The Battle at the Border

Can we stop pretending like there is logic behind this stupid Wall?





We can stop pretending it’s because “illegal immigrants are taking away money from legal Americans” because Donald Trump threatened to shut down the entire border (in the midst of a Trump-approved government shutdown) in order to get his wall----which would put millions of jobs and billions of dollars at risk. Rather counter-effective to claim illegals are costing money when you are willing to lynch the stock market to make a point.

We can stop pretending like it’s because of the drugs that are coming over the border because we still won’t address the drug addiction issues facing the United States and the astronomically high number of drug users and drug owners in jail while STILL having astronomically low prisoner numbers for banks and bankers receiving and hiding drug money.

We can stop pretending like it’s because Donald Trump says it’s the only way to successfully protect the border, when he is inches away from an executive action that would actually seal the border without an actual wall if the Democrats don’t budge---which negates his entire point. We can stop pretending it’s because of border security because the Democrats (and even the Republican Senate) actually agreed with increasing border security and even increased the funds to accomplish this (I disagree with this but that’s for another day) and the deal still hasn’t been made.

We can stop pretending that it’s because Donald Trump wants to stop all illegal immigration because he still hasn’t brought up the people flying in from Asian and Middle Eastern countries to become illegals and hasn’t increased funding for homeland security to combat this---and also allowed for a government shutdown which doesn’t hand paychecks to the very same TSA agents and border patrol personnel that helps fight this.

We can stop pretending that it’s for American public safety because we still haven’t approached the problems that are affecting way more Americans than illegals----especially in the domestic violence and rape culture categories. More Americans have been killed by domestic terrorists than terrorists of overseas origin since Trump took office, and this was also the case under the Obama days. Of course, the gun control issue remains strong because we have seen mass shooting after mass shooting and still haven’t come up with any changes----or attempts to improve health care to focus on the underrated rising issues of mental health. We highlight the one illegal immigrant that commits a crime but neglect the millions living among us that do things the proper and society-acceptable way. Nearly 34 million Mexicans live in North America, with 20 million plus above Mexico so when Donald Trump says the country sends their worst, their criminals, their rapists, he is extremely far from the truth. Funny how he didn’t say anything about Brock Turner or Dylan Roof though…

We can stop pretending it’s because its cost effective---because the wall will cost over 20 billion dollars, and Mexico is still not footing any part of the bill---which by the way is their right. And this is during an economy that is slipping, during a stock market that is hitting ugly numbers, and during a rise in debt and deficit. Not helping matters is the rather lukewarm relationship between the United States and Mexico during these hostile times. Luckily for all of us, Mexico hasn’t stepped up and threatened or worse, made a deal (Like Mexico paying for a border wall if they can get California and Texas back---you know the deal would be momentarily considered under this presidency).

We can stop pretending like it’s because it will be effective because Israel, West Germany, and even China have a few examples. And let’s add that Israel receives millions of dollars from supporters monthly, including the United States. Nobody will be giving this country money to help maintain the wall security—this is all out of taxpayer’s pockets.

And lastly, we can stop pretending like its so that people can come in legally because the caravan was known to be arriving at Tijuana and Texas for months, was going to enter legally to properly claim asylum, and we still have children (illegally mind you) being separated from parents and have them detained despite them following all the proper rules. So even if you are arriving by legal means, you are still at risk of jail and losing your child forever, which is a horror that has not been discussed enough because we’ve been embedded with Trump news that makes news organizations money. And once again, no wall is tall enough to stop planes.

So why is this wall battle still happening? Because Donald Trump has a reputation to cling on to, because he promised this to his depleting fanbase; and during a turmoil-laden administration that is at the crosshairs of democratic and independent fury, the wall is looking less and less like a reality. His tough words didn’t shake Mexico in the least bit, and there was no leverage to play with to make Mexico even consider the idea. Mexico is under a new administration that is about to take on the drug cartels head-on (supposedly and let's hope) and really don’t have the funds or resources to fulfill a promise made by a man who is obviously anti-Hispanic. Leaving Puerto Rico out to die post-Maria hasn’t fallen well with the Hispanic community, and threatening to remove funds to help Central America didn’t sit well either. So Donald Trump has literally only one other option: force the Democrats to agree to a financial deal involving the one item he says taxpayers wouldn’t pay for or shut it all down. Guess what, government still in shutdown mode.

