Obligatory Update

Posted on July 8, 2018 by davidtkukulkan

The function of this blog seems to always be changing, or at least vague and multifaceted. It’s served as an online journal of sorts, a writing portfolio, and just a general platform for my voice – which itself changes. For the foreseeable future, rather than try to hammer down a specific niche, I’ll embrace the current and various underlying themes.

As the time stamps on any post will show, it’s been some time since I’ve written anything. Actually, that’s not true, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, but I have done some writing and lots of rewriting.  So this here is just a summary of goings on as of late.

Perhaps most notably though would have to be the change in my general mood.  Some time ago I removed a number of posts because I loathed the voice used in writing and it came from a very different place – a much darker and depression saturated place. Since that time my mood has continued to improve and with that improvement finally comes more agency to make even more. While I’m by no means “cured” of anxiety and depression, everything’s easier because it turns out when you don’t have to use all your remaining energy and will power to get out of bed and brush your teeth there’s a lot more you can get done during the day.

As the country and world’s respective moods worsened mine started to get better (just weird timing).But it feels like I’ve always been in crisis mode and now other people have to catch up. My neurons have an endless supply of crises to fire off at instead of only the intermittent crises during the last administration. However, that’s probably just coincidence given that most people react to the incessant barrage of bad news and almost daily constitutional crises oppositely by exhibiting an increase in depressive symptoms. Regardless, it compels me to write and better myself which in turn will not just make the world a better place, but grant me increased agency to continue making it better.

Perhaps you’re wondering how bettered my mood, or how I got the upper hand over my own neurons. Well, while I intend to write more about my various projects and such that helped me, they may not work for everyone. But, if I had to distil it all into a single sentence, or tweet: “The main thing is to just keep trying and to keep trying new things until something seems to help. “

 

~D.T. Kukulkan~

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Holocaust By Attrition

Posted on July 12, 2017 by davidtkukulkan

flagnr

Plenty of people have compared Trump to Hitler, including me, but we’re not saying he’s currently equivalent to Hitler in the arena of mass murder. What we are saying is his rise to power resembles that of Hitler’s and other autocratic shitlords: a charismatic speaker scapegoating ethnic minorities coupled with a rise of populist nationalism under the guise supporting “law and order” and other bullshit that plays well. We’re saying Trump is probably just as warped and potentially dangerous as Hitler – though, and this is important, in somewhat different ways.

2017 and the 1930’s are very different times as are the modern United States and pre-Nazi Germany, so if the proverbial shit and fan scenario played out it would probably look different too. While we did round up Japanese Americans and it’s even been cited as a “precedent” by a Trump surrogate, in the age of instant communication and social media an executive action like that would be struck down by a judge before the ink dries and even without judicial intervention more than a few states would simply not comply. That’s not to say it’s impossible, just unlikely. But given a national security crisis like a terrorist attack the administration might have a viable avenue to try.

But Trump and Republicans are doing a lot of other things like cracking down on immigration by stepping up ICE raids. Rounding up “illegal” immigrants might sound great to some, but in practice not only is it super dickish to kick out decent, hard-working people, they deport Americans citizens regularly because it’s an entirely flawed system – it’s barely a real system at all. Conveniently, those are some of the exact type of people that have no place in Trump’s America.

However, it probably wont be through explicit and overt aggression by  the government that kill and imprison people. Congress and certain Trump appointees are attempting to legalize discrimination under self-righteous labels of “religious freedom” and “school choice,” which would allow businesses and schools to just opt out of accepting anyone who doesn’t meet their religious beliefs, or some other arbitrary standards. They’ve also decided that cutting virtually everything in the budget that’s not the military: this includes education, infrastructure investments, health and human services, the justice department, departments in charge of safety regulations, it’s literally almost everything – even fucking Meals on Wheels. And all the while that they’re doing this and trying to take away health insurance for tens of millions Americans, they’ll be giving tax breaks to themselves and corporate sponsors.

