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When they come for you and me, and they have!

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Love it.

All my life I have admired this man, right along with my admiration of Dr. King, Medgar Evers, Malcolm, H. Rap Brown, Hewey Newton, Angela Davis, and many others. They all have the one thing that I [personally] don’t have as much as as they all have, is courage.

Why? Because the Nation of Islam has ALWAYS been about self-reliance, self-protection, protecting our women, and guarding our health and protecting our bodies through what we eat and drink.

Christianity doesn’t do that.

The struggle of our Muslim brothers and sisters has always been our struggle, yet to many of us have looked upon their struggle against the imperial power(s) and thinking of the US Government as not ours, but it and it is and it has always has been.

All we need do is look at the decimation, the humiliation, the slaughter, the enslavement of the Palestinian people by Israel backed by and perpetrated by the United States.

The Palestinian people are being emasculated, starved, slaughtered and basically held under occupation by Israel, just like they [the Jews] were under Hitler, yet the world and ignores their plight as though it doesn’t exist. Even the Muslim countries bordering Palestine have been co-opted into being dismissive and are giving their tacit acceptance and approval of this occupation to gain acceptance of this country’s imperial prowess.

We have come to a place now, where black men, black women and black children are being murdered – basically lynched – openly on the streets of America in broad daylight and on national television and we still, as Minister Farrakhan says, haven’t been moved to fight back.

Oh, we (I) take to Facebook and Twitter to spout our disgust, but that’s it. Most of us. Including me, are hidden behind our laptops and desktops whaling away at the horrors of police murdering is, all the while, and knowing full well, we are just glad it wasn’t us, or one of our family members.

Some of those so called WOKE SOB’s even have the audacity to still believe, to still say, oh, why didn’t he place both his hands on the steering wheel, why didn’t yassar or nawsar, why did he run, why didn’t he just show his ID, why didn’t he keep fighting back as he was getting the hell beat out of him, to imply I presume, he wouldn’t have been humiliated, dehumanized and murdered if had just been a compliant negro.

As a minister Farrakhan see it in his speech, maybe, just maybe, at the moment men like Rayshard Brooks, who was recently murdered in Atlanta, decided at the moment he was about to be handcuffed, that his life was about to change forever anyway- so maybe at that moment he simply said – I am going to die one day any way, or once these handcuffs are on me, I won’t have a snowballs chance in hell of saving myself.

I am sure Rayshard Brooks didn’t wake up that morning, as I am sure most of us don’t, having made the decision that today is the day I will die for something.

I am quite sure it was something he felt – that feeling that 99.99999 perfect of us have never felt – and that thing he was so impassioned about [a decision on the moment, a circumstantial choice] that his inner self called upon him to react the way that he did.

So, we can debate if, or when they come for us all we want, but frankly, they have never stopped coming for us.

Along the way, all that has happened is that they have stepped up their game and each time a new threshold, a new zone of tolerance, a new line in the sand is drawn. A line line we think, oh, they would not dare cross.

But they do cross the line, so we draw another line and they cross that one too. It’s analogous to the kid on the playground, where he draws the line in the dust and dares the bully to cross it. The bully crosses it, so the kid draws another one and then dares him to cross it – so on and so on.

Finally the kid gives up and either takes the ass whipping or it’s left up to the bully to either have mercy on the kid drawing the line and not whip his ass – at least that day, but reserves the right to come back and whip his ass another day.

Now the bully, the autocrat like trump with his SS stormtroopers, the police, like Hitler, says her mother fuckers, we have crossed your line so whatcha gonna bout it?

So, at this moment in time, at this moment of reflection, I am not calling out anyone, I am taking pot shots or swipes at anyone. My following thoughts are [as the greatest musical artist of all times – in my opinion] wrote and sang about – take a look at the Man in the Mirror. I am looking at myself and the man looking back at me – is ME.

Emancipation – 157 Years Old!

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Emancipation Proclamation Framework

Emancipation – That Day of such Hope!

The Day of Emancipation: Courtesy- Quart

The Emancipation Proclamation.

157 years old.

One can’t help but to reflect on what it was probably like on the day to newly/officially freed slaves.

To argue the reasoning for Lincoln’s decision, and the imperfections of the document, there can’t be any argument that it was a giant first step in delivering us from the bondage of slavery.

Just try an imagine for a moment – an alternative outcome – if there were someone as president, and I am sure you’ll leave the dinner table today with an emptiness in your stomach, and knowing in your heart, that while wasn’t made perfect, it was sure as hell made better.

