I know I said I wasn’t going to get into the social stuff here, but this whole episode has put priorities in perspective, and plus I no longer really care about what the HD forum community is like anymore, since I’m out the door in a few months, likely.

So here’s what I was doing while “forgetting to renew”.

Friday evening, my wife, who is (like me) in seminary, spent an overnight shift volunteering as a chaplain and support for medics on the St. Paul side. That was a bad night. The police force actually gassed a medic tent, and was firing indiscriminately at medics trying to get assistance to the wounded. Medics, as you may or may not know, don’t discriminate who they offer aid to, doctors and nurses are not partisan. These are the folks who are basically fearless, and they had to be pulled out after midnight. Broken bones, gashes and bruises from rubber bullets all over their bodies. It was war zone type stuff. My wife was in the church the whole time, like I said basically support, but it was still terrifying getting texts from her about what was happening.

Meanwhile, miles away from the protest confrontations, Friday was the night when the white supremacists rolled in, and started hitting a bunch of small businesses, groceries, and vital services like post offices and pharmacies, all over metro. The idea, as best we can tell now, was 3-fold. They wanted to draw first responders out all over metro area (twin cities metro area is probably much larger than you think it is), they wanted to create a state of fear and chaos in the communities, many of which are comprised mostly of white liberals who think they mean well, but will quickly revert to authoritarianism as soon as they see pictures of businesses with broken windows; and probably most importantly, they wanted to hit a lot of the culturally important places, in provocation. Black barbershops were a big target. We have a black barbershop on the corner, a couple lots down from us. So on Saturday, a number of my neighbors decided we would stand vigil. We were going to work in shifts, but only 5 of us could end up doing it (the other 4 were pulled to other duties), and we were unarmed, so we all just staked out around it all night. Some odd and suspicious activity, like vehicles with no license plates cruising around the block 3 different times, but thankfully no incidents. It’s still standing.

As a seminarian, I work at a church. We haven’t “reopened”, but we are live-streaming services from our sanctuary. So after curfew at 6, I tried to sleep for an hour, couldn’t, and just went to work. Came back and thought about napping (going on ~4 hours of sleep out of the last 60 at that point), instead decided to mow the lawn in my Black Lives Matter shirt (waved at a group of skinheads flipping me off from the back of a pickup truck), then came in and finally decided to look at WIS. Remembered that my conference mate was in the final 4, checked in to see how it worked out (congrats again, ChemGuy). And shortly after, was called by some friends who were going to be doing a massive march on the I35 bridge. We very nearly went, all three of us (with the 9 year old, the now-23 year old original shoe3 is quarantining with his Mom outstate). We would have been with our friends. I nixed it, just didn’t have the energy, and I was afraid I was in a state where I could start making some poor decisions. Very shortly after I fell asleep, we got a call that our friends had *very narrowly* missed being run over by a tanker which had incomprehensibly been allowed to just come barreling down a freeway that was supposed to have been closed for pending curfew hours prior. As some of you may have seen footage of that incident, there was very much the feeling on the ground that this was a white supremacist terrorist attack - and a lot of folks still suspect it may have been, and the driver backed out last minute. But anyway, absolutely terrifying. But thankfully I slept through that.

Woke up Monday morning with a killer migraine, and saw the dreaded “unemployed” graphic, and said F*** way louder than you might expect from a seminarian. You know the rest. So that’s the long version of “oh, he just forgot to renew.”

Moral of the story - I don’t care what you believe, who you vote for, what type of consenting adult you sleep with, or what mascot you like best. **** racism and **** fascism. And get ready to take care of your neighbors, because between the fall election and looming Covid-19 second wave, we’re all going to need it.

Peace.

Posted by shoe3 on 6/3/2020 5:26:00 PM (view original):
I know I said I wasn’t going to get into the social stuff here, but this whole episode has put priorities in perspective, and plus I no longer really care about what the HD forum community is like anymore, since I’m out the door in a few months, likely.

So here’s what I was doing while “forgetting to renew”.