What we’ll be left with is a country with fewer social safety nets; increasing costs and barriers to education of decreasing quality which will surely give a boost to the school-to-prison pipeline; increasing water and food contamination akin to Flint thanks to no infrastructure investments and the slashing of safety regulations; unaffordable health insurance options; increased sentences for non-violent drug offenders if Jeff Sessions and private prison industry have their way, and the list goes on. The proposed Republican “healthcare” bill would potentially kill tens of thousands of people a year alone. Contaminated food and drinking water will certainly add to that number as will rising levels of poverty because of fewer social programs, a lack of quality education, rising costs, and falling wages.

These cuts and policy proposals will impact the poorest Americans and disproportionately hurt the elderly and people of color. Make no mistake, these cuts will ruin and take lives, it wont be the spectacle of evil like the Nazis with concentration camps and firing squads, but an insidious, silent rot slowly eating away the final remnants of the American Dream.

~D.T. Kukulkan~

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Betsy DeVos Against The World?

Posted on March 2, 2017 by davidtkukulkan

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Recently, one of the most questionable nominees in the Trump Cabinet gained the limited support necessary to be confirmed as Secretary of Education. The Senate vote resulted in 50-50 split, but Mike Pence fulfilling his duty as Vice President broke the tie and Betsy DeVos became confirmed as Secretary of Education.

She nearly lost the candidacy due to the lack of knowledge of what the job of Secretary of Education entailed. No Democrats, or Independents voted  in favor of DeVos and even two Republicans broke party lines to vote against DeVos. Senator Al Franken from Minnesota, during the over-night Senate protest before the nomination of DeVos, stated that she did not know what the job entailed as she gave him no real solution to fix the problems that are facing the Department of Education. Our own Rhode Island Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse went over the countless emails and letters that were sent to them to oppose Betsy Devos. Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont, and former Democratic Presidential Candidate, called out Devos’ family for funding Republicans with millions of dollars over the years which may be the real reason she was nominated to occupy an office in which she is unqualified to hold.

Although she won, the fight is far from over. DeVos has already has faced major challenges with the public and people have taken to the streets to oppose her. Protestors even managed to block DeVos from entering a school in D.C. to express their dissatisfaction with her confirmation. On other occasions, DeVos was met with opposition on Twitter. The tweets commonly remarked on the Secretary of Education’s inability to understand how the department works. However, many Conservatives, especially on the Far-Right, have stated that she will give more choice when it comes to parents deciding where their kids should go to school. The choices will include public, private, charter, and religious Schools. Although this seems as a good option, the concerns over privatizing education raises major concerns for Democrats.

Whatever the Republican Party and Donald Trump see in DeVos, many Americans including some Trump supporters do not support DeVos. Betsy DeVos has broken the record of receiving the least number of votes to be confirmed as Secretary of Education. This historic “tragedy,” or success in the eyes of many Conservatives, will inevitably lead to further issues between the two parties during the upcoming 2018. And if DeVos doesn’t fulfill her role in protecting education, the Senate and the House may end up looking very different. But in the end, only history will decide if Betsy DeVos will be remembered as an underdog succeeding despite her clear limitations, or as the worst, least qualified candidate to ever become Secretary of Education.

~Stephen Nelson~

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Fake News, Fake Problems: The Right’s Alt-Reality

Posted on February 26, 2017 by davidtkukulkan

crmlu121109

Republican, or more broadly conservative, issues are no longer real issues. The “issues” and talking points that seem most important to the Right include opposing progress and reality itself. Their reasons for believing some of the things they believe can only be malice or ignorance, though at a certain point there’s not really a difference.

The Republican Party’s biggest goals and accomplishments over the last eight years have not been to create jobs, or balance the budget, but to simply to oppose President Obama in every way. It was this singular goal they had in mind when they successfully stole President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, breaking their oaths to uphold the Constitution, denying the will of the American people and all that sounds an awful lot like treason. Now they will most likely get to stack the court with regressive justices who will side with corporations over the American people and polluters over our clean air and water.

