Dark Philosophy and the Light

I am currently re-watching the first season of True Detective... for the third time. Matthew and Woody were AMAZING in this series. Well directed, cast, produced. Best TV ever. 

The writing is what I'd like to talk about, though. Especially this conversation, from a scene about 15 minutes into the first episode, where they are driving through rural Louisiana. Mobile homes, junk everywhere, everything's run-down and cheap. They had just visited the scene of a horrific crime, and they both had a sense of foreboding, as if they knew this case was going to test them, and take from them more than they would be willing to give. 

Rust (Matthew McConaughey): People out here... it's like they don't even know the world outside exists. Might as well be living on the fucking moon.

Marty (Woody Harrelson): There's all kinds of ghettos in the world.

Rust: It's all one ghetto, man. A giant gutter in outer space.

Marty:  Today, that scene, that is the most fucked up thing I ever caught. Can I ask you something? You're a Christian, yeah?

Rust: No.

Marty: Well, then what do you got the cross for, in your apartment?

Rust: That's a form of meditation.

Marty: How's that?

Rust: I contemplate the moment in the garden, the idea of allowing your own crucifixion.

Marty: But you're not a Christian... so what do you believe?

Rust: I believe that people shouldn't talk about this type of shit at work.

Marty: Hold on, hold on... 3 months we been together, I get nothing from you. Today, with what we're into now, do me a courtesy, ok? I'm not trying to convert you. 

Rust: Look, I consider myself a Realist, all right? But in philosophical terms, I'm what's called a Pessimist. 

Marty: Ummm, ok? What's that mean?

Rust: It means I'm bad at parties.

Marty: Let me tell you, you ain't great outside of parties either!

Rust (hesitatingly): I think human consciousness was a tragic mis-step in evolution. We became too self-aware. Nature created an aspect of Nature separate from itself. We are creatures that should not exist by Natural Law.

Marty: Huh? That sounds god-fucking awful, Rust.

Rust:  We are things that labor under the illusion of having a self... this accretion of sensory experience and feeling, programmed with total assurance that we are each somebody when in fact, everybody's nobody. 

Marty: I wouldn't go around spouting that shit, if I was you. People around here don't think that way. I don't think that way.

Rust: I think the honorable thing for our species to do is deny our programming, stop re-producing, walk hand-in-hand into extinction, one last midnight, brothers and sisters opting out of a raw deal. 

Marty: So, what's the point of getting out of bed in the morning?

Rust: I tell myself I bear witness, but the real answer is that it's obviously my programming, and I lack the constitution for suicide.   

Marty: My luck, I picked today to get to know you. For three months I don't hear a word from you, and..

Rust: You asked.

Marty: ...Yeah. And now I'm BEGGING you to shut the fuck up!

Driving in silence for a moment... then:

Rust: I get a bad taste in my mouth out here. Aluminum. Ash. Like you can smell the psychosphere.

Marty: I got an idea: Let's make the car a place of silent reflection from now on, okay?

Rust silently acquiesces.

And so, the series goes on, with all the unspeakable horror, deprivation, and corruption they uncover, ending with this beautiful scene almost 20 years later where Marty takes Rust for a walk outside the hospital where he is recovering. And after a brief exchange where Rust re-counts his near-death experience, and possibly an encounter with something that expresses a meaning to life, something greater than individual existence... pure love, a light in the eternal darkness, warmth in the abysmal cold, the season ends with this:

Rust: I'll tell you, Marty, I've been up in that room, looking out those windows every night here. Just thinking... it's just one story. The oldest.

Marty: What's that?

Rust: Light versus dark.

Marty: Well, I know we ain't in Alaska, but it appears to me that the dark has a lot more territory.

Rust: Yeah. You're right about that.

And a few minutes later, after they decide to leave the hospital, Rust says:

Rust: You know, you're looking at it wrong, at the sky.

Marty: How's that?

Rust: Well, once there was only dark. If you ask me, the light's winning.

And Marty just chuckles. 

