Texas Governor Responds to Dallas Shootings

ah yes, another rethuglican ending up on the wrong side of history, again..........would someone please tell the govenor, sherrif, mayor or whatever he is that these "prayer" thingies don't work--real action does. Maybe he could start with the abolishment of high-powered rifles, certain munitions, etc.--at least until we get a grip on the pistol problem. It's a start towards some type of civil society other countries get to enjoy. If not, might as well just have the civil war and get it over with. The motive is there--black vs. white, rich/poor, muslim/christian, dem/rep, gay/straight, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc...we are so divided we need a new entire definition of reality--American style. Means are there--every time a massacre occurs in America you just have to thank your local republican who continues to vote against these military style assault weapons. Then again, America just might have to fail in order to survive--so we might as well have the civil war we're indirectly moving towards anyway. Geez-the black/white division is enough of a problem in itself---We're shocked by Dallas? What if the black American race resorted to terrorism? Prime candidate source specimen, isn't it? Motive most certainly there--a history of it. Best time to take a vacation might be this January--i.e. the entire month in another country--that's when almost half the country is going to be very bitter..............

Racial division isn't as deep as it seems. If anything, black Americans now generally find that they have more sway than in the past, but some activists and leaders feel the need to enhance and consolidate what gains have been made. On the whole, however, we Americans all have closer ties across racial lines these days than on the past - especially family ties.

Still, the recent media spotlight on racial issues have definitely troubled and outraged many. First we discover how easy it is for a liberal, white female to trample the highest laws of the land with no consequences. Then the spotlight is turned away from that to the ongoing disorder that has been festering as the unity of our country frays, paralyzing our thoughts and gripping our emotions. It's like having someone show you teaming termites behind a panel of your home after you discover that you've been robbed.

Race is an ongoing issue in the world, whether its in West Texas or among the Dalits of India tired of the humiliating treatment they and their ancestors have faced for untold generations. Right now in America, however, our more immediate divisions are economic and ideological. There is a growing awarenness of the contempt that many of our elites have for the common American, and how, increasingly, unexpected sources outside of our nation hold sway in our lives. The US being the center of a kind of global federalism, citizenry now finds itself increasingly at the mercy of policies and agendas backed in our political system by money from sources outside of our country that have little regard for our well-being. America has complex racial issues, but we also have immediate concerns that are exacerbating the healing process of those wounds.

A civil war is a possibility, but it happens it will be a war over ideology. It will be a war over bathrooms, lifestyles, heritage, and the things that give meaning to our lives. Ultimately, it would be a war over how the concerns of an elite minority conflict with the values of the majority of Americans across racial lines.

Have fun on your vacation. If your candidate doesn't win, feel free to stay wherever you've chosen to go.

Mr. Segal,

I don't trust any religion, as they have caused too much death, destruction, and dissaray throughout history. I also question anything organized--which inherently house and push their own version and agendas. At a minimum, they are nothing but business plans to me, operating within a perverse and dominating industry.

There's not enough time to discuss why racial divisions are holistically deep within Amerika's fabric, you can research those stats yourself. Yes, you are correct when commenting about outside financial influences. But, let's get something real straight here: our society has a whole host of problems other than ideological. Greed being one. One thing you need to understand is this country was bought and sold beginning decades ago, when the powers that be decided to shove god and country down everyone's throat via local elected officials and your nearest preacher. As long as the citizenry was kept busy with that, the wealth inequality process began. As such, what you are witnessing now is the final deathrows of capitalism and the evolution of a plutocracy. And, guns and associated violence are on the rise because the average citizen is indirectly trying to protect what little wealth they have left, as their incomes and purchasing power dwindles to all time lows adjusted for inflation. All of this, plus other divisions I have mentioned are pretty much par for a country claiming it was founded on Christian principles. You know why, Steve? Because we would not be the most hypocritical nation on earth............

Have fun in Russia--and if your not beating any of your wives or girlfriends at the moment, dying your hair jet black, increasing your waistline, and running from the mma ring--let us all know when one of your conspiracy theories comes true..............

Oh steve, take a chill pill. Listen: countries that do the best give their citizenry secular societies. But, what seperate those further are ones that don't include one iota of that ca ca in any type of official city, county, state and federal meeting of any kind whatsoever. And, they damn sure don't include any kind of religious overtones in any level of official government policy formulation and implementation.

