I'm tired boss, but there's still work to do.

On June 14th of this year, a gunman entered the home of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark. At 3 o'clock in the morning, the coward entered the house and killed Melissa, Mark, and their Golden Retriever Gilbert, and gunned them down while they slept.

When Hortman and her husband were murdered, Trump, being the spoiled child that he is, threw a temper tantrum and refused to call Gov. Tim Walz. You know, the guy who ran against JD Vance as Kamala Harris's running partner? The guy who repeatedly humiliated both Trump and Vance while remaining civil, simply by pointing out truths? Yeah. Trump said "Fuck those Dems." and ignored what happened.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-walz-minnesota-lawmakers-shot-call-064092d14bea4c3141da31b7a5e5c9b3

But now that Charlie Kirk is gone, Trump has decided to issue an order that all flags be flown at half mast for Kirk. For FOUR DAYS. Despite him not being a veteran, a government official, or a politician of any kind.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/11/trump-administration-news-updates-today-latest

Why am I posting this? Because I was born in the USA. I've lived here my whole life. I'm old, and I'm tired. I've been through way too much, and for a while now I've been ready to call it a day.

But that would be giving up. And I'd rather go down fighting, even if it's the most painful, horrific thing I'll ever experience.

My entire family is from the Netherlands. During the Nazi occupation in WW2, my great grandfather stole a Nazi officer uniform, drove up to the gates of Amersfoort, and directed a prisoner transfer. Of his wife and their children. Who had been abducted by the Nazis weeks prior. They were shackled and placed in his car, and he drove off into the night. He did not resurface until well after the war ended. He, his wife, and his children survived. Half of my family did not. They died in concentration camps. In fear. In pain. In the most horrific ways anyone could ever imagine. Choking on poison gas. Starving to death. Raped. Beaten. Shot.

My wife is Hispanic, born in Texas. We traced back her family at least 200 years, all of it in the USA. She's a citizen, more than I am. My parents were Dutch citizens in the US when I was born. I have birthright citizenship. But because I'm white, no one bats an eye. But she's asked on an almost weekly basis "Where are you from?" She's endured people screaming at her to go back home to Mexico. People yelling "Sieg Heil!" from their cars while doing a Nazi salute.

In the face of all of this, how can I not fight? How can I leave to this to someone else, and hope for the best, when the woman I've loved for twenty five years is terrified of what tomorrow will bring? Terrified that if she goes to town alone, she won't come back. That I'll be left alone at home, waiting for her to come back, not knowing what happened to her. That ICE will ignore her status as a citizen, and she'll end up in prison for no reason at all.

I'm old. I'm tired. I'm broken. But that doesn't matter, because I'm still here.

Don't give up. Whatever you do, do not give up. It's already happening again, but we can stop it. The price we might have to pay is high, but for all you hold dear, for every person you love, do not give up. Please. Don't give up.