My whole life I have been operating in sympathy with this philosophy. It is basic Judeo-Christian philosophy. It has been my default assumption. And it still is. But there has always been an undercurrent of what he laid out in the beginning. I have often thought that we shouldn't pro-create. It is the only way to end suffering and poverty. I have often thought that we got a raw deal in being assigned to this time-space continuum, without our approval, in a body that is slowly breaking down, and dying from the day we are born, on a planet that is trying to kill us, and our loved ones, every time we let our guard down. I have often thought it would be smarter to just say "No thanks." Maybe it is better to be wherever we were before we were here? Even though it is entirely unknown, and therefore "dark" to us. 

I'm sure we all vacillate between competing, possibly diametrically opposed thoughts, conclusions, or viewpoints. I go between standard Catholic Christian beliefs and the idea that if there is a god, he is an asshole and should be the subject of a class-action lawsuit with 7 billion people as the plaintiffs. And I entertain a lot of territory in between. It is hard for me, most times, to think that someone is "blessed" because they won a wrestling match when, elsewhere on Gods green Earth, someone else is born with a horrible malady and must live their entire life in pain, emotional as well as physical. It doesn't square with the idea of an all-seeing, all-loving God. Either he doesn't care, or is asleep at the wheel, or an incredible SADIST. And then my daughter sends me a video of her dancing and I suddenly find myself thanking God for his graciousness in sending her to me. I guess never mind the other kid. 

There are people who, in simplicity and humility, just take what they are given because it just makes sense to them. It is not a course of action taken in ignorance or blind subservience to ancestral philosophical hand-me-downs, but really just takes into account the short time we will be here, on this plane of existence, and a conservation and respect for the archetypical lessons we received from our fore-fathers. And Mothers. It is the very basis of Morality, and gives us a plan-of-action that best ensures a happy, productive life for us and our children while we are here. 

The Truth is that we will never know how we got here, how we were made, or when, or where, or even why we are here. The Judeo-Christian game plan is as good as any other, better, even, by our track record. There are millions of people all over the world that don't spend their time thinking about other options. They'd rather spend what little they have of it loving their children, and each other, building and creating, and pursuing their happiness in the here-and-now, with the promise of eternity at the end of the path. And anything that threatens that is anathema, and well ought to be. 

Never mind that Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity have put smartphones in every pocket. It's great, and a miracle of science, but it pales at the sight of the dedication and devotion of a parent in raising their children and seeing the love in their eyes. Never mind that Astrophysicists have given us images and evidence of the vastness of the cosmos and the revelation that our Sun is but one of many, maybe an infinite number, of worlds. Never mind the discoveries of the microscopic world, DNA, and never mind the probability of some form of evolution. That is all beautiful, and wonderous, but it doesn't change anything. We are still here, hungry, naked and afraid, and in pain, with no instruction manual except what our parents have learned before we were even born; what we learn from history. And whether it is a raw deal or not, seeing the love in your childs' eye is the only thing better than sex we have found. There is a reason that one leads to the other. And that is why the wheel keeps turning. And why the light is winning. 

Anyways, kudos to Nic Pizzolatto for the creation of such thought-provoking and philosophical challenging series!

Tamale Party Instructions

Ingredients
 
3 lg cans HUNTS tomato sauce

2 bulbs garlic

Crushed Oregano

2 lg Sweet onions

2 bags FRESH Crushed red pepper (in the section where all the Mexican spices are in little packets/baggies)

Long rain White Rice (uncle Bens is good, or Mahatma. NOT JASMINE)

4 sm cans El Pato Salsa de Chile Fresco

4-5 Avocados (might as well make some guac for the cooks)

5 or 6 large Turkey tins

6 LG cans Sun Vista Beans (soaking beans overnight is for beaners)

4 DOZ Guerrero White corn tortillas (ONLY Guerrero! and the small ones are best)

5 Doz Flour Tortillas (for making Grandpa Burritos w/ leftovers)

Sour Creme (Hampshire ONLY!)