And yes: you are correct--hypoçracy- but pretty sure I mention that... Look steve. If I can give you any advice it's this: follow the money and go after the insurance companies. That's what the game is all about anyway cause it's all rigged

Tell it to the French Steve? I respectfully ask: r u out of your mind? Secular society--France? Try doing some research on their colonial history and their extreme nationalistic socioeconomic and cultural policies that breed hate in immigrant youth for starters. Secularist founders? Those were slave owners, rapists and and damn near anihalted a race while escaping their own religious prosecution in the name of greed. You act like we did not have 9/11 coming. What has the u.s. Been doing in the Middle East for the last 50 years anyway? Review the policy. Conspiracy theories: just about every news reporting agency, research think tanks and renown financial and economic thinkers and policy are in agreement on a rigged system. And never mind the trading or interest rate scandals in the last couple of years just for two small examples. Besides: you can bet your bottom peso there's always some kind of run on the insurance companies I think what you r referring to is who has the access to pull those type is strings. Yes I do agree with you: too many not in it for the greater good--like rethiglican. Other countries they lie about on fux news experience more things done within their own respective societies.

Steve, you seem like you have had a formal education and have good writing skills. But I think you focus your philosophical prowess on the existential question on as to why we exist instead of just doing some basic research on how the W.A.S.P. Keeps wreaking havoc everywhere. Opinions r like a-holes...everybody has one. You have an education. Use it if you want to raise the level of consciousness high enough to teach pure civil society. Hope this helps....

X, and Swami,
Please don't allow your competing intellects to interfere with the real story. You try to explain the state of the world only from a macro view, and thank you for the history lesson from a different perspective.
[Prayer doesn't work, racism, the bathroom civil war, distrust of religion, etc .… ]

The real story is that your perspective, your opinion, your consciousness, must start from the very, and most micro, point of existence in you. We are all flawed human beings, but created in the image and likeness of God. It is only the spark of life, and the light of the Holy Spirit of God in you, which allows you to form, and then have the ability to express, any opinion.

Every single day when we wake, and we are conscious of our first breath in the reality not of dreams, but of life, we must choose to exist. How we choose to exist within the realm of our own choices, then with other like beings in the realm their choices, often time makes for an unstable co-existence. That then is the issue. The stable co-existence of human beings.

Religion does not matter, governments do not matter, nor do guns, politics, ideology, or ego, only that we exist as purveyors of the Love of God. That is all that can and does give a useful meaning to the life of a human. To paraphrase Bishop Robert Barron, ‘The little voice in your head, your conscience, is the voice of God’! God speaks to us every day, continuously, so how do we learn to be quiet enough to listen? If we can be quiet enough to listen we hear. That is the purview of the prophets, Moses, and Saint Paul, contemplation. Often we refuse to listen. We scream back, cry, wail in disbelief, and lament at the peril of our own making, by thinking that we actually know what we are doing. It is then, that we might experience what some might call ,‘The Wrath of God’! Oops, it was us all along! Struck blind, deaf and dumb by our own egomania.

I think that it’s time to pray continuously again! It is only, up to you. Prayers do work, because it is you who is speaking to the voice of God, in you. It is you communicating with the Holy Spirit that will make the difference, in you. The living Holy Spirit exists today, only in us, as human beings.

That is what I mean by the ‘micro’. God is not “Out There”, in the ‘macro’, he’s right here with us, in us, and is us! It must start with each of us, as reflected in the choices we face and make as humans,
in doing the work of co-existence. It is we who must decide to, and seek to, see Christ in us.

That is what matters in this world …. It is we people, we humans .... We together must make the ‘macro’ view be real to the world. One of the stated goals of Pope Francis is for all of us to recognize that we are in fact, ‘One Human Family’. In my mind the only way to accomplish this is to be human, and to do our jobs as purveyors of the Holy Spirit. Be Life and Love to each other through who we are as human beings. It is we who are allowed to exist only, forever, and always in the image, and likeness of God.

Steve you first:

- stick to the thread.......

-nobody is blaming the white man for all world or our own societies ills and historical ones thereof. I just beg to differ on the latter as far as recent history, I.e. when both our deiast and Christian founding fathers got the ball rolling. And yea--I know the old saying--man is flawed etc--well so were the Neanderthal,etc etc. they had opinions and a-holes just like everybody else....

--spare me the Spanish Inquisition review and history lesson cliff notes.....I read 1493 and other associated works.

-nobody is telling minorities to use racism as a crutch or continuously refer to it as the sole source or indicator of each black american's own personal plight when measuring their own personal and professional progress.

--nobody ever said we did not have tech superiority throughout certain times of our military history. But you do realize that same tech prowess was a major factor in out Vietnamese loss ( too much hi tech in s jungle atmosphere) and is assisting in our downfall in a very costly and protracted afghan and Iraqi conflict....

-however, somebody is most certainly denying that same tech prowess is being used as financial tools and instruments to manipulate playing fields for poor, working and middle classes as well as minorities--who begin at a structurally competitive disadvantage....

-somebody still hasn't recognized white privilege in all its wizardry.....

- somebody is still in denial with concern to a plethora of u.s. Foreign and domestic policy that is hypocritical in a myriad of ways, especially when compared to other western industrialized actor policies....

