A Member of the Central Park Five Writes A Message of Hope

As reported in the Guardian

” Donald Trump had got his way I wouldn’t be speaking to Yusef Salaam right now. “Had his ad taken full effect we would have been hanging from trees in Central Park,” Salaam says matter-of-factly. “People wanted our blood running in the streets.”

You’ve probably seen the ad in question: it’s infamous. In 1989, a white investment banker was raped and left for dead in Central Park. Five black and brown teenagers, including 15-year-old Salaam, were charged with her rape. Two weeks after the attack, before any of the kids had faced trial, Trump took out a full-page advert in multiple New York papers calling for the death penalty. His inflammatory stunt is credited with prejudicing public opinion and contributing to the Central Park Five – now known as the Exonerated Five – going to prison for something they didn’t do. The boys’ story was retold last year in the Emmy-winning Netflix drama When They See Us, directed by Ava DuVernay.

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Salaam spent almost seven years behind bars; he had his youth ripped away from him. However there is no bitterness in the slim, softly spoken, 46-year-old man I’m talking to: you can come out of prison better, not bitter, he likes to say. Salaam, who is speaking to me from his home in Georgia, completed a college degree in prison and, when he got out, dedicated his life to educating others about what he calls the “criminal system of injustice”. He has 10 children (“It’s a blended family”), a successful career as a public speaker, a record of policy reform, and a lifetime achievement award from Barack Obama. Now he and the Haitian-American author Ibi Zoboi, a National Book award finalist, have teamed up on a young adult book partly inspired by his experience. Punching the Air, a novel-in-verse, explores institutional racism and the school-to-prison pipeline through the eyes of Amal Shahid, a 16-year-old black Muslim boy who is wrongfully incarcerated after a fight in a park leaves a white kid in a coma.”

What we see a total contrast between a man who embraces not living a life full of resentment and man who we call President. And we should deny the President who embraces the concept of spreading resentment. His purpose in life is spread love and the current President spreads resentment.

What we see an exemplary life to be followed and life not to be followed. A true study in contrast definitely.

On Cheeto Jesus’s Visit to Kenosha

Cheeto Jesus thinks it is a great day to visit Kenosha, WI. Like every day this President, it reaps of ignorance and stupidity.

You have probably heard a million of times by now how the President lacks empathy and has major psychological disorders that would years and years treat. It would probably even require the use of DMT and mushrooms to treat the President effectively because certain parts of his brain have to be rewired.

In that context, the President shouldn’t be a healer in chief. If Trump were fully self-aware and took preventive actions to control his behavioural instincts, he would Kenosha. He would know that his words could hurt other people because that is just how he is wired, and it is better him not to engage people in certain situations.

Unfortunately, our command in chief lacks self-awareness and has zero desire to restrain his action. Then there has to be away from keeping that man away from the town. Even Trump keeps the rhetoric down; his mere presence will bring more chaos and bring the crazed followers that he has

There is ample evidence now to suggest that the victim did have a part in what happened. However, the gross overreaction from the police department and systematic history of excessive force put the overwhelming blame on the police department I am not discount the police’s department account that he had a knife and he was under arrest for minor warrants. But his warrants would be a Class H, I, and J felonies. Minor felonies in California that put in the county jail, which is are under 1170(h). You do not shoot a person seven times in the back and permanently paralyze somebody for an 1170(h) warrant.

Of course, where I live is no different, the La Mesa police department is an equal opportunity offender. But I will save the La Mesa police department issues for another day. Their problems would require much more in-depth research and reporting. That would be more like doing as a hobby and then publishing a massive hit piece to take down the entire La Mesa city council just for fun.

On Long-Distance Relationships

For me, I have had little interest in long-term relationships. I wouldn’t say I like the concept of having a long-term and long-distance relationship with somebody. I have lots of good reasons: distance, travel, risk of the person cheating with somebody who lives closer.

The definition of a long-distance relationship in an era of minimal travel to work would be somebody who lives out of the greater Los Angeles/San Diego area. If you combine the population of the five-county area, the population would be close to the size of New York. That means if I restrict dating to the area to the five-county area, there is no need for long-distance dating.

