The Direction of Intention

Extortion Contortion[David’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab]

Posted on April 5, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

“It’s all made-up.” she said. “That’s the point.”

It’s extortion. Extortion (noun): the practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats.

Currently, he extorts law practices. He extorts universities. His strategy is to make up an offense so he might exact his price. In his tariffs he claims extortion from other nations so that he might extort them. His tariffs also give him leverage over the nation’s businesses: soon he will extort them, too: he’ll suggest that he’ll remove the tariffs impacting their bottom-line if they give him what he wants.

As is true of all bullies, he pretends strength to mask his weakness. For instance, the supposed most powerful man on earth can’t seem to recover a citizen wrongly sent to hell in El Salvador. “The administration further says it lacks the power to seek his return from El Salvador’s government…” Truer words were never written: he lacks power. So, he must extort.

This is my favorite made-up offense: claiming that Columbia University tolerated antisemitism, the bully administration withheld $400 million dollars of federal funding. It’s my favorite because the made-up offense smacks of a (slightly twisted) DEI protection: he claims that he’s punishing the university for not protecting a minority group. He claims that he’s championing equality. Sounds like a liberal impulse to me!

I wonder why his dedicated DEI-esque protection of a targeted minority group doesn’t include African Americans or LGBTQ? A rhetorical question so no need to roll your eyes. His extortion exclusively serves himself, whiteness and the ultra-wealthy. It need not make sense or be consistent since it is all-made-up.

The first amendment protects the right to protest. A pro-Palestinian rally in the United States of America is not a failure to protect Jewish students. It’s a student group exercising their first amendment right. The university caved nonetheless, validating the bully’s tactic. Just as are the law practices. Just as is the congress. Just as is the now awol justice system. [note: how sad that rather than protect their student’s first amendment right, the university instead protected their bottom line…a microcosm in the tale of the collapse of democracy in the USA]

A president who resorts to extortion is not a president (a servant of the people). He is an authoritarian wanna-be (a servant to himself). He is a controller. He lacks power. It’s basic.

It makes me wonder when some courage will rise in the spines of the people and institutions he currently extorts. There’s little to be found within our borders so perhaps the rest of the world can show us actual courage by not bending the knee to this little made-up-big-man and his not-so-made-up-malfeasance.

read Kerri’s blogpost about TARIFFS

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Filed under: smack-dab | Tagged: artistry, Columbia University, courage, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, extortion, First Amendment, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, powerless, story, studio melange, tariff, tariffs, the melange | Leave a comment »

Barnacles And All [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on April 4, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” ~ Thomas Merton

If you visited our house you’d immediately notice that Kerri’s design style is “well-worn and well-loved.” Rather than mask the wear-and-tear of age, she revels in it. Our dining room is a wonder, made beautiful by the marks left when she removed wallpaper. Rather than paint over the marks she recognized their unique beauty and showcased them. A happy accident. I stopped in my tracks the first time I walked into the dining room, asking, “How did you do that?”

I love our backdoor. The pressure of our hands on the door has overtime peeled and revealed the white underlayer beneath the black paint. It’s the story of our comings-and-goings. It is the mark of our human hands pressing on an old door that swells with the humidity and shrinks with the cold. It is our personal hand-print-petroglyph.

The beauty of age. The patterns of rust. The celebration of the flaw. Most people would scramble to cover the cracks or repair the damage. I have occasionally earned her Irish ire by repairing something she thought was aesthetically interesting. I have learned to ask.

Standing on our deck, Columbus was concerned that the exposed unsealed wood was disintegrating. “You oughta’ stain this,” he said. “It needs protecting.” I told him of the time Kerri pressure washed the deck, removing the patina of age. Even though with time the rough hewn look returned, she has yet to forgive herself for her pressure-washing-indiscretion.

“Kerri likes it this way,” I replied. “She doesn’t like the way it looks when it’s neat and stained.”

“Well I guess that’s the way it’s gotta be!” he smiled, knowingly.

