Land of The Free, BECAUSE We Are The Home of The Brave

I am going to go ahead and run off the assumption that anyone reading my blog already knows about the Executive Order Trump signed just a few days ago. The country erupted into debate about it and about what it actually entailed. Even White House Chief of Staff seemed to not understand exactly what the order entailed and was forced to reverse himself. So us as citizens are going to have a tough time.

Now, to cut through the lies being told on the Trump side, and on the anti-Trump side fairly quickly. First, no, this isn't a "Muslim ban". The ban applies only to certain countries, which both Republican and Democrats have agreed on (at separate times) are hotbeds of dangerous activities. You'll see a lot of posts showing that none of these countries' nationals have ever committed terrorist acts on US civilians, which is true. You'll also see people pointing out that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are not on that list despite being huge state sponsors of terrorism. While it's easy to point out The Trump Org has business in a lot of these hotbed countries that he didn't list, it wasn't just him that has routinely ignored those countries. Saudi Arabia is probably one of the worst offenders but the US has ignored their acts for decades, likely because of our huge oil interests in the area. Not just Trump, but a bipartisan blindness of their crimes.

Now, things that point toward it being a "Muslim ban" is it is specified in those orders that people of minority religions will be given priority to skip the ban. Of course, since they are all Muslim majority countries, that effectively tells Muslims they will be in the back of the line. If made a law preferring minority religions in the US, you can be damn sure Christians would quickly (and correctly) point out that law is harassment against them. That part of the order is one that could possibly be unConstitutional. Possibly. An argument for that line is those minority religions are the ones in the most danger, which while I don't have sources to prove that, sounds likely.

Another thing you'll hear is "But, but, but, Obama did it in 2011 and you guys didn't complain". This is garbage. Obama's order did not specify religions and did not affect people who were already legally allowed to travel to the US, such as dual nationals, visa holders, and green card holders. The two orders are worlds apart, and being pissed about one and not the other doesn't make anyone a hypocrite. Though while Obama didn't write a ban like Trump's, he did murder many, many innocent Muslims with drone strikes and bombings, which I'd say is worse. Of course, Trump's first raid as a president killed many innocent Muslims, including women and children. So it doesn't look like Trump is going to stop Obama's civilian killing legacy.

Is Trump's EO unConstitutional? Listen ladies and gentlemen, that question cannot be answered by some idiot in a Facebook comment section, or some idiot on a Reddit post, or some idiot that is paying $12/month to have his own blog to bitch in (yours truly). That question is going to have to be hashed out in court by teams of lawyers and likely decided by Supreme Court Justices. I know people want an answer now, but no one can give you one. And likely even after the SC decides we'll still have people hotly debating it.

But beyond the legality of the order that we're not qualified to decide, how do I feel about the order? Well, that comes in parts. First, I know more than most Trump supporters how dangerous this terrorism we are fighting is. I've seen the people murdered over it. I've spoken to the people who have been brutally tortured and disfigured by it and seen their scars. I've seen children rigged with bombs and I've gotten to clean pieces of little girl off the side of our Humvee after an attack. I've left friends behind in Iraq, and brought back friends whose lives were ruined by their injuries and PTSD. This is serious stuff people, and the thought of it making it to our country and my wife and my kids having to see it too horrifies me. I understand the people who want to prevent something like that, and are willing to go to lengths, even unpopular ones, to prevent it.

I didn't just see horror out there however. I also saw courage of not only my fellow soldiers, but of the Muslims living in conditions few people can understand. Being caught aiding American forces to clear out the remnants of Saddam's regime could easily get you and your family executed in terrifying ways, but they still did it. We were trained by Iraqis who could show the the bullet wounds or the torture scars that it had cost them to aid US troops, but they still came out with us and did it. And one of their biggest awards for doing so? Being allowed to come to the US and be Americans along with us. People, I'm an American by chance of birth as likely are most of you. Can you imagine how few of us would be Americans if we had to be shot at, tortured, and your family killed to make it? And by the way, those Muslims who have been aiding our troops like they aided me are banned by this new EO. Men and women who have risked their lives for months or years got to learn that the US was not good on it's promises. And our troops get to have an even more difficult time recruiting more people to help now that their word has been proven to mean nothing.

