In Alabama, it’s ILLEGAL to be Negro.

If it weren’t illegal to be a Negro in Alabama, the state’s Law Enforcement Officers wouldn’t arrest Negroes for being Negro.

But, they do.

In at least 2 events in less than the same number of years, local LEOs have arrested individuals in Alabama charging them with fabricated, trumped up “crimes,” when no crime had been, nor was in the process of being, committed.

In both cases, the lowest common denominator was… that the people arrested had darker skin tone (more of the pigment melanin) than the “average” person, and more than the arresting officer(s). In other words, they were “Black.”

What is such sickness, and why does it seem so common in Alabama, and why… oh WHY do people in the state continue to put up with such outlandishly egregious behavior from public officials, particularly those sworn to uphold the law?

It may have something to do with the state’s Constitution.

---

Six.

That’s the number of

Alabama: A State of Perpetual Infancy

“Your Cadillac
Has got a wheel in the ditch
And a wheel on the track.”

Despite the fact that an adult human being may be in the form of a 70+ year old body, that is neither proof, nor evidence of, maturity.

The presupposition, however, is that emotional/psychological development parallels physical development, that it is unified, or integrated in the person.

However, that’s not always the case.

Some individuals are still developmentally stuck at the age of 10. Their behavior tells any observer everything they truly need to know. Their selfish insecurities are always on full display, and even the most casual of observers can easily and readily note that something is grossly awry.

Alabama was the 22nd state to have been admitted to the union, which occurred in 1819, having been first separated from the Mississippi Territory 2 years earlier, when Mississippi obtained statehood. One would imagine, nay hope, that after 209 years, the people would have figured out a few things. Sadly, that is not the case in Alabama. Even their 1901 bloated state constitution — by far, the lengthiest of any in the world, and which voters rescinded and replaced in 2022 — is evidence of that fact. The new constitution has 11 amendments.

While Alabama’s official state motto is “Audemus jura nostra defendere” (Latin, “we dare defend our rights”), its unofficial state motto is “Thank God for Mississippi,” for even though it was separated from the Mississippi Territory in 1817 by Congressional action, it could be thought of as a somewhat unsuccessful separation of conjoined twins. Not all surgeries are successful, nor achieve the desired or intended results.

Alabama’s 45th Governor of Alabama, having served two nonconsecutive terms and two consecutive terms as a Democrat may be best known for saying, “I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”

Alabama is one such example.

For many, there are 2 things that immediately come to mind when hearing the word “Alabama”:

Why Do White Supremacists Worship A Jew?

Am I the only one who sees the dark irony of the inconsistency and hypocrisy of White Supremacists and other racists who say they’re Christian, yet the very religion which they ostensibly espouse was founded by Jews, and based upon the tenets taught by a Jew?😳🤯

The fact that they literally WORSHIP a Jew, yet hate the Jewish people?

“Praise God!” -OR- “God Damn!”? You be the judge.

Today (June 26, 2022), the much-expected, leaked Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (19-1392) was publicly released on the Supreme Court’s website [see: https://www.SupremeCourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf], which the unjust Justice Samuel Alito summarized thusly:

“The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S. 113, and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U. S. 833, are overruled; the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.”

The 6 right-wing radicals similarly ignored the Constitution’s 9th Amendment, which is the statement that unenumerated rights exist:

“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

Six Justices, including the Joker in Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and ultra-right-wing radical extremists Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Clarence Thomas, Neil M. Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett — all whom were nominated by Banana Republicans — overturned a very-nearly 50-year precedent.

By so doing, they made themselves out as liars, because ALL of the 6 in public testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, asserted that Roe v. Wade, a decision issued on January 22, 1973, was “settled law.”

• In 2020, Amy Coney Barrett was asked

Chrystul Blue Persuasion

Look over yonder
What do you see?
The sun is a-rising
Most definitely
A new day is coming (whoo-hoo!)
People are changing
Ain’t it beautiful? (whoo-hoo!)
Crystal Blue Persuasion

Better get ready
Gonna see the light
Love, love is the answer (whoo-hoo!)
And that’s alright
So don’t you give up now (whoo-hoo!)
So easy to find
Just look to your soul (look to your soul!)
And open your mind

Tommy James and the Shondells wrote and performed that song, which became a hit, rising to the Number 2 position on Billboard’s Hot 100 pop singles chart for 3 weeks in June 1969. And more recently, it enjoyed a resurgence in popularity as thematic music for the phenomenally popular multi-year teevee serial drama “Breaking Bad.”

Tommy explained the song this way:

“First of all, I was becoming a Christian at that time, and we never thought a thing about it. We never thought that doing something semi-religious was any big deal. We didn’t think of it as being politically incorrect or anything like that. We just did what felt right. I wrote ‘Crystal Blue Persuasion’ with Eddie Gray and Mike Vale. Eddie came up with the little guitar riff, and Mike and I did the lyrics. And it just felt very right as a sort of semi-religious poetic song, but it turned out to be one of the hardest records I’ve ever made.”

The past couple weeks, the nation’s eyes have been upon Kenosha, Wisconsin. Now, they’re turned to Brunswick, Georgia, a tiny town of 15,210 with a 55.1% Black population, and a 33.1% White population.

It was almost difficult — and perhaps still is — to go a day without seeing, hearing, or reading something about the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. The talking heads, pundits, prognosticators, and their ilk were all a twitter about whether this, that, or the other, would happen, and in the process whipped their followers — whichever side of the fence they sat upon — into a frenzy.

It’s good for their ratings and corporate earnings, you see. So, yeah… it’s all about the money, and the media ~does~ have a dog in that fight. I’ll spare you the details of the matter, because by now, if you’ve been paying attention, you know it all. The media made sure of that.

That’s what the mass media these days does to us all — force feeds us a steady stream of bad news like geese fed by gavage, then harvested for their artificially enlarged fatty liver. That French delicacy is called foie gras. However, the only thing that’s changed about us, is our hearts. They become artificially hardened, calloused and insensate to the suffering of others.

But maybe you’re not affected.

Kyle Rittenhouse draws numbers randomly to select jurors in his case (L), and Chrystul Kizer (R); both cases are in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

So let me tell you about another 17-year old child, also in Kenosha, Wisconsin, who’s charged with

Observations from Dave Chappelle: The Closer

Last night, I watched Dave Chappelle’s “comedy” show “The Closer” on Netflix.

The word comedy appears in quotation marks because, Mr. Chappelle’s performance is not comedy. Not practically, anyway.  Only virtually.

Did the audience laugh? Yes, a few times.

But a few laughs does not a comedian make.

Is Dave Chappelle a funny man?

He sure is! And, he’s had some absolutely BRILLIANT strokes of comedic genius — at least to my way of thinking.

The list of Mr. Chappelle’s awards for comedic excellence tell but a partial story, and includes:

• 3 Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album;

• 5 Emmy Awards — Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series (2021, Dave Chappelle, Host Saturday Night Live “Host: Dave Chappelle”),

• 2-Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) (2018, Dave Chappelle: Equanimity; 2020, Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones),

• Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special (2020, Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones), and

• Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series (2017, Dave Chappelle, Host Saturday Night Live “Host: Dave Chappelle”); and the coveted

• Mark Twain Prize for American Humor presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., among others. Of note, Richard Pryor was the award’s first recipient.

He’s certainly not a comedian along the lines, or in the style of comedienne Carol Burnett (also a Mark Twain Prize laureate), and her co-stars Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, and Vicki Lawrence, but when his series “Chappelle’s Show” (2003-2006) was in production on The Comedy Channel, one of his most brilliant pieces (in my estimation) was “Clayton Bigsby, the World’s Only Black White Supremacist.” Perhaps you’re familiar with it.

Neither is Mr. Chappelle’s comedy style like the acerbic, even venomous, late comedian Don Rickles, infamous for his notoriously wicked, and caustic sense of humor.

Nor is Mr. Chappelle’s humor like that of the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield, who, as he constantly reminded us, got no respect. His brand of self-deprecating humor was his iconic comedic trademark.

No, Mr. Chappelle’s style of humor is somewhat a blend of the above-mentioned comics, and incorporates elements of them all.

To be funny, comedy must, and does,

Let’s Talk About… Critical Race Theory

Before we enter into a discussion about Critical Race Theory, let’s ask a question, or two.

First, is discrimination based upon skin color, ethnicity, national origin, or any other factor, something that can be eliminated by law?

Or, is it a flaw, a character defect permanently present in humanity?

At its root, racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and other ‘isms and phobias are based upon an inherent dislike, even to the point of hatred, of others who are dissimilar in some aspect, and because of that dissimilarity thereby become the object, and target of scorn and hatred from and by a perpetrator. Any discriminatory behavior by the perpetrator is justified by the same upon the alleged differences in the object (the one(s) being discriminated against), i.e., the victim(s), and subject, i.e., the perpetrator – the “hater” and “hatee,” if you will.

Various laws, including liberal laws regardless of their age, have thus far failed to eliminate such innately discriminatory practices, and damages, from law, or from business. The myriad laws in our nation touching upon the slave trade, slavery, and discrimination stand as ongoing evidence of that fact.

Everything Old Is New Again

In Abraham Lincoln’s day, a segment of the Republican party then called “Radical Republicans” — a faction within the Republican party comprised primarily of Northern altruists, industrialists, former Whigs, practical politicians, etc., led by Thaddeus Stevens in the House of Representatives, and Charles Sumner in the Senate, from about 1854 until the end of Reconstruction in 1877 — were renown for their goal of immediate, total, and completely permanent eradication of slavery, without compromise. They were opposed even by members of their own party, as well as by Democrats.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Today, within the Democratic party, the Progressive faction is opposed by “moderates,” and they’re all opposed by Republicans.

And even within the Republican party today, there are also splinters and divisions. The “Trumpers” aka sycophants of the 45th POTUS, and the more level-headed, even-keeled moderate faction of the party.

There are lessons to be learned from history… if only we’ll learn them. And sadly, it seems as if we’re condemned to repeat them, time, and time, and time again.

It was Spanish-born American philosopher/poet George Santayana (1863-1952) who wrote that…

“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

–– George Santayana (1863-1952), Spanish philosopher, writing in “The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress“ (1905-1906), Vol. I, “Reason in Common Sense”

So… what about Critical Race Theory?

What is it?

Where’d it come from?

Who invented it?

What does it say, do, or advocate?

The very heart, the “nut,” or crux of the matter is addressed above, and could be stated this way:

Is it possible to eradicate discriminatory practices, and any associated damages, through legislation, and if not, to what extent are such discriminatory practices present, and how can they be rectified, or ameliorated, if at all?

Essentially, Critical Race Theory is a sophisticated, esoteric, high-level legal academic pursuit, which acknowledges that, to this point historically, laws (again, even liberal laws, regardless of their age) have failed to eradicate racism, racist practices, and discrimination, and asks if legal avenues (laws) are able to eradicate it, or if it’s a fixture permanently etched upon the human heart, and thereby inherently present in all laws, and if so, to what extent.

So yes, it’s a broadly-encompassing theoretical legal academic pursuit, and a question which possibly, might never be answered. Yet, there is understanding to be gained by such pursuit, and it is just plain wrong to chastise those who pursue such high-level questions and thinking.

16th Century Thought Police, and The Law of Unintended Consequences

Such chastisement is akin to the Church’s history of punishing or excommunicating scientists “back in the day” who posited that

White Tennessee Residents In A Slave Trade Town Oppose Teaching Slavery History

In a small Tennessee town with a population of 83,454 — comparatively, Huntsville, AL has 100,000 more — where, in the public square, in front of the county courthouse, from which numerous lynchings occurred, on the site of a former slave trading market, stands a statue known by locals as “Chip,” so nicknamed for the chip in his hat.

“Chip” has been around since 1899, and, in a sense, could be thought of as a relative “newcomer” to the community, per se — which was founded 1799 — though an enduringly stalwart one, at that.

“Chip” is made of the finest Italian marble, and, according to the United States Geological Survey, which measured, calculated, and installed a marker upon its base in 1931, stands 648.82 linear feet above sea level. Nearby Nashville is only slightly more elevated at 1160 feet above sea level.

While “Chip’s” maker is largely unknown (though it is thought to be one of many such replicas installed), what is known about him is who commissioned him — the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

You see, “Chip” is homage to the Confederacy, and to Confederate soldiers.

Upon its base is enscribed the following:

America Invented Global Narcotraffickers

Make no mistake, I openly advocate for the wholesale legalization, taxation, and regulation of cannabis similarly as is done for beverage alcohol — though I have not always. And yet, as a licensed healthcare professional, I am under no misguided notion that there are genuine scientific considerations to be had.

Like many others, this is not a simple matter, per se — it is as complex as we human beings, with myriad matters which “Just Say ‘NO!’” has never, nor will ever, satisfy. Science and understanding is not advanced by the word “NO!”

Similarly as well, there is practically no disagreement that historic American jurisprudence on the matter not only had its genesis with deep roots in racism – which remains to this day – but has almost single-handedly created the global criminal cabal of narcotrafficking enterprises that have now become international terrorist organizations. It has now become a matter of national security, and not just for the United States. Global security is predicated upon addressing these concerns.

