Are you a missionary, she asked? I was walking out.......

Are you a missionary, she asked? I was walking out to get something from the vehicle having checked into this non corporate coffee shop so that the vehicle, starve the corporate state, could be in this town on the Main Street for three hours or so. This after purchasing a replacement 16 inch tire for the trailer from a local bike shop Although I could have saved a couple of bucks at Walmart just a mile away. I don't freeload and what money I have I'd rather go to a tip than toward purchasing a product so I have a slightly expired, half off, $1.56 muffin in front of me and I'm nursing coffee from the earlier stop. Are you a missionary, she asked? She had seen my shirt. I didn't know how to answer the question, so I thought for a minute and replied, yes, I suppose that I am.

'James, you are the person from standing rock that I will continue to support in your work. I don't....

'James, you are the person from standing rock that I will continue to support in your work. I don't have much but when I can I'll help you.' This from the dearest soul, that I worked alongside at Standing Rock. A white person, like me, who work themselves sick for the good of the camp and to my eyes, received little more than reverse discrimination in return. The goodness of this person was mistaken for either weakness or vulnerability. I'm deeply touched by the donation just made. And more touched by the faith in me and my work. I replied:  "Bless your heart. Your contributions is a lot and your faith in my work means a great deal. I have almost no active support. This could be evidence that I am wasting my life but I don't think it is. I'm doing the best I know how with every breath. Your kind words mean a lot to me."

What do you do on cloudy days? The question I get asked so often. Two nice guys in a pickup truck at a quick stop where I just bought..... Fr Apr 16....

What do you do on cloudy days? The question I get asked so often. Two nice guys in a pickup truck at a quick stop where I just bought some bananas and bread peanut butter. Truly nice guys with some level of Wonder and awe toward the vehicle. I said, friend, I am absolutely not trying to belittle your question. What do you do when you drive away from the gas pump. I could see him thinking. I use gas from my tanks. And I use electrons that I stored in batteries on sunny days to power me at night and on cloudy days. I went on to share that obviously our politicians are either f****** idiots or are absolutely lying to us. Jeff Flake, congressman from Arizona or someplace like that, just the other day told his constituents in a meeting, I can't promote solar energy because people need electricity at night. This guy should be locked up for life for either criminal negligence or criminal lying. It was a very pleasant conversation

I fight to win. I'm willing to lose but I fight to win. I see a a path to victory that I walk on though it is extremely Slim. Do you know a true activist in history that has done anything less? Fr Apr 16

I fight to win. I'm willing to lose but I fight to win. I see a a path to victory that I walk on though it is extremely Slim. Do you know a true activist in history that has done anything less?

Spoiler alert; my liberal sisters and brothers, we are not winning. We..... Fr Apr 16...

Spoiler alert; my liberal sisters and brothers, we are not winning. We are not close to winning. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we never honestly faceless horror. If and when anyone is going to it comma if anyone is going to face and to try and see a way out of it, I hope they consider contacting me.

An hour or two ago I commented that what may be the Hallmark of mental and spiritual health, the ready capacity for Wonder and awe, has rarely been seen by me in Minnesota. Whereas..... Fr Apr 16....

An hour or two ago I commented that what may be the Hallmark of mental and spiritual health, the ready capacity for Wonder and awe, has rarely been seen by me in Minnesota. Whereas that is true it implies that Minnesota may be the problem. That will be unclear to me for months. Yes, it is in stark contrast to my experience traveling through the states beginning in North Carolina and ending in North Dakota November twenty-eight or so. But geography is not the only thing that has changed. It could well be that another six months of of this dying economy has driven people into fear and fear certainly extinguishes the capacity for Wonder and awe. It could be the presence of trump and his cast of Horrors who have egg on our spirit of hatred. Or it could be Minnesota. The coming months will tell me more.

Finally I am learning from life to be more glad at the hatred from those who drive by then the kind words knowingly expressed by the informed. The..... Fr Apr 14th

Finally I am learning from life to be more glad at the hatred from those who drive by then the kind words knowingly expressed by the informed. The kind informed already show by their behavior they will not change, they will not stand up. They know, and yet they do not do. Hope lies with those who do not know and the fury they hurl at me they also surface for themselves and might possibly learn from it. The informed they already know and are not open to learning anything new. The exceptions prove the rule. If the shoe does not fit do not wear it. I came not for the well, but for the sick, my teacher rightly said.

Reagan lit the match for economic Armageddon, Bill and Hillary Clinton provided the gasoline.

Reagan lit the match for economic Armageddon,
Bill and Hillary Clinton
provided the gasoline.

"God bless you," she said. "He just did," I said. She got it, and was stirred at the thought. I was.....

