Accidental Retiree

YouTube video by James Talarico James Talarico Delivers Sermon Against Christian Nationalism

I can't recall the last time I listened to a Sunday Sermon, but this is something every American needs to see:
youtu.be/Blph_2RSBno?...

Indeed

A smuggled book changed his life. Now he’s built 500 prison libraries. Reginald Dwayne Betts was locked up as a teenager for carjacking. Books were his escape, and he went on to be a poet, lawyer and founder of Freedom Reads.

A smuggled book changed his life. Now he’s built 500 prison libraries.

Reginald Dwayne Betts was locked up as a teenager for carjacking. Books were his escape, and he went on to be a poet, lawyer and founder of Freedom Reads www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/20...

I would vote for Devin Nunes' cow's dung before I'd vote for tr**p.

Unfortunately, we also get what they voted for.

Portland coffee shop offers free SNAP breakfast 'until everyone’s benefits are reinstated, or we go broke doing it' The Heretic Coffee owner said Portland has recently been depicted as “some kind of rioting, looting, burning-down city” and “this act is just one small glimpse of the real Portland.”

This is Portland: www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/sna...

For nine nights now, the steady thrum of Black Hawk helicopters has circled over Portland. The sound is constant, invasive; a low mechanical beating above our homes. It’s expensive. It’s intimidating. And it’s unnecessary. Our protests have been largely peaceful. There is no insurrection here. Yet this federalized military presence makes us feel like we are living in a war zone (the very kind of chaos this administration claims to be protecting us from). The irony is painful: it is only this occupation that makes Portland feel unsafe. Each hour of helicopter flight costs taxpayers between $2,000 and $4,000, depending on crew, fuel, and maintenance. Multiply that by multiple aircraft over multiple nights, and you’re looking at hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars burned into the sky.

Meanwhile, the Woodstock Food Pantry at All Saints Episcopal Church — which feeds working families, elders, and people with disabilities — has seen its federal funding slashed by 75%. How can we justify pouring public money into intimidation while cutting aid to those who simply need to eat? This is waste, fraud, and abuse in plain sight: * Waste of public resources on military theatrics. * Fraud in the name of “public safety.” * Abuse of the communities that federal agencies claim to protect. Portland is a Sanctuary City. A sanctuary city is not a fortress. It’s a promise — a living vow that a community will protect the dignity and safety of everyone who calls it home. It means that local governments and ordinary people alike will refuse to criminalize survival. That schools, clinics, churches, and shelters will remain safe spaces no matter who you are or where you were born. But the term reaches far beyond policy. It’s an ethic of belonging; a refusal to criminalize need, difference, or desperation.

Sanctuary isn’t weakness. It’s courage. It takes moral strength to meet suffering with care instead of punishment, to believe that our neighbors’ safety is bound up in our own, to insist that safety is not achieved through force but through community, inclusion, and trust. It is living Matthew 25:40 out loud and in deed. It is an act of moral imagination and moral defiance. To hold sanctuary is to say: you belong here. When we hold space for the most vulnerable — refugees, the unhoused, the undocumented, the disabled, the working poor, the displaced — we become something larger than a collection of individuals. We become a moral body. We do more than offer charity. We offer witness. We declare that the measure of a nation is found not in its towers or tanks, but in its tenderness. Sanctuary cities are not lawless; they are soulful. They represent the conscience of the nation, a place where the laws of empathy still apply. To make sanctuary is to affirm that the United States is not merely a geographic territory, but a moral experiment: a republic that must constantly choose between fear and compassion, between domination and democracy.

A nation’s soul is measured not by the might of its military, but by the mercy of its people. When helicopters circle our skies in the name of order, while food pantries struggle to feed the hungry, we are forced to ask: What are we defending, and from whom? The soul of a nation survives only when we make sanctuary for one another. Not through walls or weapons, but through compassion and collective will. If we allow intimidation to replace compassion, we will have traded our conscience for control. Please know that despite the hum of war machines overhead, the conscience of our city — whimsical, creative, stubbornly kind — can still be heard. Portland is not the problem. Portland is the reminder. A reminder that a city can still choose to be sanctuary. That a people can still choose to be human.

This heartfelt and meaningful statement by Portland resident and author Cristina Breshears on another social media platform bears reposting here. I don't think the intent is to idealize Portland but to remind all of us what is important and why. (Posted here with permission.)

An intersection in Portland Oregon in the Multnomah Village neighborhood.

It's a beautiful Fall day in Portland, Oregon, just a few minutes drive from the ICE building.

I had to wait 5 minutes (THE HORROR) for my oatmilk latte' this morning because so many people were out enjoying the day.

#JIMMYKIMMEL #SHOWMEYOURHELLHOLE
#PORTLANDISJUSTFINE
#STOPWASTINGOURTAXDOLLARS

also, a tourist asked to take a selfie with my friend and me (his phone, alas) & then goes “would love to stay but I’ve got to go to the pot store!”

so Portland is very much alive

I deleted my Facebook and Instagram accounts and have been reading more books while reducing my stress level at the same time. Reading > Doom Scrolling.

For over a week now, these helicopters have been flying over our usually quiet Portland suburb.

#portland #yourtaxdollarsatwork

I saw some over on Reddit, maybe try a search over there.

It's wild that any of these things are even considered remotely controversial.

We truly do live in the DUMBEST TIMELINE.
#idiocracy #firehim

It's ALWAYS been a scam. It's only ever been about him and his needs.

Well, that was always the whole point.

And we still can't get decent healthcare ...

My (accidental) retirement story - Part 2 The Great Unraveling

Part 2 of how I would up early Retired:

open.substack.com/pub/accident...

Have always loved this hairstyle on you. :)

Oh hey there you are! I forgot you were over here on BlueSky for a sec. So glad I don't have to miss your wigs!

The constant helicopters and planes circling around SW Portland are the talk of the town. I can hear them from my suburb too, day and night for days now. 🙄

Your tax dollars at work!

#healthcarenotwarfare #standwithportland

Republicans Run 8 of America’s 10 Poorest States. Maybe They Should Stop. The correlation between party control and state prosperity is hardly unsurprising for people paying attention.

Republicans Run 8 of America’s 10 Poorest States. Maybe They Should Stop.
open.substack.com/pub/cmarmita...

Accidental Retiree | Substack Just a 50-something retired from corporate life, shaking my fist at the sky. Click to read Accidental Retiree, a Substack publication. Launched 21 hours ago.

Second post is up!

Accidental Retiree
accidentalretiree.substack.com?r=1rdp7&utm_...

I've officially pulled the plug on Facebook and Instagram. Should have done it years ago, they are absolute garbage now.

First time meeting: #AGoodPlace

Source: www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmil...

👇🏻👇🏻

“I think the only thing that moves the needle here… is some sort of national economic strike.”

@profgalloway.com proposes using consumer power to push back against autocracy.

Hello world.