I Hate Crackers

Share a lesson you wish you had learned earlier in life.

Actually the title is bait. But I really do hate crackers. Ritz, Saltines, Wheat Thins, all of them. I don’t care if you give me the most expensive cheese or Beluga caviar, I will not eat crackers.

That’s what the title really means. But it may not be the way you saw it.

That’s because once upon a time, it referred to a hillbilly, a dullard with no education and a hatred for freed slaves, usually African Americans, and this hatred was absolutely deadly. The expression, a derogatory slang, once conjured the image of an old man wearing a battered straw or felt hat, shirtless beneath bib overalls, bare of foot, a corn cob pipe hanging from a mouth with no or few teeth, and in his hands a side-by-side double-barrel shotgun.

More recently it’s been used as a derogatory name for any Caucasian, used by African Americans.

Down in the southern and in the midwestern United States it is more prevalent, but since the late 1990s has faded further north. But you can still hear it.

Racism is everywhere and is a part of everyone’s life, whether we want to believe it or not. You may not think that you are racist, but no matter how you may try not to be, the need for and effort itself means that there is something within you that’s being fought, something you try to bury deep, crammed into shadows you never dare let see the light of day. That’s a great thing. It is noble, this fight, and remember that many before you have fought the same personal battle, each one of them making the world a slightly better place. No brave effort is ever wasted.

Of all the regrets I have that haunt me most, being a blind bigot is at the top. I’ve hurt people, almost exclusively with words. I would sling the “N” word from my mouth as often as the word “fuck”, and that goes way back to childhood.

In my school in elementary grades, what they call “primary” school now, there was one African American girl. Same grade I was in. And did we ever punish her. Also the girls who never washed or bathed, who showed up in white blouses that went as unwashed as they, well we gave them hell too. I got bullied, but when it was the rare girl who set her cross hairs on me, I would be shocked into frightened silence, and the sickening language I used on others would come back to me, but strangely, because there was a certain finesse and panache added in. I hated Cheryl Gant and admired her at the same time for being sick, but eloquent in her loathing for me. After a time, she became attractive to me!

I could never figure out why she hated me, and it spread to her mother, who had the balls to knock on my door after I passed her once on North Shore Road. I thought that was funny, but let my mother handle it because at 17 years of age, I had no way of holding back my emotions and I’d have used language like “cunt” on her. Yep. I’d have done that. Maybe worse.

What Cheryl did, unknowingly, was teach me that hate can come from anywhere. It isn’t restricted to race, gender, religion, or any other factor. Sometimes, it’s just there.

Other times, it’s taught. When parents are both southern bigots, true racists, you do what they do. You say what they say. You feel what they’ve taught you you feel. Being young in redneck Pasadena in the 1960s, lots of prejudice existed, and if a black family moved into the neighborhood, they’d be shunned by most, befriended by few, and invariably suffered vandalism. I rarely heard of violence, except on Walter Cronkite in 1968.

Maryland went into panic as riots broke out in Baltimore City that year, and Governor Spiro Agnew activated the MDARNG. A conservative, Agnew would go on to be Nixon’s vice president before being caught with fraudulent tax records. He was replaced by Gerald R. Ford.

These riots, so close to the cloistered suburbs of Pasadena and North Shore, scared my father silly. He kept a .22 revolver with a 10-inch barrel loaded. Ready for (“the ‘Ns'”) to walk into his yard.

They weren’t coming, but his blind terror of blacks rendered him hysterical and unreasonable. I felt the fear that he did. It made an indelible mark on my soul, and I got worse. If I was a mentally ill loose cannon before, I became a monster later. And the African American girl in my class suffered additional reactionary punishment not just from me, but others. By sixth grade, she’d grown an impressive bosom. The girls wanted to be her because they had nothing in the breast department. Weren’t supposed to, really, but everyone matures at different rates.