5 lbs Pork Butt/shoulder/whatevers-on-sale  (Chile Con Carne)

20 lbs Pork Butt/shoulder/whatevers-on-sale (Tamales)

30 lbs Masa Preparada (from Cardenas)

2 bags Hojas (200+ premium ones! Everyone will hate you if you get the cheap ones)

2 LG Cans (28oz) Las Palmas Red Chile Sauce (NOT enchilada sauce!)

2 Bags New Mexico or California Chiles, whole 

1 Case Pacifico

750ml Herradura Tequila

Limes

This cost about $250 on 11/16/2016

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TAMALES

Day 1. MEAT

Start with a ceremonial shot of Cazadores. And have a cold Pacifico on hand. Shit's about to get real. In large stew pots, half full of boiling water, distibute 20 lbs of Pork. I cube them up in about 2" cubes. You don't want super long strings of meat. In each pot, add 1/2 onion, 5 lg cloves of garlic (don't be scared, homie!), and maybe a Tablespoon of salt (getting that right is hard. I always think to myself, "If I was gonna eat that meat right now, how much salt would I have to put on it?" Some extrapolation may be in order. Pork needs a LOT OF SALT (note: I used a TBSP in each of the three pots that I was making. After it was cooked, I tasted it and it wasn't enough, so I added another two TBSP into the red chili sauce). And Pepper. A lot. And a whole bag of Crushed Red Pepper. Unless there will be kids involved. Then a half bag. Also, for extra flavor depth, maybe a small can of El Pato in each pot. Then top off with water until all meat is submerged. Boil and simmer for like FOUR HOURS. Until it falls apart when you stir. 

While the meat is boiling, make Red Chile Sauce

 If you are sensitive, like my wife who is Asian, leave the room during this whole step. And open windows and turn on the fan. Wash New Mexico Chiles. Do it by hand, under running water as hot as you can stand. Cut the top off, stick your finger in it (stop it...), split them down the side with a finger and rub the dirty dirt from inside till they're clean and less slimy. Get rid of stem area and seeds. 

In a frying pan with, say, olive oil, or maybe a non-stick pan with no oil, and using a bean masher to hold them flat, sear each side on med/high heat for only a few seconds. Say 10 seconds each side. There's a term for this... blanching? It releases the "soul" of the pepper and imparts a taste you can't get out of a can, as far as I know. This is the secret, really. A tamale is supposed to have a bit of an "earthen" taste. I was told once that my method is too clean and will taste sterile and I shouldn't clean the peppers so well. There is DIRT in there and I'm gonna clean them! Set aside in a bowl.

In a good blender, put one Lg can Las Pamas sauce and about half of the seared chiles and blend the shit out of it. If it seems too thick and won't blend, add a ladle of pork broth. Do it again with the other half of the chiles and can. Put it in a tupperware (a pitcher is good, you will be pouring a bit out 6 or 7 times) and set aside. 

3 hours later 

Once the meat is done, spoon it out into a turkey tin (hopefully it all fits in one), and let it cool a bit in open air. Maybe two tins is better so you can spoon it around to cool faster. While it is cooling, strain all three pots of broth through a collander, keeping the last quart/half gallon or so AND ALL the contents of the collander (onion, garlic, pepper, meat scraps, all the good stuff!). The contents of the collander should be added back to the meat somehow, so just dump it on top of the meat. I don't know what to do with the rest of the pork broth, and it seems like a waste to just pour it in a gopher hole, but there will be a few gallons of it left, sooo, do with it what ye will. Once the meat is cool enough (if not, you'll know in a minute!), mix in all but about 12oz of the red chile sauce you made earlier (the last 12 oz or so will be added to the masa later, a bit at a time). Mix it up real good, shredding the meat in the process. Don't be a baby, just do it with your hands. Wear gloves if you're sensitive but its way faster and more thorough. Trust. Let it cool for a few hours, then saran wrap and put in fridge for the next day. You can put it in the fridge earlier but it will heat up the whole fridge. I have left it on the counter with tin foil on it overnight from about 10pm to about 6am and it was still warm... Considering these will be steamed once or twice, that's ok. Clean up your mess because tomorrow will be a big day and it's depressing to wake up with a dirty kitchen.