The Democrats have remembered the words of the past three years, and are out for Republican blood. Between the tax cuts, the constant altering of large and small laws passed under the Obama years (he even made it easier for mentally disabled to purchase weapons for crying out loud), the threats to cut funding from notoriously-Democratic cities, the refusal of the Republican base to check Trump and his dangerous words and actions (now, a proper pointing out of the fact that the Republican Senate agreed to a budget without the wall, only for Trump to turn it down), the Democrats are trying to right the ship they spent years sailing under the Obama Days, whether you agree with them or not. And there’s no way that post-small victory they are caving in to a Donald Trump 2016 promise, especially one that they had never agreed with. As a matter of fact, the wall battle is tanking Trump’s approval rating because Mexico isn’t involved, and it’s hard for any American to be okay with a 5-20 billion write-off on a decade-long project when the economy is hitting the question marks come 2019.

The solutions to the illegal immigration issues are far more complicated than what a wall would supposedly accomplish. Central America is reeling after decades of American interference, and just like in the Middle East this creates vacuums that allows for corruption and gangs to reign supreme. Venezuela’s dictatorship problems have etched into Honduras, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico with mass migrations mixing in with country-wide recovery efforts from those that are slightly more fortunate. Like I have always said, you can’t undo decades of civil war and corruption in a couple years---United States still has some after-effects from its own civil war way back in the 1860s. If you don’t believe me, just ask Charlottesville and Black Americans in the Southern states what they have been going through lately.

Hispanic culture is very much attached to their family and their homeland---we hardly ever want to leave either. But when it’s a day-to-day gang issue threatening your livelihood and the livelihood of your children, changes have to be made. If your environment can’t improve, it’s time to go. Helping improve Mexico, helping improve Central America would do wonders for the mass migrations and illegal immigration. Not saying I don’t want them to move to the United States, but if you want to end the migrations, end the desperation.

End the demand for drugs, and you cut off the food supply, which means you wouldn’t have to fight the hydra-like ways of the drug cartel directly. Legalize marijuana completely, go after illegal money, and hunt down the drug traders/distributors and not the drug users. This would curb the demand, and would cut off the money to drug cartels without having to resort to direct battling. Drugs, fear, and violence fuels gangs and cartels. If there is no drug business, you’ll slowly kill the gang business. You have to wonder why Mexico has a drug cartel problem and not a drug problem, and Colombia has a drug producing problem, but not necessarily a drug problem. United States is hands-down the biggest market for all drugs globally, you reduce those numbers and you’ll see healthier nations overall. You help improve the economy of your homeland and the countries closest to you, there will be less reasoning to resort to the gang life.

But these are issues the administration doesn’t want to bring up or face, for whatever reasons, instead focusing on one issue which is a drop in the bucket of American ordeals: the Mexican border and the illegal immigrants arriving from there. The wall accomplishes nothing, and doesn’t do anything towards the real problems facing the United States today, which in turn affects everyone around them: jobs leaving the country, economic inequality, health care woes, misguided war on drugs that focuses on the wrong subjects, and real emerging non-immigrant dangers like hate groups, mass shootings, unchecked mental problems, and over reliance on drugs and pills. 20 billion that would be needed for the wall can be spent on helping Puerto Rico, helping find clean water for Flint and other communities, and fixing a health care system that is shattered by the prospect of making it a privilege instead of a right. You can use those billions to help veterans, help the homeless, help the children that go to sleep without food in their stomachs. A wall will not fix any of that.

The United States is the richest country in the history of the world. There is so much money that flows in and out of the country that the bigger companies shove their earnings elsewhere to avoid taxes. We have enough money in the nation so resolve our issues and the issues of the nations underneath us. Fixing our problems would not only improve the country, but would improve our neighbors as well. But we can’t even begin to fix ourselves until we fix our perspective, and it starts by calling out bullshit like the stupid Godforsaken wall idea crafted by a man appealing to his fans while masking his racism behind a smokescreen of scare tactics. Donald Trump doesn’t take no for an answer, and it might cost the country millions, and might even cost him his presidency. But the wall should eternally be off the table in terms of seeking solutions for fixing illegal immigration, and fixing the United States overall.



No wall, its nothing more than an empty campaign promise and a power-hungry president with an awkward appreciation for dictatorship qualities desperate for a win of any kind. Time for logical current century ideas and less emphasis on stone age tactics.