Jesus Malverde is a mythical figure, allegedly born as Jesús Juárez Mazo on December 24, 1870, just outside Culiacán, the state capital of Sinaloa, whom is said to be the “patron saint” of “narcotraficantes” (drug traffickers), and is known by his devotees as “el ángel de los pobres” (the angel of the poor).
According to legend, he was a lifetime resident of Sinaloa, an historically poverty-stricken area which is now recognized as the de facto headquarters location for a bloodthirsty global narcotrafficking cartel bearing the state’s name, which is infamous for their nefarious misdeeds, cold-blooded murders, and other heinous acts.
The legends, which vary widely, typically assert that Malverde was a “Robinhood” type character, who stole from the wealthy and distributed to the poor. In reality, narco-money has significantly revitalized Sinaloa, and to a large extent, reinforced ancient customs, including the veneration of folk saints as Jesus Malverde.

It is, in fact, fueling the civil sociopolitical upheaval in Central American nations such as

Israeli Racism: Calling a Spade, a Spade

In every story you read about the matter, simply substitute the word “White” for Israel/Israelis, and substitute the word “Black” for Palestine/Palestinians.

It’ll become much more clear.

The scenario in Gaza with the Israelis attacking their own residents, is frankly, a Jewish version of “Jim Crow” laws in America which prevented Blacks from being considered FULL citizens with an EQUAL RIGHT to the land.

Just you think about it.

What if White Americans relegated and segregated Blacks to live in a very tiny, certain area of this land – like, being required to live in Mississippi, and being denied the right to live anywhere else?

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, leader of the far-right Likud party

That’s what Israelis are doing to Palestinians.

“As leader of the right-wing Likud party which has dominated Israel’s national parliamentary government, the 120-member Knesset, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has had a record-breaking uninterrupted 12-year tenure.

“The “left-extreme left” government Netanyahu warns of (adding that it will not survive for more than a day) will include (if it will actually be formed) three right-wing parties (Yamina, New Hope, and Yisrael Beytenu), all three of which consist of both conservative and liberal elements, which together command 20 Knesset seats. It will include two centrist parties, with a slight inclination to the Right (Yesh Atid and Blue and White), and two left-wing parties – the Labor Party and Meretz – neither of which would be counted as “extreme left” anywhere in the democratic world (well, Donald Trump excluded). Yes, and it, too, will require Arab support from the outside.

“As long as Netanyahu remains an actor in Israeli politics, no one can form a government without some form of Arab support – and that, in my opinion, is one of the few positive results from the current situation. The Arabs constitute around 20% of the citizens of Israel, and with all the necessary precautions, not letting them play some sort of role in Israel’s government system is antidemocratic.”

–– “Netanyahu’s dream of right-wing government may not happen – opinion,” by Susan Hattis Rolef; April 25, 2021 20:44, The Jerusalem Post

“​​Yamina chairman Naftali Bennett said on Monday that he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his Likud party can count on his faction’s vote to form a right-wing government.

“The two met at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem shortly after Bennett’s statement. A joint statement said they agreed negotiation teams would continue talks.

“As you may already know, I could’ve already been a prime minister by now,” Bennett said on the matter on Monday. “But, my main objective is to thwart a fifth election round,” he added.”

–– “Bennett Says Ready to Join Right-wing Government With Netanyahu’s Likud,” by Jonathan Lis; April 12, 2021, Haaretz

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/05/993933467/netanyahu-opponent-yair-lapid-given-4-weeks-to-form-new-government-in-israel

And then, imagine if White Americans regularly attacked and bombed those segregated Black Americans.

That’s what Israelis are doing to Palestinians.

Reckon what

At Least 50 Reasons Why Georgia SB202 Is A Bad Bill

FIFTY REASONS WHY GEORGIA SB 202 IS A BAD BILL

SB 202 Linked Here For Citations

HYPERCRIMINALIZATION: Georgia’s new law codifies mass disenfranchisement and intimidation and further expands criminalization policy in the voting process.1.Mass Challenges:Codifies that a single person can challenge the voter registration of an unlimited # of voters at once, resulting in that voter being purged. (lines 575–576)

1. Mass Challenges: Codifies that a single person can challenge the voter registration of an unlimited # of voters at once, resulting in that voter being purged. (lines 575–576)

2. Mass Challenges: Codifies that a single person can challenge the rights of an unlimited # of voters to cast their ballot in the upcoming election. 364k Georgians were frivolously challenged in the runoffs. In just 29 counties, 15,000 Black voters, 2,000 Hispanic voters, and 1500 AAPI voters were challenged.(lines 622–623)

Georgia’s nickname is the “Peach State,” and it is one of the 13 original colonies.

3. Mass Challenges: Mandates counties hold mass challenge hearings that challenged voter must show up to—within 10 days of frivolous challenge. (line 581)

4. Line–warming/Criminalization: Makes it a crime for volunteers or groups to hand water or snacks to voters in line. (lines 1873–1875)

5. Line–warming/Criminalization: Makes it a crime for *voters* in line to accept water or snacks from a volunteer or group. Bill later amended to allow an “unattended receptacle” near line. (lines 1873–1875, lines 1887–1889)

6. Criminalization: Creates a new misdemeanor for voters if the voter allows someone other than those authorized under state/federal law to see them marking their ballot at home. (lines 1339, 1347–1349)

7. Criminalization: Creates a new felony for anyone that witnesses someone else mark their *absentee* ballot at home — unless they are providing legally authorized assistance or are a child. (lines 2449–2454)

8. Criminalization: Creates a new misdemeanor for handling a completed application for anyone not authorized by law to assist voter. (lines 979–981)

9. Criminalization: Adds new misdemeanor for photographing your own *absentee* ballot or someone else’s. (expanding existing law to ensure VBM also criminalized) (line 2460)

10. Intimidation: Creates new fraud hotline that will accept “anonymous tips” and AG can launch investigations or prosecute within 3 days. (lines 171–178)

POWER GRABS/CONSOLIDATION OF ELECTION AUTHORITY: Georgia’s new law removes significant power from the Secretary of State and gives the GOP–led, gerrymandered state legislature majority control of the State Election Board.

11. Removes SOS Power: Removes the Secretary of State as Chair of the State Election Board (line 185).

12. State Legislature Controls SEB: Grants state legislature power to appoint new chair of State Election Board (SEB). Meaning state legislature will choose 3 out of 5 State Election Board members going forward, a majority. (lines 185 –189)

13. Removes SOS Power: Removes the SOS as a voting member of the State Election Board (lines 252–253).

14. Removes SOS Power: Bill amended at last second to remove SOS power to appoint members of performance review board. (lines 500–503, line 521, line 540 || vs. lines 499–502, line 520, line 540 of bill as passed SEI committee: LC280338S)

15. Removes SOS Power: Requires SOS provide all necessary support/assistance to SEB for county takeovers at the sole discretion of SEB (lines 270–281).

16. Removes SOS Power: Bans SOS/counties from proactively sending vote by mail applications without a request. (lines 966–970)

17. Legislative Power: Allows state legislature to overrule any emergency election rule (lines 2491–2494)

COUNTY ELECTION BOARD TAKEOVERS: Georgia’s new law removes judicial oversight from the county intervention process and grants a GOP–controlled State Election Board the power to replace county BOEs and local elections officials that have significant voter access and election certification responsibilities.

18. No Judicial Oversight: Removes judicial oversight from county takeover process. Georgia already had a process to deal with low–performing counties, but it required judicial oversight of the State Election Board (SEB). The new process replaces judicial oversight with opaque investigation/takeover powers. (See Georgia Code § 21–2–32 for previous process)

Ted Nugent Has COVID-19

After denying its existence, the washed-up once-upon-a-time rock musician, pedophile, and Motor City Moron

Ted Nugent has announced that he has become infected with COVID-19.

Not COVID 18, COVID 17, COVID 16, COVID 15, but COVID-19.

Perhaps this is Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, v2.0, eh?

Y’know, deep within, I had a feeling that it would only be a very short matter of time before he changed his tune… after becoming infected.

And sure ‘nuff… that’s what happened!

Musician Ted Nugent said yesterday, Monday 19 April 2021, that he tested positive for COVID-19 and had been experiencing intensely severe symptoms, even though he called the pandemic a “hoax” in the recent past.

During a FaceBook Live broadcast yesterday he said, “I was tested positive today. Everybody told me I should not announce this, but can you hear it, I have had flu symptoms for the last 10 days and I thought I was dying. I got the Chinese shit. Just a clusterfuck. I got a stuffed up head, body aches… oh my god, what a pain in the ass. I literally can hardly crawl out of bed, the last few days but I did. I crawled.”

[When faced with stark reality, suddenly, his tune changed. Fascinating.]

He also expressed

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill Caught With Pants Down

Looks like John let the little head do the thinking for the big head.

He also likes anal sex – something his wife apparently doesn’t give him.

Yes… it’s true:

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill has been caught red-handed in an extra-marital relationship, much to the chagrin of his cult-like followers who were hoping he would campaign for the soon-to-be-vacated U.S. Senate seat held by almost-nonagenarian Democrat-turned-Republican-since-1994 Richard Shelby (b.1934), who has occupied the office since 1986, which is up for grabs in 2022.

“He was such an idiot. And he would talk, just… I don’t know if you ever met him outside of looking like he’s a professional, he’s a total [sic] different person. He’s sometimes funny, and he’s charismatic, and he has a sense of humor… but then, when the real John Merrill stands up, then you’re kinda’ like ‘uggh.'”

– Cesaire McPherson, 44-year old Legal Assistant, and lover to Alabama Republican Secretary of State John Merrill in phone interview with National File about their extramarital sexual relationship

Of note, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service on December 17, 2020 updated their report “Membership of the 116th Congress: A Profile” which found that the average age of the average Senator was 62.9 years, while the average age of the Members of the House of Representatives was 57.6. At the time of the report, there were only 3 African American Senators – Kamala Harris, D-CA Corey Booker, D-NJ, and Tim Scott, R-SC. Since Kamala Harris is now Vice President, there are now only 2 African American Senators. And, the oldest Senator in the 116th Congress was Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, born June 22, 1933, who was then aged 85.

Merrill’s official statement said that, “With the end of my term coming up in January of 2023, I have been presented with a variety of options for where my path in public service could lead. I have decided that I will not be a candidate for any office in 2022.”

In a confession to the Advance Local Media LLC-owned AL dot com news group, John Merrill said further that,

Two Simple Questions

Simple questions deserve simple answers.

So, here are two sets of questions about two matters.

Each matter has two options.

Choose either a.), or b.) for each of the two matters.

1.) Pertaining to Voting:

a.) Should voting be made easy and uncomplicated as possible?

–or–

b.) Should voting be made difficult and complicated?

–AND–

The Republican Party Is Dead. There Are Only 6 Remaining Members.

Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins

A significant number of the American people have been bamboozled, swindled, and otherwise cheated and lied to for at least the past 40+ years, at least since 1980, and beginning in earnest in January 1981 with the Reagan administration.

In actuality, the Republican party’s seeds of destruction were sown in 1964 at the Republican National Convention in Daly City, California when then-New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller warned the assembled delegates that

“The Republican party is in real danger of subversion
by
a radical, well-financed,
and
highly disciplined minority.”  

He was given 5 minutes to address the delegates, but was booed for over 16 minutes.

Why?

He was seeking the inclusion of language in the official party platform which would have said,

“The Republican Party fully respects the contribution of responsible criticism, and defends the right of dissent in the democratic process. But we repudiate the efforts of irresponsible, extremist groups, such as the Communists, the Ku Klux Klan, the John Birch Society and others, to discredit our Party by their efforts to infiltrate positions of responsibility in the Party, or to attach themselves to its candidates.”

One would think that such language condemning and repudiating the Ku Klux Klan, Communists, John Birch Society members, and others, would have been welcomed.

Ku Klux Klansmen rally in support of Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, the GOP 1964 Presidential nominee.
Image: Universal History Archive/Getty Images

But, it wasn’t.

That was the year Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater was the party’s Presidential nominee.

That was also the year the GOP suffered one of the greatest losses in American political history.

A mere 6 states – Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina – voted for Barry Goldwater.

Lyndon Baines Johnson won in a landslide with 486 Electoral College votes to Goldwater’s 52.

The Popular Vote was just as decisive:
Johnson 43,127,041 (61.1%), to Goldwater 27,175,754 (38.5%).

The next quadrennial election cycle proved to be a harbinger of things to come.

Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse

In 1968, Alabama Governor George C. Wallace – a stridently biogted racist and segregationist, at the height of his hatred of Blacks – campaigned on the American Independent ticket against Republican Richard Nixon of New York, and Minnesota Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey, who had been LBJ’s Vice President. That year’s election was equally decisive in its victory, but what may be most interesting, is the fact that as a 3rd Party Candidate, the openly racist, bigoted Alabama Governor George C. Wallace, though he was a Democratic governor, campaigned on a platform of racial segregation as a Presidential candidate on the American Independent ticket – and commonly, though incorrectly known as a “Dixiecrat” – won 5 states (AL, AR, GA, LA, MS) and their 46 Electoral College votes, along with 9,901,118 Popular Votes, for 13.5% of all Popular Votes cast. It remains the strongest showing of a 3rd Party candidate in American political history. Not even John B. Anderson in 1980, or Ross Perot in 1992 won any Electoral College Votes, though Ross Perot made a good showing among the Popular Vote with 19,743,821, or 18.9% of all Popular Votes cast, and in 1996, Perot secured 8,085,294 Popular Votes, which was 8.4% of all Popular Votes cast, though he never won any Electoral College votes in any election.

Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski

Wallace’s strong showing among those 5 Southern states in 1968 was resounding evidence of how pervasive, ingrained, and embedded – how thoroughly infiltrated – the message of hate, and he as its chief messenger – along with the Ku Klux Klan, Communists, John Birch Society, and other such elements as then-New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller had mentioned at 1964’s RNC convention – had become in the South. Sadly, Nixon did nothing to help, and rather, relied upon a “Southern Strategy” to win over those very voters – the racist bigoted “Dixiecrats” who had become enured with the Ku Klux Klan, Communists, John Birch Society members, and others – to welcome them into the fold of the Republican Party.

Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” was the creation, per se (it was more an anthropological and demographic analysis of long-term trends than anything else), of Kevin Phillips (b.1940), a brilliant, if not genius (matriculated Colgate University aged 16, graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude, spent his junior year at Scotland’s University of Edinburgh, where he knew more about Scottish history than his Scottish classmates), Harvard Law-educated man who authored the 1969 book “The Emerging Republican Majority“ in which he detailed an ethnographic political strategy that capitalized upon, an exploited alleged hostilities between the Irish, Italians, and Poles, and Jews, Negroes, and affluent Yankees to achieve its goals. He later abandoned the GOP in the 1990’s after becoming grossly disaffected by them.

Having now authored over 13 books, the premise of his first book “The Emerging Republican Majority,” was the presumption that most voters “still voted on the basis of ethnic or cultural enmities that could be graphed, predicted and exploited. For instance, the old bitterness toward Protestant Yankee Republicans that had for generations made Democrats out of Irish, Italian, and Eastern European immigrants had now shifted, among their children and grandchildren, to resentment of the new immigrants – Negroes and Latinos – and against the national Democratic party, whose Great Society programs increasingly seemed to reflect favoritism for the new minorities over the old.”

Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy

In a May 17, 1970 article entitled “Nixon’s Southern strategy ‘It’s All In the Charts’” for the New York Times,

Justifiable Homicide, Anyone?

I’m awaiting the day when a corrupt cop attempts to kill a brown, or black-skinned person, and is in turn, killed by the victim.

And then, the defense would be justifiable homicide as an act of self-defense.

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“Don’t Kill Me!”: Others Tell History of Similar Abuse by the Bad Cop Who Killed George Floyd by Kneeling on his Neck

by Jamiles Lartey and Abbie VanSickle

Updated Tuesday, February 2, 2021, 10:16 AM

https://news.yahoo.com/dont-kill-others-tell-abuse-133333041.html

Nearly three years before Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd as he cried out that he couldn’t breathe last May, Zoya Code found herself in a similar position: Handcuffed facedown on the ground, with Chauvin’s knee on her.

The officer had answered a call of a domestic dispute at her home, and Code said he forced her down when she tried to pull away.

“He just stayed on my neck,” Code said, ignoring her desperate pleas to get off. Frustrated and upset, she challenged him to press harder. “Then he did. Just to shut me up,” she said.

Last week, a judge in Minnesota ruled that prosecutors could present the details of her 2017 arrest in their case against the former officer, who was charged with second-degree unintentional murder in Floyd’s death.

The Face of Evil
An undated photo provided by the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office in Minnesota of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who was fired from the force, and charged with second-degree unintentional murder and second-degree manslaughter after kneeling on George Floyd’s neck until he was dead. (image from Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office via The New York Times)

Code’s case was one of six arrests as far back as 2015 that the Minnesota attorney general’s office sought to introduce, arguing that they showed how Chauvin was using excessive force when he restrained people — by their necks or by kneeling on top of them — just as he did in arresting Floyd. Police records show that Chauvin was never formally reprimanded for any of these incidents, even though at least two of those arrested said they had filed formal complaints.

Of the six people arrested, two were Black, one was Latino and one was Native American. The race of two others was not included in the arrest reports that reporters examined.

Discussing the encounters publicly for the first time in interviews with The Marshall Project, three people who were arrested by Chauvin and a witness in a fourth incident described him as an unusually rough officer who was quick to use force and callous about their pain.

The interviews provide new insight into the history of a police officer whose handling of Floyd’s arrest, captured on video, was seen around the world and sparked months of protests in dozens of cities.

Chauvin, who was fired, has said through his attorney that his handling of Floyd’s arrest was a reasonable use of authorized force. But he was the subject of at least 22 complaints or internal investigations during his more than 19 years at the department, only one of which resulted in discipline. These new interviews show not only that he may have used excessive force in the past, but that he had used startlingly similar techniques.

All four people who told of their encounters with Chauvin had a history of run-ins with law enforcement, mostly for traffic and nonviolent offenses.

Code’s arrest occurred June 25, 2017. In a court filing, Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric J. Nelson, said the officer acted properly in the case, responding to “a violent crime in a volatile situation.” He said that “there was nothing unreasonable or unauthorized about Mr. Chauvin’s actions.”

Code’s mother had accused her of trying to choke her with an extension cord, according to the arrest report. Code said in an interview that her mother was swinging the cord around, and that she merely grabbed hold of it.

She said she had left the house to cool off after the fight and when she returned, Chauvin and his partner had arrived. In the prosecutors’ description, based on Chauvin’s report and body-camera video, Chauvin told Code she was under arrest and grabbed her arm. When she pulled away, he pulled her to the ground face first and knelt on her. The two officers then picked her up and carried her outside the house, facedown.

There, prosecutors said, Chauvin knelt on the back of the handcuffed woman “even though she was offering no physical resistance at all.”

Code, in an interview, said she began pleading: “Don’t kill me.”

At that point, according to the prosecutors’ account, Chauvin told his partner to restrain Code’s ankles as well, even though she “was not being physically aggressive.”

As he tied her, she said, she told the other officer, “You’re learning from an animal. That man — that’s evilness right there.”

Misdemeanor domestic assault and disorderly conduct charges filed against Code were ultimately dropped.

“You’re Choking Me!”

The earliest incident in which prosecutors said Chauvin used excessive force took place February 15, 2015, when he arrested Julian Hernandez — a carpenter who was on a road trip to Minneapolis to see a band at the El Nuevo Rodeo nightclub. Chauvin worked as an off-duty security officer there for almost 17 years.

The arrest report filed by Chauvin said Hernandez tried to

John C. Calhoun and the Racist Roots of the Senate Filibuster

Following are excerpted portions of the in-depth interview, which may be read in its entirety, or heard, via the link at the end this entry.

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Book ‘Kill Switch’ Examines The Racist History Of The Senate Filibuster

TERRY GROSS, HOST: Congress is trying to return to normal after the insurrection. But what is normal? There are more threats of violence surrounding the inauguration. The norm-breaking that became the norm during the Trump presidency is about to change with the Biden administration. Another change will be the new Democratic majority in the Senate. After newly elected Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are sworn in, the Senate will be evenly divided, 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats. But Vice President Kamala Harris will have the tie-breaking vote.

But how much power does that actually give Democrats in the Senate? A majority is not enough to pass legislation anymore and hasn’t been for a long time because of the modern use of the filibuster. It takes three-fifths of the Senate to override a filibuster, which means the minority only needs 41 votes to prevent any bill from even coming to a vote. My guest Adam Jentleson says the modern use of the filibuster has crippled American democracy, enabling the minority to systematically block bills favored by the majority. He’s the author of the new book, “Kill Switch,” about the rise of the modern Senate. He knows the ins and outs of Senate rules because he worked as Harry Reid’s deputy chief of staff when Reid was the Democratic leader. Jentleson joined Reid’s staff in 2010 and stayed until 2017.

“Kill Switch” is a history of how the filibuster started as a tool of Southern senators upholding slavery, and then later was used as a tool to block civil rights legislation. The book concludes with Senator Mitch McConnell’s advances in the use of filibuster as an obstructionist tool. Jentleson is now public affairs director at Democracy Forward, which was founded in 2017 to fight corruption in the executive branch.

ADAM JENTLESON: Slowly, over the course of time, but primarily to serve the interests of slave states and try to preserve slavery against the march of progress and a growing majority of both states and Americans who wanted to abolish slavery. The filibuster did not exist in name or practice until about the middle of the 19th century. So this was well after all of the Founding Fathers had passed away. James Madison was one of the longest lived and an ardent opponent of the filibuster to the extent that it sort of was coming into existence in the 1830s. And he passed away in the early 1830s.

John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), United States Representative of South Carolina-CD6, 10th Secretary of War, 16th Secretary of State, Senator of South Carolina, and 7th Vice President (1825-1832), ardent slavery proponent, and slave owner.

So the progenitor of the filibuster, its main innovator, was John C. Calhoun, the great nullifier, the leader, father of the Confederacy. And Calhoun innovated the filibuster for the specific purpose of empowering the planter class. He was a senator from South Carolina. His main patrons were the powerful planters. And he was seeking to create a regional constituency to empower himself against the march of progress and against – what was becoming clear was a superior economic model in the North. So Calhoun started to innovate forms of obstruction that came to be known as the filibuster.

GROSS: So you describe John Calhoun as, like, basically, the father of the filibuster. Let’s be clear who he was. I mean, he not only wanted to protect slave owners, he argued that slavery created racial harmony and improved the lives of slaves. You quote him in the book. He said, never before has the Black race of Central Africa, from the dawn of history to the present day, attained a condition so civilized and improved, not only physically, but morally and intellectually. Amazing that he could justify that slavery was improving the lives of enslaved people.

JENTLESON: That’s right. And it’s important to note at this time, you know – not to give people of that era too much credit for being enlightened. But, you know, there was a shift in public opinion going on regarding slavery in the United States. The abolitionist movement was beginning to gain traction. And, you know, while folks weren’t exactly at the enlightened state of believing in full equality, they recognized that slavery had – was, at best, a necessary evil, emphasis on the evil.

And so Calhoun took it upon himself to argue that there was nothing evil about it. In that same speech that you quoted, he went on to explain that slavery was not a necessary evil, but, quote, “a positive good.” He was such an ardent defender and such a vehement racist that he couldn’t even accept the sort of antebellum acknowledgement that there were parts of the institution that were evil. So it was very clear what his motivations were. He wanted to preserve slavery. And the filibuster was what he deployed to achieve that goal.

GROSS: So we’ve established that needing a supermajority to pass legislation was not what the founders wanted. They wanted simple majorities. You’ve talked about how the filibuster was initiated in the mid-19th century and the ways it was used to enable slave owners and to keep the institution of slavery. But you write that the only time the filibuster was used during Jim Crow with any consistency was to block any form of civil rights legislation and that this happened through the 1960s.

So give us an example of that – like, of the systematic use of the filibuster to block civil rights legislation.

JENTLESON: So what Southern senators faced starting in the 1920s was majority support for civil rights bills. These were rudimentary civil rights bills. These were anti-lynching bills and anti-poll tax bills, but they were civil rights bills nonetheless. These bills started passing the House with big majorities. They had presidents of both parties in the White House ready to sign them, and they actually had enormous public support. Gallup polled the public on anti-lynching bills in 1937 and found 70% of Americans supporting federal anti-lynching laws. And they polled anti-poll tax laws in the 1940s and found 60% support. So Southern senators started to block these bills in the name of minority rights

“Just say ‘NO’” has never worked. Here’s what does.

Freedom.

What a concept, eh?

The very idea that you have a brain, and therefore, can think independently to decide FOR YOURSELF what you want, or ought, to do, continues to frustrate others who think that they know better than you do what personal decisions you should make for yourself!

It’s an adult decision.

Why, it’s nothing short of… LIBERTY!

ENOUGH! of the “Nanny State”!

Take your religion home, and GET IT OUT OF GOVERNMENT!!

Practice it PRIVATELY, with your family, friends, and other like-minded individuals. STOP forcing your PRIVATE religious ethics and morals upon others by writing public laws that mirror your private interpretation of your religion.

Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to the Danbury Baptists that cited the establishment clause of our nation’s Constitution, which as he wrote, erected a “a wall of separation between Church & State,” or as we now say, between government, and religion.

Religious nuts have been trying to tear it down, ever since.

And they’re STILL TRYING TODAY!

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‘Drug Use For Grown-Ups’ Serves As An Argument For Personal Choice

If you grew up scared of what illicit drugs could do to you — hearing about all the horrors that could befall you from everyone from Nancy Reagan to your parents — the threat may have felt very real: If you actually took a puff off that joint that the kid who slept through math class offered you, it could lead to failed relationships, chronic unemployment, self-destruction.

The shame would outlive you.

But drugs are a more complicated matter than they’ve been made out to be, according to Dr. Carl L. Hart. In his new book Drug Use for Grown-Ups, the Columbia University professor of psychology and psychiatry zealously argues that drug use should be a matter of personal choice — and that, in more cases than not, personal choice can lead to positive outcomes. His positions may seem quite extreme to some but they also, by and large, make a lot of sense — and are backed up by ample research.

A major reason drugs have such a negative public image, Hart asserts, is racism. He notes that after the Civil War, some Chinese railroad construction workers smoked opium and, sometimes, established “opium dens” to do so. Over time, more and more white Americans visited these dens to smoke opium too. That in turn led to broader, bigoted social fear among whites, like, for example, the sentiments captured in H.H. Kane’s 1882 report:

“The practice spread widely…Many women and young girls, as also young men of respectable family, were being induced to visit the dens, where they were ruined morally and otherwise.”

Then there was the post-Civil War use of cocaine among some Black day laborers, something Hart writes was at first encouraged by white employers because of the productivity it could promote. Soon enough, however, articles appeared widely that tried to make a connection between African American cocaine use and criminality. One particularly egregious article in The New York Times in 1914, cited by Hart, even reported that some police in the South “who appreciate the vitality of the cocaine-crazed” were switching to higher-caliber weaponry capable of “greater shocking power for the express purpose of combating ‘the fiend’.”