Day 2. Rolling

We use Jennifer's awesome Kitchenaid Mixer for this. She fills the bowl almost full with Masa Preparada, adds about 3 TBSP of the red Chili sauce (from yesterday) and a bit (as needed) of pork broth (also from the day before) and mixes it up. The proportions here are to-taste. I like a little red in my masa. Not a lot, I just don't like it soooo white. And the flavor it adds, along with the pork broth, is important. Also, the main purpose of this is to get it to the right consistency for spreading on the hojas, so you kinda have to get a feel for it. And it also depends on the consistency of the masa as you bought it. Sometimes it comes really greasy and you don't want to add ANY broth to it because then everything will be really greasy. 

So, set up your table for an efficient work area. This also takes some dialing in... and experience. You need a LOT of room for one tray of meat, one bowl of masa, one tray of hojas AND one empty tray for rolled tamales. Getting all that AND a cutting board for each person to roll on is a trick. Especially when you factor in the room needed for Pacifico bottles, you can see how quickly you run out of room. Also, it get's annoying real quick if each person can't really reach each tray of ingredients. But anyways, at this point, take one hoja, spread masa about 1/4" thick (no more!) on it, stay away from the bottom (pointy end) about two inches, put about one heaping tablespoon of meat in the middle, roll it up, fold the end over, tie it if you want, and jump on the next one. Oh yeah, and HURRY UP! Chuey's hungry, and his eyes are glassy already. We got about 200 of these to do and they ain't gonna roll themselves!

Once you have about 60 of them in a tray, you can steam them in an outdoor propane burner/steamer combo pretty painlessly. I have experimented quite a bit with this... multiple layers, seperators, etc. I think it's best to just do one layer, all standing upright, not too tightly packed, and it will behoove the shit out of you to leave a spot in the middle clear enough to see through one of the holes with a flashlight. This is to monitor the water level, which should come up to the bottom of the platorm thingy with all the holes in it. I have also done one layer with a brick in the middle (clean the brick, first, man!) to support a second platform. It worked, but I had to guess the water level. If you put in too much water it's bad. I don't know what will happen, but I've been told it's bad. Maybe it will start a chain reaction that will bring about the next apocalypse. Just don't do it. Also, NEVER let the water get too low or you will cry. They will ALL taste burned and your reputation will be forever tarnished. Chuey will find somewhere else to be next year, but maybe it will be worth it?

I like to have the water boiling when I start laying them in the steamer, that way when I'm done and put the lid on I can start the timer. If the water is boiling, there is no need to have the burner on high. Turn it down to, say, medium low. As long as it is making steam, there is no reason to boil all the water away too quickly. Put the top on, and set the timer for 30 min. When it beeps, check the water level, and set the timer for another 30 min. It's a good idea to have a large saucepan full of water and boiling at the 1 hour mark, so if you have to add water, you won't mess up the schedule by adding cold water and waiting for it to boil. I have made MANY mistakes here, but the key is to have the steamer full of water up to the grate, no more. This is usually about 1.5" of water. If you get it boiling, then turn the burner down to about medium-low, THEN add the tamales, that 1.5" of water should last 1.5 hours. If you have to add more water, pour it down the side, or in the clear area in the middle, or use a funnel. DO NOT pour it all over the tamales. It makes them mushy.

A note on how to tell when they are done: I SWEAR that tamales are NEVER as good as they are the next day after getting microwaved. I suspect that the flavor doesn't travel through the masa when it is wet, only when it is like bread. But that is the exact minute that you are yanking them out of the steamer! Also, I swear that there may be NO DIFFERENCE between 1 hour and 3 hours of steaming. The problem here is that we are using a propane burner with a crude valve, outside in the wind, and there is NO WAY to make sure you are providing the same BTU's of heat from one batch to the next. Anyways, they will not look ready when you take them out after 1.5 hours. Just know that if you are providing steam and enough time, they will finish. But if you must, open one up, all the way up, on a plate. It will look wet, rubbery, and NOT DONE. Let it sit for 5 minutes, or until it dries up. It will look better. The Masa will probably be bland tasting. This is because of what I said above about the flavor not being allowed to travel in such a wet environment. Trust me, tomorrow you will nuke a few and SWEAR they taste totally different!

