The American Taliban Speaks

If I said your father would be the president of the Earl Warren Fan Club you might roll your eyes and suck in some air and listen to me laugh but no one could have predicted we’d live in days like we see now.

It would be easy to say otherwise and to suggest if you read Just Words On A Page cuz you missed the first run you’d know I predicted it but I didn’t.

Had I done that I would have known to have made other moves and those choices would have led elsewhere and to different road if not the same destination I know I will hit.

But maybe it would have had less stress, less chaos and less conflict because it would have included the winning lottery numbers but then again maybe not.

There is a man who writes and speaks online about once having been a part of the American Taliban and he says we’re in the middle of a 40 year war with them.

He might be right and that might be part of why the Capitol was attacked and that attack most certainly is tied into why I am distracted.

Hard To Focus

Some of you have accused me of not having the kind of attention span you think I ought to have and others have said I have a one track mind.

I like to believe I am somewhere in between and that I sometimes find it challenging to see the future because the picture outside of the window is blurry.

That is a peculiar way of expressing it because it is not clear for anyone though we like to believe it it. It is always blurry because some changes cannot be predicted with the accuracy and foresight we wish they could.

This distraction is frustrating because in some ways I do have a particularly strong focus and there are things I have spent years working to accomplish. Objectives that I identified and went after even if the roadmap for getting there wasn’t clear.

Because when you believe you know things and you want them to happen it is important to be willing to blaze a trail.

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In a time long past during what feels like a different life a half dozen or so people came after me on a message board because they disagreed with what I posted.

It wasn’t the first time nor the last and it led to a connection that had a profound and significant impact upon my life.

I thought about it all today because the kid who took the people on came out and took on others who were incensed that he demanded the government pay for them to get a proper education in civics and science.

It wasn’t said with the same insouciance and jest as some thought it was because it was sincere.

More than a few replied with an active and colorful response but only a few came out in defense and that was ok. The kid wasn’t looking for it any more than he did in that lifetime ago.

This wasn’t meant to motivate change or to provide inspiration. It was anger being vented at the Taliban and their shortsighted views.

The people that claim they stand for law and order but believe sedition is ok if it fits within their provincial views and poor understanding of what happens if they get what they are looking for.

The people that cry because they feel like their rights are being abrogated call out for the military to roll through our streets to restore the order they never had but wish for.

It boggles the mind to consider how narrow minded and ignorant they are regarding the consequences of asking for hard men with guns to patrol the streets to produce a certain result.

They seem to believe that it would be a minor inconvenience and that after a short time they would be granted a unicorn to ride to work upon and a gold star.

Sometimes I want to show them pictures of bearded men armed with Ak-47s loaded in the back of pick up trucks rolling through some far away city.

Show them pictures of what these men do when they come across those that do not abide by their demands and ask what makes their American Taliban better other than they speak English and like American Football.

Inconvenience Meets The Real World

I don’t have to ask how they’d take such a suggestion or how angry they would be for my making such a comparison because I have seen and been seen.

They tell me not to California their Texas and shout at me the slogans and sound bites they have picked up elsewhere.

I am told that my home state is a disaster and that is why I am here.

The latter isn’t true but there is truth to the former but it requires more discussion to come to a correct understanding of what that is and means.

Part of the problem is they have more than a few members of the American Taliban there too. I know from experience and can rattle off the number of governors no one would call liberal.

Hell, these clowns don’t know my home state is only slightly smaller by square footage and significantly larger by population.

Though if you ask them they’ll say it is because of the illegals.

That is another ridiculous statement not based upon fact but they don’t like to use those or engage in anything that requires thought because it makes their brains hurt and destroys their arguments.

So I am stuck here with a bunch of Covidiots and know that family and friends are stuck with a different set of Covidiots.

The selfish and the myopic are forcing us down a path we didn’t wish to tread but we’ll go there because sometimes the way out is through.