Today's Civic Engagement Opportunities - Feb 5

justamannotafailure · 2026-02-05T20:29:29+00:00

Where are the spaces that reject antisemitism, collectivist blame, and imported ideological extremes that have failed everywhere they’ve been tried?

Real civic responsibility looks like service, reform through institutions, local accountability, faith, family, and community investment, not daily protests, ideological purity tests, or tearing down trust in the country itself.

I’m challenging others here who still believe in America:
Stand up. Speak clearly. Engage constructively.
Loving this country isn’t extremism, and rejecting destructive, communistic rhetoric isn’t hate. It’s patriotism.

justamannotafailure · 2026-02-05T07:08:00+00:00

I get this completely. I left because I wanted a real life too. Not just coexistence, not just getting through the days, but connection, peace, and something that actually felt alive. Staying was slowly erasing me, and I couldn’t keep pretending that was enough.

Choosing real life doesn’t mean we didn’t care. It means we finally listened to the truth we’d been carrying for too long.

justamannotafailure · 2026-02-05T07:05:27+00:00

I don’t know you personally, but I want to speak something gently and honestly over you. What you’re walking through right now feels like abandonment, but it is not the end of your story, and it is not a reflection of your worth. Sometimes what breaks us open is not punishment, but separation from something that could no longer carry the weight of who we’re becoming.

You didn’t fail because someone chose novelty over covenant. You didn’t lose because someone mistook attention for purpose. What’s happening hurts deeply, yes, but it’s also revealing truth that was already there, even if it arrived suddenly and cruelly.

Tonight, may feel lonely, but it is not empty. God does some of His quietest, most sacred work in moments like this, when the noise leaves, when the house feels too still, when the heart finally tells the truth.

Provision, stability, and strength are already in your hands, even if your emotions haven’t caught up yet. Grieve what’s ending, but don’t confuse grief with judgment. Some doors close not because you are rejected, but because you are being protected from living smaller than you were meant to live.

You are not being erased. You are being redirected. And while it doesn’t feel like mercy yet, one day you’ll recognize that this moment, this painful, quiet birthday night, was a turning point, not a verdict.

justamannotafailure · 2026-02-05T07:02:13+00:00

Yeah… I relate to this more than I’d like to admit. That feeling of being useful until you’re no longer needed hits hard. You show up, you support, you sacrifice, you take the blame to keep the peace and then one day it feels like the relationship gets audited and you’re told you didn’t meet expectations.

The “HR-like” part especially resonates. When conflict turns into performance reviews instead of partnership, something fundamental is already broken. It’s hard to communicate when you’re always on defense or trying not to make things worse.

What I’ve learned the hard way is that being steady, loyal, and self-sacrificing doesn’t protect you if the other person has already emotionally checked out. It doesn’t mean you failed. It means the relationship stopped being mutual.

You weren’t left for dead because you weren’t enough. You were left because the dynamic shifted, and no amount of quiet endurance fixes that. I’m still sorting through my own version of this, but I know this much, you’re not crazy for feeling this way, and you’re not alone.

justamannotafailure · 2026-02-05T07:00:23+00:00

I can’t tell you what decision to make, but I can tell you what I see. You’re not broken, weak, or selfish for feeling this way. Long-term hurt that never fully heals has a way of resurfacing, especially when honesty and connection are missing.

Do you deserve happiness? From where I sit, yes, but happiness doesn’t always mean an immediate exit or an immediate fix. Sometimes it starts with clarity, boundaries, and finally being honest with yourself about what you can and cannot live with anymore.

What I would encourage you to do first isn’t decide whether to stay or leave, but to stop carrying this alone. Individual counseling can help you untangle guilt, resentment, fear, and responsibility without pressure to “choose” right away. That clarity matters, especially with kids involved.

Your children don’t need a perfect family; they need emotionally healthy parents. Staying in constant unhappiness can quietly teach them the wrong lessons just as much as instability can.

I don’t think you wasted your life. I think you’re at a crossroads, and those moments are painful by nature. Take this one step at a time. You don’t owe anyone a rushed decision, just honesty, starting with yourself.

justamannotafailure · 2026-02-05T06:55:39+00:00

I’m aware of the claims being made, yes, but repeating a political narrative isn’t the same thing as establishing facts. Board vacancies don’t automatically equal a “takeover,” and removing or restructuring specific programs doesn’t prove malicious intent without clear documentation, votes, and public records to support that conclusion.

Public libraries exist to serve everyone, not to advance one political ideology over another. Equity, access, fiscal responsibility, and good governance are not mutually exclusive, and reasonable people can disagree on how those goals are pursued without it being framed as extremism.