By junior high, the bussing situation threw together kids who weren’t prepared. Shock naturally occurred, but with dire consequences. Rednecks regularly carried switchblade knives, and came very close to murder. Fights, rumors of riots,fistfights in the hallways were more limited to the redneck guys, but other scenarios happened. It wasn’t a conducive learning environment. And I hated black people more until I finally got suspended for hate speech. Several times.

I didn’t care. Not for decades would I feel differently.

Being grown, working every day, I was always going to interact with people I’d been taught to hate.

And slowly, ever so slowly, I became less fearful. I interacted with customers, asked stupid questions, but always, they understood and praised my eagerness to learn, to overcome. I wanted the hatred and fear to end, to be no more. I began to see beauty in all people of all races. Women whom I’d never have paid attention to became ravishing. And almost always, and to this day, women of color are nicer to me than most others. They sense things in me: no threat, no danger, always sympathetic and ready to listen, not a man seeking a relationship, but a friend.

And the girl in my class all those years ago, who alone had to bear racism from white students surrounding her?

One night I read a newspaper article. She’d made the headline. Babysat one night. And the baby wouldn’t stop crying… she tortured and killed it. I never knew, and never will, if what she went through in school, because of boys like me, played a part.

You know what I’d like to think.

But the abuse we piled on her for years would almost certainly be part of her hell.

All actions and words have consequences. And the potential to harm, and harm greatly. I wish I could have learned that lesson much earlier. Then, maybe, though damaged and full of my own sorrow, rage and bitterness, I could have learned respect and how to love…instead of having so many hurt left behind me in time. A painful lesson that hurts more because I took so long to learn it. I often think back to those who I had hurt and hated. Too late to apologize. Too distant. And some are long gone. As is one infant whose name I will never know.

The Rise Of Nazi America

No, I’m not engaging in hype. Nor is the title a joke. In truth, this has been coming for a long time.

I read an article. Does anyone remember the SCORPION Unit? The Memphis Police Department 40-man unit accused this January of beating Tyre Nichols to death? The “SCORPION 5” were the five officers of the MPD unit involved in the death. The unit was disbanded. The fallout was inevitable. Under pressure, MPD buried the SCORPION.

But there’s a problem. It’s two-fold: crimes and the public fear they generate, and a police department unable to handle it with no more fallout. How can such a balance be possible?

There is no way. It’s gone too far. So when talk of a new, smaller unit to calm the youth crime problems reached the public, well….

Let’s just start at the beginning.

When SCORPION was involved and held responsible for beating Nichols so severely that he died, there were some who didn’t care, and of course that’s always true in any case of injustice. But questions had to be asked: how many police “special units” had done this type of thing? How did special units always seem to devolve into something less than what they were intended to be? How many times had people been killed by special units, especially in urban, high-crime areas, such as the ones SCORPION was charged with patrolling?

Those kinds of questions don’t get much in the way of answers, but we know the root cause. That is, if you give any military or police unit a designated task and the area of operations is open to attack or is in high crime or free-fire zones, all hell breaks loose. Most people know that power corrupts. The more power given, the more corrupt the empowered become.

Given specific designations, then placed in areas where soldiers or police are under extraordinary stress for almost the entirety of their tour or shift, everything necessary for extreme conflict is in place. You know what happens next.

The few men and women with law enforcement or military operations charged with keeping order while under constant pressure, or fear, inevitably cross a line that they become less concerned with each time they go out. More research must be done to help military command and police training and supervision understand and therefore more capable of mitigating the circumstances that cause the horrendous results of their own failure or ability to train and dispatch personnel.

You immediately think, Hey, just weed out the assholes, but it’s not so easy. Of course, there are trainees that fail to make the cut, but it is sobering to stop and be careful with a judgement like that. Some trainees do very well under controlled conditions, and they do equally well in initial field conditions.

