Hiatus -> Quiet Observation -> OMFG

A few months ago, I shared a candid post about some ongoing family issues. Consequently, there came a hard decision to quit my job and move in order to simplify my life and focus on the things most important to me: family, my partner, and a fulfilling environment. Please pardon my prolonged silence, but my attention really had to go towards this transition rather than blogging. However...

What in the name of all that is good is going on out there?! Over the past month, there has been:

• Increasing tensions with North Korea, a sovereign, nuclear-capable state led by an emotionally-stunted despot whose people - and possibly he himself - believe him to be omnipotent and directly threatened by the USA (AKA a nuclear-capable state led by an emotionally-stunted would-be despot whose people largely never supported him yet he believes himself to be omnipotent). This has proven to be an effective distraction from NAFTA negotiations (sorry American farmers), startling revelations in near undeniable collusion with Russia during the election, an almost complete overhaul of the president's immediate staff (which surely has nothing to do with the sudden about face on the Afghanistan war *cough), and...

• THESE FUCKERS. I typically avoid swearing in my writing, but this deserves such vitriol. My hippy pot-growing parents raised me to believe that the days of Nazi sympathizers openly marching in the streets were behind them and thus behind me. So I'm a little shocked to find that a group of those with access to more education than any population in history, with fewer limitations to access to see and participate in diverse ways of life, and relatively unrestricted barriers to self-defined advancement openly participated in a KKK-inspired march, and in the world of social media no less. I thought we were past this. I thought discourse around race and religion and history and biology had left this in the shameful chapters of history. There are many who lived during WWII and the Civil Rights Movement; how could we have failed our fellow citizen to such a degree? Some of this is rhetorical, some of it is true shock, but really, I am just terribly disappointed. But there was more and it happened in...
• Venezuela. I had the great privilege - both figuratively and literally - of studying in Mérida many years ago when Chavez was alive and largely supported by Venezolanos. The experience was humbling and you will never find me speaking ill of the country or its people. It is a resource-rich nation and as such it should be quite wealthy, being able to provide basic amenities and pleasantries for its people. However, gross mismanagement and short-sighted policies done in the name of socialism have resulted in food shortages, blackmarket essentials, and a seemingly inevitable collapse of its economy. The seeds of this were planted by Chavez, who truly believed in the tenets of Castro-era Communism merged with 21st century socialism, but Maduro seems to have greater interest in retaining power and controlling government than in making change that will help the Venezuelan people (I did not support Chavez, but his attempts to limit power were nothing compared to his successor). This is a travesty and I'm saddened to see so much of the world sitting back and watching while a despot takes control of a nation that successfully practiced decades of democracy.

So it's been quite the couple of months. This inevitable revolution is certainly underway, but under the leadership of a childlike few who have no interest in the wellbeing of others. That should be of greatest concern to any who care about their grandparents, their children, and the neighbor.