You can't kill an idea

This is something that I wrote about a few years ago, but cannot seem to locate. It is possible I wrote it and did not post it or if I did I just cannot find it. However, it is important and I feel worth repeating. I also mention this as a preface, that this is not wholly an indictment against the bad policies of our current federal executive administration, but rather something that many people believe and have for a long time. The world is a shrinking place, no longer can we pretend to live isolated from the world or pretend that the things which are said and done in one place will not have significant impact in other places and cause many other reactions. Guns and bombs will not kill ideas, people must be persuaded to change their mind through discussion or shown that there are better ways. Violence only begets violence and hate more hate. Before moving on, I will say I support our military and I even served in USAF and believe it is necessary to have a military. The radical and conservative elements in the Muslim world and in the religion of Islam want the West and the rest of the world to be fearful of and to hate Muslims. I’ll repeat that so it is clear. Radicals and conservatives in the Muslim countries and Islamic faith want everyone to hate them. They want all the countries of the world who are not Muslim and do not practice Islam to hate them. They want sanctions, they want violence directed toward them, they want the people and the masses of the Muslim world to be feared and persecuted everywhere on earth that is not the Muslim world. The radicals and conservatives want control in their countries, they want to be seen by their people as the only ones who will fight back against the West and the non-Muslim world. They want to be viewed as the defenders of Islam. They want their people to fear leaving and living outside of Muslim communities in non-Muslim countries. Giving rise to the radicals and conservatives. Using the argument that we are only safe together. Once the average Muslims and followers of Islam fear the rest of the world, the radicals and conservatives can institute strict adherence to very conservative and radical practices of their faith. And say we cannot protect you if you don’t follow these standards or live a certain way. We will throw you out to the outsiders, and to the infidels. So, the people stay and they live conservatively. The new policies of the current administration are playing the game the way the terrorists want it to be played. The continued aggression by non-Muslim forces only pushes more people toward the extremists. Turing our backs on the moderates and liberal people of the Muslim world who are fleeing war and persecution by others in their faith and nations serves only to harden those who would be normalizers and moderates in their own countries if they were safer. The forces fighting the Islamic Terrorist will run missions and bomb civilian areas where the terrorists are hiding with no regard for the non-combatants in the area. The city of Aleppo and many others are examples of this and they are used by the radicals to say, “the West hates us all, because we are Muslim.” From the outside, it is easy to say, if the terrorists didn’t hide in schools, or near hospitals or in neighborhoods we would not kill non-combatants. It is cowardly for the terrorists to act this way. I agree but is only one point of view. However, if you are fighting against the most powerful nation in the world and their allies who have planes, tanks, laser guided bombs, and highly trained and equipped ground forces and you are a person with a gun, not a lot of training or ammo, you maybe even have a car. Not a military vehicle, just a regular Toyota or Volvo or some other car. Do you fight in the open or do you fight using guerilla warfare tactics? A terrorist to one nation is a patriot to another. The policies of hate and the constant warfare that we in the West wage against the Muslim world does not makes us any safer. It gives the Radicals power over the people in their nations. It turns moderate people into radicals. Should we and our allies be strict about who we allow to seek refuge, certainly. Our efforts should be diplomatic ones and missions of humanitarian aid and equipping the moderate citizens of those nations to stabilize their countries. Working as peace keepers not invaders and occupiers. Seeking out and establishing safe zones in those nations. If we show them we are not killers and we are not hateful towards them and are compassionate and will protect them, we take away power from the radicals and conservative elements. Our current policies instead give the radicals and conservatives all the proof they need to convince their people who are suffering that it is the fault of the greedy West and the infidels who are the cause of their suffering. We should respond with force when necessary, but it should absolutely be the last thing we do. We should not be doing the things that give the radicals and extremist more power and influence but that is exactly what we are doing now. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

Is it safe?