Our house is an ever evolving work of art. A perfect home for two artists. Nothing matches yet everything goes together. It’s filled with visual and repurposed surprises. It is warm, sometimes a cocoon where we shut out the world and sometimes a place for our community to gather. It is the sanctuary where we have come to discover and appreciate ourselves, barnacles and all, while steadily growing into something we could never have imaged.

(I love this piece by Kerri)

Kerri’s albums are available on iTunes and streaming on Pandora

read Kerri’s blogpost about RUST

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Filed under: Art, Creativity, Gratitude, Identity, KS Friday | Tagged: age, appreciation, art, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, design, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, story, studio melange, the melange, Thomas Merton, two artists, worn | 4 Comments »

What Grows In Us [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on April 3, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

For several months we kept a book on our bedside table: Benedictus by John O’Donohue. It’s a book of poems in the form of blessings. Each morning we’d select one at random, and read it aloud. It was one of our strategies for starting the day with a meditation on goodness rather than a doomscroll through the news.

It’s an ages-old adage: where you place your focus grows. Focus on fear and that’s what you’ll see. Focus on your blessings and that’s what populates your garden.

I believe in the adage but I also know that no mind, heart or soul is healthy if singularly focused. I also believe fear can be useful, anger can be generative, and grace is most often found on a walk through despair. Focus is not an end goal or an achievement. It is not meant to fortress us from “negative” emotions since experiencing the full spectrum of emotion is, after all, how we learn and grow. A full palette of feeling is what makes us human. Focus is the choice of a conscious mind.

Fear can be a prayer. Loss is one of the many shades of love.

I’m aware that most of what we write about these days is about the dismantling of democracy. Some of my pals are worried that I am lost in a dark land or too focused on the negative. And with each outreach I am reaffirmed in the certainty that I am a fortunate man to have so many who care so much about me. I do not write this as a platitude. I know to my bones that I am a fortunate man.

I am fortunate because I have known shame and terror. I have made titanically stupid choices. I have learned and questioned and followed my wandering heart into every valley that beckoned and climbed every mountain that called. I have fought battles that did not exist and found my seemingly good intention was destructive for others. I have felt deeply. I ran when I should have stood my ground. I betrayed myself. All of these experiences have expanded my life-palette and given me some small understanding of the power of focus. These experiences introduced me to the gorgeous people who now surround me, who worry that I am lost in a dark land.

This morning we sipped coffee in bed. Dogga was asleep on the quilt at our feet. We listened to the bird chorus come alive with the rising sun. We held hands as we always do. At the exact same moment, we had the overwhelming realization that life does not get any better. I was so taken with the gorgeousness of being alive that words failed me. We sat in utter appreciation of all that we enjoy.

That happens for us multiple times every day. It is where we choose to place our focus. It is what grows in us. It is the same place – this love of life and gratitude for all we enjoy – that necessitates writing with such urgency about what’s happening in our nation. We do not write to solve a problem. We do not write to complain or blame.

Do you recall the story of Kitty Genovese? She was a young woman who was raped and murdered in NYC in 1964. Although many people heard her cries for help, either no one listening recognized the horror of her plight – which lasted over half an hour – or no one cared. In any event, no one called the police; no one came to her aid. It was the inception of what we know as the “bystander effect”: everyone thinking someone else will take the responsibility. Focus elsewhere.

Our national house is on fire. The rights of women around this nation are being brutalized. The rights of all people of this nation are under assault. It’s no time to be a bystander. We write because Kitty is screaming. All that we love and enjoy makes it impossible to turn away and turn up the volume of the television. Were we capable of turning away, were we actually pretending that what is happening is not actually happening – as is the republican congress – then we would be in a very dark place, indeed.