Illegal immigration is a popular “issue” because they supposedly bring drugs and crime then steal American jobs – none of which is true, certainly not in any statistically significant sense. In fact immigrants are less likely to commit crime than native citizens, but they are incarcerated at a higher rate. The people who are bringing drugs and crime are part of the drug cartels, not immigrants, legal, or otherwise. Furthermore, no one can “steal” your job, an employer hires the person they believe is best to fill whatever position, so if there’s anyone to be angry at it’s the employer, or yourself for not being more qualified than an unskilled laborer who can’t speak English. This nonsense is often lobbed at immigrants as a whole rather than distinguishing between “legal” and “illegal” which is one of the red flags indicating xenophobia, “fear of the alien/foreign,” manifesting as more overt racism and scapegoating at the expense of certain ethnicities. Job insecurity, lack of job opportunities, and other economic hardships are very real problems; problems that just don’t have to do with immigrants; problems that do have to do with corporate welfare and profit hoarding, fifty plus years of stagnated wages combined with ever increasing living costs. Instead, Republicans blame immigrants for economic problems they are largely responsible for creating by deregulating financial institutions, refusing to raise the minimum wage, or take any action to make real progress.

Republicans still do not have a viable alternative to the Affordable Care Act, as in they do not have a plan so millions of people do not loose their health insurance, some of whom will die without it. They’ve been trying to repeal it since it passed in five years ago and have made the same amount of progress on their plans for a replacement.

More controversial than general healthcare, abortion is a difficult issue and a real issue worth discussing. A large majority of Americans support a woman’s right to have an abortion in at least some situations. It’s a minority of people who believe it should be illegal in all circumstances. And at present, it is a woman’s right to have an abortion. However, despite that Supreme Court decision, they have tried regulating abortion clinics into oblivion and requiring the women to jump through hoops. In other words, they are undermining the right’s women. However, conservative law makers take things in a very strange and illogical direction. If you’re pro-life certainly you’d want to reduce the need for abortions like funding comprehensive sex-ed instead of abstinence only programs, or free birth control, or at least making access to it easier, but instead fight to limit access to it. You might also expect pro-life law makers to want the child clothed, fed, and otherwise cared for and yet they cut and restrict access to assistance programs including those for single mothers.

The biggest conflict of interest with reality comes in the form of the conservative obsession of denying climate change, despite admittedly not being scientists. The scientific data on climate change is overwhelming and convincingly conclusive. There’s also the simple yet powerful photographic evidence of glacial and sea ice decline over the decades. There’s also the increasing commonality of extreme weather events ranging from floods to drought. There’s also the fact that almost every year becomes the hottest year on record. The Republican aversion to facts on this matter alone is disturbingly irresponsible at best. Instead of addressing the problem and investing in renewable energies they side with the fossil fuel companies and their lobbyists, who are responsible for funding climate denial to begin with and keep pushing for environmentally destructive pipelines for a toxic resource that’s just going to run out.

Apes In Charge

The conservative opposition to marriage equality is based solely in religious beliefs and since we are not a theocracy, religious arguments should have no bearing on secular laws.

Religious conservatives trying to keep evolution out of schools and replacing it with creationism: blatantly disregarding evidence to the detriment of their students’ education and our shared future.

Voter ID laws are meant to keep the opposition from voting, not protect democracy as they usually claim. Despite rumors and tweets from from the president, claims of actual voter fraud is so rare it might as well not as exist at all.

Most, if not all of the issues Republicans are fighting for aren’t real issues, they are fictions woven by special interests, propaganda, fake news and digital information bubbles and allowed to spread because of ignorance and our failing education system. It has gotten to the point where the president and his administration have began embracing “alternative facts.” Everyone has the right to believe whatever they want, but if those beliefs are not rooted in reality and go on to directly contradict physical evidence your beliefs are holding us all back and more than deserving of ridicule.

~David T.K.~

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Conservatives: The Really Special Snowflakes

Posted on February 19, 2017 by davidtkukulkan

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It’s easy to throw out an ad-hominem attack to simply dismiss someone along with what they have to say. Most, if not all of us are guilty of ridiculing someone while ignoring their argument at some point, but we try not to make it a habit. Alas, certain right-wing “news” sources and individuals have literally made careers by passionately dismissing liberals as “special snowflakes” who live in “liberal bubbles,” require “safe spaces,” and have no emotions except for faux outrage and being “butthurt.” Unfortunately for many Trump supporters ranging from well spoken blondes full of hot air and fallacious arguments to the “Alt-Right,” – or as we called them before their rebranding, racists and Nazis – it is in fact they who are actually guilty of all the things they accuse liberals of.