But horrifying history aside, one of the book’s most eye-opening aspects is its challenge of the long-running association between drugs and addiction. First the basics: Addiction, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM – 5), must be a source of distress for a drug user. It must also interfere with a person’s job, parenting or personal relationships. Other indications of addiction may be

Donald Trump is the Charles Manson of the Republican Party

The actions of Banana Republicans in the House that did NOT vote to impeach President Donald J. Trump a SECOND time, are simply  mind-numbing.

Here, we have a President ON VIDEO TAPE who:

1.) Encouraged and invited rioters to come to Washington, D.C. SPECIFICALLY on January 6, 2021 in order to “stop the steal” writing on Twitter December 19, 2020 that “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”

-AND-

2.) Though his deliberately provocative rhetoric, incited a riotously violent insurrection in which the thousands upon thousands of Trump2020 mobsters there present stormed and laid siege to the Capitol Building and deliberately disrupted a Joint Session of Congress in which the Electoral College Votes were being counted to certify Joseph R. Biden as the President-elect

A transcript and video of Trump’s remarks at that “Save America” rally may be found here:
https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-speech-save-america-rally-transcript-january-6
• Here:
https://themichiganstar.com/2021/01/13/president-donald-trumps-speech-at-the-save-america-rally-transcript/
-and-
• From numerous additional sources here:
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=save+america+rally+transcript&atb=v94-1&ia=web

But here’s the kick in the pants:

Violent Racist 2x Federal Convict Chester Doles & GA Banana Republican Kelly Loeffler Visit

Georgia’s appointed U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler is seen here with notorious racist bigot Chester Doles, a self-described 4th generation Ku Klux Klansman white Supremacist. Loeffler is THE single wealthiest Member of Congress with an estimated individual net worth of $500 million aside from her husband Jeffrey Sprecher, Founder, CEO, and President of InterContinental Exchange, a firm which literally owns the New York Stock Exchange, and other exchanges. Together they are worth an estimated $1 billion. Her spokesman claims to have not known about Doles’ presence at her rally, yet QAnon conspiracy theorist and Banana Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene in September had kicked Doles out of one of her rallies. This image was posted by Doles on VK, a Russian social media website.

You know the saying.

“Shit draws flies.”

It’ll be up to you to decide which is which.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote this, in part, about their cordial visit:

“The photo shows the Republican smiling from beneath an American flag ball cap next to Chester Doles, a longtime white supremacist who spent decades in the Ku Klux Klan and the neo-Nazi National Alliance. He was sentenced to prison for the 1993 beating of a Black man in Maryland and again on weapons violations in Georgia. He also associated with the Hammerskins, a racist skinhead gang with whom he marched in 2017′s violent United the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.”

The “Hammerskin Nation” members, as they prefer to call themselves, are called one of “the best organized, most widely dispersed and most dangerous Skinhead group known” by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s anti-bigotry Intelligence Report, which “provides comprehensive updates to law enforcement agencies, the media and the general public” on the radical right in the United States. His March 2003 arrest by Federal authorities was for violating Federal law barring convicted felons from possessing firearms.

The Washington Post wrote this in part, about Doles and Loeffler’s friendly tête-à-tête:

“Smiling and sporting a dark green cap with an American flag, Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) posed side by side with a former Ku Klux Klan leader at a Friday campaign event in Dawsonville, Ga.

“But after the viral photo with Chester Doles drew intense criticism amid a crucial Senate runoff campaign, the senator is distancing herself from any association with the longtime white supremacist. A campaign spokesman told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday that Loeffler was unaware she was posing with a man who spent decades in the KKK and the neo-Nazi National Alliance.

““Kelly had no idea who that was, and if she had she would have kicked him out immediately because we condemn in the most vociferous terms everything that he stands for,” wrote Stephen Lawson, Loeffler’s campaign spokesman, to the Journal-Constitution in a statement Sunday.””[Sunday, 13 December 2020]

But here’s the contradictory part to Loeffler’s story: Even the freakazoid newly elected QAnon conspiracy theorist Banana Republican Congress critter Marjorie Taylor Greene threw him out of one of her rallies in Ringgold, Georgia, Saturday, September 19, 2020 – and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a story about the ordeal the following Monday, and told the newspaper that same day that, “Yes, I asked him to be removed. He is not welcome at any events that I attend. Period.”

One should seriously ponder why it is that a low-level weirdo like Banana Republican QAnon conspiracy theorist like Marjorie Taylor Greene would have on-the-ball-staff, while the multimillionairess Loeffler whose net worth is $500 Million at minimum, would not. It just doesn’t make sense.

Another thing that makes no sense is why anyone with at least half an ounce of common sense would know that Loeffler does NOT normally dress like that – trucker cap, checkerboard shirt, boots, jeans, etc. – when she’s relaxing. And yet, she hasn’t figured out that simply wearing the clothes of a “commoner” do not make her one, any more than wearing a welder’s mask and gloves makes her a welder. Folks who are fooled by such low-level attempts at deception are to be pitied. Why, even that blue-and-white checkerboard shirt probably cost well over $500.

Any woman worth a minimum of $500 million like she is, wear garments made by the likes of haute couture houses of Fendi, Prada, Gucci, Chanel, Armani, Vitton,

Crazy Much? White Republican Mississippi State Representative Price Wallace Can’t Spell, Advocates Treason, Hides, Then Apologizes, And Otherwise Shows His Ignorance.

👈This is a screenshot of a now-deleted Tweet from an actual White Republican Mississippi State Representative – Price Wallace – who was elected to represent MS State House District 77, Mendenhall.

Sadly, the mofo doesn’t even know the difference in SECEDE and SUCCEED. Maybe it’s a good thing he didn’t confuzalate it with suck seed.😳😂

And apparently, he’s either forgotten history, or skipped school during Civil War history week.

So it would only be natural to remind him, via the United States National Park Service website, that in January 1861 Mississippi state lawmakers adopted a secession declaration which stated:

“Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery
– the greatest material interest of the world.”

Spoiler warning: They tried that once; it was phenomenally unsuccessful.

But let’s play along, and briefly think about the “bigger picture” of his bad idea.

When compared to the other 49 states, Mississippi’s economy is:
Ranked between Guam and Puerto Rico in Per Capita GDP.
48th overall in the U.S. in Quality of Life.
49th in High School Graduation Rates.
50th in Healthcare Access & Quality.
48th in Public Health.
48th in Economy.
46th in Education.
45th in Infrastructure.
44th in Fiscal Stability.

On July 25, 2017, writing for the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger, Geoff Pender stated that “Mississippi remains dependent on Federal dollars.” Citing research by Pew Charitable Trusts which showed that compared to other states, at 42.1%, Mississippi was one of 6 states which received the bulk of their revenue from the Federal government, and in Fiscal Year 2018 received 42.6% of state revenue from the Federal government, with 41.2% from state taxes, with the balance from service charges and local taxes.

Now, close your eyes and imagine if it “succeeded” from the Union… and lost all the Federal money it now gets.

In actuality, what we have here, is a duly-elected Public Official advocating treason against the United States. Isn’t there a law against that kind of crap?

Not in Mississippi.

The state constitution in Article 3, Section 10 reads:

PETA’s Monkey Business: Racism and White Supremacy

Editor’s Note: The succinct summary of the entry is as follows:

PETA puts forth an idea which they call “speciesism” – that the superiority of humanity is something to be abhorred and eliminated – and to that end, they misappropriate the remarks of the late civil rights icon the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. regarding equality of humans and apply his remarks to lower animals, brute beasts.

On their website, they bluntly state that,

“We are taught the Golden Rule as young children, and all major religions teach principles of nonviolence and kindness. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Ethical treatment—the Golden Rule—must be extended to all living beings: reptiles, mammals, fish, insects, birds, amphibians, and crustaceans.”

–and they further state that–

“PETA opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview … We also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of rodents, birds, and other animals who are often considered “pests” as well as cruelty to domesticated animals.”

By so doing, by holding that perspective, that humanity is no better than a bug, a mosquito, housefly, or some disease-infested vermin, a rat, venomous viper, or spineless jellyfish, they not only denigrate humanity, but the end result of such thinking – that humanity is no better than brute beasts – is that Blacks are the intellectual and moral equivalent of monkeys.

As evidence of that fact, that they make the moral and intellectual equivalency of Blacks with apes and only obliquely draw that parallel, on their website’s several pages are images of Black men and the great apes, along with other wild primates, and their discussion “seamlessly” segues into a conflation of lower primates and humans, and combine those images in conjunction with their asinine claims of “monkey slavery.”

Slavery is an exclusively human institution found nowhere else in nature.

NOWHERE.
– Ed.

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PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – is widely known to have gone off the rails a long time ago. Their crazy train took a dirt road.

That is to say, they’ve

Alabama Proves To America Racism IS Alive And Well

Is it irony, or mere coincidence that these events are happening in the former “slave states” in the Deep South?

Is it irony, or mere coincidence that these events are practically all created by Republicans?

Is it irony, or mere coincidence that these events are being given the thumbs-up by a largely Republican Supreme Court?

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propublica.org

Why Do Non-White Georgia Voters Have to Wait in Line for Hours? Their Numbers Have Soared, and Their Polling Places Have Dwindled.

by Stephen Fowler, Georgia Public Broadcasting
Oct. 17, 2020
5 a.m. EDT

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Congress works for you. Learn how to be a better boss with the User’s Guide to Democracy, a series of personalized emails about what your representatives actually do.

This article is co-published by ProPublica, Georgia Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio.

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Kathy spotted the long line of voters as she pulled into the Christian City Welcome Center about 3:30 p.m., ready to cast her ballot in the June 9 primary election.

Hundreds of people were waiting in the heat and rain outside the lush, tree-lined complex in Union City, an Atlanta suburb with 22,400 residents, nearly 88% of them Black. She briefly considered not casting a ballot at all, but decided to stay.

By the time she got inside more than five hours later, the polls had officially closed and the electronic scanners were shut down. Poll workers told her she’d have to cast a provisional ballot, but they promised that her vote would be counted.

“I’m now angry again, I’m frustrated again, and now I have an added emotion, which is anxiety,” said Kathy, a human services worker, recalling her emotions at the time. She asked that her full name not be used because she fears repercussions from speaking out. “I’m wondering if my ballot is going to count.”

By the time the last voter finally got inside the welcome center to cast a ballot, it was the next day, June 10.

The clogged polling locations in metro Atlanta reflect an underlying pattern: The number of places to vote has shrunk statewide, with little recourse. Although the reduction in polling places has taken place across racial lines, it has primarily caused long lines in non-White neighborhoods where voter registration has surged and more residents cast ballots in person on Election Day. The pruning of polling places started long before the pandemic, which has discouraged people from voting in person.

In Georgia, considered a battleground state for control of the White House and U.S. Senate, the difficulty of voting in Black communities like Union City could possibly tip the results on Nov. 3. With massive turnout expected, lines could be even longer than they were for the primary, despite a rise in mail-in voting and Georgians already turning out by the hundreds of thousands to cast ballots early.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder decision in 2013 eliminated key federal oversight of election decisions in states with histories of discrimination, Georgia’s voter rolls have grown by nearly 2 million people, yet polling locations have been cut statewide by nearly 10%, according to an analysis of state and local records by Georgia Public Broadcasting and ProPublica. Much of the growth has been fueled by younger, non-White voters, especially in nine metro Atlanta counties, where four out of five new voters were non-White, according to the Georgia secretary of state’s office.

The metro Atlanta area has been hit particularly hard. The nine counties — Fulton, Gwinnett, Forsyth, DeKalb, Cobb, Hall, Cherokee, Henry and Clayton — have nearly half of the state’s active voters but only 38% of the polling places, according to the analysis.

As a result, the average number of voters packed into each polling location in those counties grew by nearly 40%, from about 2,600 in 2012 to more than 3,600 per polling place as of Oct. 9, the analysis shows. In addition,

$16T Is Not COVID-19 Costs, It’s Racism’s Costs

40 acres and a mule.

That was the promise which was authorized and made to freed slaves by General Tecumseh Sherman in Special Field Order No. 15 on January 16, 1865, during the last days of the Civil War.

It was promptly broken by President Johnson, who was a slave owner, and had become President upon Lincoln’s assassination.

America has been breaking promises at least since 1776.

America has broken numerous promises to, and treaties with Indians (Native Americans).

America broke numerous promises to Blacks – and, still is.

And, in large part, America has broken faith with the Common Man at least ever since 1980, so that now, “corporations are people, my friend.” {So said Mitt Romney while campaigning at the Iowa State Fair to be the Republican party’s Presidential Nominee in August 2011.}

I wish that America’s politicians
(especially the GOP)
cared more for The People
than for corporations.

Anyone that loves America, loves her people, loves the idea of liberty, of equality, and guaranteed rights under law, should also love honesty, justice, and responsibility. And one simply CANNOT examine any segment of American history without acknowledging the horrific and grotesque inequity present FROM THE BEGINNING of this nation. It’s written in the Constitution, for heaven’s sake!

Women did not have the right to vote (suffrage).

Blacks were enslaved. Then, Blacks were continually discriminated against in seemingly countless ways – ranging from the denial of voting rights, of commerce, of justice, and more. And, as if to add insult to injury, the 13th Amendment has an exclusion clause FOR the purpose of perpetuating slavery. The amendment reads: Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

“…except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted…”

Yes, slavery IS 100% Legal in the United States. The Constitution says so.

