20,000 Pageviews Under the See

Dear friends and loyal readers, my gratitude knows no bounds. This morning, my blog surpassed 20,000 page views. 20,000!

I think that's pretty cool for an unadvertised, unpromoted personal blog by an old, crippled guy in Somonauk, Illinois. Especially since my style of writing is not everyone's cup of tea, and I've been told I can be quite opinionated. I've posted poems, my old war stories, fiction, humor, holiday recipes, and oh yes, political pieces.

I've talked openly about sexuality, addiction, marriage, illness, depression, life, love, and death.

My goal, as always, was to educate and entertain.

But let's do the math. I started the blog in June of 2013. That means, on average, 5000 people per year stopped by to have a look. That's around 14 people per day who took some of their busy, precious time to read something I wrote. It might not seem like much, but as a writer, I dig it.

Of course, the vast majority of page views came from the United States, but you are in good company. Would it surprise you (it surprises the hell out of me) to learn that the second most page views came from Russia (please don't tell the special prosecutor), followed by Ukraine (not the Ukraine), France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Denmark, Japan, and Canada, in that order?

As strange as this list may seem, it does not even scratch the surface of the day to day page views. From Turkey to Turkmenistan, New Zealand to Iceland, Israel, Saudi Arabia, China, Malaysia. I can't even think of them all. Each time I get another odd one, I tell my wife, and we just shake our heads. I think it's hilarious.

I do know for a fact that my blog has been searched by several U.S. and foreign security services. Although, as of yet, no arrests have been made.

I've never received a negative comment, so I know it wasn't trolls.

Most importantly (to me), the blog formed the basis for my two-volume book, Man of Words (available on Amazon or through the author). The books represent the culmination of a lifelong dream.

The blog has a search engine, so you can enter keywords for topics that may interest you, and you can track the number of page views by scrolling to the bottom of any blog.

Man of Words notwithstanding, all I can think to say is thank you.

Thank you,

Stephen J. Dunn

Morals Clause

BREAKING NEWS:

The far left-wing of the Democratic party in the U.S. House of Representatives has introduced a bill titled the Minimum Morality Act. All U.S. Citizens would be required to pass the Minimum Morality Standard (MMS).

Republicans decried the legislation, calling it a clear attempt to reduce their numbers.

Morality Panels, consisting of neo-feminists, black nationalists, and Jewish entertainers would conduct interrogations using standards developed by bilingual educators and gay scientists.

The MMS is designed to measure such things as charity, mercy, empathy, fairness, and the capacity to love thy fellow man (literally and figuratively).

Former president Barack Obama will head the new Department of Right and Wrong (RAW).

Those found to fall below the MMS would be deported to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP). Composed primarily of six-pack rings, empty 2-liter bottles of Mountain Dew, and Walmart bags, the GPGP is expected to last for over one-hundred-thousand years. Estimated to be twice the size of the continental United States, the GPGP affords plenty of space for the deportees to build private enclaves, all with ocean front views.

As an added inducement, the GPGP enjoys year-round favorable trade winds.

Supertanker collisions guarantee an inexhaustible supply of fossil fuels.

The GPGP may not have a wall, but it does have the biggest moat in history. Illegal immigration from Mexico would no longer be a concern.

Those of particularly low moral character, such as politicians, lawyers, and infomercial producers, would be beaten with sticks by Antifa death squads.

Analysts recommend that if you are thinking of buying a house - wait. After the mass deportations, real estate is expected to be a buyer's market.

National F'ed-up League

When I was young, and waiting all week to watch a television show on one of the five stations we had back then, I would go into my parents room and ask how much time was left in the football game they were watching. I could never understand how two minutes left on the clock could stretch out long enough to preempt my entire program.

I hated football. To me, it was just another boring, senseless thing adults did, and the kids that liked football were no friends of mine.

In high school, football was simply not on my radar. While the jocks were getting sweaty, we were getting high.

I started to take an interest in football in college, when a Bears game meant another excuse for partying. Doing bongs, drinking beer, and eating pizza with a group of friends was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

My wife has watched football all her life. She talks often about sitting with her much older brother-in-law, who explained to her the nuances of the game.