Firstly, there’s a common misunderstanding among many conservatives and liberals alike about “safe spaces,” and “trigger warnings.” Granted, their are a number of probably well meaning, but ultimately extreme, or ridiculous instances “safe spaces.” But they’re mostly places for LGBTQ individuals, or members of a minority group, or anyone not considered “normal”, to go without fear of being judged. And it must be admitted that people belonging to these groups are often the targets of discrimination and hate far more often than straight, white men. “Safe spaces” when done right are really no different from the many forms they’ve taken before like man-caves, or men’s only clubs, or democracy in America before the 19th Amendment. “Trigger warnings” aren’t meant for people to avoid offense, but rather to avoid panic attacks and flash backs of traumatic events. You wouldn’t light off fireworks next to a veteran with PTSD without at least maybe giving a heads up. “Trigger warnings” are intended to be that heads up for survivors of sexual assault, or some other traumatic event. There’s bound to people who take these ideas to an extreme, or apply them to situations of minor and insignificant offense. These people then become conflated as the majority because the craziest are usually the loudest on any side.

Now with a few clarifications out of the way, we can address the blatant hypocrisies embedded within some of their favorite diminutive labels for liberals. Conservatives do seem to have a lot more names to call liberals than liberals have to call them, perhaps it simply shows what issues they spend their creative thinking on. Of the most popular are accusations of being “special snowflakes” who are fragile little creatures requiring special treatment because stupid things offend them. Tomi Lahren for instance believes the anti-Trump protestors are just mad because they didn’t get their way – which would be a petty reason to protest. But the protestors have legitimate reasons to be more than concerned about a Trump administration as each day continues to prove. Yet, Lahren and her ilk seem to be outrageously offended by the mere fact that so many people have a different point of view and used their freedom of speech and assembly to express it.

Among the list of conservative grievances there are actually a good number of incidents where real “butthurt” is presented: Starbucks cup controversies, Mike Pence’s Hamilton visit, a football player exercising his First Amendment rights, Saturday Night Live skits, Nordstrom’s purely business decision to pull Ivanka’s clothing line, and those are just some of the recent ones. But there is one form of protest that’s exceptionally likely to “trigger” a conservative: flag burning. When many conservatives see it happen they’ll lash out with threats, or actual violence while suggesting the act be criminalized despite two Supreme Court rulings protecting it under the First Amendment. Burning the American flag is disrespectful, but flying Confederate and Nazi flags – traitors and enemies of the United States that are responsible for the deaths of millions – for some of these same people is an entirely different story.

Lastly there’s the myth of the “liberal bubble,” and the “real America.” Liberals statistically can be found mostly on the coasts and clustered in and around cities. Meanwhile their conservative counterparts tend to cluster in isolated rural regions and the landlocked middle states. Some individuals claim they live in the “real America” versus some perverse alternative America. But there’s no “real” America; there’s no standard model, or something we’re supposed to go back to. If there can be any notion of the “real” America it must include the country as a whole. As for the “bubble” it’s not real either: cities may seem like isolated “bubbles,” but in reality cities are where the majority of the world’s population lives. Though small in area, cities have large and diverse populations; high population density; they, and the people living in them, have various personal and business connections around the world; they are centers of international trade, travel, and commerce; they’re literally the opposite of a proverbial, or literal, “bubble.”

However, that’s not to say there aren’t other regions that more closely resemble a “bubble.” Ironically, it’s where most conservatives live: isolated rural areas with small homogenous populations that are insulated from the rest of the world.

~David T.K.~

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Trump’s Border Wall Bullsh!t

Posted on February 17, 2017 by davidtkukulkan

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The proposal of building a nearly 2,000 mile border wall for the purposes of keeping illegal immigrants out of the country is, in short, infantile. At length, the proposal fails to understand not only the actual strategic function that walls provide, but history, economics, geography and logistics, therefore making it insulting to our intellect that we’d be expected to think this is even a real suggestion.