And to ANYONE who claims or asserts that there is not now institutionalized racism in this country need only look to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) to see that racism is institutionalized, and alive and well in the United States.

In the 1999 Class Action case Pigford v. Glickman(Timothy Pigford, et al., v. Dan Glickman, Secretary, United States Department of Agriculture), “the suit claimed that the agency had discriminated against black farmers on the basis of race and failed to investigate or properly respond to complaints from 1983 to 1997.” Members of the class included those who received allocation of farm loans and assistance between 1981 and 1996. (See: “Black Farmers Win $1.25 Billion In Discrimination Suit,” By Jasmin Melvin, February 18, 2010, online at
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-farmers-pigford-idUSTRE61H5XD20100218)

• The 2007 Census of Agriculture reported that 2.20 million farms operated in the United States. Of this total, 32,938, or approximately 1.5% of all farms, were operated by African Americans.

• Over 74% (24,466) of African American farmers in the United States reside in Texas, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia and Louisiana.

• Average annual market value for farms operated by African American farmers in 2007 was $30,829. The national average for white U.S. farmers was $140,521.

• Overall, the number of farms operated in the United States increased by 3.2% between 2002 and 2007. Farms operated by African Americans increased from 29,090 to 32,938, an 11.7% increase over the five-year period.

• In 2007, 348 (757 in 2002) African American farmers received Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) loans amounting to a total of $9.9 million. This averaged $28,408 per participating African American farmer, about 32% of the national average ($87,917). Average CCC loan value to white farmers was $88,379.

• Other federal farm payments to African American operated farms averaged $4,260, half the national average government farm payment of $9,518. About 31% of all African American farmers received some government payment compared to 50% of white farmers.

The Congressional Research Service has written about the Pigford v Glickman case in

Trump FailBlog: Notes on the First 2020 Presidential Debacle… er “Debate”

The Current White House Occupant managed to shoot himself and the GOP in the foot again last night (Tuesday, 29 September 2020) with his unmitigated bullying and verbal abuse at the first Trump-Biden Presidential Debate. No doubt, GOP candidates in so-called “down ballot” races will appreciate his effort for making the party look so appealng. </sarcasm>

True to form, and likely knowing that he couldn’t succeed against Biden – an expert debater with 36 years of Senate experience – Trump took a “burn it down/scorched earth” approach and succeeded in destroying the debate, format and forum, by repeatedly interrupting his opponent, the Democratic candidate Joe Biden, and the Moderator, in order to prevent his opponent from cogently responding.

Trump even verbally attacked Moderator Chris Wallace, Fox News Anchor, several times. In the history of American Presidential debates, that has never happened. At one point, Wallace found it necessary to sternly ask Trump to allow his opponent, the Democratic Party’s Presidential Nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, to answer the question, and Trump rudely interrupted him. The exchange was:

WALLACE: “Mr. President, I’m the moderator of this debate and I’d like you to let me ask my questions.”

TRUMP: “I guess I’m debating you, not him. I’m not surprised.”

To characterize the GOP candidate as undisciplined, unbridled, unhinged, out-of-control, and even rude throughout the 90 minute episode, would be diplomatically generous on all counts. Interestingly enough, his performance was oddly reminiscent of Russian tactics during World War II in which the Russians and their army retreated as the German Nazis advanced toward Moscow – colloquially termed as a “scorched earth” policy – in August/September/October 1941. Knowing that the Nazis were approaching, the peasants and others decided to evacuate their towns and cities, burning everything that could possibly be useful to the enemy as they departed. Moreover, it was Hitler’s ill-fated decision to invade Russia, in conjunction with the Russian tactic, that marked a turning point in World War II for the Nazis, which depleted their strength, and resolve. And ironically, Trump’s scorched earth approach to the debate may similarly prove to be the turning point of his candidacy, and presidency, marking the beginning of his end.

Republican strategist Alex Conant confirmed Trump’s failed “burn it down” approach by acknowledging that Trump undoubtedly knows that he’s behind in numerous national polls, and among voting groups whose support it critical to his success, especially in

Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, etc., etc…. Do we have a problem, or do we have a problem?

What the police did in Louisville, KY is CRIMINAL, and INEXCUSABLE.
PERIOD.

That her murderers/killers were NOT indicted is a indictment itself upon the INJUSTICE system in that town.
This is where vigilante justice comes in handy begins to enter the picture.

Right-Wing Extremists and GOPers are doing it (look at Wisconsin), and now, turn about’s fair play.
They’re permanently marked men – with the “mark of Cain.”
But unlike Cain, look for them to  be

Abraham Lincoln: “I am not… in favor of… equality of the… races.”

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

That oxymoronic statement is likely more moronic than oxy. And yet, we as human beings are capable of change. Change is the only constant. Sometimes, we change for the better, while at others, the worse. But change we must. Again, change is the only constant.

Change implies that a state of being exists in which either progress or regress is possible. (I have opined on that subject previously.) There is no such thing a genuine stasis. Even within the human body, stasis ulcers, also known as venous stasis ulcers, bought about by blood “pooling” – typically in the lower extremities – causes a deterioration in the character and quality of the surrounding flesh. Venous stasis ulcers develop because of venous valve malfunction, and accompanying high return pressure, and occur typically in the feet, ankles, and lower legs. In turn, swelling occurs in the extremity. If you’ve ever wondered why blood only goes in one direction, it’s because of one-way valves in the veins. When the valves malfunction, the return pressure is transmitted AWAY from the heart (venous blood circulates returning TOWARD the heart, in order to be re-oxygenated by passage through the lungs).

But again, let one thing break down, and the entire surrounding environment starts deteriorating. (I would say “goes to hell,” but some might say that’s “unprofessional.”)

Point being, is that condition itself demonstrates that change occurs, and that not all change is good.

On the other hand, positive change yields positive results, and positive change is possible.

What you’re about to read may shock you.

It did me.

For whatever reason, I long had the impression that Lincoln had always been a proponent of racial equality.

That’s not true.

However, he changed.

Exactly how, and when that change began to occur is largely unknown, but his changing opinions about slavery reflected the development of his thought on racial equity. And for that, he became a target, literally, of Southerners who sought his assassination for that reason.

They did mange to succeed in killing him following Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox, in Washington, D.C. at Ford’s Theatre, through John Wilkes Booth who throughout the Civil War was a Confederate spy.

Lincoln’s remarks in full may be found via the link to the National Park Service website.
A New York Times article dated December 28, 1860 which addresses Lincoln’s remarks may be found here:
https://www.nytimes.com/1860/12/28/archives/mr-lincoln-and-negro-equality.html

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“While I had not proposed to myself on this occasion to say much on that subject, yet as the question was asked me I thought I would occupy perhaps five minutes in saying something in regard to it. I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of

Dog Whistler For Sale

UrbanDictionary.com states this about the popular cultural meaning of “Dog Whistle“:

“Dog whistle is a type of strategy of communication that sends a message that the general population will take a certain meaning from, but a certain group that is “in the know” will take away the secret, intended message. Often involves code words.

“Republicans say they want to make civil rights for gays a state issue, which is really just a dog whistle strategy for saying that they will refuse to grant equal rights on a federal level.”

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Trump To White Minnesota Audience:

“You Have Good Genes.”

by Christopher Wilson – Senior Writer, Yahoo News
September 21, 2020

It’s called a “dog whistle,” a word or phrase in a speech that is unobjectionable on the surface but conveys a coded message to partisans, by analogy to high-pitched sounds that are audible to dogs but not to people. Richard Nixon leaned on it heavily during his 1968 presidential campaign, referencing “law and order” and a “war on drugs,” further codifying racial appeals from Barry Goldwater for “states’ rights” and “freedom of association.” Ronald Reagan took it to another level in 1976, demonizing a “welfare queen” who fraudulently collected $150,000 in government benefits, a barely concealed appeal to the race and class resentments of White voters toward Blacks.

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Ed. NOTE: Reagan’s demagogic demonization of an ostensibly Black woman as a “welfare queen” is a highly-popularized modern-day Republican myth. Linda Taylor, a Tennessee-born White Chicago-area resident, was given the miscreant moniker by the Chicago Tribune in October 1974, which also focused upon her personal possessions – jewelry, furs, and a Cadillac – though the real story of her behavior was much worse, and more complicated than a relatively minor case of simple welfare fraud. In 2013, Josh Levin, Editorial Director for Slate, wrote an extensively detailed report of the real-life character who Reagan mythologized on his campaign trail, exclusively in an effort to capitalize upon the “shock and awe” factor to gain voter support for his candidacy. Reagan’s use of exaggeration as a raconteur was renown, and in a January 1976 campaign rally, as any good story-teller would, he embellished that character by claiming, “In Chicago, they found a woman who holds the record. She used 80 names, 30 addresses, 15 telephone numbers to collect food stamps, Social Security, veterans’ benefits for four nonexistent deceased veteran husbands, as well as welfare. Her tax-free cash income alone has been running $150,000 a year.” While much has been written about Reagan’s well-known penchant for demagoguery, little of what he claimed was true, though he made significant political hay with it by portraying one isolated problem as a wholesale representation of systemic organizational failure, which he later used to justify reducing spending on social welfare programs. While Taylor did go to prison for committing about $8000 in welfare fraud (the 2020 value of which would be about $36,500), she was more memorable for her theft-claim and bigamy scams, which frauds were discovered only years later, along with probable murder and kidnapping for which she was never indicted. Levin wrote, “For Linda Taylor, people were consumable goods, objects to cultivate, manipulate, and discard. For Ronald Reagan, Taylor was a tool to convince voters that the government was in crisis.”

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By that standard, President Trump’s riff about the “good genes” found among the people of Minnesota — an 80 percent white state — wasn’t a dog whistle. It was a train whistle, folding in Trump’s long-held belief that some people, himself especially, are simply born with superior traits to others.

“You have good genes, you know that, right?” Trump said during his Saturday rally in front of a nearly all-white crowd in Bemidji. “You have good genes. A lot of it is about the genes, isn’t it, don’t you believe? The racehorse theory. You think we’re so different? You have good genes in Minnesota.”

The racehorse theory is the belief that some humans have a better genetic endowment than others, and by breeding two superior people you end up with superior offspring. The belief in eugenics, the pseudoscience of trimming out “inferior” bloodlines to increase the quality of the gene pool, is part of a long, racist history in America, from forced sterilizations to research funded by the Carnegie Institution, among other wealthy foundations. Earlier this month, charges surfaced that a doctor at an ICE facility was performing unwanted and likely unnecessary hysterectomies on detained immigrant women, which would prevent them from having more children.

“It’s not just eugenics in theory, but it’s eugenics in practice,” said Steve Silberman, a historian whose

GOP Is Now A White Man’s Party

On Morning Edition today (Monday, August 31, 2020), NPR reporter Steve Inskeep spoke with conservative GOP strategist Shermichael Singleton – Race Is A Hot Button Issue Ahead Of November’s Presidential Election.

As an experienced political analyst, Mr. Singleton’s bona fides are impressive, and includes addressing Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, contributing to several broadcast and news media outlets including The New York Times, C-SPAN, The Washington Post, CNBC, The Hill, CNN, MSNBC, and The Washington Times magazine, among others.

Mr. Singleton, who was born in Louisiana, spent his formative years in Dallas, Texas, earned his Bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College in Political Science, and before that, the Associate in Arts & Science from Southern New Hampshire University.

Having spent time with the organization Lauren’s Kids, a south Florida-based non-profit which works to eradicate sexual abuse through educating adults and school-age children, he later worked as a

When Will Hillary Go Away?

Hillary Clinton continues to show her ass, and her most recent inane comment via Twitter (“Either Tim Kaine and I had a very vivid shared hallucination four years ago or Maureen had too much pot brownie before writing her column again.“) about Maureen Dowd’s column just proves how classless that conniving, subterranean racist, political wanna-be is. She might as well have called her a “racially disparaging term beginning with the letter ’N’ and ending with the letter ‘R’.”

Why?

Well, it was under her husband’s administration that private prisons popped up like mushrooms after a spring shower, which were then just as quickly populated with Blacks and Hispanics courtesy of his “Three Strikes” law – a law he championed which mandated a life sentence for anyone convicted of a violent crime after two prior convictions for any crime, including drug crimes – many of whom had been arrested on low-level, nonviolent drug charges – most typically as marijuana possession.

Mass incarceration was a Clinton concept.

He later admitted it was a bad idea and said, “I signed a bill that made the problem worse and I want to admit it.”

Brother Bill also was the architect behind the idea to “end welfare as we have come to know it,” which was formerly a robust social safety net.

So yeah… my opinion of them both is lower’n a snake’s belly.

Of course, there’s been “bad blood” between Dowd and Hillary for quite some time.

The Daily Mail wrote that “In 2014 Dowd wrote a series of articles about

Things Don’t Look Good For Alabama State Representative Will Dismukes

Be very wary of an attorney who says these type things about his client:

“Will is young and is learning some hard lessons. But he’s a very convicted man. He’s very convicted in his faith and he’s very convicted in his character. He’s very convicted in his heritage. And Will’s not a person who’s going to shy away from the tough questions to satisfy folks. And that upsets a lot of people. And I understand that. Especially in these times.

“But Will’s not going to admit to something he didn’t do. And he’s not going to step down from a position that he was elected to that he’s trying to do a good job at just because someone has pointed the finger and tried to make him out to be a bad guy. He’s a fighter. I’d be surprised if he resigns.”

