flyboy254cnchtv-blog

[flyboy254cnchtv-blog]

So, a while ago I moved from the Philadelphia area to the Indianapolis area, in the middle of what is considered "flyover country." The mythic land of "real America" I've heard spoken of for years. After a few years I've come to a conclusion.

They have no soul.

I don't mean metaphysically, I mean there's no passion out here. Oh, sure, there's small pockets of individuals who have a drive in their heart, but the region has nothing. I can remember something always happening back home, where there was always a meetup or an event or just walking around to see what's happening. People here sit in their own bubble, hunker down, and smile and nod. They don't like the idea of getting involved, or getting active. No, it's "nice" all the way.

I've seen them react with shock when I mention I'm from Philly. They say we're crazy, we're mean, we're rude. It's because we've got shit to do, because we don't have time for bullshit, because we look the world in the eye and know it's fucked up. "Real America" wants to pretend there's nothing wrong, and if there is it wants to blame everyone but themselves. Because they're so nice and so polite, how can they be part of the problem?

Someone might accuse me of generalizing, but if you're so thick you don't understand that I'm speaking this way to make an overall point about the differences between these two regional cultures, you lack the critical thinking skills God gave a hermit crab.

To quote Gangs of New York, America was born in the streets. Maybe it's time we started to remember that.

[flyboy254cnchtv-blog]

Being aware means you can feel scared. You can logically understand something, while also knowing you're afraid. You're human, not a machine. You can feel multiple emotions simultaneously. If you're scared, I'm scared too. Remember that courage is never the absence of fear, but knowing you have it and still doing what is right.

You're allowed to be scared when you do the right thing.

[flyboy254cnchtv-blog]

Lessons I Learned From Fiction

Fullmetal Alchemist: Giving up will only let the evils of the world win. Keep moving forward, and know that they will fall.

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: As long as you have friends in your life, your adventures will never end.

Legend of Korra: Change is constant, and should be embraced for what it can teach you.

Stargate SG-1: We never know what will happen next, but we can always adapt to whatever comes our way.

[flyboy254cnchtv-blog]

This is going to be more than a marathon. This will be a ruck march through some of the roughest emotional terrain any of us can fathom. All along the way we'll be bearing packs that will be so heavy it'll feel like our knees will buckle. Pace yourself, find your rhythm, and look for the ones who have been here before. Listen to them carefully, and know that the objective is to live. The point of a ruck isn't to speed through. The goal is to make it to the other end with everyone you started with.

[flyboy254cnchtv-blog]

Most of you probably already know this, but for those who don't? If you know you're exhausting yourself, step back. Breathe, unplug, and remember this isn't a solo fight. There are so many out there who see the same thing you do. Fight hard and rest when you can. It's no good if you're a strung out scarecrow.

[flyboy254cnchtv-blog]

Never forget that at their core, the fascist is a petty creature. They are dangerous, harmful, deadly. They are also small, frail, easily given to rash action and bad decision. They are poorly equipped for socializing, seeing others of their kind as rivals rather than members of a clan. Without a strong leader, the clan falls to instant infighting, leaving others to sweep in and take control.

Remember that the fascist is crafty in disguise, however, and will always attempt to avoid detection. Never forget the fascists you can see, and always be on guard for their appealing siren call to entice new victims.

[flyboy254cnchtv-blog]

Something I had to learn, thankfully not too late, is what it means to be proud. I was told for years I had to be "proud" of being Irish-Catholic, filled with these false ideas of what I was supposed to be. There was an implicit, unspoken idea that I was "superior" because of that, and I should almost lord it over others.

If Irish-Americans were really that stalwart, our pride wouldn't rest so hard on the past. We wouldn't sing rebel songs and then back those who support the same systems we wanted gone in Northern Ireland. We'd have moved on from the Kennedy legacy, and our outdated ideals of what being an immigrant means. We haven't been the immigrants for over a century, so maybe we can drop this idea that we really know what it's like?

Our pride should be in lifting others up to join us. Our joy should be the sight of children safe and fed. Our triumph should be the end of the system that one day decreed we got to be "white." If you somehow feel that someone else's culture is a threat to yours, maybe you aren't such a big tough Irish after all?

Pride, real pride, comes from adding your own small and good accomplishments to the ones that came before. Not treating all actions of the past as unassailable gospel.

[flyboy254cnchtv-blog]

Remember that you are alive. You are existing on this Earth, after what should have been several scenarios that were the "End Times."

Thomas Malthus said population should have outstripped food over a century ago. The Dust Bowl was seen as the final gasps of America. The Cold War should have ended in nuclear fire ten times over. It didn't. We're still alive.

We are not a species that gives up, even at its worst. We are going to survive, we are going to push forward, and we are going to make it to the other side.

It's gonna be a wild ride. Stick around, we're gonna wanna talk about this when it's all over.

[flyboy254cnchtv-blog]

Something small hit me today, but I think it will be important to remember in the coming days.

Project 2025 thinks it won by getting the red control of the US government. It doesn't realize that Trump never shares the limelight. That all his efforts turn to failure for everyone who helps him. Atlantic City is the perfect example, can I get an amen from my New Jersey people?