Donald Trump and the Capitalist Administration

So the entire world is rather upset at the United States, mainly at the White House because they, well, er, um, Donald Trump and his team, are still standing with Saudi Arabia after what it appears to be the nation’s king ordering a crazy assassination of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi. And by crazy, I mean he was killed, dismembered, and disposed of like garbage. They produced in a body double to smokescreen, the murderers left the city entirely, trying to build an alibi during the investigation. But no matter how many false leads they tried creating, the man was tortured for seven brutal minutes and it looks more and more like a powerful man was behind the decision.

The CIA, and pretty much most of the world is blaming the Saudi royals for instituting the hit, since Khashoggi is notoriously critical of the current regime. One visit inside the Saudi Arabian consulate later, and he was gone. His wife was waiting. There was no warning, no threat, just a painful execution. And this wasn’t a quick hit, this murder was sending a message to the rest of the country. One shot could have ended his life, but they went the Mexican cartel route and made the murder truly count. This did not like a scorned love or an argument kill, but instead a decision made by a powerful man, and in this case Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Nations surrounding Saudi Arabia are backing away from the country, tossing in sanctions and travel bans to note their displeasure of not just the killing but the cover-up attempts. The big player refusing to participate in the shock is the United States, as Donald Trump insists to remain allies for the purpose to keep those oil prices good and to keep the American economy flowing. It was a business decision plain and simple, for he didn’t want to give any leverage to China or Russia. He didn’t want to further tank the economy (which is hitting bumps). He didn’t want to damage the arms deals that have been going on since Bush. Donald Trump is focusing on the mighty dollar above the life of a murdered and dismembered American.



Now, let’s drop the shock, because this was incredibly expected, and remains in line with Donald Trump’s mindset and the capitalist nature of the country he represents.



Stop acting shocked, this is what you voted for. This is what you wanted, dollars above morality. Dirty money above making the proper decision. Do I personally agree with Trump? Absolutely not, 1,000 percent not, but I’m not shocked at his call, I’m not shocked that Khashoggi’s life holds no value in Washington. This is America, and America voted in a businessman to lead. Businesses and Businessmen have less of a heart than that of a good politician, facts are facts. Stop looking surprised.

Side-stepping just a little bit, Amazon is slowly crippling the country with their tactics, with their nonsense technique of selling themselves to the highest bidder every couple of months as to where to build the next headquarters. They are about to severely damage New York City in the coming years. They are already drowning stores of all kinds: local ones, retail stores, game stores, gift shops, bookstores, you name it. They are cluttering the streets with all these underpaid drivers being overworked to meet the intense demand. They have their staff working near sweatshop-like conditions at laughable wages that only increased after Bernie Sanders publicly called them out on it. Amazon is an awful company that most of you still utilize, to save those few dollars and save that extra hassle of driving to the store. Money above the morality.

Wal-Mart’s history with their employees has been hideous, they still rank #1 (and way, wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy above Target, so those shopping memes about spending at Target are inaccurate) in department stores in the United States, succeeding in nearly every corner of the nation. This is the norm, you shop where you save, and you avoid the noise of what the business represents. My personal guilty vice is Chick-Fil-A, an excellent restaurant chain with questionable morals even with their outstanding customer service. It just so happens that with larger social media presence and the most vocal president in the history of the United States are we seeing that money over morality matter in play at the White House. And the morality issue here is significantly greater than anything Amazon and Wal-Mart has pulled, but the stance remains the same.

Yes, Saudi Arabia has a rich financial history with the United States. Yes, previous administrations have had to swallow their pills of pride and morals to cozy up with them. Yes, Donald Trump’s relationship with the nation is far longer than this administration. And yes, Donald Trump’s campaign was Capitalism 2.0 with a pure rejection of any form of socialist democracy. He wanted to kill anything Obama had built because Obama’s campaign was full of social advances that would also slightly cripple some businesses. Obamacare, NAFTA, gun restrictions are just some examples of things Trump was combating because they didn’t benefit businessmen like him. Donald Trump lies a ton and has a slew of ideas that just don’t work when you are supposed to represent a nation. But the consistency has always been there in terms of business, so this toothless response to Saudi Arabia executing an American should have been completely expected. He is a businessmen president, his goal is to make America great again. And in his vision of America, money is required to be great, not moral or social stature.

Donald Trump battles countries that he doesn’t see financially benefiting him. Puerto Rico (in debt), Venezuela (what a mess), Cuba (y’all forgot he damaged this relationship, didn’t you?), Canada (part of the NAFTA cycle), Mexico (still trying to combat the blood money that gets exchanged between underbelly US and underbelly Mexico), North Korea (poor country with horrific history of partnership). In the meantime though, he stays tight with Russia (has financial ties), Egypt (business ties), U.A.E. (all businessmen have ties here), and of course Saudi Arabia (business ties, national ties as well). Financially, his decision today makes complete sense. Morally, its disappointing and quite irreprehensible. An American was brutally murdered overseas by the people running the country and with an attempt to completely get away with it, and in turn trying to make Trump look foolish.