Learning hard lessons…

Convicted – 4 times!…

Heritage – especially if you’re aligned with a White Supremacist group…

Resigns…

When your own attorney uses those words in response to the charges, you gotta’ KNOW that it prolly won’t go well.

So already, things don’t look good for Will Dismukes.

A since-deleted Facebook social media post by Will Dismukes, a White Republican member of the Alabama State House of Representatives, State House District 88, who was at the time, also a Baptist pastor of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, Prattville. Dismukes resigned after 3 days of outcry following discovery of this since-deleted social media post. “Fort Dixie” is the Selma, Alabama, home of Patricia Godwin, a woman with deep ties to the neo-Confederate cause and organized hate.

You should be concerned particularly, and especially if

White Lady Antebellum Steals From Black Lady A

White Folks Trying To Steal From Black Folks

Southern White Musical Trio Attempting To Steal Name From The Black Woman Who’s Used It For 20+ Years

OH!

The irony!

White folks sue Black woman who’s been known professionally as “Lady A” for 20+ years.

The original Lady A is a 61-year-old black singer who’s released multiple records under that name, and said in part that

“This is my life.
They’re using the name because of a Black Lives Matter incident that,
for them,
is just a moment in time.”

Lady Antebellum’s very actions exemplify and perpetuate the sense of White Entitlement.

For several years they didn’t give a rat’s rip about the name, and “suddenly” they care.

Yeah… right.

And so now, the racist bastards are gonna’ try and steal it from her… legally.

In a July 8 story in Billboard headlined as “The Band Lady A Files Lawsuit Against Singer Anita ‘Lady A’ White: Exclusive” Melinda Newman wrote in part that

“The suit also alleges that after conversations broke down between the band — whose members are Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and David Haywood — and the singer and their respective attorneys, White’s new counsel “delivered a draft settlement agreement that included an exorbitant monetary demand.” While the dollar figure is not mentioned in the suit, a statement concurrently issued by the band says the amount is $10 million.

““Today we are sad to share that our sincere hope to join together with Anita White in unity and common purpose has ended,” the group said in a statement. “She and her team have demanded a $10 million payment, so reluctantly we have come to the conclusion that we need to ask a court to affirm our right to continue to use the name Lady A, a trademark we have held for many years.””

Variety picked up the news as well, and in an article headlined as “‘Lady A’: Group Sues Singer for Right to Share Name, Says Lawyers Demanded $10 Million; The Nashville trio says it was granted a trademark on “Lady A” in 2011 after five years of use, but the blues singer of that name first released music in 2010. So much for a planned joint single.” which was published Jul 8, 2020 5:30pm PT.

The information for the story came from an Instagram post made by the trio which in part read:

“It was a stirring in our hearts and reflection on our own blindspots that led us to announce a few weeks ago that we were dropping the word ‘Antebellum’ from our name and moving forward using only the name so many of our fans already knew us by. When we learned that Ms. White had also been performing under the name Lady A, we had heartfelt discussions with her about how we can all come together and make something special and beautiful out of this moment. We never even entertained the idea that she shouldn’t also be able to use the name Lady A, and never will – today’s action doesn’t change that.

“Instead, we shared our stories, listened to each other, prayed and spent hours on the phone and text writing a song about this experience together. We felt we had been brought together for a reason and saw this as living out the calling that brought us to make this change in the first place. We’re disappointed that we won’t be able to work together with Anita for that greater purpose.

That kind of drivel – prosaic use of language such as “a stirring in our hearts,” and words such as “heartfelt,” phrases like “all come together and make something special and beautiful” – are purposely designed to pull at the emotional heartstrings of readers, and are nothing but a manipulative tool.

And for Southerners, at least – and Lady Antebellum is a musical ménage à trois of Three White Southerners – one must include religion, so it’s entirely apropos to let folks know that “we prayed.”

They just have the wrong god – mammon.

This entire ordeal stinks to high heaven of racism, and White Entitlement – it is the VERY embodiment, the quintessential substance of everything and every ideal that the Black Lives Matter movement stands for, and fights against – White Power.

It also shows Lady Antebellum’s utter lack of creativity.

A creative person could’ve announced a New Name Contest and given the three runners-up “consolation prizes” of $10,000 each, while the Grand Prize Winner – all which would be submitted and chosen by fans – a $100,000 cash prize.

But no… Lady Antebellum is not that creative.

The Three White Bitches would rather expend much more money to lawyer up and very publicly legally steal from a Black Woman.

There are a variety of names which they now ought to be called:

• Entitled White Thieves
• Three White Folks Stealing Names
• The Southern Bi-Sexual Ménage à Trois
• Three Musical Confederates
• Sorry… Not Sorry
• Three White Lives Matter More
• All White Meat: Two Men and a Woman
• We’re Richer Than You
or, the most apropos…

• Three Clueless White Southern Shitheads.

But if they really want to stay with the architectural theme, they could take:

• Ghost of Frank Lloyd Wright
• Greek Revival
• Dorian Columns
• Corinthian Scrolls
• Split-Level Singers
• Ranch-Style Songsters
• Idols of Excess
• Marble Columns
• Three Colonnades
• Spiral Staircase (that name has been used as “Spiral Starecase”)
• Cupola Singers
• Belvidere’s Belfry

Of course, another altogether unique option is:
The Band With A Racist Name

Joe Coscarelli of the New York Times wrote and confirmed the proceedings which the Nashville trio made “In the weeks that followed [the announcement made by Lady Antebellum to change their name], an apparent détente between the two parties, initially celebrated on social media by both sides, faltered when representatives for White “demanded a $10 million payment,” the band said in a statement on Wednesday. Now, the platinum-selling Nashville group has filed a lawsuit that seeks no monetary damages, but asks the court to affirm “a trademark we have held for many years.”

So apparently, the figure of $10 million came up in negotiations between Lady Antebellum and Lady A, which Lady A seemed to have proposed for use of the name “Lady A.”

The group apparently refused.

They’re only worth about $84 Million… and counting.

Ten million wouldn’t even begin to put a dent in their savings or checking accounts… or in the accounts of their corporations, or their accountants, or army of lawyers, or the numerous members of their extended entourages.

But seriously, the platinum-selling threesome has confessed being lackadaisical in their name choice, so this shenanigans is nothing but pure laziness on their part.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8504311/Country-band-Lady-A-files-suit-against-singer-name.html

Now, before you go off all half-cocked, read on… to become full-cocked.

Yes, this entire ordeal is stupid.

And what exactly is “this entire ordeal”?

“This entire ordeal” is that

Giving Honor To Whom Honor Is Not Due

Where are statues to Adolph Hitler Hermann Göring, Josef Mengele, or the Third Reich ?

There are over 1,747 public symbols to honor the Confederacy.

Statues, monuments, schools, buildings, parks, courthouse & government office grounds, counties/municipalities, roads, holidays, flags, scholarships, songs, and other things have all been named to dignify, commemorate, and honor traitorous loser Confederates.

It’s past time for the South – and the rest of the nation – to bury the myth of the Lost Cause once and for all.¹ ² ³ ⁴

In order to more fully understand the artwork, it must be placed in a proper context to be better interpreted. Further, it provides opportunity for preservation and care.

We see that in the many National Parks and on-site museums at Civil War battlefield sites. So placing such statuary in a museum, or other area -and- given a much more full explanation of the artist, the era, and the events commemorated, we can more fully understand the thing which is being interpreted. Andrew Jackson’s homeplace “The Hermitage” is such an example, and I have visited the site which is a park, museum, and interpretive center, along with other Civil War battlefield sites which also have museums and interpretive centers.

To simply place a thing in the public square with a plaque is a disservice to the art, and the artist, and to those who would interpret it – the viewers.

“Confederate markers do not provide a comprehensive look at the Civil War but rather focus narrowly on the Confederate war effort. In 2008, the Georgia Historical Society conducted a review of the more than 900 Civil War markers in the state. It found that “over 90 percent of the existing markers dealt strictly with military topics, leaving vast segments of the Civil War story untold — with almost no markers describing the war’s impact on civilians, politics, industry, the home front, African Americans, or women.””

Cold Harbor, Va. African Americans collecting bones of soldiers killed in the battle. Photographed by John Reekie, April 1865. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018666599/ Title: [Cold Harbor, Va. African Americans collecting bones of soldiers killed in the battle] Creator(s): Reekie, John, photographer Date Created/Published: 1865 April. Medium: 1 negative : glass, wet collodion. Summary: Photograph from the main eastern theater of war, Grant’s Wilderness Campaign, May-June 1864. Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-cwpb-04324 (digital file from original neg.) LC-B8171-7926 (b&w film neg.) Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication. For information, see “Civil war photographs, 1861-1865,”(http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/120_cwar.html) Call Number: LC-B817- 7926 [P&P] LOT 4167-B (corresponding photographic print) Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

The term Lost Cause first appeared in the title of an 1866 book by the historian Edward A. Pollard, The Lost Cause: A New Southern History of the War of the Confederates. However, it was the articles written for the Southern Historical Society by Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early in the 1870s that established the Lost Cause as a long-lasting literary and cultural phenomenon.

Early’s original inspiration for his views may have come from General Robert E. Lee.  In his farewell order to the Army of Northern Virginia, Lee spoke of the “overwhelming resources and numbers” that the Confederate army fought against.

The Lost Cause theme was taken up by memorial associations such as the United Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The Lost Cause helped Southerners to cope with the social, political, and economic changes after the Civil War especially in the oppressive Reconstruction era.

Some of the main tenets of the Lost Cause movement were that:

• Confederate generals such as Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson represented the virtues of Southern nobility. This nobility was contrast most significantly in comparisons between U.S. Grant and Lee. The Northern generals, were characterized as men with low moral standards who engaged in vicious campaigns against Southern civilians such as Sherman’s March to the Sea and Philip Sheridan’s burning of the Shenandoah Valley in the Valley Campaigns of 1864.
• Losses on the battlefield were

Honoring John C. Calhoun Community College, Decatur, Alabama

John C. Calhoun…

The very name brings chills to those who hear it mentioned.

And it should.

Calhoun was not merely a segregationist, but an open and unashamed advocate of slavery.

On Monday, February 6, 1837, on the floor of the United States Senate, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina delivered a speech in which he characterized slavery as “a positive good.”

However, Senator Calhoun’s speech before the Senate is largely absent from the official record, even though there are some extant authenticating sources.

That is, the official record of the proceedings in that era was called “Congressional Globe” and as the predecessor to the modern “Congressional Record” (a verbatim document which succeeded the Globe) it is substantially different, insofar as the Globe’s contents are NOT a verbatim source (like the Record is today), and instead, are the characterizations of a recorder(s), and read much like the minutes of a meeting.

Today, in the Congressional Record, one can read the exact words spoken by any person from the floor of either chamber – House, or Senate.

For that era however, the debates of Congress are found in the Congressional Globe, and for the date in question, the record of the debate may be found here: https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llcg&fileName=003/llcg003.db&recNum=172.

24th Congress 2nd Session, Congressional Globe Appendix, Monday, February 6, 1837

However again, fortunately there is a source which does contain the speech. That source is the 1843 book “Speeches of John C. Calhoun: Delivered in the Congress of the United States from 1811 to the present time” which may be found in its entirety on the Internet Archive website here: https://archive.org/details/speechesofjohncc00incalh/page/222/mode/2up?q=a+good-a+positive+good.

Recently, the City of Charleston, South Carolina, which for years had

NASCAR Noose ~IS~ Quintessential Alabama

Alabamians, with their bigoted history of racism and hatred by and through the KKK, take the noose so much for granted that the terror symbol is used even as a garage door pull.

UPDATE, Tuesday, 23 June 2020, 1923 CDT:
Joint Statement from U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp, Jr. Regarding the Noose Found in NASCAR’s Bubba Wallace’s Garage at Talladega Superspeedway
United States Attorney’s Office – Northern District of AL
Department of Justice

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndal/pr/joint-statement-us-attorney-jay-e-town-and-fbi-special-agent-charge-johnnie-sharp-jr

“The FBI learned that garage number 4, where the noose was found, was assigned to Bubba Wallace last week. The investigation also revealed evidence, including authentic video confirmed by NASCAR, that the noose found in garage number 4 was in that garage as early as October 2019. Although the noose is now known to have been in garage number 4 in 2019, nobody could have known Mr. Wallace would be assigned to garage number 4 last week.”

A Confederate flag is flown from a small personal aircraft over Talladega Superspeedway racetrack in Alabama recently (formerly the “Alabama International Motor Speedway”) following news that the private firm would forbid display of the racist White Supremacist symbol anywhere on their property.

Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr., wearing an “I CAN’T BREATHE” Black Lives Matter tee-shirt

Just in the case you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past few days, weeks, or even months due to the novel coronavirus COVID-19, there’s no need to fear. Simply head on out to your local _(insert store type of choice here)_ store for a lovely coronafest.

Best part?

Masks not included… nor are they required!

However, pointy hooded white robes ARE required in Alabama.

It seems that NASCAR driver Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. – driver of the legendary No. 43, which was Richard Petty’s car for 1125 of 2000 starts from 1959-1992 – found a noose hanging in the car’s garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway yesterday (Sunday, June 21, 2020).