Anyways, put them all on a tray to cool, pop a Pacifico, then go crazy, or bag 'em up for the fridge or freezer. By this point you should be a bout 3.5 sheets to the wind, the entire kitchen will be destroyed, Uncle Chuey will be passed out on the front porch with his pants down, the neighbors will be pissed, and your wife is calling her lawyer. If you did it right, that is.

Chile Con Carne

Oh... I almost forgot about the Chile Con Carne and Rice... 

So, if you want to kick the whole thing up another couple notches and feed everyone while they are rolling tamales, do this about 2 hours before they show up. And to make sure there is enough time, you should tell everyone to show up at noon.

Dice up about 5lbs of pork. Like, really, the size of dice. Throw it all in a stew pot on high and stir it occasionally. Add about a tablespoon of salt and a maybe the same amount of black pepper. Also, get a large saucepan of water boiling on the side. Once it starts to look like you would totally pop one of those tasty morsels in your mouth, maybe 15 minutes later, add about 6 fat cloves of garlic, pressed or minced... whatever. Again, don't be scared, homie! It's wintertime and your immune system could use a boost! Stir it up and dump in the boiling water from the saucepan. Stir again, and add about a tablespoon of crushed Oregano and two tablespoons of crushed red pepper. If you're feeling scrappy, double the pepper. I think you did it wrong if you are not sweating while you are eating it. Never use too much oregano or it will start tasting like Italian food. Also, add a small can of tomato sauce, and a small can of El Pato tomato sauce, for depth. You just want the liquid to have a red tint. We're not making spaghetti sauce, man. Stir it up and leave it on medium heat. You can put a lid on it, but make sure to crack the vent open. We are trying to reduce it down a bit and it will be simmering like this for at least an hour. If you have more time, put it on low and leave it for 3 hours. It's even better like that. Put it on the back burner and forget about it.

Rice
So, it should be about 11am by this point, which is beer-thirty, somewhere. Time to make the rice.

I have been making rice for 30 years and I feel like a golfer that has lost his swing. I fail about half of the time so my wife usually does it. She's like, Asian, y'know? 

So, I have an AWESOME cast iron pot with a lid that I use for this. It's a Griswold, and I've had it since about 1994. I had two, but my sister stole one of them... You really should use a deep, thick-bottomed pan with a tight-fitting lid... it needs to hold heat for 40 minutes or so with no burner on. I don't know how to do this any other way, and I am open to suggestions. Anyways, put a saucepan with one small can (1 cup) tomato sauce, one small can (another cup) of El Pato, and two cups of water on to simmer. That's 4 cups liquid total, because we will be using 2 cups of rice. Get your rice pan, put a little oil in it... maybe a TBSP? The trick is to have it where once you put the rice in and move it all around, the rice is shiny with oil but there is no puddles anywhere. If you put in too much, soak it up with a paper towel. Turn the heat on high, grab a beer and your phone because you will be babysitting this for at least 15 minutes. When Uncle Chuey calls to ask what to bring even though he's just gonna bring beer anyways, you can't be getting distracted. So, dump in 2 cups of rice, move it around slowly with a flat wooden spatula, spread it evenly, and take a sip of beer. Just one, though, because you have to move the rice around already! Do it slowly so it doesn't get beat up. The point here is to toast the rice so that hopefully 99% of it will be a rich brown color. Not black, drunk-ass! Look at it closely: every one of those whiter ones will crunch later when you eat it. Just keep moving it around until there are no more white ones. That means, like, every 15 seconds you should be moving it around. You might also have to add more oil if the pan starts looking dry. Right around when you think it's done, you can add about a teaspoon of salt, some pepper, and garlic, and about a quarter of an onion, chopped large. Stir it all in, wait until the onions start sweating, call your accomplice, if you have one, or else this will get messy. You have to dump that saucepan with the simmering, watered-down tomato sauce in there. It will not be happy. It will bubble and spit and cause all-kinds of havoc, and that is why it helps to have someone with the lid in hand to quash the whole riot. Give it about a minute and remove the lid. With the same wooden spatula, get under the rice and make sure it is not sticking. I don't want to say "stir" the rice because if you do that too much it will be sticky. 