However, there are speciality dating areas where it might need to date out of the area if you limit dating to people in speciality groups. Speciality groups would be people in the burner community or high-functioning women along the autistic spectrum.

I am going to say the area that I would actively look for people outside of the giant metroplex where I live is going to be a woman that has autism. The numbers of men to women with autism is like five to one. Even I classify myself at the top of the spectrum in terms of functioning; it does not preclude that a woman with autism would like me. I might be too neurotypical for her or more likely; her autistic habits would drive me crazy. For example, she might incessantly share about her special interest that I have zero interest and I might never share about mine because I know that she has zero interest in it.

My special interest have immense use for public policy debates but has

Lessons from the tragedy of Jacob Blake

Another black man got shot. Why? Why does this unjust travesty happen all of the time? I ask myself. When are we going to learn?

I hate all of the looting and destruction of businesses. I’m not too fond of it. I know that some people will use the argument that the people who are being attacked are owners of capital. But that is not the point. I could make more money in my current job than a lot of the storekeepers earn in a year when you divide the hourly wage by the hours they work.

Just because you are an owner of capital does not mean that person who works in the professional services industry will make more money than you do and also works less than you do. Small business work way harder than those who are the professional bourgeois like myself.  

So let’s get that stupid black bloc argument out of here. Looting, especially when it is people who owners of capital that make less and work harder than the professional bourgeois have no right to be looted. 

However, there is more to this looting. A black man has been shot in the back and can never enjoy walking again in life. We do not know all of the details. But what we do know is that there was no justifiable reason for the officers to use a firearm. They could have just tackled the guy, put the cuffs on, and handle in professionally as I have seen on a million episodes of COPS. Instead, we get some blockheads who probably engaged in an activity where the use of force was an objectively unreasonable, and there was a substantial risk of great bodily harm. Or they intended to harm the victim who is a much more serious offence. 

The idea that police officers would intentionally try to paralyze a black man would make my head explode if I were the local DA. We have professional officers whose jobs to uphold the law, and instead we got some racist blockheads whose ideas fun are similar to Hitler’s brownshirt thugs. If that was clearly the case and there was overwhelming evidence, then they could slapped with mayhem which is a Class C felony. That carries an imprisonment term of up to 40 years. In Wisconsin, that means the effective sentence of up to 26 years, eight months in the state prison and 13 years, four months on supervised release.  

So the real question is whether this case is about criminal intent or criminal recklessness. Well, let’s got to criminal code for some more answer.  The code states that “criminal recklessness” means that the actor creates an unreasonable and substantial risk of death or great bodily harm to another human being and the actor is aware of that risk”.  Criminal intent is defined as 

“1) When criminal intent is an element of a crime in chs. 939 to 951, such intent is indicated by the term “intentionally”, the phrase “with intent to”, the phrase “with intent that”, or some form of the verbs “know” or “believe”.

 (2) “Know” requires only that the actor believes that the specified fact exists.

 (3) “Intentionally” means that the actor either has a purpose to do the thing or cause the result specified, or is aware that his or her conduct is practically certain to cause that result. In addition, except as provided in sub. (6), the actor must have knowledge of those facts which are necessary to make his or her conduct criminal and which are set forth after the word “intentionally”.

 (4) “With intent to” or “with intent that” means that the actor either has a purpose to do the thing or cause the result specified, or is aware that his or her conduct is practically certain to cause that result.

At this point, we do not have enough information about what happened when he got shot. What we do know is that some criminal act occurred. The larger question is, why does the cycle keep repeating itself over and over. You would think people will act with greater precaution and awareness, especially after what happened to George Floyd. Also, even if no criminal charges are filed, these blockhead officers have destroyed their career and ruined another person’s life because of their gross incompetence or wanting to be like Hitler’s brownshirts.

I have to remember I do not have to answer to this problem. I cannot solve this problem. I have to say the serenity prayer and in my own life, not let my actions result in reckless anger that can harm or maim somebody. By living the program each day, I do not have to live through endless turmoil of guilt and shame that resulted in a black man having to be in a wheelchair and bunch of officers losing their career that they work so hard to work for. In the end, the steps provide the answer in our lives to prevent us from not engaging in such destructive and wreckless rage that ruin everyone and everything around us.

 

 

On God Being on a Cosmic Genie

While sharing during today’s meeting, something struck me, and that is tendency think God as a cosmic genie. How many times have people treated God the Father as some cosmic genie?

Kenneth Copeland is one of those preachers who treats the “Lord” as Cosmic Genie. Here is another crazy video treating God as the cosmic genie with COVID-19

Seriously, these people who treat a God who if he does exist and if the universe is as seriously infinite as a cosmic genie as seriously crazy. What you are done with a God that created an infinite-sized universe that scientist is baffled to understand.

I don’t believe really in God, but if God as a creator of an infinite universe that is insanely huge as it is, then you do not treat God as a cosmic genie. Now, if we read the old testament where a lot of people have issues with the concept of God portrayed in the Old Testament (I don’t), but that is out of scope for this post, God portrayed himself several times using this wording “I am that I am”. Now, that is much more in line with a concept of God who is infinite

So the spiritual lesson is that God is so powerful and infinite that thinking God as a some “Cosmic Genie” is a concept of pure lunacy. Or maybe somebody who has real problems with having a giant ego.

On Impulsive Decision-Making

One thing that I have never been being an impulsive decision-maker. Acting on impulse seems to be a typical issue for people with ADHD.
My issue is that I am too cautious about making decisions. I do not let risk as a factor in my decision making. Plenty of decisions in my life that other people would have been made by other has been deferred into the far future because I either feel the decision would either too risky or would create too much anxiety. Several decisions are not risk-based decisions, but rather, I fear that my ability to cope with the added stress would be too great. As a recovered addict, one wrong decision can result in a terrible relapse. I wrote in the past about how traumatic that relapses can be from my own experience. So why I would engage in an act that could result in a future relapse, and that would result in another set of traumatic memories that I would love to avoid at costs.

Sometimes, I do make impulsive decisions, especially if the decision is based on prior historical decisions. I might decide to make an impulsive decision on something, but it would be somebody that I have prior effort into exploring myself.

In conclusion, make a completely impulsive decision is something that does not have in my life. Almost all of the time, most decisions are made after doing a great deal of cost-benefit analysis. On-fly decisions are made because I have previously thought about doing something, and now I acted on my desire to do something.

Other people engage in impulsive behaviour all of the time. For me, it is the opposite because I am far more predictable than randomness and chaotic nature of other people

On Insight

Am I helping others? I think the way that I help others is by telling my story. Telling my story and then providing universal insights that affect us all. My life experience does not provide a thrill of a great life. Matter of fact it is quite dull. Not dull as ditchwater, but nothing exciting. Adventure and pursuit of risk become something that I do not engage. Dreaming about grandiose ambitions is not something that dwells in my mind.
Rather it is an experience of an individual who constantly has aware of their internal moral compass and motivations. Who has complete honesty with themselves with who they are and their insight.

Having such self-awareness can be paralyzing and drive one mad. With an overactive mind, you drive yourself to be indecisive. Decisions become hard to make and ability to focus, and function becomes rigorously difficult. Such is my plight in my a lot.

But when you start to see similarities in life between yourself and others. And also having keen understanding, insight, and the ability to transmit your though in clear and concise that others can gain insight about themselves through their life experiences.

Or it is simple analogies that you see in storytelling. For me, it can be from the dime-store pulp novels about the grim dark future of Warhammer of 40k; the morality plays of the Force in Star Wars or Star Trek. Science fictions are where life analogies also come fro,

Ultimately, the best example of one person whose life experience, when put to pen and paper who helped others, was Bill Wilson. Without Mr Wilson’s life experience, this blog would not be written or what my life would be like is completely unknown. But when the Big Book was put to pen and paper and rolled out, a miracle did happen. The very act of that book was enough to save my life from the disease of addiction, and much later in my life the maturity to tackle my mental health issues right on.

As I write this post, I accomplished very little today. But I helped a few people by giving insight from my own life. And I help an old lady out in the foothills of San Bernardino mountains with my daily insight to keep her for going crazy. And also it delays her dementia because of the stimulating nature of the conservations that we had.

And when I share in my meetings, I have no idea how it is going to impact the people in my meeting. All I know is that if I do not tell my story is that I am going to internalize my problems even more, and that does not end well. And so I tell my story. And when Bill Wilson wrote that book, he did not know what the results were. He just had to tell his story and his solution for him to survive and keep his partnership with Lois alive.

And yet this act probably saved me and his life. And both of us had terrible flaws but in different ways. Recovered addicts are not the “superman” of the world, but we have been to hell and back with our experience. And we share those experience with others and that maybe through our stories, another person will avoid the terrible fate of jails, institutions, and death.

On Friends and Recovery

The Triangle of Self-Obession

Resentment, anger, and fear make up the triangle of self-obsession. All of our defects of character are forms of these three reactions. Self-obsession is at the heart of our insanity.

The election is the ultimate moment of anger, fear, and resentment. When you are at peace with your fellow men and your employer, the human minds will search for something to be anger, fear, and resentment.

I could be anger, fear, and resentment towards COVID-19. But the virus is a pandemic is part of the human cycle of existence. Just like the black plague, the flu of 1918, or countless others pandemics in history, a pandemic is just a course of human progression through time. I am sure that in another 100 years or so, we will get some major pandemic of some exotic virus that will threaten the human race with perilous future far worse than COVID-19. So why fear that?

But enduring enough of four years of Donald Trump is not tolerable. The drama show that plays on TV is not acceptable.

But again, constantly thinking about Trump and giving into the triangle of self-obsession is not worth it. Heck, I did not tune in conventions. Conventions speeches are empty platitudes. They do not resemble any of the hard work or represent the political dynamics that will happen in January 2020. After January 2020 is when the real works began and not now if there is Democratic sweep.

Self-obsession that engages in fear, resentment, and anger drastically interferes with my executive functioning. Some people state that I should give up caring about the news in general because of the necessity of studying human interaction in itself is a very time-consuming activity.

And I know in my own, I do not engage in triangle self-obsession about doing things that would improve human interaction better. In reality, I feel the triangle of self-obsession that I have spent vast times amount of time in studying human interaction on an intense scale. My coping technique is I minimize in my life like so many people who minimize something in their life that is uncomfortable as a coping strategy to avoid triangle of self-obsession.

So what is the best solution to avoid self-obsession: just do not spend time on ruminating on it. That is what I learned over the years.

The Triangle of Self-Obession

Resentment, anger, and fear make up the triangle of self-obsession. All of our defects of character are forms of these three reactions. Self-obsession is at the heart of our insanity.

The election is the ultimate moment of anger, fear, and resentment. When you are at peace with your fellow men and your employer, the human minds will search for something to be anger, fear, and resentment.

I could be anger, fear, and resentment towards COVID-19. But the virus is a pandemic is part of the human cycle of existence. Just like the black plague, the flu of 1918, or countless others pandemics in history, a pandemic is just a course of human progression through time. I am sure that in another 100 years or so, we will get some major pandemic of some exotic virus that will threaten the human race with perilous future far worse than COVID-19. So why fear that?

But enduring enough of four years of Donald Trump is not tolerable. The drama show that plays on TV is not acceptable.

But again, constantly thinking about Trump and giving into the triangle of self-obsession is not worth it. Heck, I did not tune in conventions. Conventions speeches are empty platitudes. They do not resemble any of the hard work or represent the political dynamics that will happen in January 2020. After January 2020 is when the real works began and not now if there is Democratic sweep.

Self-obsession that engages in fear, resentment, and anger drastically interferes with my executive functioning. Some people state that I should give up caring about the news in general because of the necessity of studying human interaction in itself is a very time-consuming activity.

And I know in my own, I do not engage in triangle self-obsession about doing things that would improve human interaction better. In reality, I feel the triangle of self-obsession that I have spent vast times amount of time in studying human interaction on an intense scale. My coping technique is I minimize in my life like so many people who minimize something in their life that is uncomfortable as a coping strategy to avoid triangle of self-obsession.

So what is the best solution to avoid self-obsession: just do not spend time on ruminating on it. That is what I learned over the years.