--somebody is denying the fact that some actors possess the wisdom and maturity to reject all religions at the doorstep of policy formulation process to begin with....unless they want to dumb their masses down into consumeristic, fat robots that fear perceived higher beings that own their existences to legend and fable and explanations to repeated translations of text void of certainty and fact....

--humane, noble, civilized, free, dynamic, peaceful, a more perfect union? Somebody has clearly overdosed on American exceptionalism, unless of course you are comparing us to Mexico....really Steve get a grip here. I don't have time to walk you through every major social, economic, cultural, political, financial and environmental divide that has been perculating underneath the surface and slowly exploding in our faces everyday by exposing not just minor differences and cracks we have but major divides setting on the faults of a flawed model which can be seen and read on any newsfeed, regardless if source is left, center, right, curved or off the grid defying gravity. What you seem to be exhibiting is not the neuroticism you referred to earlier ( I'd say that was schizophrenia), but a massive false sense of nationalistic pride where America can do no wrong. There's other free societies existing I'm sure you can think of on your own that clearly experience far less crime than we do, have much much more trust in government, far lower rates of teen pregnancy and rape all while not having medieval and Puritan nudity hang ups like our ridiculous taliban like society does, receive healthcare and education services that don't leave hard working people in debt the rest of their lives while enriching others with their fifth yacht, let their media sources instill fear in them 24/7, have much cleaner air and water, have much more respect for their fellow man, have much more responsible and maturer youth, higher degrees of entreprenualism, etc etc all on a comparable per capita basis year after year after year after year after year. I. E. We SUCK, Steve. First step in the healing process is recognition them we can work on acceptance. Can't get to these places if we continue to stay in denial. Thus, you resemble what is wrong with amerika and are partly responsible for getting us where we are today. Congratulations!!

U better vote your income Steve come January. I figured that out years ago. The structural rifts embedded in our flawed nationalistic Dna calls for no less than quarantine. January is only going to make things worse. In order for amerika to survive it must fail and start over. It's the only way...

Now run along with your glass of Jim jones punch and scour the Internet to find out why Richie did Bobby Lupo. Your better off with those two tasks. Can't believe I've waisted this much time talking to S.S. to begin with. I'm sick of this vomit, no offense but got to run. BTW: I like family guy.....

Oh Sam:

not sure why you mention all this thuggery--they won't listen to anyone's reasoning and I don't condone violence and approve of targeting innocents for anything, even if some individual or entity has had it coming for quite some time. Never have never will...

Steve and Sam it's been real. Your views and opinions have been noted. Thank you. If I may I will leave you both with this:

There was a man in the White House for eight years. Among other things, he was intelligent, intuitive, professional and perceptive, as well as humble and kind. Most of all he was practical. Scholars worth their weight in pesos will reflect upon his two terms in office and will be in agreement that he was systematically and religiously denied by W.A.S.P.S. 24/7 the right to lead the American people to a place where most, if not all of our ills as a collective society could begin to be finally diminished for the common good towards the ultimate destination of some type of civil society. Why? Only because his skin was black. That's it. Of course, greed was close behind. One of the greatest atrocities this country has ever conceived, employed by this "republik" you are so proud of, a crime whose stain will never be able to be removed from the fabric of this "nation of the free based on Christian principles", one that made us all collectively regress let alone will always resonate in black consciousness and serve to only exasperate just that one ongoing societal divide we experience--has been committed. It was no less a crime against humanity, resulting in a de facto presidency, a banana republic or defacto assassination, if you both will.

Just like the string pullers and those who were yanked escaped justice for the banking and insurance debacle, those responsible for the aforementioned reprehensible act will not stand before a judge or jury. They will snicker and sneer with disgusting degrees of self loathing pride behind closed doors, while patting themselves on the back for a job well done and select their next target at the expense of the common good. They, the chosen few wreaking of real access realize the audacity in the words we "We the people", and achieve their goals and sustain their livelihoods at the expense of others only under the personal pronoun "I". They also have a profound respect, if not thankfulness of the irony that exists within the first sentence of that very famous document, or their very own default "modus operandi", for if it not were for the perversion of that phrase, as it applies to what we have become, they understand all too well that no amount of money or spool of string would allow them to sustain their very own livelihoods. And, we let them do it. Shame on you both. Shame on me. Shame on us all. Shame on Amerika. Just like we payed for the Great Recession, we shall also pay for the atrocity above in spades come January, for gridlock and all associated pleasantries will forever be the rule for the Amerikan day for years to come. Well done......

....and lay off the Chupacandra sandwiches....now: did you finally find out why Richie did Bobby Lupo?

...."anyone seen Richie? Anyone know why he did Bobby Lupo?......