It just Makes Census.

 The current administration is still trying to get Illegal Immigrants out of the census count. I've made this argument before but I feel it is time to readdress this since it is currently being argued. 

We need to count everyone regardless of citizen status.  

The census determines how to staff and fund emergency service agencies. 

The census determines how much food and other supplies to send into an area. 

For those that wouldn't want to be counted because "I don't want the government in my business"  then  let me ask you this. 
Do you want a fire truck to show up if your home is on fire?
If you do, then get counted even if it's just holding up the middle finger to be counted as "one"

Illegals immigrants  come in a lot of different categories

. 
1. Lapsed Visas - work visa holders pay taxes contribute to the economy and their communities in larger ways.  We want these people to stay and get back to work and to continue their support.  People would argue that remittances are "stealing" from the country.   But the truth of remittances is that, especially when supported and assisted in their delivery actually bolster and boost the economy as a whole.  The U.S.D. is the current trade standard and much of the supplies remittances purchase are ordered through U.S. companies and trade partners. 

2. Hidden Refugees - need help and can provide information about situations that need aid or more direct assistance. 

3. Bounced Programs - individuals brought in under legitimate programs and then the program defunded/ended and having established homes and businesses. (biggest example is the agricultural programs.)   And rather than risk not being able to return when the work is made available again they wait until the next season/program starts.   These individuals should be counted as citizen workers or dual residency workers.

4. Students - Some would argue that if a student is here on a scholarship or grant program that they are taking resources from other students of citizens.   I'd argue that it is the opposite of this.  These students are a fundamental piece in the educational process and give students that have never traveled or are learning second and third languages direct access to native speakers of these languages and first hand perspectives on what it is like in their country.   
Currently our educational system focuses on bringing in students from wealthier areas and countries to support budgetary short falls.   However I would argue that supporting poorer and less fortunate students in the educational system would raise the over all level of success.
As an example I would point to some of the most successful, self made, entrepreneurs in U.S. history.
When given these opportunities they are less likely to take them for granted and fight harder to succeed.  Imagine if these individuals were supported rather than discriminated against.   

5. Criminals - Actual drug and human traffickers or the individuals that support these trades.   The actual dangerous individuals that need removed is a much smaller count than many think.   Most of the "criminals" that people see or are caught are victims of the trafficking themselves.  Either through enslavement or extortion, and the reason these people are trafficked or forced to help is because America has a market for these things, if we want to stop the criminals from coming over or get better help from the refugee and immigrant communities then we need to address these issues from a top down perspective, which is those utilizing these "services" because the illegals form of of drug distribution and sex workers is cheaper and more available to those that want to utilize the abusive nature of the illegal's trades.   
Largely pedophiles and businesses that use such services (illicit substances and unchecked abuse) as "client entertainment."

In the end, we need counts, to keep funding levels adequate and to keep resource levels at a healthy level. If we remove "Illegal's" from the census then we are cutting funding to communities that need the assistance and making it easier for the criminal element and those that profit from those elements to conduct their business.   

I'm not saying that Law Enforcement needs funding to wage a war in these communities. 
What I am saying is that funding needs to flow into the support networks around Law Enforcement to better  address the needs of the community and freeing up police/sheriffs departments to focus on appropriately supporting their communities. 

Stay Safe Out There.  

Colorado without Kansas

 After waking from a nap today I tuned into the news and found myself seeing the same story that's been playing out for as long as I can remember.  

Intertribal wars and genocides in Africa with refugees trying to flee the conflict to more stable countries. 
 

First some history.  

The North African Region has been a contested area through out the entirety of human history.  Because of the easy access from the Mediterranean sea to facilitate trade routs to the oil found there and heavily sought after since the age of industrialization.  

The reason for the current refugee crisis that is seeing nearly 80 million people displaced comes from a variety of situations.   

1. During World Wars 1 and 2 the fighting over the region by the various empires destroyed much of the history and infrastructure that supported the region. 

2.  by trying to "modernize" agriculture in the region much of the rich farm lands were destroyed, creating a mirror to the dust bowl that caused millions of Americans to starve during the great depression.

