Malcolm) to the Substack environment, and will post there.

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