Author: bookmystorysite

       Super Bowl Sunday is one of America’s most united days, all because of the bliss of football.  All through the season, we support our specific teams and then come together one day of the year to cheer on one of two outstanding teams. However, the polarization of our society with violence has overtly slithered into America’s greatest pastime.  On Sunday, October 2, Joseph Bauer, a former U.S. Marine and a Raven fan, was struck in the head by one of two football fans from New York. The fact he had served our country was the hard part for me. The situation and looking back on the discourse, it didn’t help that a statement of a violent nature had been blatantly boosted and perpetrated by a candidate for president of the United States.

     The statement described above was the preamble in a tweet I addressed to the 45th president of the greatest country in the world on February 6, 2017. Nineteen months later, in one week’s time, we’ve had Robert Bowers and Cesar Sayoc, not to mention Gregory Bush, at a Kroger store in Jeffersontown, Ky. Dylann Roof – Charleston, SC. Omar Mateen — Orlando, Fl. with Charlottesville, VA. A blatant exhibition, and the list is perpetually longer going back in my living memory to the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Al.

There is something seriously wrong with the adults in the room when one man can continuously divide us through the tactic of hate and fear.

The least I ask is to share this tweet and visit……..    https://bookmystorydomain.blog/2017/02/06/a-tweet-for-the-president-of-these-united-states/             and  VOTE!

For, “When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.”

This blog originally posted November 2017  and again March 15, 2018, is in support of our youth around the nation and the  “March for Our Lives Students.”

The expectations of my book “Guidance Against the Odds” and the webpage http://www.bookmystory.net, is entirely motivational. With the core focus on inspiring young minds to read, to study history and to reach out to other youths across the nation, while learning the art of communicating by listening with empathy rather than immediate discord.  With a world measured by speed, data delight, sound bites of negativity, and while politicians with social discourse increasingly becoming common core, there is a need for stability of reasoning. In short, first and foremost, a provocation for those who know and understand the cause and effect from the demagoguery of the pass and a brainwave for the millions who are turned off by the bully mindset that prevails in America today. “The Audacity of the Millennia’s,” a rhetorical statement, meant as a stimulus, to and for a generation (for the most part) who within a decade or so will be moving into the eldership of the most powerful nation on earth. A mental make-up of divisiveness, a non-demonstrative direction of leadership growing deeper in a country which purposively stands for “Liberty and Justice for All,” must be changed, before divisiveness takes us to the point of no return.  The adjective “United” and the noun “States” contrasts’ to the infinity with the present leadership of these United States.

“Tear down this wall!” is a line from a speech made by President Reagan on June 12, 1987, calling for the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open up the barrier which had divided West and East Berlin.  In 1961, a wall was built.   For those who know history, it does not matter the political reasons of the time, just that it divided people; feeding on fear and hate as it’s motivation. It took 28 years with America’s involvement before the wall was torn down. In 2017, 28 years later narcissism and the conversation about building walls, feeding ounce again on fears and prejudices as a means for political dominance plagues the freest country in the world.

The Audacity of the Millennia’s, I would hope, is not to follow in the footsteps of generation “X.”  Generation X, parents of Millennia’s, population approximately 41 million are known as the generation having the lowest voting participation rate of any generation. Generation Xers have been quoted by Newsweek as “the generation that dropped out without ever turning on the news or tuning into the social issues around them,” giving suspect to the missing links with constructive communications today.

It would be a misnomer to say that Millennia’s are the same, with the “I” and “Smart” phones at their fingertips breakfast lunch and dinner. The question is, will Millennia’s smell the bacon and seal the yoke?

People have this incredible ability to rationalize, invent, justify, falsify and distort through cognitive dissonance, but it’s the receiver of the distortion both mentally and physically who absorbs the blows.