Much of our marriage has been spent yelling at the TV screen, cursing the owners, the coaches, the quarterbacks, and the referees, not necessarily in that order.

One thing that has made watching the Bears games bearable, was turning the sound on the TV off, and listening to the home team radio broadcast. For many years we were treated to the play call of Wayne Larrivee (who traitorously moved to Green Bay), and commentary by Hub Arkush (who is still involved in Chicago sports publishing).

They were replaced by the young team of Jeff Joniak (a recognized name in Chicago sports broadcasting) and Tom Thayer (center for the Superbowl winning '85 Bears). Each week, Joniak's announcing got stronger, and Thayer's analysis more insightful.

We have listened to many games on autumn drives to small-town festivals. We listened as my wife and I sat at a picnic table, while our boys played in a natural spring (and our son Nik floated a very indignant frog down the creek in a plastic toy boat).

We listened to the game one time, on the way back home from a bluegrass show in Springfield, during the worst wind storm in recent memory. All the way up I-39, I fought the wheel till my muscles trembled and my hands were numb. It was brute force against brute force. When we finally exited the expressway, and I pulled into a parking lot so my wife could take over, she likened the drive to a marathon, and said she'd never seen such a test of will. The Bears test of will against the Vikings did not go as well.

When I became bedridden, football was an eagerly anticipated distraction. Football became the number one weapon in my insomnia-fighting arsenal. No matter who was playing, no matter how exciting the game, kickoff signaled three hours of blissful repose.

But like everything else, over the years, football became more politicized. I'm talking about the whole uber-patriotic, love it or leave it, Toby Keith bullshit.

The whole CTE situation left a bad taste in my mouth. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy is a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated blows to the head. CTE is now being diagnosed across the sports spectrum, from rugby players to rodeo riders, from boxers (from which we get the term "punch drunk") to wrestlers. CTE is caused by serious concussions, but also from repeated blows to the head that do not produce concussions. It can affect high school athletes in as little as two years of participation in sports.

CTE is also being investigated in cases of domestic violence.

Symptoms typically manifest years after the initial head trauma, and the degenerative process occurs in stages. ADHD, confusion, disorientation, dizziness, and headaches are followed by memory loss, social instability, impulsive behavior, and poor judgment. The later stages include progressive dementia, movement disorders, speech impediments, tremors, vertigo, deafness, depression, and suicidal tendencies.

The league knew for years how dangerous the repeated concussions were to the players, and said nothing. Then the NFL fought tooth and nail to deny liability, and when a settlement was reached with the player's union, the judge had to step in and increase the amount to cover future claims.

I am allured by the Roman coliseums, the gladiators battling it out, the pomp and pageantry, but I never required permanent brain damage as a cost of my entertainment.

Now, this Colin Kaepernick thing. He made one simple gesture. He kneeled during the national anthem to protest police brutality in the black community. That's it. He didn't spit on the flag. He didn't make rude gestures at the fans. He didn't run up and down the sidelines with a sign.

He knelt silently with his head reverently bowed. For that he was blackballed (and the irony of the word should not be missed). Oh, the controversy, the political firestorm. One (black) player said the lesson was clear - "boy, stay in your place," while another (black) player said, "he's not worth it."

What Boomer Esiason said, does not bear repeating.

When the Bears have third string has-beens like Mark Sanchez on the squad, there's no room for Kap? Maybe he's asking too much. Maybe he's not good enough to be a starter. But to not have a job?

Once again the owners and the NFL caved to the money. God forbid they should upset their rabid fan base with concepts like injustice and compassion. The players in the National Football League are 70% black. It's the whole Dixie Chicks "shut up and sing" routine. The message from the league, the owners, and the fans is "shut up and play."

Now there's not a game played where at least one player doesn't kneel during the anthem. Usually it's several players, black and white. In last week's Sunday Night Football game, a player for San Francisco (Kaepernick's team when he first made the gesture) was kneeling, surrounded by teammates, with one white player resting his hand on the shoulder of his kneeling teammate.