Consider some of these poignant points

Being a Slave

  • No day ever dawned for a slave, nor is it looked for”, a freed black man wrote. “It is all night, all night forever”
    One white Mississippian wrote: ” I’d rather be dead, than be a nigger on one these big plantations”.
  • A slave entered the world in a one room, dirt floor shack; drafty in Winter, reeked in Summer. Slave cabins breed phenomena, typhus, cholera, lockjaw, tuberculous, and other debilitating illnesses and diseases.
  • Fewer than 4 out a hundred lived to be 60
  • The child who survived, and went to fields at 12, were likely to have rotten teeth, worms, dysentery, malaria
  • Hundreds, maybe thousands of women were constantly raped, physically and mentally abused by their masters and his wives, and forced to be mistresses on slave masters and their sons.
  • New slave mothers were often milked like cows for their breast milk to feed the white babies and often were denied breast feeding their own new-born babies, a practice called Wet Nusing
  • A slave could expect to be sold at least once, maybe twice, oftentimes more
  • There were 8 million people in the South at the start of the Civil War – 6 million of them were slaves

Elections matter!

I will vote for the politician who supports labor unions!

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No Longer a President – At the least he’s Fascist on his way to becoming a Tyrant!

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We need to quit calling trump president. He’s now a racist, misogynistic Fascist on his way to becoming a Tyrant, the last step preceding becoming a dictator.

Everyone needs to read the book: On Tyranny, Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, by Timothy Snyder. https://www.amazon.com/Tyranny-Twenty-Lessons-Twentieth-Century/dp/0804190119/ref=sr_1_1?

In the book, the author describes twenty lessons we have learned from past tyrants. For example, how Fascists come to come to power through taking slow methodical steps to destroy institutions like freedom of the press, villainizing governmental agencies like the FBI, the judicial system, the press, particular groups like labor unions to name few. Just look at how trump has tried to marginalize, denigrate and rule ineffective, the nation’s domestic and international security organizations like the FBI and Central Intelligence Agency. This constant repudiation of the press by referring to them as “enemies of the people” is a classic example of how Fascists and tyrants behave.

Fascism (/ˈfæʃɪzəm/) is a form of radical authoritarian ultra nationalism, characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy, which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe. There are several fundamental characteristics of fascism, among them are: … Nationalism: Fascism places a very strong emphasis on patriotism and nationalism. Criticism of the nation’s main ideals, especially war, is lambasted as unpatriotic at best, and treason at worst. This list includes people like Benito Mussolini, Former Prime Minister of Italy; Francisco Franco, Former Caudillo of Spain; Karl Marx, Philosopher and many others. All these guys, and they are all guys, enjoy and love one other aspect of absolute power – the power of the large “allies”. The Heil Hitler salute of the 1920’s is on clear display at his rallies, as is the “raucousness” of his rally’s attendees.

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Trumps loving embrace of and adoration for some of the world’s authoritarian, tyrannical and dictatorial leaders like Kim Jong In of North Korea, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladi¬mir Putin, President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey and King Salman of Saudi Arabia all have characteristics and governing styles adored by trump – silence your opponents through any means necessary. Stripping top-secret clearances from John Brennan and revoking press credentials from white house reporters is just the start of a tyrant’s march to dictatorship.

This man is far more dangerous than the segregationists of the deep South in the 50’s and 60’s during the Jim Crow era. Segregationists like George Wallace, the former governor of Alabama, Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who held the position of senator for over 50 years, were dangerous people, but not as dangerous as trump, primarily because they didn’t have the power he has. Trump is the President of the United States and because of the power of the office, he wields enormous power(s).

Don’t be fooled by the folly that the constitution, or some group like the Congress of the United States, or some individual from the ranks of our elected leaders, or the judicial system (especially the Supreme Court), or anyone one thing or group of things will save us from a Fascist or tyrannical government. The Congress, until this past November 6th, was controlled by a complicit group of Republicans who refused to even acknowledge trump’s abuse of power, the Supreme Court has been stacked in his favor with the most recent appointment of Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh – who has clearly stated he believes the Executive Branch should have unrestricted power.

Just remember, tyrannical rule doesn’t happen over night.  It’s like termites in your home.  They chip away at your wood structure one “small” bite at a time, then you wake up one day and your entire home’s foundation has been compromised.  Stripping citizens of their secret clearances, banning and stripping members of the press credentials, challenging the judiciary’s resolve by criticizing judges and openly obstructing justice by blatantly interfering with the special counsels’ investigation, testing the military’s loyalty to him by ordering them to the Southern border on a “trumped-up” charge of an invasion by a group of desperate migrants, openly declaring himself a white nationalist, ridiculing anyone who disagrees with him politically, morally, socially or otherwise are all signs of the small bites taken by that termite.

The book is a must read for anyone who wants to better understand what we as a people, and country are up against. 

The Playoff Games were Fixed – According to the [Grocery Cart] guy at the Grocery Store?