3.  Once trade was established through oil coming out of the region and a flood of resources coming into the area there was a population boom.  As the population outgrew what local production could support the region became dependent on outside trade. 

4. As the region began to destabilize and governments choosing genocide over resource management the western civilizations began withdrawing their support and placing sanctions on the region. 

. 


So how do we solve this. 
Well, that's why I was working at Walmart actually.  
Trying to figure out what it was about the American economy that makes it so successful in some communities and then fails others so badly, and it all boils down to infrastructure and inventory management.

Market places only work when there is adequate infrastructure to support it  which is why many minority communities in the U.S. have struggled over the past few decades. Either through neglect or active sabotage minority communities within the U.S. borders have had difficult time securing adequate water and healthy food supplies. 

So how does this help us solve the refugee problem. 
Well, for starters we better focus our aid. 

The first step is infrastructure and the backbone of that will be in recycling.   
Recycling what is already there and recycling the supplies that are brought into the region. 

The second step is sending better supplies.   

Largely humanitarian efforts focus on the cheapest and lightest forms of food to send into a region because it feeds more people quickly.   The folly in this is sending dry goods into a dry region.  Dry goods are great if you have adequate water supplies to rehydrate them but a kick in the face to a region that does not.  

By sending dry goods into a desert you are simply exacerbating the larger problem. 
So.
We send canned goods.   
Canned goods are more expensive to produce and take larger efforts to ship but they are the supplies that will do the most good in a dry and arid region. 

Why Canned Goods?

1. A supplemental water source.
A can of beans over a bag of beans, yes, feeds fewer people but the quality of the meal is far better when it is supplementing hydration needs as well.  Also, when dry goods are sent they require a large portion of the already limited water supply to prepare to the point of being able to eat them.  

2. Recycling the packaging. - 
    By creating recycling centers to take the packaging back in and return it to a raw material the metals of the cans can be used to build up infrastructure for electrical grids and water processing/delivery needs. This creates a marketplace of jobs, food, and that can heal and rebuild the region. 

3. Nutritional Supplement.
        Canned goods, outside of providing supplemental hydration have a higher over all nutritional value than dry goods. Providing healthier food options.  



As the recycling centers are established and the canned goods arrive in the region and are consumed and processed the infrastructure around them also increases. Thus stabilizing much of what the various governments and factions are truly fighting over.  
Food and Water. 
Two birds one Can. 

As basic infrastructure in the cities and permanent settlements stabilizes; better, and region specific, agricultural infrastructure can be established.   
After all, the majority of the North African region in turmoil is dry and arid that does not support large scale agriculture, but as the area is almost literally flooded with construction material and moisture through the canned goods green houses and other forms of adaptive agriculture can be established. 

From a U.S. perspective, the North African region is geologically equivalent to living in a mountainous state like Colorado without an agricultural neighbor like Nebraska or Kansas to provide the bulk of the food stuffs that supply it.  



I hope this helps. 
It should.
Stay safe out there. 

Passing Away

In 4 days this phone gets shut off.  
My entire life is tied to it.  
My way of contacting people. 
My way of managing my bank accounts. 
My way of communicating with the rest of the world.

When this phone shuts off all of the verification for all of the digital accounts. 
Employment records.
Photos.  
I just won't have access anymore. 
And if I can't remember the passwords, which I won't because I never do, almost every account having a different one, i'll be locked out of them. 
Wow. 
Here I was. 
Thinking that there were people out there listening.  
When, as it seems, all it was the delusions of a broken mind.
I guess I'll be on Tik Tok until then. 
It's the only place where people still talk to me or interact with me like I'm actually a human being. 
But, even then, that account it is tied to this phone as well. 

I thought I'd be more sad.  
But in honesty, I just kind of feel numb. 
Ireached out help years ago to try to get ahead of this.  
"Well Jack, how could you know?"
Because I do. 
I can't explain it. 
I just do. 
Down to the day when I would run out of money. 
When the credit cards would start defaulting from insufficient payments. 
How much of my time and energy would be wasted. 
The only thing I didn't account for was how indifferent the people in my life would be about it. 
How little my writing and my work meant. Or even factored in to anyone elses life. 
I wanted to go to Disneyworld when I retired.  
When I had a family to with. 
I wanted to go to D.C. to apply for work. 
Instead it was backwards. 
And Disney dreams and wishes never paid the bills and D.C. didn't want me. 
Well. 
It was a good run.
I did some good things with my life.
Helped some people out.