"God bless you," she said. "He just did," I said. She got it, and was stirred at the thought. I was sitting on the asphalt with my back toward the Aldi parking lot eating a can of $0.87 corn beef hash I had just purchased for lunch. May I give you this, she asked? And she placed several curled up dollar bills in my hand. I recognized her from the checkout line where she was just before me and as she was leaving she turned quickly and said to me, I love Jesus too. To which I said, as you do unto the least of these you do unto me. She didn't say anything to that and I thought maybe she didn't like me saying it. So I was surprised that she got my attention in the parking lot. Moments later there was a car behind me and I heard a gentleman's voice and looked, it was her husband, she was driving the car. They wanted to speak more and know what I was doing. They were moved at this Mission, what I'm doing. It was typical of quite a few such encounters when I was in a Walmart parking lot, Home Depot parking lot, elsewhere around town, Caribou Coffee earlier in the morning. Where are you going, they ask. Wherever Hearts can be stirred, I replied. Where is your home? Like my teacher said, the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

The lady before you paid for the next few customers. No charge for your medium cup of coffee." Maybe this was exactly true. More likely I think is that someone bought for Ho......

"The lady before you paid for the next few customers. No charge for your medium cup of coffee." Maybe this was exactly true. More likely I think is that someone bought for homeless people. They guessed I was one maybe. LOL, my teacher said, the son of man has nowhere to rest his head. Either way what a kind thing and what an important seed she planted. Speaking of planting seeds, that's the purpose of the vehicle, that's the purpose of this Mission, that's the purpose of my life, and maybe it should be the purpose of at all. Objectively. Though my body is not particularly happy about it my soul has us select spots such as this where I can sit and work and the vehicle, and I with my signage, can be seen. The next few days are rain and full clouds. As I try to not push this old body too far too fast, today's Journey will be short, about 30 miles, to a state park that seems to be open. I'll use that as a low cost base of operations to take the vehicle around to spots such as this in what is now bedroom communities for Minneapolis, hence fairly dense populations.

Inconceivable to proceed without a winning strategy, the professional, surgical, military team.... Activists? Cruel suggestion!

Inconceivable to proceed without a winning strategy, the professional, surgical, military team.... Activists? Cruel suggestion!

True activists are exactly those who are oblivious to the excruciating pain of criticism. They experience it but.....

True activists are exactly those who are oblivious to the excruciating pain of criticism. They experience it but embrace and transcend it because all they care about is winning for their constituents, for their cause. For those one-in-a-million, Mission success is everything and no personal price is too great, no personal pain is too huge to bear. And they are the first to criticize themselves and the last to discourage others from doing so for the risk of losing valuable input and insight.

Fellow Boomers, we unleashed the environmental, political, and economic Armageddon. Stop waiting to die and get out and fix it.

Fellow Boomers,
we unleashed the environmental, political, and economic Armageddon.
Stop waiting to die and get out and fix it.

Male, female, native, non-native, etcetera... We've already lost if all we can do is replace one dominant group with another.

Male, female, native, non-native, etcetera...  We've already lost if all we can do is replace one dominant group with another.

What is more evil than seeing a group pursue a fatal path, and not speaking up? Such a coward I am not.

What is more evil than seeing a group pursue a fatal path, and not speaking up?
Such a coward
I am not.

Am I a Christian, they often ask? No, I reply. I just stand with the man Jesus, as best I can.

Am I a Christian, they often ask? No, I reply. I just stand with the man Jesus, as best I can.

Fatal flaw of the Giants Hedges and Chomsky: never will they criticize their followers. Only empty flattery.

Fatal flaw of the Giants Hedges and Chomsky: never will they criticize their followers. Only empty flattery.

Activism is such an amazing group. It exists to pass judgement on others and never on itself, not by itself, not by anyone else. Extraordinary

Activism is such an amazing group. It exists to pass judgement on others and never on itself, not by itself, not by anyone else. Extraordinary

Certain failure is expected of those not embracing criticism from within and without, no? Activists?

Certain failure is expected of those not embracing criticism from within and without, no? Activists?

Here’s why the D.C. pundits came to love Bill Clinton: He almost did it. He almost achieved that great coalescence of the professional and business classes.

Here’s why the D.C. pundits came to love Bill Clinton: He almost did it. He almost achieved that great coalescence of the professional and business classes.

Washington and the prosperous, well-educated fellows who inhabit it. Every one of them knows that the real problem with government is what they call entitlement spending, meaning Social Security and Medicare; that the obvious solution is some sort of privatization; and also that every

### “All agreed”; “all accepted.” It’s difficult for outsiders to understand the kind of hypnotic appeal such invocations of consensus hold for Washington and the prosperous, well-educated fellows who inhabit it. Every one of them knows that the real problem with government is what they call entitlement spending, meaning Social Security and Medicare; that the obvious solution is some sort of privatization; and also that every other responsible, professional-class person either agrees on this matter or else is a charlatan or demagogue of some species or other.
I have heard some expression of this consensus since the day I met my first congressional staffer back in the Eighties. I’ve heard it from certain kinds of Democrats as well as Republicans; from losers as well as winners. As with free trade and welfare reform, there is no amount of reporting or argument that will budge this idée fixe; people of a certain educational background simply know it to be true.  Thomas Frank, listen liberal

"Well, solar energy is still pretty expensive," the shopkeeper said. "I think destroying our children's future is pretty expensive," I replied. "Well, that's true," he said, seeming to mean it.