Back in 1985 Kiki Camarena was brutally tortured and murdered while on assignment in Mexico. The United States was aware of the drug wars that was brewing but didn’t completely invest or go off the rails until one of their own had his head drilled and was hopped up on drugs so he could be tortured for a longer period of time, before having his body shrink-wrapped and dumped in another town. The White House under Reagan went ballistic and entered Mexico with a thirst for blood. They managed to split up the seemingly invincible Guadalajara Cartel within months. Funny that Narcos: Mexico, which is the story about Kiki and the beginning of the war, has occurred around the same time as this brutal murder in a nation that is closely attached to the United States financially. Back in 1985 the United States risked their relationship with the country on the border to take on the corrupt government and the evil men that did this deed, regardless of cost and potential trade tensions mounting.

Flash forward to today, and it looks like the United States will not seek justice in the terrible murder of one of their own at the hands of the very government the victim was residing at. Why? Because money speaks louder than morality nowadays, and in the eyes of the current administration sometimes in order to try to be great again, you have to be willing to look away from some of the blood. This is just part of the laws of business. Trump chose the dollar above the life, and nobody should be shocked, because this is who he is, this is the one consistency that has always been in his core values, whether you agree with it or not.

R.I.P. Jamal Khashoggi, your death should be avenged in the most severe way possible, and I hope that in the near future, this current administration reconsiders, risks that financially friendly relationship, and offers of swift and intense justice along with the rest of the world. It is time that we start putting Saudi Arabia in check for not only this, but for their actions in Yemen. It is time that we start reconsidering our ties with the country. Of course, only time will tell.

The Morality of Desperation (and the Strength of Resistance)

Desperation leads to crazy results.



Desperation leads to crazy decisions.



Desperation leads to corrupted morality.



Desperation can even lead to a deal with the devil.



Brazil has gone through political and economic hell and back, and in the undercurrents of all the insanity was the rise of a far-right candidate whose window of opportunity was able to open only because Brazil had been wrecked with arguably the biggest political scandal in the entire history of the Western Hemisphere. I’m not selling this short. Trump’s potential deals with Russia, Watergate, Reagan selling weapons to Iran (which has created consequences lasting decades, look at Nicaragua today) has nothing on Operation Car Wash.

Operation Car Wash exposed the rampant corruption amongst a massive corporation and an entire political party, and although it brought justice, it may have also drowned Brazil into an even deeper hole and into levels never before imagined. But desperate moves from other countries opened new doors and opportunities for new voices that otherwise would have never spoken before. Brazil is about to reach a unique civil war---one that is fought online, through protests, through a rising youthful resistance. But the next four years is going to be an oil and water swirl that will test the entire social and cultural infrastructure of a country that has seen it all in the past century---and this is a repeated story because another country is going through the exact same phase.





Operation Car Wash is a complex and multi-layered investigation that not only exposed political dishonesty and complete betrayal of the Brazilian public, but it even led to the imprisonment of a multitude of politicians----something the United States has never, ever, ever seen---and even with this ongoing Muller investigation we still probably won’t see because there are certain American elements that are simply too big to fail. But Operation Car Wash did the unthinkable, held powerful people accountable and even tossed them (deservedly I shall add) to prison for years. There’s a catch: the best and most feasible option for the future of Brazil was in the same political party wrapped up in the disastrous scandal, and this investigation plunged the Brazilian economy into an even darker place.



And this allowed for the far-right party to rise up.



And yes, before we drift this any further, there are definite parallels between this election and the 2016 United States election. Just like in 2016, a nation that had experienced years of drastic change, a continuing gap of understanding between generations, and of course incidents above our pay grade but nonetheless contributing to economic collapse wanted to aim towards a drastic political change in hopes that some improvement can be seen in front of their eyes.

Donald Trump was Heartland America’s answer (and via an outdated electoral college system gave him the win) and Jair Bolsonaro was Brazil’s answer.

