I am disgusted by the fact that speaking my mind could get me killed. Bumper sticker? Hell no. If we all #TrumpMugShot#LockHimUp stop being cowards and unite as the democratic process allows, then maybe...? #Imagine
Heads up, SLO County! A potentially significant storm is headed our way just in time for Christmas! If you are traveling for the holidays, check your vehicle and plan for extra travel time.
"My name's Raymond. I'm 73. I work the parking lot at St. Joseph's Hospital. Minimum wage, orange vest, a whistle I barely use. Most people don't even look at me. I'm just the old man waving cars into spaces.
But I see everything.
Like the black sedan that circled the lot every morning at 6 a.m. for three weeks. Young man driving, grandmother in the passenger seat. Chemotherapy, I figured. He'd drop her at the entrance, then spend 20 minutes hunting for parking, missing her appointments.
One morning, I stopped him. "What time tomorrow?"
"6:15," he said, confused.
"Space A-7 will be empty. I'll save it."
He blinked. "You... you can do that?"
"I can now," I said.
Next morning, I stood in A-7, holding my ground as cars circled angrily. When his sedan pulled up, I moved. He rolled down his window, speechless. "Why?"
"Because she needs you in there with her," I said. "Not out here stressing."
He cried. Right there in the parking lot.
Word spread quietly. A father with a sick baby asked if I could help. A woman visiting her dying husband. I started arriving at 5 a.m., notebook in hand, tracking who needed what. Saved spots became sacred. People stopped honking. They waited. Because they knew someone else was fighting something bigger than traffic.
But here's what changed everything, A businessman in a Mercedes screamed at me one morning. "I'm not sick! I need that spot for a meeting!"
"Then walk," I said calmly. "That space is for someone whose hands are shaking too hard to grip a steering wheel."
He sped off, furious. But a woman behind him got out of her car and hugged me. "My son has leukemia," she sobbed. "Thank you for seeing us."
The hospital tried to stop me. "Liability issues," they said. But then families started writing letters. Dozens. "Raymond made the worst days bearable." "He gave us one less thing to break over."
Last month, they made it official. "Reserved Parking for Families in Crisis." Ten spots, marked with blue signs. And they asked me to manage it.
But the best part? A man I'd helped two years ago, his mother survived, came back. He's a carpenter. Built a small wooden box, mounted it by the reserved spaces. Inside? Prayer cards, tissues, breath mints, and a note,
"Take what you need. You're not alone. -Raymond & Friends"
People leave things now. Granola bars. Phone chargers. Yesterday, someone left a hand-knitted blanket.
I'm 73. I direct traffic in a hospital parking lot. But I've learned this: Healing doesn't just happen in operating rooms. Sometimes it starts in a parking space. When someone says, "I see your crisis. Let me carry this one small piece."
So pay attention. At the grocery checkout, the coffee line, wherever you are. Someone's drowning in the little things while fighting the big ones.
Hold a door. Save a spot. Carry the weight no one else sees.
It's not glamorous. But it's everything."
Let this story reach more hearts....
Credit: Mary Nelson
The President of the United States just called for Democratic members of Congress to be executed. "HANG THEM", he posted.
If you're a person of influence in this country and you haven't picked a side, maybe now would be the time to pick a fucking side.
What we are witnessing is an outright abuse of power.
This administration is attacking critics and using fear as a weapon to silence anyone who would speak out. Media corporations — from television networks to newspapers — are capitulating to these threats.
We cannot dare to be silent or complacent in the face of this frontal assault on free speech.
We, the People, deserve better.
This is NOT a cultural tug-of-war between two passionate sides. 🤦 this is strategic suppression of speech using government-aligned leverage.
Charlie Kirk was never punished for his speech. He was platformed, funded, protected, and celebrated right up to his death.
Jimmy Kimmel was actively removed from air for his speech and the political machinery behind it threatened the broadcast license of his network.
There is no equivalence here. only one side is actively weaponizing institutions to shut the other up.
This is NOT a symmetrical fight and pretending it is helps the censors.
This commentary offers a clear, powerful statement of why freedom of speech is at the heart of democracy and must be defended, whether the speaker is Charlie Kirk or Jimmy Kimmel, MAGA supporters or MAGA opponents.
@omgyallrhaterz@TheRicanMemes Well said, I concur. I'm not silver spoon, but indoctrinated into the @FirstChristian Baptist Church at conception. Lived that life til I could speak up, around 8th grade. These were the most horrible people on the Earth!
Some have said that our Governor is "childish" and other hilarious BS they don't like. I find it necessary to put the mirror in the face of @RNC and @MAGA
https://t.co/Y9FApxVioQ