Is it safe? A recent executive order banning people from specific countries from entering the US was released. My question is does this make the US a safer place. This is not an easy yes or no question but the answer is yes and it is no. Being that of the more than 40 incidents listed as terror attacks in the US following 9/11/2001. Most of those were committed by US born citizens. Those not born in the US entered either; from countries not on the banned list, and/or were children at the time of their entry in the US. Those entering as children did not commit their acts until a decade or more following their entry in the US. Most of those children were under that age of 10 upon entry. Based on history this ban is not going to make the US safer. Most likely it will further radicalize individuals who are already at odds with and disagree with the US and are currently in the US. Making us less safe. It does seem to make the US safer in terms of increasing the time and changing the vetting process for those entering the US. Which may actually keep the US safer. However, being that it targets specific countries and not many others it can still make the US less safe by adding more rhetoric to those who are against the US and are likely already in the US. Most of whom are citizens and not subject to revocation of visas or green cards. If it were a universal change to the vetting process of non-citizens entering the US. It would be fair and treat all people the same, and would do more to make the US safer Terrorism is a real problem, whether it is from an Islamic State or Non-Islamic State. We need to do things which will do more to reduce further harm rather than increase future risk. Over all I do not think that this ban does make the US safer. Here is a proposal. The US lead/join a multi-national collaborative to set up refugee centers in Islamic nations. Provide aid in running those refugee centers; health care, food, security. Provide military assistance to those Islamic Nations fighting against radical Jihadists and Islamic terrorists. Not necessarily combat troops but advisors, equipment and training. This would allow people to remain near their homes, in culturally familiar areas, to be safe, provide them the opportunity to fight back against their oppressors and overall is supportive rather than combative and dividing. My concern is that the trend of things being passed/proposed by the current administration are written and proposed in a manner which creates turmoil and discontent, leading to the question why? The true fear is the current administration wants the US to be attacked to justify a war. War is, in the short term good for the economy, and tends to unify the people. However, in the long term what do we give up as to our freedoms and liberties and do we once again further the cycle of war and killing. Some last thoughts related to all of this are: “An eye for eye makes the whole world blind.” M. Gandhi And “The soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: "Only the dead have seen the end of war." Gen. D. MacArthur My hope is that one day, we can prove in the 2 thousand plus years since Plato we have grown and changed somewhat as a species, sadly it is not this day. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

Stop lying to us

Why the wall on the Mexican border is not the answer, it is a distraction. Most people who are in the US as undocumented people entered the US legally as tourist, students, visa holders and other legal ways of entering the US. They just have not left yet, hell many of them go and come back through checkpoints frequently to visit relatives in the countries of their birth and return to the US again, legally crossing the border. I say undocumented because the question of their legal / illegal status is something for legal experts to determine but just because they are here does not mean they came here by illegal means. The point is that most of them didn’t walk across the southern border of the US into California, Arizona, New Mexico or Texas and if they did walk across the border more often than not, it was through a border checkpoint. Now, I’m not saying that there is not a certain number of citizens walking across the border because that happens but spending billions of dollars to build something that will be, and where it already exists, monumentally unsuccessful in doing the very thing it is supposed to do. Unless of course that thing is to drain billions of dollars out of the government and put it into the hands of construction companies, well then it will be a huge success. The irony is that these same construction companies who get the money will bid out to subcontractors to do the actual work. Subcontractors, they know, will everyday go to a parking lot, building supply store, or corner lot and pick up undocumented workers to work on the construction sites. Beyond that irony is that most of those contractors and subcontractors voted for the current administration. The current administration does not care about controlling the influx of undocumented workers that is why they are pushing a plan that does not address the issue. What they do want is to be able to use them for labor; cheap, untaxed labor that is better for their bottom lines and if the workers gripe or complain, the bosses can threaten them with deportation. Undocumented worker keep quiet, they do the work and take the little bit of money they get and put their lives at risk because they aren’t always given appropriate safety equipment for the jobs they are doing. Because buying that stuff also reflects poorly on the profit margins. If they were really concerned about the influx of undocumented people they would hire US workers and if they couldn’t find qualified US workers they would reach out to technically schools and say we need qualified people, how can we help get people trained. But they don’t do that. They hire undocumented people. It isn’t just the construction industry either, it is so many businesses. Many owned by people who voted for the current administration. If they really wanted to stop the influx of undocumented people, they would just not hire them if they were not citizens but they don’t do that. The current administration wants to bully Mexico and other countries into agreements with the US which will take advantage of those countries and are beneficial to the US. Sure, root for the home team this is fine, but be upfront about it. 45 certainly has been honest about that point, he is for trade agreements which are beneficial for the US, okay that is great. Hell, most US citizens can get behind that idea. There are better ways to get there than the dog and pony show that is the “WALL”. Because the WALL is a giant lie, it is a waste of time, it is a waste of money and doesn’t do anything to address the real issue of controlling our borders. Want to make the US great again, stop lying to the citizens and wasting our tax dollars. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