Jair Bolsonaro is the worst candidate imaginable and in any other election would have been an afterthought. And for the longest of times, he was actually an underdog longshot afterthought, interviewed only to display how ridiculous he was as a politician. He is full of hate, full of controversial statements and actions, and has this nostalgia for a period in Brazilian history that should never be duplicated. But most of the Left in Brazil were caught laundering money during a recession and during a century that has seen a lot of economic turmoil in the beautiful country. The leading candidate to win the presidency before Bolsonaro is literally in prison for related crimes.

Jair Bolsonaro is a horrible candidate that wants to bust out the military to solve the violence of the streets, but how can you honestly solve the problem of the rising and tragic homicide rates in the country (especially in Rio)? Jair Bolsonaro is racist, sexist, homophobic, and has tons of violent tendencies, but can Brazil really look at the Left political party in the face and trust them again after all they’ve been put through? Could Brazil really look at Fernando Haddad, a political descendant of an impeached president and a jailed ex-president and choose them as their next leader? It was the hardest pill to swallow so the big question festered: how much am I willing to overlook in order to defy the political party that definitely wronged me and vote for the bitter pill of a candidate?

The same question came out towards the election eventually won by Donald Trump: how much am I willing to look past and/or accept while voting him as president? Can I look past his sketchy history, his sketchy behavior, his controversial statements, and his obvious lack of experience in order to show America that we do indeed need a massive shift? As a Christian can I forgive all of Donald Trump’s misdeeds on his way towards potential presidency? How much can the United States honestly endure with my wild card candidate? The man doesn’t even have a dog in the White House.

50 million plus were willing to swallow the pill and do it; whether it’s because they want a successful businessman as president, or because Hillary Clinton is the embodiment of everything they dislike, or because they have to vote Republican no matter what, or because they felt betrayed by the Obama years, or because (and this is true whether you like it or not), White America is under attack from minorities and it’s time to gain the power back. The range of people that voted for Trump included the Heartland, the businessmen of NYC and Miami, prominent Republicans, and all the way to the far-far right which includes KKK members and white supremacists.

Half of America didn’t want a calm charismatic figure’s understudy running the country (despite her accomplishments, much of America did view Hillary as Obama’s understudy), they wanted someone who appears strong, who appears to be bigger than them, like a God. After the Obama years, Donald Trump became the God of the niche Republican Party. Jair Bolsonaro out of nowhere became a God because in many peoples’ eyes he fears nobody, he hates things he perceives as weakness, and he wants Brazil to stand strong like it used to, and not be tainted and hampered by people secretly absorbing money from underneath.

And if it means neglecting the pleas from women, minorities, and the LGBT community, then so fucking be it. Jair wants to make Brazil Great Again, under the guise of God of course.

United States and Brazil produced similar results in their elections but through wildly different circumstances. The United States wasn’t in economic crisis at the time of the election, but was at a morality war with gay marriage being legal, abortion ban being out of reach, and the melting pot of the United States receiving more ingredients than what most of America wanted to see. A United States that admires consistency just experienced eight years of what is easily the most unique president in the history of the United States---from background to demeanor to behavior to decisions he made. And it was a president that presided over a nation thriving in the coasts while the Middle America wasn’t quite growing as vibrantly.

Brazil on the other hand is a beautiful country with so much going on. Brazil is like a beautiful red rose with dozens of thorns; beautiful to look at, hard to touch without getting hurt. Unemployment is at 20%, entire cities were decimated by Operation Car Wash, crime has risen significantly since the World Cup and Olympics ended and the emphasis on crime fighting dipped, Sao Paulo is a megacity growing way too fast, the favelas continue to drift away from government support leading to rampant activity that usually seeps into where the money and tourism is, and the country is getting more expensive but the money isn’t flowing into the hands of the public. Brazil celebrates its culture constantly while simultaneously fearing its future. Hence the desperation.

Desperation gave us Donald Trump. Desperation gave us Jair Bolsonaro. But a funny thing happened in the United States after Trump got elected: the dissident yells became louder, and louder. The marches became larger and larger. The protests became more and more successful. The rebellion in America has reached unfathomable levels to a point in which the approval rating of Donald Trump is absolutely pointless. Five million people marched on the streets in the United States back in January 2017. March For Our Lives, another organized event battling gun control issues, delivered hundreds of thousands of people, and students even walked out of class as a display of how change is needed. And even though technically if all these millions had done their job in the first place, the election would have gone to Hillary Clinton---but that’s another subject for another day.

Long gone are the failure days of Occupy Wall Street, a movement that had the right idea but yielded sad results. A new wave of political revolution has begun, and its starting from teenagers in college all the way to the older supporters of the Bernie Sanders’ infamous Bernie Bros gang (which, not gonna lie, has caused a few problems sometimes). This time, the presidency wasn’t going to be accepted without a vicious and well-organized fight.

And not every major protest and battle against Trump and the current administration has garnished a win, but it has gotten the attention of the rest of the world. Gun control is still a problem but universal health care is becoming a widely accepted idea. Ridiculous tax cuts benefiting the rich still happened, but Amazon and Disney have caved in and will start paying their employees fairer wages, with major cities even following suit. Sexual assault victims from members of the administration may never see justice, but we’ve seen a grandiose sweep of troublesome personalities from Hollywood lose everything they’ve earned as justice for their terrible behavior, from Harvey to Spacey to Cosby. The rise of racist and hate groups is quite alarming, but voting might hit record numbers in the coming weeks as midterms are arriving and the Republican Party has to ponder its future with Trump at the helm.

In other words: from the heaps of desperation and shocking results emerges a nation of voices that once silent, are speaking louder than ever anticipated. Brazil is a young country run by older people with older mindsets and scary nostalgia. Brazil nonetheless remains a diverse country full of strong independent minds who have spoken up about the chaotic election, and if they continue to shout into the heavens about the mistakes they’ve committed then change just might happen. We go back to Operation Car Wash: would this have ever been a successful investigation under a military-led Brazil back in the 80s? Would an investigation of this magnitude even existed and succeeded back in the 1960s? No way. But a new generation of Brazilians are ensuring that no awful nation-crippling deed goes unpunished.

So if there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, it comes in the form of a country that succeeded in doing something that not one major nation on this entire hemisphere has been able to pull off---not even the United States. They assassinated an entire political party and made sure to remind them not to damage Brazil in such a way ever again. Honduras and Nicaragua remain under the government’s thumbs, Chile had to survive a horrendous dictatorship before they could recover. But Brazil, they single-handedly fought a seemingly invincible political party, and actually won. So why couldn't it happen again? Why couldn't Brazil face off against politicians and defeat the crappiness again?

But the Resistance, the Rebellion, the Elenao will not be easy. For every Leia Skywalker there is a Stormtrooper battling for Darth Vader. There’s still half of a country that under similar desperate measures launched a political hail mary and voted for a president that’s pro-torture and wished that the Chilean dictator had killed more people. This level of forgiveness for such words shows how angry, how hurt, and how desperate the Brazilian public has become. And unlike the United States’ ghoulish fears about immigrants taking over a country of 300 million (seriously guys), Brazil’s current broken status is legitimate. Brazil is mostly poorer and in need of change, this is true.

The people that voted for him (for the most part) didn’t do it out of spite, didn’t do it to kill their neighbor, they did it because they didn’t see a better solution, even if there DEFINITELY were better options—they just happen to wear the political clothing of those that betrayed them in the first place. The Rebellion shouldn’t fight with guns, they should fight with words, facts, movements, ideas, and receipts of statements and decisions made by the trigger-happy upcoming president. March, organize, plan, yell, scream, and prepare for the next election. And the election after that. And after that one too. No nation has ever risen from the ashes with just half a country invested. It takes everyone, at the very least a majority. So you have to stamp out the sexism, stamp out the racism, stamp out the immoral disgust towards immigrants.

The United States has endured and suffered a lot lately, but there remains a hopeful future. Puerto Rico may have been devastated by the lack of response from a racist regime, but Florida is well on its way to becoming one of the most important states in the nation economically and socially---and this is mostly because of the wave of Hispanic immigrants led by Puerto Ricans. Trump and his friends may not care about the environment but we are seeing states like California and Washington make strides in environmental protection. Even Disney is joining in by soon banning lids and straws in the near future. There’s been ugly yins that’s been countered by productive and good yangs.

Brazil, you are going through a tough time, and in the midst of the devastation placed your trust in a man with dangerous ideals. Whatever ideas he decides to go through with is all up to him beginning in January 2019. But this isn’t the end. United States survived Bush’s two terms, the Dominican Republic survived Trujillo, Germany survived (barely) Hitler, Italy survived Mussolini, and Colombia survived a government that worked with the drug cartels. Brazil can and should survive Bolsonaro and with the proper resistance will allow Brazil to enter a new era of fresh ideas, fresh ideals, and more separation from its ugly past.



So go out there and fight. Bust out some Rage Against the Machine and fight.

For your county, for your neighbor, and for your future.



The truth is it will truly be impossible for Brazil to fall apart if there are millions willing to stand up and keep her elevated.