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ENDURANCEWRITER

AKA Damon Arvid. Under-the-radar writer, musician. Let's keep it that way. The cloud novels and other highlights are being collected at DamonArvid.com. To access all the music and Avocado Sun, click the big black box below.

Fabric - Summon These Days (Music)

Unfair Denial

1/31/2017

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The words have been covered over. But they exist in memory.
I am getting the next section of Arisugawa Park ready for publication... I really am enjoying this process of getting the sections just right for my current mood and the state of the Union. There is no reason why the plot needs to stay rooted in a reality 10 years past. In fact, it is kind of cool having a finished manuscript kicking around that I can play with and make relevant to what is occurring in the world today. 

Cowachunga is taking form at the same time, Baja and life on the other side of the proposed wall is very instructive for that. Also have some musicians starting to congeal around the Fabric Dos fabric music album concept.
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Aliens and advanced systems.
In other news, a NY Times piece "Refugees Entering the U.S. Already Face a Rigorous Vetting Process" lays out the actual steps involved in coming to this country. I am going to leave out all the annotations and give the bare bones:

​1. Registration with the United Nations.
2. Interview with the United Nations.
3. Refugee status granted by the United Nations.
4. Referral for resettlement in the United States.
5. Interview with State Department contractors. 
6. First background check.
7. Higher-level background check for some.
8. Another background check.
9. First fingerprint screening; photo taken.
10. Second fingerprint screening.
11. Third fingerprint screening.
12. Case reviewed at United States immigration headquarters.
13. Some cases referred for additional review.
Syrian applicants must undergo two additional steps.
14. Extensive, in-person interview with Homeland Security officer.
Most of the interviews with Syrians have been done in Jordan and Turkey.
15. Homeland Security approval is required.
16. Screening for contagious diseases.
17. Cultural orientation class.
18. Matched with an American resettlement agency.
19. Multi-agency security check before leaving for the United States.
20. Final security check at an American airport.

So basically people with the skills and determination to go through this process are those who keep our country skilled and competitive. Denying them entrance is kind of like publishers denying the manuscript I worked on for 10 years publication on the grounds that it doesn't meet what the market wants... doh... happened.  

​#AriPark
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With roots in the mountains, can you not also fly?
I could go with some choice quips from the Fabric - Chasing Sun fb page where I lay out feedstuff in all its idiosyncratic glory, but why not check it yourself. (Someday I'll get around to compiling it all into a bathroom reader, but for now lets enjoy the discombobulated  anonymity that the internet and the feed allow).

That said, I must share this prediction, inspired in part by a Medium article by Jake Fuentes The Immigration Ban is a Headfake, and We’re Falling For It. I may be totally off, but when the aha! moment came to me it felt very plausible and that is usually a good sign to bet or fold. Let's double down on my hunch:

"Prediction: there will be some demonstration/protest flashpoint in the next three months in which injuries if not deaths occur, and that will be used by Trump/Bannon/Pence/Kushner (if they have consolidated power enough) to push through a state of emergency. 

Worst case scenario: radicals and plants are allowed to dominate the headlines, creating a sense of visceral fear. Those smart enough will ask who whipped up such as scenario... the rest will march restlessly toward the iron gates.

On the other hand, there may be ideological and moral rifts within the government and military that create a situation of stand-off... a power limiting force. If this is all peaceful and the lines are well demarcated, it is a positive development... in other words the power to enforce much of the alt-right's agenda will be cordoned off. 

The Republicans handcuffed Obama in this way, although his agenda was much less extreme. This time actual weaponry stockpiles and access to codes would likely be factored into the calculations, though again they would be "bluffing chips." Do not expect Russia to be absent from this dynamic, they are already involved.

I think this might just get us* through four years of what was known back in the day as a Mexican standoff. And then in 2-4 years, elections will allow a more informed (sobered?) populace to make rational decisions about the future of the country.... oh and of the world. 

* Those Americans who still believe in a balance between democratic traditions, freedom, and living together in harmony with the earth and ourselves. Used to be called patriotism, such a definition may still come to pass."

​#endwriter
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    Damon Arvid

    Author of Arisugawa Park. Fabric. Life.

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