13 November 2022

I didn’t want a bunch of the looney right to win last Tuesday. But I equally didn’t want the looney left to further wreck havoc on this country. Yes, I’m talking about the social/cultural left that seems to have a hatred for anything white and straight, and bend over further if you happen to be white, straight and male.

The left has very methodically, over years of public school brainwashing, turned good into bad, night into day, up into down, to the point that living today like we did just 25 years ago — seems ‘extremist’ or ‘hateful’.

And the worst part? We aren’t even allowed to talk about it. It’s to the point where the social left believes that discussion about any of the topics we lump together as the “Culture Wars,” must have acceptable parameters (so as to not “offend” anyone) and only allow “acceptable” discussion. How dare simple facts be discussed.

I think America is actually center-left when it comes to most economic issues. I also believe the country is center-right on most cultural issues. There is no political party with the stated purpose of reaching those people. At least not in the United States.

Today’s Democratic and Republican parties are broken and have served their useful purpose. Today, America needs a massive realignment of the organized body politic, and a return to election integrity that allows for legitimate absentee ballots and everyone else voting on the same federal Election Day holiday, over a 15 hour period — with only essential businesses open (or similar scenario).

There’s lots of talk about, “threats to democracy,” but the threat is not just from one group of Americans, it’s all around us, from both major political parties, and sometimes even masquerading as actual defenders of democracy.

Time is running out for the American people to act.

17 June 2022

It’s just after midnight — Friday the 17th of June.

Tonight is my high school class reunion in Oklahoma City — Northwest Classen Class of 1977.

It’s almost hard to type, but here goes — the 45th class reunion.

45th (!)

It’s sooo cliché — but, really, how did that happen?

Memories. So many memories.

Truth be told, I would like to go tonight, but found out last minute and can’t make it. It would be good to see many old friends that I haven’t talked to in many years… so… I will wait until 2027 and the 50th class reunion. (How’s that for positive thinking?)

No song can better sum up those high school years at Northwest than Old Days by Chicago — from that magical summer of 1975. Perfect lyrics for our high school reunion.

To my fellow Knights of ‘77 — have a great time in Bricktown!

- Mike Swickey

Old days

Good times, I remember

Fun days

Filled with simple pleasure

Drive-in movies

Comic books and blue jeans

Howdy Doody

Baseball cards and birthdays

Take me back

To a world gone away

Memories

Seem like yesterday

Old days

Good times, I remember

Gold days

Days I’ll always treasure

Funny faces

Full of love and laughter

Funny places

Summer nights and streetcars

Take me back

To the world gone away

Boyhood memories

Seem like yesterday

Old days

On my mind and in my heart to stay (Ah)

Old days

Darkened dreams of good times gone away (Ah)

Old days

Days of love and feeling fancy free (Ah)

Old days

Days of magic still so close to me (Ah)

Old days

On my mind and in my heart to stay (Ah)

Old days

Darkened dreams of good times gone away (Ah)

Old days

Days of love and feeling fancy free (Ah)

Old days

lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Spirit Music Group

13 June 2022

When I Hear:

Inclusive workplace…

What I Actually Hear:

If you’re white, male, and straight…please think twice before applying.

If you are the above and choose to apply anyway..be prepared for a workplace that will monitor your every move, word, look, action, etc. for ‘microaggressions’. In other words - in an effort to not hurt the feelings of the “marginalized” - expect that the workplace will make your work day as miserable as possible and for nobody to give a damn about how you feel about anything. In fact, your feelings, if anything other than complete submission to constant real workplace aggressions against you, simply prove you’re a part of the patriarchal, white supremacist culture — which is kinda sorta why we don’t really want you to apply in the first place.

- Mike Swickey

11 June 2022
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29 May 2022

“Somebody at a conference I was attending this weekend said, ‘I’m still unhappy, but I’m not unhappy about that.’ That’s my philosophy. It’s not about fixing all of our problems or about getting to a future where everything will be resolved. It’s more about being able to live in that space of conflict and ambiguity and the anxieties and tensions of life, without letting all of that complexity crush you.”