However, now that we are expected to take this idea seriously, it should be explained why we shouldn’t and instead reject it for the clownishly stupid idea it is. Perhaps most importantly is the simple fact it wont work. Now, despite being what most would consider “liberal” I have a dear fondness for walls as they do in fact keep me sheltered from the elements and provide a place for my things. They also serve to prevent strange people and animals from simply wandering in. However, they do not keep out animals, or people, that are actively attempting to enter: animals and insects get in, sometimes entirely by accident, and walls only slow down home invaders.

This leads us to the actual strategic purposes of walls. Walls can provide strategic cover which wont be needed on a border wall. Walls also provide defensive benefits be it for ancient towns, castles, or modern military fortifications. Some will insist that since castles and entire towns throughout much of history had walls and that we should too. However, unlike the walls in our homes, military fortifications are required to be manned in order to repel invading armies and they don’t always hold up. Fortifications like these were meant to force a costly siege, or to buy time: time to escape, or time for an allied force to arrive and dispel the enemy.

The subject of castles and ancient towns bring’s us to history which has brought us two notable large scale walls: the Great Wall of China and Hadrian’s Wall as the northernmost border of the Roman Empire in what is now modern Britain. Hadrian’s Wall was less than one hundred miles long and took fourteen years to build. The Great Wall is over ten thousand miles long and was constructed over a period of two thousand years. The purpose of both walls was to keep out raiding barbarian hordes. Both had limited success even with soldiers garrisoned and patrolling them: the barbarians still broke through, or just went around. They both ended up as expensive ruins that failed in their explicit purpose.

The construction of a border wall would also likely isolate small pieces of US land on the southern side of the wall because basic geography and logistics, like what happened to this golf course in Texas. Rivers, like the Rio Grande, don’t flow in linear patterns and thus our border with Mexico isn’t linear. There would be spots where logistics necessitate the wall be a certain distance from the river and would thus sequester some small areas of the US on Mexico’s side of the wall. Furthermore, construction along the Rio Grande would destroy crucial habitats for some endangered species while desecrating sacred native sites, but these haven’t stopped smaller fences from being erected and doing everything I just mentioned.

Finally, there’s economic cost. The construction alone cost more than twenty billion dollars, not including at least that much money every year after for maintenance. We will pay for every mismanaged cent through our taxes, not Mexico. And should we implement import tariffs we’ll be picking up the inflated cost on those imports as well.

The wall would cost us billions, upon billions of dollars and could be defeated by ropes and ladders and that’s if they don’t just take a plane and overstay their VISA.

~David T.K.~

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2017: A List Of Mostly Dire Predictions

Posted on February 3, 2017 by davidtkukulkan

crystal-ball

I’d originally written this at the end of December and thought I’d scheduled it to post on New Year’s Day. It didn’t. Then I debated posting it all and forgot about it. I came upon it again while cleaning up my desktop, made a few updates and figured why not?

… … …

Can we be optimistic about the rest of the new year? Certainly, but it’d be reckless. This year will be, in every way, the sequel to the instant horror classic that’s been 2016. Maybe you’ll claim I’m being pessimistic to which I’ll just say realist, so hear me out first. Now, who am I to make predictions? I’m not sure, but the “experts” got the entire campaign season wrong, so why not give it a shot? My predictions will also be slightly more detailed than my centuries old predecessor, the famed prognosticator Nostradamus the Vague.

Racism will get worse. There are racists out there who support and are emboldened by president Trump, like the KKK and Neo Nazis. Racist acts of aggression and vandalism will spike around inauguration day, but plateau at a rate higher than previous years.

Conversely, counter protests and demonstrations will increase. More than a few of these will turn into riots and the movement condemned as a whole by many, be it Black Lives Matter, Anti-Trump protestors, or whomever. Protestors will be beaten, pepper sprayed, maced, and the works over by law enforcement, but violence will be committed on all sides.

President Trump will shake up world stability and break it, if not it 2017, then before his term is up. His actions and even his Tweets now impact international diplomatic relations. At the very least, he’ll break whatever norms are in place and no one will know what to expect which is itself enough to put everyone on edge. There are lots of potential spots for conflict just waiting for their Franz Ferdinand moment.