They have their plan, but he doesn't care. The millisecond his brain decides something else is going on, he'll take that instead. They will be burned like so many before, and only when their efforts are as dust will they come to realize that their would-be great leader was only ever a small man with small ambitions writ in neon signs.

[flyboy254cnchtv-blog]

A subtle reminder to the Irish-Americans on here in case you forgot something important. If you know this doesn't apply to you, you don't need to say anything. Because we all have that one fucking family member. Several, for me.

You were the immigrants once. You were the "enemy within." You were the ones threatened with deportation and death. If you can't look to our own collective past and summon up the smallest fucking sliver of empathy for others, then you spit on the graves of every Irish immigrant that did their best to put us where we are now.

Sorry, I said subtle. I meant blatantly fucking obvious.

[flyboy254cnchtv-blog]

So, I've been processing things over the past few days. I thought I knew my country, but I didn't. If anything, it proved me so wrong that I've been waking up nauseous, puking, forcing myself not to sob. I'm not one of the people most in danger, but the people I care about are. So I'm gonna go stream of consciousness, and please forgive me but I need to get this off my chest somewhere. For the love of all that's sacred, don't leave us. If you need to keep yourself or your loved ones safe, do it, do not feel like that's wrong. But you are needed. You are valued. You should not let those monsters in human flesh tell you your worth. I served in the Marine Corps, and in the service I learned. I learned about "the talk" every black family in America has to give their children for when they will, will, be stopped by a cop. I learned that so much of our military is made up of the children of those who came here searching for a better life. I learned that so many of my comrades are gay, lesbian, bi, and were better Marines that I could have ever hoped to be.

This freed me from the shell I'd been raised in. Whatever lies my Irish-Catholic parents tried to feed me didn't scan any longer. The only thing I learned to take from them is that immigrants, all immigrants, deserve to exist.

I will not call myself an ally, attempting to apply that appellation to oneself feels vapid and self-absolving. I will not get everything right, because I still have to learn a lot. But I know that for now, I will wake up, shake my boots off, and do what I can. Because my friends, my family, will need me to be as strong as I can.

This will not be easy. There will be moments where we will all ask if we can even go on. We can't lie to ourselves that somehow it will all work out. We need to get together, plan, and organize where and how we can. Our foes believe we are weak. Their mistake is that this is what they think of compassion, of morality, of simple decency.

You are valued. You are here. I want to see a world where you are able to be free, happy, and safe, no matter who you are. I posted earlier the quote from Bobby Sands. "Our revenge will be the laughter of our children." I do believe that. Because the woman I love says I'm the one she wants to bring up children with, and the only way that happens is if we cast down the false idol they have raised.

I still believe in the ideals in the Declaration of Independence. That the Constitution is a living document made to be changed, to be amended so that it can adapt to the times. I swore an oath, and I'm too damn stubborn to just accept that these terrors will persist. I'm not a leader, but I know how to follow orders. Point me in the right direction, and I'll do what I can.

Whoever reads this, you are not alone. You will never be anything less than human. The fact that your very existence, your happiness, fills them with such a rage is what I want to help you keep alive. If you're a person of color, if you're LGBT+, if you're a woman, know that there are still enough of us out there who want to help. Who want to know how. We got decked last Tuesday, but one slug to the jaw doesn't end the fight. This isn't Frasier vs Ali. This is Rocky vs Creed, and we're going all twelve. It'll be easier, and worth it, if we all go along together.

They think we're out, but already there are organizations, movements, local communities rebuilding and prepping. They are proud, and they have ripped their mask off now and brag of the evils they will inflict. We will use their words against them, and we will know that those who supported them have nowhere to hide. They wanted this, and they're going to get it. We need to be ready to get back to work after, whatever may come.

I hope you forgive me for what must seem like a ramble. I hope that you stick around, too. This fight is not, and will never be over until the last trace of their hate and propaganda is wiped from the face of the earth. Stay smart, stay resilient, and stay human. We will survive, and we will hear the laughter of the children before we know it.

[flyboy254cnchtv-blog]

Right now, I'm reminded of a quote from Bobby Sands, who died in hunger strike against unjust rule.

"Our revenge will be the laughter of our children."

Do not give up. Do not leave us empty chairs and silence. Live, and show them what life truly is.

[flyboy254cnchtv-blog]

Testing the correlation between the technologies of the Lunar Kingdom and the abilities of the magic-wielders of the MVTF, SG-1 is caught without recourse when the last general attacks seeking vengeance.

[flyboy254cnchtv-blog]

Glorious...

Sailor Chaos is reborn as Gritty. Good thing he's on the good guys' side this time, right? (Usagi and Minako are highly amused. Setsuna is horrified.)

[flyboy254cnchtv-blog]

Throwing this out apropos of nothing. If you go to AI art because commissions are, "Too expensive", you're the same kind of person that outsourced so many jobs because of cheap labor. Look what happened there, dumbass.

[flyboy254cnchtv-blog]

A PAC movement on the Persian Gulf sends SG-1 and MV-6 with MV-4 to face a professional military with nothing to lose and questions to answer.

[flyboy254cnchtv-blog]

SG-1, MV-3, and MV-5 have a mission to stop Apophis from gathering his forces. The bigger problem is what happens when GDI's top command and the Avatar have to work together against one massive elephant in the room.

(Art by Toon-O-Clock)