Cards on the Table

It's unlikely that you're reading this blog without having some understanding of my political stances, but I feel like it's been a while since I've laid my cards on the table.

So, in plain and certain language, here are some fundamental beliefs that I hold:

No person is "illegal" on stolen land.
All gender and sexual identities/expressions that cause no harm to any individuals are valid.
All imperial actions by the Israeli government must cease, Netanyahu must face punishment for his war crimes, and Palestine must be recognized and supported as a free state.
Capitalism is a scourge that prioritizes profits over the health and safety of humans and our planet.
Food, water, and health care are fundamental human rights.
Generative AI and Large Language Model programs are a cancer that will rot our brains and destroy our capacity for individual thought and artistic expression.
Donald Trump and his entire cult are, at their core, irredeemably evil.
A government that fails to adhere to its own principals and laws is a failed institution, and it is the role of the people to hold its government accountable.
Violence is acceptable and necessary to enact change when a governing body fails to acknowledge the will of the people.

I support the actions of groups like NorCal Resist and 50501, but I truly and honestly believe that peaceful protest isn't enough. The Democrats certainly aren't going to "save" us, and even if we see a blue wave in the midterms, the Supreme Court has already sided with Trump. If there's going to be any effective resistance against this fascist regime, we're going to have to start exercising our Second Amendment rights and use ICE vehicles as target practice. Of course, it's easy for me to say that behind the safety of a computer screen. I have my family, and I need to be alive and not in prison so I can take care of them. So really, can I be mad at the people who are actually out there, on the street, participating and making their voices heard?

I think it would be really easy to become an alcoholic. It's becoming increasingly more difficult just to be. It's getting harder to breathe.

I'm almost done catching up on some albums from 2025. I don't have too much to say, but I will definitely shout out some recommendations.

I'm continuing to learn more about web design and server management. I'm getting to the point where I have to rely less on pre-written templates and I'm able to actually understand more of what's going on under the hood. I'm also starting to realize what types of things I do and do not trust myself to be able to do. I was interested in hosting my own e-mail server until I looked into how difficult it is to actually do so (understandably so, most Internet Service Providers don't like it when literally any IP can start shooting out e-mail willy nilly.) so I scrapped that idea and got a Proton Mail address instead. I've also realized that adding a comment section to my posts does NOT necessarily require me to learn PHP and SQL at this exact moment, but rather a bevy of third-party options exist. The big one of course is Disqus, but I'll cut my own dick off and post the video to this website before I allow that service to be integrated onto this website. Thankfully a handful of open-source options with much better privacy policies and NO ADVERTISEMENTS exist that I will consider carefully.

Please stay safe out there, and look out for each other.

~JB