“The hitter can never be the judge. Only the receiver of the blow can tell you how hard it was, whether it would kill a man or make a baby just yawn.”
― Edward P. Jones, The Known World

The Teaching of hypocrisy unto perfidy unto the youth of this nation has become the norm.  Our citizens live in two worlds, and neither the twain shall meet.  “When Good Men do Nothing,” (which by the way is the title of a book, the setting, Phenix City, Alabama, 1954) and a White House aide making a statement, “It doesn’t matter, he’s dying anyway,” denotes duplicity to the highest. Now there’s an op-ed, some would say from a gutless wonder using the word “lodestar,” and the coffee-boy is sentenced to prison.

“A Colony in a Nation,” is one of those two worlds, and the other contains “Fire and Fury” from the “Unhinged” personality of a man who employs an atmosphere of “Fear.”

As a retired Chief Petty Officer USN and the author of the book “Guidance Against the Odds,” I felt obligated to go on the record, with three tweets; one each to the President, the Speaker of the House and the Chief of Staff;  foreseeing that  “The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles.”  Ayn Rand, “Capitalism:” The Unknown Ideal, 1966.

The President:

https://bookmystorydomain.blog/2017/02/06/a-tweet-for-the-president-of-these-united-states/

The Speaker

https://bookmystorydomain.blog/2018/02/15/to-the-speaker-of-the-house/

Chief of Staff

https://bookmystorydomain.blog/2018/01/04/a-plea-to-the-chief-of-staff/

The enemy outside cannot hurt you if there’s no enemy within.

Through his passing, if America cannot comprehend the words in the African proverb: “If there no enemy within, the enemy outside can not hurt you,”  #JohnMcCain  We will miss a chance of a lifetime.

Is it not enough in a culture of reliance that a man means well in the service of his country? Is it not enough that a man can admit his imperfectness yet sustains his character with his conscience, haranguing against every design prejudicial to the best interest of his country.

A toxic but harmless character can be formed around a personality of non-apologetic inculpation, which falls short upon the ears and minds of separatist people, who, on the surface, pretend to befriend him. The oath of office/service demands and requires that what is right should not only be made known but made prevalently; that what is evil should not only be detected but defeated. In the words of Edmund Burke, an Anglo-Irish Philosophy and Statesman: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”―  #johnmccain

http://www.bookmystory.net/About-Us.html

When I was a young child, a great man once told me.  “The worth of a man is in his actions and that every man must have a purpose; the urging from within to get up every day and do something good, or he will become nothing. That man was my grandfather, Charlie Hurt, 1881 – 1976. He always spoke his mind and insured that his actions always spoke louder than his words.

When I think of John McCain, so many words, so many accolades come to mind; courageous, honorable, speaking truth to power, always speaking his mind, depicted his heart and soul in his actions. He passed away with dignity ushering an avalanche of respect from near and far.

During the primary election of 2016, there came an urging to emulate the words of my grandfather with actions in the craft of writing.  Although a novice, speaking truth to power was my urging. Blogging via https://bookmystorydomain.blog/ non-contrite, by proxy, to the President, The Speaker of the House, the Chief of Staff, and about divisiveness in general. John McCain was a   prisoner of war and lived the oath he took in serving his country.

Thank You, John McCain, for your service, may you Rest in Peace.

Thank You, John McCain, for your service, may you Rest in Peace.

US Navy Adm. William McRaven, a former Navy Seal said recently, he would “consider it an honor” if Trump revoked his security clearance, following his decision to revoke former CIA director John Brennan’s security clearance. As a military retiree, I find it necessary to repeat the following opinion tweeted earlier this year.  Edifying to John Kelly, the honor of military service, after the firing of Manigault and degrading of Brennan.

January 2018

In the search for veracity in the idiom “country before party,” this post was blogged on twitter and was addressed to the current Chief of Staff who serves at the pleasure of the President. There are no creative words in the mind’s eye that will assist the process of this post reaching, let alone penetrating the mindset of the addressee. As was also with “A Tweet to the Speaker of the House” Aug 16, 2017, and “A Tweet for the President of these United States” Feb 6, 2017. https://twitter.com/hlf442207 Therefore this post is strictly for going on the record. Mr. John Kelly, sir, and with all due respect for your service to our country. We, as occupancies of a free society, are free to say whatever choices of words we want. But, we are not free from the penalties of those words. Despite best intentions, there are times in which one can become careless in their choice of expressions, e.g., empty barrel. But in politics, words can lead to dire consequences, and personality clashes have become the hallmark of divisiveness, with this presidency. It has now been a few months since stating you would not apologize for the false attacks you leveled against Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.) as you seek to defend the President for his handling of a condolence call. However, in your case, your silence has been golden, with the incident fading into oblivion, but I can not accept the nostalgia of letting it die a quiet death.

