Connie, I was thinking the same. And wondering why, fifty years on, we're still in the same mess. Very depressing.

1860's--Civil War et al before and after
1910's--major league labor strife derailed by World War I
1960's--civil rights and Vietnam
2010's--racial violence.

I'm not up on what happened in the 1810s, other than the War of 1812. Much shit in between, of course. Perhaps the waves just intersect on a 50-year cycle.

Perhaps the waves just intersect on a 50-year cycle.

Maybe that's how long it takes for people to forget.

Man, I have no patience for anything today. I would have patience for doughnuts, but there are no doughnuts.

There were riots in the 1990s, too.

Damnit damnit damnit. At least one shooter was black and local. I am not sure what I had hoped for, but that is NOT it. Member of the Armed Forces also. No good very bad. Mac was at least compliant to not go out walking alone today. He did not want to deal with his wreck of a mother this morning though. I am sure you all could hear his eyerolls.

I am heartsick about the events of the past week, especially now with the organized attack on the police during the protest in Dallas. We seem to be racing to get into another civil war and it scares the behooties out of me. And I can't talk about it with my husband because he doesn't want to talk about it. Ugh.

Also? I am sick today, as in actually sick. I have some sort of intestinal bug and will need to plant myself near a bathroom all day. Unfun. I'm glad DH is home right now, but I know he needs to go to work and then it'll just be me and the kids and I hope they won't be too pesty.

A friend of my daughter's called her and warned her to be careful as #blacklivesmatter is now targeting white people. I just...what??? I mean, yes, this week has been a mess, but really?

The eyerolls and the heartbreak just don't stop.

And work has turned into a total cluster today. My accounting support is now in Krakaw, Poland and their Friday was this morning. So the thing they screwed up by not asking questions is going to have to sit until next week even though it is blatantly wrong and the person who sent it to them took one of my e-mails, forwarded it, but didn't add the specific direction for what was needed. Had I known it was going to be forwarded, I would have written my request completely differently.

I know tl;dr, just ARRRRGGGGGGGGGGG.

We seem to be racing to get into another civil war and it scares the behooties out of me.

There's a lot of scary stuff going on. I don't think there are any easy answers either. Here's what I think some of the big problems are:

There has been a shift in how the economy works that's on par with the industrial revolution. Basic manufacturing can be done with far fewer people and can now be done anywhere in the world. We need to figure out how, on a policy level, we can deal with this. This, I believe is the seed for a lot of the anger expressed by Trump supporters. I listened to an interview with a Trump supporter who seemed like a perfectly reasonable person and his main thing he liked about Trump was that he was going to bring back manufacturing jobs. I think there is a strong belief that politicians and 'others' are preventing the U.S. from having a strong manufacturing base.

People are living in echo chambers where all they consume is the media and opinions that confirm their own biases. You also have infrequent events being made to be widespread phenomena. Recently, I had a FB friend share a one-sided news story and condemn the public schools for one incident that happened three years ago. I mean, that's not proof of anything. I'm not sure how to get around this.

We need to also figure out a way to help heal black communities. I don't think the problem is a big mystery. A long history of racism has created isolated communities of poverty and despair. The schools are often disasters because the kids look around and don't see any hope for their future and thus don't care about education. Crime is naturally going to be a big problem in such areas (as with any race) especially with young men (as with any race) and especially when they experience high unemployment. The demographic in question develops a reputation for criminality and that spreads to even members who aren't in those communities of despair. That perception makes police scared and trigger-happy. I'm not sure how to break that cycle, but it'll have to be government action because there's no profit there.