They may even distinguish themselves as exemplary. But under fire, or in a high pressure, dangerous area, usually for extended shifts or days, they can and do overreact to the point of displaying a desperation and self protection that clearly is not warranted. It happens to soldiers and police and even security guards. Fight or flight goes out the door, replaced with no choice but to fight. At that point, fear and rage overtake the person and adrenaline courses like a high surf through their brain. They cannot think.

Those situations I understand because so many of us have been there: an impossible task, a wrong turn, a few random variables, and suddenly we are there.

What I do not understand is two or more police officers beating or shooting one individual to death. In a suspect who is on drugs there lies the potential for extreme danger. Hey, we get it. They don’t react to tasers and stun guns. Forget bean bags, pepper spray and gas. Nothing but a split second stands between you and death, or another person’s death, as is the case with a hostage when there’s no time for talk. That kind of decision I hope you never have to make. I’m glad I never did.

But then, even when a police shooting is clearly justified, what happens? The media. Soon, they have you questioning what you can see right there on the screen.

And then there is the nightmare stuff. Brutality and excessive force. I remember the night I saw the footage of the Rodney King beating. I had never seen anything like it. I knew that violence would follow. It did. And it was terrifying and sickening. It was never close to the ’65 and ’68 riots, but I didn’t remember much of those because there was less footage, most was on film, and reporters couldn’t remain in an area for long.

But after Rodney King, it kept happening. Then smart phones came along. Everyone had footage.

But there was immediately a problem. Both police and civilians edited the footage. And the media made everything worse.

Prior to the early 1970s, I rarely ever heard of a police officer getting shot. It happens all the time now.

Cops are in extreme danger every time they hit the streets. No matter where they are.

Republicans won’t do anything about the gun problem. The National Rifle Association was regaled by republican party dicks recently. Mike Pence was there. His reception was almost comical. But the scariest part is, the NRA was vetting candidates. And that’s a joke because they’re pro-MAGA and so are all republican politicians and voters. Because if by now you still call yourself a republican, you’re a MAGA party member. The NRA just wants to know who to support. Because mass shootings are too common and people are on the edge. Responsible gun owners are also involved because right wing media has brainwashed them into believing that if democrats get majority numbers in the House and Senate, their hunting rifles will be outlawed. Squads of police will come to take away their boy’s BB rifles.

This is a terrifying truth. They believe the lies. They really believe them.

Now that guns are open carry in places, the nuts can feel much safer buying what they want. AR-15 style rifles have more accessories than an Armani wardrobe. They’re often the weapon of choice in mass shootings. Gun sellers are not held to common standards of even the slightest responsibility in background checks and identification. Gun manufacturers will never be liable for the use of their products. There are no consequences to anyone except victims and their families. Even insurance companies refuse to pay out under whatever circumstances they care to quote. The families often get left to pay hospital bills, specialists, ambulance bills, funeral costs and more, making them victims all over again.

With guns everywhere, crime rising because of rising costs, drugs and more, we can see why the police are overwhelmed. And let’s get one thing straight right now: we all know that law and order meant something well before it was the title of shitty TV shows and spin-offs. We need our police. Life without them is not life. It’s death.

But solutions aren’t forthcoming, obvious or even reasonable when presented. And making it all worse, there are cops on the job who are idiots and racists, itching to take a shot at anyone in any groups or races whom they hate. Courts have convicted some killer cops, but for the most part, they get let free, and some get to go back to their jobs. The innocent cops are ruined even when exonerated. They will relocate, perhaps changing their name, but doomed for the rest of their lives to look over their shoulders.

The SCORPION Unit may be gone, but the MPD has conceived a new unit tasked with countering the “influx of calls” regarding teens and young adults in the city who are engaging in things like “soliciting” or selling candy, playing loud music and dancing.

It may be difficult to understand one side of this, because that side – the police side – has set vague guidelines for the small unit. Eight officers under two sergeants and a lieutenant would have to decide who to detain, and it gets more confusing when you read that there would be a prohibition against officers taking a detainee to a residence. The juveniles would be taken into custody until parents are called. But parents stand to pay a high price; upon taking custody of their child, they would be issued a court summons. That almost guarantees a fine or worse. And if parents don’t show up in a timely fashion in the eyes of officers, they would be charged with neglect or child abandonment and have that child handed over to CPS!

At the root of this is teens scaring or intimidating or disturbing citizens in some way or another. That goes on in every city in the entire country. But what inevitably follows is racial profiling, stop and frisk, questionable detentions because of judgement calls by officers who, by nature, would be overwhelmed from the minute they started up. Judging who has the radio that’s up too loud, trying to round up dancers in the street, or breaking up a basketball game is risky. It’s unconstitutional to take certain actions anyway, but who decides what inappropriate clothing is? They would call it indecent exposure and come on, now. That’s too thin. Republicans in Washington have banned their own (politicians) women from going sleeveless while in session. Are arms indecent now? This really makes no sense. Republicans typically behave worse when it comes to sex, but scandalous or just not caught yet means everything. If Donald Trump paid Stormy Daniels hush money it was because he was pandering to the religious conservatives who have quickies and never remove their clothes during sex, so they can get back to their daily scripture reading as quickly as possible. And it doesn’t matter if they download porn in their pastor’s study, or if they are pastors: they fear “religious oppression” and will bankroll conservatives every time. Main reason: they make a lot of money off parishioners and that is something more important than faith any day, and every day in-between. What is indecent exposure? Who decides? Conservatives.

Don’t get me wrong here: if a person is stark naked in public, they’re breaking the law. If some guy pulls out his weenie to piss, and someone sees it, that’s indecent exposure. A park flasher should be taken away for a full mental evaluation, no doubt about it. But look, conservatives take basic truths and twist them into pretzels. So a guy wearing boxers and low riding jeans may not show good taste, but if you see no skin, that is not indecent exposure.

I’ve heard men at shopping centers yell at young women to go home and “put some clothes on”. But there was never a law prohibiting cleavage and legs. Even though some don’t approve, mostly because insecure men don’t want to see what they can’t have. It scares them. Then they go home and beat off. Fucking headcases.

How does it look to the world that sees this country as a nation of barbarians in the first place, then reads progressively worse news stories in articles in their own country? European free countries have always, in general, thought us a bit eccentric in our mores and sexual hang-ups. But imagine police in America patrolling in cruisers, looking for kids wearing miniskirts and low-riders. Fascism, or nazism?

The issue is not, ultimately, law and order, it is actually going to turn into one of backlash and civil unrest. And while some will believe that eight field officers and three supervisors might not be able to cause much trouble, we have all seen what one rogue cop can do.

As of this writing, the city officials denied that this unit was even in existence and that it was a concept that was proposed but never approved. Yet names of officers clearly appeared in at least one source, either a written draft or in a MPD video. It is a likely testament to the power of outraged civilians howling in protest that the unit’s existence is being denied.

That same outcry occurred just days ago in Missouri after an 84-year-old white man shot a black youth through his closed front door. Arriving at the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers around 22:00, the man answered the door, said “Don’t come around here again” and shut the door. Then he fired two .32 caliber rounds through his front door, nearly killing the black boy who only wanted to get his kid brothers home safely. A piece of shit Saturday Night Special.

Originally the police arrested the elderly maniac, but let him go because (of a law no one really understands) said he could shoot his gun at anyone who caused him to fear for his personal safety. It’s either legally or euphemistically called the “Stand Your Ground” law.

But there was immediate and serious backlash from the Kansas City residents. They gathered, chanted “fight back!” and their numbers grew. The shooter’s house was vandalized. The police knew that it wasn’t going well and thought the matter through a bit more. Nobody shoots through their front door. And firing twice, scoring two hits, including a head shot? That’s not luck. That’s someone whose senses are remarkable for anyone at that age. A maniac with intent and ability. And a whole lot of racial hate.