"Well, solar energy is still pretty expensive," the shopkeeper said. "I think destroying our children's future is pretty expensive," I replied. "Well, that's true," he said, seeming to mean it.

Stop asking, how can I fix everything? Start asking, what is my best attempt right now? Do that. Keep asking.

Stop asking, how can I fix everything?
Start asking, what is my best attempt right now?
Do that. Keep asking.

Traveling through Minnesota is heartbreaking. The only employment, Walmart. People are unnecessary, just their remaining pennies.

Traveling through Minnesota is heartbreaking. The only employment, Walmart. People are unnecessary, just their remaining pennies.

To see no honest path to Victory, no matter how remote, is to unilaterally accept defeat. The 'left' for decades.

To see no honest path to Victory, no matter how remote, is to unilaterally accept defeat.
The 'left' for decades.

A very dear, Christward-looking fellow posted today directing his followers to a beautiful nature scene and suggesting they look for the beautiful around them. My reply: Friend, I share this.....

A very dear, Christward-looking fellow  posted today  directing his followers  to a beautiful nature scene  and suggesting they look for the beautiful around them. My reply: Friend, I share this as a duty as a brother. I will unfollow you because I find posts like, that beautiful nature scene, it's so important to find the good things around us, so dissonant with My Soul. I don't have the energy for the distraction, not that you should care, and absolutely I mean no offense. The Jesus that I know never would have written such a thing, never thought such a thing. The Jesus that I know realized that life, Joy, is in looking in the opposite direction. Yes, the ultimate counterintuitive. Life is found in seeing, in looking for, in finding, the most in pain, the most suffering, and serving in solidarity from the soul to improve their situation or die trying. Joy is in the exact opposite direction of pleasure. Does Someone Like Jesus not find positive experience in a beautiful sunset? Of course. It comes with the territory. Do they look at it? Do they look for it? Do they direct others there? As you do unto the least of these you do unto me. I am not trying to reopen a dialogue. We've discussed this many times. Your brother forever, no matter what, James

To an acquaintance that has some familiarity with my writing and work of the last year: "It is odd to me that no one understands I have always fought to win. With every.....

To an acquaintance that has some familiarity with my writing and work of the last year: "It is odd to me that no one understands I have always fought to win. With every breath I fight to win and that includes seeing how the victory can be achieved through my action despite how infinitesimally likely that is. In my entire adulthood I have never allowed myself the luxury fighting without a vision that is reality based in how Victory can be achieved thereby. This could be the entirety of why I fight alone." The fellow replied, respectfully and kindly, in a way that suggests he found what I said ridiculous. As near as I can tell everyone finds what I write and say ridiculous at the core. A superficial level many people like it. But at the deeper level at which I try to operate, ridiculous.  "If at first the idea is not absurd, and has no hope." Albert Einstein

I would infinitely rather be deliberately ignored, disliked, considered......

I would infinitely rather be deliberately ignored, disliked, considered ridiculous, or even hated, than to simply be enjoyed, unnoticed, or taken for granted.

Are you going through Ohio, a nice fellow asked. I replied, Creator knows. Seriously. I watch for signs of where I can do the most good. I have.....

Are you going through Ohio, a nice fellow asked. I replied, Creator knows. Seriously.  I watch for signs of where I can do the most good. I have some interest in Flint and Detroit. Those are in the directions of Ohio. Also some interest in the pipeline fight in Lancaster Pennsylvania. But so far near zero support either Financial or places to plant my sleeping bag and or tent are materializing. That could grind things to a halt pretty soon.

Not quite sure how this 65 year old body does it. Maybe it's nothing significant. From pretty much a standing start, yesterday was 30 miles.... M

Not quite sure how this 65 year old body does it. Maybe it's nothing significant. From pretty much a standing start, yesterday was 30 miles and today was another 30. my knees are bothering me a bit. unlike my Sprint to Standing Rock from North Carolina, this time I am using the vehicle as a bike assisted by the Sun. I'm really quite amazed and delighted. In addition to me there is a 250 pound payload, the vehicle and what I carry. I'm amazed that on gentle terrain such as this part of the country traveling at 9 miles an hour on a overcast, zero Sun, day like today, I leave with a full battery and I arrive with a full battery. I'm doing about half the work according to my torque sensor, About 15 watt per mile, and the Sun and motor are doing about the same. 5 solar panels, 500 watts , is just about right. On sunny days it will provide enough energy that instead of averaging 9 miles an hour I can stay battery neutral at probably 12 miles an hour. I was a bit worried about carrying a 4th panel on the trailer because that made it longer but so far my concern seems to be unfounded. the strong suggestion from me is that others need to start pulling solar trailers behind their electrified bicycles to encourage renewable energy for others and for the fun of it.