It was very quiet up here, I think most of the locals stayed home. Who can blame them? A lot of the folks up here commute to LA daily.<\/p>\n They must have been exhausted with the protests after a week of slugging through traffic that was wadded up by multiple road closures.<\/p>\n I spent part of the day looking for a job. I was also looking for places to live where the demographics were more favorable to people like me than California.<\/p>\n I think I want to live someplace inexpensive, probably rural, where the values I have, are shared by most of the people surrounding me. Not everyone has to think the same way I do, but I want to be around people that understand having differences of opinion is not tantamount to emotional violence. A place where discussion of those differences doesn\u2019t result in physical violence.<\/p>\n In other words, I\u2019m ready to check out. I\u2019m tired of the insanity. Try as I might to avoid the news, the politics, the incessant wailing and gnashing of teeth, it\u2019s getting more difficult all the time.<\/p>\n I just don\u2019t care. Deport people, don\u2019t deport people, love The President, hate The President, believe Congress is doing their jobs, or don\u2019t. Reparations for black people (again) or not, looting isn\u2019t a crime, or looting is a crime, have police, don\u2019t have police, It\u2019s all the same and has been for decades.<\/p>\n I just don\u2019t want to hear about it anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019m sick and tired of failure. No matter how we vote, we are not in control of the institutions that subjugate us. The powers that be, are not, and probably haven\u2019t acted in the interests of anyone but themselves for decades, possibly even for my entire life.<\/p>\n For years in my 20\u2019s – 30s I had no interest in politics. I was just trying to survive. My whole life has been about trying to get a leg up, trying to be a responsible individual, and being a good upstanding citizen. You know being a good guy…<\/p>\n My work history is a testament to not being in control, I served only at the leisure of people and corporations that viewed me as nothing but a cog in their machinations and who thought nothing of discarding me and 100s of other people just like me, at the drop of a hat.<\/p>\n What has it gotten me? A lifetime of holding on by my fingernails and for what?<\/p>\n I begin to understand one of my Grandfathers once saying, \u201cThere may come a time when you envy the dead.\u201d At the time I thought he was just being old, cross, and cynical.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now I\u2019m starting to see what he might have been talking about. He was looking at years of unrest, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Hippies, Yippys, the Cold War, mutually assured destruction, protests, violence, increasing taxation & regulation, government scandals, corrupt politicians, breakneck technological innovations, and social engineering, that ultimately seemed to make things worse and more complex, rather than better.<\/p>\n For him there were a constant stream of golden dreams, that always turned out to be lead painted with cheap gold paint.<\/p>\n I think my father felt it too. It might have been why for a time, he lived on a farm and only re-entered the rush of the world because of a family disaster. For my Dad, that re-entry cost him everything, and he still had the strength to pull it together and stand tall and proud right up until the end. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m anywhere near as strong as he was.<\/p>\n Both of my Grandfathers, and my Dad, used to say the system was rigged. Generally speaking, they tried not to contaminate our childish dreams of better lives. They\u2019d send us kids out of the room, or the house, to go play in the sun and enjoy the security they provided for us, when they were talking about \u201cadult\u201d things.<\/p>\n I recall my Dad being in favor of rebooting the government every 20 years or so. His theory was to strike all the laws, and restart from ground zero with The Constitution, Bill of Rights, and commonly accepted laws about thieving and killing. He was in favor of putting every politician, judge, and bureaucrat on trial.<\/p>\n He thought those trials should be held by the people and that the people should be the ultimate authority. He was in favor of marching the guilty straight to the gallows or firing squads as an example to other politicians and those with political ambitions.<\/p>\n He eventually mellowed, but maybe he had a point. He was about consequences, and in my lifetime I\u2019ve seen where \u201cno consequences\u201d has led us. We have hundreds of thousands of laws, but they\u2019re selectively applied or perverted to allow the \u201cdesired\u201d outcome. Is that law?<\/p>\n I\u2019d love to have a conversation with my Dad & Grandfathers about that philosophical question.<\/p>\n I wonder if my Dad & Grandfathers would be laughing their asses off at the \u201cNo Kings\u201d protestors. Not because the protestors are saying no kings, but because the protestors are so clueless. If you think about it they and all the rest of us are serving, and have been for most of their lives, a diaphanous imperial model.<\/p>\n The people pulling the strings, are the same powers that have always been behind the thrones.<\/p>\n My Dad once said offhandedly, \u201cThe King isn\u2019t the guy to watch, he\u2019s the distraction. It\u2019s the advisers and members of the court that are the real threat.”<\/p>\n Well Dad, it\u2019s taken me 40 years to figure out what you meant. I guess I\u2019m not the sharpest knife in the drawer.<\/p>\n To my Grandpa\u2019s on both sides of the family, and to my Dad. Happy Father\u2019s Day. You\u2019re missed, loved, and thought of often. I wish I could talk to you.<\/p>\n This just crossed my mind and I know you\u2019d all laugh, “Do the Amish take in converts?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There was a nationwide \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest. Apparently, the turn out was substantial in many cities. Surprisingly, at first glance it appears the violence was kept to a minimum. I didn\u2019t tune in to any of the news coverage. I just don\u2019t give a shit anymore. Here\u2019s what an AI had to say about it. … <\/p>\n![\"No](\"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/No-Kings-In-America-Graphics-101307578-1-3634830133.png\" "\\"No-Kings-In-America-Graphics-101307578-1-3634830133.png\\"")
The AI noted that it might be inaccurate, so as usual take everything an AI says with a grain of salt or an entire salt lick.<\/em><\/p>\n