Prayer Of Opposites, 48″x48″, acrylic on panel

read Kerri’s blogpost about DOGGA

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Filed under: DR Thursday, Edges, Gratitude | Tagged: artistry, authoritarianism, bystander effect, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, focus, focus placement, goodness, grace, John O"Donohue, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, Kitty Genovese, meditation, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

An Outrageous Fantasy [David’s blog on Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on April 2, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

To fuel our escape fantasy of a thru-hike on the Pacific Crest Trail, we periodically wander around REI and fake-shop for backpacks and sleeping bags. We test shoes and ask questions about sun shirts. We scrutinize hiker stoves and sporks and water filtration options. We discuss the merits of tents. And, since we have no actual knowledge about any of it, we laugh at our made-up opinions. We delight in pretending.

I’m updating one of my favorite Horatio observations. He’s said (and I’ve oft-quoted) that the tension in these un-United States is between those who espouse an “every man for himself” philosophy and those who maintain that “I am my brother’s/sister’s keeper”. My update? The every-man-for himself crowd is actually, more accurately, believers that some-people-are-better-than-others. The tension as revealed in our present day is between those who believe in equality and those who do not. We are witness to the struggle between those who think government should work for everyone (brother’s/sister’s keeper) and those who believe government need work only for the superior few.

Consider the full-court-press now underway to demonize and eliminate DEI and the lifting of federal building bans on segregation. Consider the inundation of legislation aimed at inhibiting a woman’s right to vote. Witness the explicit dismantling of social programs and the social safety net in order to provide massive tax cuts to the wealthiest citizens. The whitewashing of history. The ugly and empty rhetoric about restoring “merit-based” hiring, implying that all people of color, all women, advance and have advanced not because of their skill or talent but because of their skin color or gender. In other words, an agenda firmly rooted in advancing the mythos of white male superiority.

The privileged few pushing down the many in order to elevate themselves. It’s Ayn Randian nonsense. Pushing others down is the first action of a drowning man. It’s an arrogant fantasy, laughable, like trickle-down-economics, shackling the majority to uplift the make-believe-white-superiority of the corrupt few. My long-ago colleague, Ana, called it “vampiring”.

It’s white fragility.

At REI we inevitably wander over to the section beneath the corrugated sign, “EAT”. We discuss eating dehydrated meals. Eventually we conclude that on the trail we’ll require a chef to drone in our meals each day. A basket will arrive in the morning with baked goods, scrambled eggs, and hot coffee. There will also be a sack lunch in the morning delivery. It would be too much to ask the chef to make three deliveries a day. At night, a hot meal arrives – with wine, of course – since the chef can accurately track our location.

We laugh at our outrageous fantasy since we know it is an outrageous fantasy.

We wonder why the red-hat crowd remains blind to their outrageous maga-fantasy. They’re laughing as their heads are being systemically – and obviously – pushed beneath the water by an oligarch and a weak flim-flam-man. Vampires, both. How long before the red-hat-crowd realize that they are being sucked dry, that their outrageous fantasy is not laughable, that the not-so-funny joke is on them, too?

read Kerri’s blogpost about EAT

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Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Seeing | Tagged: artistry, Ayn Rand, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, DEI, fantasy, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, MAGA, merit based, rei, story, studio melange, the melange, vampire, voter rights, white fragility | 1 Comment »

One Small Way [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on April 1, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

If you take a peek behind the curtain here at The Melange International (parent company kerrianddavid.com), you’d find a big bag of chips. More specifically, Costco Kettle chips. The bag is bigger than a mattress though we somehow manage to eat our way through it in…an unspecified very short span of time.

Taking another chip from the bag, Kerri exclaims, “These are bad!” which actually means they taste good but are not healthy. I remind her that mental health is just as important as physical health and the salty chips never fail to make us smile. And, these days, things that make us smile are very important, indeed.

And then there is this: Costco is one of the few companies with spine in a nation gone rubber-chickeny. In the face of an all-out assault on DEI, an attack on basic sanity – not to mention a scrubbing of history, Costco refuses to surrender their moral center and chooses, instead, to exercise their integrity. Our dedication to buying monster bags of chips from Costco is our way of supporting one of the last vestiges of courage and goodness in our nation.