The camera panned onto the player, and Al Michaels said, "Well, there's the inevitable player kneeling during the national anthem. We can check that box off."

I thought, "You motherfucker. With one glib remark you dismiss those players as if they should thank God, America, and their lucky stars for the great honor that has been bestowed upon them to be able to play in the NFL."

Then. THEN. Some hot blonde in a tight, black sheath was happy to welcome Fox Sports' newest team member, Mike Vick.

Yes. The same Michael Vick convicted of running a dog-fighting ring. The same Michael Vick who served 21 months in a federal prison.

I believe that everyone in America should be given a second chance. Players come back all the time from suspensions and prison terms for drug violations, gun violations, punching a girlfriend in the face, but the majority of black ex-cons do not find that second chance as a TV personality (Judge Mathis notwithstanding). No offence to Michael or Mike, but this is clearly another callous programming stunt by Fox to pander to that same low mindset.

These guys are jerks. Jocks and jerks. What the hell am I doing supporting such an institution? I am not going to form a group called Antifo (Anti-football Aktion), and counter-protest games, but I may not watch as many, and certainly not with the same gusto. But I may tune in from time to time, especially when I need a nap.

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

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Look Away Dixie Land

I'm not just whistling Dixie, but it is obvious to me that the tears in our populace are beyond repair. The wounds in the body politic will never heal. As a nation, we will never be sound of mind or body.

But I have a solution. Here's what we do. We take a page from the Confederate playbook, and split the country in two. Right down the old Mason-Dixon line. Let those so inclined have the South. No big loss anyway. Then we build a wall - and make them pay for it.

The Klansmen, nazis, white supremacists, monument preservers, and their ilk, kind, supporters, and enablers, would be effectively walled in between the Mexican gangbangers and the liberal Jews.

Be careful what you wish for, Adolf.

Note: No offense was meant in the previous post to non-Trump supporters in the South, to the South itself, or to anyone named Adolf.

Afterbirth

The National Institute of Mental Health defines postpartum depression as "a mood disorder that can affect women (and men) after childbirth. Parents with postpartum depression experience feelings of extreme sadness, anxiety, and exhaustion that may make it difficult for them to complete daily care activities for themselves or for others."

After the publication of Volume 2 of my book in April, my wife said I was suffering from postpartum depression. Neither of us were making light of this catastrophic condition. I was not sleeping at night, but spending all day under the covers with the drapes closed and the lights off. I was not eating, and only taking my meds when my family forced me to. I went weeks without booting up my laptop. I swore I would never write another word as long as I lived, as if anyone would notice or care. I felt old, useless, washed up. A has-been that never was. I felt bad for my grandchildren having to grow up in today's world, but my fight was over. I'd given it all I had.

Postpartum depression can be successfully treated with therapy and medications, but left untreated can last for months or years, and can, in rare cases, lead to tragedy.

For more on postpartum depression, visit the NIMH website at:

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/postpartum-depression-facts/index.shtml

Neither I nor my wife were relating my condition, which was actually a bipolar episode, to the feeling of devastation that accompanies postpartum, but I can attest to the depths of that bottomless well of despair, fear, and loss of oneself.

The light that brought me out of myself was the image on my TV screen of a car ramming into a crowd of pedestrians, leaving a young woman dead. Not in Europe. Not in the Middle East. In a college town in Virginia.

The car was driven not by a Muslim terrorist or a Mexican gangbanger, but a twenty-year-old, white male from Ohio.

The president of the United States stood before the world and said that Klansmen, neo-nazis, and white supremacists were the victims, and people standing up to the hate were criminals.

I have never been so angry in my fifty-nine years of life as I am over what happened in Charlottesville and its aftermath. Yes, I hated Nixon, Reagan, and Bushes 1 and 2, but I never seriously considered laying down my life in protest. That has now changed. Although the physical fight must be left to others because my wheelchair would be more of a hindrance than a help,* I now publicly vow that I am dedicating the rest of my time on earth to fighting the current administration and everything it stands for. *(My friend Bob did volunteer to push me and ram into people's Achilles Heels.)