Access to abortions and women’s health facilities more broadly, will be under siege and increasingly difficult to find. Millions of people will lose their healthcare, social programs will be cut, poverty and homeless will surge.

Wildfires will blaze through forests and towns in, but not limited to, the American west. There’s the increasing probability of a great Appalachian wildfire, so much so it’s destined to become the new seasonal expectation.

In connection to, and really preceding, the wildfires are extended drought. Temporary relief may come, but for California and other areas like the northern Appalachians the seasons just wont bring as much rain as they used to.

Storms and sea surges will cause massive flooding all along the east coast. There’ll be fatalities, displaced populations, and billions of dollars in damage.

It will be the hottest year ever recorded, because that happens like every year now.

There will be no northern sea ice left by the end of summer.

More famous people will die.

The beginning of another Great Recession (at best) by the beginning of 2018.

The police will kill more than 100 unarmed black men.

A mass shooting will happen every few months to every few weeks on average.

Certain rights will be threatened, specifically ones like marriage equality, voting rights, and freedom of the press.

We’ll also see more videos of police doing good things, protestors hugging cops, people saving animals, and they’ll be other good things too, probably. Just statistically speaking at least, right? But it wont be enough to turn the tide of incoming category 5 shit-storm that’s about to hit the fan.

Does any of that sound unrealistic? Or are you thinking it doesn’t take a rocket scientist, or an expert political analyst to make those predictions?

You’re right. I’ll probably post a slightly updated version of it for my predictions of 2018. But, that’s also why I’ve made a few very specific ones, so just in case they come true you an say you read it here first!

NASA will announce the discovery of an aquatic alien fossil on Mars.

A small, but powerful meteor will strike a populated area.

A devastating solar storm on par with the Carrington Event will hit the Earth.

An entire city will be swallowed the sea. Maybe a few.

And the Patriots will win the Super Bowl.

Even if only a handful, or fewer come to pass that’d still make me more accurate than most prognosticators and analysts during the entire campaign season.

~David T.K.~

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Standing Rock: A Modest Suggestion Of Strategy

Posted on December 13, 2016 by davidtkukulkan
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Avery White/ Al Jazeera

A war is being waged right now against indigenous people by state-backed corporations to make profit from a dangerous and increasingly obsolete resource. The protestors and even journalists covering the conflict at Standing Rock are having false charges brought against them, being brutalized and maimed, and the police are lying about it. Despite the recent and unprecedented victory in the form of the Army Corp of Engineers legally blocking construction of the project pending a two year review, it may still be allowed to go forward. The company building it certainly seems to think so: they released a statement that they “…are fully committed to ensuring that this vital project is brought to completion and fully expect to complete construction of the pipeline without any additional rerouting in and around Lake Oahe. Nothing this Administration has done today changes that in any way.” It’s also been reported that the equipment is still on the work site.

This is just a battle in a much larger war: oil vs green energy; eminent domain vs. tribal sovereignty; profit and crony capitalism vs. the rights and health of indigenous people and US citizens. So, perhaps it’s time to treat it like the war it is. The US has a long standing tradition history of breaking treaties with the native populations and then illegally seizing control of their land. The tribes across the nation, including Standing Rock could justifiably act to retake their land as any sovereign nation would. Maybe they’ll get bad PR, but since when has that stopped people from protesting, or taking a stand?

This standoff will eventually turn into a siege one way, or another if a permanent solution fails to come about through dialogue, or the courts. The lull should be used to prepare. Trenches should be dug, walls erected and the entire camp fortified. Shields akin to what riot police have could be donated, or shields akin to what ancient infantry had could be fashioned from wood then reinforced using thin sheets of metal, or other materials that may be capable of at least resisting rubber bullets. Since winter is coming, they could borrow tactics from Ukraine protestors by constructing fortifications of ice and snow. Trash bags filled with snow can be stacked together and can compact into solid ice. In Ukraine, they even built a modest trebuchet to launch projectiles at incoming forces.

