As I try to get my weekend stuff done while holding space to process yet another domestic terrorist attack, I cannot help but keep coming back to the fact that in this country, we are not given time and space to grieve when these things happen.
Time after time, it’s a fleeting “thoughts and prayers” and then it’s quick, quick, get back to work, don’t think about it, get back to normal, if you so much as pause the “bad guys” win.
And if you’re thinking, “But if we shut down the country every time something bad happens, things would never open again” – you’re almost there.
In my lifetime, I cannot recall a proper national day of mourning, where everything is shut down, for any reason.
If there is a country out there more in need of repeated countrywide general strikes than the US, I genuinely don’t know who it is.
The one language every politician speaks is money and honestly, I’m not sure how else we get them to listen and act – lord knows they’re not listening now.
Musings of a marginally sane feline-appreciating female. 
I am convinced that part of why we’ll never get true universal health care is that it would allow people to strike without fearing the loss of their insurance. When Western Europeans say “America, just take to the streets!,” they don’t realize that’s equivalent to saying “America, willingly lose access to your family’s insulin!” It’s a way to permanently block a true protest movement.
You’re not wrong at all – tying insurance to employment has definitely been a great way to force labor into compliance. It’s infuriating. And 2AM is too late to be up on a weeknight!
(Hi, I’m up at 2 AM ruminating on these things, too!)