He was arrested on charges of attempted murder and some bullshit misdemeanor which he’ll plead down to and serve 6 months house arrest.

But whatever comes of it, he will have to relocate. His life will only be worth one round of 9mm ammunition. Nothing more. Because things are building up to a point which I don’t want to imagine, but have anyway, hundreds of times.

There is no way to avoid it. Neither party is willing to bend. Gun control is not possible. Republicans argue that in Nazi Germany Hitler restricted all firearms in the civilian population. This is utterly ridiculous and it was the Weimar Republic that did that, but the Third Reich actually allowed civilians belonging to the Nazi Party to own guns. Political dissidents meanwhile, whether German or not, were shipped out to prison camps. Any not being so condemned were not just restricted from owning guns, but had other tortures held aside for them. Being monitored by the Gestapo arm of the Schustaffel would have been shameful and full of constant fear. Neighbors would spy, even lie about one’s activities to score points for themselves and some kind of favor.

Back then, what is often overlooked is that it wasn’t just Jews who got sent to die, by machine gunners, by Xyclon B, medical experiments, being cooked in ovens, or starvation and exposure, but also gay men and women, bisexuals, the mentally ill, Christians and anyone who, by Himmler and Heydrich’s standards were not fit to breathe German air.

Many falsehoods exist concerning the German Nazis, but with all that they did, using them as an example to use against gun control is lame, a lie that today often gets used by Republicans here in the US. The argument is illogical at least, comical at most. It assumes that an armed citizenry prevents tyranny. No source backs this up; the evidence is to the contrary if anything. Using the Revolutionary War doesn’t work either. The further reasoning is that if they use this argument, democrats will see reason because they fear tyranny most of all. While, plainly visible but never admitted aloud, republicans are the party choking out personal civil rights. The proof is in the stacked Supreme Court laying the groundwork for abortion to be banned in every state. It reversed the Roe versus Wade decision and handed the right of individual states to allow or ban abortions.

In extreme cases it is illegal to get an abortion even if pregnancy is caused by rape and incestuous rape. A minor cannot abort her father’s baby. That’s how it used to be, and it wasn’t that long ago. For a developed country yes, World, we are barbarians. In Nazi Germany, abortion was legal but had to be approved. That’s not to extoll the greatness of a mass-genocidal regime; merely to illustrate how we are headed for something far more oppressive. And that should terrify everyone, but they don’t see it coming. They don’t even think it’s possible.

Other restrictions are adding up by the day. The state of Florida will never be the same after DeSantis leaves the Governor’s mansion.

He’s signed the “Don’t say gay” bill and expanded it to all grades. It prohibits all sex education teaching and is aimed mostly at gay and bisexual kids. Because you can, of course, teach kids not to be gay. If they can’t be taught what it is, or accidentally read about it in some library book, they’ll never think about being gay, right? Right?

And if you ban “harmful drag queen story time”, then….

I can’t finish that sentence. We’re going the same way all oppression forced on societies throughout history has gone – into absurdity.

He’s also banned any history classes on African Americans and their culture, and the term “climate change” has been banned. Also, books vanished from all school libraries because his restrictions on literature are impossible for anyone to understand, much less use as a guide for picking which books are acceptable (hint: the answer is none anyway).

It is the republican party that draws us closer to any form of Nazi or fascist, totalitarian government. They refuse to save children from guns but will not help a rape victim care for her baby with government assistance. They want social security and all other benefits immediately banned. People dying by the numbers will not be enough for them. People imprisoned for not having jobs because they’re disabled is not far-fetched. Not anymore. Global warming will not be a problem for them either. They simply claim it is not real. Restricting the causes is not as important to republicans as providing tax breaks to the worst conglomerates who cause it.

For years I’ve repeatedly claimed that we were at a crossroads and that serious problems had to be addressed.

Nothing has changed unless you consider things getting worse a change.