An American Civil War era miniature Stars and Bars Confederate battle flag is seen next to a Black Lawn Jockey statue during the 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Die Hard 500 on 26 April 1998 at the Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega, Alabama, United States. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Allsport/Getty Images)

Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. – a Black man, and genuine rarity in motorsports, especially “stock car racing” – debuted in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2017 at Pocono, substituting for the injured Aric Almirola, an American of Cuban descent, and made a total of four starts.

The next year, Richard Petty Motorsports – owner of the legendary Number 43 racecar – named “Bubba” Wallace as the car’s full-time driver in the NASCAR Cup Series.

The Talladega 500, affectionately known as ‘dega to many, is the motorsport’s series fastest track, which until the mandatory installation of restrictor plates, supported speeds of well over 200mph on the “tri-oval” racecourse.

Naturally, everyone’s in a tizzy over the noose, and the Trump administration’s  “disgraceful” FBI henchmen (or punching bag, take your pick), are allegedly “investigating,” whatever ~that~ is supposed to mean.

But poor Bubba.

He was born to Black woman.

His daddy is White.

And, the 26-year-old was born in Mobile, Alabama, but grew up in Concord, North Carolina.

So he knows ALL about it.

And so should his parents.

And as far as Alabama is concerned, Black Lives DON’T Matter… regardless of what is plastered on the side of a race car, and regardless of who drives it.

As evidence of Alabama’s long-term and ongoing support of racism – even to this day – consider the following:

This plaque is located on the landing steps of the Alabama State Capitol building in Montgomery, AL; the inscription reads: Placed by SOPHIE BIBB CHAPTER Daughters of the Confederacy on the spot where JEFFERSON DAVIS stood when inaugurated president of C.S.A., Feb. 18, 1861

• Montgomery was the first Capitol of the Confederacy in 1861. There’s even a star commemorating the spot where Confederate President Jefferson Davis

Birmingham Alabama’s Edifice to Evil: Confederate Soldiers & Sailors Monument

Birmingham, Alabama comedian Jermaine “FunnyMaine” Johnson

Birmingham Alabama’s Edifice to Evil is the Confederate Soldiers & Sailors Monument in the city’s downtown Linn Park.

Casting the shadowy pall of slavery over the city since 1905 after being gifted to the city by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, it has increasingly become a touchstone representing man’s inhumanity to man through the wicked institution in Alabama especially, which was the Capitol of the Confederacy.

And then, there’s an interestingly disturbing corollary to the monument in the park.

Linn Park was not always named “Linn Park.”

First named “Central Park” in 1883 by the the Elyton Land Company’s original plans for Birmingham, as drafted by William Barker, its name was changed to “Capitol Park” in 1886 after it was deeded to the city. Its name was again changed to “Woodrow Wilson Park” in 1918 to honor Wilson as President and for being the spokesman of the terms of peace which concluded World War I.

It was nearly three-quarters of a century later in October 1988 that the name was changed from Woodrow Wilson Park to Linn Park to honor Charles Linn, a Captain in the Confederate States Navy, who later became an industrialist/banker/mercantilist and city founder.

Additional details of the park’s location are enumerated in description of the 1907 historical image of the commemorative obelisk shown below.

Birmingham, Alabama area comedian Jermaine “FunnyMaine” Johnson has for many years helped lead efforts to eradicate the city’s Monument to Maleficence which honors treason against the United States and slavery in the guise of Civil War Confederates, replete with a quote from the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, upon the obelisk’s north face: “THE MANNER OF THEIR DEATH, WAS THE CROWNING GLORY OF THEIR LIVES. JEFFERSON DAVIS.”

Alabama Governess Kay Ivey (R)

Johnson’s and numerous others’ opposition to the city’s durable demonic device is unwavering, and has faced opposition from the state’s mostly White Republican legislators, and White Republican Governor Kay Ivey who signed into law a bill protecting that and other such monuments honoring slavery throughout the state.

The city’s mayor, Randall Woodfin, also a Black gentleman, is similarly unwavering in his opposition to the monument’s presence and all that it represents, and has sought on numerous occasions to have it removed, but has been thwarted by the White-dominated Republican legislature and governor. Numerous court battles have raged, and even wound up in the state’s Supreme Court which found that the greatest penalty the city could face for violation of the law forbidding its removal was a $25,000 fine.

Image circa 1907, of the Confederate Soldiers & Sailors Monument obelisk along with a bronze statue of Dr. William Elias B. Davis, MD an early Birmingham area physician, circa 1887, to the RIGHT. Charles Linn Park (formerly Central Park, Capitol Park, and Woodrow Wilson Park) forms the municipal center of downtown Birmingham, and is and is and is bordered on the north by 8th Avenue North, Boutwell Auditorium and the Birmingham Museum of Art, on the south by Park Place, on the east by Linn-Henley Research Library and the Jefferson County Courthouse, and by 20th Street North and the Birmingham City Hall on the west.

Carol Robinson of the website AL dot com interviewed Jermaine Johnson following a tumultuous night in the Magic City Sunday May 31 in which several unsuccessful attempts to topple the obelisk were made, and in which its inscriptions were marred, chipped, chiseled at and defaced by numerous crowd participants. Most in the city – Black and White – are willing to see it go.

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They’re not for Birmingham, they’re not from Birmingham. We know, we were on the ground.

We talked with some of these people. When you have a lot of people from Birmingham, including the police and the mayor, everybody’s out here peaceful because we recognize each other. Everybody’s walking up, ‘Oh we went to Ramsay together, we went to JO together, and here comes a group of people nobody knows and we’re like, ‘Hey what’s up man’ and they’re like ‘We’re not here to talk.’ They were just rude to everybody. They were rude to reporters. They were rude to us.

If you think I incited violence, you don’t think monuments like this and the policies behind it haven’t incited violence for decades, you just need to think again.

I hate it. I hate it. I love my city. I don’t stand for that.

Y’all won’t be able to find not one video where I’m encouraging people to tear down our city. As a matter of fact, you’ll find just the opposite. I literally encouraged people to

The Lost Cause is the Root Cause of Violence Against Blacks

It’s Open Season on Black men and women in America.

Cops kill with impunity.

The Department of Justice (especially under this administration) does nothing.

There is NO justice in this land.

But Fortunately, Open Season on Blacks in America is Closing Soon.

Tuesday, November 3, 2020 marks the day.

That’s the day of the General Election.

And it’s time to vote OUT those with a “R” after their name, and most especially, to clean out the White House and rid it of the infestation of vermin which have afflicted it and this nation for the past 4 years.

George Floyd’s death in Minnesota is just the latest, and hopefully, the last straw – the one that proverbially broke the camel’s back in this miserably shameful and ongoing horror story.

That the POTUS has chosen to NOT address the nation during this crisis speaks volumes, none of which have any good in them.

It wasn’t too long ago that a young man in Alabama who had just entered the United States Army, and was home on leave during Thanksgiving, was shot and killed by the Hoover Police Department at the Riverchase Galleria mall in Hoover, a suburb of Birmingham on November 22, 2018.

The deceased young man was the type of person the NRA holds out as a proverbial exemplar of the “good guy with a gun” character they often tout. The only problem was, that in his case, he was Black. The fact that he was properly licensed to carry a concealed weapon – and did – made no difference.

The facts of that case were that following the sound of

How Did The GOP Get To Be So White?

1872 Currier & Ives print, First Colored Senator & Representatives

Here is an 1872 Currier and Ives print depiction of the first African American GOP U.S. Senator and Representatives:

[LEFT to RIGHT] Sen. Hiram Revels (R-MS), Rep. Benjamin S. Turner (R-AL, 1), Robert DeLarge (R-SC, 2), Josiah Walls (R-FL, at large & 2), Jefferson Long (R-GA, 4), Joseph Rainey (R-SC, 1) and Robert B. Elliott (R-SC, 3).

Note that they’re ALL from the Deep South (MS, AL, FL, GA, SC).

Today, Blacks in the GOP are as scarce as hen’s teeth – particularly, and especially in the South.

It begs the question:

What happened politically since that time so that there were essentially NO Blacks after them in the U.S. House, or Senate (Congress), and today are especially absent from the GOP?

At the GOP’s 2000 Philadelphia convention, only 4.1% of the 2,066 delegates gathered in the City of Brotherly Love – 85 conventioneers – were African American.

And, according to a June 1 email from Telly Lovelace addressed to undisclosed recipients, the National Director for African American Initiatives and Urban Media for the Republican National Committee wrote that only 18 of the 2,472 delegates at the GOP’s 2016 Cleveland convention would be Black – 0.7281553398058253%.

Not even 1%.

And, in our nation’s 244-year history – since its 1776 founding to 2020 – there have ONLY been 10 African American Senators – 10.

Just ten.

The United States Senate website states this about African American Senators:
“To date, 10 African Americans have served in the United States Senate. In 1870 Hiram Revels of Mississippi became the first African American senator. Five years later, Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi took the oath of office. It would be nearly another century, 1967, before Edward Brooke of Massachusetts followed in their historic footsteps. Carol Moseley Braun broke new ground in 1993, becoming the first African American woman to serve as U.S. senator. In 2005 Barack Obama of Illinois became the fifth African American to serve and third to be popularly elected. Upon Obama’s resignation to become the nation’s first African American president, Roland Burris was appointed to fill the vacancy, becoming the sixth African American senator and the third to occupy the same Illinois Senate seat. Tim Scott of South Carolina was appointed to fill a vacancy in 2013, becoming the first African American since Reconstruction to represent a southern state in the Senate. He won a special election in 2014 to complete the term and was elected to a full term in 2016. The appointment of Massachusetts senator William “Mo” Cowan on February 1, 2013, marked the first time that two African Americans have served simultaneously in the United States Senate. Cory Booker of New Jersey became the ninth African American senator when he won a special election to replace Senator Frank Lautenberg on October 31, 2013. Booker won election to a full term in 2014. Kamala Harris became California’s first African American senator on January 3, 2017, bringing the number of African Americans serving simultaneously to three and the total number of African American senators to 10.”

Hiram Revels was a Republican.

Mr. Blanche K. Bruce was a Republican.

Edward Brooke was a Republican.

Carol Moseley Braun is a Democrat.

Brack Obama is a Democrat.

Roland Burris is a Democrat.

Tim Scott is a Republican.

William “Mo” Cowan is a Democrat.

Cory Booker is a Democrat.

Kamala Harris is a Democrat.

What has happened to cause the GOP to become the party of xenophobia, racists, and bigots?

It didn’t help things that the now-infamous Three-Fifths Compromise in the 1787 Constitutional Convention – Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 – ensconced into law that all non-White people were legally sub-human.

“Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.”

Of course, Section 2 of the 14th Amendment (ratified in 1868) explicitly repealed Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3, and states that

America First!

Let’s not mince words: I believe in a STRONG Federal government.

Period.

While no government is perfect, ours is becoming “a more perfect union” because of the Federal government, which is comprised of “we the people.”

It has rarely become more perfect because of states’ actions. It has been Federal actions which have unified the 50 states under a common banner – the Constitution.

As evidence of that, one only need look to history for examples.

It was the Federal government that abolished Slavery.

It was the Federal government that gave women the Right to Vote.

It was the Federal government that gave 18-year-olds the Right to Vote.

It was the Federal government that gave Blacks the Right to Vote, and the Civil Rights Act.

It was the Federal government that gave same sex partners the Right to Marry.

It was the Federal government that struck down anti-miscegenation laws.

It was the Federal government that protected children from sexual predators worldwide.

It was the Federal government that protected underage women from sexual exploitation in pornography.

It was the Federal government that protected Prisoners from sexual abuse.

And, it was the Federal government that protected people from housing discrimination.

The list is longer, but by now, you should get the point.

Government is NOT “the problem” – contrary to what Ronald Reagan said in his first Inaugural Address when he proclaimed that “government is the problem.”

For if government was the problem, then the solution to that problem would be the abolition of it – and that is anarchy, the absence of government.

So, the Federal government is not your enemy.

Because YOU are the Federal government.

YOU are “we the people.”

And in our nation, the people have the power, so… power to the people – right on!

Again, our nation is by no means perfect, but we are becoming a more perfect union because of what we do.

One of our nation’s enduring principles is equality under law, as ensconced in the 14th Amendment which states in pertinent part that in Section 1, that,

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States,
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,
are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.
No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;
nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law;
nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction
the equal protection of the laws.”

“Due process of law…”  and “equal protection of the laws.”

Those two clauses have been instrumental in bringing equality and the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity since the 14th Amendment was ratified July 9, 1868.

So tell me, please why it is that blatant injustices like this still exist?

KC family had full-time jobs, but no one would rent to them. Can a proposed law help?
https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article237281324.html

Until Tiana Caldwell was diagnosed with a second bout of ovarian cancer last year, her family’s finances and housing were stable. She had no idea they would be homeless within months.

She started treatment, and the bills piled up quickly. She and her husband, Derek, fell behind on their rent, and that summer they were evicted.

Tiana Caldwell and her family were evicted while they struggled to pay the rent as well as her medical bills from her ovarian cancer treatments. Because of that eviction, landlords refused to rent to them. Finally they have found a stable home. Jill Toyoshiba JToyoshiba@kcstar.com

“At one point, I did maybe think it would be better if I didn’t make it,” said Caldwell, who is now in remission. “I just couldn’t stop fighting, even when I thought that maybe that was what was best.”

After the eviction, the family was marked. The blemish on their record made landlords wary of renting to them, even though she and her husband held full-time jobs. After months of searching, they found a home and moved in, but on their first night, sewage backed up into the bathtub and toilet. Caldwell said the house was declared uninhabitable. The family was homeless once again.