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So, I am leaving the grocery pushing my shopping cart to the car the other day, and I hear this voice behind me saying, “Hi young man.” Well, hearing the voice say (young man) immediately got me attention, as I needed to know who this person was referring too. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to snap up a greeting like that [see, I am 67], or certainly not wanting to come off as rude for not acknowledging the him if this greeting was meant for me, I turned around and said “hello.”

The person getting my attention was a brother who working at the grocery store and apparently was walking to the parking lot to retrieve empty shopping carts. He started the conversation by asking “did you see those playoff games this weekend?” I replied by saying, no, I do not watch professional football. He replied, “you don’t watch football?” Again, “I said no,” and I haven’t watched a professional football (except momentarily or in passing) game for more than 15 years.

I approached my car at this point, lifted the rear door and begun placing my groceries in the rear of the car. Problem is, I have this tendency to try to be nice to people when they come out of nowhere and proceed to strike up [small talk] conversations about things I am (really) not interested in – like football. You see, these types of approaches seem to almost, always be a waste of my time, as those conversations generally end up irritating me.  This, because the person making the overture generally ends up saying something silly, like wanting to talk about something I could care less about, or they end up [seemingly] professing to be an expert at something I already know far more about than they do. These situations remind me of an old adage, that you never take financial advice from the bum standing on the sidewalk in front of the liquor store.  But, me being me, being the nice guy that I am, I end up allowing them to engage me.

After a few exchanges about the game, particularly the one where the Vikings receiver caught that spectacular pass and went on to score a game winning touchdown because the opposing receiver missed the tackle. You see, I don’t have to sit in front a TV screen for hours upon hours watching men run up and down a 120 yards long by 53 yards wide field chasing each other, catching a ball and trying to afflict as much pain and hurt on the other guy as humanly possible, to know who won or lost. One can be aptly informed of the final results of sporting events by simply watching a thirty-second highlight of such events during news reports, and by doing so, can hold a fairly convincing conversation with anyone who has spent half a day, or night, watching every detail. You see, it’s the highlights, and who won, or loss are the only things that really matter. Those are the only things that will be intently and passionately discussed at the water cooler or in the break room the next day. That’s because, in the end, the highlights [other than who won or loss] are really all that matters. In the meantime, I can go with life and be reasonably versed in this subject as one who spends one hundred-fold more time being bound by watching it than I do.

Okay, back to the point of the story. The brother finally says, “the game was fixed.” “Fixed,” I said? He replies, “sure, both games were [fixed].” Really, bedazzled I asked again, following up with, how do you suppose that could be, with more than 100 players more than 50 coaches and other personnel from both teams combined, and not to mention the hundreds, if not thousands of other people involved in producing and televising the game. It’s common knowledge that throughout (sporting) history, there are mentioned cases http://www.cracked.com/article_16588_7-great-sports-moments-that-might-have-been-fixed.html of a (few) sporting events [that might have been fixed.] All these, for all practical measures, were conspiracy theories – as there is no concrete evidence that the sum of what a few of the individuals involved did, actually ended up {throwing} the event in question.

After a few more questions, one, was, “how can the game(s) be ‘fixed’ ” when there are hundreds of people (players, coaches, staff, etc.), that are involved the production of the game(s). The brother’s explanation of was that the officials were simply paid off. I said, “really? He then replied, “you’re older than I am, so you should know better.” He then proceeded to start doing what he should have been doing all along, and that was collecting those grocery carts. As he walked away, he was muttering something to the effect of, “I can’t talk you anymore.” Go figure! In the words of my mother – I was minding my own business when he approached me with that bullshit.

So, nothing has changed, and my theory is correct and remains intact – do not allow people like this, or the drunk on the street. You know, that brother at party who goes into the twilight zone explaining why the euro centrists neo disenfranchisement of the black man has caused the mesa un-enlightenment of our minds engage you in a conversation where rational thought is absent. Maybe greet them, but for God’s sake keep walking, just keep walking.

The Trump Patriots – Oh, I meant the New England Patriots!

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I am with Bill Maher, F+*& the trump loving patriots, T. Brady and Belichick, the cheating asses and the horses they will ride to town on.

Brady was one of the first to don one those silly ass “Make America Great Again” caps! When asked if he thought trump would be president, Brady replied: “I hope so, that would be great.” So, here is a cat who gotten everything he ever wanted in life, but still feels the need to kiss the a+*, oops, I mean ring, of the “to make America great again” clown.

Belichick went as far as sending trump a long love note, which in part, read, “you have dealt with an unbelievable slanted and negative media and have come out beautifully.”

Okay, I really don’t give a rats ass about football, but given the cheating, butt kissing by the Patriot organization and Atlanta was my home for 32 years, I say:

Go Falcons!