This also ignores the fact that it is really easy to point out the Muslim terrorist groups who hate us, but we all seem to ignore that those same terrorist groups hate other Muslims. ISIS and al Qaeda murder far, far more Muslims than any other group and Muslims are the ones killing and forcing back the most ISIS members and al Qaeda members by far also. Muslims are the single biggest allies in our fight against Islamic terrorism, and it isn't surprising. Who do you think would be the people most pissed about someone bastardizing their religion? Who would be the people most affected by someone turning their country into a warzone? We see it on TV, these people live it.

This isn't the first time we have had that issue in The US. Back in WWII, we denied entry to thousands upon thousands of Jews because we saw them as Germans that could possibly attack us from inside. Thousands died as a result of our inability to differentiate between our allies and our enemies. It was a permanent black eye in our history and one we were and are rightfully embarrassed and ashamed for.

Lastly, my issue with the EO is I see it as a power grab by our government, and I am really sensitive to this. Just months ago when I would complain about EOs and government overreach I had Conservatives on my side agreeing with me and demanding executive powers be curtailed and Liberals telling me it has to be this way because of our do nothing Congress. Now when I make the same complaints, it's Liberals on my side demanding the same things and Conservatives shouting us down as unpatriotic. People, take notice of how limited our founding fathers made these powers even though it was practically assured that they would be the first ones to hold them. They did that because they knew they would not always be the people holding those powers, and they would have to limit them in the very real chance that someone would have them that they didn't agree with. Since 9/11, the powers of our government has increased by leaps and bounds because we fail to look very far into the future. Sure, Trump might be your guy and you trust him with all the powers we can give, but what happens if he isn't re elected in 2020 and it is someone you hate as president. Those powers don't vanish with Trump, they get moved to the next president. Still comfortable with it?

If Islamic terrorism's goals is to fundamentally change our country, they are succeeding at an unprecedented rate. One of the most basic rules of warfare is to not do what your enemy wants you to do, and us Americans have forgotten that. Of course ISIS wants us and the rest of the world to ban Muslims. Not only does that entrap people in their strongholds, allowing them to have more money, more people to terrorize and abuse, and more children to indoctrinate and recruit.

Does that mean I think we should throw our doors open and take everyone that asks? No, but I do think considering how little Islamic terrorism (and virtually none by these refugees) we have in the US that our existing vetting process is capable and successful. But could this Muslim ban prevent an act, or could a more serious one do that job even better? Possibly, but I bet us all giving up our Fourth Amendment rights would also make us "safer". How many criminals have been able to abuse aspects of our Constitution to complete their heinous acts? How many obviously guilty people have walked free because of the sheer amount of rights afforded to them? How many cops and prosecutors have had valid evidence thrown out because how it was attained was against the 4th Amendment?

In order for everyone to have these rights, we have to subject ourselves to a certain amount of danger. Which is why I like a slight change to a famous American quote. We are the land of the free BECAUSE we are the home of the brave. Because without bravery, we cannot have these freedoms we enjoy and that makes our country what it is. Be brave Americans. Don't give in to the people who scare you into giving up your rights and fundamentally changing your country for a bit of possible safety. Don't allow Germany, Sweden, Canada, and various other countries show us up in their bravery. 

Murdercycles

I have a unhealthy love for motorcycles, which is pretty well documented. We can probably blame it on my dad, who bought me my first motorcycle when I was just a kid. A beat up 125cc Yamaha that was easily my most treasured possession until it was replaced by the next dirt bike. Dirt biking was probably my first real hobby, and while I never became a professional on them, I would venture to say just being able to keep up with my dad, uncle, and the rest of that ragtag group meant I was pretty decent on them. That dirt bike brought my dad and I closer than practically any other form of communication we had tried. After that I got my first road-bike, a 883cc Harley Sportster Custom that I rode so often that I sold my only car and survived on that bike alone. Every day I was happy to not be locked in a car. Bad day at the armory? Didn't matter because I had a 30 minute ride home on my bike. Hard to get home still angry about work when you are riding through Southern California. Perfect weather almost every day, the Pacific stretching off into the distance, and beautiful women crossing at nearly every stop light. Can't even complain about hitting a red light in that situation.

I dumped probably around $10k into that bike, converting her to a 1200cc motor with a hot cam, racing clutch, top of the line carburetor, beautiful performance exhaust, and just about every other suggestion my bike shop had (Ghetto Choppers if anyone in the area is looking for a great shop) to make her go faster. Did that make me treat her delicately? Not even a little bit. Every stop light was a test to see how fast I could get to (maybe a little over) the speed limit. Every turn was a test to see how hard and fast I could take it, at the expense of bending my fancy new exhaust and tearing up my footpegs. When I was instructed to bring machine gun parts out to a desert training event, there was 50cal bolts strapped to the back of that little Sportster and we were slipping and sliding through the sand. I slept next to her for the rest of that event as we both got covered in dirt and sand.

Now I have Sofia which is well above my price range. A $20k+ bike for a broke college student is an exceptionally bad decision, but I don't care if I am reduced to selling plasma and my own tears, I'll make it work.

On to the point of this topic When I was younger, I tried to get everyone on a motorcycle. I wanted everyone to experience what I was feeling. But now that I am older, and have lost some friends along the way, I do my best to avoid doing that. That is because no matter what precautions you are taking, and how good of a rider you are, it is an extremely dangerous sport. Back when I was in the USMC, motorcycles were easily killing more Marines than the wars were. They ended up restricting us in various ways which pissed a lot of people off (me included), but what choice did they really have? They were losing men and women they needed, in the prime of their lives, to motorcycles.

Part of that can be attributed to Marine mentality. We are bulletproof and unbreakable, and we believe that until we get broken. But even Marines who absolutely knew the risks were going down. We had a Staff Sergeant that it hurts me to not remember his name, but he was an exceptionally skilled rider. He was an instructor in our safety course, spent almost every day teaching Marines about the risks of riding. He had numerous motorcycle safety certifications, and years and years of riding under his belt. During a Mess Night for our battalion, we were all having fun and drinking and smoking cigars and wondering when he was going to show, and we finally got the report in that he was on his way, and got broadsided by someone running a red light and died at the scene.

It isn't limited to Marines of course. Dan Horner was one of the nicest, most giving men I have ever known. He practically raised us misfit idiots working with him at the shop we were at. Cooled down the hot heads, smacked around the jackasses (I was in this group), and taught us what it was to be a man. His funeral was the only leave I ever requested from the USMC, after he was hit on his motorcycle late at night. I remember us sitting outside with his Harley. Him telling me that a man needs at least one refuge in his life, and his bike was his. There isn't a day I get on a motorcycle and don't think back to him.

So now I don't try and convince people into riding. I don't want to bear that responsibility, and I think it is a decision that should be thought of carefully. Not with someone else who isn't going to be affected by your risks. There is benefits to riding. A lot of free parking you wouldn't get otherwise. Gas mileage is almost unmatched by other vehicles. I am practically the only one who gets assigned parking where I live because no car can fit in the spot I use. But these little consultation prizes do not make up for the risk you are taking. I don't have the hard numbers to back it up, but I am pretty sure I could smoke 2 packs of cigarettes a day, eat nothing but fast food, and take up amateur sword swallowing/break-dancing, and my motorcycle will still have the best odds of killing me first.

Of course, considering I still ride I am not campaigning against motorcycles. But the decision needs to be made with an honest assessment of the facts. If you have a family or other people who rely on you, they should be part of that decision too. And really, you probably won't like it. Of all the people I know who started riding, probably at least 2/3rds of them quit at some point because they weren't getting out of it the risk they were putting in. There is a lot of crappy parts about riding that gets glossed over. Getting caught out in the rain, or worse weather. Getting to huff exhaust. Riding behind a work truck and getting showered with sand going 70mph. Tasting the windshield washing fluid from the car in front of you that just activated it. Your gear being too heavy and showing up to your destination covered in sweat. Your gear being too light and not being able to feel your hands or feet due to the cold. Being tired from leg day and almost dropping your bike at a stoplight because it leaned just a degree too far.

It may be worth it to you. Sometimes, taking that turn hard, feeling the bike just drop into it like a banking airplane, and coming out of it at the perfect angle/speed makes all that other stuff alright. But more often than not, you have stuff more important in your life to be risking it all on that fleeting sensation. I don't fault you for passing it by at all.