For about six months, they lived in cheap hotels or stayed with her husband’s relatives. They tried to keep life as normal as possible for their 12-year-old son, AJ, but some things — like having his friends over — weren’t possible.

“He wasn’t able to do any of that, and he couldn’t tell anybody why because he was ashamed,” Caldwell said. “He didn’t want his friends to know.”

Caldwell’s family is just one of 9,000 households who face eviction each year in Jackson County, a rate housing advocates say is a crisis.

She joined KC Tenants, the organization pushing Mayor Quinton Lucas and the City Council to adopt a tenants bill of rights. …

In his State of the Union address January 11, 1944, late, former POTUS Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposed a Second Bill of Rights, saying in pertinent part, that:

Biden: When I started in the Senate, I got along with racist White Supremacists.

Vice President Joe Biden, Official Portrait 2013

Former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic candidate – among the 20-plus wanna’ be’s – campaigning to be the party’s 2020 Presidential nominee, has recently taken flack for his waffling, wavering, moving-target positions on women, abortion, and civil rights.

Once, he supported the Hyde Amendment.

Now, he opposes it.

Once, he got along with racist bigots.

Now… he apparently still does.

Biden’s wishy-washy, ever-changing positions are nothing new.

In an appearance Tuesday, December 6, 2016, on “The Late Show” with host Stephen Colbert, Mr. Biden said in part, that “I’m a great respecter of fate. I don’t plan on running again. But to say you know what’s going to happen in four years, I just think is – is not rational. I can’t see the circumstance in which I’d run, but what I’ve learned a long, long, long time ago, Stephen, is to never say never. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Hell, Donald Trump is going to be 74. I’ll be 77 and in better shape. Who knows?”

Now, he’s announced his candidacy to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for President.

And in 1968, then a newly-minted lawyer, having earned the Juris Doctorate from Syracuse University College of Law, for six months, Mr. Biden clerked for a Wilmington, Delaware law firm led by William Pickett, who was a prominent local Republican, and said that he “thought of myself as a Republican.”

That same year, Mr. Biden also staunchly opposed forced school busing to combat segregation, and called it “a phony issue which allows the White liberals to sit in suburbia, confident that they are not going to have to live next to Blacks.”

Most recently, Mr. Biden has come under fire for his remarks made at

Racism Rampant In The South

Rampant racism continues in our United States, especially and particularly in the South.

Or, so it seems.

One would’ve hoped for “a more perfect union,” especially by now.

But, that’s progress, and “progress” is a dirty word to many – especially to Southerners – whose loathsome contempt of, and resistance to change is as ignobly infamous as their Lost Cause (of the Confederacy) following defeat in our nation’s Civil War.

Curtis Flowers was tried for the SAME crime SIX times in Mississippi. If that doesn’t violate the intent of the “Double Jeopardy” clause of the Constitution, I don’t know what does. (Image from Mississippi Department of Corrections.)

Synopsis: A Mississippi Death Row inmate was prosecuted SIX times for the SAME crime by a prosecutor with a history of racial bias in jury selection.

The case was SO egregious, that the sole, long-silent Southerner, and only Black SCOTUS Justice, Clarence Thomas, who has for many years maintained literal silence on the bench, asked a question – the last question he asked was THREE YEARS AGO.

NPR wrote that arguments before the SCOTUS Justices in this case were “more passionate and fact-filled than usual.” (SCOTUS case transcript linked above, and here: SCOTUS case Curtis Giovanni Flowers v Mississippi 17-9572)

The case the Justices heard Wednesday, 20 March 2019, involved the conduct of Montgomery County District Attorney Doug Evans, in the tiny town of Winona, Mississippi, and his relentless pursuit of a conviction of Curtis Flowers.

With a population well under 5000, Winona is practically a village, and of the modestly-sized tiny town, NPR wrote that it’s a place “where everybody knows everybody.”

Curtis Giovanni Flowers is a black man who had NO prior arrests or convictions before he was arrested and accused of a quadruple murder in the town.

After Flowers’ arrest, he was

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam

The yearbook photo ruckus with the Virginia Governor is, in my estimation, totally blown out of proportion, and this Op-Ed succinctly expresses what’s being overlooked, which is the PRESENT -and- the TRACK RECORD.

Wallace and Dr. James Hood admire Hood’s University of Alabama, Ph.D in Higher Education Administration diploma at Wallace’s Montgomery, Ala., home May 19, 1997. Wallace denied Hood admission to the University of Alabama in 1963.

Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace, right, is shown at the Governor’s Mansion in Montgomery with a meeting between presidential hopeful Rev. Jesse Jackson in this July 21, 1987 photo. In the 1980s he renounced his segregationist views, and he won his last term as governor (1983-87) with support from black voters.

There’s a significantly vast difference between the photo under question, and the matter of Iowa Representative Steve King, whose words and actions are not merely oblique, but blatantly white supremacist / racist.

I think also about late former Alabama Governor George C. Wallace, who remains the only four-term Governor that State has ever had.

An August 26, 1994 photo of Wallace in an emotional moment as he shares a hug with friend Connie Harper at a celebration of his 75th birthday.

Several years following the 1972 assassination attempt upon him in Maryland, he campaigned for, and won re-election to an unprecedented fourth and final term in 1982 while wheelchair bound… and with the broad support of the African American voting community in the state, without whose support

Vanderbilt University Medical Center Corruption

VANDERBILT CORRUPTION

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is a corrupt organization.

There’s no other way to put it.

Medicare fraud was perpetrated by physicians… not just once, nor in one area.

Then, an incompetent RN killed a patient.

And the entire organization – from the top down – deliberately covered up the event, and lied about how the patient died.

Following a patient death and other frauds which were covered up by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the once-respected, formerly venerable organization is now on the ropes.

Then, they fired an ethnic minority surgeon whose opinions they didn’t like.

The next part of their history will likely include a RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) lawsuit.

Now, the VUMC is hurting for Nurses. Seriously hurting.

In one day, recently, at least 12 RNs left just one unit.

That single action alone jeopardizes Patient Safety at the hospital.

But who could blame the Nurses? Who would want to work in such a miserable, fraud-ridden environment?

Consequently, VUMC Human Resources is using unprecedented methods to attract new Nurses.

But the thing is, they don’t treat their people well, much less their patients, so why would anyone want to work there… or be a patient there?

Would you want to go to a hospital that had a shortage of Nurses?

Who hired that Nurse?

In November 2018, it was discovered that an incompetent and inexperienced

Roger Stone Indictment – Read it here.

Roger Stone Federal Criminal Indictment raises more questions than it answers.

It has now become clear that GOP dirty trickster Roger Stone, may have worked with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and Guccifer 2.0, an ostensible Russian hacking entity or operation which likely operated directly under the auspices of the Internet Research Agency, a Russian cyber counter-intelligence unit, aka “troll farm,” to influence the outcome of the 2016 General Election for GOP Presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Roger Stone is the same one who Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign fired after discovery of a personal ad he and his wife had placed in “Local Swinger Fever” a swingers magazine & website. The ad read: “Hot,

Teen Grey Matter and Cannabis Use

In a recently published article entitled “Grey Matter Volume Differences Associated with Extremely Low Levels of Cannabis Use in Adolescence,” in the Journal of Neuroscience, 14 January 2019 edition, pp3375-17, researchers wrote in part that “We identified extensive regions in the bilateral medial temporal lobes as well as the bilateral posterior cingulate, lingual gyri, and cerebellum that showed greater GMV in the cannabis users.”

News items related to that newly published research are focusing upon that singular line as if it’s something negative. Since when did INCREASED grey matter become something dangerous, or cause for concern? Colloquially, the term “grey matter” is used to describe the brain, and by extension, brain power. So let’s examine this matter (no pun intended) in more detail.

But before proceeding further, it bears mentioning that adolescents should NOT be consuming cannabis, neither alcohol, nor tobacco. And try as much as we want, we will not ever stop underage consumption of any adults-only substance. The BEST we can do is to educate them, and others, of potential risks involved in its use – especially and particularly underage use – and deny them opportunities to consume alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis. THAT is a strategy which has PROVEN to work, because the trite “Just say ‘no'” has never worked, nor will it ever.

Dr David Robert Grimes is a physicist, cancer researcher and science writer, who was the joint recipient of the 2014 Nature / Sense About Science Maddox Prize and wrote in a brief anti-marijuana article dated 15th May 2017 entitled “The rise of the cannabis cult: don’t believe the hype about medical marijuana” that

Steve King, Iowa’s Racist 4th District Representative

“One phrase in that long article has created an unnecessary controversy. That was my mistake.”
–Steve King, Iowa’s 4th Congressional District Republican Representative on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives speaking about public criticism of his comments made in a New York Times interview, published January 10, 2019

TRANSLATION: That’s like saying, “Oops! I said ‘jigaboo’ when I should’ve said ‘darkie’.”

Here, in context, is what he said:
“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive? Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”

Iowa US Rep Steve King speaks at The Family Leadership Summit 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa, a thinly veiled Evangelical political summit sponsored in part by the Helms School of Government at Liberty University. Over several years, Liberty has had their own problems with charges of racism, and the Helms is named after late North Carolina Jesse Helms, himself a notorious racist.

When Steve King speaks about preserving “Western culture” or “Western civilization,” along with an obsessive discussion of birthrates and abortion rates among different ethnic groups, those are

Stand FIRM, Mr. President! STAND FIRM!

Way to go Mr. President! Way to go!

Don’t let those little snowflakes push you around!

You tell Ann Coulter (the White Supremacist) and Rush Limbaugh (the drug addict) to go to Hell!

Aside from now being aged 72 years – making him the OLDEST president ever to ever accede to the office at age 70 (he’s fond of superlatives, you know, and Reagan was 69 when he became president) – he probably needs

Emantic Fitzgerald “EJ” Bradford, Jr. –– May he Rest In Peace.

SHOTS FIRED!

Black Man With A Gun!

Birmingham, AL metro area showing Hoover, south of Birmingham, and the Riverchase Galleria mall, south of Hoover.

“They took out the threat. Our plan works.”
– Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis describing how uniformed HPD LEOs killed Emantic Fitzgerald “EJ” Bradford, Jr.

It was a Black Friday in more ways than one.

Gunfire erupted late Thanksgiving night around 10PM Central Standard Time in Hoover, Alabama, a small suburb south of Birmingham and part of the Greater Birmingham Metro Area.

It was Black Friday eve at Riverchase Galleria – the state’s largest shopping mall – where holiday shoppers where amassed for huge sales and deep discounts at local and national retailers, many of whom have had a presence there for the over 30 years its been a Jefferson County jolly green sales tax giant.

“The Threat,” Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford, Jr., has been neutralized. “Our Plan works,”
said Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis.

A 21-year-old Black man identified as Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., of Hueytown, AL, was observed fleeing the shooting scene while brandishing a handgun, was engaged, shot and killed by a uniformed Hoover police officer, according to Hoover Police Captain Gregg Rector.

Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis, said, “Thank God we had our officers very close. They heard the gunfire, they engaged the subject, and they took out the threat. That threat could have materialized into a lot more people being injured. Thank goodness that did not happen. We have a plan and our plan works.”

Faith Will See Us Through

Martyrdom of Saint Januarius; Girolamo Pesce; circa 1727; Oil on canvas, 262 x 193 cm; Bishop’s Library, Vác, Hungary

The stories of early Christian saints are often larger-than-life. So it is with Saint Januarius (third century). According to legend, Januarius was thrown into a fiery furnace by the Romans during a time of intolerance toward Christians. To everyone’s amazement he emerged unscathed. Taken figuratively, the story says a lot about how faith can help us in the face of intolerance when it comes to things like race, gender, immigration status, and so on. We may be

134,971,077 Reasons So Far This Year For #ALpolitics To #LegalizeIt & #Tax #Cannabis

If one were to look at Colorado as an example of reasons to legalize cannabis, there would be at least 134,971,077 reasons this year so far to FULLY legalize it not only in Alabama, but nationwide.

You see, $134,971,077 is the “Total All Marijuana Taxes, Licenses, Calendar Year-to-Date” Colorado has collected.

ref: State of Colorado Marijuana Taxes, Licenses, and Fees Transfers and Distribution Tax Revenue from July 2017
https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/revenue/colorado-marijuana-tax-data

But if one were to completely ignore the increased voluntary revenue, there are other topics raised.

And of course, opponents of cannabis legalization make assertions like DUI rates will increase. But, there’s nothing like the truth to dispel such specious claims. Remember: Specious means “superficially plausible, but actually wrong.”

So here are some facts on that very matter from Oregon, which has also legalized cannabis for recreational purposes.

“Five to ten times more drivers who were involved in fatal accidents in Oregon between 2004 and 2014 had alcohol in their system than THC. As with THC intoxication, the overall trend of alcohol intoxication in fatal accidents has been an increase since 2010, although alcohol-related fatalities spiked significantly in 2015 while THC-related fatalities decreased slightly.”

ref: 2015 House Bill 3400 DUII Legislative Report
http://www.oregon.gov/olcc/marijuana/Documents/HB3400_2015_DUIILegislativeReport.pdf

“Overall traffic fatalities increased substantially in all three states [CO, OR, WA] between 2014 and 2015 and cannot be explained by THC-related fatalities. This data illustrates that traffic fatalities overall remain a significant problem, independent of THC-related crashes.”

Logically, and rationally, legalizing Cannabis is common sense, for the following two simple reasons: