>>> BREAKING @ 1:02 PM, EST:
Area sheriffs back McCrory's Syrian refugee stand
Ingram, Smith join dozens of others in signing letter
Published: Friday, November 20, 2015 at 6:05 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, November 20, 2015 at 6:05 p.m.
Sheriff John Ingram ONLY allows prisoners a copy of the Christian Bible (in paperback), and a novel -- FORBIDDING inmates to read a Torah, the Upanishads, or the Quran!!!
ALL THESE SHERIFFS ACTIVELY HATE GOD -- and I will JAIL Ed McMahon soon enough -- because he TRICKED me into thinking he was a "Real Christian" -- he's NOT!!!
SOUTHEASTERN N.C. -- All three sheriffs in the greater Cape Fear region have voiced their support for Gov. Pat McCrory's refusal to accept Syrian refugees in the state.
McCrory joined with 26 other governors calling on President Barack Obama to cease the resettlement of additional Syrian refugees until the federal government thoroughly reviews the refugee background check process and security vulnerabilities in the wake of the Paris tragedies.
>>> FIRST A FEW UPDATES:
1. When I called the number Rudy Renfer http://theweathercontinues.blogspot.com/2015/08/after-speaking-with-rudy-renfer.html, handed me when we met in person in Raleigh this past summer (Mike Williams of the DEA also in Raleigh: (919) 790-3004), yesterday, about 2:30 PM, I got voice-mail, explained the conversation I'd had two days before with an un-named Agent -- see: http://theweathercontinues.blogspot.com/2015/11/wilmington-dea-agent-mike-franklin-hung.html as well as: http://theweathercontinues.blogspot.com/2015/11/after-most-restful-night-ive-had-in.html -- leaving my cell number and agreement to meet with un-corrupted US Government Agents, virtually ANY time and under any conditions -- and that I will try to call them again, Monday.
2. Last night I visited my friend (and District Attorney Ben David's former part-time gardener), Dewain, in Brunswick County Detention Center. He was FIRED yesterday as a TRUSTEE, after returning from distant duty in County Facilities -- and smelling like a tobacco cigarette. Dewain protested that it was "just a legal cigarette", but the Deputies explained that THEY could lose their jobs if they did not follow the RULES, which Dewain accepted as TRUE and APPROPRIATE and is not upset in the least.
They did NOT put him into an ISOLATION CELL, as required for that, and he does not yet know if he will lose his two-weeks-early-out credit for being a TRUSTEE.
He was in VERY good spirits!!!
3. I was early and visitations were running over an hour late, so I had LONG political talks with the Deputy in charge, but MORE SO with Tony God-Win, agent for All American Bail Bonding -- the company that once bailed me out of New Hanover County Detention Center in 2011.
A TOTALLY COOL GUY!!!
Everyone there knows that the Kenan Family is the most evil at least in North Carolina -- and the nature of their WHITE SUPREMACIST and DRUG MAFIA crimes -- LOL -- and many of them are card-carrying Republicans DISGUSTED with what happened to their Party.
4. Yesterday, there were RECORD HITS to this blog -- and today is on track to BEAT THAT!!!
5. When reading ANY of my blog postings, PLEASE REMEMBER that my fave TEACHER loved to say from the Sunday pulpit: "God loves the Atheists BEST -- because they NEVER FELL FOR THE BULL SHIT!!!"
* * *
It was at Virgil Thomson's 85th birthday party in Milton Goldman's (an ICM talent agency rep), apartment that I met Virgil, David Hockney, Ethel Merman, and had my first encounter with Meryl Streep, whom I was like two peas in a pod with and partied with several other times. That and four bucks will buy you a cup of Starbuck's coffee!!! Link to that chapter in my memoir, below in comments:
I've been awake for a couple of hours now, and it's about 4:30am. Recently, I have been troubled by the fact that I do not recognize the country I grew up loving. I do not see America in the rhetoric and fear being propagated as a presidential campaign is waged, as the world reacts to the horrific acts in Paris, as the world debates the issue of Syrian refugees. Last night a friend, who I have known, loved and respected for a long time, posted that people who voted for President Obama should take in a Syrian refugee. I responded that I would be happy to take in another human being in need. Another friend shared a post that said something to the effect of wishing rather to die in a pool of their own blood than to live thinking they refused to care for someone in need. (Thanks, Bentley.)