What is the US

What is America? For starters it is most of the land mass on one hemisphere of the planet. The United States is one country out of 35 countries in North and South America. We are not the only Americans What is the US? We are not just our government, we are not just our symbols, and we are not just our laws. The United States is not just a place, it is an idea. It isn’t a thing you can hold on to in your hands. You have to have it in you; in your actions, thoughts, and words. People came together and said it is not right that men (humans) should be subject to the whim and fancy of a few or a single person. We should come together for the common good of all people. All People! Those who lead, are chosen to protect all of us not just those with whom they agree. It is not an easy job to lead, it is troubling and hard. However that is not the US either. The US is still this idea we strive to achieve. A dream we hold, to be better than we were before, not for glory or fame but for liberty, freedom, justice, and happiness. Too many people in power, and those who put those people there, seem to have forgotten these ideals of liberty, freedom, justice, and happiness and only strive for power, fame, and glory. Too many people in power, and those how put them there, feel that it is right to divide the people and say some people do not have the same rights to liberty, freedom, justice and happiness as others. We, the people, All People! We keep our hopes and dreams alive not by debate and political discourse. Our dreams are born from deeper stuff. When we are inspired by those of us who see the world as it could be and arguably how it should be. Our hearts are not stirred by a new piece of law but by song, and art, and poems. Our minds are not broadened by lectures alone, but also by paintings, and stories, and understanding of other cultures. Our flaws and short comings are made into lessons through comedy and satire, so we learn and grow from them. We are not free or liberated if we are unable to celebrate who we are as people. Celebration means our art, our songs, our films, our paintings, and our poems, our dreams made of stuff so others might see how the world could be and really how it probably should be. When you think about the United States, you do not think of laws, or Presidents, or other things. Our flag is only cloth, our laws are only words, and our monuments are only stone and metal. It is the ideas these things represent that make them mean something. Those ideas are built up by the arts. Without the arts, we are stagnant and foul, and our Nation is not long for this earth without them. Taking away funding from the arts is probably the least productive thing any leader can do to help their country grow. Imagine how the world could be and really how it should be and create that world, inspire others with your art, your songs, your paintings, your music, your dance, your stories funny to tragic, Do what you can to make the world a better place for ALL PEOPLE.

