Just Having Fun!!!!!

On my walk, I saw this guy and a friend having fun, seeing who could make the jump! I asked to take a picture and I can’t believe I caught him in mid jump! Earlier I saw some roofers fixing storm damage. One was working and the two others were sitting on the roof with phones in hands, each intent on his phone. Whenever, I see that–people not interacting with each other, but engrossed in their phones, I think of an episode of Doctor Who where everyone wore earphones and they had no idea that what they heard through those earphones controlled them. That’s what I see in real time and in the media–people appear to be addicted to their phones.

Mind doodle–For a second, we forgot; For a second, we laughed; For seconds to come, those seconds matter.

I’m one of the ones who has never been a fan of Jesse Jackson. I’ve always thought that promoting civil rights was a gig to him. A way to pat himself on the back and have his ego stroked. However, he never backed away from being Black. He married a Black woman. I suppose I’m saying he appeared comfortable being Black in this racist United States. So, to the commentator who said that we expect our leaders to be perfect–no, not perfect…authentic. And I always sensed a hint of inauthenticity about him that may have been a reflection of his egotism. May he rest in peace.

We should really really know our history. Do you not know what the freed Slaves and freedmen did when they relocated to Liberia? They colonized that land and treated the indigenous population like the whites had treated them. They were the Black saviors of the barbarians who were the land’s inhabitants. I worked with a Liberian who had immigrated to the United States. He was a descendant of those colonizers and he admitted that they had created a caste system wherein the money, power, resources were controlled by them. I think he had immigrated because of the war that was raging at that time. I read more about Liberia after we had both moved on and had lost touch.

Maybe it’s a human failing–wanting to be better than someone, anyone. I have since visited Liberia and, at the time, it was at the tail-end of another war. It was not a comfortable place as armed males, some who looked very young, patrolled the roads with what looked like heavy duty weaponry. Also, there were U.S. military base(s) located in Liberia. We visited one in order to take advantage of its access to international phone services. Is that why Liberia is not a “shithole” country? It’s the United States guaranteed toehold in West Africa?

So, I can see Black Americans who move to other countries being colonizers. That has happened in the past and we have hard heads and do not learn.

Some background information–the Liberian I knew would have immigrated because of the following–(u)ntil 1980, Liberia was governed by the descendants of the original African-American settlers. The last of these leaders, President William R. Tolbert, was assassinated during a 1980 coup that ushered in the violent dictatorship of Sergeant Samuel Doe. https://immigrationtounitedstates.org/183-liberian-immigration.html

Apparently Liberians still have favored status as–Enacted on Dec. 20, 2019, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 included a provision, Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF), which provides an opportunity for certain Liberian nationals and their spouses, unmarried children under 21 years old, and unmarried sons and daughters 21 years old or older living in the United States who meet the eligibility requirements to obtain lawful permanent resident status (receive Green Cards). ttps://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility/liberian-refugee-immigration-fairness

In the book 1984, the ones who controlled that society were constantly changing the past to match whatever propaganda that was created to control that society. I think one of the characters said, whoever controls the present, writes the history or something to that effect. And the ones in control of the United States desperately want to rewrite history to suit their narrative. Because of the stupidity, ignorance, and apathy of the citizens, I don’t believe they expected any resistance. They misjudged because they only considered the ones who think like they do and support them. Don’t get me wrong, their supporters are loud, but there are those who are not of the same mindset who are speaking and writing about what the regime is doing and creating a record of the truth.

One never knows what will pop up on one’s You Tube. Today, there was a post about Ann McCaffery, a science fiction writer that I really liked. I read as many of her books as were at the library. I might have bought a few, but mostly I checked out those books from the library. The other female sci-fi writer I really liked was Andre Norton. I’ve decided to reread the first book(s) of the Dragonriders’ series to see if McCaffery’s writing till appeals to me. I think I read her in high school and then after I graduated from University. I haven’t read either author in years.

Another author that I tried reading when I was younger but just didn’t find interesting was Ursula K. Le Guin. At some point, some years ago, I did read some of her fiction, but her world building didn’t much interest me. I might try reading her work again. Might be like Lady Chatterly’s Lover–second read years after the first attempted reading held my attention.