However, if the Sioux can hold their ground it may be time to go on the offensive. Through ancient and medieval times armies utilized armored siege weapons and small, portable armored covers (upturned boats, or siege rams for example) for protection while laying siege to an opponent. Similar implements could be devised, or modern cars and automobiles modified to have tougher, more protective exteriors: Mythbusters bulletproofed a car fairly well with phonebooks.

Before moving on the security forces and seizing the land the pipeline is on, a small force should be dispatched north to Bismarck (A rejected location for the pipeline because locals feared a spill). The attack will vary in scope depending on the size of the detachment. But the dispatched forces could utilize ancient methods to confront riot police with an organized opposition. If large enough, they could sack, pillage, and burn Bismarck to the ground. This will likely lead to a call for reinforcements to Bismarck which will either distract the “law enforcement” from Standing Rock, or perhaps even call the forces from Standing Rock for support.

While this is going on, the forces remaining at standing rock will send up drones to scout the area and attack most accordingly. The Standing Rock forces can then move in with shields and fortified cars, or whatever else they have at their disposal. A phalanx of water protectors and armored siege vehicles can then surround and take prisoner the agents protecting the pipeline. They can also repurpose all of the equipment. If the US then agrees to not build the pipeline the prisoners will be released.

Or we could start building solar roads instead of pipelines.

Satirically yours, 

~David T.K.~

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Fighting ISIS and Ideology: A New Approach

Posted on November 16, 2015 by davidtkukulkan

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In the wake of the terror attacks in Paris the other night, that ISIS has claimed responsibility for, (or any abhorrent act of extremism) our initial visceral reaction is to literally fuck’em all to death, nuke the entire Middle East, or bomb it back to the pre-Cambrian. And it would be satisfying to annihilate our enemies. People say they don’t like violence, but they’re lying to themselves most of the time- we fucking love it when we can justify it.

But ISIS is an ideology that’s giving people in a massively fucked up region a direction and a purpose. And every time we kill innocents in a drone strike, or air raid we create more angry people who want revenge, or arguably justice, for those killings. We’re in their sacred land and that pisses them off too. Make no mistake, I have no sympathy for ISIS, but it’s important we understand them, their culture, their history, their motives if we want to fight them and win. Unfortunately you cannot bomb an ideology into extinction with the possible exception of mass genocide.

So what the fuck do we do? Well, I have a few ideas:

First, we should probably stop being the world’s police. We’re not good it anyway and we don’t right wrongs in foreign nations unless it directly impacts our national interest. However, in this case, we have a moral and strategic obligation to defeat ISIS.

Second, we need to study them like aliens study abductees. We need to know their hopes, dreams, and reasons for living. We must know our enemies like we know ourselves. Then, and only then, can we devise a strategy.

We already send a lot of aid money to countries all around the world. Instead of placing in the hands of corrupt regimes who keep most of it, let’s build schools. Better yet, let’s create jobs and pay locals to build their own schools, hospitals, libraries, better housing, infrastructure, etc. If we can give people in the region a better alternative than joining ISIS they’ll probably take it. They’re people just like us for the most part- there are certainly some crazies in there too I’m sure. But since most of them are regular folks we need to realize they’re joining ISIS, by and large, because they have few other options. They could resist and most likely be killed in a gruesome manor, perhaps getting their families killed in the process, or at the very least leaving them with one less member of their family. The region is filled with sectarian violence, oppressive regimes, people have lost their means of making a living as a massive drought hit Syria in the recent past compounding existing problems and eventually leading to the refugee crisis we have now. With livelihoods destroyed and no voice in their government, many have taken up arms as the best way to achieve both.

If they have jobs, secure livelihoods, representation in state matters, and most importantly a purpose, they’ll not only have no time for blowing shit it, but probably no desire to either- at least no more so than the rest of us who love watching “Mythbusters.”

This is obviously a massive, intricate undertaking and would probably require boots on the ground for a while, be it UN, or a coalition. You can’t build a new school if terrorist armies can just roll up, kill everyone, and destroy all progress you’ve made.

