This one's for the Kurdish Rebels... Headfirst (into political turmoil)

Without doubt, the single most influential BMX freestyle video of all time, the Eddie Roman produced Headfirst featuring Mat Hoffman.  It came out in 1991.  If you're an old school BMXer, this video almost certainly brings back good feelings, and a sense of awe at how far Mat (and Chase) pushed the progression of freestyle in this one video.

The reason I'm sharing this video, is to remind us all how long ago this video was made, it came out about 28 years ago.  At about 34:00 in, you hear Eddie (I think) throwing things we'd all been hearing on the news, because the Gulf War, the first U.S. war in Iraq, was going on then.  The SCUD that he mentions, was an Iraqi missile, for example.  The war was live on CNN, back when CNN was actually a true and functional news organization.  At 34:37, you can hear Eddie say, "That was for the Kurdish Rebels."  The Kurds are a group of people from the area of Northern Iraq.  They have long wanted their own nation, but got lumped into the country of Iraq, a nation cobbled together by the British decades ago.

The Kurds were helping the U.S. fight Saddam Hussein in Iraq way back when this video was made, and they've been an ally to the U.S. since.  For the past several years, they've been the main force actually fighting Isis, with U.S. backing, in the collapsed country of Syria.  Syria is adjacent to northern Iraq, and right below Turkey.  Two days ago, after a call from Turkey's dictator, President Trump completely changed U.S. policy, for no apparent reason, and pulled our help away from the Kurds, which have been our allies since the early 90's, by and large.

The Kurdish Rebels Eddie refers to in the Headfirst video in 1991, are now being attacked by Turkey with help from Russia.  In the volatile Middle East, for no logical reason, without consulting with the State Department, the military, or intelligence officials, President Trump just threw the Kurds under the bus.  He singlehnadedly greenlighted a genocide against the people who have been fighting and dying for years in OUR battle against ISIS.



Here's a news report on the beginning of the attacks on the Kurds, from last night (10/9/2019).  Many Kurds will die, few other groups will want to work with America in the future after this blatant betrayal, and we will all be less safe as Isis rises up again.

I put this in a BMX-oriented context, because us old guys (and gals) can relate to how long the Kurdish people have been working with us, by remembering just how long ago Headfirst came out.  Elections (hacked or legit) have consequences.  Whatever your political views, we need competent leaders and people in government, people who think things through, discuss plans with the smartest people on the subject, and try to act in the best interest of the country.  That's not what's happening these days. 

Love lies bleeding...

This song, by Newport Beach, California singer/songwriter extraordinaire Kerry Getz, is about a vampire.  I've met a lot of people in the entertainment and action sports industries over the years, and I believe Kerry Getz is the single most talented person I've ever met.  She's a major triple threat in her world, incredible at singing, guitar playing, and songwriting.  In this song, I think she captures the soul of what it would be like to be a vampire, driven nightly by the darkest forces on Earth. 

Sparked by the horrific news of the child separations happening to immigrants on our Mexico border, I started on a huge drawing to address the issue the day before yesterday.  The theme of it was how it is possible for a country founded on personal freedoms (yes, I know there were hypocrisies then and now) to "suddenly" have our president and A.G. Session implement a policy that's something right out of Nazi Germany and similar authoritarian states.  This morning, it became clear to me that I could do more for this situation by blogging and decided not to finish the drawing.

I listened to a bunch of music to try and get into the mindset of how evil can take over a whole country.  It didn't happen suddenly, what's happening now has been in the works for decades.  We've seen much of it, piece by piece, and largely ignored it.  We, as Americans, were not "eternally vigilant" against the corrupt forces that our founding fathers warned us of. 

So now we have immigrant families being separated, we have children in concentration camps, as a matter of U.S. policy.  We also have "baby jails" now, euphemistically called "tender age shelters."  For those wondering, the term "concentration camp" was used because those camps housed "cocentrations" of certain parts of the overall population.  In Nazi controlled Germany, that started with the homeless (which is now forgotten) then went on to include the Jews, intellectuals, gays, political prisoners, Gypsies, and others.  When a prison-like facility is housing a concentration of children, it becomes a child concentration camp.  The prisoners don't have to be killed for that term to be applicable.  In the worst cases in history, that come later. 

Is this who we are as Americans?
Unfortunately, right now, it IS who we are.  We let things slip this far.  But we don't have to continue to be a country that allows atrocities like this continue.  Average, and not so average, Americans are waking up, standing up, and raising Hell about this new policy by President Trump, A.G. Sessions, and their cohorts.  This fight is just getting going.

I will be writing a series of blog posts about how we got to this point, why immigrants from Meixco and Central America are considered "illegal" but folks like Melania Trump were not, and how societies slip into the Dark Side that Yoda warned us of years ago. 

But for now, I'd like you to listen to Kerry's song above.  She wrote this incredible song about a vampire for her own reasons 20-some years ago.  But she captured what it must be like to be driven by the darkest forces in the world.  We can't appeal to the conscience of people who no longer listen to their conscience.  Right now, many "vampires" are in positions of great political and business power in many power in this country, and many of them are networked with each other.

 If you've ever watched a vampire movie, you know that doesn't end well.  I think this song captures the mentality of the people who find a way to rationalize horrific atrocities.  This mentality of great darkness is what we are up against right now.  If we get a sense of this mentality, I think we'll have a better idea of how to bring the United States of America back to the principles it was founded on, and what most of us believe it stands for.

More thoughts to come soon...

For those of you who want to hear more of Kerry's music, here are a couple of my favorites, both covers of songs you probably have heard before:

Kerry Getz sings "Landslide" and "Walk Away Renee."

Singapore Summit

The vast majority of intelligent people in the world  don't believe a thing that either of these two leaders of nuclear armed countries say.  So when they make a handshake deal between them, where does that leave the rest of us?  

Just wondering...
 

My Button is BIGGER

NSFW NSFNC  I was able to watch way too much of yesterday's media blitz about President Trump's "bigger nuclear button" tweet.  It totally reminded me of this bit by the late, great George Carlin.  There have been few people in the world that can simplify subjects, like war, in such a brilliant and funny way.  The main part I thought of is about 5 minutes into this clip.  But the whole thing is great.  If you remember George Carlin, you know that he was known for combining comedy, intelligence, and profanity in an incredible way.  So if you don't like cuss words, give your kid the earphones, he or she will like this. 

Canyon Lands...the atrocities continue...

When I hear the name "Canyon Lands," I think of adventures like this.  President Trump just stripped away the "National Monument" status of a huge chunk of these lands by presidential proclamation.  Bummer.  There's a reason we have national monuments.  It's because we live in a kickass country with lots of great wild areas worth protecting for future generations.  The inevitable impeachment can not some soon enough.