Friday evening, my wife, who is (like me) in seminary, spent an overnight shift volunteering as a chaplain and support for medics on the St. Paul side. That was a bad night. The police force actually gassed a medic tent, and was firing indiscriminately at medics trying to get assistance to the wounded. Medics, as you may or may not know, don’t discriminate who they offer aid to, doctors and nurses are not partisan. These are the folks who are basically fearless, and they had to be pulled out after midnight. Broken bones, gashes and bruises from rubber bullets all over their bodies. It was war zone type stuff. My wife was in the church the whole time, like I said basically support, but it was still terrifying getting texts from her about what was happening.

Meanwhile, miles away from the protest confrontations, Friday was the night when the white supremacists rolled in, and started hitting a bunch of small businesses, groceries, and vital services like post offices and pharmacies, all over metro. The idea, as best we can tell now, was 3-fold. They wanted to draw first responders out all over metro area (twin cities metro area is probably much larger than you think it is), they wanted to create a state of fear and chaos in the communities, many of which are comprised mostly of white liberals who think they mean well, but will quickly revert to authoritarianism as soon as they see pictures of businesses with broken windows; and probably most importantly, they wanted to hit a lot of the culturally important places, in provocation. Black barbershops were a big target. We have a black barbershop on the corner, a couple lots down from us. So on Saturday, a number of my neighbors decided we would stand vigil. We were going to work in shifts, but only 5 of us could end up doing it (the other 4 were pulled to other duties), and we were unarmed, so we all just staked out around it all night. Some odd and suspicious activity, like vehicles with no license plates cruising around the block 3 different times, but thankfully no incidents. It’s still standing.

As a seminarian, I work at a church. We haven’t “reopened”, but we are live-streaming services from our sanctuary. So after curfew at 6, I tried to sleep for an hour, couldn’t, and just went to work. Came back and thought about napping (going on ~4 hours of sleep out of the last 60 at that point), instead decided to mow the lawn in my Black Lives Matter shirt (waved at a group of skinheads flipping me off from the back of a pickup truck), then came in and finally decided to look at WIS. Remembered that my conference mate was in the final 4, checked in to see how it worked out (congrats again, ChemGuy). And shortly after, was called by some friends who were going to be doing a massive march on the I35 bridge. We very nearly went, all three of us (with the 9 year old, the now-23 year old original shoe3 is quarantining with his Mom outstate). We would have been with our friends. I nixed it, just didn’t have the energy, and I was afraid I was in a state where I could start making some poor decisions. Very shortly after I fell asleep, we got a call that our friends had *very narrowly* missed being run over by a tanker which had incomprehensibly been allowed to just come barreling down a freeway that was supposed to have been closed for pending curfew hours prior. As some of you may have seen footage of that incident, there was very much the feeling on the ground that this was a white supremacist terrorist attack - and a lot of folks still suspect it may have been, and the driver backed out last minute. But anyway, absolutely terrifying. But thankfully I slept through that.

Woke up Monday morning with a killer migraine, and saw the dreaded “unemployed” graphic, and said F*** way louder than you might expect from a seminarian. You know the rest. So that’s the long version of “oh, he just forgot to renew.”

Moral of the story - I don’t care what you believe, who you vote for, what type of consenting adult you sleep with, or what mascot you like best. **** racism and **** fascism. And get ready to take care of your neighbors, because between the fall election and looming Covid-19 second wave, we’re all going to need it.

Peace.

Good post and a horrible situation. I think you deserve Kansas back ;)

I agree, Shoe had extenuating circumstances and I hope he gets the job back. Also, stfu mully

Posted by shoe3 on 6/3/2020 5:26:00 PM (view original):
I know I said I wasn’t going to get into the social stuff here, but this whole episode has put priorities in perspective, and plus I no longer really care about what the HD forum community is like anymore, since I’m out the door in a few months, likely.

So here’s what I was doing while “forgetting to renew”.

Friday evening, my wife, who is (like me) in seminary, spent an overnight shift volunteering as a chaplain and support for medics on the St. Paul side. That was a bad night. The police force actually gassed a medic tent, and was firing indiscriminately at medics trying to get assistance to the wounded. Medics, as you may or may not know, don’t discriminate who they offer aid to, doctors and nurses are not partisan. These are the folks who are basically fearless, and they had to be pulled out after midnight. Broken bones, gashes and bruises from rubber bullets all over their bodies. It was war zone type stuff. My wife was in the church the whole time, like I said basically support, but it was still terrifying getting texts from her about what was happening.