“The internet begs Michelle Obama to run for president in 2020”

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Monica Riese‘s article on the Daily Dot on Thursday, moved me to share my thoughts on her headline, “The internet begs Michelle Obama to run for president in 2020.” http://www.dailydot.com/layer8/michelle-obama-2020-campaign/

I say, here we go again.  Screw the internet(ers).  We fumbled the ball, the other team recovered it and scored as the clock ran out. We  LOST!

These same darn internet cyborgs sitting in dark rooms like their parent’s basements, wants to throw another good women in the arena to be eaten by beasts of the racist right, and once she’s out there, screaming and begging for help, begging for money to run her campaign, “the internet” will be nowhere to be found, other than, sitting on the sidelines cheering her on with their keystrokes.

When she’s out there hoping against all hope “the internet” will not get up off their asses and come out and vote for her – “the internet” will be nowhere to be found. “The internet” is so like the Ancient Romans – poor and rich alike, sitting the coliseum cheering to see the blood of the Gladiators, chanting to top of their voices, “Bring me another Christian”, even cheering for the beast to over-power and kill the gladiator, and never once thinking to themselves, why the hell am I so enjoying this blood bath.

All “the internet” wants is another sacrificial lamb, someone else to get out there to be sacrificed, someone to give their blood as entertainment, and when the beast bites the head of this poor gladiator of a person, “the internet” immediately begins blaming the gladiator for not being strong enough, not quick enough or not having a bigger head; thereby, preventing the beast from being able to swallow the poor, suffering human so easily.

To prove I am not off base, look at the candidate/gladiator we just threw into the arena to fend off the beasts that were unleashed against her.  She was, beyond a shadow of a doubt – as was stated as such by the current President – as the most qualified candidate to ever run for President.  She was almost excoriated for sitting on the sideline as long as she did, before making her formal announcement to run.  Now that she came out on the losing end, “the internet” is all abuzz about what she did wrong.  There is very little chastening to us voters, as to why we couldn’t amass an army from all of the people so hideously insulted by this worm of man.  One thing is for sure, Tammie Wynette had it right as her song states: Tammy Wynette stand by your man – YouTube.

White women did just that.  When it really mattered, white women stood by their men and voted – I can only imagine – against their best interest in some cases I am sure.

(45%) of college-educated white women and the majority of non-college educated white women (65%) voted for Trump.

This same demographic group, as it has been throughout history, will favor a white man over a white woman.  This same group seems to harbor some of those antiquated beliefs that women like Hillary Clinton stepped out of line, way back in 1992 – when her husband was running for President – by daring to put her education, “out of the box” new age style on display, by stepping out of the traditional role of a First Lady.

These women/trump voters proved to me, their absence of distaste for the vulgarities spewed by Donald Trump, and further cemented my belief that, it doesn’t matter how awful of vile her man is, she will always support him in the end, with her moral decency being cloaked away on the shelf of a dark unused closet.  In other words, they seemed to kind of like Trump’s vulgarity and rashness, even though they were a bit hesitant to admit their support for him when polled by the pollsters.  It lends itself to the fact more Southern men, including the halo wearing Evangelicals, watch far more pornography than any other group; yet, they publicly spew the notion that they are the family values group.

“The internet” needs to go somewhere and shut the fuck up. It’s era of the poor, lonely, forgotten, misunderstood “angry” white guy, who says, you better pay more attention to me, and don’t fuck with my privilege – stamped as a symbol on his foreheads.  If “the internet” can’t prevent a vile, racist and otherwise stupid idiot from becoming the most powerful man in the world, then, “the internet” needs to crawl back in its hole and shut the hell up.

Using some street lingo, “It Is What It Is.” We lost. Rural America, the poor forgotten, uneducated and low information (voting) white guy, awoke from his stupor and said enough is enough – we still own the day & the night, we still on this country, and nothing is going to change until “we” say it’s going to change.

I hope Michelle Obama would tell the “internet” to kiss her ass, and not be lured into becoming an entertainment spectacle for the cheering crowd of arena spectators. Hillary Clinton, like Michelle Obama, had an all-time approval of 65% in 2009 when she was Secretary of State, just before she decided to run for President.  Hillary was almost coerced to run for President at the behest of “the internet”, but as soon as the headwinds begin to blow her off track, some of those same internet supporters, white men and women in particular, decided to vote for a racist, pussy grabbing, ignorant, hate-monger instead.

Enjoy your life Michelle – after the hell you and your husband went through Michelle Obama.  I know it may be tempting jump into the arena when you hear the crowds roar in the coliseum, and the roar gets louder and louder and louder.  You have too much dignity, grace and charm, to have it drained from you being out there fighting for the many folk who really just want to see a show.  Don’t let “the internet” talk you into sticking your head into the mouth of the beast.