And ya know.
At the end of the day that's all I can ask for. 
So 4 days.

Huh. 
Happy thanksgiving. 
I'll see you on the other side.

"Oh Jack, there is no other side. .."
I know.
Just the illusions of a broken mind shattering and falling to the ground.

Stress Dreams

 I haven't dreamt in a long while.
I tend to run myself to exhaustion to avoid them. 
I have reoccurring dreams that are part memory, part nightmare.

In this one it involves moving to a safe place with friends.

We spent several days camping out of our car while looking for a safe place to go. 

Eventually we find a very remote community out in the hills.  There is a two story house with a basement, which I guess technically makes it a three story house. 

My friends and I are looking the house over, thinking about additions we can make to it so that we'll each have our own little apartment space within it.   
As we're settling in there is the sound of motorcycles roaring on the hillsides surrounding the little valley that we're in. 

I look up and I realize that our safety and hippieness was just an illusion.  
We scatter, hoping into cars.  
Trees and dirt fly as I tear across a grassy field heading for the tree line.   
A black S.U.V., lights flashing, pulls out of the trees and takes up position behind us.  

I feel the sting of an angry bee in my back and the windshield of the convertible spiderwebs into the seat.  My friend in the passenger seat falls silent.  The S.U.V. has disappeared from the rearview and I hear the crunch of metal in the trees. 

I run into a dead end.
Some sort of rodeo is happening and I slow and cautiously make my way through the crowd to confused looks.  
I make it around the outdoor arenas perimeter and find another trail leading off into the trees.  

That when the world starts to fade out...

And I snap awake as though I had just nodded off. 

I've been awake for almost a half hour now and my heart is still pumping with the adrenaline still coursing through my veins. 

Despite that near freezing temperatures in my room this morning I am sweating. 

What Does it Mean to be Thankful?

 After watching the oversight committees for the Afghan conflict yesterday I started on thoughts about how to end the war.   
A project and problem that I've been working on since the towers fell in 2001.  
And, even though I do not, by any means, think that I can offer an end all solution I can offer my findings and opinions.   
Much like everyone else is able to.  
As I began outlining my arguments it struck me that this conflict was representative of many other things and that the coming holiday, Thanksgiving, was an example of exactly what we are fighting for. And this morning I finished this piece. 
  So, as follows, is the script for the video that I recorded and posted just before this blog post. 

Concerning Afghanistan

The main reason the attacks of September 11th 2001 happened is because the Afghanistan people, at the time represented by Al-Qeida, had a legitimate grievance that they were caught between the larger super powers as these super powers fought for control over the resources of their homes. 

Concerning Troop Movements.

The problem is not "can we, as the U.S. and Coalition armed forces win on the battlefield?", that is not and has never been the question.  The question is, and always has been, "Can we end the fighting."

One of the biggest examples we could set that would be more effective than any number of troops or aid sent in for nation building would be to begin re-examining our nations oldest treaties with the Native Peoples of the lands that we already live in. 

What faith do the Afghan people, and the various organizations that oppose western involvement in their affairs, have in a nation that does not honor the treaties with their own people? 

Addressing the territories that are currently owned by the U.S. Government and the lands of the Indigenous People. 

This the main arguing point that the Taliban and other organizations like them have against the U.S. and other super powers that they believe, regardless of evidence or intent, but fully believe that they are simply being prepped  to become another "American Territory." 

We need to heal the rifts within their own borders before we can bring the Taliban and ISIS to the table with any true trust or willingness to negotiate.

Arguably the only thing that the American Military should be doing in Afghanistan is making sure that food, medicine, and other supplies are getting to the Civilians.  And coordinating with both Russian and Chinese governments to do it, rather than working against each other to secure a seat of military power. 

