military

Wonder What This Rando Thinks

/ rickeydobbs / 3 Comments

Unpopular opinions are the spice of life. And who doesn’t like spice? Besides people living with irritable bowel syndrome, of course. And the English.

But let’s ignore those contingencies for now. If everyone feels the exact same way about something, it fades out of our active attention. No one spends much time talking about how awesome “blue” is or how much they just love oxygen, for example.

Now, if someone piped up with a hot take on the uselessness of O2, they’d stand out against the backdrop. When a talking plant has an opinion, after all, we instinctively listen. (Source: Little Shop of Horrors).

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King Donald

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In the past few weeks, we’ve gotten to see first-hand what happens when we replace a political party with a cult of personality. Every standard, once etched into stone in our memories and conscience, becomes malleable to fit the behaviors of the leader.

To paraphrase more intellectual commentators, we’ve discovered that one man in our country can literally do anything he wants and will suffer no consequences…as long as he can retain the support of any 34 members of the United States Senate.

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Halloween Costumes For Snarky Bastards Like You

/ rickeydobbs / 5 Comments

It’s almost time for everyone’s favorite day filled with fright and dread! No, not Election Day. No, not the end of Daylight Savings Time, though if the end of Daylight Savings Time fills you with fright and dread, you should likely seek therapy. Those are good guesses (they are not really good guesses, I’m just patronizing you), but nope…I’m talking about Halloween!

Halloween is a chance for kids of all ages to go to parties, cut loose, and eat a lot of candy. Of course, if you’re going to be out on the hunt for fun, you have to wear a great costume. Continue reading →

Si vis pacem, para bellum (but watch out for non-stop bellum).

/ rickeydobbs / 4 Comments

Trigger warning: I’m going to write some things in this post that might upset some people. You will not like this post if you equate “serving in the military” with “being a hero beyond earthly reproach.”

Now, before I launch, I want to make something clear: there have been (and still are) thousands of actual heroes in the military. I am thankful beyond words that others have sacrificed so much to defend the ideals of our nation. I am grateful that my father, my uncles, my grandfathers and my great grandfathers (and probably more “greats” back than that) have answered the call when the nation needed them.

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How to survive in Utopia.

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“Hard times make strong men,

Strong men make good times,

Good times make weak men,

Weak men make hard times.”

Our parents, uncles, aunts, and grandparents fought in Vietnam, Korea, and World War II. The suffered the effects of the Great Depression, or they were raised by survivors of complete economic fallout. They lived through housing booms and bubbles bursting.

They were drafted. They dodged the draft. They went to work, joined unions, got degrees on the G.I. Bill. They started companies. They got married and divorced, opinions be damned. They stayed in marriages they didn’t want to because divorce wasn’t an option for them. They lived fulfilled lives without having kids. They had children they didn’t want to because they didn’t have a choice – or at least not a physically or morally safe one. And they had as many kids as they wanted. Continue reading →