Meanwhile, miles away from the protest confrontations, Friday was the night when the white supremacists rolled in, and started hitting a bunch of small businesses, groceries, and vital services like post offices and pharmacies, all over metro. The idea, as best we can tell now, was 3-fold. They wanted to draw first responders out all over metro area (twin cities metro area is probably much larger than you think it is), they wanted to create a state of fear and chaos in the communities, many of which are comprised mostly of white liberals who think they mean well, but will quickly revert to authoritarianism as soon as they see pictures of businesses with broken windows; and probably most importantly, they wanted to hit a lot of the culturally important places, in provocation. Black barbershops were a big target. We have a black barbershop on the corner, a couple lots down from us. So on Saturday, a number of my neighbors decided we would stand vigil. We were going to work in shifts, but only 5 of us could end up doing it (the other 4 were pulled to other duties), and we were unarmed, so we all just staked out around it all night. Some odd and suspicious activity, like vehicles with no license plates cruising around the block 3 different times, but thankfully no incidents. It’s still standing.

As a seminarian, I work at a church. We haven’t “reopened”, but we are live-streaming services from our sanctuary. So after curfew at 6, I tried to sleep for an hour, couldn’t, and just went to work. Came back and thought about napping (going on ~4 hours of sleep out of the last 60 at that point), instead decided to mow the lawn in my Black Lives Matter shirt (waved at a group of skinheads flipping me off from the back of a pickup truck), then came in and finally decided to look at WIS. Remembered that my conference mate was in the final 4, checked in to see how it worked out (congrats again, ChemGuy). And shortly after, was called by some friends who were going to be doing a massive march on the I35 bridge. We very nearly went, all three of us (with the 9 year old, the now-23 year old original shoe3 is quarantining with his Mom outstate). We would have been with our friends. I nixed it, just didn’t have the energy, and I was afraid I was in a state where I could start making some poor decisions. Very shortly after I fell asleep, we got a call that our friends had *very narrowly* missed being run over by a tanker which had incomprehensibly been allowed to just come barreling down a freeway that was supposed to have been closed for pending curfew hours prior. As some of you may have seen footage of that incident, there was very much the feeling on the ground that this was a white supremacist terrorist attack - and a lot of folks still suspect it may have been, and the driver backed out last minute. But anyway, absolutely terrifying. But thankfully I slept through that.

Woke up Monday morning with a killer migraine, and saw the dreaded “unemployed” graphic, and said F*** way louder than you might expect from a seminarian. You know the rest. So that’s the long version of “oh, he just forgot to renew.”

Moral of the story - I don’t care what you believe, who you vote for, what type of consenting adult you sleep with, or what mascot you like best. **** racism and **** fascism. And get ready to take care of your neighbors, because between the fall election and looming Covid-19 second wave, we’re all going to need it.

Peace.

im glad you and your wife are ok! pretty crazy situation. glad there are folks out there like you guys getting involved in such ways.

Posted by mullycj on 6/3/2020 6:50:00 PM (view original):
I think it was a big step forward for the country seeing all the "white supremacists" and black urban youth working together to loot and arson. Like ebony and ivory.

<sarc>

the use of air quotes here rubs me the wrong way to say the least. folks certainly jump early to apply the label at times, as they do with just about every other label, but there is nothing hypothetical about the fact that our american system values white life more than black life - or that millions of americans prefer to keep it this way.

our country is suffering so greatly this week because powerful leaders continue to refuse to 1) offer a full throated acknowledgement of this fact and 2) unequivocally state that this is unacceptable, that it must not continue. it is not the right time to push back on the overuse or misuse of a label. nor is it appropriate to use 2% of people resorting to violence as an excuse to ignore the legitimate complaints of the 98% of protesters who are peaceful. heck, its not even an excuse to ignore the legitimate complains of those 2%. people want to be heard, and they want to be valued - perhaps, they need these things. if people are concerned about the unrest, its pretty obvious what needs to be done to put an end to it - and it most certainly does not involve sending the military in to "dominate" the protesters.

there's only one story line that matters here, and its whether or not white america is ready to acknowledge the inequality of our system and whether or not white america is willing to do anything about it. anything else is a distraction - and in the case of such leaders currently focusing on those distractions - it is quite clearly intentional, as is where they stand on this issue.