Each chip we eat is a small “thank you”.

“Shall I refill the bowl?” I ask, already on my way to the gargantuan bag.

“Why not!” she says.

There’s no end to our gratitude. We delight that our love of salty snacks is one small way to support and celebrate goodness and courage. At least that’s what I tell myself.

read Kerri’s blogpost about CHIPS!

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Filed under: Gratitude, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: artistry, Costco, courage, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, DEI, goodness, integrity, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, Kettle Chips, moral center, snacks, story, studio melange, the melange, treats | 1 Comment »

It’s In Their Plan [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on March 31, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

“Wisconsin is evenly split between the parties, but when Republicans control the legislature and the supreme court, they suppress voting and heavily gerrymander the state in their favor…Currently, the state gerrymander gives Republicans 75% of the state’s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives although voting in 2024 was virtually dead even.” ~ Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, March 28, 2025

Wisconsin is a perfect example, a fractal, of what literally ails our nation. In brief: republicans do not believe in democracy. If republicans actually believed in democracy, they’d spend less time suppressing the vote, gerrymandering, misinforming, fearmongering – and more time bringing relevant ideas to democratic governance. They’d earn votes rather than stifle voters.

If they were honest with what they actually represent, they’d never win an election.

The current occupant of the White House knows he cannot legislate his Project 2025 agenda. It is so wildly unpopular that he disavowed it until after he won the election. Now, in a fit of unconstitutionality, he jams it through by executive order. He wraps it in a thick veil of lie and misinformation.

If you are paying attention you’ll note that republican representatives in Congress are not showing up to their town halls. They are afraid to face their angry constituents and accept responsibility for their (in)action. And, since taking responsibility is not in their wheelhouse, they’ve invented yet another fantasy to explain the discord: the evil libs are paying people to rabble-rouse.

At least the republicans are consistent up and down the food chain. “It’s all a witch hunt”. “Not my fault.” “Never heard of it”.

The nation’s pet oligarch is coming to town. He’s trying to buy the election for the open state supreme court seat. “Musk has told voters that if Crawford wins, “then the Democrats will attempt to redraw the districts and cause Wisconsin to lose two Republican seats.” Not only has Musk said he is going to Wisconsin to speak before the election, but also he is handing out checks to voters who sign a petition against “activist judges,” a suggestion that it would not be fair to unskew the Republican gerrymander. Last night, Musk advertised a contest that would award two voters a million dollars each, with the condition that the winners had to have already voted.” ~ Heather Cox Richardson

To be clear, in the current republican world view, an “activist judge” is one that does their job, interpreting and clarifying the law, serving as a check-and-balance to the other branches of government. An “activist judge” upholds their oath to the Constitution.

Paying voters for their votes to maintain gerrymandered maps is a well-worn-page from their playbook. It’s also an act of desperation. Again, if they believed in democracy, if they actually believed in our system of governance, they would attempt to win on principle rather than with a festival of misinformation and blatant corruption.

Whoops! I forgot. Their weak man in the White House is dismantling our democracy in favor of fascism. In an authoritarian government, a judge’s job is to facilitate the criminality of the leadership so why should it be a surprise that the oligarch is buying votes for the republican candidate for the state Supreme Court?

It occurs to me that this may be our last free and fair election. Voting matters more now than ever. After Tuesday we’ll either have a court that fights corruption and attempts to preserve our democracy – or one that plays for payola. On Tuesday, we’ll either send a message to the silent republican majority in congress and prompt them to apply some brakes to the fascist takeover of our country or we’ll greenlight the gaslighters, watch as they comply with the weak man and eliminate our right to vote altogether. It is, after all, what the weak man promised: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told Christians on Friday that if they vote for him this November, “in four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not gonna have to vote.” ~ Reuters, July 27, 2024

Voting is unique to a democracy. Fascism, not so much. They’re not even trying to hide it. It is, after all, in their plan.