What's in the box

What’s in the box? Even if you have not seen the movie Se7en, you probably know the line from the movie uttered, muttered, and screamed by Brad Pitt’s character Det. Mills, “what’s in the box” Spoilers ahead, I know 1995, was over 20 years ago, but some people with an interest in seeing it may not have seen the movie. For example, my son and his girlfriend had not seen the movie. We watched it the other day, their first time seeing the movie, my, I don’t know, 30th time seeing the movie? I’ve seen it more than once and less than 100 times. Not the point. What is in the box. The movie is about a killer, acting out crimes based around the seven deadly sins. Quickly they are Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Lust, Pride, Wrath and Envy. Each sin has a crime associated with it or so we are lead to believe. There is some debate about the end of the movie, because what is in the box is never shown. Again, spoilers read no more if you want to watch this movie untainted. Most people seem to think that Det. Mills’ wife’s head is in the box, which pushes him to commit the sin/crime of Wrath/Murder. However, I’m not convinced that Tracy Mills’ (Gwyneth Paltrow) head is in the box. Det. Somerset (Morgan Freeman) does see the content of the box. Somerset knows things that only Tracy Mills knows and no one else. She is pregnant. She confides this to Somerset away from her husband. John Doe, the killer (Kevin Spacy) shows up a few times in the film before you know he is the killer. John Doe knows who the investigating detectives are and taunts them. The question mark for me comes with the sin/crime John Doe says he has committed, which is the sin of Envy, in that he longs for the life that Det. Mills and his wife have. However, the sin of envy does not require a physical action, only a mental one, to want what others have. After several crimes are shown, John Doe turns himself in and then promises he will confess and plead guilty to all the crimes if they go with him to find the last two bodies. Prior to turning himself in, John Doe arranges for a package to be delivered to Det. Mills at this remote location at a specific time on a specific date. Yeah, this is the box. Somerset cuts off the delivery driver, opens the box and then runs back to Mills 100 yards or more away. During the time in which Mills and Somerset are apart, John Doe says to Mills, he cut off Tracy’s head. However, because you never see the head, is she dead or not? Envy does not require an action. John Doe wants to die, but suicide is a sin so he cannot kill himself and he technically does not kill any of the other people, he puts them in positions to decide to live or die, kill or not kill, each placed in a test of their will. Each person could have refused to do what they were doing and may or may not have died. I don’t think John Doe would have killed any of the others and been frustrated by their determination not to commit the crimes. The “victims” were all weaker in their will to resist their sins and committed them. John Doe even lets Mills live when he could have killed him multiple times. John Doe will not commit the crime of murder an unforgivable sin, and is avoiding suicide also an unforgivable sin. There is no scenario where John Doe would not have died, he wants to die. How do you accomplish this without sinning and going to hell? Make someone believe you are committing crimes and have them kill you. Which comes back to the test of will, Does Mills resist what he does not know to be true or does he act on his emotion and commit murder. If the murder was unjustified it is likely to have a bigger impact, in that an innocent person was killed. Tracy contemplates an abortion because the world is no place to raise a child. Somerset knows this, John Doe may have known this. Mills does not know about Tracy’s pregnancy until the set up. My conclusion is that John Doe followed Tracy, after she had an abortion took the fetus and packaged it, maybe with a card that says Happy Father’s Day or something, and has it delivered to the remote location. Maybe is it her head in the box, but I have my doubts because John Doe really has only committed a few assaults, the other deaths were all suicides or murders by other people. Assaults are not hell worthy trespasses. David Mills rots in prison a murderer, Tracy Mills mourns him and the life they could have had, John Somerset must live with the reality, as much as he hates the world around him, he does nothing to change it, even when he can. What do you think was in the box? Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Today’s title: Line from the movie Se7en Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015, Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

How dare you. How dare I not.

Forty-niners quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, is getting a lot of negative attention for his recent choice to take a stand by not standing for the National Anthem because in his opinion racism in the US is still a problem. Well, folks Mr. Kaepernick, has a point, racism is still a thing in the US. While his protest has generated a lot of talk very little of it is in the right direction, of addressing the issue of racism. So you might say that his protest failed. But has it really failed. The sit ins of the civil rights movement did not change things dramatically over night, it took years before meaningful legislation was passed and enforcement of those laws occurred. The same is true for any social change. Certainly Colin hit a nerve with many people but most people do not even think about the meaning of standing up for the national anthem it is a reflex and little to no thought is put into why we stand, it is just something we do. There is not anything particularly patriotic about most sporting events, and they are usually not political events by any measure. Playing the national anthem at the beginning of sporting contests isn’t necessary nor is it required by any law. Somehow it has worked into the fabric of sporting events, and graduations, and other things where someone thinks it should happen as a matter of national pride or some other political gesturing. There is no law that requires the national anthem to be performed at any time, there are some rules regarding how to behave during the playing of the national anthem but these are “should” rather than “shall” making them optional or the preferred means to show “respect” but are not required (unless on a military base, installation, or ship). I put respect in quotes because you can fake respect for anything by doing what is “expected” of you without having any respect for the action. Which is worse; not doing what is expected or faking the respect, that is a question for another discussion. So while you may disagree with the protest and that is your right, Mr. Kaepernick has the right to protest peacefully if he chooses even if you don’t like how he has chosen to protest. Personally I think that all the people who have hung their flags upside down during President Obama’s administration are doing something disrespectful and I don’t agree with their form of protest, but they have the right to protest in that manner, even if I don’t like it. One of the things that is truly great about the US is that we have the right to protest governmental and social wrong doing. Not everyone is going to agree with the means of protesting or with the issue that is being protested. While it may seem hypocritical for an overpaid adult playing a game to say things are not fair for some folks in the US, there is no requirement that you must be part of the oppressed group, or you must be subjected to the unfairness, to say things are not right. It wasn’t all women saying women should have the vote, it wasn’t all black people saying that basic civil rights needed to be law. Pick any social issue where a group is treated unfairly by the government / social system and the people protesting the unfair treatment, are not all in the group which is oppressed or treated unfairly. Like most protests the message is lost in the rhetoric of the unrelated issues, so if you want to hate Mr. Kaepernick, okay you can, if you want to burn his jersey, you can probably do that too, you may want to have a hose ready though, fire can be dangerous. You can even refuse to go see 49ers football or watch the games on TV. You can even ask that he be fired, fined or traded. You can do all of those things, but he can still protest by not standing for the national anthem. I served this country in the armed forces to protect everyone’s rights, not just those people who think like I do. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015, Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