There are innovative ways people are working on to help, but the problem with global warming is that when consumers are offered choices, they often resist change. And they’ve been misled because most electric power is generated by burning fossil fuel, so charging an electric car just adds to, rather than alleviates, the emissions of carbon.

Confused people also can’t decide if wind farms are good or bad because of men like Donald Trump who claimed if the wind stopped your favorite TV show wouldn’t continue, that birds by the millions are killed by them and that dangerous fields surrounded them. But there’s always one way to figure the truth out for yourself: Donald Trump never tells the truth. About anything.

Nor do his acolytes, who for reasons of having power or not wishing to be ostracized, will back him up ceaselessly.

The oppression and the deceit builds up. It never makes any sense, but it’s happening. It will get worse. Like a snowball in a cartoon, rolling downhill, movements like this get bigger, build speed, and become incredibly powerful.

To conclude, oppression and tyranny are coming to power and will rule this land with no fucking mercy. In this moment, we still have choices. It’s critical that we make the right ones, because tomorrow, our freedom of choice could be taken away. Our allies will not help. They will turn away. Men in power and weak, crazy women who act as their false prophets (looking at you, Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Boebert) will relentlessly hound people like generic liberals, progressives, and single out the LGBTQ+population as well as Blacks and Hispanics and persecute them relentlessly. They clearly hate Pride Day, MLK’s birthday and Black Lives Matter, and have already silenced the Me Too Movement. Partly, of course, through media silence, partly with cash and partly with threats and intimidation. Ron DeSantis has targeted Disney, his own state’s biggest attraction and generator of business and tourism. Because Disney stood up for LGBTQ+ rights. That is mind-boggling, going to war with that which keeps your state taking in money. Madness!

I have been fortunate in my life to have known many gay and lesbian friends. They enriched my soul and taught me great lessons. Of the friends I’ve left behind, as we all do throughout our lives, they were the most understanding and loyal, helpful and protective. Their souls were radiant, and I miss them all. Had I grown up in a bubble as my father wished me to, I would never have known and gotten close to great friends. I would not have learned anything. To have hatred and bigotry limit your potential friends is spiritual suicide. And most of my friends, the ones I can count on?

Well, they’re black. I’ve shared rent in a two-bedroom condo with my closest friend for almost 9 years now. We don’t fight, don’t argue. We don’t share food or a budget, but live separatey, yet we are friends, respectful and honest. We can go to each other for help, and either one of us would give his life to save the other. We mourn together when tragedy strikes. When my son was alive, having been raised by a racist grandmother, mother and step-father, Larry was able to show him that respect and decency still counted. My son loved him, and even asked how he was doing when he called me. When he visited, they brought out the best in each other with playful, nonsensical banter. After Mike Jr. passed away, I believe it hurt Larry very much, but he fights hard against some of his emotions. He’s suffered loss too, a lot of it, too much, really. He realized Mikey would never visit us again and he didn’t know how to handle it. I told him softly, “Man, did that boy love you.” And he looked as if he understood. But he still never spoke about it.

All we have in this life is each other, you, me, and the Larrys and Michael Juniors of this world. In whatever time we have here, we’re supposed to make a difference. We have no right to make things worse or to hurt others. What my son and best friend shared opened Mike’s mind to reality and a world he had not seen before. And love. It’s the greatest thing any two people can share.

What a shame it is that so many miss out on that. What a horrible thing to aim hate at people you’ve been taught to mistrust. It makes whatever is looming in our path more inescapable. It seals a fate none will enjoy.

America will never become a Nazi power.

It will be far, far worse. Do not allow that.

Endangered America

On October 31,1880, in Denver, rioting broke out and Chinese people were attacked, one killed, although I believe more died but were hidden in the reports. White “superiority” had always been around, but this event was something that needed an apology for.

More irresponsible decisions over mask mandates have come from major air carriers like Delta. It’s also a drop in mandates for Uber drivers and passengers. A federal judge struck the mandates down in a show of classic superiority from a bench. It also reflects political corruption. Judges are expected to be informed but fair and impartial. This one is neither informed nor impartial. Someone got to him. We’re talking bribery. No, don’t act surprised or as if my accusation is farfetched.