Other countries have the moral fortitude and respect for the rule of law to hold their elected officials accountable for their treasonous acts, but not the United States. South Korea has held its president accountable for attempting to impose military rule on the country. He has received a life sentence. Other countries are holding their government officials accountable for their dealings with the Jeffrey Epstein, child and female trafficker. But not the United States. Again and again, this country tells us by its actions that it has no respect for the rule of law, the rights of women and children, and that it is truly amoral.

Thought–what people volunteer their uteri and seed to a group that oppresses them and, in doing so, strengthens their lineage ? And the oppressor group with that advantage continues to oppress them for an even longer period of time? When, without the mixing, Mother Nature would have diminished the oppressor group into a forgotten footnote in a recessive allele?

When the Portuguese arrived in Africa, they created a mixed group. Guess what? That mixed group sided with the Portuguese and became the go between the tribes and the Portuguese in the selling of the mixed group’s mothers’ people.

When the Moors on the Iberian Peninsula mixed with the indigenous groups. guess what? The mixed ones sided with the indigenous, what we now name Europeans, in the battles that led to the Moors leaving Europe.

And we do have to mention the Talented Tenth in the United States composed mainly of mixed persons. They, with their thirst for white adjacency, have consistently sided with the white supremacists in destroying the Black community.

I’ve written about the above before, but I write this after reading “Why America May Go To Hell” MLK’s sermon that he was to give the Sunday…that he never gave for he was assassinated. As I’ve written before…MLK was in the process of realizing how important economics were in these greed obsessed United States. In 1968, MLK realized if one Black person was suffering, then all Black people were suffering. The white supremacists would not see us as individuals, only as a group. He realized that Black people were working, but they were not being paid a living wage. So, what did it mean that you could eat at restaurants, stay in hotels, sit in a theater, if you could not afford to do so.

I think MLK was wrong when he said that Jesus did not indict wealth. When speaking about the rich man entering heaven, it may have been in answer to one man’s question, but Jesus’s answer was not addressed to that one rich man. Jesus’s answer addressed the possibility of any rich man entering heaven. Matthew 19:23-24 and Mark 10:25 And, that must be read along with –Greed is the love of money and the love of money is the root of all evil. Timothy 6:10 Evil is not welcome in heaven. And further, the verse about serving two masters. One cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24 There are other verses dealing with wealth and wealth is not viewed as a requirement of or a benefit to those who wish to enter Heaven. So, I disagree with MLK’s interpretation.

His interpretation of the parable of Dives and Lazaras also misses the point. Dives had two strikes against him–he was rich and he was not a good Samaritan. You know, what you do to the least of us, you do to me. Matthew 25:40-45 I think he also had a third strike–arrogance. Dives believed he was complete and did nothing to nurture his soul because of his wealth.

The United States has those two strikes…the United States is a rich country and it has failed to use that wealth to make the lives of its citizens better. Rather, it uses its wealth in the pursuit of evil–riches, power/conquest, egotism. So, yes, the United States’s path is to Hell.

MLK also pointed out that it takes hope and courage to stand tall against the abuse and criticism that come from our melanated brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, we, still, are sometimes the loudest to criticize, to do the white supremacist’s work… The trauma of our past haunts us and trauma cannot be healed until the causes of the trauma are recognized and dealt with. We, in 2026, have a long way to go.

A neighbor’s daffodils are blooming! Just think, Ice Storm Fern ended on or about January 27, 2026. Fun note: daytime temperatures have been in the high sixties and low to mid seventies, off and on, in the last couple of weeks. So, I’ve made up some potting soil and it is curing for use in the spring and I’ve started clearing flower beds for spring planting. The lily bed that has been taken over by monkey grass that I mentioned before–I’m digging, a little each day–the monkey grass has deep roots. I’m finding out that underneath the topsoil in the lily bed is a strata of red clay. And, after all the melted ice and the heavy rain in the last couple of weeks…that layer was not even moist.

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All of us—who might have probed space, or cured cancer, or built industries—were, instead, Black victims of the white man’s American social system. Malcolm X

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