These smaller, isolated, resource rich nations have been to long caught between the power struggles of Russia, China, and the U.N. 

This is not a concession, it is a returning to the original mission parameters, and remembering why the conflict began in the first place. 

We keep looking at borders on maps in this conflict and thinking that enforcing them is the solution.   When in truth it is the continuation of ages old conflicts concerning the availability of necessities of life and the safety of tribes of peoples.

Looking at the entirety of the Middle Eastern and South Pacific Conflict post World War II in an attempt to thwart the "red threat".

After World War II the allied powers forced many smaller, nomadic tribes, that had their own conflicts and grievances amongst themselves together.  The Israeli conflict a direct result of the larger nations being unwilling to shelter a displaced people and returning them to a homeland with weapons to fight a people that were no longer representative of those that originally displaced them. 

Much in the way the youth of our nation are railing against systems put in place by the very same people that chose to send a displaced people into a war zone rather than inviting them into their homes until a peaceful negotiation for their home could be made.

All of this misinformation being spread by those that saw by those that saw themselves as apart from nature and not a part of it.   Creating a breading ground for dictatorships, subjugation, and generations of war. 

These peoples, those of the Islamic faiths and Middle Eastern nations, coming from from a faith and civilization with a history longer than any government in the Americas outside those of the Native Peoples. 

America offers it's hand to help, but it is a hand dripping with the blood of the Native Peoples of their own land while the other pushes the descendants of slavery away from the very table that they are offering seat at to others.  

These are the sad facts of our nations history. 

That we are still having the same arguments, and fighting the same wars that our ancestors were.  
And though the language, the front lines, the warriors, and the tools have changed. 
The same reason for fighting continues on. 
Food, Water, Shelter and they safety they provide. 
Many think that Oil is the reason, but oil is just a tool used to secure these other things. 

This Thanksgiving, as many of us are isolated and scattered. 
Either through circumstance or by choice.

One thing that I would ask the people of America : indigenous, refugee, immigrant, visitor or those born on the soil and claim rights to the land is to think on this. 

As you are eating your meals, as you are sharing the stories of your ancestors, no matter what side of history they came from, as you are debating the events of the past four years and speculating on the future.  
Think about where we've come from.
How far we, as a world have moved forward. 
But also how much farther we can go. 

It is my hope, my faith, that out of this blood soaked history we can grow a new tree and Thanksgiving will no longer be an American Holiday.   

But a World Holiday. 

Much like Armistice day.  When the world stopped fighting and shared a meal together. 

When we, as a planet shared a meal by candle light and with our gazes turning collectively back ot\ to the stars and we find a common goal to work towards. 

This Thanksgiving I am not thankful. 
I am hopeful that we will find peace.
I am faithful that those in positions of power will use their voices to build a lasting peace. 
We only have one planet, but we have many peoples, many nations, many tribes.  

Stay Safe Out There. 

Hardly Working

It's funny. 
Trying to justify the cost of hiring me while at the same time being to stubborn to take jobs that refuse to pay a living wage anymore. 
At this juncture I'd rather accept government aid and be able to focus on my writing and research in hopes of finding independent funding that will allow me to continue working in my own fashion while allowing me to pay back the assistance I've received financially from friends, lovers, and yes even the government assistance I've received over my life time. 
Hell on the assistance payback I would like to pay in enough that at least two or three other people would be able to receive the same level of assistance that I have. 
Either as direct financial assistance or subsidizing of their living situation. 
Having a safe space to recover/rest in or at can be one of the most key things for helping an individual maintain a healthy life.  

Fast forward to the current situation.
I'm to the point in my life that I would rather work as a baby sitter for a criminal than work for a legitimate businessperson trying to figure out how to pay their employees as little as possible. 
Thing is, I might not agree with the human that a criminal is, but their children are young and I can be a positive influence no matter how dark the situation.
Where as working for a company or employer that, even though they follow the written law, their goal is exponential growth rather than managed expansion and maintenance.
Exponential expansion is unhealthy, and soon exhausts resources.  While manged expansion and maintenance allows for flexibility in the business and better working conditions/pay  for everyone involved.  