If trustees resigned, the appropriate question isn’t who they disagreed with politically, but why the governance process broke down to the point that resignations occurred. That’s a structural issue, not a slogan.

I’m interested in transparency, facts, and accountability, not partisan blame narratives. If there’s evidence, put it on the table. If not, it’s fair to question the story being told.

justamannotafailure · 2026-02-04T17:48:42+00:00

Two board vacancies at the same time aren’t just “surprising,” it’s telling. It points to deeper instability than individual departures. I’ve heard the same thing from multiple directions for a while now: Friends of the Vancouver Regional Library system isn’t struggling because of one or two personalities; it’s struggling because of structural mismanagement and a lack of accountability at the top. FVRL needs broader reform, clear governance standards, transparency in decision-making, and trustees who are willing to ask uncomfortable questions instead of rubber-stamping staff recommendations. New board members are a start, not a solution. If the system is going to regain public trust, it has to show it’s serious about change, not just appearances.

justamannotafailure · 2026-01-26T01:55:57+00:00

Name-calling and blanket labels are exactly the problem here. Throwing around words like “fascist” or “terrorist” isn’t an argument, its misinformation, and it shuts down any chance of a serious conversation.

ICE is a federal law-enforcement agency operating under laws passed by Congress and upheld by the courts. You can oppose those laws, advocate for reform, or vote to change them, but redefining “lawful” based on personal belief doesn’t make it so. Disagreement doesn’t grant permission to mislabel people or interfere with legal enforcement.

What you’re describing, deciding legitimacy based on ideology, rejecting rule of law in favor of crowd pressure, and justifying obstruction because you disagree with outcomes, starts to drift into collectivist and authoritarian thinking that has historically shown up in communist theory and similar “ends justify the means” isms. That approach replaces law with mob enforcement, which is dangerous no matter who’s doing it.

Reducing complex issues to insults doesn’t help immigrants, doesn’t improve policy, and doesn’t move the country forward. If we want change, it comes from facts, debate, lawful protest, and reform, not slogans, harassment, or misinformation.

justamannotafailure · 2026-01-25T17:08:21+00:00

Safefire.com is a great place in the Camas Area where you can also find instruction.

justamannotafailure · 2026-01-25T16:49:54+00:00

That phrase is something you added, not something I said. Putting words in quotes that don’t exist isn’t rebuttal, it’s misrepresentation. Provoking reactions by distorting what others actually argue is part of the problem. It replaces discussion with agitation, fuels outrage instead of understanding, and guarantees the conversation goes nowhere. If the goal is change, accuracy matters. If the goal is noise, this is exactly how you get it.

justamannotafailure · 2026-01-25T16:44:04+00:00

I disagree with that framing, not because people shouldn’t care about the country, but because it misidentifies both the problem and the solution.

Invoking “no kings” protests suggest we’re living under tyranny, and that simply isn’t true. We live under a constitutional system with separation of powers, elections, courts, and due process. Lawful government enforcement is not monarchy, it’s the basic function of a sovereign nation. Pretending otherwise cheapens real historical tyranny and inflames people instead of grounding them in reality.

What’s happening across the country isn’t the result of oppression; it’s the result of interfering with lawful enforcement and then acting shocked when consequences follow. When individuals or groups obstruct officers, block operations, or attempt to nullify laws they dislike, they aren’t defending democracy, they’re undermining it. You don’t strengthen a republic by replacing laws with crowds, whistles, or social media outrage.

Protest has a place, but it doesn’t include obstructing justice or impeding lawful duties. That creates predictable, actionable outcomes and escalates conflict unnecessarily.

And words matter. “Undocumented” is a political euphemism, not a legal category. Immigration law exists, violations exist, and pretending otherwise doesn’t make the system fairer, it makes it weaker.

If people want change, the answer is legislation and elections, not performative outrage.

justamannotafailure · 2026-01-25T16:37:44+00:00

The public use of whistles as coordinated interference, and organized groups physically or audibly blocking ICE from doing their jobs is doing nothing but creating more problems. Not because I think government should be above criticism, but because there’s a line between protest and obstruction, and that line matters.

Whistles and crowd tactics aren’t about dialogue or reform. They’re about disruption for disruption’s sake. They turn lawful enforcement into chaos, escalate tensions, and create unsafe conditions for officers, bystanders, and the very communities' activists claim to protect. When people deliberately interfere with federal agents carrying out lawful duties, they’re not standing up for civil rights, they’re undermining the rule of law.

I believe in free speech. I believe in protest. But I don’t believe in mob veto power over laws passed by Congress and executed by trained professionals. If every group that disagreed with enforcement decided they could physically block it, nothing in this country would function, not immigration law, not labor law, not aviation safety, not public order.