read Kerri’s blogpost about VOTE

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Filed under: Merely A Thought Monday, Perspective | Tagged: artistry, Congress, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, election, gerrymandering, governance, Heather Cox Richardson, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, responsibility, story, studio melange, The Constitution of The United States, the melange, vote | 1 Comment »

The Way of the Dodo [David’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab]

Posted on March 29, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

On Tuesday we go to the polls. Again. In our state of Wisconsin there is a contentious race for the state Supreme Court. Elon Musk has dumped over 18 million dollars into the conservative candidates campaign. He is coming to the state to hand out money in exchange for votes, violating yet another law. It’s estimated that by the time this election is decided, over 100 million dollars will be poured into the race.

So many laws broken. So little consequence. So much republican fear of free and fair elections based on accurate information.

So much corruption. The signs are everywhere.

The yard signs are everywhere, too. A tug-of-war over the existence of our democracy as played-out in yard signage.

We walk a very thin line now. Razor-thin.

Oh, yes. And the wild geranium are a-poppin’. Breck is budding. The Robins are back in force. This earth will keep turning whether or not an oligarch can buy yet another election, whether or not our democracy goes the way of the Dodo bird.

read Kerri’s blogpost about SIGNS

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Filed under: smack-dab | Tagged: artistry, corruption, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, Dodo bird, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, signs, spring, story, studio melange, the melange, vote, Wisconsin Supreme Court race 2025 | Leave a comment »

The Tiniest Ray [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on March 28, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

“Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.” ~ Martin Luther

Master Marsh tipped me over the edge. He sent a basket-load of cartoon ideas and encouraged me to draw a few. Prior to the arrival of his basket I’d been considering channeling some of my national-dismay into cartoons. Drawing them makes me laugh. Laughter fills me with hope. Hope shines a bright light into the dark age in which we find ourselves.

The gift of the current administration (I use the term loosely) and the clown car of billionaire appointees is that they lampoon themselves. It’s a confederacy of dunces so cartooning comes easy. It’s why in only a few short weeks Master Marsh was able to harvest a full basket of material.

Sometimes laughter is the only path through despair to find hope.

Charles Dickens could not have created a line-up of more despicable characters. A president and an oligarch ravaging social safety nets to give billionaires a tax cut. A Director of Homeland Security infamous for shooting her puppy in the face.

Prior to Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense né fox television personality, spilling highly secret attack plans on a social media platform, my favorite evil-stupid-award was held by Howard Lutnick, the billionaire Secretary of Commerce who said, “Let’s say Social Security didn’t send out their checks this month — my mother-in-law, who’s 94, she wouldn’t call and complain,” Lutnick told All-In Podcast host Chamath Palihapitiya. “A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling, and complaining.” The Secretary of Commerce must not know that, “Based on a fact sheet published by the Social Security Administration, more than 7 million Americans 65 and older receive at least 90% of their income from benefits checks.” Since they paid into Social Security their entire working lives, it’s safe to assume the fraudster and crook in the equation is the billionaire attempting to take away their Social Security.

Socrates or Plato suggested that humor is often derived from the misfortune of others. The man slips on a banana peel. The woman walks into the glass door. Laughter based on the pain of others. Humor is also invoked from shared pain. We need to laugh at our communal misfortune: a rapist, felon, liar, grifter, lover of autocrats, tv personality, dancing to Rupert Murdoch’s fiddle, is elevated to the seat of power by the mega-rich and is surrounded by Congressional apologists and Supreme Court enablers.

If we stacked the malicious stupidity manufactured in just two months, it might reach to the moon and back. It’s too easy to lampoon. Baskets and baskets full of nonsense.

There are a few signs of hope. The thousands upon thousands of people attending Bernie Sanders rallies – people who do not find malice and ignorance funny – give me hope. The very few Republicans breaking ranks with the silently-stupid-and-complicit-republican-congress give me hope. May my rough drafts bring you a smile and, perhaps, the tiniest ray of hope:

Kerri’s albums are available on iTunes and streaming on Pandora

read Kerri’s blogpost about HOPE

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Filed under: Creativity, KS Friday | Tagged: artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, humor, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, laughter, story, studio melange, the melange | 3 Comments »

The Many, Many Things [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on March 27, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

Although I see signs of spring everywhere, it wasn’t official until we received a text from The Grass King that the reality of the earth’s orbit set in. He’s monitoring the ground temperature and will let us know when it’s the perfect time to seed and fertilize. Like all of the plants, we yearn for some time in the sun.

For her birthday six years ago I gave her a paint bucket containing 60 slips of paper: 60 things I love about her. There were – and are – many more than 60 things so I had to edit. A few years after the bucket, among other things, I gave her a piano tuning. She has yet to cash in the tuning but I have hope that this is the year. True confession: my gift of tuning was selfish since I love to hear her play. Broken wrists et. al. has made those opportunities few and far between but I see signs…This truly may be the year.

Today she completes another lap around the sun. It’s her birthday. Dogga and I will spoil her to the degree that she allows (she generally resists being coddled). The day promises to be beautiful so we will take a nice walk. Perhaps a small adventure will beckon. 20 will come for dinner so there will be abundant food and laughter. Our celebrations are mostly low key – rather than fill them with events we tend to clear the space and follow our hearts.

13 years ago I followed my heart and stepped off an airplane to meet in-person this woman named Kerri. I’m so glad I did. Now, I could fill hundreds of paint buckets with slips of paper telling her of the many, many things I love about her.

Go here to visit my gallery site

read Kerri’s blogpost about TULIPS

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Filed under: DR Thursday, Gratitude, Love, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, birthday, celebration, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, follow your heart, Gratitude, heart, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, spring, story, studio melange, the melange | 5 Comments »

Follow The Cairns [David’s blog on Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on March 26, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

Cairns are trail markers. They show the way.

I want to stack a series of giant cairns for the red-hats who are lost in the land of foxy misinformation. They have lost their way. I’m reminded that in our Revolutionary War, the struggle for our independence, the forces of the crown were known as red coats. The patriots wore blue. History definitely repeats itself, at least in color identification. The red-hats are fighting for the reestablishment of the crown.

The red-hats vehemently support their wanna-be-king, a servant to the oligarchs. He intends to tax the poor to fill the coffers of the rich. His army of red-hats have not awakened to the reality that they are the targets of his taxation. They are the indentured servants of his dreams. They are the dupes in his plan.

Usury inevitably reveals itself and slaps awake even the most deluded follower (Rudy Giuliani not withstanding).

I can state this with absolute certainty: if hear one more bloated Republican bloviate that government has no meaningful role to play in our society I’m going to vomit. Think for a moment: they want the poor to carry the tax burden but be exempt themselves. While they bully universities into ignorance, annihilate public education, actively cut social services to the 90%, attack Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security…while simultaneously removing any regulation and/or oversight to their business plunder. Their north star is embarrassingly shallow: permanent tax cuts for the wealthy few. All of this, of course, requires a government to enact. It’s not the absence of government that the reds slobber for; it is a government dedicated to exploiting the many for the sake of the few. They are disingenuous at best. Sadistic is probably a more honest adjective.

It’s not government that they despise – it’s a government that serves ALL people that they wish to eradicate.

There are glimmers of hope. Our nation has a few vocal cairns emerging. Bernie Sanders and AOC are holding rallies that draw thousands: people wearing blue (metaphorically). People who believe in democracy. People who value learning above ignorance, truth above fox-fantasy. People who know that the chicken-little running around the barnyard screaming, “Socialism” or “DEI” is the puppet of wealthy elites attempting to scare the fox-hypnotized-gullible-maga-masses with scary straw men.

The blues aren’t buying a word of it. They’re following the cairns that lead to a healthy tradition of awakening the American spirit – the same spirit that gave us the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere, Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, Cesar Chavez…The Constitution, the Bill of Rights…and a democracy worth fighting for.

read Kerri’s blogpost about CAIRNS