- Mari Ruti

29 April 2022

Oh boy. The Department of Homeland Security is moving forward with implementing President Biden’s “Disinformation Governance Board.” Complete with the name straight out of every Big Brother novel. Really, what could possibly go wrong?

10 April 2022

Last month I posted the, ‘How are you?’ graphic. Based on a couple of reader contacts, I guess I should explain. Apparently, on some computer screens or phones, it’s hard to make out the lighter print underneath the bold ‘How are you … I’m fine’ portions. It only makes sense if you can see all the other words in the background. The purpose was to highlight a reminder: just because someone says they are fine doesn’t mean they are fine at all. The vast feelings and emotions represented by the words in the background are what is carried around in daily life - the truth under the layers of smiles behind what we call, the human condition.

If you missed it before, I did a little contrast adjustment on the graphic that should help.

- Mike Swickey

10 April 2022

“If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.”

Francis Bacon

The Oxford Francis Bacon IV: The Advancement of Learning

13 March 2022
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7 March 2022

How quaint my last entry on February 18th looks today. Many people in the U.S. were thinking about Russia and the Olympic doping scandals on that date; fast forward three weeks and doping is way down on any list of concerns with Russia. The invasion of Ukraine has been shockingly brutal. At this time when America is uniting behind the people of Ukraine, I marvel that it’s war in a far away land that seems to be uniting Americans. At no time since the Cold War have there been tensions this high between the world’s two great nuclear superpowers. While we rally around Ukraine, we must be ever mindful of the dangerous implications of direct U.S.-Russian conflict. It cannot be forgotten that between our two countries, we possess just over 10,000 nuclear warheads. At any given time, 1600 of these warheads are in active deployment, ready for use. So much is at stake as our country moves forward considering our options in helping Ukraine. It is an understatement to say that these are dangerous times.

- Mike Swickey

18 February 2022

With all the drama surrounding the Russian skaters, I have become aware of just how little so many Americans know about history. I’ve heard numerous people discussing Russia and mention, “communist country,” and refer to Vladimir Putin as a, “communist dictator.” Russia, as the vast majority of you know, hasn’t been a communist country since December 26th, 1991. Yes, just over thirty years ago. I am sad that America has been so dumbed down that so many don’t even have basic knowledge of the world around them.

19 January 2022

Anybody else want to snap a finger and go back in time?

6 November 2021

I am asked - frequently - about how I am ‘left’ on economic views, while being mostly conservative on many cultural issues facing America. I am often asked, “What does that look like?” Today, in this quick post, I will give an absolutely perfect example that I wish I saw more of. Matt Stoller is an anti-monopolist and has a Substack newsletter called BIG where he does some excellent writing from the economic left. Writing about the worker rebellion among pharmacists and technicians at CVS, and other mega-pharmacies, he tells of this uprising without a single line of ‘wokeness’ by focusing on the economic and labor travesty at (especially) CVS. This is truly a must-read, and strap on your seatbelts, what a wild ride this is — #PizzaIsNotWorking: Inside the Pharmacist Rebellion at CVS and Walgreens. Those of us on the economic left need more of this kind of writing; focusing on economics and labor, without anything that wraps it into some kind of war of division among people who might disagree on some of the cultural issues. Great stuff, Matt!

- Mike Swickey

26 September 2021

Life. Is there anything more absurd? People all over the world run to their respective deities (based mostly on geography of birth) to explain all of this…yet… none of that bizarre ancient nonsense explains anything. Maybe it does though, but only how absurd this existence truly is that we might find meaning in silence and invisibility. The sentient knowledge that we exist in all of this vastness (life), and to claim to know why, is really, beyond absurd. All of it. Whether it’s trying to make sense of our existence — or that we exist at all. It’s absurd that we are even here to ponder the absurdity.

26 April 2021

I hear it often: “You don’t have a Facebook page?”

No. One of the best decisions I’ve ever made.