Thank You Pegahue

Not gonna lie, this was an honour.

You don't celebrate people for the response you might get back, but because they deserve to be celebrated.  Having said that, when someone you respect who has has done some pretty amazing, legacy-leaving things is impacted by something you do for them, it's an awesome feeling.

1. tonyasurman ‏@tonyasurman  5h5 hours ago

   Mind blown by & extreme gratitude for incomparable @OpenCCE who wrote "the Pegahue and the Dragon " for me. LOVE

   

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Ted Cruz is an Idiot

"Radical Islam is at war with us.  For over seven years we have had a president who refuses to acknolwedge this reality," Cruz wrote in a Facebook post.  "And the truth is, we can never hope to defeat this evil so long as we refuse to even name it.  That ends on January 20, 2017, when I am sworn in as president."

Radical Islam is not at war with "us", whether "us" is supposed to mean America, the West, the Free World, or democracy.  

Drunk driving is not at war with the US, though thousands of people die from it every year.  Suicide is not at war with the United States, though tens of thousands die from it every year.

How can it be that when a person with a gun shoots their neighbour's dog, or their neighbour, it's not a statement of gun culture being at war with Americans, but when terrorists say "Allah" before they die, it's clearly a religion thing?

I know, I know - apples and oranges, I'm a lefty socialist, whatever.  Clearly I don't get this stuff - be tough on those who don't think like you do, be lenient on those who do.  'Cause that's what makes the West superior.  Got it.

Here's what idiots like Cruz, whether they're playing politics or actually believe this crap fail to understand - it's all about people, context and conditioning.

It's impossible to control the first, though you can certainly motivate people to surface and focus on the best aspects of themselves.  The second is entirely controllable, though the best control isn't strict enforcement of rigid rules, but rather the provision of solid infrastructure and an open, inclusive, creative culture that promotes diversity as a good thing, because of what it can create.

Think a garden.

The last is what "radical Islam" focuses on - taking individuals and molding them into a specific kind of soldier.  It's not dissimilar from what Trump is doing with his supporters - only the extremity varies.

You will never, ever make America great again by building walls around the country and conditioning those within to fear those without.  If that was even possible in this day and age, you would end up creating your own version of North Korea.

Here's the evil I would like to name, Mr. Cruz - poor leadership.

It's poisoning your party and your country.

How about a war on that?

Trump and Brussels

Trump, who infamously called for a temporary ban on Muslims in December following terror attacks, and previously called Brussels a "hellhole," again called for increased border security.

One more: 

"You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They'd be carried out on a stretcher."

Donald Trump has called his people to violence.  He has encouraged it, going so far as to say there would be none of the usual consequences one gets for illegal acts of violence upon fellow human beings.  In fact, there might even be some appeal in being smacked by the court of law, but approved of by the man at the top.

See the irony in this?

Trump is America's Saddam Hussein.  The results are predictable; you just have to be willing to look far enough ahead to see them.