And that's the model we're trying to fix right now. 
Not that capitalism isn't a good resources management system.  
Just that, as it stands currently, it is built on limitless/exponential expansion. 
And we only have one Earth, and maybe a Mars that we can live on.
So yeah.
Be a positive role model for kids, regardless of their familial situation or help business keep a system of institutionalized slavery and discrimination as their operation standard?
Me?
I choose the kids, and anyone that wants to help educate them, so that they have the tools and knowledge necessary to correct our course before we hit an ice berg and, hopefully, avoid the chunks of the bergs we've already smashed into.

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner

 The 2020 election is drawing to a close and since the early voting started I've been avoiding exit poles, speculation, and commentary.   The closest I've come has been watching the PBS news hour and largely tuning out the opinions and try to pick up on the debate points to keep an ear open for in my other news peeking during this election.  

So I ran this year, first year I was able. 
Kind of. 
I kind of hired a campaign manger.
Kind of advertised.
Kind of talked to people about it. 
Kind of  participated in the debates.

But at the end of it I did my best to stay out of it while still participating.  
Why?  
Even if I did garner media attention I feel like it would have distracted to much from the main issues.  
Do I agree that choosing between two old white dudes represents the country right now...maybe a little...I mean we are trying to teach old white dudes and their cohort that people are people and we need an example of that.  

However, if the Democratic party had really gone for the throat on this, they would have had Pelosi or Harris at the head of their ticket and Warren as the V.P. pick.  
The Republican party...I guess you have to credit them for going down with the ship?
I don't know, like I said, I've been trying to avoid "spoilers".

Am I going to to try this thing again in 2024.  
Maybe.  
I honestly don't know at this juncture.  Mostly I need to focus on pulling my shit together and figure out a more stable living situation.   Or an acceptable mobile one that can accommodate my work needs. 

What did I learn this election cycle? 
Well, for starters, I've spent almost the entirety of it on Tic Tok. 
At first, the app was a fun little distraction during breaks at work as another excuse to avoid talking to my coworkers.  Then I started posting.  Mostly as a short vlog/blog sort of thing.   Then I found...my tribe? 
Cosplayers, socially awkward,  and   other folks with similar backgrounds/professional trajectories.

Though, because of how I outlined my probably candidacy back in 2016 Tik Tock was the perfect platform. 
New, shiny, viral, video based, and...almost like I designed the app. 
Regardless, it brought to fore front one of the biggest issues with the current digital world. 
How to create content, provide a legal database of videos and sound bites for students to play with and provide a monetization option for the creators of the video and sound clips.  
Tik Tock, by design, is a good platform for that.   The only thing it's really missing is analogue content flagging efforts to take down uncredited or un licensed reproductions of sounds or videos.  
If it were my app?   I'd make that a work from home job with the added bonus of finding a legitimate sample of the audio or similar clip for the creator to work with while putting the hard ban hammer down on efforts to flood the app with bootleg sounds.  
The only other consideration would be age/troll quarantining. 
Users under a certain age being server locked from adult content.  And if it's found that an account being used by a minor has falsified their age to access the adult content, banning said accounts.  
Tik Tok, arguably, has become the perfect model for finding, and filling, loopholes in copy wright law.  Both from a misuse stand point and from an over regulation standpoint.   
Take You Tube for example. 
When money started to flood into the platform and larger businesses began exerting their legal leverage over smaller creators much of the smaller experimental channels disappeared and were overshadowed by offerings by major networks and media outlets.   

Yes, You Tube had it's issues with copywrite violations and something did need to be done about it.   But much like the "kill it with fire approach" the record industry took to Napster, we ended up with many quality creators abandoning the platform out of frustration.  But, that does give us a good model for the "cable company" of the future, or rather, "Public Access Cable of the future" Where a platform like Tick Tok would be the "Community Theater of the Future"  and Instagram would be the "Club district of the future"   
I dunno, never messed with Insta, I got off the social media FOMO train a few years ago.  

Just thoughts. 
Regardless. 
Back to the Scroll and trying to figure out which flippin' application to fill out to be able to pay back my debt and figure out how to generate income from my writing and teaching.