As a military veteran of more than twenty years, my allegiance has always been country before a party with a belief in the “no soldier left behind motto.” In my heart of hearts feelings, I do not believe things in our great nation will ever get better when divisive politics is the status quo. This post is not a political stance, just a public avowal of principles with a statement of cause and effect. You may not see it, but because of your principles, you have dismissed Representative Wilson in your mind to the status of irrelevancy. She is a soldier in her right, a public servant and slighted into a virtual left behind-ness. You have seemingly brought some simulation of stability to the White House with Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon gone. But, it takes tremendous courage to say the words “I was wrong.” Either there is a tarmac of infallibility in your acquired politics with your short tenor, or you have the “I am a General syndrome,” i.e., admitting wrong carries the indignation of being weak. Therefore someone else dignity is sacrificed. Regardless, retiring as a General or like me as a senior enlisted, there comes the inevitable culture shock with becoming a civilian. Civilians don’t respond as military subordinates do, with ideologies and stigmas becoming barricades within mindsets. With that said, and knowing the chances of you seeing this post being slim to none, I apologize for you. For you know not what to do in the area of humility. Representative Wilson not only deserves it, but I am also sure as a human being she would appreciate at least a private phone call.

In an era of rapacious fake news, hacking of emails, politicians trolling of each other, election tampering, and the banning of a news reporter, one must wonder about twitter censorship as with the following excerpt from a blog titled “A Tweet for the President of these United States,” posted February of 2017 @ https://bookmystorydomain.blog/.

“I have high regards for the office of the presidency, in keeping with the oath I took and re-took four times for a total of 22 years. However, in the words of Denzel Washington, “Anything you practice you can get good at, including BS.” 

 Before this particular blog, this site for the month of January in 2017 alone, generated 479 views. A trend progressively upward, which for a none-syndicated writer was fabulous. Now, subsequently, a downward direction with less than 200 views out of 32 blogs a total seven month period.

Tweeting for a free and sensible America is not a poor man’s portal.

Most times when I set down to put my thoughts on social media, I feel I am writing to myself, for I am not out to attack anyone, which nowadays, makes for dull commentary.  However, and I hope and pray that this time will be different. I placed my life on the line with enlistment and re-enlistment for 22-years with the following words as part of my oath: “I, Henry Lee Faulkner do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” The private summit of Trump and Putin, a history-making event,  gave a chance for the president to do just that and he didn’t.  This debacle should not be a chance to jump on the president, as it will do no good, but an opportunity for all Americans to be on the same page or we as a people will perish in the swamps.  I watched the president of the United States, cut down our Intelligence Agency’s and give support to a dictator.  As a twenty-two-year military veteran, I immediately began to feel empty, a deep weak sadness. For we have reached a point in this country where most people are just instinctively looking for an argument; taking sides and forsaking the neutrality of reaching a point of understanding for the sanctity and security of our nation.   There’s a significant distinction between the details of a situation or problem and the big picture as it is displayed before our eyes. Details can be skewed to serve the mindsets of constituents even when the big picture distinctively shows the sky is not red. It’s a sad commentary when some politicians and appointed officials take an oath feverously to serve those constituents, putting politics over country.   God Save America!

God and Me

Long ago, while at sea, there was this hand that reached out to me.

It had a glow bright with spree…..

and then it called me Henry Lee.

I did not hide nor did I dart,

as it warmed the cockles of my heart.

Of a speaking hand, I did not flee

for I knew it was clearly…..  God and Me

Henry Lee Faulkner  “Guidance Against the Odds” ©2016