Vroom, vroom...

DCU v. MCU Not really a review of Suicide Squad. Movies are bigger than ever and they are promoted so much that they hype usually out performs the movies. I say usually because there are times when a movie overshadows the hype. Comic Book film genre is not going anywhere anytime soon. The movies make money and allow the studios to make other films and not just the comic book genre DC comic Universe (DCU) cannot seem to get the universe series of characters off the ground as well as Marvel Comic Universe (MCU). DC has been happy to just keep their characters in their own realms rather than bring them together. Batman has had very good success and to a much lesser extent Superman has had good first movies without a strong follow up film. Marvel has been building the all characters tie in to a single universe since Iron Man in 2008. The DC film Man of Steel 2013 and Henry Cavill which was more a relaunching of another attempt at the Superman as film star and possibly series. However, I’m not sure that the story in Man of Steel was written with the intention of Universe building for DC but it is now the beginning of the DCU Films and from where all of DC’s characters will interact in the way Marvel has been doing since Iron Man in 2008. While the Marvel movies seem to be homeruns most of the time, DC movies seem to be okay too good with not as many people saying they are great films. For example, DCU film Batman v. Superman = good against MCU Civil War = great. Batman v. Superman got a lot of bad press with Ben Affleck as Batman. I think Ben did a fabulous job as the Dark Knight but the story got all jumbled with too much stuff going on and Jesse Eisenburg’s Lex Luthor was just bad and he is a better actor so you have to blame the director and writers for that mess. Overall thought BvS was a good film not great but good. Suicide Squad is the next chapter of the DCU building the film world series. A lot of things have worked against this film. One is the already mentioned is over hyping of movies for this one it was over a year and it seems that is becoming the norm and it should stop. The Joker. No matter who tried to fill the shoes of the Joker after Heath Ledger was going to suffer harsh reviews. Heath really just nailed the character and competing with a ghost is impossible. Jared’s Joker is not bad but it isn’t great. In defense of this version of the Joker he isn’t in the movie a lot but enough to get a sense of character and I wish there had been more story devoted to the Joker but there wasn’t. As to other characters; Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn was nearly great, as was Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. Will Smith was respectable as Deadshot, Jared Leto was solid as the Joker but again not Heath’s Joker, then the cast goes down from there which has more to do with a story that is all over the place and less to do with actors and their abilities. The big problem DC seems to have with their films is clutter and bad guys which don’t make much sense. The Christian Bale Batman Trilogy excluded from that statement as the exception. DC should use that model moving forward with their universe and upcoming films. Bad guys who are a large enough threat but in a realistically understandable way and not this planet crushing thing with five other subplots that they seem to want to do in every film that is not just Batman stand alone series. Man of Steel there are the Terraforming machines killing the earth and other stuff BvS you have Doomsday trying to kill the earth and a lot of other stuff Suicide Squad has the same type of thing going on. Obviously this is not working for you DC, go back to what Christopher Nolan did in his Batman Trilogy. Have a single villain or problem and not so huge a problem that the entire world is going to end, one large city is big enough it keeps a scale that is managed and interesting for the viewer. Overall I liked Suicide Squad and it had really good scenes but the scenes were not really tied together well enough to have a sense of this is where things are headed. The movie was like oh that was cool, filler, that was cool too, filler, cool back story, filler, that was cool and on it went. There is a clip of things to come midway through the credits so stay if you like those. Hopefully Wonder Woman will be better and the Justice League will be as well. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards