Kurt Brindley's Blog, page 7

The Sad Colossus

An unprecedented number of undocumented Indian immigrants are crossing U.S. borders on foot, according to new data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. What has been a years-long increase in migration has now developed into a dramatic spike.

From October 2022 to this September, the 2023 fiscal year, there were 96,917 Indians encountered — apprehended, expelled or denied entry — having entered the U.S. without papers. It marks a fivefold increase from the same period from 2019 to 2020, when there were just 19,883.

What’s behind the rise in undocumented Indian immigrants crossing U.S. borders on foot, NBC News, November 14, 2023

Maybe it’s my First World (Are we still allowed to show regard for numbered worlds? Correct me if I’m wrong, but First World used to identify the United States and countries aligned with it, Second World identified the Soviet Union and countries aligned with it, and Third World identified countries not aligned with either the United States and the USSR. Of course, with the demise of the USSR, there was a Second World no more, and with ideological alignment no longer a factor as it once was, the Third World came to be a term that referred to non-industrialized, poverty-stricken countries; consequently, First World came to refer to the opposite. So… I guess writing it out like that has helped me to answer my own question: In this stressful day and age where sensibilities are quite frayed and sensitive, I would have to say the answer is… I guess the answer depends on the audience. I guess some would say hell no numbered worlds can no longer be regarded, you unwoke ogre! And I guess others would say hell yes they can, you fragile little snowflake! Anyway… call me what you will, be it an unwoke ogre or a fragile snowflake, just don’t call me late to dinner.) privilege, or just plain ignorance of the global plight of others (I haven’t been to a so-called Third World country since the Nineties), but it amazes me that so many people from around the world are still risking their lives to immigrate to these less than United States…

With all its division and dysfunction…

With all its mass killings and all the other forms of unimaginable violence that one could imagine…

With all its rascist, homophobic, anti-intellect trumper cultists frothing at the mouth to turn it into their narcissistic megolomaniacal cult leader’s autocratic utopia of hateful sweeping raids, giant camps and mass deportations.

I mean, how bad must it be in a country for someone to risk their and their family’s lives to emigrate from it by any means necessary to live in another country where more and more each day everyone’s life who lives here, be they here naturally born, naturalized, documented, undocumented, is at risk just by living here.

It seems no where is safe from the hate and violence.

Sheesh, just look at today’s news with the threat of violence in the Senate and an actual physical altercation in the House…

I mean, W.T.F., over.

I use to be proud of how many all over the globe wanted to come to this country to pursue the American Dream…

Americans by choice, not by chance…

Now I’m only saddened by it.

THE NEW COLOSSUSNot like the brazen giant of Greek fame,With conquering limbs astride from land to land;Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall standA mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightning, and her nameMother of Exiles. From her beacon-handGlows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes commandThe air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame."Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries sheWith silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"- Emma Lazarus

#icomplainbecauseicare
#godblessamerica
#andeverywhereelse

When We Were King*

If only we had sane, country first politicians in office who could run a functioning Congress that could take strategic advantage of the economic woes and geo-political fallout from the heavy-handed bullying and uncivil friendships that China has brought upon itself.

Yeah… if only.

Twenty years from now, if not sooner, when the dollar is no longer king* and the sole international currency of choice and, leveraging all the secrets it has stolen during the past decades from all our previously leading sectors, China has become the world’s leading economy and has manned a military base on the moon strong enough to thwart our dreams of space dominance, we’re going to be kicking ourselves in our bloated and ignorant political butts for missing this window of opportunity.

Or something like that…

Mr. Xi has been trying to stabilize relations with Washington, apparently pressed by China’s economic troubles and a desire to reduce Beijing’s diplomatic isolation. “We have a thousand reasons to grow the relationship between China and the United States, and none at all to ruin it,” Mr. Xi told American lawmakers in Beijing recently.

But with mutual distrust running deep, any easing of antagonism between the two sides could be tenuous.

Behind Public Assurances, Xi Jinping Spread Grim Views on U.S., New York Times, November 13, 2023

*non-gender specific

verse / 20231112

the journey is long / peril awaits every turn / alas, ‘tis the end

#川柳

Sunday Songs to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance

I’m no pacifist by any means, but it seems to me that history has proven time and time again that war is the only recession-free industry there is.

Might as well smile and dance while making a groovy conscientious political statement about it…

#makelovenotwar

verse / 20231110

dawn succeeds the night / and birds sing for its glory / but for falling bombs

#川柳

The smart thing to do?

I do not regard myself as smart.

Though, I do regard myself as knowledgeable, a condition I attribute mostly to the fact that I am old and have been around long enough to collect a lot of knowable things…

Plus, I read a lot, which enables me to collect even more knowable things.

Yeah, knowing a lot doesn’t make one smart…

Knowing what to do with the things one knows, now that’s smart.

Smart people know how to leverage knowledge in ways that benefit them, however they may define it.

Probably they define it mostly as success, money, happiness, power, etc.

Or so I suppose.

I also suppose the fact that having a lot of knowledge doesn’t necessarily equate to being smart is also why calling someone a “know it all” is usually not a good thing.

Yeah…

But, unfortunately, there are some nuts in life that are so tough to crack that even truly smart people do not know what to do about them.

Climate change.

Trump.

The problems between Israel and Palestine.

Yeah, especially that one…

A lot of smart people have been working on that tragic nut of a situation for a long, long time.

Which is why I don’t feel so bad for not having any idea what can be done to solve it.

But I certainly feel bad that it is seemingly impossible to solve.

I empathize greatly for both sides.

As a white male US citizen who does in fact feel guilty for how his English ancestors (there is a town in England called Brindley) and his country subsequent to its independence from England brutally treated North America’s indigenous people, the Native Americans, and the enslaved from Africa, my heart truly aches for the Palestinians and all they’ve lost and the suffering that they had and continue to endure since 1948.

And as a US citizen who, despite how bitter he is with its current state of violence and dysfunction is still relatively proud to be a citizen of the US, remembers as if it were yesterday the pain and fear and immense anger he felt after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and can completely understand why Israel is so determined to completely wipe out Hamas.

How I feel about the death penalty is an insufficient comparison regarding Israel’s response to 7/10 but I’ll make it nonetheless:

I feel the death penalty is wrong…

That violence in response to violence only begets more violence.

However, despite knowing that, if something happened to my family like that which happened to so many Israeli families by the Hamas terrorists…

I feel I would personally want to exact an equally, if not more so, violent and horrifying revenge with my own bare hands.

I’m reminded of the response by George Clooney’s character Governer Mike Morris in “The Ides of March” when asked his opinion of the death penalty…

Which reminds me of the hearbreaking Morrissey lyrics (are there any other kind?) from The Smiths song I Know It’s Over:

...It's so easy to laughIt's so easy to hateIt takes strength to be gentle and kindOver, over, over, overIt's so easy to laughIt's so easy to hateIt takes guts to be gentle and kindOver, over...

Anyway…

#prayforpeaceinthemiddleeast
#andeverywherelse

verse / 20231108

we can soar the heights / we can reach beyond the reach / still, we have to breathe

#川柳

Vote…

Or die trying.

Sunday Songs to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance

Life is all it is – joyful, sad, comprehensive, confusing, peaceful, violent, and on and on and on…

Of course, regardless of what reality tries to tell one, it can only be what one – you, me, each unique individual making up the all of we – says it is.

And no matter how hard we/I try to understand it, to challenge it, to master it, chances are we/I never will; and chances are along the way we/I will alienate those who see reality 180 degrees differently than you/me.

So, understanding our understanding and execution of life will always be incomplete and often inaccurate, and way off kilter to many, accepting that some will love us for what we do and, sadly, some with hate us for the same, will hopefully make it all a bit less painful.

So, we might as smile the best we can and dance.

#embraceyourreality

verse / 20231104

away with the wind / like leaves dead, like ashes, dust / let mine self scatter