This is a Facebook post from one of the groups I belong to. It is for Glioblastoma patients and care givers. A few years ago a father of a young cancer patient that died not from the brain tumor but from the treatment. For some reason some people think the government are hiding cures for diseases because big pharm will lose money. Total crap I know but these people are on the fringes and they are given credibility. Here is my response.

We in the brain tumor community know that each cancer is as unique as the fingerprints on your hand. What is good for one patient is usually ineffective for others. This gentleman's story has been floating around for a long time. At best it is anecdotal evidence. Rest assured that the government does not hide cures for cancer. I've been a care giver for over 5 years for my wife. Stage 4 GBM in left temporal lobe. Standard protocol of surgery, radiation and Temodar. The tumor returned after 2 years. More radiation and 10 infusions of Avastin and Carbo-platin. She had a mild stroke probably due to the side effects of the chemo; her blood pressure went crazy. She also had a second stent placed in her heart along the way. It has been 3 years since any tumor was detected by MRI. No chemo for 3 years also. There is one word that we never use in the brain tumor world, 2 actually; Cured and Remission. With GBM that is the reality. You live with it. It's the new normal.

A free speech rally in Boston was disrupted by counter-protestors.

In Boston a rally that was billed as a free speech event turns chaotic.

The right wing free speech demonstrators were met by counter-protestors from the political left. It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what went on. I’ll leave the descriptions of the event to the media.

My concern is that in Boston, the “Other Cradle of Liberty”, the right to free assembly and free speech was usurped by a violent wing of the opposition. Boston is where the original free speech movement started over 240 years ago. (There’s even statues there commemorating the event.) What better place to exercise your first amendment rights but Boston, Mass.

For the counter-protestors to act in this way is really un-American.  We all have the right to be heard as well as the right to disagree. These rights are unalienable. We as a nation must uphold everyone’s right to speak their mind. What was denied these right wing speakers were their rights to free assembly and free speech. The counter-protestors acted in a criminal manner and if possible should be held accountable. No one has the right to prevent a legal/lawful assembly as long as it is peaceful. Hell, the Supreme Court has upheld free speech rights so often that cases involving the first amendment rarely make it that far any more.

·       Burn a flag – Free Speech.

·       Have a Nazi rally in Skokie, Illinois – Free Speech. (This happened in the 80s)

·       Talk bad about the president – Free Speech

·       Say you want the president assassinated – NOT FREE SPEECH (This happened this week)

Everything the alt-right stands for I fine anathema but as distasteful as I think their views are I can only listen to them, form an opinion and exercise my right to disagree. The blogosphere is an excellent venue because hardly anyone reads them and I can get stuff off my chest.

“I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

kkk_leader_glad_protester_died

Someone close to me said I should try not to drop the F bomb for 1 day. So here goes.
How can any one who calls themselves an American condone these people. They are a scourge on the planet and they should be silenced somehow. To put yourself above another person because they are not Caucasian is not only un-American it is inhuman. If these people are allowed to persist in this behavior we are in some very deep trouble. In my humble opinion these people are enabled not necessarily by the president but by the climate that he has instilled by his inexperience and bluster. If you can't see that then the light at the end of your tunnel is a rapidly approaching train that is steadily gaining momentum. It's not about the statues any more; this is a life or death issue that is way beyond that.
(Not being able to "F" bomb is liberating somehow.)
Speaking of the statues, I really don't get this whole Southern heritage thing. I grew up in Philadelphia, The Cradle of Liberty, and believe me , we have our share of statues. But our statues are of winners and patriots not losers and traitors.
Didn't the South lose the war?
Didn't Lee and his bunch renounce their citizenship and swear allegiance to a foreign power waging war against the USA?
Did they not kill their countrymen and women in the bloodiest war in our history?
I have always been puzzled by this. And not just due to recent events. I have always thought it was odd that the losers kept the animosity going.
Finally, nothing on God's green earth will ever convince me that the Civil War was about nothing but slavery, period.
State's rights? Bullshit. Unless you mean the state's right to keep slaves.