sartalon

I went through the schools, at NAS Pensacola, to be a Rescue Swimmer.

I noticed the lights around the quad, in the main barracks, galley, and school house area, all had little metal F-18's on top of them.

A few days before I transferred off base to the next school in my pipeline, I climbed one of the poles and took one.

It reminds me of the challenges I faced, being young, and to alway keep a bit of "Damn the Man, save the Empire" in my soul.

I have a bit of sand from Normandy which used to just remind me of the sacrifice that so many have made to fight fascism and aggression. Now it also reminds me to fight that same fascism today.

A photo of me in the color guard, for a parade in a town I wasn't from, for people I didn't really know, in a state I had never been. It was a summer of adventure that took me all the way across the US. It reminds to embrace the unknown, be friendly, and sometimes just letting the flow take you can lead to new, wondrous things you never could have expected

My wedding ring. It reminds me that despite the heartbreak, despair, and self loathing that came from that relationship, there were two years of delirious happiness. That not all journeys' ends are happy or avoidable, that we need to bear through them, no matter how much you want to just end everything. You WILL look back and remember the things you got to do because you stayed, and be glad you did. To trust my gut and have the courage to make the choices my heart doesn't want to make. It is easier to live with your own mistakes than someone else's.

Paxton is such a boot licking douchebag.

My favorite thing about Laplace and Fourier transforms was making a fabulous looking F and L.

Their functions are so fucking spectacularly useful, but I just loved writing it out.

The ease with which echo chambers are created and weaponized is unreal.

Watching my late father-in-law, also a Navy Vet, say John McCain was a traitor, was just ... unreal. And he was on Medicare.

Don't give up on your EE dreams. I went to school when I was younger, dug a huge GPA hole, and almost never went back.

I had to go to school part time because I had to work and was the main stay-at-home parent. Took me 7 years. (Also had undiagnosed ADHD. If I had then, the medication I have now, it probably would have been a different story 🤣).

But the real journey is finding what we love. Adversity and struggle suck, but it teaches you to fight.

Good luck, internet stranger, I hope you find the journey you need.

I've said this before but I want to scream it from the rooftops.

Fuck the GoP.

I am a white 50 year old man.

I grew up poor as shit. Moving constantly, sometimes living in a car, even dumpster diving for food.

I have been a Republican my entire life.

I thought a Republican meant personal responsibility and the freedom to carve out the life you work for.

I don't even know where my ideology lies anymore.

I spent a career in the Navy and am now a successful electrical engineer.

I only know a few things with firm certainty:

The GoP is a tool for the rich. It gives zero fucks for right or wrong, etiquette, integrity, or the Christian teachings it supposedly lauds and fights for.

America is already an oligarchy, it just hides it better. The amount of wealth available to so few people allow them the ability to control narrative and flood the truth with bullshit. Their only goal is to protect and grow their wealth.

The Democrat party is worthless. Led so long by Pelosi who did champion some important issues, but was also enriching herself and allowing the Democrat Party to also become a tool for the wealthy.

My success is due, in part, to various assistance programs that were made available to me by the government. (I also have no doubt that my gender and race also made the path easier.)

I believe I have a responsibility to help those in need. But I am a terrible supporter of local programs. What I mean is I do not like volunteering. I want to, but it makes me uncomfortable and it reminds me of the shame I felt as a child. But I have no problem paying taxes. I see my success as the success of those that supported me. I am not so naive or arrogant to think I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps. Those same programs will help the next generation and so on.

We are not all equal. Some people ARE better than others, in many ways. That does not mean we are not all of equal worth or do not deserve good lives. Everyone deserves the same opportunity, even if it means part of my success is needed to fund it.

I don't know how to fix this country, but I do know who is NOT fixing it.

History does not repeat itself. The real issue is that people don't change. The people today act the same as the people 1000 years ago. Only the rules have changed.

I lost hope for this nation when Trump was elected this last time. I couldn't understand how people could not see the obvious. But I also understand the disenfranchisement and lack of leadership the Democratic Party has caused.

If free healthcare, free child care, free education, UBI, affordable housing, and good old monopoly busting means I have to live in a home barely big enough for my family and lose half my paycheck... that is a price I would pay without thinking twice.

The election of New York's newest mayor, despite the forces working against him gives me hope.

I'm 50. This is not my country anymore. My generation made its bed, we need to let the next make theirs.

I will continue to be a registered Republican and vote straight Democrat until there is a clearer path for me to take.

Oh, and fuck AIPAC and the ADL. They support genocide and have become what they supposedly stand against.

I have hope again and I have NY to thank for that.

A few more pearls that I always thought was obvious:

AI is a bubble.

STOP USING CRYPTO, IT'S A FUCKING SCAM FOR GRIFTERS AND WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A CURRENCY, NOT A FUCKING INVESTMENT. THANKS FOR RUINING IT, ASSHOLES.

I prefer, "...but his first love be the C."

He's not saying America isn't bad though.

Thank you for proving his point though.

I stopped my Ring subscription but kept the doorbell camera.

It wasn't until a year later when I was moving and the house was almost completely empty (still had internet/wifi setup) and I looked at the wifi app and saw that the ring doorbell still had significant data usage.

They were clearly still capturing my doorbell video.

Wait. Worm brain man says no real proof of a connection?

Now I think there may be one.

He doesn't look American.

We should probably detain him in an ICE center and process him.

Eh, fine.