Tyrell

Seen at Fullerton station boarding the Brown Line to Kimball at about 8:30 a.m.

What started as a youthful rebellion against his union-member parents had evolved into a hard and unrelenting ideology. In the months before the recent election, Tyrell quit his office job and wandered his heavily pro-Obama neighborhood warning people of the horrors a second term would bring. He had flyers printed:

THREE WAYS BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA DESTROYS FREEDOM:

1)      OBAMACARE--We MUST NOT Subject Ourselves To DEATH PANELS

2)      REPEAL OF DADT And SUPPORT For GAY MARRIAGE—FLOUTS GOD’S LAW

3)      RAISE TAXES—Stops The Rich From CREATING JOBS. RUINS YOUR LIVELIHOOD!

To Be Free, We MUST VOTE AGAINST OUR BROTHER

Most people didn’t take the flyers, and those who did immediately threw them in the trash. Some people laughed at him. His mother asked him to stop. He was embarrassing the family.

“Sorry, Mama, but it’s my patriotic duty. It’s my duty as an American to save us all.”

But Tyrell wasn’t able to save anyone. The President was reelected. The country was lost. Now Tyrell carried around anti-Obama books while he rode the train from job interview to job interview, just to spite everyone. People gave him strange looks. Even hateful looks.

No matter. The country may have been lost, but Tyrell had not lost hope. He was still angry, and alive. He could still avenge the nation. He simply had to free himself, to reach his radical potential. He took out a pen and flipped to the last page of his book. “Sic semper tyrannis,” he wrote.

In case you didn't know, "Sic semper tyrannis" is what John Wilkes Booth shouted immediately after he shot President Lincoln. So the ending of this story is supposed to be ominous. If you hadn't guessed. I had the idea because right now I'm reading Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer. It's really good so far. 

I don't think I've ever written about a conspiracy theorist before. Ben sent me this video today of a totally insane pro-gun conspiracy theorist going nuts on Piers Morgan. I think he is the poster child for why psychological evaluations should be mandatory if you want to purchase a gun. This man, this completely crazy man, owns 55 guns. Not very comforting, if you ask me.