So, here's the part where I usually fail. Once all the ingredients are in there, and it's bubbling, turn it down low. You will need to stir often, but do it slow! Really you are just "lifting" the rice off the bottom so it doesn't stick. This is why you need a flat wooden spatula, or any spatula, I guess. Just keep it from sticking, and do it about every minute at first because cast iron holds a LOT of heat and it will still be hotter than the liquid. Finally you can take a bit of a break. Use this time to clean up your mess, flojo. And look around carefully, because it is very likely that you opened a Pacifico, took a sip, got distracted, and set it down somewhere and it is getting WARM! My dad said something about simmering the rice on med-low heat until the rice starts peeking through the water. But using the old Asian rule of a two-to-one ratio of water to rice, the rice is already peeking through when you begin... so, maybe it is two water-to-one rice PLUS the tomato sauce? We're making rice not doing math, man. Anyhow, I end up with soggy rice... So, back to where all the ingredients are in, it is simmering, and the rice is peeking through the water, it is time to put the heavy cast iron lid on it, wait about 5 minutes, stir again, and hopefully the lid is nice and hot by now and you can turn the heat off and LET IT SIT with the lid on. For 40 minutes! Don't peek. It needs to use the heat retained in the cast iron to slowly let the liquid absorb into the rice, and if everything is done right, the rice will explode, or open up, and the water will be gone and it will be fluffy and amazing. But that hasn't happened for me in a long time. Close, but not awesome. 

To be continued...

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Update 12/8/2017

two bags of hojas

two 16oz bags of New Mexico chiles

two large 28 oz cans of Las Palmas Red Chile sauce

20lbs Pork

30lbs Masa

Had about a softball sized bit of masa left over

Made 200 tamales

Started steaming 60 tamales (1 layer) @ 7:30 pm, done in 1.75 hours

Next batch began at 9:45, done in 1.5 hours

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Update 11/25/2017

One bag of hojas

One 16oz bag of New Mexico chiles

One large 28 oz can of Las Palmas Red Chile sauce

8.6lbs Pork

15lbs Masa

Had about XXX of masa left over

Made XXX tamales

What to do in 2021?

 

This morning I dropped my wonderful daughter off at the airport where she will fly to Kentucky to begin work maintaining radio systems at the famous 101^st Airborne Division. I have been talking her ear off for the last 11 days about things like the Oath she took, what it means, being a soldier, performing her duty to her unit, her country, and to all of humanity, honor, sacrifice, the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, The Federalist Papers… all the documents that outline the deal we made when we created this government. But all the way to the airport all I could do was hold her hand in silence. And now I am just sad, and empty as she is beginning the next chapter in her life.

It was once said “I was a Soldier, so that my son could be a Farmer, so that his son could be an Artist.” This thought has always inspired much deep contemplation in me. And I have always wanted to append a sentence: “So that the Artists could fuck it all up and everyone would have to become soldiers again.” The truth is, the Artists live in a fantasy world… that’s what makes them such good Artists. It’s also what makes them TERRIBLE philosophers and leaders.

Anyway, my daughters are both WONDERFUL artists. Multi-talented artists. They have brought tears of JOY with their voices and guitars. They were ready to spread their wings and give all of humanity the precious gift of their existence, and experience the precious gift of the existence of others. And then we all dropped the ball. My wonderful daughter might have to trade the innocent smile of a mischievous, happy, girl for the raging war-face of a soldier. And that is a crime for which I accuse all of humanity.

America, as it was founded, is an Idea come to fruition. The idea was that all men are created equal, and possessed of inalienable Rights, and must be treated equally under the Law, among other things. You have to read history to understand what a revolution in thought this was. We all are guilty of taking it for granted. But I am here to tell you that ONLY the Republicans and Conservative Libertarians adhere to that original idea. No longer can we say that we all want the same thing. Today’s Democrats are SOCIALISTS, and as such, they DO NOT BELIEVE in the tenets of the founding documents. They are trying to FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE the meaning of the words, and therefore the deal itself. They think they have a better idea. Somehow better than “All men are created equal.” Better than a "Right to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." This makes them INSURRECTIONISTS, Revolutionaries. And they use devious tactics to sow discontent and hatred. They say that WE are full of hatred, that we want only MEN to be equal, that we are guilty of slavery, assault, discrimination, and even that WE are the ones plotting revolution and war.