I know I'm way out of my league here, but this is what the History Channel has to say about slavery:

A system of restrictive codes governed life among slaves. They were prohibited from learning to read and write, and their behavior and movement was restricted. Many masters took sexual liberties with slave women, and rewarded obedient slave behavior with favors, while rebellious slaves were brutally punished.

Of course, this says nothing about the raids on African villages, the iron collars, the chains, the festering holds of slave ships, the backbreaking labor, the whips, the hobblings, the brandings. But as I say, I'm way out of my league here.

A little closer to home, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum states:

The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.

Again, this does little to conjure up pictures of the concentration camps, the gas chambers, and the "Final Solution" which included tossing children alive into brick ovens.

The site's Home Page also points out that although Jews (whom the Nazis deemed a priority danger to Germany) were the primary victims of Nazi racism, others perceived as "racially inferior," included Gypsies; mentally or physically disabled patients; Slavic peoples (mainly Poles and Russians); Jehovah's Witnesses; and homosexuals.

Ah, speaking of homosexuals, Wikipedia explains:

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people face violence motivated by hateful attitudes towards their sexuality or gender identity. Violence may be executed by the state, as in laws prescribing corporal punishment for homosexual acts, or by individuals engaging in intimidation, mobbing, assault, or lynching. Violence targeted at people because of their perceived sexuality can be psychological or physical and can extend to murder. These actions may be motivated by homophobia... and may be influenced by cultural, religious, or political mores and biases.

Or maybe just good, old, American bigotry, racism, intolerance, and hatred.

Most people say the president is divisive, but I disagree. I think he did us a favor. After his speech yesterday in Arizona, he singlehandedly did away with civil rights, black rights, women's rights, gay rights, et al., and united them into one massive movement for HUMAN rights.

I cannot look at Trump's ignorant, smug, lying, ugly face and not feel revulsion, shame, and disbelief that someone so inherently and gloatingly evil is the president of our country. (My therapist says I should stop holding back.)

Counterprotesters hurled into the air after they were struck by car

Photo by Ryan Kelly, Charlottesville Daily Progress

This Is the Man You Warned Your Children About

Does anyone else but me see the conspiracy here? An alt-right rally is met by alt-left protesters. Alt-right rally is effectively shut down by alt-left demonstrators. A vehicle, driven by alt-right sympathizer, plows into group of alt-left pedestrians at 80 plus miles per hour. A young woman is killed.

Unfathomably (to the president), vast majority of American people do not side with president's support of alt-right. Alt-left and fake news demand sacrifice. Racist mouthpiece Stephen K. Bannon asked to resign from White House. Bannon resumes helm of alt-right print and radio news outlet, Breitbart, just in time to influence mid-term elections next year. CNBC columnist remarks, "[this] might indeed make him more powerful outside of the administration than he ever was in it."

The face that launched a thousand thugs

Totality

Something that happened at Charlottesville confused me. The alt-right spokesmen kept referring to the counter-protesters as "commies." I didn't know that was even a thing anymore. Even the Russians are not commies. Yes, it is true I have a poster of Kim Jong-un up in my room, but I swear when I ordered it, I thought Kim was a South Korean fashion model.

Be that as it may, thanks to President Trump, I now know to whom the white supremacists were referring. Antifa, (the Antifaschistische Aktion) was a resistance group formed in 1930s Germany to combat the rise of Nazi fascism. This organization directly fought against Benito Mussolini’s Blackshirts, Adolf Hitler’s Brownshirts, and Francisco Franco's nationalist army. Antifaschistische Aktion tactics were used as a model for anti-Japanese resistance in occupied-China during World War II. The group never had any link to Stalinist Russia.

In 1987, a group calling themselves "Baldies" joined together in Minneapolis, Minnesota to fight neo-Nazism spreading in their city. The Anti-Racist Action movement grew in the U.S. among left-leaning punk rockers. Antifa could be described as a "unite the left" movement, composed of anti-racist, anti-sexist, and anti-homophobia groups, pitted against the neo-Nazis, KKK, and white supremacists.