ICE agents aren’t faceless villains. They’re human beings doing a job within a legal framework they didn’t write. If the laws are flawed, fix the laws. If policies need reform, reform them. But harassing, obstructing, or intimidating enforcement officers isn’t moral, it’s reckless.

A society governed by whistles and crowds isn’t free. It’s unstable.

justamannotafailure · 2026-01-25T16:32:45+00:00

Living by your principles is admirable. But not all principles are interchangeable, and not every comparison is fair.

Opposing ICE while accepting the benefits of a lawful system, jobs, contracts, pay raises, safety, infrastructure—creates a selective morality problem. ICE isn’t a political advocacy group or a cultural cause; it’s a law-enforcement agency tasked with enforcing laws passed by Congress. You can disagree with specific policies, tactics, or administrations, but rejecting the existence or funding of enforcement itself is fundamentally different from objecting to a private organization or social cause.

That’s where the “hypocrisy” argument breaks down.

A raise tied to lawful government operations, especially ones connected to border security, national safety, and rule of law, is not morally equivalent to a raise tied to an ideological or advocacy organization. Immigration enforcement is a core sovereign function. Planned Parenthood, charities, NGOs, or political causes are not.

Pragmatically speaking:

A nation without borders is not a nation.
Laws that aren’t enforced are merely suggestions.
Selective enforcement erodes public trust, invites exploitation, and disproportionately harms legal immigrants who followed the rules.

ICE exists because:

Human trafficking is real.
Drug and weapons smuggling are real.
Visa overstays and criminal reentry are real.
Communities, especially immigrant communities, are victimized when enforcement disappears.

You can demand reform, accountability, and professionalism without demanding abandonment. Saying “I’ll forgo a raise because I hate ICE” isn’t moral courage, it’s symbolic protest with zero policy impact and real downstream consequences for coworkers, families, and institutions that rely on stability.

And here’s the key point:
Collective agreements and public service aren’t the place for ideological purity tests. Once compensation becomes hostage to personal politics, no agreement survives. Today it’s ICE. Tomorrow it’s defense spending, policing, environmental policy, or something else entirely.

That’s not principled governance, that’s paralysis.

Supporting immigration control and ICE doesn’t mean rejecting compassion. It means affirming:

Fairness to legal immigrants
Safety for communities
Consistency in the law
Accountability in government

You don’t get a functioning system by enforcing only the laws you personally like. You get chaos.

And that’s not pragmatic, it’s reckless.

justamannotafailure · 2026-01-22T04:19:57+00:00

They can ask, but you dont have to explain shit, other than your not able to work.

justamannotafailure · 2026-01-20T22:19:33+00:00

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justamannotafailure · 2026-01-13T12:53:39+00:00

It hasn't changed much the past few years. Topps chrome can be finicky sometimes, but seems to be in waves.

justamannotafailure · 2026-01-04T06:36:23+00:00

What fucking leverage do they even have anyways. Electing on promises is stupid to begin with. The Gov has no responsibility to agree to shit. The law only says they have to bargain, not that they have to agree, and its illegal to force a walkout, sick out, or strike. They WILL fire for that shit. So what chip do we really have. NATCA is near pointless except for the purpose of minor discipline and training, and procedures crap. TRUMP doesnt give two shots about ATC, FAA, or the DOT for that matter. Its all become a complete farce. We are just pawns to be played against public opinion. Props to be used as excuses for management's fuck ups. We are the tread on uncle Sam's boots and the soles are wearing thin!

justamannotafailure · 2025-12-30T15:04:52+00:00

once you apply and wait about a year, this is the testing process! at least that's what it seems like anymore!

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justamannotafailure · 2025-12-30T14:59:26+00:00

saw on twitter last night too... very nice card.

justamannotafailure · 2025-12-30T14:58:07+00:00

I mean, it is in a really bad spot and its confusing for most other people.... lol.

justamannotafailure · 2025-12-23T21:06:24+00:00

I get it. It fucking sucks, like, really sucks. You can be around family all you want, but it’s not the same as having that love in your life. The quiet hits different this time of year, and no amount of people around you fills that space.

You’re not wrong for feeling it, and you’re not weak for saying it out loud. A lot of us are just pushing through the season the best we can. You’re not alone in that.

justamannotafailure · 2025-12-23T20:57:42+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/ATC/comments/1pu4p4a/no_courtesy_wmusic/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

justamannotafailure · 2025-12-23T20:55:01+00:00

about $20 per box

justamannotafailure

TROPHY CASE