Look, I know we’re all afraid of a police state, and upset about unlawful arrests or police brutality, but all of the stuff above is deliberately deceptive.

Unless we’ve forgotten how a bill becomes a law, the military was NOT actually just given permission to arrest and detain US citizens. The President has to sign a bill into law. Secondly, the White House is ALREADY threatening to veto, which isn’t mentioned above. Sure, sign the petition, but don’t be deceptive about it. The directors of the FBI and national intelligence ALSO oppose it. So saying that the military is just going to swoop up all the Occupy protestors BUT THEY WON’T STOP THERE is basically doing what everyone hates about the cable news networks, making you fear and drumming up excitement, which is just shameful. Don’t use twisted half-truths and absurdist fear-mongering to make a point.

Finally, this already exists. The Gitmo detention camp has been open for 9 years now, starting with a Republican president and continuing with a Democrat. I know we’ve all forgotten, but they hold “enemy combatants” there, which is a way of making sure they can arrest and detain whoever without trial or charges for as long as they like. So it’s nice that people care about this now, I guess?

I can only assume this is part of the great right-wing conspiracy, or the great left-wing conspiracy, or whichever conspiracy allows people to be outraged about shit and then voting the politicians responsible back into office.

People who need movies, the true moviegoers, go in the afternoon; matinees are therapy for those who can’t afford therapists or don’t know that they should get one. Scraping down the pavement in Manhattan on my way to a matinee, I had to admit that my Bennington roommate probably had it right. New York sent many signs to a young man—it was an empire of signs, to cop a phrase—but one message blared through and over all the rest: This city (state, country, world, cosmos) does not require you at all. No provisions have been made. There is no slot. You’ll have to force your way in, on the off chance that you can get in at all.

I think that loneliness is one of mankind’s greatest dilemmas. It’s always present. Maybe you were lonely today, even surrounded by loved ones. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not something you can cure just by surrounding yourself with people. It involves a little bit more soul than that, the recognition that we’re all in this together, we can be lonely together.

So we’re not alone, you see. That makes me incredibly thankful.