Florida’s problem with CRT is getting way out of hand.

We’ve never been more aware of the problem with Republicans and racism. Now it’s way out there. Approximately 41 math textbooks reviewed in the Sunshine State have been rejected because they use references to CRT. I think the hypocrisy here tells us all we need to know about Republicans. They scream about “cancel culture” when CSA monuments are removed, but banning books and the word “gay” are more damaging than a statue of Robert E. Lee being relocated to a museum. Florida has become a place where bigots, homophobics and women-haters can take refuge with their own kind.

I hope this summer, you will remember this, and boycott the entire state by traveling elsewhere. A country with so much to explore can certainly provide you with plentiful fun, from breathtaking scenery to amusement parks and hiking, camping and fishing or bike riding. Florida doesn’t deserve your hard-earned dollars. Carolina beaches are every bit as nice, and some nicer, than any in Florida. From the Florida state line to Massachusetts, there are awesome beaches.

Fentanyl overdose that killed Mac Miller in 2018 was sold by a dealer who just got sentenced to ten years. It isn’t enough. Ryan Reavis dealt counterfeit oxycodone that contained fentanyl. It killed the rapper. His attorney says he’s sorry (that he gets to see his family and Miller does not). That statement doesn’t work when a man is dead.

Miller died the same year as my son died, from the same drug. The rich and the powerful have caused people in pain to search for opiods on the streets — an inexcusable result of wrongful death and malpractice cases directed wrongly at honest physicians (and also at) pharma corporations. Recreational use and responsible use by individuals with chronic, debilitating pain are two different things, and overdoses, especially fatal ones, from drugs like oxycodone were either never tracked or were incorrectly classified. In fact, I can’t find specific numbers for any group except teens, and fentanyl overdose fatalities weren’t even tracked until recently. The rise of fentanyl as an additive to counterfeit drugs does coincide with the loss of accessibility of pain medication to patients who really needed it.

In other words, the restriction of pain treatment drugs caused desperate people to look for relief elsewhere, with high mortality rates being the result. And tracking those deaths is impossible because it was not done or it targeted teens only. I’ve read no source and seen no data I consider accurate in the least. The NIH reports are centered on teens. The CDC is preoccupied with COVID-19 and if they have been tracking fentanyl overdose deaths, I found little evidence of serious research.

People I know are currently suffering unbearable pain, myself included, and are being denied relief. They are labeled “addicts” and if one should have a mental illness listed in their file, the answer will always be, ” no, it’s all in your head.” The compounded stigmatization is humiliating and shameful and can cause people to end their own lives. Better that than lying about, useless, embarrassed and groaning in pain.

Meanwhile, deaths from China White climb. No one wants you to know this. If you know, you can take that information and throw it in the faces of the men who control prescription drugs.

We are a nation (United States) of barbarians and corrupt leaders. Republican politicians get all the pain medication they need. All the kiddie porn their jaded souls can take. Even street drugs are no problem: give them all drug screens and watch them howl in protest. They’ll refuse. But let an everyman or everywoman have a verified medical condition. One that keeps them in pain so intense that they go to street dealers. They’ll all die, of course. No one sheds one tear. Better to have them off the Medicare rolls than give them legitimate treatment, right?

Because that’s what it comes down to. Making millions suffer because they’re afraid of lawsuits. Looking up the arses of doctors and preventing them from actually being doctors.

And whether you like it or not, corrupt judges exist and corrupt politicians are part of our reality. Our focus should be on those who clearly don’t care about the people who voted for them, or anyone else. Republican politicians routinely challenge or violate the Constitution. And where do you think it will end?

I’ll give you a hint: you won’t like it. Please consider this when voting. Heartless Republicans — or Those who have fought them. Fascism or liberty? Humanity or barbarity?

You have to choose.