We spend enough money to probably fill one of the ships from “Independence Day” on war and all we’ve gotten is more violence, a new, stronger enemy, and a much less stable region. So, maybe it’s about time we try some actual nation building and not necessarily in our image. The tenets of Islam are being used to justify cruel and draconian laws, but that’s something they need to fix for themselves. Imagine Canada, Russia, or China, coming into the US and saying something like “No more eating meat. It’s cruel to animals!” Or even “No more assholes like Kim Davis are allowed in government!” They might have a point, but we wont give a shit because it’s our culture and because fuck you.

Believe me, I want to see those fucker swaying from a noose, but there’s a time and a place for violence in conflicts and this may not be one of those times.

“I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.”

Abraham Lincoln

~David T. Kukulkan~

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Black Lives Matter Damnit!

Posted on September 4, 2015 by davidtkukulkan

Where the fuck do you even begin with this? I feel dirty for writing this because it feels like it’s politicizing tragedy. It shouldn’t be a conservative vs. liberal, but it kind of is.

Fox and conservative media outlets spin a very different narrative than liberal ones: black deaths caused by police are quickly written off and excused because these black people must have been criminals and the officers involved were just doing their jobs. Liberals spin the unfortunate victim of racism story. Neither is entirely accurate, but one of them is a lot closer to the truth. Have there been black criminals shot and killed by the police? Absolutely! But, have there been a disproportionate number of black people killed by police when compared to white deaths? Yes! Police kill white people for no excusable reason too, but we white people live with less fear than our black fellow humans.

Something has happened online since that crazy black guy (apparently he had actual metal health problems) gunned down two officers. “Share if you stand with our officers” and “Stop the war against cops” memes have spouted up faster than a teenagers acne after falling asleep with a pizza on their face. That’s great that people are outraged over senseless violence against those who are supposed to serve and protect us. However, and maybe it’s just my pool of online acquaintances, but there weren’t that many “Black Lives Matter” memes shared, despite the larger number of deaths and violence against the black community. Dozens of black people are murdered and the movement that sprung up is dismissed by so many because “racism is over.” Two officers are shot and it’s a war against cops. Some media outlets have been blaming the Black Lives Matter movement for the shooting, despite no connection between the shooter and the movement other than the color of his goddamned skin! It’s being called a “hate group” and the “Murder Movement.” Shut the fuck up!

While it’s hard to find reliable or trustworthy sources, most numbers will show a much higher incarceration rate for blacks than whites and a disproportionate number of black deaths from police brutality than whites. Also, and there are some conflicting reports, there’s been no significant increase of violence against officers.

Black Lives Matter doesn’t advocate violence against law enforcement, or anybody! The reason we’re saying, specifically, “‘Black’ Lives Matter” is because those are the lives being cut down most frequently right now. Do police lives matter? Fucking duh! Do white lives matter? Fucking duh! All lives matter, but not all lives are receiving the same same amount violence, or outrage at said violence. When a regular Joey-Bag-O-Donuts even looks at an officer the wrong way the offender is tried, convicted, and locked up quickly, no questions asked. But when officers kill Joey-Bag-O-Donuts, we’re lucky if there’s even an investigation, let alone a trial and conviction.

I stand with and support our men and women wearing the blue uniforms (even though most of the ones I’ve encountered have been dicks, they don’t deserve to die, and they have a high-risk, high-stress, occupation) but I also stand with and support Black Lives Matter. Basically I’m on the side of less killing each other. Everybody’s on that side – with the small exception of some extremist, violent, and or crazy people, who probably would have ended up that way regardless.

But also, no matter how much you support the boys in blue, don’t tell me you don’t get anxious, or even scared, when you’re driving and a police cruiser pops up behind you – even if you know you’re doing nothing wrong. But that’s because we’ve all heard the stories of people, both black and white being killed, or brutalized by the police. Now imagine you’re black (only if you’re not black, cause actual black people don’t have to imagine) and you suddenly have a lot more stories and stats to make you afraid. Hell, if you’re black, you probably have personal experiences telling you to be wary of law enforcement. Police brutality and abuse of power are very real and black people have to deal with the brunt of that bullshit.

So let’s not go with the one dimensional narrative the media portrays and instead understand the nuances of the situation. There are good and bad people in every occupation and walk of life. We can condemn police brutality and at the same time condemn violence against police officers. But only one of those is pandemic.

~David T. Kukulkan~

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