Antifa members also represent anti-government and anti-capitalist groups because they believe these institutions perpetuate and are in-league with the white nationalist movement. 

As we saw in Charlottesville, the hatred displayed "on many sides" was ugly. At past incidents, Antifa fighters have smashed windows, burned cars, maced and physically attacked opponents, and hurled urine, rocks, and Molotov cocktails at police.

Antifa activists publicly identify white supremacists in an attempt to get them fired from their jobs and evicted from their apartments, in addition to disrupting white-supremacist rallies by force.

As Scott Crow, a longtime Antifa organizer, said, "The idea in Antifa is that we go where they go. That hate speech is not free speech. That if you are endangering people with what you say and the actions that are behind them, then you do not have the right to do that. And so we go to cause conflict, to shut them down where they are, because we don't believe that Nazis or fascists of any stripe should have a mouthpiece."

I am undecided. In my youth, I would have been on the front lines punching those Nazi fuckers in the mouth. Now, I don't understand why the counter-protesters didn't just set up a stage in a park across town, trot out some folk singers, maybe Gloria Steinem to give a speech, and pass around some doobs. Have the media completely ignore the Nazi rally, and let the police deal with them.

People would see the absurdity of these sheet-wearing grand poobahs, and jack-stepping jerks for the pitiful losers they are.

For an in-depth look at Antifa, read the Mother Jones article at:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/04/anti-racist-antifa-tinley-park-five/

Test of Faith

With all the tensions here at home, it's easy to forget there's a world out there. One of the most faithful followers of my blog is a person from Portugal. I have no idea who it is, but every time I post a new blog, there is a pageview from Portugal.

I mention all this because yesterday, 13 people were killed and 50 injured when a giant tree fell into a crowd of worshipers gathered to celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is one of the six Catholic holy days of obligation.

The tragedy occurred in Madeira, Portugal, a popular tourist destination dubbed the "pearl of the Atlantic." Madeira is an island in the North Atlantic, actually situated closer to Morocco than the Iberian Peninsula.

The Festival of Our Lady of the Mountain is held in a village in the hills overlooking the town of Funchal. The square, called Fountain Square, sits outside the church, and is decorated in bright flowers and shaded by plane trees. A cable car links the town with the village. This year's celebration was to be especially joyous because the festival had to be cancelled last year after wild fires destroyed the surrounding countryside. 

A massive, two-hundred-year-old, oak tree came crashing down just after midday as a panicked crowd screamed and fled. One little girl was killed, and numerous children numbered among the injured.

  

An eyewitness reported, "I heard a great noise and when I looked at the tree it was already falling but was too fast and people started to run and those who couldn't run stayed under the tree."

Sources stated that the tree had been shored up for at least two years because the trunk was hollow.

My best wishes go out to the people of Portugal, of whom I think often, thanks to one kindred spirit and the wonder of technology.

Any deeper questions as to the nature of God, I leave to the individual reader.

People lighting candles after the disaster

Terrorism Comes Home (Grown)

I've been silent pretty much since Trump was sworn in (and believe me, I did a lot of swearing), but I've wanted to say something for a long time, and now seems appropriate. The events in Charlottesville have torn it. Mark my words, the next clash will involve guns.

After the election, I posted an invitation on my Facebook page for people who voted for Trump to Unfriend me - no questions asked. No one took me up on the offer. This says much about the integrity of my friends - on both sides of the political aisle. Yesterday, I posted some quotes that did not look kindly on Republicans, and lo and behold, someone Unfriended me. I have no idea who. (Although I know who didn't.)

I now renew my offer. And just to be clear, I am no longer even talking about people who VOTED for Trump. That's water under the bridge. I am now talking about people who still SUPPORT Trump. That is intolerable to me (and no, I have no intention of debating the irony). He is NOT my president. And this IS my country.

I have far more invested in this society than these bozos who run around shouting Sieg Heil. Except these guys aren't clowns. They are TERRORISTS being used as a political base for the current presidential regime and the cynical money players behind it.

As Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe said, referring to the  white supremacists, "Let's be honest, they need to leave America, because they are not Americans."