Their ideas are not new. Other people have thought the way they think. Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot, Castro, Ho Chi Minh, Chavez and Maduro… all socialists. All Dictators who first disarmed the people, silenced dissent, imprisoned opponents, then forced their ideas on whoever was left. Many people have tried to estimate the deaths and disappearances from starvation, torture, and murder, and it is over 100 million. All mostly in a 50 year period, from 1930 to 1980. Not including the war casualties. All killed by their OWN GOVERNMENT, because they had a better idea and wanted to try it. But hey, maybe it will work this time, finally.

There comes a time, in every fight, that words are no longer useful. At some point someone is going to lose some teeth, or worse. That point is usually when logic and reason are disregarded or perverted. We are long passed that point. It is time to either part company, or meet in the streets and have it out. In my opinion the only way to do it peacefully would be to build walls around all the big cities (look at the map of districts that voted for Biden. All the big cities!) and let Amazon and Facebook run the place. Those people are sheep, they should live in a pen. Since that is unlikely to happen, I guess we will meet in the streets. And we are ready. So are they (they think). If the cops would just stay home it would be over in a week, and we could all get back to the business of being Americans.

Which brings me to my next point. The reason the cops are not helping us is because they must answer to elected officials. Mayors, Sheriffs, etc. If they don’t obey, they can lose their pension. For TEN YEARS now, since the Occupy protests, cops have been beat up and badgered by the Left, and SUPPORTED by the Right and yet they STILL obey their commie masters and arrest and beat down Conservatives, the very people that profess DAILY support for them and the Law. This will continue until we attack their pensions, which I say should be the next step. Think about it: Their pension consists of money that hasn’t even been earned yet! That means they guaranteed themselves that our kids will work extra hard to give them money when they are old so they can live comfortable in old age. And they’ll throw us in jail if we don’t like it. It is the poisonous, cancerous puppet-string of PENSIONS that causes it. It is a way for the corrupt swamp creatures to say "do what we say and when you retire you will live like a king. Defy us and you'll get less or nothing."

I'd like to propose a new Oath of Office for all government employees, including cops, representatives, officials, even Presidents, as a favor, so you can live in peace without the knowledge that you VIOLATE your current solemn oath with every step you take on the job. Just say "I, (state your name), do solemnly swear to protect and defend my PENSION, and the unions and institutions that implement and administer it, from all enemies, foreign and domestic."

There, now you aren't full of shit anymore! And now the cops that don't stand with the very people that support and defend them can sleep at night while they protect and defend the march of SOCIALISM into every aspect of our lives. But hey, at least they'll get to buy SxS's and a boat when they retire 10 years before everyone else!

Anyone else that took the oath, THE ORIGINAL ONE, and knows that whatever pension you were promised isn't worth JACK SHIT if the socialists get their way, can continue to behave in the way they must... as GUARDIANS OF THE REPUBLIC! Also, it prevents the cowards from believing they took the same oath that some of us Americans did. I accuse them of STOLEN VALOR and treason. I have to believe that woman who got shot, Ashli Babbitt,  knew what she was getting into... she was dumb if she didn't. But that cop that shot her was not adhering to his oath. He should have stayed home.

"When the subject has refused allegiance, and the officer has resigned his office, then the revolution is accomplished." Thoreau

I know, I kinda went off on cops there. But if they acted right this would be over so much sooner. And we could use their help. It should be obvious to them which side is in the right, here. And obvious to everyone. It is the side that is ADHERING to the original deal that was made at GREAT EXPENSE, and great bloodshed, by our ancestors 235 years ago when we, the people, created this government. The other side wants to change it all, because they have a better idea. One that has left a dismal record of failure only an Academic could ignore.