I have a little experience with lying in one's own blood at the hands of another. I am not ignorant of the fear experienced because a gun was pressed against my head, as I was bound naked and wet, being told I was going to die. I believed it. They hated us because we did not look like them and we were gay. I felt fear... would it hurt to be shot in the head? Would I die quickly? Would my boyfriend be shot before me or after me? But in that moment, I still remember even now, the intense love I felt. I felt so much love for those I was with, for those who I call my family of choice, for those who were related by blood. I felt love. Not hate.
I think of the picture of the toddler Syrian boy lying on the beach, maybe three years old. I thought he was resting because he must have been tired from running from his home. He was not tired. He was dead. Face down in the surf, his hands at his sides. And I think of the people who say we should not let people like him inside our borders.
I'm not Christian, I'm an atheist. But I love the Christmas season. I love it because it is the season of love. Of hope for peace. I love it because people seem to treat each other better. To care for the homeless. For the least of these. I love it because of what it stands for. How ironic that the refugee issue presents itself as we celebrate the story of a Middle Eastern family seeking shelter and being turned away. Please think of what that Nativity Scene you erect on your lawn means this Christmas season. Mary and Joseph were looking for housing and were turned away, just as some are arguing we turn away Syrian refugees.
Fifty percent of the refugees we have welcomed from Syria have been children. Another twenty-five percent are the elderly. Since when does the United States of America turn away children and the elderly? When did we become so heartless? When did we become so scared? When did we become so cruel?
I know some will argue they want to keep their families safe. In welcoming Syrian refugees, we do not simply load up a bunch of refugees in a mini-van and drop them off at the local Ihop. I'm sharing a post that contains the facts on the screening process refugees must make it through to come to our country, from an attorney named Scott Hicks. He's a real attorney (I looked him up) and he specializes in immigration law and has for about twenty years. He is also, ironically, a Christian pastor. My guess is he wants to protect his family. And yet, he continues to advocate on behalf of refugees professionally and personally. It took me about ten minutes to make it through his description of the process. It takes the average refugee about 18-24 months, aka almost two years. (Thank you to my friend, Michael Alvear, for bringing him to my attention.)
Sex guru and CL cover star Michael Alvear, here taping his HBO syndicated TV show, The Sex Inspectors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sex_Inspectors
For the production period of the series, Michael had to agree not to sculpt his brows.
At the blogging class, held in Grant Henry's -- Sister Louisa's -- "Church" (then his "loft" in a converted warehouse in Atlanta, not yet the later BAR(S): https://www.sisterlouisaschurch.com/), Grant had a turn at teaching blogging -- and so did Michael Alvear -- a nice enough fellow, if ya like the shaved-arms-and-chest type that sculpts his eyebrows, as well.
That's Hollis at the center of a bunch of Republicans plotting the Fall of Atlanta -- as planning for the 1996 Olympics got serious. Many have mistaken "The Ragin' Cajun" for a Democrat, but he is/was allied with the Clinton Family, no???
I joke about being Grumpy Cat (and I kind of am), but it makes my heart ache to see the fear and hatred being shared lately. What is happening in the world is terrifying, no doubt. But I do not believe the answer is closing our shores to those in need. The Statue of Liberty, ironically a gift from France, reminds us to "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." When did America forget the spirt of love, charity and kindness? When did Americans forget how to behave like Americans? I think the answer is love. Love is the opposite of what is happening in the world. Love is stronger than hate. Love is even stronger than death.
“We’re all of us children in a vast kindergarten trying to spell God’s name with the wrong alphabet blocks.”
--from "Suddenly Last Summer" (1958) by Tennessee Williams
.
No comments:
Post a Comment